Draconian

I'm Actually Impressed

“Hey, I didn’t sign up for dragging sessions.  Then again, I didn’t sign up to be your partner, either,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Fine, you can leave at your will.  However, if you do leave, I’ll have to give you detention,” he retorted.

“What?  You can’t just strut around giving deten – Oh shit,” I totally forgot he was a prefect.  He could make up any excuse about me and leave me alone for four hours with Snape, filing dusty cabinets.  That would be a dreadful waste of four hours.

“Huh, so you finally caught on.  And thought people said you were smart,” he pretended to sigh and then rolled his eyes.  I stifled a laugh; I didn’t want him to think I was laughing at myself.  Then I’d seem even more bizarre.  He didn’t seem as bad as I expected him to be.

“Ok, so I didn’t exactly prepare for this session, so I guess we can just practice transfiguring items in this room,” I glanced at a couple of old telescopes and grandfather clocks.  We could probably use some of the grandfather clocks in our presentation.  Fortunately, Malfoy followed my gaze and nodded. 

“I think we could try transfiguring these into live animals.  Large animals should impress McGonagall even more.  What do you think?”

He just nodded again.  It surprised me to see him act civilly; I half expected him to say something witty at this point. 

“Let’s start small since we need a couple more spells for the larger transfigurations.  I think the ‘Morphio’ spell should do the trick.  Just think of small animals.”

“I’ll think of anything to get me a better grade,” he smirked again.  I instinctively smiled in return.  Wait, what?  I smiled at Draco Malfoy?  I shrugged off my thoughts and actions. 

“Morphio!” I yelled, while flicking my right hand diagonally to the right and then to the left a couple of times quite rapidly.  I mutilated the grandfather clock into a tiny, white, fluffy kitten that strangely reminded me of Draco’s hair.  I looked to my left to see Draco slightly struggling with the spell.  He was flicking his hand in the opposite directions while muttering swear words under his breath. 

I sighed internally.  As much as I wanted avoid contact with him, I really couldn’t help my sudden urge to help him.  Well, my gesture will be worth it in the long run, especially when we present in class.  The image of Malfoy cussing in front of the class seemed hilarious.  I should just leave and walk away.  The idea of abandoning him was so tempting, but then again, our overall grade would suffer. 

I managed to figuratively “unglue” my feet from the ground and amble over to Malfoy’s position.  As I grabbed his right hand, I instinctively pulled away.  His skin burned against mine.  How was his skin so warm whereas mine was ice cold? 

“What?  Are you still afraid of getting a case of the cooties, Silverlake?” he taunted, giving me a quite quizzical look. 

“No, it’s just that you’re really hot,” as soon as the words escaped my lips, I knew I had made a mistake.

“Whoa.  And here I thought you liked Potter.”  His breath brushed against my ear. 

“No, no!” I was quite flustered, “I mean you’re skin is incredibly warm.  Are you sick or something?”

“Oh.  I don’t think so,” Malfoy seemed taken aback.  I wish I hadn’t brought the subject up. 

“Ok, sorry about that.  Anyhow, you’re flicking your hand in the wrong directions.  Move diagonally and then horizontally,” I illustrated by taking his hand and demonstrating the movements.  He practiced in the air for several minutes.  After a while, I thought he had perfected the movements.

“Give it a try.  Think of a small animal!  Anything will do!” I instructed.

“Morphio!” he announced, fully concentrating on the grandfather clock.  I watched as the clock morphed into a small model of a dragon within a couple of seconds.

“Impressive!  Hmm.  Norwegian Ridgeback?  I didn’t think you had it in you,” I extolled him.  Truthfully, I had underestimated Malfoy.

He raised his eyebrows as to question my words. 

“Trust me, I’m not that stupid.  Ok, so we’ll meet here every night before dinner,” he stared into my tawny eyes.  His icy eyes seemed to melt, and I traveled some amount of fathoms into them.  He cleared his throat, and I snapped back to reality.

“You’re really weird, you know that, Silverlake?” he said, tilting his head and approaching me.  I felt my heart pounding against my chest extremely rapidly.  What was happening?  What the hell was happening? 

“YeahIknowthat. Seeyoutomorrow,” I produced a word vomit, and sprinted down the steps, refusing to gaze back in his direction although I could feel his eyes staring me down. 

Draco Malfoy made me uncomfortable.  Yes, that was it.  He made me feel tingly and shocked inside.  Whereas Harry’s presence evoked warmth and mushy feelings, I felt distant and estranged with Draco. 

The next two weeks passed by quite quickly, as I was caught up in the project as well as my numerous other subjects.  I made the night sessions as straightforward as possible and desperately tried to avoid much conversation with Malfoy. 

I also began studying with Hermione every day, and we instantly became close friends.  When I had been in New Zealand, I had adjusted to Muggle life, even though my family consisted of purebloods.  I went to a small wizarding school on the outskirts of my town, but I spent time with Muggles on the weekends. I could talk to Hermione about practically anything, from the Muggle to the Wizard world. 

Ginny and I were also becoming close friends, partly because of the fact we were cousins.  She gave me tips on relationships, even though I blushed furiously every time she brought the subject up. 

“So you put your hand here, while he…” she advised, and I felt tempted to take notes.

As a consequence of spending time with Hermione, I was compelled to spend time with Ron and Harry.  I usually joked around with Ron and Harry, making snarky comments about some of the classes we shared.   

As for fellow Ravenclaws, I found myself chatting away with Luna during the wee hours of the night (I had a copious amount of homework every night, so I usually finished it at 12 or 1 a.m.) in the Ravenclaw common room.  I assumed Luna just wanted to keep me company, or she just had a severe case of insomnia.  Both of us discussed art since we both shared a love for drawing and painting people.  Sometimes we just sat there, meticulously sketching in our notebooks without saying a word.

I only found myself talking to Padma Patil during class since I went to sleep several hours after her.  We were often paired together in Potions and a couple of other classes.  I found her to be a much more compatible partner than Draco.  At least she didn’t have a quip ready for every comment I made. 

Speaking of Draco, one day before our Transfiguration presentation, I thought all our hard work might have fallen down the drain. 

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All characters except my OC Ami Silverlake belong to J.K. Rowling.

Ok, I don't know if "Morphio" is an actual spell (I've read all the books), but let's just pretend that it is...