"Hey! Elora!" a voice from behind her called out her name causing the white-haired girl to look back behind to see the Malfoy heir running after her.
Elora stopped in her tracks while holding her books in her arms and turn to look back to see Malfoy running and standing tall before her eyes.
Elora looked up to him expecting him to say something while letting him catch his breath. Students passing by just glanced at them briefly with a curious expression before returning back to their own conversation.
Elora raised both of her eyebrows at him "is there anything that you want to say?"
"nothing", Elora then look at Draco with a frown on her face but then, quickly turn away from him to walk to her next class.
"wait!" Draco said a little too loud and catching the others' interest. Elora's face turned red at the attention and looks they're getting before turning back to the blonde boy with gritted teeth.
"what is wrong-"
"let me walk you to the next class" he says quickly and Elora raised one of her eyebrows at this.
".... are you sick?" Elora muttered slowly.
"huh?" Draco frown at her question, not understand what she means.
"you said you're going to walk me to the next class but we're literally having the same class right now and we are heading there"
"then, shall we walk together?" Draco said and at that moment is when Elora realised how close he's standing in front of her.
"..sure"
They both then walk in silence while heading to the charm class that Slytherin shares with Hufflepuff. Elora look straight in front, not saying anything to start a conversation with Draco besides her. Meanwhile, Draco's mind is running with things that he should say to her to start a conversation. At the end, he settled with
"it's a beautiful day, isn't it?" Draco said with an awkward tone, trying to start a conversation.
"huh?.. Oh yes, it is"
"do you have any plans to do later this evening, after the last period?"
".. No.. I don't think so.. Probably just going to head to the library and get my works done"
"Brilliant." Elora looked up at him with a weird expression on her face. Thinking why would on earth, Draco would ask that.
"I mean.. We can probably spend some time doing something together?" he tried to break the awkwardness while scratching the back of his neck.
"You mean, doing our homework that we're supposed to do?" Elora said simply.
"Yeah, sure. We can do it together in the library, right?"
"... Yes of course.." Elora replied, not knowing what else to say to the blonde boy.
"Uh, well... Have you heard about the nightly activities that Potter has been up to?" Draco being himself, trying to start the conversation with a topic about his long time enemy. However, his question caught Elora off guard as she's gone quiet. Trying to think of a way to make her seems less suspicious and odd.
"Huh? What are you talking about? What activities?" Elora plays dumb while looking up into Draco's eyes, acting as if she really doesn't have a clue about Harry Potter's 'nightly activities'.
"You didn't know? Umbridge has been making Filch to spy on Potter and his followers. They have been acting suspicious lately, especially at nights" Elora frown her eyebrows at the mention of Umbridge.
"What do you mean? Suspicious nightly activities?"
"Yeah! Like, having meet ups somewhere" Draco said, now excited because his conversation with Elora is flowing and apparently his chosen topic had caught the girl's interest.
"somewhere? Is it in Hogwarts?"
"yeah well... The exact location where they're having meet ups is still unknown.. Everytime Filch try to catch them, they'll disappear"
"huh.. That's weird.."
"I know right.. That's why Umbridge is thinking they're plotting something... Perhaps.. To rebel" Draco said slowly, whispering the last sentence in Elora's ear while leaning really close to her.
"That's.. Unreasonable... Why would they want to rebel?"
"Perhaps something that got to do with him almost being expelled from Hogwarts by the ministry"
"wait what?!" Elora said a little too loudly out of shocked and stopped in her tracks, which caught the attention of the passers-by. She quickly came to realization and looked down on her shoes, cheeks heating up in embarrassment.
"excuse me" Elora said quickly and turn to continued her walk to her class while clutching the books tightly to her chest, out of embarrassment with Draco walking in long strides next to her.
Elora turned to Draco again, this time speaking in softer and slower tone "he almost got expelled by the ministry?"
"yeah.. You hadn't heard about it? He casted a Patronus in front of a muggle! My father said, Potter claimed to face Dementors in Little Whinging. Such a ridiculous claims! I'm telling you, he really doesn't make sense! Why would two Dementors be in the muggle world? He was lucky Dumbledore came to save him, otherwise, he would've been locked up in Azkaban. Although I honestly really want to see his face in the front page wearing the Azkaban prisoner's filthy clothes if he really did got locked up" Draco said while snorting at Potter's ridiculous and utterly stupid claims while Elora keeps quiet besides him.
