☆ CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN ☆
☆ SECRET SMILES, HIDDEN KISSES ☆
"the idea of a hidden romantic tryst is scandalous and exciting, sure, but eunbyeol doesn't think she wants scandalous and exciting."
☆☆☆
Draco's happy. Like, really happy.
It's gross.
Pansy watches her housemate from across the common room, her delicate features scrunched into an expression that falls somewhere between revulsion and nausea. He's laughing at something Goyle is saying and he's practically glowing with warmt. She doesn't know what to make of it, really. All she knows is that it's unsettling and mildly disgusting. "Merlin," she mutters to the Greengrass sisters, "What the fuck has gotten into Malfoy?"
Daphne looks up from filing her nails and raises a slim blonde brow. "Maybe he had sex. Like, really good sex. Look at his cheeks, Pansy. That's totally post coital glow."
Astoria wrinkles her nose. "That's gross, Daph."
"You're thirteen, Tori, of course you think sex is gross," Pansy snorts. Astoria opens her mouth to retort that Pansy is only a year and a half older than her, but is cut off. "So who do you think Draco's been shagging?"
"Dunno," Daphne snorts. "Don't care. Moon, maybe? Malfoy's been tripping over his feet around her for ages."
Pansy lets out a loud squawk of laughter before quieting down when Blaise looks in her direction. "Eunbyeol Moon? That bint's frigid as a stick, Daph. She's sixteen and she's never had a boyfriend. She has to be the only girl in our year who hasn't dated anyone. Merlin's beard," Pansy scoffs. "Even Granger's gotten some action before her. Someone will find a cure to lycanthropy before Eunbyeol Moon starts sneaking around in broom closets."
The ever-present expression of boredom washes off Daphne's face, a smirk taking its place. "That was quite the tirade. You sound almost jealous, Pansy, dear."
Pansy scowls. "Fuck off, Daph." She scowls because she isn't jealous. Really. She finds Eunbyeol rather obnoxious, honestly. She kind of hates the girl, actually. She's still sore from the Bat Boogey Hex she was hit with when Umbridge ambushed Harry Potter's (Dumbledore's? Who knows at this point) glorified study group. Besides the hex, though, Eunbyeol is just so polite and straight laced and proper. She has to be hiding something. Pin straight hair, pristine uniform, perfect posture, embarrassingly docile, manners that would put a house elf to shame—it's impossible for a human to be that boring. What does Draco even see in her? Pansy heard Blaise liken Eunbyeol to a fawn once, and the comparison was rather fitting to her. She's a leggy, wide-eyed thing with all the naïvety of an infant. Jealous of Eunbyeol Moon! As if. She voices her thoughts to Daphne and Astoria. The older Greengrass rolls her eyes and lets out a rather unladylike snort.
"Oh please, Pansy. You've been hooking up with Draco for ages, it's only natural to be jealous of the girl he fancies." Pansy grumbles some curse words and turns away to stew in her petulance and Daphne bites back a laugh, turning back to inspecting her nail beds.
Astoria studies the ends of her hair before casting a discreet glance at the Slytherins boys across the room. Draco does look uncharacteristically cheery. It looks off on him—Astoria thinks it's because she's never seen him smile, lest it was out of malice—yet fitting at the same time. Draco Malfoy had a face that looked like it was made to be happy, she decides. She had never really understood his appeal (do the girls of Hogwarts even realize how fit Dean Thomas is?), but when he looks so warm and open and just a little sardonic, she supposes she can see what Pansy sees in him.
☆☆☆
Over the past week, Eunbyeol has been... almost bubbly.
George likes this Eunbyeol, likes her tendency to burst into giggles and the languid way she moves and the way his chest kind of wants to cave in on itself when she smiles.
"You've been in a good mood," he tells her, brow quirked. Umbridge had put him and Fred have been in rather foul moods in comparison, but they've been feeling a little better. Secretly scheming to drop out of school and ruin an evil headmaster's life would lift anyone's sprits, really.
She simply shrugs. They're settled by the Great Lake with Fred, Lee, Terry, and Anthony. Angelina is drilling the Gryffindor team, again. Fred and Terry are snoring against the trunk of a nearby tree, Tony, Lee, and George are tossing a spare Quaffle around, and Eunbyeol is busying herself weaving flowers into a long chain today. "Can't I be in a good mood?"
"Of course you can," George laughs. "I'm just noticing you've been in an especially good mood lately. I'm just curious as to why."
She looks up from her flowers, towards the sky, and smiles. "It's a beautiful day, George," she sighs dreamily. "I love the springtime." George doesn't really know what to say so he stays quiet and just takes in the sight of her. He's going to miss a lot of things when he leaves, but Eunbyeol Moon might be the one part of Hogwarts he misses the most. He considers telling her about his and Fred's plans to leave the school, considers pulling her aside and telling her goodbye and that he'll miss her, considers leaning down and... no. It's not like he'll never see her again, after all. They have the two-way mirrors and owls, and for all his Gryffindor bravado, George's too scared to do anything that would jeopardize his friendship with Eunbyeol.
She weaves the last daisy into her ring while he's lost in thought and scoots closer to loop the necklace over his head. "There," she declares as she adjusts the flowers around his neck. "Everyone deserves flowers, don't you think?" The corners of her lips curve up in a devastatingly beautiful arc and George's chest is doing that thing again, that thing where it almost hurts and makes him feel like one wrong breath could cause a landslide between his lungs. "I'll make one for you next, Lee!"
