The Same Mistake

Draco and Ellie lay on the floor of the Room of Requirement, staring up at the ceiling. It domed above them, seemingly miles away. With their hands clasped together, Draco drummed his fingers against the back of her hand.

“And where do you see yourself in dix ans?”

“Simple,” Draco replied haughtily, “playing for the Tornados.”

Ellie laughed, squeezing Draco’s hand in affection. They had been playing this game all evening. One asking a question, the other answering. Honesty was the unspoken rule, though exaggerations were perfectly acceptable. “Tu?”

“Are you suggesting that my Quidditch skills are less than impressive?” asked Draco with pervasive irritation.

“Not at all,” Ellie said smoothly. “I just don’t particularly fancy the idea of you surrounded by adoring fan girls.”

Draco’s lips perked up into a smile. “Worried about a little competition?”

“Competition? Mais non!” Elle replied indignantly.

Draco turned his face to look over at Ellie. Her blonde eyebrows were pulled down in discontent, her lips a thin line. His smile broadened. Draco rather enjoyed the idea of Ellie jealous, because he knew he’d be insanely jealous of any guy who tried to sway her attention.

“And you? Where do you see yourself in ten years, ma cherie?”

Ellie chewed on her bottom lip, thinking over her answer. “I believe it depends.”

“On what?”

“Voldermort.”

Draco hissed at the name.

“Sorry,” Ellie amended, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Name. Si, he is still in power, I believe my life would be very different. I hope I would still be with you, and I hope we would get to have normal lives. But, if he was to fall out of power . . . I have other ideas of where my life would go.”

“Such as?” Draco asked after an interval of time had passed.

“Such as a life with you. I would love to work as a fashion designer, try to bring robes into the 21st century. Or working writing articles for Tres Glamour. But either way, I’d like to be sharing a flat with you, in England.

“I didn’t realize you were quite so invested in fashion.” Not the best answer, but it was the only one that came to mind that didn’t leave him baring more of his soul than he wanted to.

Ellie smirked. “I’m French, Draco. It’s genetic.”

His lips pulled up in a half grin. “My mistake.”

“Quite clearly.”

“Though, I don’t know how I’d feel about rooming with a diva.”

Ellie moved onto her knees, leaning down over Draco so that his face was haloed by her long locks. “Qu’est que c’est?”

He traced the soft angles of her jaw before answering. “A girl who is obsessed with her looks and her clothes.”

“Non! Ce n’est pas moi! I will not be the one who is diva-ing. I will make the clothes for the divas.”

“Ah. Again, my mistake.” His smile broadened as he tried to bring Ellie down for a kiss. She resisted, drawing her face away from him. Her fingers traced abstract patterns across his chest, distracting him from more proper thoughts.

“Do you think ton mere would like me?”

The heat rushing through Draco froze. “My mother?” Ellie nodded. “Well,” his grey eyes shifted to the window behind Ellie. “You’re a Pure Blood.”

Ellie blinked, clearly unimpressed. “Et?”

“Well, that means she wouldn’t throw you out of the house right away.”

Sighing with frustration, Ellie flipped her hair impatiently, “What does that mean, you think your parents would not like me?”

Draco scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. “Ellie, does it matter what they think?”

Her lips pursed into a frown. Great, Draco thought, now she was mad, not exactly the romantic evening he had in mind. “So, if things were different, and we didn’t have to spend our time worrying about being destroyed by the Dark Lord, it would not matter to you if tes parents didn’t like me?”

Draco pulled himself into a sitting position, crossing his arms over his folded knees. “If things were different, you wouldn’t even be here.”

“Right,” Ellie snapped.

“No, come on, I didn’t mean it like that,” Draco pleaded. “I’m just saying that if things were different, they would be really different. For instance, you would still be in France and we would never have met. But, of course I would want my parents to like you, it’s just that they aren’t exactly the easiest people in the world. I doubt if my father likes me half the time. I rather feel he puts up with me. It’s not as though I can ever do anything good enough for him.” His words came out far more bitter than he had intended.

Ellie’s features softened, but to Draco’s immense relief, pity never reached her eyes. “I am sure your father is very proud of you, Draco. You are strong, intelligent, brave, caring. What more would he want?”

Though Draco’s insides flipped with delight at Ellie’s words, his heart remained sour. “It is far more important to my father that I be dominant and cruel than caring or brave. Cunning and viciousness are the trademarks of a good Death Eater. That is the type of son my father wants.”

“I think that is probably not true.”

Draco laughed brittly, “I envy your ability to think that.”

“And your mother?” Ellie pursued.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes closed. “My mother wants a son who
is alive at the end of his sixth year.”

“Then your mother and I have something in common.”

He smirked. “Yeah, I suppose so. Though, I’ve never brought a girl home before, so I’m not sure how my mother would react to me having a girlfriend.” He winced at the word, it was the first time he had labeled his relationship with Ellie.

Either she hadn’t heard, or Ellie didn’t feel the concession was as sacred as Draco did, for she breezed past it. “Take me home with you.”

Draco choked in shock. “Wh-what?”

“When school is over, take me to your house, introduce me to your mother. I want to meet her.”

“Ellie,” Draco struggled to find the right words, “it’s really not that simple. People don’t just come over anymore. Times are difficult, my house is . . . occupied at the moment.”

“Oh.” The word fell hallow between them.

“But if things were different, I still wouldn’t bring you over.”

