Work Text:
It was one of those moments you couldn’t help but enjoy, even though you felt horrible for doing so. You watched the poor girl standing there, bursting into tears, as Draco told her like he had told several girls before, that what the two of them had was just a one-time thing. It was a scene everyone in the Great Hall was already used to. It was always the same. Draco Malfoy started something with a girl. She fell madly in love with him, while it was just sex, no feelings were involved for him. And after a few days, when he got bored or the girl got too clingy, he let her down again, leaving her with a broken heart.
Even though you felt really sorry for those girls, you couldn’t help but wonder how they still got fooled by him. Everyone knew that Draco just wanted some fun and wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship. He didn’t even deny it himself. Still, they all thought that they might be the one he would fall for, that they might be the one who would change him and still, the only one who fell was the girl herself, even if she assured him at the beginning that she didn’t want a firm relationship herself. You wondered if the girls were just telling him that so he would let them into his dorm or if they actually believed it themselves.
But the fact that it was so predictable and entertaining wasn’t the only reason you secretly enjoyed those periodical dramas. Actually, if it was just for this, you would have probably been annoyed by them just like you would be disgusted by the people who placed bets on how long Draco’s new girl would last. The actual reason that you felt so satisfied whenever Draco dropped the next girl was that you somehow felt a strange attraction to the blond guy yourself, even though you would never admit it to anyone. Especially because you just couldn’t understand why you felt like that either. You knew how much of an idiot he was. Not only the way he played with these girls but also how he always bragged about his family and how he treated other people who he considered not as worthy as himself, which included literally everyone, except maybe some of his friends. He especially aimed for muggle-borns, or, as he referred to them, “mudbloods”. It made you sick whenever you heard this word, knowing that it was a very bad insult. And whenever you heard it you gave the person who was using it your piece of mind. Everyone except Draco. You never dared to do so, in fact, you never dared to speak to him at all. You weren’t sure what it was but whenever you looked into those silvery eyes, you would forget what you wanted to say or do. That led to some very uncomfortable situations, including you stuttering and stumbling, sometimes both at once.
All in all, whenever you were around Draco Malfoy, you behaved like a complete idiot. While normally you would have done anything for him to notice you, in those moments you were just thankful that he never seemed to do so. In fact, you weren’t even sure if he knew your name. The two of you attended some classes together but you had never worked with one another and you weren’t like Hermione, comfortable with sharing your knowledge with the entire class, especially when you knew Draco was only a few meters away from you. Honestly most of the time in the classes both of you visited, you didn’t catch much of the lesson because you were busy admiring him from the distance, watching him whispering with his friends or playing with his stupid rings while he was, in contrast to you, paying attention to what the teacher was saying. Sometimes you thought he might have caught you, staring at him, but if he did so, he never showed you. Luckily, most of your friends excused the fact that you behaved so strange whenever he was around with the fact, that you must have hated him just as much as they did. You never disagreed though. It was better to let them think this than to tell them that you were actually feeling the exact opposite.
Lost in your thoughts you watched the girl run away, followed by some friends, while Draco, totally unimpressed went to his friends, rolling his eyes as they asked him about what had just happened.
“Poor girl, she is probably crying her eyes out now”, you heard Hermione say right next to you, her gaze following the girl who was storming out of the Great Hall.
“It´s her own fault isn’t it?”, Ron munched, while shoving some scrambled eggs into his mouth. “How do they still get fooled by him? I mean not that I would get what they see at him anyways, but after all this time I thought they might have realized he´s just playing games.”
“You don’t want to blame the girls for this, do you?”, Hermione asked with a dangerous undertone in her voice, telling Ron that he should think about what he would say next.
“No, no, but it's just… I mean we´re not back for one week after the summer and he had already found a new victim.”, he mumbled, not daring to disagree with Hermione.
While you listened to your friends, your eyes were still glued on Draco, now laughing at something one of his friends said. Suddenly, he turned around, his eyes met yours. You stared at him for a second, before you recovered from the shock, he had caught you staring, and looked away quickly. You could feel your face burning and be facilitated when Ron brought up a more harmless topic.
