Little Memories

The sound of ragged breaths filled the prefect’s bathroom, over the sound of the students that were milling around in the corridor, since they had just been let out of their last class of the day. Charlotte had her forehead resting against Draco’s damp collarbone. When she finally brought herself to look up, he had his head resting back against the tiled floor as his chest rose and fell sporadically.

“We’ll need to be getting to dinner soon,” Charlotte said breathlessly. Draco let out a heavy sigh, opening his eyes to look up at the ceiling.

“After what we just did…I’m too tired to do anything,” he murmured as she rested her head on the crook of his neck. She fell quiet for a long time before licking her lips.

“Have you not been taking that potion I made for you?” She asked quietly. He hummed lightly and shook his head, not enough for Charlotte to see but she could tell what the answer was going to be. “Have you been having any nightmares then?” Draco didn’t make any inclination to reply and Charlotte let out a heavy sigh, pulling away from him just enough to look over his features.

“What have they been about?” She asked, staring intently into his eyes. Draco merely stared at her, trying his hardest to guard his eyes from showing any sort of emotion that would give her the impression he was having nightmares. Before he had anymore time to react, Charlotte placed her hands on either side of his face as she stared mercilessly into his eyes.

Then the nightmare replayed like he was dreaming it all over again in quick flashes that made him feel faint. He saw pitch black, then the lotus-like flowering flame that Charlotte had control over, Charlotte’s face crumbling with anger, and finally the gargantuan snake made of flames rising up and crashing over the both of them. When the darkness of the dream dissolved, all he was Charlotte’s face staring back at him. Her eyes were wide, frightened-looking almost, and her lips were slightly parted as she drew in steady breaths of air. He suddenly felt very cold as if there were a dementor nearby, but he knew it was from the rush of fear that shot through him from the emotion that laid in the blue, gem-like facets of Charlotte’s eyes.

“What does it mean?” He asked finally after the look she was giving him disheartened him out of his silence. Charlotte merely pulled her lips in and let out a quivering hum before she quickly began to move away from Draco and out of the large bathtub. Draco deftly caught her wrist, which caused Charlotte to send him a hard look.

“Perhaps if you had remembered to continue taking that potion I brewed you, you would not have such silly dreams,” she said in a cool tone before ripping her wrist from his grasp and swiftly leaving the bathtub. She stomped over to her clothes, her wet feet slapping angrily against the floor, and began to hastily dress. Draco watched her for a moment before getting out of the bath as well, draining the water in it before walking over to his clothes and dressing as well.

He knew that his dream must have meant much more to Charlotte and that she may have an idea what the contents of it meant. He also knew that she probably wouldn’t him tell him what it mean either. It probably would have been in her best interests to, but if Draco tried to tell her she wouldn’t listen to him. She was too stubborn and set in her ways to do so. Draco knew the dream couldn’t have meant well either, because it didn’t feel like it was. He had dreamt nightmares like that the year before and Charlotte ended up in Azkaban at the end of the school year.

Draco half expected Charlotte to leave, but she stayed behind as he retied his tie and slipped on his cloak. Even though he wasn’t looking at her, he could feel her worried eyes on him. And as he slipped on his cloak, looking directly at her, she did not look away. There was a crease of worry between her brow as she stepped toward him, raking her fingers through his damp hair as she looked over his face.

“I just worry about you too much, Draco,” she said in a soft voice, her eyes connecting with his. “You need your sleep and you need to be well-rested for the next day.” She managed a small smile for him, yet the worry and anxiety she had for him didn’t vanish from her features completely. “In these times, you’ll never know what you’re going to need to be awake for.” Draco gave her a wry smile as he tucked a curly tendril of blonde hair behind her ear; he noticed how frizzy it had become from the humidity of the bath.

“Like to write Binn’s endless essay about an in-depth description of the goblin wars?” He offered playfully. Charlotte let out a small laugh but nodded all the same.

“Yes…exactly like that,” she said as Draco leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead. Charlotte let out a sigh and the forced smile fell for all about a second until Draco began to pull away, when it stabilized itself again.

“Let’s get to dinner then,” Draco murmured, looking over her face. Charlotte gave him a disapproving look before leaning over and picking up her book bag as Draco did the same. Giving the room a once over to make sure there was no evidence that one of them had been in there, let alone two of them, and left together. The students passing by gave them looks, since it was quite obvious what two, clearly dating, older students of the school would be doing together in the prefect’s bathroom. But since Draco and Charlotte had become almost used to the stares of their peers, they paid no mind to the whispers and disgusted looks.

The two remained quiet for sometime as they walked through the halls, taking the long way around to get to the Great Hall for supper. They turned one corner and Charlotte froze completely, staring down at a certain part of the floor with a steely sort of watery look in her eyes. She swallowed hard then turned to Draco, who was watching her closely. Her bottom lip gave a small quiver before she turned to the hallway again. And for a moment, Draco didn’t understand what was happening until he looked closer into the minute details.

