Always. (A Draco Malfoy Story)

The what?

Dragons. Dragons were the first task.

They all nearly died trying to retrieve a golden egg that was placed in the middle of the arena, protected by a literal dragon. I congratulated Viktor as I saw him running laps along Hogwarts Lake, followed by a group of girls gawking at him. I got to catch up with him, and see how his parents and sister were doing. I haven't seen them in years. It was nice to see Viktor again.

-

I decided to pay a visit to Snape, since I haven't seen him much since school began again, besides Potions class. On my way to his office, I'm stopped by Pug face and Bulldog.

"If you're not interested in Draco, then I suggest you stop hanging out with him so much," Pansy speaks as she stand with her arms crossed, "it's rather embarrassing."

I take a deep sigh, "What are you going on about?"

Millicent comments in, "Stop hogging him!" I go into a sarcastic laughing fit. "Hogging him? What in Salazar's world are you living in? Draco is his own person. It's not my fault he'd rather spend time with me instead of the likes of you two. Now if you'll excuse me—" The two step in sync to block me from going any further.

Frustrated, I give them a choice: "Either you move out of my way, or I'll make you. Your pick." I look at both of them in the eyes. They both exchanges looks before returning their gaze on me.
I shrug my shoulders, "Alright then."

"Levicorpus!" I flick my wand at the two as they slowly begin to ascend into the air. I wait until they reach the top of the corridor ceiling as they brace for impact. I stand beneath them looking up, "Perhaps you two airheads might wanna think twice the next time you want to confront me about something so trivial as Draco Malfoy." They whimper at the realization on how high they really were. I start to walk to Snape's office again before I was rudely interrupted. "You can't just leave us here!" Pansy cries out. I yell back, "Oh, I won't!" A swish of my wand causes them to fall back onto the ground. Their thumps echoing down the hall as I turn a corner.

-

"So do you live here? Like on school grounds? I'm only asking because I don't know what teachers do when students go home for a while." I help Snape clean off some vials and jars for him to use during class. He stays silent for a while before asking, "Are you just going to continue popping up to my office whenever you feel like it?" "Yes," I place the clean objects back on his shelf, "unless you tell me otherwise." I walk over to the cauldrons, "Besides Professor, no offense, but you don't look the type who's willing to be friends with the other staff here." I quickly glance over at him to see if I should brace myself for an incoming hex. He just looks at me before going back to packing up some books.

Suddenly, I endure an extreme stinging pain shooting up my left arm. I grip my arm in pain, trying to find out what is causing this. Snape hears my cry and rushes over to me, looking between me and my arm. He takes a long look at me arm, as if he's expecting to see something... but it's just my arm. He looks at me concerned, "Are you ok? Has this happened before?"
"Yes and no." I begin to rub my eyes dry, as the pain I've just endured was horrifying. "I'm fine, don't worry about it." Snape slowly let's go of my arm and walks around back behind his desk.

I decide to change the subject.

"I really hope you get to teach DADA soon. First, it was Lupin. Then Moody. What's next? A pink toad? Why can't we have a normal teacher? I mean, you're not normal, but least worst of the group." I chuckle, as Snape just stares at me.

"This whole TriWizard tournament thing is completely mental. They're allowing young adults, basically adolescents in Potter's case, to die at the cost of our entertainment or the unsure promise of eternal glory! Does no one else see how completely delusional that is?!" Snape adds in, "It's a tradition every so years. No ones actually died... recently anyway."

"Unfortunately there are other things coming up this year, that I'm not looking forward to doing." He finishes up packing his books. He carries the box to his storage closet.

It's quiet for a while before he asks...

"So, is Mr. Malfoy escorting you to the Yule Ball?"

"The what?"