Little Memories

The Malfoy dining hall only brought up memories that Charlotte would rather let stay buried deep within her mind. As the food was served, she stared solely at the spot at the spot in the center of the table, where the Muggle’s Studies professor had been eaten by the snake Nagini. Suddenly, a platter with a large turkey was placed over the spot and Charlotte’s intense gaze on the spot broke. She shot a glance to Draco, who was sitting across from her at the table, and he merely gave her an apologetic sort of look before glancing down the table at his crazed aunt and her husband, Rodolphus. Bellatrix had her black, glittering eyes focused on Charlotte. The blonde girl stared back, her expression stolid and emotionless. She wasn’t going to back down first, she wasn’t going to be the weak one out of the two of them.

The tap of the toe of a shoe against her bare skin brought her attention away from Bellatrix and to the blonde man that sat in front of her. Draco’s eyes were wide and warning as Bellatrix let out a maniacal cackle from her seat. His steely grey-blue eyes glanced between the head’s of the table, to his mother and father. Charlotte’s eyes moved slowly between the two of them. Narcissa was staring nervously at Charlotte, as if she expected the blonde to retaliate in some way. Lucius had a very tight-lipped look and his eyes, the ones that were identical to Draco’s, were staring hard at Bellatrix, as if warning the woman to do anything to the girl while she was under his roof.

Narcissa gently cleared her throat and folded her hands on the table, glancing around the table with a forced sort of smile. “Let’s eat, shall we?” She offered softly, extending a hand toward the food. Everyone slowly began to fill their plates with food, no conversation being made and everyone kept their eyes lowered to their plates for the most part. The tension, however, was tangible and it made everyone sit a bit straighter and hold their utensils a bit tighter. Gregory would make sure to glance every minute or so at his sister, not wanting her to fly off the handle at the slightest instigation of Bellatrix.

Thankfully, the dinner was over soon enough and they were dismissed from the table. Charlotte was the first to stand up and leave, more than happy to be able to get out of the room with that crazy woman. Draco followed behind Charlotte as she left, watching as those long, pale legs of hers moved in those black high heels to get away. Her blonde hair was sleek and straightened, billowing out slightly with her long strides. He nearly caught up with her as she turned the corner, her heels slapping hard against the stone stairs that lead up to their rooms. She had taken the time to pick out a black dress that fit close to her body, covering the scar along her chest, yet tiered out until it hit mid-thigh. Draco supposed she was merely putting forward a front or wanted to look nice for his and his parent’s sake.

When she reached the floor their rooms were on, she paused and pulled off her heels hurriedly, allowing Draco the chance of nearly catching up to her. She then continued on, now the same height as Draco and threw open her door. She moved to close it but Draco quickly caught it.

“Charlie,” he soothed as he stepped into the room, closing the door quietly behind him and locking the door just to be sure no one would interrupt. The two of them, Charlotte was pacing back and forth slowly, twirling a strand of her long blonde hair around her finger as she kept her eyes on the floor. Draco crossed his arms over his chest and sighed heavily, walking over to a desk in the room and sitting down on the clean surface of it. Just as he was about to say something to her, to try and calm her down, she spoke before he could get a word out.

“Her very presence causes my stomach to turn,” the woman said, stopping and turning slowly to face Draco.

“I know,” he said merely, sympathizing with her in the slightest. He was his aunt, yes, but she was a wicked woman that was better off locked up in Azkaban. Charlotte tucked her hair behind her ears, her darkly made-up eyes boring straight into Draco’s.

“She loves him, Draco,” she whispered, lest anyone be outside the door, waiting to hear what they were talking about or what had gotten the girl into such a tizzy. Draco’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Who? Her husband?” He asked softly, shaking his head. Charlotte dropped her heels to the floor carelessly and walked over to Draco, slowly shaking her head in response.

“No,” she said simply as she stopped in front of him and placing her hands on his knees. “Him,” she whispered, staring directly into his eyes, giving him a poignant look. Draco expression relaxed a bit before his raised his brows, feeling a bit surprised and dumbfounded that he hadn’t noticed it earlier.

“She’s crazy,” he murmured, causing Charlotte to crack a smile and shake her head a bit at him.

“He’s no where near as handsome as I think you are,” she said softly, giving his knees a slight squeeze. He let out a little chuckle and shook his head a bit. How anyone could fall in love with that beast of a man was beyond his knowledge. They fell silent for a moment, merely grinning goofily at one another. He slowly lifted his hand and cupped her cheek with it, looking over her face slowly.

“You look gorgeous tonight, Charlotte,” he said softly, his eyes darting between both of hers. She merely shrugged a bit and shook her head.

“It’s only because I wanted to prove that she wasn’t going to bother me,” she said, rolling her eyes a bit. “I guess I didn’t give her the satisfaction of hearing me say anything to her.” She gave his knees yet another squeeze as she tilted her head to the side. “And I kind of wanted to look pretty for a certain someone,” she added with a cheeky little grin. Draco brushed his thumb across her cheek, sighing lightly at the velveteen feeling of her skin.

“Who? Rodolphus?” He asked with a false sense of ignorance, a small playful smirk curling the corner of his lips regardless. Charlotte let out a loud, uninhibited laugh that caused her head to tilt back with the force it exited her with. Draco’s smile widened at the noise and sight of the beautiful young woman looking so happy despite how irritated she had seemed just a few minutes earlier.