The corridor was fully illuminated with the orange glow of a setting sun from the mullioned windows on either end of the corridor and the portraits were chatting excitedly with one another. Charlotte supposed they had repaired the damage she caused over the summer. The suits of armors were shiny, quite unlike the other ones in Hogwarts, and the tapestries had their colors renewed. However, there were large cracks and jagged holes in the walls and floor. They seemed to be the only testament to the spells and jinxes cast and the struggle that had occurred in that very spot just a few months again.

“That’s where they caught me,” she said in a hollow voice, nodding toward a nondescript spot on the stone floors. Draco set his jaw as an upsurge of anger came over him. They had already gone through enough in their young age and the last thing that Charlotte needed had been for her identity as a Death Eater to be revealed. In return, Draco spent a few long, lonely weeks worrying and panicking over when Charlotte was going to return and how she would be when she actually did return. He stared down darkly at the spot he remembered seeing her last before she went away to Azkaban before gently taking her shoulders in his hands and steering her slowly away from the hallway, guiding her down another corridor instead.

Charlotte’s spindly fingers wound their way through Draco’s as they quickly walked away from the corridor, not another word exchanged between the two of them nor did they look at the other. It seemed that passing students could sense something was off between the two of them, whether it was their expressions or the aura they put out, because the stares and whispers stopped dramatically. Both Charlotte and Draco were thankful for that since neither of them believed to be able to control their tempers should they be provoked.

As they reached the staircases, Draco had calmed down remarkably and he figured that Charlotte had calmed as well since her grip on his hand had relaxed. He glanced over at her and noticed that she had gone a bit stoic, her eyes diverted to the ground in front of her. He drew in a deep breath of air and she looked over at him, as if she expected him to begin to speak.

“Slughorn’s made me Quidditch Captain,” he said suddenly, watching her closely. She stared up at him for a moment before she cut her eyes at him. So, she had figured out that he was going to resume his position as seeker. Her lips pursed together for a few seconds before her face relaxed.

“You’ll be seeker, no doubt,” she said in a soft voice, staring hard at Draco. He immediately felt a bit rotten just by the look she was giving him and felt the need to explain the situation.

“Well…Slughorn said that your brother didn’t want to be Captain again, so he approached me with the offer and I accepted,” he said plainly, noticing that Charlotte’s look was turning cooler with every word. “And I’ll be seeker, Charlotte, but that only means you’ll be able to play chaser again.” Charlotte’s dainty jaw clenched under her thin, pale skin and her nostrils flared as she looked up at Draco and he began to prepare himself for whatever fire she were to spit at him. Instead of yelling at him, she gave him a hearty smirk and shook her head.

“Whoever said that I wanted to play on your team, Draco? Perhaps I wanted to quit last year along with you and I was merely doing Gregory a favor by playing,” she said with a shrug. Draco merely stared at her, dumbfounded, as they stepped off of one moving staircase and began to walk down the next flight.

“You’re the best chaser in Slytherin, Charlie,” he said, causing the girl to give a playful scoff at her nickname, “you have to play.” Charlotte stopped walking down the stairs and turned to Draco, cutting her eyes at him and poking a finger at his chest.

“I don’t have to play,” she said, leaning closer to him, “but if you could come up with something to persuade me to do you the favor of being chaser, I may reconsider.” Draco looked up at her for a moment, drawing in a deep breath of air.

“A person’s supposed to do a favor because they want to, not because they’re going to get something in return,” he said in a small voice, causing the blonde girl before him to give a loud laugh and shake her head.

“You know? You sound just the same voice my conscience has. Says a lot of stuff like that too,” she said with a grin, causing Draco to roll his eyes.

“And you never listen to it, do you?” He asked exasperatedly.

“Not when there’s nothing for me in return,” she answered with a cheeky grin. Draco merely stared at her, trying to think through was to get Charlotte to at least agree to tryout for Quidditch this year. He knew that it’d be a way for the both of them to spend more time together and to keep their minds off of things for a short period of time. He figured it’d be a relief they both needed. As they began to near the Great Hall doors, Draco glanced around to make sure that no one was watching them before grasping her shoulder in his hands. He turned her so that she was pressed into a dark corner of the Entrance Hall.

She looked up at him with a confused look before he leaned forward and pressed his lips fully against hers. Charlotte let out a surprise hum against his lips, immediately tensing before slowly easing into kissing him back. Just when she finally relaxed completely into the kiss, Draco pulled away and began to nuzzle his nose into the crook of her neck, causing her to let out a surprised gasp.

“Charlie,” he sang softly, letting his hands slowly slide down her arms and then flatten his hands on the small of her back. He pressed her closer to him as he gently let his lips slide against the sensitive on her neck. Charlotte drew in a sharp breath of air, completely turning to putty in his hands. “Please try out for me,” he breathed against the skin, feeling her shudder in his arms.

“Okay,” she sighed, “I will.” Draco abruptly pulled away from her, wearing a wide cheeky grin and Charlotte slowly came out of her stupor. The look of euphoria completely dissipated and scowled playfully at Draco before reeling back and punching his arm.

“Bastard,” she hissed before grabbing his hand and beginning to tug him behind her into the Great Hall.