“Which class is next?”, he asked. While he and Hermione were heading to astronomy, divination was the first class on your schedule today. You took a look at your watch. You didn’t exactly know where the classroom was this year since it was a different one than the last ones. And considering this aspect, it would probably take you some time to find the room, you were already late. So you grabbed your stuff and got up.
“See you after class.” You waved at your friends and left the Great Hall.
“Damn it.”, you mumbled to yourself.
You didn’t expected it to be this hard to find the classroom. You thought you knew this castle like the back of your hand but somehow, even after all these years, you had never been here before. You thought you had been on the right way until the painting of some boys, maybe ten years old in some sailor suits, had assured you with a sweet smile on their lips that this was definitely not the right way and explained to you where you actually had to go. Looking back, it probably wasn’t a sage decision to trust them. You cursed the boys and also cursed yourself for being so trustworthy. You spin around, hoping to see anything you knew since you had no idea where you were right now.
“Got lost?”, you heard a familiar voice behind you.
You groaned. As if it wasn’t bad enough to get lost in this castle and late to class, of all people Draco Malfoy had to find you. That day might had started good but from there it just got worse . You decided to act as if you didn’t hear him, continuing your way, even if you didn’t know where it would take you. You had just reached the stairhead as he called you out again.
“(Y/n), wait!”
You froze. He knew your name. Draco Malfoy was actually aware of your existence. Even though you weren’t sure if this was a good thing. He was now only a few steps behind you, so you couldn’t pretend as if you didn’t hear him once more. You took a deep breath and turned around.
Draco was now running up the last stairs, slightly out of breath and his cheeks had taken a slightly rosy tone which suited him very well.
“You´re running away from me?”, he asked as he reached you.
Little did he know that this used to be your plan.
“What? No! Why should I..?”, you stuttered and interrupted yourself.
There you went again, making a fool out of yourself. But this time none of your friends were here to help you. Actually, no one was here except Draco and you. He smiled at you, making your heart melt and your cheeks turned red once more.
“Relax, I´m just joking.”
You didn’t answer, just staring at him.
“You´re on your way to divination too, aren’t you?”
“How do you know?”, you asked.
It was the first proper sentence you had ever formed in his presence.
“We´ve been in this class for the last few years together. I know you´re really good at this. Professor Trelawney said you were gifted.”
He talked in a chatty tone, you´ve barely ever heard from him. The way he talked about this made it seem as if what he had just said was no big deal, but it was. At least to you. You could feel your heart fluttering inside your chest at his compliment.
“Didn´t think you´d remember this.”, you mumbled, regretting it the next moment as you didn’t meant to point out the imbalance of popularity between the two of you.
Draco looked at you, narrowing his eyebrows.
“Why would you think so?”, he asked, sounding genuinely interested.
Overstrained by how you should explain this to him, you turned away from him.
“We should really go to class. We´re already late.” You turned around, wanting to leave.
“(Y/n)?”
“What?”
“You know you came from this direction? I think the classroom is this way.”
He pointed to another stair, leading in the opposite direction than the one you intended to go. He curled his lips to a mocking smile as you blushed once more.
“Yeah, right. You should probably lead the way. My sense of orientation is…”
“Non-existent?”, he completed your sentence and you laughed.
“That’s a bit drastic but you might be right.”
Now it was on him to laugh. You admired the way he squeezed his eyes and how he showed his perfectly white teeth. Godric, even his laugh was perfect.
“Did you say something?”
You didn’t just say this out loud, did you?
“Nothing, nothing. Now show me the way before the both of us get detention for not appearing in the class.”
“Well, then follow me Miss (Y/l/n).”
But just as he placed his first foot on the first step, the stair started moving. Quickly he pulled his foot back, not wanting to leave you alone.
“I think we are going to have it your way then.”, he sighed.
You groaned. But secretly you kind of enjoyed the idea of roaming around the castle with Draco for a little bit longer. Even though by now, you would definitely be late.
But just as you turned around, wanting to get on the other stair, it started moving too.
“Bloody hell, this cannot be true”, you cursed, as the stair moved steadily away from you.
You turned around to Draco who was standing right behind you, arms crossed in front of his chest.
“Looks like we will spend some time here.”, he stated and you could have sworn that you had seen a triumphant shimmer in his eyes.
“What do you mean?”, you asked.
