Best Friends Don't Fall in Love, Draco Malfoy

I said good night to Draco and we parted ways up into our seperate dorms. I hadn't seen my friends Violet and Delilah until they surprised me in our room.

"Jilly!" They both cried in unison as they ran over to give me an awkward hug.

"I've missed you guys so much! How were your summers?" I asked while they squeezed me.

"Well, I've got loads to tell you about my trip to Australia! And photos to show you, too!" Delilah screamed.

"And my summer was just so boring without you both! But I've got myself a new boyfriend that I want to tell you about, Jilly!" Violet shouted even louder than Delilah. Her dark brown choppy hair was falling into her blue eyes.

"Wow, sounds like you guys had a great time!" I smiled.

"What about your summer, doll?" Delilah asked me as I sat down on my bed and opened my luggage.

"It was alright," I started, "just tell me about your summers first."

"Okay, well..." She took a deep breath. "Australia is the strangest place I've ever been. It's full of desert land and weird animals and reptiles. But we stayed in a beautiful beach house right by the water! It was magnificent. I met these incredible boys there. Gosh, they were to die for! Here, let me show you," Delilah grabbed an evelope full of pictures from her bag and went through them like nobody's business. She explained each and every detail that she possibly could before moving on to the next.

"That's truly amazing, Lilah," I said while patting her shoulder, "I wish I could have gone!"

She nodded and put the pictures back into her bag. Violet pushed her out of the way and sat next to me on my bed and faced me.

"Let me tell you about my gorgeous boyfriend that I picked up this summer!" She started extatically.

"Well, his name is Mason Abbott and he's the Chaser on the Ravenclaw team. We met in a coffee shop in my town and he told me that he liked my smile. We've been in lust ever since!" She swooned, holding her hand over her heart and fell backwards on my bed.

I looked at Delilah and she rolled her eyes dramatically and I snickered. Luckily, Violet didn't notice.

"I'm happy for you, Vi," I said while helping her sit upright again.

"Now will you tell us about your summer, Jilly?" Delilah asked as she sat on the other side of me on my bed.

I sighed and shrugged my shoulders, "nothing exciting happened, guys, I hate to tell you."

"Oh come on, we know that's a crock of nonesense," Violet said jokingly.

"Yeah, something had to have happened!" Delilah chimed in.

"I guess there are a few things I could tell you..." I admitted.

So, for the rest of the remaining hour I told them about the Dark Lord's visit, mine and Draco's Quidditch match and who won, our outings and how I got Sasha, how Pansy annoyed me like no other time, and I also told them about how I got sick two days ago and didn't know the cause. But I didn't tell them about my growing feelings for Draco or my nightmares about my parents. I didn't want too many questions being asked or too much drama at the start of the school year. I would tell them those things at the right times.

After my story was over, the night was not young anymore and my friends retired off to bed.

As for the rest of the night, I was too anxious about starting school the next day so I tossed and turned in the darkness and couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. Finally, I sat up in bed and looked out the window. The moon had a large glowing ring around it and it lit up the night sky. I pet Sasha on the head, put a robe on then went out the door of our room.

I ran down the stairs into the Common Room where a fire was blazing. I warmed myself by the fire for a minute then decided to go up the stairs that lead to the boy's side of the house.

I quietly knocked on Draco's door and waited outside for a response. When I didn't get one, I knocked a little louder. Finally, the door slowly creeked open and Draco's head popped out, his face showing his surprise.

"What are you doing up here, Jilly?" He asked me while opening the door to let me in so no one would see me.

"I can't sleep; I have the before-school jitters. Can I stay in here with you?" I asked him.

He smirked and said I could stay with him. He headed back over to his bed and got under the covers. I followed him and got in on the other side. I was thankful that he pulled some strings and got a bedroom to himself. Otherwise, this obviously wouldn't be happening.

He laid on his side facing me with his head on a pillow and I did the exact same. I could hardly see his face because his window was behind him, but I knew he could see mine almost as bright as day. I just smiled at him, touched his nose lightly with the tip of my finger and closed my eyes.

Draco woke me up early to go back to my room so I could get ready for school and not be seen coming out of his room. I lazily rolled out of his warm bed and drug my feet out the door. I remembered having dreams last night, but they weren't clear in my mind any longer than they exisited. I loved to dream, but I hated nightmares.

