Altered for the Altar

Draco chuckled as Blaise finished his retelling of his entire summer, taking a sip out of the cup that a man had laid down several minutes ago before sending me a quick look out of the corner of his eye. I copied his motions, raising the cup of, now, cold tea that sat in front of me and starred off at a far wall so to appear as if I wasn’t both completely bored and terrified.

We’d been sitting in this dingy little pub with Blaise for over an hour now and he’d done nothing but talk about himself the entire time. Explaining every detail about his summer was only the latest story he’d subjected us too, several about his family and a few about some girl’s having filled up the time before that. He’d question Draco a bit on something that might be relatable to one of his tales or send me a big grin, but then he’d start right back again on something about his life.

I didn’t allow any of the boredom to show through, though. Every time he’d smile at me or Draco would glance over at me, I’d smile and try to look as though I was really listening. I worried that if I acted like I felt, that the boy might become offended or that he’d start asking questions in order to try to engage us all in a conversation. Sitting here and pretending was a lot easier than having to sound like Draco and I were more than we actually are.

At the sound of the boy clearing his throat, my eyes refocused on him and I caught the curious smile that he sent Draco and I. My heart started to beat faster at that and I took another swallow of the horrid tasting tea, trying to make it seem like I wasn’t going to be able to respond to whatever he was about to ask.

“So, where did you two meet?”

Nearly choking on the large ball that had suddenly lodged itself in my throat, I felt as my eyes widened and tried to hide them behind the cup while taking another sip. We hadn’t discussed the story we were supposed to tell people and I knew there was no way I could come up with something in time to differ him from probing further.

“At a party my parent’s hosted.”

At the sound of Draco’s quick reply, I nearly looked over at him with a questioning look but was able to merely finally sit my cup down on the scratched table top and smile. Blaise’s eyebrow’s rose up in surprise and he sat back in his chair.

“A party-really,” he questioned.

“Yea, it was more for my mother’s benefit than anything and there weren’t many people invited,” Draco said.

Blaise glanced between us for a few seconds with a look that I couldn’t really dissect and I began to worry then. Had Draco’s quick response not been believable? He chuckled though and crossed his arms in front of his chest as he directed his dark eyes over to Draco.

“Pansy's not going to be happy at all.”

Draco chuckled at that, the sound of something that resembled a breath of relief shooting through with the quick laughs. He glanced over at me and smiled, nodding a few times before taking a drink from his cup. Comforted a little by the subtle signal in his gesture, I tried to calm my heart and regain the function of breathing again.

“Yea, well, I’ll never see her again more than likely, so I’m not worried,” Draco replied.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not going back to Hogwarts this year.”

Blaise’s eyes widened and he lurched himself forward, resting his elbows on the table as he leaned halfway across it.

“Why aren’t you going back to Hogwarts,” he asked.

I glanced over at Draco, realizing that his quick quip about not seeing the girl ever again had lead us back into the direction we’d just gotten out of. Draco, however, appeared calm and collected as he leaned away from Blaise with a slight frown on his face.

“Because I have better things to do, Blaise. Honestly, I don’t think I could sit through another lecture with McGonagall.”

“Well, what a right good mate you are for just now letting me know!”

Draco snickered and took a quick gulp from his cup.

“Are you worried that you won’t be able to get along without me,” Draco cheekily asked, chuckle’s slipping out with the words.

Blaise scoffed and sat back in his chair, crossing his arm’s again as he sent Draco a steely glare.

“Of course not,” he countered. “I just don’t want to have to put up with Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle by myself for an entire year!”

“Well, I think you can find someone around that castle to keep you busy enough so you don’t have to see them.”

Blaise laughed loudly at that and nodded, finally directing his attention to the cup that had been sitting in front of him since we sat down. He frowned after he tasted a little of it and then called for the waiter to come over.

Draco glanced over at me and I saw as his chest rose and lowered with a deep breath. He nodded a few more times and quickly stared into my eyes before turning to order another of whatever we’d all been drinking. Declining anymore for myself when the waiter sent me a questioning look, I folded my hands in my lap and relaxed back into my chair. Maybe Draco had saved us from completely destroying it all before we’d even begun, I thankfully thought.