Soon enough, they stand in front of the Charms class and Draco being a gentleman, opened the door for Elora to walk through and getting in himself after her. They both settled at a desk in the middle of the class. Not too near the teacher's desk yet not too far.
~
After the last period they had for the day, Elora and Draco as planned, went to the library on the first floor together to get their homeworks done and left their friends behind in the Slytherin common room. They both chose a table near the Reference Section in the library where they both could easily find a book for their homework.
Elora chose to sit next to a window with a view of the Hogwarts ground while Draco sat right next to her. They settled down the books in their arms onto the table and start their homework of the day right away.
Elora keeps writing and scribbling an essay about the properties of Moonstone and its uses in Potion making on a piece of parchment paper without giving a mind to the boy sitting next to her. Meanwhile, Draco's starting to write a long essay on Giant Wars that was assigned by Professor Binns with his cheek placed on his palm. It might take a few days for him to complete the essay so it's better to start early.
After an hour and a half of doing homework and not talking to each other, Elora is finally done with her Potions essay while Draco is halfway through his history essay. He's already resting the side of his head on his arm which is on the table. He faces the side that's opposite to Elora while watching his own quill moving non-stop. At this point, he doesn't even know what he's writing and he doesn't bother to care about it when his temples are already pounding.
Elora put down her quill into the ink excitedly with a happy smile on her face and immediately roll her parchment paper neatly to be kept into her bag. Once she's tidied up, she stretch both her arms and legs while arching her back on her chair and letting out a silent moan. This careless acts cause her chair to fall backwards. Elora let out a shriek of surprise when she feel her feet get lifted off the ground and her hands trying to grab onto something to prevent her fall in the seconds her chair fell backwards. She closed her eyes to prepare herself for the impacts that's about to come.
Suddenly, her chair stopped mid-air when it almost hit the ground and Elora opened her eyes to see Draco holding the back of her chair with his arm, saving her from hitting her head on the ground and possibly embarrassing herself to the students who are present at the moment.
Elora watches quietly with red tint on her cheeks as Draco help her to pull her chair up back to sitting position. He raised his head up to glance at Elora's embarrassed redden face with her already staring at him and suddenly flick her forehead hard with his fingers.
"Ouch! What was that for!" Elora exclaimed in pain, pulling away her face and rubbing the spot on her forehead.
"that for being such a careless girl" Draco said in tired voice, yet looking at Elora with the most gentle smile ever. Elora returned his soft stare with an annoyed one.
"you're mean. I didn't even asked for that to happen" Elora pout her lips to faux a sulk towards the boy. Draco didn't reply but instead, he keep staring at her with that same soft smile on his face.
Elora rest her cheek on her palm as she return Draco's stare with a soft smile on her face. They both keep staring at each other without uttering any word, enjoying the silence of the library and simply each other's presence. Elora's cheeks start heating up when she realised it's getting too long but nonetheless it was.. Enchanting. And they couldn't stop and break it.
She was mesmerised by Draco's eyes. The look in his eyes.. Have they always been there? The beautiful glint in his grey eyes everytime he looks at her but masked by a mean and playful glint. She doesn't know why she feels pain in her chest, looking into his eyes. For a moment, she could feel what he's feeling as if there's a tie between them. A realization hits her when she realised.. She has always been trapped inside a maze that was created and manipulated by the evils... With Draco.. Even though their paths are different. And now they are meeting in the middle, still trapped in the maze with no way out. At least, they have each other.
'How did I not realised this sooner?' Elora thought.
He was enchanted by Elora's eyes. Staring into her blue irises is a hobby of his. He would notice everything in her eyes everytime. Her face can hide everything she's feeling but not her eyes, never her eyes. Her eyes always reflect whatever she's feeling. Pain, happiness, anger, sorrow, grief... Are all reflect on her eyes and he could feel the pain spreading in his chest as if a string got pulled in his heart when he realised the pain in her eyes. The pain is the only thing she feels at the moment.
'I could see the pain in your eyes' Draco thought as he brushed a strand of her white locks that got strayed away on her serene face.
It feels intimate to be this close to be this close to each other. Still not saying anything, yet everything could be conveyed only by their eyes. The moment of intimacy, however, got interrupted by the squeaking of one of Madam Pince's shoes.
