The Slytherin Princess - Year Six

January 1997 - February 1997

"Quiet." Professor Snape drawled as he entered the classroom. All the students sat down at their seats and opened their books. Even though Professor Snape had been Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for a few months now, Lucy would always view him as their potions master. "Open your books to chapter fourteen." He said.

Lucy quickly did so and under the heading Magical Artifacts were a list of objects, one of which was the Vanishing Cabinet she had seen in the room of requirement thanks to Draco.

"In my office, for this week only, is the Mirror of Erised. Does anyone wish to explain what this magical artifact does?" Professor Snape asked around the room.

Lucy raised her hand and waited for Snape's eyes to cross hers.

"Miss Parcivall?" He picked her.

"The Mirror or Erised is said to show the deepest desires of our hearts. Some say people were driven mad from looking into the mirror as they were unable to achieve what they truly desire." Lucy explained.

"Correct. Ten points to Slytherin." Professor Snape announced. "As it so happens, headmaster Dumbledore has allowed for this week only, senior students to view the mirror. Take this opportunity now as you will not get another." Professor Snape explained. Lucy looked to the others around her and smiled.

During the class, students went up, one by one into Professor Snape's office with him and were allowed to look into the mirror. Some students came out crying, others with a grin as wide as it could possibly go.

"Mr. Malfoy." Snape called out, interrupting Lucy asking him a question. She watched as he hesitated before making his way to the front of the classroom and up the staircase into Professor Snape's office.

A few minutes after the two emerged. Draco look unbothered as he came and sat back down at his desk. Lucy listened as Professor Snape called up another student.

"So? What did you see?" Lucy asked excitedly to him.

"Oh, nothing exciting." Draco quickly dismissed her question and threw his head back into his book. Lucy frowned in confusion at him.

"Miss Parcivall." Snape called out, causing Lucy to turn and meet his gaze. She stood and walked quietly up to his office.

"Stand in front of the mirror and look into it." Professor Snape explained, standing to the side to let her look into it.

Lucy took a breath and looked into the mirror.

"What do you see?" Professor Snape asked after what felt like a few minutes.

Lucy looked into the mirror and watched patiently as the images around her began to move. A tall, blonde haired and blue-eyed man stood beside her. It was Draco, but he seemed older. His stubble unmissable as he looked down at her and smiled. Lucy looked deeper into the mirror and to the right of them stood two small children. A blonde-haired little boy and a dark haired little girl, gently shoving each other playfully as Lucy and Draco watched them.

"Draco." Lucy whispered. "And some young children. We look happy." Lucy quietly added, before realizing who she was speaking to. She quickly looked up to see Professor Snape's unchanged expression.

"Do not feel ashamed for what you see, Miss Parcivall. Others before you have seen similar." Professor Snape explained, almost nicely. Lucy smiled at him before looking back into the mirror one last time. They really did look happy.

As she sat back down at her desk, she was almost embarrassed to look at Draco, for fear he knew what she saw. A quick glance out of the corner of her eye made her cheeks blush hot with red and she smiled to herself.

"Are you going to tell me what you saw in the mirror?" Lucy asked Draco as they headed back to the common room after class.

"Are you going to tell me what you saw?" He teased. Lucy felt her cheeks blush and quickly averted his gaze.

"No." She quietly answered.

"Well, there you go." Draco replied sighing.

The remainder of the month saw to the return of quidditch matches, house parties and lots of exams and revision.

FEBRUARY 1997

The next month, the sixth-year students were beginning to learn how to apparate, taking lessons on Saturdays.

"Come on, let's go before we're late." Lucy said, dragging Draco, Tina and the others off to their first apparition lesson. 

"So, what did we think?" Tina asked the boys and Lucy after their lesson had ended.

"Wasn't completely horrible." Draco said and Crabbe and Goyle nodded in agreement.

"You seemed to pick it up rather quickly." Lucy said, nudging Draco's shoulder with her own.

"I guess that's what happens when you're as talented and gifted as me." Draco smirked proudly. Lucy shook her head in response and watched him as they walked back to the castle.

Lucy and the others spent the remainder of the afternoon sitting around the Slytherin common room. Pansy and Daphne joined them after a while and during their group conversation Lucy looked over to Draco and noticed him looking uninterested, almost fighting with his own thoughts.

Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, Lucy sat down in the prefect common room, in front of the fire. She had only been sitting for a few minutes when footsteps descending the staircase startled her.

"What are you doing up so late?" Draco called out to her, coming over and sitting beside her.

"Couldn't sleep, you?" She asked, turning her body to face him.

"Same." He whispered back, looking into the fire.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked quietly, noticing his pained expression.

Draco looked over at her and shook his head, leaning back on the couch. "Nothing." He replied.

"I'm worried about you." She said after a few moments of silence. "Is it Him? The Dark Lord?" She whispered.

Draco sighed annoyed. "Leave it alone, I said nothing's wrong." He snapped.

"Please don't get angry with me." She whispered, turning her attention back to the fire.

Draco softened next to her but didn't say anything else. The two of them sat in silence for what felt like hours, until he practically forced her back upstairs and into bed.

─

The following weeks Lucy and the others seemed to do the same thing, classes and homework during the week, quidditch matches and apparition classes Saturdays and drinking the night away at house parties Saturday nights.

She hardly saw anything of Astoria, and while her and Draco were back on good terms again, she sensed he was slowly distancing himself from her.

She tried her best to keep herself around him any chance she had, but she found him disappearing more and more as the month went by.

"Where's Malfoy?" Theo looked over at Lucy as they were sitting in the library.

"Honestly, I'm not sure." She replied, looking to Theo worried. She hoped he wasn't with Astoria but the less she saw of him, the more convinced she was that he was with her instead.