"She's the sweetener to his bitter self."
"And maybe he can get her sober."
In which Draco Malfoy falls in love with a muggle-born Ravenclaw who likes to pretend she doesn't have substance issues.
part 1// 6th year AU (ongoing)
//started: july 2020
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THE SKY over Hogwarts was painted a brilliant blue with the bright sun streaming through the clouds. A gorgeous late morning, with the wind blowing through trees and branches randomly waving. The courtyards were fairly quiet as students lounged around on the grounds, in the finally warm weather. It was that point in the school year where the temperature started to rise but so does the heat for exams and classes. Joanna was practically racing down the almost empty corridors as she'd woken up late, and may now be late for class.
It was a week later since being paired up with Draco and it was finally time for alchemy, and Joanna was nervous. She'd done her best to have research ready for class, because she didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of Draco. So in her bag she had two books she found useful as she'd spent Wednesday, her day off, in the library studying.
It had felt like the longest week of her life these last few days. Joanna felt like shit as she tried to recuperate. Last Friday night destroyed her. She'd spent her night at the toilet puking- and was unbelievably lucky to only wake up nauseous and with a headache. Normally she wouldn't feel as affected. Normally she'd try to have self restraint. But it felt like there was times she'd been controlled and things spiraled.
Amazing, it was that kids could be struggling in every which way but still pull their weight for school.
Joanna spotted Draco easily enough as she ran into the room. His super blonde hair stuck out like a sore thumb. Taking a deep breath she made her way to the far side, middle of the room where he was.
"Hi." she said meekly as she sat. Draco hardly gave her the time of day. But she saw it instantly. It was a look of disgust. As if he was trying to say she was the last person on earth he wanted to be around. And it made her feel automatically dejected because she knew what it was about- she was a mudblood and he must have found out.
It was halfway through class when the professor began to rant about something not alchemy related, when Draco muttered something under his breath.
"Do you have anymore classes today?" his voice seemed strained, like he was annoyed to have to have civil conversation with her.
"No."
"Then let's go to the library when this is done." it wasn't a question, he wasn't asking her if it worked for her- it was a demand. A demand that Joanna couldn't just stay no to; and, getting started immediately on this paper sounded ideal to her.
All Joanna could do in response was nod slowly while she tried to regulate her breathing. Because of him she couldn't focus. Her focus had been going down the drain for months, probably because of withdrawals she was sure of, but this didn't help. Her hands even sat on her desk shaking and she knew Draco saw it as he huffed at her. She hadn't even eaten in almost a day and sometimes her head would spin in class.
