When Winter Comes Early

Six Years Later

Riley held her breath, looking ever so slowly around the corner. No one. The corridor was empty. She quickly ran down the hall to the door at the furthest end. She was in the west wing, or at least, she thought she was, and this should be the room she had been fretting to find. She rattled the doorknob, urging the door to come open, but it didn’t budge, not an inch. Riley took out her wand.

“Alohomora,” she whispered.

She heard a small click, then quietly slipped inside, closing it behind her. That was easy, she thought to herself. A little too easy… Riley shook her head, clearing her thoughts, and moved toward the center of the nearly empty room. A single table in the center held what she was looking for, a single apple, the reddest she’d ever seen. She scanned the walls, her footsteps slow and measured, her heels clicking against the mahogany floor, the sound magnified by the silence that surrounded her. This was it. This was the end.
Riley let a confident smirk make its way onto her face as she reached for the apple, about to claim her prize.

“I see you’ve found it,” came a voice from behind her.

She turned around, apple in hand.

“It looks like the game’s over,” Riley said, smiling.

“It would appear that way, wouldn’t it?” Draco replied, taking several steps forward, closing the empty space between them.

He looked around distastefully at the room. Riley followed his gaze. Just at that moment, when Riley wasn’t looking at him, Draco snatched the apple out of her hands, taking a bite out of it and sending her his infamous arrogant smirk. It was the same smirk he used to scare off the first years.

“I win,” he stated.

Riley’s jaw dropped in horror.

“No fair!”

“Of course it’s fair,” he argued back. “The rules are simple enough to follow. I hid the apple. You had to find it.”

“And I did find it!”

“Always read the fine print, dear. You had to take a bite out of the apple to win. But since I took the first bite, I’m the winner.”

Riley was speechless.

“You conned me out of my victory. You’re a cheater and a liar, Mr. Malfoy.”

She crossed her arms and turned away from him, slowly smiling once her back was to him and he couldn’t see her face. The next time Draco spoke, he was surprisingly close.

“I guess there’s only one way to solve this problem then.”

“And what’s that?” Riley asked, turning around, truly curious.

Draco waited a few more moments as the suspense grew, filling the air around them so that Riley thought she might faint.

“Tell me,” she practically screamed.

Draco inhaled deeply.

“Race you to the kitchen!”

He then ran out of the room and slammed the door behind him before Riley had enough time to take one small step in the right direction.

“You won’t beat me this time, Malfoy!” she yelled to the house. She knew he heard her.
She ran through the hallways as fast as she possibly could, knocking a house elf over and calling out a brief apology, but not bothering to stop and help it pick up the pile of clothes it had been carrying. She caught up to Draco at the top of the stairs, grabbing the back of his jacket and pulling him back roughly, and propelling herself forward, skipping several steps as she sprinted down them.

“You’ll be sorry for that one, Blake,” he muttered under his breath.

By the time they made it to the kitchen, both fighting to get through the door at once even though they knew the door wasn’t big enough for them to go in side by side, Draco had Riley in a headlock and Riley was laughing uncontrollably, out of breath.

“I won! I won Draco, I won!” she cried.

They both collapsed on the floor, smiling at one another.

“I don’t think so.”

“I do think so.”

Neither one of them said anything after that. They were still gasping for air.

“Draco, get off that nasty floor this instant.”

Draco looked up to see his father standing over him, and he quickly scrambled to his feet, brushing imaginary dirt off his pants.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

Lucius then turned his gaze on Riley, looking at her with distaste. He had never been a fan of Riley since she had been sorted into Gryffindor. Riley got to her feet quickly, nodding to Lucius in greeting. He ignored her.

“Draco, be sure that your trunk is packed for school. Your mother will be taking you to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get your supplies.”

With that, he was gone, disappearing around the corner, surely on his way to his study where he spent most of his time.

“Come on,” whispered Draco, bringing Riley out of her trance.

He reached out his hand and she took it, as they made their way back up the stairs and to their rooms to pack their things.

-----

It was later that night when Riley went and knocked on Draco’s bedroom door.

“Draco?” she called out.

She heard a faint shuffling from beyond the door, and then Draco was in front of her, standing aside to let her in. Riley walked straight across the room, taking her usual seat on the windowsill. She took a deep breath, taking in the scent of peppermint and cologne. Draco smiled at her and went back into his closet where he had been spending close to an hour trying to pack all of his things into his trunk. He and Riley would be going back to Hogwarts in only a few days. He’d tried to talk her out of going this year, but of course she hadn’t budged. She didn’t understand how dangerous it was. He sighed. He still hadn’t told her about the dark mark he’d been given only a week before she’d arrived at his house to spend the last bit of summer with him. Draco walked back out of his closet, dragging his trunk behind him. He pushed it against the wall next to the window, sitting on it and leaning back.

“What do you think it’ll be like this year Draco?” Riley asked softly.

This was a question she asked him every year, but there was something in her tone, something sad and bittersweet that had never been there before, that made Draco pause for a slight moment. He frowned.

“I don’t know.”

Riley stood suddenly from her seat, making Draco jump from surprise, and began to pace back and forth.

“Riley, what’s wrong? You’re not nervous, are you?”

“That was a onetime thing Draco. You know I never get nervous. I was a stupid first year.”

“Well then what has you upset?”

Riley stopped, her back to Draco, and crossed her arms.

“I’ve been having nightmares.”

Draco’s frown deepened.

“Again?”

Riley nodded her head and walked back to the windowsill, sitting down.

“Draco, the nightmares were about you. About losing you.”

“They’re only nightmares Riley. They’re not real. They can’t hurt you.”

“I know you have just as many nightmares as I do, maybe more.”

“How do you-”

“Draco, I’m not an idiot. I’m your best friend. I can tell when you haven’t slept or when you’ve been restless. Those dark circles under your eyes are more obvious than you would think. Sometimes I hear you scream at night. When the nightmares are worse.”

Draco looked away from the petite brunette sitting in front of him, suddenly finding the dark mahogany floors quite interesting. Riley put a hand on his shoulder.

“Look, the point is, I’m here for you. I just wanted you to know that.”

Draco let a small half smile slip onto his face, turning back to her.

“Thanks. You know I’m here for you too, right?”

She nodded her head and smiled brightly.

“Of course.”

“Good,” he said quietly.

“You know,” Riley began. “It’s too bad I didn’t get put into Slytherin. We could’ve actually talked in public.”

Draco nodded his head in agreement. Riley turned and looked out the window at the gardens.

“The trees will turn soon,” she whispered, afraid to break the sudden silence that had fallen around them, and in turn, the house. “The trees will turn, and summer will be over-”

“Summer will be over in a few days Riley.”

Riley shot Draco a glare.

“Not technically. We only go to school in a few days. But when the trees turn… That’s when it’s truly over. Don’t try to end something so good too early.”

Draco nodded his head, though he didn’t realize just how serious she was being.