Take Me As I Am

Provocatively Dangerous

Ron and Harry spent the day in the backyard, taking a day to themselves to spend time together. Sirius and Remus occompanied them, telling old stories and making snacks. Draco had discovered the basement of the cottage, going through old boxes of Potions and artifacts that had been packed away.

Draco needed time to himself, taking advantage of the silence and darkness of the dusty basement. After about an hour of unboxing curious items and unused potions, he began to think about a few things.

Slow footsteps started coming down the stone spiral staircase.

Draco backed himself behind a stack of boxes, hiding. Wait! Why am I hiding?! The cottage is covered in shields and wards! He felt silly crammed behind the cardboard boxes. "Hello?" He called out.

"Draco?" Seamus questioned. "What are you doing down here in the dark?"

Draco tried to move, his hightops stuck on a sharp edge of something poking out of a box. "I came down here to think...and snoop." He admitted, looking at all the opened boxes.

Seamus squinted. "Can't see much down here." He carefully made his way over.

"Your eyes will adjust in a few minutes, bloody hell I'm stuck!" Draco fussed and pulled at his foot, unable to set his sneaker free.

Seamus climbed over a few smaller boxes, coming to stand by the stack where Draco was caught. "What are you stuck on?" He kneeled down by his foot.

Draco shrugged. "Trying pulling it loose."

Seamus ripped part of the box away, digging in the corner where the piece stuck out. "Oh no wonder!" He pulled the object out, unhooking Draco's shoe.

Draco furrowed his brow, looking at the artifact that Seamus put on the top of the box. "What is that?"

"It's a fancy crystal ball base! It's made out of some sort of wood." Seamus was finally able to see clearly, picking it up. "Looks very old."

Draco looked down at his hightops, sighing in relief when there were no rips. "So where's the ball?" He leaned down to look for it.

"Should be somewhere in here...so many dusty boxes in here!" Seamus opened another one that sat ontop.

"Here it is! It's heavy!" Draco pulled it from the same box, unable to lift it.

"Draco can we talk?" Seamus asked, levitating the large crystal ball and stand onto the shelf behind them with his wand.

Draco pulled two cobweb covered stools from the corner over, dusting them off. "Sure, what's up?"

Seamus sat next to Draco. "What happened the other day?"

Draco wiped his hands on his jeans, getting in a comfortable position on the stool. "That's one of the things I came down here to think about honestly...I'm not entirely sure myself."

Seamus swung his feet below him. "You rejected me." He clasped his fingers together in his lap. "Wanna tell me why?"

"I didn't reject you exactly...its not that I didn't want to." Draco was glad Seamus couldn't see how red his cheeks were. "Since being in an open relationship, I've enjoyed having some fun here and there."