✓ | RECKLESS AND BRAVE | Draco Malfoy

47 | UITWAAIEN

UITWAAIEN
(v.) to take a break to clear one's head; lit. "to walk in the wind"

TESSA DIDN'T THINK SHE WOULD BE SPENDING THE FIRST SATURDAY OF SUMMER CRASHING A PARTY. It was thirty past six in the evening, which meant that she'd arrived just in time to blend in with the crowd and not attract attention to herself.

     It was the first week of July, an entire month after his birthday which was on the fifth of June — yet the Malfoys decided to arrange his extravagant party today when there was no distractions of school work. And of course — it just so happened to be a masquerade ball where Tessa had sneaked in uninvited.

     It was all thanks to her ability to open doors, really — how else would she have dared to walk right into the enemy's lair without their knowledge. You could say she was either recklessly stupid or a daredevil.

     She pulled her long, black coat tighter around her body to conceal the dress she was wearing, playing it cool by taking a sip of refreshments offered around to the guests in the enormous hall decorated in glittering silver. The men were garbed in black or dark grey dress robes whereas all the women were in marvelous shades of green, silver, or black. It looked like they came fresh out of Pansy Parkinson and her gang of Slytherin friends' closet.

     Speaking of Pansy — Tessa subtly eyed the girl herself through the mask adorning her face. Pansy was dressed in a magnificent silver dress — strangely reminding Tessa of the one she wore to the Yule ball. He was nowhere around Pansy, however, except for Crabbe, Goyle, and her lackeys.

She felt someone sidle up next to her, and she glanced up to see Theo with a goblet in one hand as he kept his calculating gaze scanning the crowd. "Glad to see you made it in time," he mused at her, eyes shifting down to send her a sly grin.

Tessa rolled her eyes and hummed with a nod to his mask. "And what are you supposed to be?"

Theo tapped the end of his intricate mask. "A fox, of course." He glanced down at the dress concealed behind her coat. "And you?"

Tessa heard a witch calling the dancers to attention, and she handed Theo her own goblet as she winked. "You'll find out." With that, she slipped off her coat, carefully draping it on his arm as she strutted away from him. She couldn't stop the roll of her eyes upon hearing him whistle lowly from behind her at the way she sashayed her hips.

There was nothing modest in her sinful dress — the red, velvet fabric clinging to her skin in the elegance it offered. It was much shorter than her Yule ball dress, having it end in flowy material around her knees that was meant to appear as though she were fire itself when she'd spin. It covered up the front well, hanging around her in a halter neckline — but the demureness of it vanished upon seeing the way her bare back was exposed and the flesh of her thigh through the scandalous slit.

If Tessa were to crash a party and gain the attention of the dragon himself — what better way to do so than to dress up as his fire itself.

Fighting off the smirk that tugged on her lips, Tessa continued to saunter passed the crowd of people who had gathered to watch the dance. She took her place down the end of the line of females in position, ready for the music to start. She let her eyes graze down the males and found him almost instantly at the opposite end — his white suit cut close to accentuate his toned body stood out more than enough amidst the other men in dark suits.

He didn't see her yet, he was too busy staring off into the empty space with a bored expression — as though ready for the night to just end. And especially when she'd stripped the dye off her hair, leaving it tumbling down her bare back in its natural blue-black tone — he wouldn't have been able to recognize her right away.