they were just kids [draco malfoy]

Year 5 - 126

Time had always passed quickly when in the presence of Astrid Ninomae. When spring days became longer, nighttime shorter; when the sun shone, giving way for summer, and the ground and the trees all turned various shades of green, littered over the surface with flowers and buds of different colours - time always passed faster. The same as it always did whenever one was having fun. People made memories, not knowing those would become just that. Only to soon realize it had all passed too quickly.

Sun could never shine forever.

Spring had ended. Flowers had quit blooming. Draco's birthday had passed and the OWLs had too. His nose still hurt from the bat bogey hex the Weaslette had hexed him with the previous night and he still felt embarrassed the Gryffindors had gotten away, taking Umbridge with them and disappearing to Merlin knows where. Nearly the whole following day had passed and nobody had nor seen nor heard of the group of people.

Not that Draco minded... he hoped they had perhaps rolled in a ditch somewhere to where they had run off and stayed there.

The OWLs had come and passed and the platinum blonde already knew all the places he had screwed up in. His only remedy was that Ninomae kept clucking that she was sure she had done great in the potions OWL and he was proud that was somehow also his merit.

It was a Friday afternoon, just after lunch, and Ninomae and Draco were sat in the boys' dorm, lazily leant back against the wall, sat on his bed as they speculated on where the Gryffindors might've gone. For the first time in his life, Draco was dressed in an actual pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and Ninomae kept switching from trying to convince him that it was a brilliant piece of clothing, to laughing at him about how unusual he looked. Those were two of the four gifts she had given the lad for his birthday and she had practically forced him to put those on. It wasn't that Draco didn't like the clothing - the material was soft, and everything felt so free and comfortable - but it also wasn't at all classy and he wouldn't be caught dead walking out of his dorm looking like that. 

Draco listened lazily to Ninomae's theory of how Umbridge had been tied to a tree in the forest -  that's why she hadn't come back - devouring part of the third gift the girl had gotten him - a large pack of different sweets - about which she had joked beforehand that both of them would die of too much sugar consumption. That alone had sparked a lengthy conversation of how candies could be replaced by plants or vegetables, or fruits, charmed to taste like candies so one could have both the health and the sweet taste. Draco had countered that with facts of whys and hows that wouldn't be possible to which the girl had declared she didn't understand any of the Herbology talk he was holding, instead, reverting his attention to giving the lad his last gift.

Draco had told Ninomae he didn't have the book, despite the fact she had nervously spoken about how, having heard of all the books the lad did have in the Malfoy library, he probably already had one. And Draco did have one. He had read it too. But he had told her he didn't, being instantaneously glad for it when he saw her break out into a beaming smile. Yes, Draco Malfoy already had read the case-study criminal law book, but he valued the gift all as if he had actually never had it before. Because Astrid Ninomae had been excited and she had told him it had reminded her of him the second she had seen it. Draco didn't know what it was, but just the thought of any gift from her, no matter how small or stupid even, always filled him with immense joy.

The boy looked back up at Ninomae, her face illuminated by a greenish glow - the reflected sun through the muddy water. The sounds of gentle sloshes filled the room as she had taken a pause from her previous speculation, taking the time to just trail her eyes across the empty room, thinking of something Draco was sure he'd never be able to guess. 

Astrid Ninomae was many things but she certainly wasn't predictable. Now allowing him to think more about the hows and whys, it didn't feel as odd to Draco anymore that he had taken a fancy to the girl. As a child, he had always looked for adventure. With his father's scolding, he had learned not to express his excitement for such trivial things and he had tried to suppress such want. He had grown to love precision and perfection and those were traits that wouldn't leave him anytime soon. But the thrive for adventure was still buried there deep within him. And who was more prone to involve themselves in silly trouble without caring if anyone knew or saw, even less so if they had their opinions on it, than Astrid Ninomae?