Laugh with the Sinners;Cry with the Saints

It all started during my walk to Astronomy class. Turning the corner, Emily and I came face to face with my partner. He stood, hunched over, and looking at his feet; his hands stuffed in the pockets of his slacks, and his robes thrown over his right shoulder. When he heard us approach, he looked up. Pushing off the stone wall, he stood in front of me, towering me by at least a head.

“Elsie?” he asked.

“Wow. Did you hear that, Em? He actually called me Elsie.” I mocked. “To what do I deserve such an honor, I wonder? Is it because we’re in the presence of royalty?” I asked, indicating Emily.

Draco’s brow furrowed and he glanced between us both, a dumbstruck look on his face. He thought for a moment before coming to the realization that I was joking. Rolling his eyes, he sighed.

“You can bow anytime you wish.” Emily told him with a wave of her hand. “Oh, and kiss the ring.” She pushed her hand in his face, showing off a small birthstone ring.

“Shut up.” He snarled and pushed her hand out of his face before turning his attention back to me. “Can you do me a favor?” Where had I heard that before?

“Oh! A favor? Depends. Do I have to kill anyone?” At my words, I noticed the color drain from Draco’s face. But as soon as it had gone, it returned, making me think I’d just imagined it. Sighing I continued, “No, seriously, Draco, all joking aside, what is it?”

“I just want you to tell Professor I’m not feeling well, and I’m in my dorm.”

“Hmm…” I said, putting my finger up to my chin. “Depends.”

“On what?”

“Say please.” Rolling his eyes he grumbled out a very insincere ‘please’. “Fine I’ll do it.” I nodded. “But for real, Draco, are you sure you’re not coming down with something, are you? You don’t look so good.”

“I’ll be fine.” He told me before walking off.

We stood, watching him walking down the corridor. As soon as he was out of sight Elsie sighed and turned to me, her eyebrows raised. I watched her as she put her hands on her hips and smirked.

“I’ll tell Professor you came down with a horrible case of Dragon Pox and had to be rushed to the hospital wing for immediate treatment so you wouldn’t, you know, die.”

“Thanks, Emily!” I grinned before running off in pursuit of the blonde Slytherin.

--

He wasn’t going towards the dungeons, where the Slytherin common room was; that was the first thing I noticed. Maybe he was delirious with fever, and he just though he was going to his common room. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying something.

He was about to turn down the seventh floor corridor when he turned to look behind him. Giving a quiet “eep!”, I ran behind a statute of a gargoyle across the way. Peeking from behind the statue I saw him lean against the wall and slide down it until he was sitting on the floor, his eyes on the ceiling above him. Running his hand through his blonde hair, he let out a breath that I didn’t know he had been holding—maybe he didn’t even know he had been holding it.

He looked towards the statute and I hunched down farther, hoping he wouldn’t see me. I was about to chance another glance over the statute when he spoke.

“Elsie, do you remember when we were little?” Furrowing my brow, I stayed hunkered down, my knees to my chin. He hadn’t called me Elsie in years, and this was the second time in one night; there was definitely something wrong. “You can come out.” He spoke again, “I’ve known you were following me since we passed the Transfiguration classroom.

Sighing, I stood to full height, wincing as I heard a pop in my knee. I walked until I was in front of him. He didn’t look like Draco. He looked frightened, like a small child that had just woken from a nightmare. He looked up at me and spoke again.

“Do you remember when we were little, Elsie? When my parents used to have parties and you and your parents would come?” He asked.

“Yeah. I suppose.” I shrugged. It was true; every pure blood family was invited to the Malfoy Manor for parties, with the exception of the Weasley’s and a few others. Draco and I were the closest in age; therefore we were forced to spend time together. He actually wasn’t that bad at the time…

“I miss that.” His voice had dropped to a whisper. I nearly laughed as I went to take a seat beside him.

“Why?” I asked, “They always made us dance together.”

“I know, but things were simple then.”

“Because we were younger, everything’s simpler when you’re younger. You don’t
understand as much as you do when you’re older, but that doesn’t seem to matter, things are still simpler.”

“Why did you stop coming?” He asked, and I shrugged again.

“My parent’s views changed. They never would have taken it so far as to become Death Eaters. But around the time I started Hogwarts, their views changed. I don’t know why; I’ve never asked and they’ve never told me.”

I chanced a glance at him, knowing that since his father was imprisoned, anything Death Eater related could set him off, however he didn’t react. He only sat, looking straight ahead. He was silent for a while before speaking again.

“Go back to class, Bartley.” And we were back to last names...

“Draco.” I turned to him, and suddenly, this was more than just trying to get information from him, this was making sure an old, lost friend--who was never really a friend-- was alright. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve told you before, I’m fine.” He began to get up when I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pulled him back down.

“Have you seen yourself lately, Draco?” I asked. “You’re not ‘fine’. You look like death made over.”

“Go to class, Bartley.” He said before jerking his sleeve out of my grip and turning to stalk away.

--

Draco’s constantly changing moods were enough to send my thoughts into a frenzy. One moment he was the horrible Malfoy that I’d grown to loathe, and the next he was the complete opposite. Frankly, it was confusing the hell out of me. To be honest, it completely sucked.

Throughout the next day, I was in a horrible mood, and it seemed like nothing Jamie and Trent said would pull me out of it. Not even when Trent mentioned that I was staring at Harry’s arse again…although I began to suspect that he was the one actually doing the staring. Wanker…trying to steal my man...okay, maybe he wasn’t my man…yet.

But he would be…soon. As soon as I got dirt on Draco, Harry would be as good as mine. And we’d fall in love, and then get married. Hell, we’d even live in a castle with our 78 kids. Or at least, that’s what I was daydreaming when Jamie slammed her potions book down in front of me, causing me to jump.

“Don’t even think about it.” I muttered.

“What are you on about?” She asked as she began to set up her cauldron.

“You know very well what I’m on about.” Letting out a huff, Jamie flung herself into her seat.

“You seem in a rage.” I muttered, but I didn’t look up from the open book that lay in front of me, pretending to be more interested in the potions ingredients than what she was doing.

“Of course I’m in a rage!” She screeched. “You skipped Astronomy?! And worst of all to follow MALFOY?!” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Draco’s head turn to look at me as he
heard his name.

“Shut up, you, git. Merlin, could you talk any louder?”

“Yes! I could!” Quickly I covered her mouth with my hand.

“Shut up!” I whispered harshly. When she didn’t say anything, took my hand away. “Are you calm?” I asked. When she nodded, I spoke again, “Okay, now you may continue.”

“What are you doing, Elsie?” She asked.

“You know very well what I’m doing.”

“It’s not going to make Harry like you!” I was silent for a second, letting that realization sink in. What if this whole thing didn’t make him like me? What if I’d done all of this for nothing?

“You don’t know that.” I growled before returning to my open book, gathering different ingredients with tears brimming my eyes.

--

The note had simply said, “Meet me in the greenhouse.” It was about time for my weekly meet with Harry. Smiling, I folded the parchment and took off across the school grounds, dodging other students. The only think I could hear was the sound of my heart in my ears and my feet on the ground. I ran past the lake, and the Quidditch field, not stopping until I reached the greenhouse.

Doubled over, my hands on my knees, I fought to catch my breath, and when I finally did, I entered the greenhouse. I was surprised when it wasn’t Harry waiting on me, but someone else.

“We need to talk.”