“Do you see any other way to get away from here?”, he asked and you looked around. He was right.
The two of you were standing on a small ledge. On one side there was a wall, on one side a bannister and on the other side, there were two gaps, where used to be the stairs.
“But we can´t stay here. Who knows how long it will take until the stairs return?”
You slightly started to panic and Draco seemed to notice.
“Don’t worry, Professor Trelawney will understand this. If she even noticed that we are missing. And if she does, she can look into her crystal ball and will see that we are stuck.”, he chuckled.
Little did he know you weren’t so upset because you would be missing the class. The thought of you and Draco, only the two of you, being stuck here for an indefinite period of time was much worse than this. And the fact that he was so charming to you didn’t make anything better. If he would have ignored you, if he would be mean to you, you might have been able to handle it. But if he was nice to you, wanted to talk to you, you weren’t sure if your heart could take it.
“But there must be a charm to make the stairs come back. Or maybe we can somehow get to the lower floor.”
You went to one of the gaps in the bannister and glanced to the ledge under yours. But there was no way to reach it. Maybe there was a charm you could use but if it would go wrong, you would fall dozens of meters into the depth. Suddenly you felt a hand around your waist, pulling you away from the edge.
“Careful, (Y/n). I don’t want you to fall.”
You turned around, your eyes met Draco´s as he was only standing a few centimetres away from you. You could feel his hot breath on your face, his hand still wrapped around your waist. If he just knew it was already too late. That you already fell. Fell for him.
His silvery eyes were still locked with yours, his hand was drawing some small circles on the fabric of your school uniform. You felt yourself shivering under his touch. Your breath hitched and you quickly pulled away, cheeks reddened. You just prayed he didn’t notice but according to the smile on his face, he did.
“Do I make you nervous, (Y/n)?”, he teased you.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”, you replied, but the fact that your voice was shaky and the red colour on your face darkened, if this was even possible, gave you away.
But even though you were sure Draco didn’t believe you, he acted as if he did, sitting down on the ground, leaning his back at the wall of the castle. His gaze was fixed on you, while you were still standing in the middle of the ledge, looking as if you didn’t really know what to do with yourself; and honestly, you didn’t.
“You want to stand there for the rest of the day?”, Draco asked.
“Hope we won´t be stuck here for that long.”, you countered.
Still, you sad down as well.
“And what are we supposed to do now?”
You didn’t know how long the two of you were sitting on the ledge. All you knew was that you had definitely missed at least the first half of the class. But for now, you didn’t mind at all. All your worries about spending some time alone with the one and only Draco Malfoy disappeared within a few minutes. He was so nice and smart and funny and soon you relaxed around him. Still, you knew that if you wouldn’t have had a crush on him before this incident, you would have definitely had one by now. And a small voice in your head told you that this was probably the worst thing that could have had to happen because if you would ever see him with any other girl, and if it was only one for the night, it would not only break your heart but shatter it into millions of pieces. But for now, you just tried to ignore this feeling and enjoy the time with the handsome boy in front of you.
You were surprised how much he already knew about you. Over all the years he must have had gathered much information about you, even some small details you had almost forgotten yourself, and you wondered how you could have ever thought that this boy didn’t take notice of your existence. All of the sudden it was so easy to talk to him and both of you talked a lot. You chatted about your families your classes, your holidays, even your friends. And as Draco referred to Hermione as a “mudblood” you finally gave him your piece of mind, leaving him subdued and secretly admiring your courage to vouch for your friends.
“But you have to admit that this Potter boy is a real git.”, Draco just said as you heard a grinding noise.
You looked up. One of the stairs was finally returning to your ledge.
“Looks like our involuntary break is over now.”, Draco sighed as he stood up, stretching his stiff limbs before he offered you his hand.
“Unfortunately.”, you added, grabbing it as he pulled you up.
You stumbled slightly, grabbing his arm to restore your balance. He let go of your hand, instead placing it on your waist again. With that little touch, it felt like the spell of the last hour was broken and you unwillingly tensed again. But somehow you were neither able to let go of his arm nor shake off his hand as he caught your gaze.
“Don’t tell me you enjoyed spending time with me.”, he teased.
“Don’t pride yourself on this, Malfoy”, you countered. “It was just a good excuse for missing a class.”
