1- Draco Malfoy
FIRST YEAR
The nerves of going to Hogwarts have been eating Y/n alive for a week straight. Both of her parents had gone to the well-known school of witchcraft and wizardry and they were both sorted into Slytherin, so, the self-inflicted pressure of getting sorted into her parent’s house put extreme, unnecessary, weight on the young girl’s shoulders.
She sits in front to the entire school as McGonagall places the oversized sorting hat o her head that’s ready to determine her future. She wrings her hands nervously, hoping not to disappoint her parents.
“Hm,” A disembodied voice from the hat speaks just to her in her head. “You are very interesting. Very interesting.” Y/n subtly bites her lower lip in confusion and the hat goes on to explain. “You’re cunning and ambitious, and have a bright future ahead of you. You’re also very kind, patient, determined, and loyal. I’m torn. Slytherin or Hufflepuff. Slytherin or Hufflepuff. A very tricky decision indeed.”
Please be Slytherin. Please be Slytherin. She desperately thinks.
“Slytherin? Are you sure you want to be in Slytherin or do you just want to please your family? I think that’s a real Hufflepuff decision if it’s the latter. Yes. I think so.”
Slytherin. Slytherin. Slytherin.” She chants over and over in her head, trying her hardest to get the hat to shout-
“Hufflepuff!”
Loud claps and large smiles coming from one of the four rows of tables with yellow and black banners hanging over it fills the room.
Y/n sighs in disappointment as the hat is removed from her head. Faking a smile, she walks over to her new house.
She takes a seat next to a girl who had been the previous one to be sorted into the house and quietly watches the rest of the new students get sorted as she thinks with the dread of telling her parents what house she has been sorted into in the back of her head.
~~~~~~~~~~
THIRD YEAR
“Colloshoo!” Draco yells, stopping Y/n in her tracks. He had stuck her shoes to the floor so she couldn’t walk away from him this time. Snickers are heard from Crabbe and Goyle while they hold out their wands menacingly. “I told you not to run.”
“What do you need, Draco?” Y/n asks calmly. He’d been tormenting her for years ever since she was sorted into Hufflepuff.
“I don’t need anything from you,” The way he spat out ‘you’ could’ve made anyone believe he was disgusted by her, which is not exactly the case. “I just wanted to remind you how much of a disappointment you are to your family and to everyone else around you, blood traitor. I can’t believe one of the most respected wizarding families could have such a disgrace in the bloodline!” He laughs, but at the back of his mind, his conscience was screaming for him to stop.
Y/n just sighs and takes out her wand to reverse the hex.
“Expelliarmus!” He shouts, sending her wand flying across the corridor before she could free herself.
More laughs erupt from the two boys standing on either side of the smug-looking blond, a proud smirk gracing his face. He never really liked bullying people, however, he has an image to maintain.
“Crinus muto.” His spell makes her hair turn into a murky green colour.
Once again, more snickers.
“Leave her alone, Malfoy!” Harry Potter shouts, rushing over to Y/n’s side with her wand in one hand, his own in the other.
“What are you going to do, Potter?” He sneers angrily, but he was just relieved that he is being forced to stop.
“If you don’t unhex her I’ll cast the bat-bogey hex on all three of you.”
~~~~~~~~~~
FOURTH YEAR (from this point onward)
On yet another sleepless night, Y/n decides to sneak out of the Hufflepuff common room and go on a walk around the castle.
She’d been caught and reprimanded twice by Professor Trelawney, but she understood why Y/n was out since she had insomnia when she, herself, was younger, and never gave her detention. Instead, she would take her up to her classroom and make her a cup of tea to help her fall asleep.
Tonight, however, Y/n is determined not to get caught. She walks extra slowly to make sure her steps aren’t heard and listens extra carefully to make sure she doesn’t hear someone else’s.
At one point she hears Filch muttering to himself so she ducks into an empty room and sits there silently, hoping that she doesn’t get caught by the bitter caretaker.
