Chapter nine: Yule Ball
Elaine was sweating. She felt like all eyes were on her. And they were. She went down the stairs with Robin. She could feel Dracos glair burning right through her. She could feel it.
They got to the end of the stairs and gracefully walked over to a table with Robins friend. It was a Blonde hair boy, and a brunette hair boy with green eyes. She greeted them and she sat down next to the blonde boy.
"Care for a drink?" Robin asked Elaine. She nodded and he strolled off to the punch table. She started to make conversation with the Blond, and turns out his name is "Oliver". Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Luna.
"May i excuse myself? tell Robin i won't be long" Elaine said standing up while Oliver nodded. She made her way to the beautiful Ravenclaw girl. She was wearing her beautiful dress she purchased, with some curls cascading from her bun. She looked gorgeous.
"Merlins sake! You look incredible Luna!" Elaine said with a bright smile towards the girl. "Thank you Elaine. You look gorgeous as well" Luna said. Elaine curled her lips into a big smile.
"Here let me introduce you to my friends" Luna said dragging her towards a table with Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, And Fred and George Weasley. "Luna i don't think that's a good idea-" Elaine was saying.
"Oh shut it" Luna said still dragging Elaine. She then was eye to eye with the one and only, Harry Potter. She felt dearly for him. She wanted to go hug him and tell him how sorry she was. But he would never understand.
"Hello, I'm Elaine" She said towards the people in the table. Everyone introduce themself, even tho Elaine knew who they were. "You look beautiful Hermione" Elaine said trying to break the tension.
Hermione looked very pretty. "Thank you, You look pretty as well" Hermione said as well. "That would be and understatement" Harry blurted out. Elaine cheeks went tinted red.
"He's right. Right Fred?" George said. "Absolutely!" Fred said almost in the exact same voice. "So how do you like Hogwarts so far?" Harry said. "I think it's great, although i still don't have many friends besides Robin and Luna" Elaine said looking down.
"You hear that George?" She doesn't have many friends. Fred said. At first, Elaine thought this was a rude gesture, but her feelings soothed to "Dont worry were friends now" George said smiling.
Elaine gave him a big smile. "Really George?!" Elaine said excited. George's and Fred's face went wide. "Look Fred! She can tell us apart!" George said in excitement. "It's pretty easy" Elaine said.
"We're definitely becoming good friends" George said standing his hand out to Elaine. She gladly shook it before shaking Fred's hand. Elaine thought about her new friendship when she heard Robins voice.
"Ah there you are" Robin said taking Elaines hand. She slightly smiled at him. He stretched his hand out which send Elaine in confusion until he spoke. "Care for a dance Ma' Lady?" He said. Elaine lightly giggled and took his hand.
Robin led her into the dance floor. He took his hand into her waist, while grabbing her other hand in his hand. Elaine grabbed her hands around his shoulders pulling them closer.
They swayed back and forth to the dance floor moving along the rhythm of the song. She gracefully let her guard down. She watched everyone was switching partners by spinning, so Robin did the same to her, spinning her around, and to be met with a different pair of arms.
She felt the arms wrapped around her. She faced towards her partner and she was in shock. it was Draco. "Miss me love?" He asked in a flirty way while dancing with Elaine. "No" Elaine said coldly.
"Mad are we?" He said smirking. "No it's just that being around assholes brings my mood down" Elaine said. "You truly are a slytherin aren't you?" He said lifting her head with his fingers. She moved her head away from him and continued dancing.
"Stop playing Malfoy" Elaine said again. "Playing what?" He tried to act clueless. "Stop trying to act like your innocent" Elaine said coldly. "I don't know what your talking about" He said spinning her.
"He won't make you happy you know" He said sliding her around. "Excuse me?" Elaine said. "Life with people like Robin is Boring. Soon enough, you'll see the real him and will get tired of him. Your life will be absolutely boring. I suggest you don't waste your time Riddle" He said casually.
Elaine went into anger but remained calm. "Your wrong Malfoy. He'll treat me well. My life will be 10 times better with him in it" Elaine said confident. "Just wait" Draco said finally letting go as the song ended.
"I want to talk to you later" Draco said. "I have nothing to talk about. Much less with you" Elaine said strolling away angrily. She met with Robin and gave him a quick smile before walking towards Fred and George with him.
For the rest of the Evening, Elaine had fun. She joked around with Fred and George while finding herself getting closer to Luna and Harry. She still wasn't particularly close with Ron or Hermione but she was getting there.
