Underwater Calls

“Very good Laura, very good. Never would I have known you could defend yourself so easily.”
Her face twisted with disgust as she realised who also awake in the Common room alongside her. Letting go of his arm, she pushed him away from her, dusting her hands off down her robe.
“What are you doing here, Malfoy? Sneaking around and grabbing arms?” she said, her voice laced with slight anger and disgust. But he heard it, the underlying tone of relief that he was the one who had grabbed her and not a stranger who shouldn’t have been in their Common room in the first place.
“Couldn’t sleep. The same can be said to you, Laura. Why aren’t you in your bed? Sneaking around?” he mocked her, and saw her roll her eyes. With the moon light pouring in, he could see every perfect line on her face. She looked like a siren, beckoning him with her beauty, lulling him into her pull with her voice.
But sirens were never good news, he reminded himself. They killed those that they lured into their hold.
She shouldn’t look so beautiful, he thought to himself angrily. No girl could look that beautiful at four in the morning. Yet she looked flawless.
Get yourself together, he thought disgustingly.
“Well, now that we are both here, you can light a fire. Im cold,” she stated dismissively, rubbing her hands up and down her arms which were clad in the skimpiest robes he had ever seen.
“Being a sensible person, one would think that you would wear something warmer. It’s not summer anymore,” he said, moving over to the fireplace nevertheless. He wasn’t going to let her freeze, as he knew that she had no intentions to go back to her dorm room.
Collecting wood from the holder by the side, he placed them into the fireplace, aiming his wand and creating a spark. Laura watched him, bent down so he can light a fire. And admired his backside, realising just how attractive it was.
The temptation to go grab it was unbelievable.
Sitting back down on the sofa, she snuggled in, pulling her legs up and watching him. She knew that he knew she was – he wasn’t stupid, after all. Malfoy’s were anything but. She didn’t care though – after all, she remembered all of his actions the month before, in his room. If he was entitled to kissing her when she didn’t want him to, she was entitled to watching his ass, because frankly, she was just using her eyes.
He came over to her once he was done, and she didn’t stop him or utter a word as he sat down next to her and watched the flames. One wouldn’t realise just how mesmerising the flames really were until they simply watched them. And that’s exactly what they did.
Laura didn’t think that it was possible just to sit with Malfoy and feel comfortable. But she did – just watching the fire soothed her, warmed her up, and made her mind stop thinking slowly.
“Im sorry for what happened when you were staying over at my house. I don't know what came over me to behave in such a manner, but I apologize for it,” Malfoy said, shocking her. He didn’t know exactly what had possessed him to suddenly blurt that out, but he meant it. For the first time, he apologized with meaning.
Laura blinked, once, twice, before shaking her head. It wasn’t known for Malfoy to ever apologize. Yet here she was, sitting by him, comprehending the apology he had just given her.
“I also apologize for being so rude earlier in Potions – I have a tendency of saying stuff that is ruder than it should really sound.”
“Im sorry for barging into your room and pushing your buttons. I didn’t mean to be so rude, and I have been brought up with manners,” she said, smiling a little to herself. She couldn’t look into his eyes, as she didn’t want to think that he had been given a leeway. She had learnt a while ago that you should never give men an inch, because they pushed it to a mile.
“Well, I guess that’s both of us in the clear now. Why were you not sleeping in your dorm room but down here?” he asked, changing the subject – he never liked to apologize, as it left him feeling vulnerable. But he knew that he couldn’t avoid it for any longer. Just like he didn’t want to be in her bad books anymore either. And that annoyed him, that he valued her opinion all of a sudden.
Because he sure hadn’t for the last six years.
She shrugged; she didn’t have a reason for sleeping down at the Common room other than the fact that she had dozed off.
“I just ended up sleeping while reading. Happens a lot – I lose track of time and then end up realising I have a stiff neck from sleeping weirdly,” she laughed, shaking her head. He smiled; looking at the paperback book she picked up and placed by the side table.
“Is that a muggle book?” he questioned, and she heard the surprise in his voice. He would be, as he did have certain ‘beliefs’ about Pure Bloods. She remembered his wrong morals and the injustice his family held for Muggles – she had to remember it or she would lose herself in the Malfoy that she didn’t know was easy to conversate with.
“Yeah, it is – I really am obsessed with reading their novels now, it’s fascinating,” she said, waiting to see what his reaction might be. He didn’t look disgusted or annoyed with her interest in it – he merely looked indifferent.
And that made her skin itch more than any other reaction would have.
Deciding that she wasn’t going to waste breath and catch up on some sleep that she was losing, she settled on the couch, watching the fire through half closed eyes.
And with her dream earlier forgotten, she fell through the curtain and into the trance of a blissful sleep.