Once he makes his way past the room without any sign of suspicion, Y/n breathes a sigh of relief. She visibly relaxes until she hears someone else in the room with her. She freezes in fear, eyes darting around the room to see who she is with. When she hears no other sound, she chalks it up to her paranoia and starts wandering around the room again, occasionally thinking she hears a sniff from someone else.
“Hello?” She whispers, fearing that if she speaks any louder that Filch will turn around and come back to find her.
She listens again closely and hears slightly muffled breathing from a row of desks to her right.
Y/n decides to take the chance and figure out who it is and why they are there, so she walks over quietly and peeks her head around the corner of the desk only to find Draco Malfoy with his knees to his chest, hand clutched over his mouth in a failed attempt to silence the sound of his uneven breathing, and red puffy eyes with tears brimming in them.
“Malfoy?” She looks at him with concern.
“What are you doing here?” He sneers, quickly wiping away a tear uncontrollably sliding down one of his puffy, pale cheeks.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Y/n answers.
She hesitantly makes her way toward him, eventually sitting on her knees in front of him, neither one speaking while she does this.
“Neither could I,” He mumbles, his harsh tone gets eliminated when he releases a heavy, slightly shaky, sigh. “What brings you here?”
“Hiding from Filch on my way to see Professor Trelawney.” She lies easily before Draco scoffs at her answer.
“That old hag? Why would you willingly want to visit her at this hour?” He asks in a snobbish tone.
“She makes me tea sometimes. It helps me sleep.” A slightly uncomfortable silence falls over the pair before Y/n breaks it once more. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s none of your business.” He doesn’t snap at her but instead sounds depressed.
“Okay,” Y/n shrugs, not wanting to push him into being uncomfortable since he must already feel embarrassed that he was caught crying. The embarrassment must’ve increased since he was caught by the girl he torments the most out of anyone in the entire school. “You don’t have to tell me anything, but sometimes it’s nice to get things off your chest and cry.” She hesitantly adds, “I wouldn’t judge you, you know.”
Draco finds himself surprised when he hears himself say, “I know.”
She slowly outstretches her hand and places it on his left knee comfortingly. He looks down with a very slight smile that she doesn’t notice.
They just sit there without making a single sound with Y/n’s hand on Draco’s knee, gently using her thumb to draw tiny, comforting circles, the act being done so absentmindedly that it seems like she’s done it a million times.
“Would you like to join me on my trip for some tea?” She offers politely; taking her hand off his knee.
“I’m alright,” He brushes her off.
“You sure?” She asks whilst standing up. “Maybe it’ll calm you.”
“Positive.”
She shrugs it off and starts toward the door.
“Y/n?” He calls in a hushed tone.
“Yes?”
He pauses before saying, “Don’t get caught.”
For some reason, the thought that he might care brings a warm smile to her face that makes Draco’s heart pick up ever so slightly.
“I won’t.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Fancy seeing you here, L/n.” Y/n looks over to see Draco sitting with his back against a tree near the Black Lake. “Following me now, huh? Can’t say I blame you, I tend to have that effect on people.”
“I’m not following you,” She defends, but he simply rolls his eyes in slight amusement. “Really, I’m not. You just happen to be in my path.”
“Whatever you say, L/n.”
“It’s true!”
“Again, whatever you say.”
Y/n groans and walks past the smug blond to continue her early morning walk to the Black Lake.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Ah, Y/n,” Professor Trelawney greets as she slips into the dark classroom. “I knew I would be seeing you tonight. Come, sit next to Mr Malfoy. Tea’s almost ready.” She gently takes her shoulders and guides her to the blond boy sitting at one of the tables with a smirk on his face. Y/n takes her seat across from him and Trelawney hurries off to the kettle.
“You’re still following me I see.” Draco teases.
“I’m still not following you.”
“Whatever you say, L/n.”
Y/n sighs, but ultimately decides not to argue further.
“So,” She starts a little awkwardly. “what are you doing here?”