I opened my door and it was still quiet inside. I looked on my bed and Sasha was stretching out on top of it. I smiled and made my way into the bathroom to shower quickly before I got ready. I turned the water to hot and let the steam encompass my body and diminish away all impurities. I wished I could wash away bad thoughts, emotions and memories as easily as dirt and grime. I stepped out of the shower and dried myself. I heard voices on the other side of the bathroom door and I knew the girls were awake. Just as I was about to open the door, it opened for me. Delilah stood on the other side, smiling.

"Morning, Jills," she said as she passed me and went into the one of the three showers that she called her own.

"Good morning, girls," I said to both of them.

Violet was the one who wasn't much of a morning person, and it certainly showed. Her hair was a lovely mess: knots of hair piled on top of her head. She slouched as she mumbled something and went into the bathroom herself and closed the door behind her. I laughed and went over to my trunk and pulled out a clean uniform for the day.

After I put it on, I went back into the bathroom to do my hair and makeup while Delilah and Violet were still in the shower. I sighed as I rubbed the steam off the mirror with my arm so I could see myself. My hair was put into loose ringlets with a red bow on one side. I put on some red Mary-Janes, grabbed my school bag and went out the door.

I went into the Great Hall alone, but immediately saw Draco with the others sitting at the Slytherin table. There was one other person I saw there that just made my stomach churn and my blood boil. Pansy took any opportunity she could find to get Draco alone so she could pull out her bag of tricks. I just couldn't stand it. I felt white-hot as I quickly made my way to the table and sat down next to Draco. Pansy rolled her eyes mid-sentence and never finished what she was saying as she saw me approach.

"Good morning, sunshine," Draco said to me as he turned away from Pansy.

"Good morning, love," I said cheerfully, pretending I didn't even see the wench.

I grabbed some food and set it onto my plate then poured myself a glass of pumpkin juice. I began to eat some eggs and toast when Draco whispered in my ear.

"Thanks for saving me, Pansy was really getting on my nerves this time," his warm breath on my skin made me shiver inside.

I smiled and nodded. I didn't want to say anything because my mouth was full of food.

Classes were about to start and Draco and I compared our schedules. We found that we had Defense Against the Dark Arts first period, Potions third period and Divinations fourth period classes together. My other classes were Charms second period, History of Magic fifth period and Transfigurations sixth period.

I was excited the Draco and I had three classes together this year. Last year we only had one.

We walked together down the halls to Defense Against the Dark Arts and I recognized a loud, obnoxious voice that reminded me Miss Umbridge was our teacher this year. I moaned loudly and proceeded into the classroom.

We were early enough so that we could chose two seats next to each other near the back of the class. I wanted to be as far away from Umbridge as possible. Crabbe and Goyle walked in the class not long after us and chose seats behind Draco and I. The class filled up over the next few minutes and students' bodies occupied every seat available.

"Quiet, class! Are we ready to begin now?" Miss Umbridge yelled loudly.

The class quieted down immediately. I knew everyone must have been intimidated by Umbridge. But I wasn't. I knew something was up with her and I didn't like it.

"This year, class, we will be learning about Defense Against the Dark Arts with a different approach..." She started. "Now, everyone take out your new books on the matter and flip to page seven, please."

Everyone did so, and we all looked at the book's pages, quite shocked. The book was not the same as any other Defense Against the Dark Arts book we had ever read. There were no spells or incantations. Just information.

"Your previous instruction in this subject has been disturbingly uneven. But you will be pleased to know from now on, you will be following a carefully structured, Ministry-approved course of defensive magic. Yes?" Miss umbridge said to the class, clearly seeing that we were not amused.

"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells," Hermione Granger spoke up.

"Using spells? Ha ha!" She laughed fakely. "Well I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom."

"We're not gonna use magic?" Ron Weasley asked, flabbergasted.

"You will be learning about using spells in a secure, risk-free way," Umbridge answered simply.

"Well, what use is that? If we're going to get attacked it won't be risk-free," stated Harry.

Miss Umbridge looked at Harry with an evil eye and started pacing the classroom.

