A Muggle at Hogwarts

“I’m really sorry about this,” I apologized to Harry as the two of us walked towards the Great Hall together.

“No, it’s fine—really,” Harry lied through a fake smile, though he refused to look at me. Maybe it was because he knew that I would know he was lying.

I sighed softly as I bit my bottom lip and glance sorrowfully at Harry. “Well, it—it’s a good thing that Cho was free,” I said in an attempt to cheer Harry up.

“Y—yeah,” Harry stuttered while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Hey!” I exclaimed as I gently nudged him with my elbow. His head snapped up and he turned to look at me with a confused expression. A small smile—a real one slipped onto his face. “What kind of reaction is that? Don’t tell me you don’t like the idea.”

Harry bashfully glanced at me as he said, “No—I’m fine. The idea was brilliant. Malfoy on the other hand,” Harry suddenly stopped and looked at me. “Well, it’s not like you had a choice in the matter of bringing him along. Just rotten luck, I guess.”

I scoffed lightly. “Yeah,” I said nervously while tucking my dark locks of hair behind my ear.

“I just hope that I don’t make a fool out of myself,” Harry sighed as we arrived in front of the doors of the Great Hall.

I smiled brightly at Harry. “You’ll be fine, Harry.”

As Harry and I walked into the room, we saw the gang already gathered. Draco, however, looked out of place—standing away from the crowd of couples. I couldn’t help but notice how uncomfortable he looked among the others.

“Hi,” I whispered to Draco as I stood between him and the rest of the group. I slowly looked away from him and to the rest of the gang with a smile on my face. They all stared back at me with fainted grins.

“Hello, Harry,” Cho shyly greeted.

Harry simply nodded in response as he nervously stood next to her. After that, an awkward silence filled the air.

“Well, what a happy group of people we are,” Draco said sarcastically after a minute or so.

“Maybe if you—” Ron began to say before Hermione shot him a glare. He scoffed lightly before looking away from Draco.

“So, shall we get going,” Hermione suggested with a forced grin.

“Yeah, let’s,” Cormac McLaggen agreed as he slithered his arms around Hermione. She inhaled deeply—as though she was annoyed—before lowering her eyes to the ground. She suddenly sneezed loudly, bending forward as she do so to shake Cormac’s arm off her.

“Bless you,” I muttered.

“Aw, are you coming down with something sweetie?” Cormac questioned as he stepped closer to Hermione.

“Oh no!” Hermione quickly exclaimed as she took a step away from him. “I’m perfectly fine. It was just a tickle,” she nervously explained.

“Let’s just get going,” Ron scowled as took Lavender’s hand and shoved his way through Hermione and Cormac.

“Let’s go Ginny,” Dean smiled to Ginny. She gave him a small smile before the two of them and Hermione and Cormac hurried after Ron and Lavender.

“Um…so,” I began as I looked to the ground, “this is probably the part where we follow their leads and head out.”

“Oh—um…yeah,” Cho agreed. She nervously turned her head and looked over to Harry. “Shall we go, Harry?”

I heard Draco scoff lightly before me gave me a light tug. “Come on. We’ll give these lovebirds a moment.” With that, he dragged me towards the door.

“Vi—” Harry objected as he turned to me. I mouthed “Sorry” to him before following Draco out the room.

Once we were out of Hogwarts and walking down to Hogsmeade, I looked back to find Harry and Cho walked a distance behind Draco and me. A smile couldn’t help but form on my face when I saw that the two were actually taking. They didn’t look as uncomfortable as they did back in the Great Hall.

“Checking on your boyfriend, are you?” Draco smirked.

I quickly looked away from Harry and Cho and to Draco. I scoffed. “If Harry was my boyfriend, I wouldn’t be hanging out with you, even if this was a part of our deal with Dumbledore.”

“Ah, you’re breaking my heart,” Draco joked.

“If you had a heart to break,” I whispered.

“Is that any way to treat someone who lent you a shoulder to cry on?” Draco questioned with a slight grin.

I felt my face flush for a second, and I looked away from Draco. That happened about a week ago, and my heart still raced every time I thought about it. Draco’s warm embrace, his gentle touch. That moment still feels too good to be true.

