Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 17: chocolate chip

A number of the elves shot nervous glances at Enzo after Lookey's suggestion. Many of them seemed hesitant to leave.

"No, of course you can go to sleep. I don't mean to keep you up," Lorelei said and smiled at all of the House Elves near her. Suddenly, a thought passed over her face. "Oh wait! I almost forgot... These are for all of you."

Lorelei pushed her robes back and removed the wildflowers she had plucked for them the day before. It was just at the end of the season, but their colors were still present. She loved to bring them flowers whenever she could.

Wolby smiled with tears in her eyes as she took the flowers from Lorelei with shaky hands. The kindness of this Hufflepuff girl was something they all adored, and that was why she was easily their favorite student at Hogwarts. Even more than the great Harry Potter. He didn't bring them flowers or candies or read them poems and stories after the long holiday meals. Lorelei always did that on Halloween, and they all couldn't wait to hear what she'd read to them the next day.

After Lorelei straightened her legs out again, Wolby passed out the many wildflowers to those who wanted one, which was most of the elves present. It had taken Lorelei quite a long time to collect enough flowers, but she loved to do it because she knew that it would make them smile with watery eyes. She truly loved nothing in this world more than when she saw the grateful smiles on the House Elves who had cared for her so many lonely nights in her first year.

Lorelei watched with a beaming smile as they all collected their flowers and scurried off to bed. An elf named Winky put some tea out for the two of them before she too scurried off towards the sleeping quarters.

Soon, it became still and quiet in the kitchen, and Lorelei had no other option but to look at Enzo. He was grinning at her with something unfamiliar in his eyes. Something about it made her feel odd and on edge.

Enzo helped hoist Lorelei up onto the counter, and he pulled a chair over to sit in front of her, so that he could face her while they ate the cookies and drank their tea. Lorelei grinned at him and tried to not feel self-conscious that he was seeing her in such a state. She was in her pajamas with a blanket over her shoulders and her hair pulled back into a low bun. To put it simply, she didn't look particularly fantastic at that time of night.

"Tu es très belle comme ça," he said before smiling cheekily and taking a bite from a chocolate chip cookie.

You look beautiful like that.

Lorelei covered her face with her hands and laughed, "You have got to stop saying things like that to me."

"I don't think so. You are just shy, mon amour," Enzo chuckled and scooted slightly closer to her.

"Well, what am I supposed to do about that?" Lorelei sighed and took a bite out of her sugar cookie.

"Stop caring about what others think of you. Their opinion is useless anyway," he suggested with a lopsided smile.

Lorelei looked at him over her cookie while she munched on it. She wished it were that easy for her, but then she had a thought. Why was she trying so hard to impress everyone else when they didn't seem impressed by anything she did? She could never please them, no matter how much she bent over backwards for them.

"You're right. I'm done worrying about their opinions," Lorelei decided. She pointed her cookie at him and said, "They're not me."

"Just try to have fun," Enzo added and ran his fingers through his hair to push it back from his face.

Lorelei stared down at his beautiful green eyes. She had never seen such distinctly green eyes before. Everything about this boy was captivating and confusing to her at once. It was dizzying and nauseating, and she wasn't sure if she liked it all that much, but there was nothing she could do to address these feelings now.

After he finished the last bite of the cookie, Enzo stood up and took another step closer to Lorelei. She was sitting with her legs crossed underneath herself, and her elbows were resting loosely on her knees to allow her to lean forward slightly. When Enzo stood up, she straightened and stared at him. What was he doing?

After another small step towards her, Enzo placed a hand on her cheek, and she blinked rapidly. She had seen enough cheesy Hallmark movies with her Gran at this point to know what was about to happen. She gulped and stared at him.

She didn't even have time to think about what was happening or if she wanted it to happen. Enzo leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She completely froze and didn't even move. Enzo hooked one hand behind her head and the other on her waist to tug her closer.

Lorelei still had her eyes wide open in shock, and she stared straight at Enzo. He was cute, sure, but her heart was racing. She just met him. What would her Gran think? Would Luna be mad at her for this? Would her roommates think less of her for giving her first kiss to a boy she just met? Most overwhelming of all, why was her skin crawling from his stolen touches?

She lifted her hands to his chest to push him away, but his grip on her hips tightened painfully. She was trapped.

A door creaked open and slammed shut immediately after, and Enzo sprung back from Lorelei. It sounded like it was the door that led back into the main hallway, but she couldn't tell if it was that door or the entrance to the elves' sleeping quarters. Either way, she let out a long breath and hopped down from the counter.

"I should probably head back to my dorm. I'm guessing everyone will be back from the Goblet of Fire thing already," Lorelei rambled. She refused to meet Enzo's eyes as she began to straighten some of the plates to keep herself busy.

Don't mention the kiss, don't mention the kiss, please don't mention the kiss.

"I should get back to the carriage. My friends are waiting for me," Enzo said with a tight tone.

"Okay." Lorelei gave him a distracted smile before turning away from him again and placing the plates in the sink. She heard the door close behind Enzo, and her shoulders slowly uncoiled once he was gone. She felt like she could breathe once more, but she didn't understand why she felt this way. What was wrong with her?

"Is Miss Lorelei okay?"

Lorelei jumped and looked down to see Wolby and Lookey standing beside her. She gave them smiles and a big nod. "Yeah, yes. I'm just, uh, cleaning up these plates. Is that okay?"

"No, Miss Lorelei should not clean. Wolby and Lookey will clean. Miss Lorelei should go to bed," Wolby said and gently took Lorelei's hand to lead her to the exit. She had little hobbling steps, but her guiding force was steady in leading Lorelei from the room.

Lorelei found herself back in her dorm without any recollection of her journey, not sure what was making her feel so strange and nauseated. She decided she was just tired and hoped she would wake up the next morning feeling like herself again. She crawled into the bed and passed out almost immediately. Her sleep that night was completely void of dreams.

//