"Students will raise their hands when they speak in my class--" She paused. "--It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all, is what school is all about."

"And how is theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" Harry shouted.

"There is nothing out there, dear! Who would you imagine would want to attack children like yourself?" Umbridge asked sweetly.

"I don't know, maybe, Lord Voldemort!" Harry knew immediately after saying it that he shouldn't have.

The class gasped. Except for Draco, me, Crabbe and Goyle. And possibly a couple other Slytherins in the room. The students looked surprised at Harry as well as Umbridge herself.

"There will be no talk of Dark Lords in this classroom!" Umbridge shouted at Harry, and presumably the rest of the class for future reference.

I looked at Draco and he was smirking a bit. He liked when there was action inside the classroom. Especially if he were the one causing it. But he kept silent and watched the drama unfold this time.

"How can you deny that the Dark Lord isn't back when I personally saw him!" Harry was livid, you could see it in his face at this piont.

"Let me make this quite plain. You have been told that a certain Dark Wizard is at large once again. This is a lie," Miss Umbridge accused.

"It's not a lie! I saw him. I fought him."

Umbridge was shouting as well now. "Detention, Mr. Potter!"

"So according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord."

"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident."

"It was murder! Voldemort killed him! You must know!"

"Enough!" Umbridge shouted once more. And with that, the bell rang and class was over.

We all stood up quietly and hurried out the door.

"Oi, that wasn't quite what we expected for the first day of class, now was it?" I asked Draco, half joking, half serious.

Draco shook his head in disbelief and walked down the opposite side of the hall to get to his next class. I watched him for a moment then made my way to Divinations.

_____________________________________

Classes were finally over for the first day of the year and I already had heaps of homework. I sighed as I brought my now heavy bag to my room and launched it on my bed. I collapsed next to it for a moment before I decided to get it started and over with.

About half-way through my work, I realized that I already missed Draco. I wondered where he was and why he was acting to stand-offish the rest of the day ever since the mishap in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I bit my bottom lip an decided to go look for him. I fed Sasha, freshened up and went out the door.

I saw Draco as soon as I entered the Common Room. He was sitting at a table with Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise and a couple other Slytherins. It looked to me like they were just talking and laughing having a good time together. Seeing this, I decided I didn't want to be the only girl in the group today and ruin their guy fun. I just walked past the the table and out into the halls of the dungeon. I wasn't sure where I was going, but ultimately headed the way that took you outside. I passed the Gryffindor house entrance and stopped in my tracks when I heard voices.

"There's no hiding it, we need Defense Against the Dark Art spells this year and the next couple years to come," a male's voice said to another.

"Yes, but with that nightmare Umbridge as the high inquisitor, how on earth is that going to happen? She has authority to change things this year in her favor..." Another male voice said.

"We need to think of something else, something as an alternative," said a female voice.

I knew who the voices were at once: Hermione, Ron and Harry's.

"I've got it! What if you teach students, secretly of course, how to cast Defense spells, Harry?" Hermione suggested excitedly.

I nodded my head and kept walking. I didn't want to hear any more of this. I didn't know what they planned to brew up, but I didn't much care to find out. I made it outside the castle and the last rays of sunlight were just about to leave the sky. I sat down on the grass and watched the sun sink below the hills.

"Jillian?" I heard a voice -- Draco's.

I turned around to see him walking toward me, alone at last. I smiled at him then turned my head to look at the sky again where the sun was a few moments ago.

"What're you doing?" Draco asked as he sat down next to me in the grass.

"Just thinking."

"About?"

"What was wrong earlier, Drake? Why were you silent the rest of the day until now?" I asked.

"I dunno. All the talk of Voldemort and I started thinking of the tasks he set me up to do," he shrugged. "If I had it my way, the tasks wouldn't need to be done in the first place."

"What do you have to do?"

"I shouldn't say. The Dark Lord will know I told you and he won't be happy to say the least."

My mouth formed into an indifferent position and I just looked at him, showing him my understanding.

"Let's go to dinner now. I'm starving!" I said getting up and pulling on Draco's hand so he could join me.

He almost tumbled over his own feet as I pulled him along quickly in order to make it on time to supper without any question. I had almost forgotten what time it was and I assumed he did too. Either that or he didn't care.