“Anyways,” Draco said changing the subject, “are we going to be with these…friends…of yours all day, or are we going off on our own?”

I smiled at this and teased, “Aw, are you so eager to have some alone time with me, Draco?” I then glanced over at him and said, “Just so you know, I don’t kiss on the first date.”

A mischievous smile formed onto Draco’s face. He suddenly stopped walking and gently pulled me back towards him. I let out small yelp of surprise before looking over my shoulders at him.

Draco’s warm breath tickled my neck as he whispered, “Oh, I’m sure I can change that by the end of today.”

Draco and I stayed in our position, his arms gently wrapped around my waist. His face remained close to mine as we did so. My heart began to race and pound in my chest as Draco’s words played in my ears.

“Violet,” Draco said ever so soothingly as his arms tightened slightly.

“What?” I whispered.

“Look at me.”

It was almost as if I were in a trance of some sort. I obeyed his order and stared over my shoulders to meet Draco’s eyes. Those beautiful pale eyes were locked onto mine. His face was flushed a light shade of pink while mine was probably a burning red. His eyes then lowered to my trembling lips. I wasn’t sure if I was only imaging, but his face seemed to be moving closer to mine. Draco’s eyes slowly closed while his lips came closer and close to mine. I couldn’t help but hold my breath.

“Violet?” Harry’s voice called from behind Draco and me.

Draco quickly straightened up and I slipped from his embrace. I jumped out from behind Draco and looked down the path where Harry was hurrying forward—Cho following behind.

“What’s up, Harry?” I asked nervously. I kept my eyes to the ground, fearing that Harry will notice my red face.

“Are you all right? What was Malfoy doing?” Harry interrogated as he marched towards Draco, as though he was ready to strike him or something.

“I—I slipped!” I explained as I placed a hand on Harry’s arm, bringing his attention back to me. I gave him a warm smile and continued. “Draco simply caught me; that’s all.”

“O—oh,” Harry stuttered as I removed my hand. He looked at Draco and then behind him to Cho, who was patiently waiting. “Well, how about we walk together—the four of us!” Harry suggested.

“T—that’s a great idea!” Cho jumped in. “But we should hurry—we should really catch up to the others.”

“Yeah, we should,” I agreed. I then looked at Cho with a smile on my face and said, “Cho, come here.”

A stunned look crossed her face, but it quickly disappeared. She came over to my side and the two of us walked onwards—leaving the boys behind.

Within moments, the four of us reached Hogsmeade. Hermione and the others were all gathered in a small group by the entrance waiting for us.

As we approached, Ginny smiled and asked, “What took you four so long?”

“Sorry about that,” Harry apologized with a shy smile.

“Well, now that everyone’s here, let’s head to the Three Broom Sticks,” Ron suggested.

“We’re all going?” Lavender asked—there was a whiny tone in her voice.

Hermione glared at Lavender and replied, “Of course. This is a group date.”

Lavender scoffed as she turned away from Hermione and look at Ron with pleading eyes. “But Ron, I wanted to spend some time with you—alone!”

“Then the two of you should have simply stayed back at the castle,” Hermione pointed out angrily.

“Hey, it’s all right,” Carmac grinned while looking down at Hermione. “If they want to go off on their own then let them. We can be by ourselves as well, then.”

“NO!” Ron suddenly bellowed.

Everyone jumped at Ron’s sudden outburst. When he realized that all eyes were on him, he gulped and lowered his head a little bit.

“I—I mean, Hermione’s right,” Ron said as he looked up. “This is a group date. Come on, let’s just go.”

“But, Ron!” Lavender complained as Ron dragged her away from the group.

Everyone else began to quickly follow the two couples who just felt. But just as I began to follow them, Draco pulled me back. I opened my mouth to ask him what he wanted, but he signaled me to be quiet. He then looked over my head to see that the others were continuing without us.

“Come with me,” he whispered.

Before I had the chance to object, Draco grabbed my hand and the two of us headed in the opposite direction. We quickly got off the main road and took a small trail elsewhere.

