When the next morning rolled around, you had never felt this unlucky in your life. *Why me?* you thought, all throughout your morning routine.
“Someone’s up early,” Bri observed, stepping out of the bathroom in an oversized green towel. “What’s the occasion?”
You shrugged and pulled on your shoes. “There isn’t one.” The clock said 9:40 so you decided to go down. You didn’t want to get down there two early or even on time because you didn’t want to seem like you were looking forward to it. Which you weren’t.
“you’re late.” Malfoy said.
“Yes I am.”
He dismissed Crabbe and Goyle with a shake of his head and lead you through a shortcut to the three broomsticks. Fortunately you didn’t know many people yet at Hogwarts and those who saw you with Malfoy just thought you were another one of his bimbos.
“Here you go,” he said setting a mug of butterbeer and taking a sip from his won you sat in silence for a minute tracing the rim of your glass with your finger. “Alexis…” he paused. You raised your eyes, surprised to hear him call you by your first name. Come to think of it, you hadn’t really heard him call you by your last name either. “Never mind.” He said, shaking his head.
The day went on probably as well as it could have with a jerk like Draco, although that wasn’t saying a whole lot.
“So how was today so far?” Draco asked. “And be honest.” The two of you were strolling on the streets of Hogsmeade back to school. The long way.
“Better than I expected,” you answered truthfully. Once the initial awkwardness and discomfort were out of the way; oh yea, and the antipathy; you had actually kind of gotten along. “really?” he asked, surprised.
“Well, you turned out to be less of a jerk thatn I thought.” You grinned. “can I ask you a question?” you said suddenly serious.
“Shoot.”
“Why did you ask me here?”
He exhaled. “To be honest, I wanted to ask you out,” he admitted, “but I figured, based on first impressions, that tat wouldn’t carry over so well. I thought maybe if you would at least go one place with me and hopefully I would grow on you.”
“After you guilted me into it, of course, though.”
“Oh yea, sorry bout that …out of curiosity, what would have said if I had asked you out?” He bit his lip. *So cute.* “I would’ve said no.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said, disappointed. “Notice the past tense on that one, Draco,” you hinted. He smirked, slightly amused. “out of curiosity, what would you say if I asked you out now?”
“I’d probably say yes.” He walked an inch closer and slipped his fingers in-between yours.
“There’s a rumor that your going out with Malfoy,” Rachael informed you as you stepped out of the shower that evening. “How odd,” you said, avoiding eye contact. “Alexis…”
“Mhmm?”
“You’re not, are you?”
You picked up a comb and ran it through your wet hair, remaining silent. “Lexi, he’s a man-whore.”
“He’s not as bad as you think,” you argued. “Yes he is! Alexis, he only wants one thing and that’s to get into your pants.”
“How would you know?” you asked angrily. “Because it happened to Brianna!” she cried. You got quiet. “What?”
“Two years ago, when I first came here, she was new too so neither of us knew about his reputation. All we knew was that his parents were death eaters and wouldn’t her parents be proud if she was dating a Death Eater’s son, seeing as how she was a Death Eater’s daughter. After two months, he had convinced her that she loved him, so they… you know, and he dumped her afterwards. I had already sworn off being a Death Eater by then and she decided to too.” You sat there thinking. You felt bad for Brianna, really, but this was two years later and a different person and history wasn’t guaranteed to repeat itself. *I think I’ll take my chances.*
You ran into Draco on your way to dinner. “Can I talk to you?” you asked with fake sweetness. He dismissed Crabbe and Goyle and followed you into an out of the way corner. “How do people know that we’re going out?” you asked. “I thought we agreed to keep it secret.”
“Someone probably just saw us coming back together,” he said. “Promise you didn’t tell anyone?” you asked. “Promise.”
“Ok.”
“Can we go eat now?”
“No, I still have one more question for ya,” you said crossing your arms. “what happened with Brianna in fourth year?”
“Aw, c’mon Alex,” he said. “I was 14 and stupid.”
“Not to mention a man-whore.”
“Ouch. Does that bother you? About Bri, I mean?”
“No,” you lied. “Not at all.”
“Hey gorgeous, Draco said, giving you a quick peck on the lips as he sat down beside you. “How come I didn’t see you at breakfast this morning?”
“Probably because I wasn’t there.”
“Har har, where were you?” he asked.
“I woke up a little late.”
“And by ‘a little’ you mean 45 minutes?”
“Naturally.” You both grinned.
“Well anyhow, what are you doing tonight?” he asked.
You shrugged. “I dunno.”
“Trick question and you failed,” he said. “You said you would go to the quidditch game.
“Oh right, I thought you meant besides that.”
“You forgot,” he accused you.
“Of course not,” you lied, knowing full well he didn’t believe it. “I promise I’ll be there.”
“In a cheerleader outfit?”
You rolled your eyes making the hopeful look on his face melt away.
“And the party afterwards?”
You sighed. You had never been the type to go to big parties, especially the ones Draco enjoyed.
“Oh, come on. It won’t be bad. It’s the first one of the season. They get wilder at the end.”
You reluctantly gave in.
“Hey,” you greeted Draco as soon as he stepped into the common room.
“Hey yourself.” He pulled you into his chest and you breathed in his scent, thankful that he had freshened up at least a little after the game.
“You let me down,” you joked. “Thirteen whole minutes to catch the snitch?”
“Yeah, well I was having a bad day,” he boasted.
Throughout the party, friends and admirers strolled over to congratulate him on his big win. Finally, when it was back to just you and him, he bent down to whisper in your ear. “Let me know when you want to go and we can spend a little alone time.”
You giggled and squirmed a bit as his breath tickled you.
“You didn’t bring that cheerleader outfit, but that’s ok. We can do without.”
“Stop it.”
He brought you around to face him. “I’m serious, Lexi. When are we going to?”
You kept your eyes down, trying to think of something to say.
“I love you,” he continued.
“Draco...”
“And I know you love me. So what’s the big deal?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Are you saying you don’t love me?” his eyes were dark and almost dared you to object.
“…yes…”
Without a word, he started over to Blaise, making sure you saw as he grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey and brought it to his lips.
“Three butterbeers, please,” Brianna said politely.
Today was a girls day out for you, Brianna, and Rachael, in other words, their excuse to hang out with just you and not Draco who you were always hanging out with nowadays. They had eventually grown to accept him as your boyfriend but they were still far from liking him. You had a feeling they never would.
“Do did you hear about Grace and Chad?” Rachael asked in a gossipy manner. “Apparently he cheated on her.”
“No! Chad?” Brianna gasped.
“I bet it was that Kaila girl from Ravenclaw,” you said. “He’s been eyeing her since-”
“Alexis? Leeexiii?” Rachael waved her hands in front of your eyes, but you couldn’t look away from the other side of the window where your boyfriend stood, holding hands with some tall blonde girl and laughing.
