The Same Mistake

Ellie across from Ginny in the Great Hall at lunch. The day was gloriously bright, but the weather still held too much of a chill for even the bravest of Gryffindors to venture out of doors. Eying the grand food laid out before her, Ellie sighed.

“I have to admit that I miss the food of France. The food here is too –“

Ginny shoved a green apple in Ellie’s partially opened mouth. “If you say a single word about the food here being too heavy, I swear to you, I will never speak with you again.”

Ellie bit down on the apple, chewing with narrowed eyes. “Excusez-moi?

Twisting her thick hair into a bun and securing it with a hairband, Ginny leaned towards her friend conspiratorially. “One word. Flem. Two words if you are not already acquainted with her, Fleur Delacour. Four words if you still don’t know, future sister-in-law.” She made a face of disgust.

Ellie lifted one of her eyebrows in surprise. “She is French, non?”

“Oui. But she is also the biggest pain in the whole world. And my twit brother Bill just had to go and fall in love with her. It’s disgraceful really. Someone that picky and snooty marrying into our family.” She shook her head violently.

“We French, may at times, come across as snooty, but I’m sure it’s just a first impression.” Ellie tried in vain to defend her unknown fellow country’s woman.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Don’t even try. You are quite likely the least snooty person I’ve ever met. Which somehow makes it even more concerning that you are dating the biggest snob in the entire school. What you could possibly see in –“

Ellie gracefully shoved a pear into Ginny’s mouth. “If you say a single word about a blonde haired boy here, I swear to you, I will never speak to you again.” She smiled serenely at Ginny’s mingled look of outrage and amusement.

“Well then,” Ginny said, removing the pear from her mouth and taking a thoughtful bite. “It would seem that we have greatly limited our discussion topics, but nonetheless, I still enjoy your company.”

“Oh ha ha ha.” Ellie pushed back from the table. “You are very amusmant, ma cherie, mais, I have places to go.”

“You aren’t seriously mad at me, are you?” Ginny asked standing up as well, one hand still clutching the partially eaten pear.

Glancing briefly over her shoulder, Ellie flashed Ginny a brilliant smile. “Of course not. You are my best friend and as such, I reserve the right to drive you as crazy as you make me.”

With a quick peck on the cheek, Ellie left Ginny in the Great Hall and made her way toward the Room of Requirement. She assumed Draco would be there as she hadn’t seen him anywhere else since his release from the Hospital Wing. Draco was so fiercely determined to make his cabinet work the way he wanted it to that he spent every second he wasn’t in class locked away in his secret room.

Ellie had even begun to suspect that Draco was spending time he was supposed to be in class in the Room of Requirement. And although she understood that it was very important, for some reason, that Draco fix the cabinet, she worried that his obsession with it might be unhealthy.

She wanted him to relax and take a break, Draco’s physical appearance continued to diminish as he spent endless hours locked away, not eating, not sleeping, always working. So Ellie had come prepared today. Stowed away in her messenger bag, Ellie had smuggled a roast beef sandwich, a bottle of pumpkin juice, and a green apple from the Great Hall. The one Ginny had force fed her had actually been rather delicious.

Standing before the solid blank wall, Ellie tilted her head to the side. She knew Draco paced before this space of wall three times and suddenly a door would appear. Ellie paced. Once. Twice. Three times.

No door.

She frowned. Walking up to the wall, Ellie knocked twice. There was no answer. Sighing, Ellie paced again.

Still no door.

Balling her hands into to fists of frustration, Ellie paced a final three times, her thoughts turbulent. She needed to get into the Room of Requirement to see Draco. She needed to get into the Room of Requirement to give Draco much needed food. She needed to get into the Room of Requirement to make sure Draco was alright.

Ellie turned back to the wall, fully prepared to kick it angrily. However, to her complete astonishment, a door had formed in the middle of the wall. Gasping in surprise, Ellie ran forward, turned the door knob, and slipped into the room.

“Draco?” she called out. After waiting several seconds and hearing no response, Ellie began to wind her way towards the cabinet.