“Well, I can’t sleep and I remembered you mentioning coming here for some tea that helps with that, so I decided to try it for myself.” He replies smugly with a smirk on his face, leaning back into his seat. “I assume you’ve come for the same reason.” Y/n nods in confirmation.
A teapot, miniature plates, and teacups levitate over and place themselves into their correct positions before the pair at the table. Little clinking sounds fill the room as a baby blue teacup with chickadees sitting on birch tree branches rests on a forest green plate with white flowers takes its place in front of Y/n as a white teacup with gold accents lands on a matching plate before Draco. The black teapot pours tea halfway into the cups and rests in the middle.
“Drink up, dears, before you are missed.”
~~~~~~~~~~
The breeze blows gently through Y/n’s hair, the chill causing goosebumps to crawl up her arms that are protected by the thick sleeves of her knitted, navy blue jumper. Tucked under one arm is a book she has been reading on and off for the past few days whenever she had the time to read. In her hand, her wand glows a brilliant white light from its tip as it illuminates her path through the castle grounds.
She spots a tree she deems suitable for her desired reading area, close to the castle, yet far enough away as to not easily be seen by a person who holds authority, and makes her way over.
“L/n?” She turns around to see Draco walking toward her.
“Ah, seems like you’re the one following me." Y/n grins teasingly.
“Yeah, whatever. What are you doing here?” She simply takes her book into her free hand and slightly waves it. “Oh. Do you mind if I join you?” He asks.
“I don’t see why not,” Y/n replies and leads him over to where she wanted to sit.
She takes her seat first, sitting crisscross on the grass while Draco watches her confused.
“Aren’t you going to put down a blanket or something? You’ll stain your clothes.”
“Since when did you start caring if my clothes are stained? If I remember correctly, you used a charm in our second year that stained all of my robes an awful shade of orange and my blouses swamp green.”
“That was rather hilarious.” Draco chuckles a bit.
“I looked like a pumpkin.” She grumbles, her pout causes Draco to laugh even harder. “Oh, shut up.”
“Make me.”
Y/n raises her arm and points her wand at him. “Silencio.” The sound of his laughter ceases and he instantly stops. Looking at her with a shocked expression, Draco points to his throat, silently demanding that she undo her spell. “Will you stop laughing?” He quickly nods and she reverses her spell.
“That was cruel. I thought Hufflepuffs are supposed to be nice.”
“Hufflepuffs are hard-working and loyal, being nice is just a stereotype.”
“Touché.”
“Are you going to stand there all night or are you going to sit down?” Y/n asks.
Draco rolls his eyes but sits down none the less. “So, what are you going to read?”
She gazes down at the book in her hands briefly then looks back up at him. “Oh, just a muggle book I got for my birthday from a friend of mine. You wouldn’t be interested.”
“Says who?”
“Says me.”
“Well then, why don’t you read to me, and let’s see if you’re right or not, L/n.”
She lets out a breathy laugh. “I’m pretty sure I am right but suit yourself.” Y/n illuminates her wand once more and opens her book. “Would you like me to start from the beginning or where I left off?”
“Start from the beginning,” He hesitates a moment. “Please.”
A small smile graces her features and Draco can’t help but stare. She starts reading and his eyes linger on her lips as she focuses all of her attention on the book now. He listens attentively at first, then decides to reposition himself so he is now laying on the ground with his head lazily resting on Y/n’s thighs.
She stops reading for a moment and looks down at him. He has his eyes closed and his hands folded on his chest. He looks relaxed. As if there is no other place he would rather be.
“Is that it?” He asks.
“Not quite,” Y/n replies and goes back to reading.
After a while she shifts the book to hold in one hand and uses the other to comb her fingers through his hair, all the while not pausing her reading. Draco hums quietly and allows her to continue, quite enjoying the feeling of how softly she plays with his non-gelled hair.
This continues for another forty minutes until Draco notices she’s stopped reading. He looks up at her quizzically and watches as she looks down at him with a smile.
“It isn’t finished yet, but I think that’s enough for tonight. What do you think so far?” She asks.