“Draco, where are you taking me?” I asked as he dragged me behind him.

“Just come with me,” Draco replied.

“No, tell me where we’re going!” I demanded while trying to get out of his grasp. “Why aren’t we going with the others?”

Suddenly, Draco stops and spins around to face me. He sighed heavily before questioning, “Must as you ask so many questions? Just trust me and come with me.”

Without waiting for a reply, Draco tuned and continued dragging me down the side road.

After a sort while, the two of us were standing in front of a small shop. I tried looking through the windows to see what was inside, but they were all steamed up that I couldn’t see anything.

“Draco, where are we?” I asked.

“Don’t you recognize it?” he asked as he glanced at me from over his shoulder. When I shook my head, he turned back to the shop in front of us and pointed up. I looked up to where he was pointing to the sign that hung above the shop. My eyes immediately widened when I read the sign.

“No, Draco!” I objected as I tried to pull my hand away.

“Let’s go,” Draco smirked as he easily pulled me into the shop with him.

As we entered, the tiny golden bell above the door rung. I held my breath as I hid behind Draco so that no one would notice me.

“What are you doing?” Draco asked while looking back at me over his shoulder.

Ignoring him, I slowly peered out from behind him. I was amazed to find that no one in the shop had noticed Draco and me coming in. They all continued to sip their tea and laugh. Hands stretched across the round tables decorated with silk pink cloths and connected with the person sitting across from them. In the corners sat teenage couples who held hands with their significant other and made out. I quickly lowered my eyes and turned away.

“Come on,” Draco said as we walked into the crowded room.

We squeezed passed tables until we reached the empty table in the back of the shop. Draco then let go of my hand and pulled a chair out for me. I whispered thanks to him as I sat down. He then took a seat across from me.

“Take of your coat,” Draco suggested as he took his off. “You’re going to fry in here if you keep it on.”

He was right. We were in here for less than five minutes and I already felt as if I were melting. It was probably because of the cramped space and the number of students in here. I slowly took off my jacket and looked around to see if anyone was staring at Draco and me. However, everyone was too busy with their dates to even glance up at us.

“I ordered us some tea,” Draco said, snapping me back to reality.

I looked up at him and asked, “When did you do that?”

A grin fell onto his face. “I ordered while you were gawking at the snogging couples.”

I felt my face get warm as I bellowed, “I was not gawking at them!”

“Say whatever pleases you,” Draco laughed.

Suddenly, a woman appeared before us and placed two cups of tea and some mini chocolate chip muffins before us. She flashed the two of us a sweet smile before disappearing into the crowd of teenagers.

“So, why did you bring me here?” I asked. “It’s so…public.”

Draco shrugged. “It’s probably the only place your mates won’t come to—with all that arguing going on, that is.”

I simply scoffed and reached for my cup of tea. Taking the white China teacup in hand, I slowly drank the warm liquid. As I placed the cup down, I glanced up and met Draco’s eyes. He was watching me the whole time.

“What?” I asked.

He simply looked down at his cup of tea and shook his head. “It’s nothing. It wouldn’t matter anyways.”

“No, tell me what you’re thinking,” I encouraged.

A smirk came onto his face as he glanced up at me with those stunning sapphire eyes of his. “Do you ever wonder how things would have turned out? If you were in Slytherin instead of Gryffindor?”

My eyes fluttered in surprise before I lowered them to the blurry reflection of myself in the teacup. “N—no,” I nervously muttered while circling my finger around the rim of my cup. “I—I can’t say that thought has really crossed my mind…”

“Really? Well, I have,” Draco confessed. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot more than usual lately. Ever since Dumbledore talked to us, to be precise.”

“Why’s that?” I whispered while slowly and hesitantly raising my head up to look at him.

A smile—an actually smile—formed onto Draco’s face. “Maybe it’s because I thought that my hopes may become a reality. My hopes that if I reach for you,” he began as he slowly his hand reached across the table, “you won’t pull away.” With those words, he gently wrapped his hand around mine. “Despite there being hundreds of people watching us, we can sit with one another—hand in hand without worry. This is one of the many thoughts of us that continuously runs though my head. Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about these things, too, Violet.”

