Playing with Fire

Chapter fifteen ~ Harry's Mystery

We sat by the fence for a long while and I really did enjoy it. I enjoyed the company of Draco Malfoy. Who would have thought? He wasn't as bad once you sat down with him and knew what kind of questions to ask when. His mind was wrapped inside the bubble his parents had created for him, but I did believe there was a part of him wanting to break out of there – even if it was just a really tiny piece of him.

"You did what?"

I made a grimace. "Don't judge me!"

"But who on earth would ever even think about putting cards from Exploding Snap into a pot to see if there may be a big explosion?" exclaimed Draco, a tiny smile hiding in the corner of his mouth.

"Hey!" I jerked my finger at him. "I was pretending to be a scientist and my experiment worked! That, until my foster mother came home and had to clean up the entire kitchen which had blown into tiny pieces."

He shook his head in disbelief. To my defence, I had only been nine years old and just realised what one might do with different types of magical objects.

"Didn't you ever do anything dumb as a kid?" I challenged.

His face turned a darker shade as the question hit him.

"Me? Never!" He stated but I could see straight through his lie. "Fine! Once I wanted to know what would happen if you stuffed a Bludger with fireworks and well, let's just say my father wasn't happy after I set it lose in the mansion."

I couldn't help but burst out laughing, grabbing my belly as it started hurting from all the laughter. Draco gave me a judgemental look and got up to his feet.

"No!" I gasped between my breaths. "Don't. Leave!"

"And you call me mean," he said and sat back down.

I managed to calm back down after imagining a tiny version of Draco getting his hands on a Bludger and putting fireworks around it. He had probably used Spello-Tape as well, it would have been quite the sight to watch.

"I like this," I admitted. "Talking to you."

A real smile formed on his lips as he watched me from the corner of his eye. "You're not quite bad yourself, Ace."

I was about to ask why he kept calling me Ace when my last name was Acestone, but didn't have the time as sudden steps came calling from behind us. The two of us jumped up from our seat and swept around. Draco's hand covering the spot where his wand was placed inside his jacket and me looking around the source.

"Arielle?" asked Hermione. I relaxed as I realised it was her and Ron and Harry appearing on the road and I jumped over the fence to get to their side.

Draco followed me closely, his face as stern and hateful as always. I prepared for him to cast out a row of insults towards my three friends, but was surprised as he didn't.

"We were gonna head back," said Ron, his eyes not leaving Draco for a second. "Are you coming with us or staying with him?"

Draco opened his mouth to answer but I discreetly elbowed him in the side.

"Behave," I hissed in his direction.

He straightened up, brushed his clothes and gave me a grave grin as he stepped around me and headed towards the road.

"See you later, Ace," he said and winked at me as he passed them.

Right when he disappeared around the corner, the questions came pouring over me.