the minister, herself ─ d. malfoy

feelings. many of them. - 9

I felt something slightly sharp him my head, and I grabbed it as I yelled in pain. As I looked up from my book, I realized I had walked into the door frame. I heard thudding across the floor before I saw Draco, Blaise and Daphne standing before me. "Love, are you okay?" I nodded, still holding my head. Draco asked Blaise to get me some ice, "before I began bruising," and had me sit down on one of the common room couches. "You do realize you don't have to have your nose stuck in that book until the day of the task, right?" I shook my head, leaning back in the chair as they sat on either side of me, Daphne putting a hand on my shoulder. "I know Daph, but I need this all down and memorized. If I make a mistake, it could cost me my life. It's really serious." They both gave it some thought, looking at the flames going before us in the fireplace. Blaise handed me ice in a plastic bag and a piece of napkin. I wrapped the paper around before placing it near my head. "We know that, Y/n. But you're going to end up ruining your life now, if you don't slow down." I sighed, knowing that Draco was probably right. It wasn't really healthy of me to read this book non-stop. And when I wasn't reading it during the day, Draco had it open at night. While I was asleep, while I was doing my work, and even in the Great Hall during meals. Anyone could see the deep purple bags under his eyes and sense how tired he was. Blaise sat down in front of me and put his hand out. "Okay, let me give the book a go, and maybe I can test you on what you need to know. I know a dragon manual isn't exactly a vocabulary word, but it might help?" Draco rolled his eyes with a scoff, "No, give me the book. I've already been reading it and it makes the most sense to me." I shook my head, handing it to Blaise. "No, that would be great Blaise." As he opened the book, I turned to Draco and added, "If I can't read it, you can't either. I know you're really tired. Maybe if you sleep, I'll lay off the book?" He said no quickly and looked between me and the manual, seeing the dragon on the front fly around, before freezing in it's original position. He finally sighed, looking back at my face. "Fine. But only for an hour, okay? I want to keep reading after that." I nodded, with a smile, seeing him relax for the first time this week, and lean his head onto my shoulder. He fell asleep instantly, and we all began laughing at how quickly he knocked out. "Well," Blaise quipped, "He definitely, won't be waking up in an hour, huh?" I smiled, brushing the hair out of his face. He truly was the perfect guy for me; he smiled in his sleep and his cold skin brushed against mine, feeling weird against my warm shoulder. 

"Stop staring at Malfoy, Y/n." I rolled my eyes at Blaise, yelling 'revenge' after I threw a throw pillow off the couch into his face. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, Blaise. It's not like you don't stare at a certain someone too..." The last part came out in a slightly audible mumble. "Hey, this might be like a weird question, but do you like personally know Professor Snape? Because he acts like he knows you, but you only just got here this year." Blaise chuckled before responding to her, "Oh, but of course she does! He's only her tutor slash uncle slash godfather!" Daphne frowned in confusion, before looking back up to me. "What's he mean?" I smiled warmly at her before confirming the confusing way Blaise had explained my "relation" to him. "Yeah, he's being a little non-descriptive but yeah basically I do know him. He's been in my life since I was born. He's been homeschooling me since I was five and babysat me when Uncle Albus was busy. I've been told he's actually my Godfather, but I wouldn't know for sure, as I've never met my parents. He hasn't told me much about them, either. Other than the fact that my father is dangerous, and not to be trusted. He said I shouldn't ever talk about him. But I guess this was my first time doing so. But I trust you, so please don't tell anyone Daph." She nodded vigorously, shaking her head when she replied, "Of course not! You're my friend, I would never!" I smiled at her and she gave me a side hug that I returned the best I could without waking up or moving Draco.

We sat there for a while, with Blaise reading and reciting sentences from the book and asking me questions to test my comprehension of the text. As with all tests, I passed with flying colors and Blaise sat there for about two hours trying to stump me, without any luck. I played with Draco's hair absentmindedly and he slept, without looking as though he'd wake up anytime soon. Daphne laid on my lap, looking up at my face and squeezing my arms, waiting for a reaction. When I'd flick her, she would chuckle and then continue to do the same thing a few minutes later. Crabbe and Goyle had come to sit with us an hour in and they silently fiddled their thumbs looking bored. Vincent listened to the questions Blaise was asking, looking at the book over his shoulder with an absent-minded grin. Goyle, though, just stared at me. The entire time. And when I felt it was enough, I finally burst out, "What? What are you looking at me for, Goyle?" My eyes widened with annoyance as he looked shocked and confused, like he hadn't expected me to see him doing it. "Um, I- uh. You looked hot, sorry," was what he settled on as he shrugged, with a horrible smile. I scoffed, reaching out to grab the boy, before Daphne and Blaise grabbed my limbs and pushed me back onto the couch. "I think you should probably go, bud. Or I'll hit you instead-" He hopped up after Blaise finished his sentence and Daphne yelled after him "I'll give them all a run for their money! Punch you harder than a-" We both yelled, "No!" at her and we looked between each other before all slightly laughing and leaning back in our seats. "Maybe we should all go to lunch. How does that thing go? You're not you when you're hungry?" Daphne added, "Or tired." I finished, "Actually, exhausted." We all stood up to leave; or rather, they stood and I attempted, when I realized Draco was still sitting next to me. "What do I do with Draco, guys? I don't think we should just leave him here on the couch?"