“I think you’re wrong.”
Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. “What? What do you mean?”
“I mean I am interested in your muggle book, L/n.”
“Y/n.” She states.
“What?”
“Call me Y/n.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Some of the Slytherins, and even some students from other houses, noticed that Draco doesn’t seem to be as sarcastic - or mean - since his unintentional meetings with Y/n and it confused some of the people he usually spends his time with.
“What’s wrong?” Goyle asks one morning watching as Draco lazily pushes his eggs around on his plate with a fork.
“Nothing,” Draco answers, his gaze shifting over to the Hufflepuff table casually. Crabbe takes notice and turns his head to glance in the general direction he’s looking in.
“What are you looking at?”
“Nothing in particular.”
“Hey,” Goyle comes up with an idea that makes him smirk. “wanna mess with L/n? That usually cheers you up.”
“I don’t need to be cheered up,” Draco gives the boy a cold glare. “and I don’t feel like it. It’s getting old.”
“What about Potter, Weasley, or Granger?” Crabbe suggests.
“Or all three.” Goyle chimes in.
“No. You both can, but I’m just not in the mood.”
The two boys give each other confused glances, but brush it off anyways.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Hey, Y/n! Wait up!” Harry calls as he quickly moves through the crowded hallway, accidentally bumping into a few people as he does so.
“Watch where you’re going, Potter.” Draco seethes as he gets knocked aside by the careless boy. He’d normally just give him an unnoticed icy glare for doing this, but the fact that he wants Y/n’s attention irks him.
“Sorry,” He gives a fake apology without stopping.
Once he reaches her she gives him a confused smile. “Hello, Harry.”
“Hi,” He instantly gets nervous. “I- uh, I need to, um, I need to ask you something,” He says, guiding her over to the side as to not get in too many passerby’s ways.
“What?”
“Uh, do you... Do you have a date for the Yule Ball yet?” He could feel a tightness in his stomach as he waits for her response. He had asked Cho Chang and had been turned down and he needs to ask someone before he’d be going alone.
Asking Y/n was Hermione’s idea. She’d suggested it when he and Ron were stressing over what to do after she’d calmed down after Ron made her feel humiliated. He wasn’t planning on asking her so soon after being rejected, but she’d told him she heard Y/n didn’t have a date and he decided that asking her would be better than asking one of the Patil twins that seemed to be waiting for him to ask one of them.
“No, why?” Y/n asks, almost certain she knows what he is going to say next.
“I was wondering,” He pauses, nervously fiddling with a loose thread on his sleeve. “would you like to go with me? As friends of course.”
“Sure.” Y/n grins, not knowing that there is another boy who was planning on asking her who happened to overhear the conversation and storm away furiously. She might not have seen, but Harry most certainly did and just assumed that Malfoy is being overdramatic and is still mad that he’d accidentally run into him.
“Really?” Harry asks happily.
“Yeah. It sounds like fun. To be completely honest with you, I didn’t think anyone was going to ask me.” She giggles quietly.
“Well, now someone has.” Harry chuckles with her. “Which class are you going to?”
“Charms. How about you?”
“Potions,” He answers gloomily.
“I’ve heard Professor Snape is in a worse mood than usual today, so I’d be careful if I were you.”
“Thanks for the heads up.”
She nods and they both go their separate ways.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Y/n?” Draco asks interrupting her halfway through the sentence she is reading.
“Yes?”
“Can we just talk for a while?” He asks nervously.
“Sure, is there a reason?” She sets her book aside and looks down at him as his head rests comfortably in her lap once more.
“It just seems like we are always together, but we never really talk. Not about ourselves at least. I hardly know anything about you yet we’re together almost every night.” He explains as he folds his hands across his chest.
“Well, what would you like to know about me?”
“Uh... What’s your favourite colour?”
“My favourite colour? That’s what you want to know?” She laughs softly.
His pride takes over as he says, “Yes. That is what I want to know.”
“F/c. What’s yours?”