Ellie didn’t say a word. She sat there, her eyes focused out the window at the blood red sunset pouring through it. Her features were stoic and stubborn. If anything, Ellie looked disappointed, not with what he had said, but rather, with Draco himself.

The very thought of Ellie being disappointed in him ate at Draco’s pride. “Ellie,” he said, taking her hand in his larger one, tugging until she deigned to look him in the eyes. “My mother . . . I love her dearly, but she is rather protective, and I can’t for a second imagine that she would take very well to any female I brought home, let alone one who goes around flaunting her friendship with a blood traitor, one who rubs elbows with Potter, one sleeps in Gryffindor.”

“Je vois,” replied Ellie icily.

“Come on, Ellie. You can’t truly tell me your parents wouldn’t feel the same about me. I find it hard to believe that a man and woman who are under the protection of The Order of the Phoenix would be ecstatic if their daughter brought home a Death Eater.”

She pressed her face against his cheek, her lips brushing against his ear as she whispered, “That is the difference, mon amour, mes parents would only care que je t’aime.”

Her words cut through him like a knife. Draco felt incredibly insignificant and unworthy of her love. Ellie was so pristine, so innocent in her affections. She could not see the reality of such a love. Though it was Draco’s full intention to make her his, and once he did, once she was branded, he would be more than happy to introduce her to his family, even that crazy bitch Bellatrix.

But for now, he had no words to offer her. “Ellie, you know I love you.”

“Then show me.”

Draco drew Ellie down into his lap, kissing her mouth hungrily, eager to avoid further discussions about their precariously uncertain future. She slipped her hands up the front of his shirt, dragging her nails lightly down his chest. Draco groaned, the sensation driving him crazy.

It was almost funny how quickly Ellie could dissipate his anxieties and arouse his interest. She twisted in his lap, her lips on his neck, sucking at the skin, biting very gently as her hips ground down on his. His hands gripped hard on her hips, trying to settle her in place. It was nearly impossible for him to focus when she did things like this. With a desperate groan, Draco pulled Ellie’s mouth away from his neck.

“Draco.” The need in Ellie’s voice sent ripples of desire through him

He needed to kiss her and so he smashed his lips against hers, nibbling on her bottom lip. Ellie eagerly opened her mouth, allowing his tongue to slide erotically against hers. She pressed harder against his erection as her hands reached down to dispel his shirt. Draco rucked his plain silver long sleeve shirt over his head, throwing it haphazardly on the ground.

Ellie pressed her advantage, leaning her full weight into Draco as he continued to ravage her mouth with passionate kisses. He bent to her weight, lying flat on his back on the dusty floor of the Room of Requirement. “Ellie,” he moaned as she broke the kiss to free herself of her white t-shirt.

Draco’s hands dragged Ellie back down to him; her lips were already swollen and ruddy from the kissing. Smirking at her, Draco rolled Ellie beneath him. She grinned up into his grey eyes, her own utterly dazzled. She ran her nails up his back drawing a hiss from Draco.

He dropped his mouth to her neck, biting and sucking as she had done earlier, marking her as his own. Draco’s desire was nearing a breaking point , but this was his favorite part. Foreplay with Ellie was almost as rewarding as the actual love making. She loved to wind him up with the chase before finally giving in. That was the kind of girl he liked, one tough enough to fight it out with him.

Ellie made a keening noise beneath him, arching up to rub the length of her warm soft body against the hard angles of his. Draco bit back a groan, not wanting Ellie to know she currently held the advantage. Rallying, Draco cuffed his right hand around Ellie’s left wrist and his left around her right, pinning both above her head. Smirking down at her, Ellie’s eyes flashed with excitement. Draco pressed his hips down securely on hers.

“Would you like me to take those off for you?” Ellie purred her eyes dancing at the sight of the bulge in his pants.

“In a while,” he replied coolly, bending over her to capture her lips with his. This time he kissed Ellie roughly, their tongues fighting for dominance. But as Ellie sunk her teeth deliciously into his bottom lip, Draco lost his advantage.

She yanked her wrists from his control which were slightly rubbed raw from all the writhing she had done under his toned weight. Now free, her hands pressed against Draco’s shoulders until he fell back on the floor.

Her smirk was equally reminiscent of his own moments early. Unfolding her crouched body, Ellie took Draco’s hands, raising him up with her. Draco’s eyes hungrily took in every aspect of her curves, the way her blonde hair trailed down her back, curling just slightly at the ends.

“God,” he whispered, pressing his rapidly cooling body against her enticingly warm one. “You are so beautiful.”

She wound both arms around his neck, moving onto her tiptoes so her mouth would reach his. “I love you,” she murmured.

Grasping her thighs readily in his strong hands, Draco hoisted Ellie up. She wrapped her legs around his hips, grinding just enough to wring a whimper from Draco. Her back slammed up against smooth cold wood. The polished surface sucked the heat from her back. Draco leaned his full weight against her, knowing Ellie was securely supported by the Vanishing Cabinet. His lips hungrily devouring hers.

Her hands tangled up in his hair, pulling him near, drowning him in her scent so resonant of summer rain. “Oh, Draco,” she sighed, her hips wriggling down on his.

Taking his cue, Draco gripped her thighs more firmly, landing a small kiss on the corner of her perfectly kissable mouth. “You know,” he repeated huskily, “I love you too.”

And with that, Draco took Ellie in vain. At the back of his mind, Draco reflected on the one truth he hadn’t shared with her. The one she hadn’t thought to ask about. The cabinet was fixed.