We decided on carrying him up the stairs, which proved to be a task, considering he was taller than all four of us, and a lot stronger. "Me and Daphne will grab his arms. Guys, get the legs." We all picked up a designated body part and went up the steps towards the guys room. Daphne stumbled on the first step and my leg was shaking by the last, but slowly and steadily, we got him up the steps and into the guy's dorm. I dropped him on his bed with a sigh of relief and dropped onto the bed suddenly so I could sit down. I began heaving, trying to catch my breath fast, knowing I was gonna have to get up again in a minute. I looked down towards him, seeing he was still fast asleep. He was so peaceful, and he looked calm, in a way that he usually never does. "He's so handsome when he's sleeping.." I whispered, brushing the side of his face with my hand. His head moved slightly and so did his mouth. I heard something come out of it and looked back up at Daphne to see if I was crazy. She got closer when he muttered audibly, "Y/n...Y/n..." He turned fully towards me on the bed, and his hand flew to my thigh. My face flushed and I leaned back, hearing Blaise's whistling in the background. I got up and walked away towards the door, saying something about leaving and being hungry as Blaise, Vincent and Daphne laughed at my warm face in the background.

--

We sat down at the Slytherin table directly behind Ginny, the twins and Lee. "Hey guys, how're you doing?" Ginny smiled brightly at me, replying that she was 'great' and asking how I was. We continued to talk in a low tone, leaning against our tables turned to see each other until Daphne tapped me. "Hey, um, Cormac McLaggen is staring at you." I gave her a disgusted look and then turned to see if it was true. Sure enough, the same guy that had been looking at me in the Great Hall the last time was now staring again. Hermione had identified him as "Cormac" and Ginny had identified him as "World-Class Creep." He looked quite handsome, but the way his eyes bore into my head made me feel uncomfortable, weird and nervous. As though he was watching me, his eyes looking places they shouldn't. I didn't realize my hand was shaking until George grabbed it. "Woah, you okay Dumbledore?" I nodded, completely spaced out, looking to the table. I snapped out of it, looking back at him. "Yeah, just weirded out, I guess." He nodded, "Cormac's just a creep. He's nothing to be worried about." I nodded again, hearing but not fully interpreting all that he was saying. "Thanks George." He shrugged with a smile, "Anything I can do to help, beautiful." He winked and I rolled my eyes, laughing as I elbowed him softly in the chest. I put some food on my plate, trying to ignore the looks I felt from his direction. I was halfway into my plate when I heard a thud coming from the opposite end of the table. Looking up, I saw Viktor Krum sitting across from me with an awkward grin. "Um, hi?" He played with his fingers in some weird attempt to become comfortable and finally answered. "Hello. Y/n, correct?" I nodded, and waited for him to continue. "Uh, I wanted to maybe sit here? Me and my friend." He gestured towards a fellow Durmstrang student standing behind him. I recognized him from earlier, the guy I'd thought was cute. He slightly waved with a big grin, his dimples showing. "Hey, do you mind if I sit down as well?" I looked at both of them and saw they were nervous. "Yeah, sure, you can sit." He sat with us and I played with my own fingers under the table, finding much more interest in my food than looking into his eyes.

By just sitting there, he made me increasingly nervous and I fond that I was being awkward, rather than inviting. So, I decided to break the ice by speaking up and interrupting the horrible silence. "So, how are you guys liking Hogwarts? Made any friends?" I looked at Krum when he started speaking in his scruffy accent, "'Ogwarts is alright. I don't like how 'ot it is. But a n-ice school and n-ice people. I met Draco Malfoy and he's my new friend. And o'her people. Like your friend Hermione(Er-my-ne). I heard she's smart. Very pretty." He was very to the point, which made me laugh. "You think? Maybe you should sit with her sometime. I'm sure she'd like that." I chuckled internally, knowing that she would absolutely hate that. "I think it's quite a beautiful place." I looked to Krum's friend that was smiling warmly. "I'm Lucas Romano." He held out his hand in front of me to shake. I returned the gesture, feeling weird as my face went a bit warm for the second time today. We all continued talking until we left lunch. We all had a free period so we decided to go outside, with a few Gryffindors. The twins and Ginny led us outside to a tree near the lake and Ron pulled out the blanket Ginny had brought for them to sit on(before they asked us to join them). Hermione and Harry were working on a summoning spell for the first task. Or so I thought. 

But that wasn't what it seemed like when I saw Harry and Draco from across the courtyard.