As I tried to collect myself again, Blaise began a conversation with Draco about which ‘person’ he’d more than likely be able to have the better chance of being entertained with. I drew in deep breaths to try and steady my heart again after the few moments of fear, only being able to slow it enough so I wouldn’t have to worry about either one of them hearing it pounding in my chest.

They continued to talk for another thirty or forty minutes, the word’s they were speaking becoming lost to me as I slowly started to drift in and out. Neither one drew me back in for a while to try to include me and that was alright with me; I was more than happy to let Draco handle his friend all by himself.

When Draco eventually did speak my name, it was so I could slip back into my coat in order for us to leave. Relieved that this was finally over, I stood and pushed passed the stiffness that had taken over my body while we’d been sitting for so long. As I fastened the black buttons, Draco walked around the table to shake Blaise’s hand and bid him good bye.

“It was very nice to meet you, Elizabeth.”

I smiled widely over at Blaise, trying to ignore the quick survey of my legs that he did, and nodded.

“You too, Blaise,” I replied.

Draco sent his friend another smile and then took my hand before beginning to lead us out the door. After escaping out into the street, I took a deep breath and relished in the fresh air. Having been sitting in the pub for over two and a half hours, the air had become stuffy and I was glad to no longer be smelling something that had me questioning some of the characters who’d been in there with us.

“I think we should go home now.”

Looking over at Draco after hearing his quiet muttering of words, I merely nodded and allowed him to lead back to the alleyway in which we’d appeared in earlier. He withdrew his wand from his pants pocket and then looked down at me.

“Ready?”

My eyes widened when I realized how we were going back and I frowned.

“It’ll be quick, I promise,” he said.

Sucking in a deep breath and bracing myself, I nodded.

I didn’t scream like before, merely just almost bit through my lip as we went spiraling through the tunnel and nearly ran out of air because I had unconsciously held my breath. My hand was firmly wrapped around his again but I was much closer this time, as if I was trying to hide myself behind him so to be able to stop the whole thing from brutally spinning.

Seconds later after we’d appeared in the alleyway, the dark brick of the shop wall’s morphed into black and then transformed into the cool grey of the Malfoy foyer. I didn’t stagger this time, but I did have to remain in the same spot for a while as I tried to shake the dizzy feeling. Draco’s hand was still tightly wound up in mine and I was a little surprised that he wasn’t yanking it away. Instead, after I reopened my eyes and glanced over at him, he was smiling a little.

“You handled it much better this time,” he said.

I smiled and released his hand. He started to remove his coat then, throwing it onto the bench beside the coat rack before shoving his hands into the pocket of his slack’s and turning to face me.

“We have to be more careful than we were today,” he began. “We nearly lost it all with someone as minimal as Blaise.”

“I know,” I nodded.

“It was my fault; I should’ve known better than to agree to a drink with him. But we’re going to have to come up with a better story and include whatever it was I told Blaise.”

I nodded again, interlacing my hands in front of me as I felt myself fully leaving the symptoms of traveling that way behind. Replacing the dizziness was pressure that had left me for a few minutes as we’d walked through the streets of the wizarding village after having left Blaise, making me feel wearier than I had felt before.

“Would it be alright if we started tomorrow?”

“That would be fine,” I replied.

He smiled a little at me and turned to head into an open room in front of me, but stopped nearly halfway there.

Glancing over his shoulder as he continued to face the entryway, he said “I’ll come up to get you about noon and we can go down into the garden-I heard it was supposed to be sunny tomorrow, so it’ll be better than being stuck inside all day.”

He waited for my smile and then started heading towards the room again. As he disappeared, something suddenly appearing out of the corner of my eye drew my attention away from him and I felt as my smile widened when Leal timidly stepped out of the shadow of the grand staircase.

“Would Miss like Leal to take her back to her room,” he quietly questioned.

His voice was high, very squeaky, and it shook a little, just as his small body did as he waited for my reply. Glad that he wasn’t afraid to speak to me anymore, I felt as my smile stretched into a wide grin and I stared down at him for a few seconds.

“I would like that very much, thank you.”

He nodded, though he didn’t return my smile as he walked nearly against the wall to reach the beginning of the stairs.

Still afraid though, I thought as I followed him up-much like myself.