𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐈𝐑𝐋 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐑

the one with the apparition

"Certain moments in my
life were so mundane,
I could hardly believe I
was amidst a war."

•

IT HAD BECOME normal for me to meet up Draco in his dormitory after classes almost everyday. I'd sit with him in classes and, stealthily, he'd brush his cold finger tips on my thighs as the class would go on, raking them up and down, drawing patterns, occasionally taking his fingers far too up under my skirt solely for his amusement.

"I like seeing you flustered," he smirked one night, when I met him in his room, hurriedly unbuttoning my shirt.

"Oh, do you now," I said, dropping my shirt proceeding towards his. My fingers shook too much with the jitters, and I said, "Fuck this," bunching his shirt in my hand, pulling it apart wildly, letting buttons ripping apart, splattering everywhere.

He looked down amusedly, muttering, "Nice," as he lifted me off the ground, setting me on his table after shoving everything on it aside. He went straight to my neck, nibbling lightly.

I liked how he made me feel. I liked how sex didn't hurt anymore like the first time. I liked how I didn't care about everything that was wrong about all these sessions with the infamous Draco Malfoy. It was regular now-to meet him up, undress ourselves, do what we do and then like lie there, naked, skin on skin, entangled in his bedsheets, talking about anything and everything, until it would be too late and I'd sneak back to my room in the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry had given up on figuring out what I do with Draco all the time. Everyone had as it seemed. It was normal now, for us to be together, and walk into breakfast together, and leave the classes together. Draco was exceptionally good at what he did, he always had new tricks up his sleeve to shake me up every time. The first time had been awkward and painful and bumpy. There had been a lot of running commentory between both of us about how to do it and what to do. But then, once that ordeal was over, everything got smoother. And regular. Harry's worst nightmare had come true.

Theo hadn't bothered to figure out what had exactly happened between us before Christmas Break, but it definitely seemed to bother him. I didn't want to tell him but I also couldn't go back to normal with him.

Hermione was determined to find out about Horcruxes, despite me telling everything about it already, and seemed positive aghast when she returned from the restricted section one day.

"I don't understand," she said to me in the Common Room one day. "What's the point of not educating anyone about it!"

"Because," I pointed out, my mind slightly distracted by the blond-haired boy in the dungeons, "it's Dark Magic. And Hogwarts has a tendency to not talk about it."

"But then how will we ever know what we're up against!" she threw up her arms, looking at Ron and Lavender snogging in a corner.

"I told you everything," I said. "And I'm sure Harry told you about what Dumbledore told him too. About me being from the future-"

"Yes," she nodded manically. "Your parents were ingenious, to hide you in the future. It must have taken a very capable time turner."

"Yeah, that fucks things up, doesn't it?" I said. "It changes the course of history now that I'm back."

"Skylar," she said, leaning forward so as to not let anyone hear our conversation. "Is this why you stunned Cedric Diggory out of the championship? Because," she quietened even more, "he was meant to die?"

"Yes," I said. "In the foretold, he was meant to go with Harry to Little Hangelton, and Voldemort would be killing him because he was not needed there."