“Oh, yes, Draco,” she played along, cutting her eyes at him playfully once she had recovered from her bout of laughter. “I’m seeing that old bastard on the side, didn’t you know?” Now it was Draco’s turn to laugh as he slipped an arm around her waist, parting his legs so that Charlotte could easily stand in between them. Charlotte slipped her hands up his thighs and to his waist, bunching up the fabric of his black shirt in her hands.

“Is he better than me?” Draco asked in a low voice, biting his bottom lip as he looked over Charlotte’s face. He was going to see where this joking led them, if they ended up just laughing it off or carrying on with it.

“Oh yes, far better,” Charlotte said in as seriously a voice as she could muster. “And for an old codger he’s got stamina like no other.” She bit at her nude-painted bottom lip as she looked into Draco’s eyes, as if challenging him to prove otherwise. Draco slipped gracefully off the desk, his expression falling into a playful scowl. He took slow steps forward, wrapping his arms tighter around Charlotte so that she had no escape route.

“So, his stamina is unparalleled,” he said in a low voice, having Charlotte mirror her footsteps backwards as she stared up at him. “He’s still not as handsome as I am, I’d say. You must just be using him for one thing.” Charlotte let out a small gasp as she felt her back hit the wall on the opposite side of the room. Draco smirked slightly at her surprised reaction before he pressed his body against hers, feeling her thin body shuddering beneath his.

“Of course. I’m using him only for his-” Draco quickly silenced her by pressing his lips fully against hers, causing her to let out a little surprised noise against his mouth before she kissed him hungrily back. Her fingers immediately wound themselves in his hair as her legs wrapped around his waist. Her dress slid up to her hips and Draco’s hands immediately went to the bare skin of her thighs. Draco pressed her even harder against the wall, causing low noises to resonate through both of them. Her hands inched to his tie and collar of his shirt, frantically tearing away the fabric from him as his hands went to the zipper of her dress.

The couple quickly moved to the bed and their clothes were easily removed from their bodies. Goosebumps rose on their skin as the cold of the room assaulted their naked bodies, but they both knew they wouldn’t be cold for long. Draco took his time with Charlotte, otherwise, since he didn’t want this moment or process to be rushed. It had been so long since they were together and he wanted to make sure that they were both satisfied as much as possible from this. Who knew when they’d be given the opportunity to make love when they got back to Hogwarts?

The next afternoon, Charlotte and Draco were sitting in the parlor with his parents. Gregory had snuck off to see Melody and it left his sister on edge. If he got caught by her parents or by anyone else, he would be in serious trouble. She only hoped he was smart about things and kept their secret meeting as hidden as possible. Narcissa and Lucius were sitting in chairs by an unlit fireplace, merely sipping their tea while Charlotte and Draco sat near the windows. The dim light of the overcast day filtered over them and warmed their skin slightly. There were days at Hogwarts where the students rarely got to see nature or the sun, so they were both taking the opportunity to enjoy the simplest of sensations.

Bellatrix was out walking the grounds, after Lucius had warned her strictly not to kill anymore of their beloved albino peacocks. Charlotte was glad to be rid of the woman’s presence, even if they hadn’t exchanged words since a few months ago. Draco reached out and took Charlotte’s hand in his, sighing softly. She looked over to him, offering him a small smile as she thought of what they had done for the majority of last night. It had been perfect and exactly what she needed. Draco smiled in return, reading her thoughts like they were an open book before him. He glanced across the room to his parents, making sure they weren’t watching, before he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers for a brief moment.

Almost at the same time her lips met his, the insane laughter of Bellatrix Lestrange echoed up the staircases as well the sound of heavy footsteps and the gruff voices of Snatchers. Charlotte and Draco shot apart and looked over to the stairs leading to the room. Simultaneously, the four in the room stood as Bellatrix, Scabior and a few other Snatchers tugged a frizzy haired brunette, a tall, ginger boy, and a raven-haired boy with a heavily swollen face into the room. Fenrir Greyback, much to Charlotte’s dismay, took both Hermione and Ron and gripped them tightly. Bellatrix grabbed the raven-haired one while Narcissa immediately walked over to Draco and tugged him over to her sister at the struggling male within her grasp.

“Draco,” Bellatrix cackled as she forced the one, whom Charlotte knew unmistakably as Harry Potter, to his knees in front of Draco. “Is it him? Do we have him?” She asked with an insane amount of enthusiasm as she gripped hard onto Harry’s hair and yanked his head back hard, causing him to let out a grunt. Draco’s face crumbled with confusion and thought as he leaned in closer, examining Harry’s swollen face. “I think he’s been hit with something,” Bellatrix continued, “a stinging jinx, but I think it’s him. You would know.” Charlotte merely stood off to the side, watching anxiously as Draco struggled between doing what was right and what was easy. Silently, she chanted for him to lie over and over in her head, but did not impose her thoughts on him.

“I can’t say,” Draco murmured, feeling Charlotte’s eyes set intently on him. “What with his face like it is.” Draco’s frown only deepened. Charlotte looked up and between Hermione and Ron, catching their eyes before she set them back on Draco and Harry. Her heart was thudding hard in her chest as the tension grew heavier and heavier. It would break soon and then Charlotte didn’t know what was going to happen.