"Can we leave? I have to talk to you about something" Robin whispered in Elaine ear. She nodded and alerted the others she was leaving before strolling her way with Robin to the Slytherin Dungeons. They stod outside them waiting.
"So.. what did you want to talk about?" Elaine said. "Well, i wanted to say that.. you're like really pretty. and smart. and gorgeous. I really like you Elaine. Would you like to be my girl-" He didn't get to finish due to turning to a voice at the end of the Hallway.
"Well if it isn't the Hufflepuff with Elaine" They both raised and eyebrow at Malfoy. "Go away Malfoy" Elaine said. "Why should i? this looks interesting. It looked like this excuse for a man was about to ask you to be his girlfriend" Draco said.
"Shut it Malfoy. She wants you to leave" Robin said while Draco stod closer to him. "No. She likes me. Not you" Draco said standing so close to Robin.
"Ha! funny joke" Robin said. "Laugh all you want. It's true. She'll never admit it. But she does" Draco said. "She hated you. She'll never like you" Robin said while Elaine stood frozen.
"Face it. She loves me. And you want to know why i'm better than you?" Draco said while Robin came extremely close to him. Elaine stopped being frozen and tried to pull them apart but they wouldn't budge. They both seemed extremely angry.
"Because you'll never be half the man i am" Draco said smirking. "That's it!" Robin said lifting his hand about to punch Draco. Elaine couldn't let him do this. He can't hurt Draco. She couldn't let each other get hurt because of her.
Without thinking, She stood infront of Draco, and Robins fist came in contact with her face. He punched her hard. Blood started pouring out of her nose while Robin tried apologizing over and over.
"Look what you've done!" Draco said screaming at Robin. "I didn't mean to!" Robin said panicking. "I'm so sorry" She heard Robin say. "You better leave! Before i teach you what a strong punch is!" Draco said examining Elaine. Tears came out of Elaines eyes. She's never felt such pain.
Robin started walking away in panick leaving Draco and Elaine alone. Draco let his guard down. "Are you okey?" He said beyond worried. Elaine didn't say anything. "Let's get you inside" He said walking her to the inside of the common room.
He led her to the boys dormitories. She saw 3 boys in their pijamas. "Leave" Draco said gesturing towards them. "But we need to go to sleep!" A boy said. Draco stood closer. "I said leave. And don't come back until next morning. I don't care where you stay. Just leave" He said. They boys quickly scrambled leaving them alone.
Draco sat Elaine down on his bed while he went and grabbed a wet towel. He sat next to her while patting the blood away from her nose. "I can do this you know" Elaine said. "I know" Draco said still patting her nose.
"I'm sorry. This is my fault" He said looking down. Elaine was surprise at his apology. Instead of making a remark of saying how it was Robins fault, he owned up to it. "It's okey. It isn't your fault" Elaine said.
He continued to look down. after a while, he made sure there was no blood left and put the towel away. "You should get some rest" He said opening his drawer. "You can stay here if you'll like" He said handing her a pair of grey sweatpants with one of his black hoodies. "I'll stay. I don't want to deal with girls today" She said grabbing the clothes.
She went into the restroom and quickly changed. The hoodie smelled like him. Mint. He always smelled fresh and minty. Always. It also smelled like overprice cologne. She smiled. It gave her butterflies knowing she had his hoodie.
When she walked out of the restroom, Draco was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a light black t-shirt. It looked like he put a blanket on the floor with a pillow. "I'll sleep on the floor. You can sleep on my bed" Draco said setting down. "You don't have to do that" Elaine said. "It's fine" He said.
He turned the lights off while Elaine took in the smell of Dracos bed. Again, Mint and Cologne. "Goodnight Draco" Elaine said calling him by his first name. "Goodnight Elaine" He said.
Elaine tried to sleep. She couldn't. She twist and turned, but she couldn't. She hesitated, but she eventually said "Draco.." He immediately responded with "mmh?" knowing he was awake. "I cant sleep. Can you lay with me?" She said.
Draco expresión were into shock. He stood up and lightly layed next to the space next to Elaine. He hesitated before wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling her close.
Elaine felt safe in Dracos embrace. She took in the warmth while he cuddled her. She eventually drifted into sleep while the boy she desperately needed layed next to her. She could get used to this.
But the thing she didn't know was, So could he.