It Started on the Train

10

In 30 minutes, he's lost twice.

"Good game."

"You only won because I let you."

"Uh huh. And why would you ever let me win?"

"Because I'm a gentleman."

"Sure. Alright then gentleman, let's play again, but this time, don't let me win."

"Alright then."

Ten more minutes later, and I won again.

"You were saying Mr. gentleman?"

"Oh, shut it."

"Mhm. That's what I thought."

We start putting away the pieces and I am still glowing from my victory.

"You know, you wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for your ego." I say, standing up and setting the chess set on a table.

"How so?" He asks, as he stands up too.

"Well, you always think you are better than you are. You make risky moves and sometimes they work, and you take my queen, or rook, or bishop. But then you leave your own queen or king to be easily taken. You just miss them."

"Shut up Hale." He says playfully.

Without thinking, I reply "Make me."

Draco looks at me and in a moment I am pinned against the wall.

He is so close to me.

I suddenly realize I'm not breathing.

He chuckles, his breath tickling my ear, and steps back.

I can breath again once we are farther apart.

I start laughing. He joins in. I don't know why we're laughing. Nothing funny happened.

...........................................................................

After that, I found an old card set and taught Draco how to play 5 card draw.

He wasn't bad once he learned all the rules.

We've been playing for a little while, and now it's 6.

"Do you want to find some dinner?" Draco asks.

"Sure."

He leads me to the kitchen. We can hear whispered voices coming from the room next to us. We both try to ignore it.

Draco grabs some food and we go back to his room.

We ended up using what he brought to make sandwiches.

"What is that monstrosity you made?" He asks, chuckling.

"What?" I look at my sandwich.

"What is on that thing?"

"It's deli turkey, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, kettle crisps, and mustard."

"That sounds horrible."

"Oh yeah? What's yours?"

"Ham and mayonnaise."

"That is so simple and boring."

"At least it doesn't look like leftovers someone put onto bread."

"You can't make fun of my sandwich when yours has mayonnaise on it. Mayonnaise is disgusting."

"Says the girl with crisps on her sandwich."

"It's better that way!"

"Uh huh. Sure."

"It is!"

"But doesn't the tomatoes make them soggy?"

"Not if you layer it correctly. I have the tomatoes and crisps as far as possible away from each other."

"It still sounds like a horrible combination."

"It's my sandwich."

"You're right. Feel free to eat that mess."

"I will. Enjoy your boring sandwich of basic."

"I will."

We continued to argue lightheartedly over sandwiches until we had finished them.

"Well, it is close to time we should probably sleep. Do you want me to show you to your room?"

"Sure."

He held the door open for me and followed out, then led the way down a hall.

As we were walking I saw a large window. It was almost dark, and it was pouring rain.

"Malfoy, look! It's raining!"

"Yeah." He says looking at me.

He sees the mischievous smile on my face.

"You want to go out there don't you Hale."

"Yep."

"Alright. Let's go." He says with a smirk.

He grabs my hand and takes off. We are running side by side down the hall. He stops at a door and opens it.

We walk through it into the rain.

I start running.

There is something about running in the rain that makes everything seem peaceful.

Draco takes off after me.

I stop at a big willow tree and step under the vine like branches. The rain is coming down in drops through the tree.

Draco ducks in.

"Rain is so beautiful." I say, marveling at how water looks dripping through the branches.

"It is."

"It sounds almost like music."

"May I have this dance?" He asks playfully.

"Of course." I say laughing.

I put one hands on his shoulders as he puts his on my waist.

We turn slowly around, our clothes completely soaked.

This moment was perfect.

We sway together in the rain for who knows how long.

I wish that this beautiful moment could last forever.

However, it was dark out, and I knew if we didn't get inside soon we wouldn't be able to see our way back.

Draco seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"Darling, we better get inside soon."

"Yeah."

So we begin to walk back hand in hand.

We walk back inside dripping.

Draco leads me to a room near a big window and a statue of an old woman, and opens the door.

"This is going to be your room while you stay here."

The room was beautiful.

"Oh, perfect. It looks like my mother found some clothes for you." He says pointing at the pile sitting at the side of the bed.

"There is a bathroom right there you can change in." He points to a door next to a painting of a bird.

"Ok, thank you."

I picked up the pile of clothes and went into the bathroom.

I put on the muggle clothes Narcissa brought. It was a plain black t-shirt and loose sweatpants that had the softest fabric.

I walk out of the bathroom and Draco is examining a painting on the wall.

He turns around when he hears the door open.

"I have to go back and change too. Do you want to come with me and we can stay up a bit later, or do you want to go ahead to sleep?"

"I'm not really tired, and I think there is plenty of time to beat you at chess a few more times before we go to sleep."