Light in the Darkness

Chapter 37

They were about 6 moves in, she was prompting him to play a little more aggressively with his queen, so he obliged. Draco, knowing she was a skilled occlumens, decided to jokingly try to poke into her mind to see her chess strategy. She would feel it, but of course he wouldn't be able to see anything. 

"Did you seriously just try to look into my mind, you cheater!" she laughed while punching his arm playfully.

"Well, even looking into my mind won't save you now, bishop to G2"

His jaw dropped as he noticed that she had completely locked in his queen behind her front line, "How did y-, you are brilliant you know that." 

She snapped out of her competitive mode and let out a sweet laugh that warmed Draco's core. He scanned across the board in hopes there was something to salvage, but there was none, she had him completely at her mercy. He looked up at her in complete awe. It took everything in him not to melt down and confess his feelings for her, but he was terrified of being rejected. 

All of his pieces crumbled to dust as he accepted his loss and they made their way over to the couches by the fireplace. "So, Draco, who are you going to the Yule Ball with? I heard Pansy Parkinson and a few others asked you." 

Draco gulped, he had no one to go with. He rejected every girl who had asked him, which was practically the entire Slytherin girl's population. He gave no explanation just a wrinkled nose and a sharp no that would usually cause them to cry. The ones who didn't cry he told his friends to ask, because at least they weren't sensitive cry babies. "Not sure if I'm going with anyone, Blaise and I might go stag. Wouldn't want to lock myself down with a bore." 

Adelaide chuckled at his comment, Draco had girls falling over him left and right, similar to her older brothers, but if not more because Draco was extremely rich. Because he would reject girls all the time, he kind of became more desirable to them somehow. Adelaide hypothesized it had to do with a I-can-fix-him or he'll-change-for-me complex that most girls had. Little did they know that Draco wasn't broken or in need of a change, you had to understand who he was, why he was the way he was, and accept him for him. The best you could do was inspire him to be nicer to people, which Adelaide did. 

"Seriously? I'm sure there are some non-boring girls that would love to go with you."

Draco snorted, "Ah yes let's see. We have Dumb Daphne Greengrass who can't make a potion to save her life, Millicent Bullstrode...I'm not even going to comment, Tracey Davis halfblood no thanks, Painfully pushy Pansy Parkinson, and I'm not going to even think about venturing outside of Slytherin because it only gets worse from there."

Adelaide threw her hand over Draco's mouth as he loudly dissed half the girls who were now awake and in the common room, "Draco! Don't be mean." she hissed.

He threw his hands up in surrender and muffled through her hand, "You brought it up."

She shook her head at him, trying desperately not to laugh, "Well..what about any of the Beauxbatons girls? They're..really pretty." she painfully winced out the last part. A lot of them were part Veela and she honestly hated the idea of him going to the ball with one of them.

No, stop. You're going with a Durmstrang student you can't have any opinions on who he goes with. she scolded herself.

"Oh please, don't even get me started with those half breeds. They're pretty, but only because half of them are part Veela. Make them mad and they turn into some scary freak, absolutely not. Besides, why are you trying to push me to get a date? Stop being nosy." 

She giggled, "Fine fine..I just don't want to see you sitting off to the side all mopey and boring." 

He scoffed in surprise, "Mopey and boring? Don't be ridiculous. I'm going to have a blast with Blaise." he looked over to Blaise who was flirting with an older Slytherin girl, "Isn't that right Blaise?"

Blaise who wasn't paying attention, did not break his attention from the girl, but smiled and put a thumbs up, "Uh sure!" 

Adelaide laughed, "Well you better save me a dance Draco, don't let Blaise hog you all night." 

His heart leapt with joy, he fully expected her to spend the entire night with Sebestyen, that slimy little hungarian with his daddy's precious little dragons and 'oOoH mY sWeEt AdeLaiDe'. He absolutely loathed the Durmstrang student and was counting down the days for him to leave. After what happened with the crazy Italian Durmstrang student who almost killed him, he tried to stay far away from Sebestyen and his friends, but tried to make sure he wasn't alone with Adelaide for too long. 

He was nervous as to whether Adelaide actually liked Sebestyen or not, he couldn't really tell. One thing that was obvious was Sebestyen had a major crush on Adelaide and that was enough for Draco to hate him. 

Draco remembered what he said to Adelaide when she was with Luca and Sebestyen under the tree that day, he felt awful about it and wasn't sure whether to bring it up since Adelaide had seemed to have swept it under the rug. He also recognized that he had done numerous awful things to her and hadn't apologized once, but she still forgave him. She deserved better than that, so in a moment of vulnerability Draco mumbled,

"Um..Addie.."

She noticed Draco's demeanor changed from happy to slightly nervous, he began fidgeting with his rings which he only does when he's anxious, so she tilted her head and faced towards him.

"I was just thinking about what I said to you the other day...about you throwing yourself at guys..and I just wanted to let you know that I didn't mean it and I'm really sorry. I never want to hurt you, I just honestly don't know what overcame me when I said that, but I hope you know I don't think that at all."

This was the first time Draco had ever apologized to her. She was pretty sure it was the first time he had ever apologized in his life. She sat there, completely stunned, unsure of what to say. Of course, she forgave him the moment she found out he took a nasty beating for it, but still for him to apologize was the most monumental thing she had ever experienced. 

Before he could get the wrong idea from the silence and regret apologizing, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. "I know you didn't mean it." she whispered. 

After a long embrace, she pulled back and smiled at him. At that time Viola came rushing in dressed in her winter cloak, "ARE YOU READY TO GO DRESS SHOPPING FOR THE BALL?" she screamed, causing most of the Slytherins to glare at her. One thing to note about Slytherins, was most of them were not morning people, but Viola was a rare exception.

Adelaide couldn't help but laugh at her friend's excitement, "Of course I am! Let me just grab my cloak." she gave Draco one last appreciative smile and made her way with her friend.