Babygirl (SEQUEL to Fuckboy - Draco Malfoy)

17. rebellious streak.

D,

I know it was Pansy. It's more than a hunch.

But I get it.

I don't get why you want to tell everyone, though.

E.

Evan left the note in his potions book, so he didn't find it until the next day as he was leaving for Quidditch practice. It was the last practice they would have before the holidays, so Theo was drilling them hard to make up for their long sabbatical. Draco was completely unfocused. Theo noticed immediately.

"Oi!" Theo called to him, flying over to where he was hovering idly by the empty bleachers.

When Theo reached Draco, he was looking at him strangely. It was if I'm he were a ticking time bomb, or he had been given a death sentence, or he had only months to live.

"What?" Draco snapped in alarm, because Theo was just fucking staring at him.

By now, the entirety of Slytherin house was chattering about his Astronomy Tower shagging, not knowing who the girl had been, but knowing that it had happened. Pansy, having an unbelievably loud mouth and presumably telling all of the upperclass Slytherin girls about it, had undoubtedly mentioned it to Theo as well. Draco waited for the teasing, the congratulatory perverted remarks. Instead, Nott looked at him warily.

"Pansy said you may be in some trouble with Daddy Lucy," Theo said quietly, keeping his voice low as Crabbe and Goyle were just a few yards down.

"Most definitely. But when am I not?" Draco chuckled, turning away and looking out at the mountains.

"Well . . ." Theo said. "If he tries anything . . . you know. . ."

Theo was giving him a knowing look. Draco's light smile dropped, because he knew exactly what he was insinuating.

"Send me an owl," Theo said firmly.

"I won't need to," Draco replied coldly, watching as Blaise zipped by. The gust of wind formed by his passing blew Draco's hair back completely from his face.

"Or just show up," Theo shrugged.

"I'm sure Nott Sr. would love that," Draco scoffed.

"The guest bedroom is quite luxurious, as you'll recall," Theo said. Then he smirked, diffusing the tension. "And bring some goddamn liquor this time, for the love of Merlin."

Draco rolled his eyes, staring at Blaise as he threw the quaffle through the center goal.

"I mean it, Malfoy," Theo threatened, starting to turn around and head back to the goalposts. "Don't be a proud little bitch."

Draco sighed upon Theo's exit, throwing the practice Snitch in the air. He chased after it until the end of practice, eager for the distraction.

That night, when Draco returned to the common room sweaty and exhausted from Theo's Quidditch drills, he slipped another note into Evan's hand. He wrote it hurriedly in the locker room as the others changed. He doubted Theo or Blaise or Crabbe or Goyle knew anything of the monumental decision he had made, right there next to the lockers.

E,

I'm feeling rebellious.

D.

- - -

That next Friday morning, not long after Evan and Draco were caught in the Astronomy Tower, Draco was sprinting down the halls, bumping past unassuming Professors and students as he made a desperate break for the outside air in an all-out sprint.