HIS EXCEPTION || Draco Malfoy

T W E L V E

Draco rarely attended classes anymore, almost all of his time now spent trying to fix the cabinet. The only thing that was different was that Ariana had begun spending her free time in the Room of Requirement with him, reading or studying whilst Draco worked on the damn thing.

But he would not let her help.

She was frustrated by this but didn't argue it. She understood his thought process and was just grateful she could be around him more often.

Draco had abandoned researching in books and gone back to using a spell he had attempted to use at the beginning of the school year. Harmonia Nectere Passus. The store owner of Borgin and Burkes, where the other Vanishing Cabinet was kept, had recommended the spell, and Draco had been discouraged when it didn't work after weeks of attempting.

Ariana lay on and old leather couch nearby, watching him try the spell over and over. He would attempt to transfer things to and from the cabinet; inanimate objects would transfer successfully, but when living things, such as insects or reptiles were used, they always returned dead.

With her back up against one of the large couch arms and her knees pulled up in front of her, Ariana used her wand to conjure a handful of small butterflies and watch them flutter around in the air in front of her. Draco was doing his best to hold his temper while she was around, but each failed spell attempt made him more anxious about losing her.

"Did Pansy ask where we went the other evening?" Ariana asked, her chin resting on her knees.

"Repeatedly." Draco replied, his head in the cabinet.

"Did you tell her?"

"I said it was none of her bloody business."

Ariana let out a small laugh, picturing Pansy's face in that moment. "Would've loved to be a fly on the wall for that."

"No, you wouldn't have. She spat out some awful shit about you." He said, leaning on the cabinet to face her. 

She shrugged, genuinely unbothered. "I've had six years of listening to your friends spit out awful shit about me."

"Well, they wouldn't dare in front of me." He moved towards her and sat on the opposite arm of the chair. "Did you tell your friends?"

"That I was kissing Draco Malfoy up in the Owlery? Can you imagine their reactions?" Ariana laughed, shaking her head at the thought of it.

"Not thrilled?" He asked, fiddling with his thumbs and looking away from her. He couldn't blame them.

She realized how her answer probably sounded to him. "That's not it. They would honestly not be overly surprised because they've always told me you and I had a 'thing' for each other. I'd get a lot of 'I told you so's from them."

Draco grinned, his tongue wetting his bottom lip. "Well, I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that."

Snorting and rolling her eyes, Ariana moved to sit on her knees so she could reach forward, planting a quick kiss on his lips. He took a thick strand of her hair and twirled it around his finger, then used it to slowly pull her towards him. He kissed her deeply and slowly, making her head spin.

"You're mean." She whined against his lips.

He let out a short laugh, his breath on her face. "Don't like when I pull your hair?"

Quite the contrary. She was learning things about herself.

"I didn't say that."

Draco felt as if his blood pressure spiked in that moment. He snaked his hand around her neck to the back of her head and gently grabbed a fistful of hair. He tugged on it, pulling her head back and exposing her neck to him. He grinned as he watched her eyes flutter shut, her lips slightly parted. Pressing his lips to the spot just under her jawline, he kissed and nipped his way down her neck, towards her collarbone.