When she came upon it, she found Draco curled up on a ratty carpet inches from the cabinet. His grey button down shirt lay in a crumpled mess beneath his head serving as a make-shift pillow. His right hand clutched his left forearm in an apparent attempt to cover up his Dark Mark. Beneath his pale eyelids, his eyes roved endlessly, lost in dreams.

Ellie paused a foot away from him. Kneeling beside his sleeping figure, Ellie debated whether or not she should wake him. Draco clearly needed sleep, but he just as clearly needed food. But if she woke him up now, she knew he wouldn’t go back to sleep. Still unsure, Ellie ran one slim finger across the angles of Draco’s face, smiling shamelessly at the boy she loved.

In the end, Ellie decided she didn’t like the idea of her boy sleeping on a ratty old carpet on an incredibly hard floor. Lightly, she shook his shoulder, pressing her lips softly against his smooth cheek. Draco stirred, blinking his eyes rapidly, and when they fixated on Ellie’s face, his smile was instantaneous and brilliant.

“Ellie!” He said delightedly, sweeping her into his arms and settling her closely against his chest.

She giggled merrily, enjoying the feel of his steady heart beat against her own. “I brought you food.” She pointed to her messenger bag.

“How did you find me?” Draco reached for the bag, rustling through it until he came out with the pumpkin juice and mildly squished sandwich.

Ellie gave Draco an amused look. “Mon petit ami, you are always here.” Reaching inside the bag, Ellie pulled out the apple and handed it to Draco.

“Oh.” His features darkened slightly, he rolled the apple between his pale hands. “I didn’t think I showed you how to get into the room though.”

At this, Ellie lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug. “Non, mais, I did the pacing back and forth three times while I was thinking about you and then there was a door.”

Setting down the apple, Draco bit into the sandwich hungrily. “Well, however it happened, I’m really glad you’re here now, with food.”

“Ah, I see. You only like me for the services I provided,” Ellie pretended to huff.

He kissed her cheek messily causing Ellie to cry out in distress and pull herself free of him. “Now you know that isn’t true,” he taunted, “so why say something like that?”

“To hear it contradicted?”

“Then I’ll have you know I like having you around for far more than your ‘services’ as you deem them, but that being said, your services are entirely too enticing as well.” He smirked meaningfully at her.

“Oh, mais non, you have too little sleep and too little food for any enticing activites. Once you get a full night’s sleep, I will more than willingly be your partner in which ever activity you prefer.” Ellie stood up, dusting off her white jeans.

While Draco devoured the food she had brought him, Ellie assessed Draco’s cabinet with frank curiosity. It did not look any different. She walked to the side of it. Peered beneath it. Reached to open it –

“No!” Draco leapt up, kicking aside his bottle of pumpkin juice, to grab Ellie’s arm and forcing it down to her side. “It’s not fixed yet.” The pumpkin juice poured out onto the floor, staining the already dirty rug. Swiftly, Draco snatched his long sleeved shirt from the floor before the orange liquid could soil it. He shoved his arms through the sleeves, rapidly buttoning up the shirt and tucking it into his black pants.

“I – “ Ellie struggled to figure out what she had done wrong. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” She chewed on her bottom lip nervously. What was this cabinet for? What danger did it pose?

“No,” Draco ran an anxious hand through his hair. “You don’t have to apologize, just don’t touch the cabinet, okay?”

“Okay.” Ellie nodded slightly.

He bent down, pulling his wand from his back pocket. “Scourgify.” The mess on the floor was seemingly sucked up into Draco’s wand, leaving the carpet no worse for wear.

“Come one,” Draco said slipping his fingers between Ellie’s. He hoisted her messenger bag onto his shoulder, throwing the apple back in it. “Let’s get out of here. I’d much rather spend the day in the West Tower with you.”

Pushing her concerns and doubts to the back of her mind, Ellie embraced the giddy joy that Draco’s words evoked in her. “I would love that.”

“Good.” He stopped just before they reached the door. Looking down at Ellie, he grinned, “I love you.”