“Dark green. What’s your favourite food?”
“F/f. What’s your favourite band?”
He tenses up then answers, “I don’t really listen to any bands. The music I listen to is formal and boring.”
“Why do you listen to boring music?”
“I only listen to music my parents play. They never play any unless we are hosting a party for the other pureblood families.”
“I remember going to those.” Y/n sighs. “They were quite boring.”
Draco looks up at her confused. “You used to attend our parties?”
“Yeah. I am a pureblood, remember?”
He thinks for a second. “Oh yeah. How come I don’t remember seeing you then?”
“I used to be really shy, I still am, but not as much as I used to be. Our parents are good friends so they’d invite us and I was forced to go since they thought it’d be best to take me with them instead of leaving me under the care of someone else. They’re a bit overprotective. Well, I used to stand behind them throughout the entire evenings and refuse to leave them to go on my own. Your mother was very sweet and asked me several times over the years if I wanted to meet you and others our age, but I always shook my head no and hid further behind either my mum or dad.”
“I think I would’ve loved to meet you,” Draco responds. “Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, Parkinson, Greengrass, and Macmillan always got on my nerves when they went through the stuff in my room.”
“Were the Weasley’s invited?”
“Never. My father despises them. He says that blood traitors aren’t allowed in our house.”
“Oh. Why do you think you would’ve liked to have met me?”
“Well, the others got on my nerves quite often and I don’t think you would’ve tried to go through my belongings.”
“You’re probably right.”
“You said my mother was sweet?” He changes the subject, trying to avoid delving deeper into the meaning behind his previous words.
“Oh yes. She’d try to make me as comfortable as possible, and looking back on it, I think she gave me cookies. My parents always sat at a particular table and whenever they would go back from mingling with the other adults there would always be a small plate with two cookies and a glass of chocolate milk waiting at my seat. She was always so nice to me. Greeting me, offering to take me to meet you lot, making sure to say goodbye when we left. She was nice and I wish she knew how much I liked her even back then.”
“She probably does. She’s always been welcoming. More so than my father.”
“I never talked to him. Nor did he talk to me. I was always scared of him when I was little because he looked mean. I never saw him smile.”
“It was very rare that he did.”
Y/n pauses her strokes through his hair and furrows her brows slightly. “What do you mean?”
“He doesn’t smile often. He only greets people of higher positions in the ministry than his. He’s always been like that since I can remember. I used to try to make him smile. I did things I thought would impress him, but he’d always say, “Not now, Draco,” and lock himself in his study or go talk with Mother. My mother, on the other hand, always encouraged me to continue doing good and gently scolded me when I did bad. It always seemed like my father only noticed me when I messed up. If we were in public and I dropped something, he’d make me pick it up and wait to yell at me until we got home.”
“That sounds awful.”
“It’s not as bad as I make it sound.”
“No, it’s worse. Parents are supposed to love you and take care of you. I’d rather my parents be overprotective than ignore me.”
“Believe me when I say I completely disagree. At least from my father’s end.”
“I’m sorry.” She says quietly.
“There is no reason for you to be sorry. You haven’t done anything.”
“That’s the thing. I didn’t do anything. Maybe if I wasn’t so shy we would’ve been friends and you could’ve come over to my place and- and... I don’t know. I’m just sorry I didn’t at least try.”
“Well, you never knew any better so I don’t blame you in the slightest.” There is a brief moment of silence before he continues. “Remember that night you found me crying in the classroom?”
“Yeah?”
“My father found out about a bad grade I got on an assignment and sent me a rather unpleasant letter in response. All I want is to make him proud of me, but whatever I do is never enough. That night, things just settled in and I couldn’t hold myself together. I’m alright now, but I guess I know that I’ll never be able to please my father.”
“I’m-”
“If you apologize I’m going to throw you into the lake.” He chuckles, only half-joking.
“Alright.” She raises her hands in the air in defence.
“You know, I didn’t mean for the conversation to go this deep this quickly,”
“Neither did I. Would you like me to continue reading instead?”
