his weakness | draco malfoy |

04

"OH, MR. MALFOY," Rosalie's attention quickly got diverted from the dusty files she was trying to sort to Snape's sly voice and Draco's entering figure. "So nice of you to finally join us,"

Malfoy nodded his head briefly, his face holding an unreadable expression. He had bags under his eyes and his face looked a little pale. If she was his friend – or at least, an acquaintance – she would've been worried for him. She wasn't even close to that.

But, she did have to admit that she felt uneasy from looking at his exhausted face.

Once Snape gave Malfoy a task to clean up his desk, he left the classroom. Rosalie sighed in relief, being around the gloomy professor made her very nervous. Malfoy stifled a chuckle from her reaction.

"You know," Rosalie started speaking as she finished sorting the files. She turned to face Draco, who was perched up on the desk. "I never really apologized for yesterday."

Draco looked at her, and for a second, Rosalie admired his grey eyes. "Apologize for what?"

"For, you know, crashing into you. A--And bringing up the past."

When she looked up, Draco was already looking at her with such intensity that she fought not to tremble under his gaze. He chuckled slightly. "You don't have to apologize, Sinclair."

She nodded and sat down on a desk opposite of him. "Oh, and thank you for lying to Professor Snape for me. You didn't have to do that."

"First an apology, now a thank you?" he smirked, his arms were across his chest now. "I must be on a roll today."

"I'm serious," Rosalie playfully rolled her eyes. She would never admit it, but talking with Malfoy was easy so far.

She hopped off the desk and made her way to the bookshelf. She picked up a book that was in the deepest shade of red. She smiled as she dusted it off.

"You fancy dragons?" A voice came from behind her and nearly yelped before she realized it was just Draco.

"Very," she answered, turning around to face him. He grabbed the book from her hands and flicked a couple of pages. "I don't find them that fascinating."

Rosalie gasped, "How can you not like dragons?"

"They destroy everything they see. Oh, and they also breathe fire that could kill you in a second. What's so brilliant about that?" He was growing very amused by her reaction.

"They're just regal and overprotective of their territory!" She shook her head from disbelief. "But, when rightly tamed, they behave good and are very compassionate."

They're kind of like people, she thought to herself.

Draco looked at Rosalie with a smirk on his lips. He thought she looked quite adorable trying to defend the creatures.

"You know what's more amusing?" Rosalie cocked her head at the blonde boy in front of her. "Your name practically means dragon in Latin."

Draco let out a fake gasp that turned into a laugh. Of course he knew what his name meant. And, he actually really liked dragons. He wanted a dragon for his sixth birthday and cried for three days straight when his parents didn't allow it.

He just didn't tell that to Rosalie because he liked seeing her reaction. And, it was very worth it.

"Someone's been spending a lot of time thinking about my name," he teased her, smirking as he saw her face flushing. Rosalie opened her mouth in attempt of a witty comeback but the door of the classroom opened and in came Snape.

"If you don't finish clearing up, I'll be delighted to have you continue next Saturday." He spoke rather slowly, unsatisfied by the two teenagers in front of him. That made both of them scramble back to cleaning in a second.

Rosalie climbed back into the common room later that evening with an exhausted look on her face. She plopped on the couch next to Ginny and Hermione, who were so intent at doing their homework that they hardly took notice of her. Only when she exclaimed loudly of how tired she was did they notice. They almost jumped off the couch.

"Rosalie!" Ginny scowled. "Don't do that again."

"Sorry," she laughed, very amused by their reaction.

"How was detention with the devil?" asked Hermione, averting her gaze from the piece of parchment in front of her to look at Rosalie.

She shrugged, stifling a yawn. "Not as bad as you might think."

"So it was only mildly bad?" Ginny curiously asked, having totally forgotten about her essay by then.

"What I meant is it was actually okay."

"Oh my god," The equilibrium of the common room was destroyed by Ginny's loud voice. "Malfoy's gotten very good with his tactics of destroying Gryffindor. He's actually convinced our poor Rosalie that being stuck in detention with him was okay. Are you sure he didn't put a spell on you?"

"Ginny!" Hermione scolded the ginger haired girl.

"What? I'm just saying that the boy is not to be trusted."

"You sound like Harry," Hermione noted and Ginny groaned, but the slight red shade of her cheeks did not go unnoticed by Rosalie.

She sighed, "I don't think he's that bad. We were talking a lot and we actually had fun annoying Snape."

Ginny and Hermione looked at her, their faces mirroring the same flabbergasted expression.

"What? What did I say?"

"You and Malfoy were talking? A Slytherin and a Gryffindor getting along?" Ginny gaped at her. "Hermione, quickly, check if the girl has a fever!"

Rosalie looked at them, "Maybe I'll be the one to finally bring the rivalry of the two houses down."

"Sure, you could do that," Hermione started, her voice slightly high pitched. "But, with Malfoy? The one Slytherin who loathes Gryffindors more than any other? And especially muggleborns like me and you, Rosalie?"

Rosalie bit her lip. Hermione did have a point, and to say that she didn't think of that when she and Malfoy talked earlier would be a lie.

That Slytherin who up until a few years ago called me a – "

"A mudblood, I know," Rosalie sighed. "It's not a big deal. It was just one time, we'll probably never talk again."

And somehow, that thought bothered her.