As the librarian prowled the aisles menacingly and getting closer towards Draco and Elora, they both quickly break away their stare which break the connection rope that was between them before. They both hurriedly tidy up their desk, in hope to appear to not anger the librarian.
The steps of her shoes getting closer and closer to their table in the Reference Section, so is her domineering presence and aura that's keep getting stronger by each passing seconds. Soon, they came to face with Madam Pince's herself. The Slytherin duo faces the librarian with books in their arms, returning them back to the shelves where they belong.
Madam Pince look at them with her sharp eyes, squinting a bit to look at them with a frown on her face. However, after inspecting and make sure no harms caused on her precious books, she walked away from their table.
The duo let out a quite sigh of relief when Madam Pince's domineering aura getting far away from them. They both turned their heads to each other with a smile and a stifled laugh as they continued with placing the books back on the shelves.
They walked out the library together, side by side with their bags slung over their shoulders. Draco and Elora walked through the rarely quiet hallway, which is usually packed with students. However, looking at the time, it is common for the hallways to be empty since some classes have ended a while ago so some students are enjoying their free times either in their own House common room or some still have classes around this time.
Draco and Elora walked together without uttering any word to break the peaceful silence around them. They are comfortable with the ambiance surrounding them at the moment. However every moments together shouldn't be wasted, and so Draco took the initiative to start the conversation first.
"where do you see yourself at in 10 years?" Draco started, head turning to Elora on his left to maintain an eye contact while making a conversation.
"25. Older and wiser, hopefully, with a career and doing something that I love, freely" Elora said, looking straight ahead while answering, with a graceful smile on her face. Wishing it would come true, one day, when all of these are over.
"Marriage? Kids?" Draco asked with his eyebrows raised.
"Haven't really thought about it. Although, deep inside, I want to build a family with someone I love. A person who I will never ever stopped loving despite anything and a person who will love all of me. Having and caring for my own children. That would be.. The best thing I could ever ask for" Elora turned her head to Draco while answering this time, with her eyes finally connecting the eye-contact with him. Somehow, it makes her feel embarrassed to answer that question.
"Hmmm.." Draco hums softly as a reply.
"Well, what about you? Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" Elora returned the question back to the Malfoy heir.
"Older" Draco said jokingly with a chuckle leaving his lips after.
"Like you said, wiser and older. And I wish, I'll have my own family with the love of my life. Perhaps, two children would be enough. A boy and a girl" Draco turned his head to look straight ahead with an unusually gentle smile gracing his features.
"In 10 years, I hope I'll be free. To marry the person I love, to build a family, to dance with my wife all day long, to raise my children, to give all of my love to them and grow old together with my wife, the moon of my life" Draco looked back at Elora with that same smile on his face. Returning her stare into her own eyes causing Elora to shy away and look straight ahead.
"Sounds like a fairytale", which is impossible to reach, Elora said but she kept the last sentence to herself.
"Yeah. You don't want that?" Draco asked with a smile that faltered upon hearing the words that left Elora's lips.
"... Uh... Of course... But.. It's not easy" Elora said, voice now getting lower and almost like a hushed whisper in the quiet hallway.
Draco turned away from the melancholic girl and looks ahead "Of course it won't be easy. Life isn't a fairytale, it's not perfect but finding someone whose soul is connected to you from day one will make you feel like the main character in a beautifully written story"
"Do you feel like the main character in a beautifully written story?" a silence followed after Elora voices her question.
And Draco breaks the silence, "...... I haven't.."
"But I do wish, one day, I will found someone who makes me feel that way" that gentle smile appeared on his lips again.
Upon hearing his answer, Elora's lips stretch into a small smile. His answer is so simple, yet, so meaningful for her. She does not know why hearing that makes her feel at ease, as if, a small hole just appeared in her dark little world. A small hole that brings light and hope to find a way out.
Because she always feels she's undeserving of love but he denied that with only his words.
That evening, a normal day out of her whole entire lives, Elora has learnt something meaningful. So simple, yet so meaningful.
That, someone, in this cruel world could turn your life upside down and makes you feel like the happiest person. And that person, was written to have an unbreakable bond to you.
Hey! I'm backk with a new chapter! (hoping this won't be the sudden last lmao) I hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter! Hope you have a great day/night! Take care and stay safe! ❤️