“No. I like talking with you. You at least talk back to me with meaningful responses. Talking to Crabbe and Goyle is painfully boring because they only agree with whatever I say and Parkinson always whines about this and that.”
“It’s nice talking to you too. You actually listen and don’t want to constantly talk about boys like Hannah.”
“Speaking of boys,” Y/n groans and Draco chuckles slightly then becomes serious again. “I heard you’re going to the ball with Potter.”
“I am. He asked me a few days ago to go as friends. Nobody else asked me and I’d rather go with a friend than show up alone. I would go with Hannah, but a boy from Ravenclaw asked her a few weeks ago.”
“You could’ve come with me,” He quickly adds, “As friends of course.”
“Are you sure you’d want to risk your reputation and go to the Yule Ball with a Hufflepuff? Besides, I heard you’re taking Pansy anyways.”
“I am, but that’s only because I just don’t want to show up alone. I think she’s really annoying, but I knew that she’d accept my invitation. And I don’t have a problem with you being a Hufflepuff.”
“Really? Then why did you relentlessly bully me when we were younger for that exact reason?”
“To be honest, I never really disliked you. I just thought that my father would be proud that I kept up our superiority over the other houses. I regretted a lot of what I did to you immediately after doing it.”
“I guess I understand that now. Back then I used to wonder why you didn’t like me and what I did to make you dislike me so much. I used to cry over it. I only wanted to be liked, yet you seemed to hate me more than any other person in the whole world.”
“That couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure I do hate some people, my father and Potter being two of them, but I never hated you. You were just so easy to make fun of because you are a pureblood Hufflepuff in a family of Slytherins and you used to cry when I... You know.”
“Why do you hate Harry so much?”
“Don’t ever repeat this, but I was jealous. He gets all the attention from everyone and he got more attention from my father than I ever got. You know the rumours about my father. Well, he thought that Harry brought the downfall of You Know Who and that was all he could think about. That and work. Again, don’t you dare repeat this to anyone. This stays between us.”
“Okay, okay.” She quickly agrees. “I’m sorry that you have to feel that way. You don’t deserve it.” Draco stands and so does Y/n. “What are you doing?” She asks curiously.
He opens his arms. “Can I please have a hug? I’m feeling emotional.”
“Of course.” She goes to wrap her arms around him when he charges forward and picks her up. “What are you doing?!” She whisper-yells.
“I told you if you apologized that I’d throw you in the lake.” He answers calmly.
“Don’t you dare! Put me down!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll put you down.”
“Malfoy, please put me down. Please! I’m begging you.”
“Draco.”
“What?” She paused her struggling.
“Call me Draco.”
“Please don’t throw me in, Draco.”
“Only if you save me a dance at the ball.” He bargains.
“Deal!” Y/n practically shouts.
He immediately sets her down and laughs as she huffs angrily at him. She crosses her arms across her chest.
“Awe, don’t be like that. It was just a joke. I wasn’t actually going to toss you in the lake.”
“It’s not that,” She sighs. “I don’t know how to dance and I don’t want to make a fool of myself in front of everyone. Not only do I apparently have to dance with you, but I have to join Harry in the champion’s dance.” Draco smirks slightly as he holds out his hand. “What are you doing?”
“Teaching you how to dance. Isn’t it obvious?”
~~~~~~~~~~
Y/n checks over herself in the mirror one last time to make sure she looks presentable for the ball and starts to smooth out the nonexistent wrinkles her mind has created.
The night Harry had asked her to go with him, she wrote a letter to her parents explaining what’s happened recently in her life and, of course, mentioning how someone, she didn’t mention Harry’s name, asked her to accompany him to the ball. Once they got the letter, her mother decided to buy Y/n a beautiful dark green dress with silver shoes and accessories to match, packed it in a box, and had the owls fly it to her. Her mother thought that if her daughter wasn’t in Slytherin, she’d at least be wearing the colours on a memorable night.