“I did, you know that?”, he asked, his gaze still fixed on yours.
You narrowed your eyes as you looked at him in confusion.
“Did what?”
“Enjoyed spending time with you.”
You could feel your heartbeat quicken.
“Maybe we could do this again some time?”, he asked.
A part of you wanted to scream out a yes immediately but that voice inside your head was warning you to end things right now. To not get closer to him. Before he could actually hurt you. He must have seen the indecisiveness in your eyes because he let go of you immediately, his gaze was now fixed on his shoes.
“You don’t have to. It was just an idea. Probably stupid. Never mind.” He was still avoiding your gaze but the sound of your voice told you that he was hurt. “We should go to class now.”
He turned around, ready to leave. You hesitated for a moment. You would never get a chance like this again. You could either tell him how you felt right now, or you would have to let him go. And you knew that this was something you could never do.
“Draco, wait!”, you called him out.
He obeyed.
“It´s not that I don’t like you. Not even close to this. Actually, it´s the opposite.”, you stuttered.
Draco looked at you again. He didn’t quite seem to understand what you were trying to tell him. So you just continued talking.
“I do like you, Draco. I like you very much. And I would love to… to spend some time with you again, but I don’t think we should.”
You stopped.
“Why is that?”, he asked. “Is it because of your friends? Is it because we´re from different houses? We talked about this, (Y/n). That doesn’t really matter to me if it´s about you and I didn’t think it would matter to you at all.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. It´s just…” How should you tell him? “I don’t want to be just another one of your girls.”
Draco furrowed his eyebrows.
“I don’t think I understand.”
You took a deep breath.
“I have seen it so often, Draco. All those girls. They are falling for you and you break their hearts. And I don’t want this to happen to me. I rather stay away from you completely than end up like them. I don’t want you to have this power over me. I don’t want you to hurt me.”
Draco looked at you as if he tried to process what you had just said. Then he chuckled.
The fact that you had just let your guard down and he reacted like this made your heart ache. You should have known better. You wanted to pass him, finally getting out of this situation as he grabbed you by the wrist.
“I´m sorry, (Y/n). I didn’t mean to laugh.”
You shrugged your shoulders, avoiding his gaze.
“It´s just- I don’t want you to be one of those girls either.”
You looked at him in confusion. Had you misinterpreted the entire situation?
“I mean I don’t want to sleep with you - well, not like that- I mean…Just forget this. What I mean is that I just want to spend some time with you, because I like you, (Y/n) and I would like to get to know you. And I want you to know that I could never hurt you. Because you know, I might… I might got it sweet on you.”
Now it was his turn to redden as he scratched his neck, feeling slightly embarrassed by what he had just said. Your heart skipped a beat as you heard him say these words.
“You are probably saying this to everyone, don’t you?”, you asked, still slightly suspicious.
“No, I swear to Salazar, I have never said this to anyone before. I have always been honest with these girls. If they didn’t listen to me this wasn’t on me. But I never lied to them about what I felt for them. And neither do I lie to you right now.”
He looked at you and his gaze was so honest that you couldn’t help but believe him.
“Just give me a chance. That’s all I´m asking for.”
A small smile crept on your face as he was looking at you hopefully.
“You have something planned for this weekend?”, you asked him. Draco sighed in relief.
“Not yet darling.”, he smiled at you and you felt your cheeks redden again as he called you by this nickname.
“Well, now you do.”, you answered.
“Only if you want to of course.”, you added quickly.
Draco laughed.
“I would love to.”
His gaze got more intense as his eyes darted from your eyes to your lips and back to your eyes as if he was asking you a silent question. An unknown warmth flushed through you but even though it felt amazing, you also felt quite overextended by all those feelings rushing through your body.
You pulled away from Draco and cleared your throat. Draco looked a little bit disappointed but didn’t seem to hold it against you.
“We should probably go to class now before the stairs change their minds again.”
Draco chuckled as he took your hand and pulled you in the direction of the classroom.
“Wouldn’t mind spending some more time with you here.”
“But I do.”, you stated, even though this was a lie and both of you knew it was. “So if we won´t take the stairs I swear to Godric, I will jump!”
Draco laughed as he pulled you down the stairs.
“Why falling down when you can also fall in love?”