If Love Is Sweet, What Is This, Draco Malfoy?

Daphne and I walked to our next lesson – potions. As I sat down next to Draco, he studied my facial expressions carefully. He didn’t need to say it out loud to know if I was awake or not. I sort of ignored him as I carried on working through the potion.
“Draco could you get a beetle for me please?” I asked him as I stirred the potion.
“Sure” he replied, getting up and heading towards the supply closet before picking up a box of beetles and setting it on our desk “So um… who are you hanging with today?” he asked quietly. I shrugged “How about we hang together?” he asked me hesitantly. I nodded, smiling slightly
“Sure sounds like fun” I said casually as I added the beetles.
“Yeah. Ok” he said, grinning now as he guided my hand by covering it with his to show me how to stir the potion correctly “You’re not doing it right” he whispered into my ear as he came behind me, and then made me gasp as he clasped my waist. “You need to move closer, that will help” he told me, pushing me closer gently. I had tightened my body but moved a baby step closer anyway. He smiled “If this makes you uncomfortable, you could have just said so” he whispered, as he released my waist and joined my side again to watch over me making the potion. I stayed quietly
“I just would prefer if you kept your hands to yourself. That’s all” I mumbled, as I edged even closer to the potion. He nodded, before pulling out a strand of the liquid with his wand and examining it.
“You need to stir slower” he told me, guiding my hand once again. I was too busy concentrating to tell him to keep his hands off me, and let him get closer and closer to me as he helped me “Ok you’re almost there. Just keep stirring gently for a while until it goes light purple/blue” he said gently, as he packed away his stuff before putting all of my stuff in my bag. I listened to his instructions and soon I had perfected the potion, and gaped at it
“WOW! I actually managed to complete a potion successfully!” I gasped, looking at the perfect potion gently waving from the spoon stirring. Draco grinned
“Feels good doesn’t it? I felt like that on my first time too” he told me. I looked at him unimpressed
“Yeah. Feels good. Seven years later I catch on!” I said, annoyed, remembering that he had perfected his potion the first time he’d tried in our first year, and I was perfecting it now in our seventh year. Draco grinned
“Ok so I’m good with potions. You’re good at defence against dark arts! Especially because you’re great with your wand” he solved. I glanced at him
“Yeah I suppose” I said, as I poured my potion into the vial. I skipped over to Snape’s desk and placed it there. Snape looked at the potion, before picking it up and ripping the name tag off. He stuck a new one on and then wrote ‘Malfoy’ on it, before placing it next to Draco’s potion.
“Mr. Malfoy made this potion. You did not do much to contribute. Therefore I shall not take work that has been leant to someone else that cannot successfully complete the potion” he said coldly, before looking back down at the piece of parchment he was scraping away on. I glared at him, before I felt Draco’s hand on the small of my back, pushing me away from his desk and towards the door. I let myself be led out of the class by Draco, threatening to erupt at any point.
“Come on let’s go somewhere” he told me. I nodded, sighing, before taking his hand and letting him lead me outside.
“Where are we going?” I whined, as I carried on walking with him, taking my books from him. Draco picked up my books from my hand again and pulled me along with him
“Somewhere. Just a little left to go” he promised
“What are you going to do with my books?” I asked, confused.
“Nothing. I’m carrying them” he replied simply
“But why?” I asked once again
“Because” Draco told me, before walking a little while further with me. When we finally got there, I gasped as I saw the shimmering lake, glistening in the sunlight. ‘Wow’ I mouthed, and he grinned “I thought you might like it” he said gently, pulling me down onto the floor and placing our bags and my books next to him. I sat next to Draco, the glittering water being one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen
“How come I’ve never seen this before?” I asked, looking at the orange canvas around me. Draco shrugged and put his coat around me as I shivered a little, before pulling me close to him. I placed my head on his chest and he hugged me into him, resting his chin on my head. His hand curled around my back before coming into contact with my arm, and I slipped my hand around the front of his waist as I hugged into him sideways. I felt Draco smile and smiled with him, watching the beautiful sight “This is nice” I whispered, and he agreed by making an ‘mmm’ sound. I couldn’t even believe I’d stopped being Draco’s friend. He made me feel so nice. He took me to a place where no one else could. Not even my friends made me feel as special and wanted as Draco did. And yet he was there to comfort me, not take use of me. He was there to be a friend to me, not be a boyfriend. He was generally there for me, making me feel so much more special than anyone else. And for those reasons I could never really let him go. Never really get mad at him, no matter what he did. Even though our perspectives of each other and what we wanted from one another was different, we still went together well, even if we were just friends. And perhaps he thought I was testing the water. To see if being a friend, I could get to know him more before trusting him and then becoming his girlfriend. But I was sure that that would not happen. I didn’t love Draco more than a friend. I couldn’t. In the past or now, it was just impossible to love him. There was no chemistry, no spark, no romance or intensity. There was nothing except a friendship that lingered around for a while before disappearing abruptly, only to pop up later in our lives once again. It still felt blissful nevertheless as I lay in Draco’s arms, watching the sun reflect it’s radiance and beauty off the water. It was calming to watch, and yet it saddened me that Draco could never truly have what he wanted. Because that would mean I would give into him – something I was not willing to do.