“Stop that,” Hannah Abbott, one of Y/n’s roommates, and friend, lightly grabbing her shoulders from behind and smiles at her through the mirror. “You look beautiful. I’m sure Harry’s going to drool when he sees you.” She giggles.
“That’s not my intention, but thank you.” Y/n sends her a nervous smile.
“I need to finish getting ready, but I’ll meet you there, yeah?”
“Would you like me to wait for you?” Y/n offers, hoping Hannah will take her up on it since she feels the need to delay the inevitable.
“No, you need to go now or else Harry will have to do the champions’ dance alone.”
“Alright,” Y/n sighs.
She slides on her shoes and heads toward the Great Hall where the dance is being held. Y/n feels like a pile of nerves as she makes her way through the corridors, smiling over at the people she passes. She is so anxious that she doesn’t look nice enough, or that she will slip and fall down either on the stairs or while dancing with the Chosen One, or maybe something worse.
While thinking this, she’d lost track of time and ended up standing right in front of the door.
Y/n takes a shaky breath in, holds her head up high and proud, then pushes open the doors to be met with people turning toward her to see who’s entering, Harry and Draco being two of many.
She softly exhales and starts down the steps, not liking all the attention she is getting from the students either staring at her or whispering about her.
The two boys watch as she descends the stairs. Harry smiling up at her, thankful that she didn’t stand him up, and Draco staring with a subtle red hue dusting his cheeks. His face feels hot and he can’t keep the bashful smile off his face as he watches her.
“She looks so pretty.”
“Is that Y/n?”
“I love her dress!”
“She’d look better if she was smiling.”
“Didn’t Harry ask her to go with him? He’s so lucky.”
“Hey! Stop looking at her, you’re supposed to be paying attention to me!” The shrill and whiny voice of Pansy Parkinson screeches into Draco’s ear.
“Right,” He mutters, hatred bubbling inside of him.
Since the night in the classroom, Draco had been thinking about Y/n. He didn’t know why though and it had bothered him for a while. They hadn’t even said much to each other, but she still lingered in his mind. Maybe it was the fact that she didn’t seem to pity him. Maybe it’s because she didn’t seem to care that he was the one she was there with, even after the years of bullying from him. Maybe it’s because she knew what to say and when to leave him alone. Maybe it was a combination of all of those things, but what stayed in his mind was her glowing smile. He could swear that when she looked back up to him with that smile, she brightened up the room, even if it was just the smallest bit. The thought of her only grew with every time they were alone during the early hours of the morning when everyone should’ve been asleep.
But now he’s stuck with Pansy Parkinson, the Slytherin girl who’s fawned over him since their first year at Hogwarts. Now he has to deal with her instead of spending his night with Y/n. Now he has to dance with her instead of the girl invading his thoughts. Now, he has to watch as Y/n’s eyes land on Harry’s and greets him at the bottom of the stairs with the same smile she’d given him so many nights ago.
“Woah, you look... wow.” Harry smiles at a loss for words.
“Thanks! You look quite wow yourself.” Y/n returns his compliment.
“There you are,” Professor McGonagall sighs out a breath of relief as she finds Harry. “Miss L/n, are you here with Mr Potter?”
“Yes Professor.” She simply replies.
“Both of you come with me.” She orders in a strict tone and Draco sneakily watches as they are led off by the professor, hoping that his date for the night wouldn’t notice him staring at the girl he’d wished to take.
Within minutes, the Champions are walking back into the Great Hall with their partners for the evening and they start the dance.
Harry is very nervous, never having formally danced before the lessons he had to take with the other Gryffindors, and his concentration shows on his face.
“Harry,” Y/n whispers trying to get his attention which stays on his dress shoes. “Harry!” She whispers louder and his head snaps up, one of his feet stepping on one of hers.
“I’m so sorry!” He whispers frantically, but Y/n just laughs it off.
“It’s alright, it was only an accident.” She soothes. “Just take a deep breath and try to calm down. Pretend nobody’s even watching you.”