Before I knew what I was going, I slipped my hand from Draco’s and placed it on his face. A stunned look suddenly fell upon his face, but he quickly relaxed. Hesitantly, I began to lean in towards him. As I looked into his eyes, it felt as if I had fallen into a trance. I continued towards Draco until our faces were only centimeters apart before I stopped.

“Draco,” I murmured—our lips barely touching.

He didn’t say anything. Instead, he placed his hand at the base of my neck and pulled me into a sweet kiss. He then parted for a second and I stared at him adoringly. In that split second, before be pulled me back into a longer and even sweeter kiss, I felt a surge of energy run through me. My heart began to pump uncontrollably in my chest, and butterflies fluttered gleeful in my stomach.

“Violet,” Draco sighed when the two of us finally pulled away. He leaned his forehead against mine and held me where I was—his hand gently caressing my cheek. A sweet smile came onto his face as he looked at me. “I fancy you, Violet.”

“W-what?” I gasped.

“I fancy you, Violet,” he repeated with a light chuckle at the end.

I immediately jerked away from him, spilling my tea onto my lap in the process.

“Violet!” Draco exclaimed as he looked at me with widen eyes. “Are you okay?”

“I—I’m fine. I’m sorry, I have to go,” I quickly informed as I jumped up and grabbed my coat.

“Violet!” Draco called as he quickly reached into his pocket and slapped some money onto the table.

As he did so, I hurried through the tables of students who were still in their own little worlds. The soft sound of a bell rang as I threw opened the doors of Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop and ran out. Outside, I threw my coat on and hurried away from the shop before Draco could catch up to me.

I was halfway down the road before I heard the doors of Madam Puddifoot’s shop opening.

“Violet, wait!” Draco called from behind me.

I glanced over my shoulders to see Draco just coming through the doors of the teashop. He quickly threw his coat on over his shoulders and walked hurriedly towards me. I quickly turned away and began to run.

“Violet, stop!” Draco ordered as he took off running after me.

I don’t know how long I was running, but before I knew it, Hogwarts was coming to view.

“Stop running, Violet!” Draco called from a distant. “You’re going to fall!”

Just before I reached the bridge before me, I did exactly as Draco warned—I fell. I groaned as I hit the snow-covered ground, sobbing, but quickly picked myself up,for Draco’s footsteps were becoming louder.

“Violet!” Draco growled.

Just before I could start running again, his arms wrapped themselves around my waist and held me back. The two of us collapsed to the ground. I struggled and squirmed to get out of his grip, but it did nothing but wear me down. Finally, Draco loosened his grip on me as my energy drained away.

“Bloody hell, Violet!” Draco bellowed as he turned me to face him. He held me by my shoulders and looked me up and down. His eyes then met mine, and I felt my heart breaking. His eyes were filled with so much pain and worry. “Are you all right?”

“Stop it. We can’t do this!” I said as I shoved Draco away from me.

He stumbled back and simply looked at me with confusion. “What are you talking about?” Draco asked.

“Forget any of this happened,” I ordered while wiping away my tears. “Nothing happened, okay? Just forget what happened at Hogsmeade and we’ll simply go on with our lives.”

“What are you saying?” Draco questioned.

“We don’t need to make things more complicated than what they already are,” I simply answered as I rose.

“Don’t walk away from this,” Draco quickly said as he took my hand and pulled me down towards him. “We’re not going to pretend nothing happened. I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t something between us. I already let you go once because of my idiocy. I’m not going to do it again—especially when I know you feel the same way as I do,” he said staring deeply into my eyes. “We are connected Violet. There’s some beautiful between us, and you can’t deny it—we can’t deny this anymore because it will drive us mad, if we do!”

“This won’t last,” I pointed out.

“I don’t care!” Draco snapped. He placed both of his hands on my face. He sighed heavily and leaned his head on mine. “We can make this work—even if it’s only for a short period of time.”

Draco didn’t say anything else. He didn’t wait for me to reply because we both knew that this was what we wanted. He simply smiled and gave me a soft peck on the lips. And then another. And then another.