"Wicked. Could I have a crown instead?" She nods and returns to plucking more flowers from the grass, humming a tuneless melody under her breath that mingles with Fred's snoring. It isn't until much later that George realizes she never gave him a proper answer.
☆☆☆
The question comes far later than Draco expects it, but it comes nonetheless. "What are we?"
They're skiving off prefect rounds again and he's sitting on the floor of a spare classroom. Eunbyeol seems to like these spaces, these rooms that used to be full of life and children from generations past. She likes tracing her fingers along carvings and doodles on the dusty desks and making up stories about the people who had left the marks. There's a dreamy sort of look in her eyes when she peers at the carved wood, and when the moonlight filters through the windows and hits her just so, she looks like a black and white photograph, a ghost from old memories. The sight tugs at Draco's gut a little, makes him feel bittersweet. He kind of likes it, though, the idea of her being a silent wisp of a spirit haunting the halls. She breaks the fantasy when she opens her mouth to ask him that question, though. She straightens up and folds her arms and that three worded question pulls him right back into the present.
"What do you want us to be?" It's a shit reply, he knows, but in all honesty, he doesn't know what they are. He barely even knows what he wants. Could they be dating? Does she want them to be dating?
"I'm not sure yet," she tells him plainly. Fuck. "I've never done this sort of thing before." He doesn't answer for a long while and she stills, waiting.
"A courtship," he finally says, a wry smile dancing at the corner of his mouth. "Nice and proper."
"A courtship," she repeats, feeling one part amused and three parts flustered. Courtships usually end in a betrothal, but that's something to worry about later. She isn't trying to think that far ahead. "Those are only proper with guardian approval, aren't they?"
Draco's smile falters and Eunbyeol watches him carefully, as if any small movement would give her an indication as to what he's thinking. He looks like a statue, all sharp lines and pale skin and flinty eyes. She recognizes the crease between his brow and the way his shoulders are set. He gets like that, all tense and on guard, when he's deep in thought. It's interesting, like he's scared someone will try to attack him while he's paying attention to himself and not his surroundings. He usually doesn't get like this around her, though. A tiny voice in the back of her head wonders if he thinks she'll try to hurt him. Maybe she's reading into it too much.
Draco's conflicted. They've been exchanging secret smiles and hidden kisses in the kitchens and behind statues, but something about the idea of Eunbyeol Moon being his girlfriend—being anyone's girlfriend—seems off. It's like the words don't fit quite right. Draco thinks he likes the secrecy of it all. Even though it wouldn't be taboo (they're both purebloods, his parents would probably be rather happy with this relationship) something about keeping this one good thing a secret—keeping her to himself—delights him. "Can we keep this," Draco makes some vague gesture between the two of them, "A secret?"
Something in her posture crumbles and her face goes a little crestfallen. "A secret?"
"Yeah," Draco nods. Every fiber in his being is screaming at him, saying this is a bad idea no stop bad idea bad idea bad idea but he can't seem to stop. "I mean, your friends wouldn't like this... development, would they?"
"They're my friends," Eunbyeol counters. "They'd understand." Her voice wavers a little and hangs in the air, disappointed and uncertain.
"Would they really? I don't want you and your friends to fight because of me." It's a valid enough concern, Draco thinks, but Eunbyeol disagrees, shaking her head vehemently.
"They're my friends, Draco. They care about me and want me to be happy and if this makes me happy then they'd support me." She shrugs, adding, "They know about my life and how pureblood culture works. They know my romantic options, so to speak. They'd understand, I know they would."
"Maybe," Draco says. It's more of a placating statement than anything because he has a feeling that George Weasley would rather eat a Bludger than make amends with him. "I just don't think it's worth the risk."
Eunbyeol chews on her lip and Draco gets up, takes four strides across the room to her and gathers her in his arms. He can feel her posture sag when he tilts her face up to kiss her, his nose brushing against her's. "I just want what's best for us," he says quietly when he pulls away. "Just wanna keep this one good thing to myself."
"What's best for us?" she repeats, frowning.
"I want you to be happy, Eunbyeol. With your friends and with me," Draco says.
The frown on Eunbyeol's face softens ever so slightly and she sighs. "I," she presses her lips together, hard. "I just don't know, Draco." She wants to share her life with her friends, wants to gossip with Tony and get teased by Fred and Angelina. She doesn't get why Draco's so against the idea, because what's so wrong with wanting to let people know? The idea of a hidden romantic tryst is scandalous and exciting, sure, but Eunbyeol doesn't think she wants scandalous and exciting. She wants to be able to hold someone's hand in public, to not care about what people think for once in her life. He says he wants to keep this one good thing to himself, but Eunbyeol thinks it's rather selfish to keep good things to yourself. But what if this situation is all or nothing? What if she says no and Draco just leaves? Would he do that to her?
"Please, Eunbyeol," Draco pleads quietly. He weaves a hand into her hair and presses another kiss against her mouth, this one more urgent. Her thoughts scatter and melt into an indecipherable jumble. "Please?"
"Okay," she answers almost immediately, eyes a little dazed. "If that's what you want."
a note from startreatment;
things be goin so smoothly then bam! conflict
my pansy/astoria/daphne headcanon is that they are the maddy/cassie/kat trio of hogwarts
someone please save my man george.. he is down bad
eunbyeol is a lil lost and just eager for to be loved and draco is being kind of super toxic??? i have nothing to say abt that tho
in hindsight im now realizing this chapter makes george look like an angel and draco look like a pile of flaming dogshit but its all part of a bigger plan just trust me!!!