“They’re not. They’re all watching you.” He points out as he sees the couples standing around the four pairs of dancers, almost every one of them watching Y/n and himself dancing.
“Oh stop, you flatter me.” She rolls her eyes sarcastically with a genuine smile.
“It’s true!” He laughs, suddenly lightening up and starting to dance better with the girl in front of him.
“I’m pretty sure all eyes are on you, Mr Chosen One.” She teases.
Draco watches the boy he despises dance with the girl he can’t keep his envious eyes off of behind a few Beauxbatons girls with Pansy practically hanging off his left arm.
His hate for Harry Potter grows with every second he has his arms around Y/n. At the same time, he feels sad. These two emotions seem to go hand in hand and Draco doesn’t understand why, nor does he care. All he wants is to march up to them and take Y/n away from Potter.
Soon enough more and more people started joining the champions on the dance floor and Draco is pulled out by Pansy. She places her hand on his shoulder and grabs one of his hands with her free one. She waits impatiently for a few moments then demands that he put his hand on her waist.
Looking down at the girl, he realizes just how big of a mistake he made taking her to the dance and steps away.
“No.” He states as he rips his hand away from her tight grip.
“What?” She asks shocked, a few couples glancing curiously their way.
“I said no. I don’t want to dance with you. I don’t even want to be here with you.” He snaps.
“You don’t mean that.”
“Yes, I do!” He shouts at her, gaining even more attention.
Pansy screams in frustration and stomps, away leaving Draco by himself with nobody to stop him from making sure he gets Potter away from his girl.
He weaves his way through the dancers and makes his way over to the two friends dancing and talking.
His palms start to get slightly sweaty, but he’s made it this far and he’s determined to separate them, so he lightly taps Harry’s shoulder. When he turns around, Harry glares at Draco.
“Mind if I cut in?” He asks trying to be as polite as possible as to not scare off the Hufflepuff.
Harry thinks for a moment, about to say no, when he looks down at Y/n and sees her attention focused on the other boy with a cheery grin spreading from ear to ear. He sighs and takes a step back. “I’ll see you later, Y/n.”
“Bye Harry!” She waves him farewell then focuses her attention back on the blond standing in front of her.
“Care to dance?” He asks with a hand stretched out to her.
“I’d love to.” Y/n takes his hand and wraps her other around his neck. He smiles and gently holds onto her waist.
“You look stunning.” Draco breathes.
“And you look quite dashing. I never took you as a bow tie kind of guy, but it suits you.” She points at the white bow tie he’s wearing.
“Thank you.” He smiles.
As the night progresses, the duo doesn’t stop dancing and ignore the whispers and glances they are getting. The longer they dance and chat, the stares and rumours seem to fade.
A few times throughout the evening, guys would come up and ask Y/n for a dance, and every time Draco would give them a look of pure fury and they would walk off.
Finally, the last song is announced and another slow song starts playing. Y/n and Draco find themselves back in the position they were in at the beginning of their night together, only this time Y/n has her head tiredly resting against his chest and they rock side to side instead of taking graceful steps as they had earlier in the evening.
“Tonight was fun.” Y/n shifts her head to gaze up at Draco sending a kaleidoscope of butterflies to erupt in his chest.
“I agree.” He smiles lazily.
They continue dancing, now in comfortable silence.
As the song comes to its end, Draco leans down and kisses the top of her head absentmindedly, not even thinking before his action.
“That’s it?” She asks with a fake pout. When he furrows his brows she removes her arms from where they were placed and she lightly clutches onto the lapels of his jacket and pulls him toward her so she can place a sweet kiss to his lips, not a care in the world if anyone sees them.
The kiss only lasts a few seconds, but it is enough to get Draco’s mind swirling with delight.
All too soon Y/n pulls back, much to the dismay of Draco.
“That’s it?” Draco repeats with a slight smirk trying desperately to maintain his composure in front of the confident girl standing before him, still holding onto his suit jacket.
“For now,” She answers; returning the smirk.
