Light and Shadow

Over the course of her third year, it wasn't unusual for Aurelia to find herself in the company of a sour faced Draco. He was always bitter about one thing or another, but she never seemed to mind whatever mood he happened to sport. Aurelia was constant and patient, her placid demeanor never changing as Draco went on hate rants and shared his quarrels of the day.

This time, Aurelia was peering closely at Draco from across the table as they spent a spot of time together during free period. Crabbe and Goyle had practically carried the lithe boy in and deposited him in her care the moment they spotted her. For some reason, they retreated shortly after and she quickly realized that it was in order to spare themselves his wrath.

"Are you alright, Malfoy?" Aurelia finally asked, her brows coming together as her mouth threatened to curve.

Draco's eyes pierced into her with a severe glare. His hands were clamped firmly over his nose and his mouth, eyes still misty with tears. Aurelia easily figured that he had been involved in a physical altercation that did not end well for him. Despite her knowing that it was likely to have been of his own doing, a touch of sympathy arose in her as she likened him to a kicked animal.

"What does it look like, Luxe?" Draco snarled, dropping his hand from his face to dab at the blood staining his nose. "That filthy little mudblood. How dare she make a fool out of me? My father will hear about this!"

He was still livid, Aurelia noted as she reached into her pocket and offered him a checkered handkerchief, which he plucked from her fingers with a haughty swipe.

"You give Hermione such a hard time, Malfoy. What did you expect?" Aurelia said. Her brows quirked. "Keep prodding the slumbering lion and you're bound to get a hand or a nose chomped off sooner or later," she considered him for a moment before speaking again. "I don't need to say that you got exactly what was coming to you."

She drew her wand from her pocket, lifting the tip to his nose while he fixed her with a brooding stare.

"Episkey."

Her voice was smooth and flowing like running water over his wounds. With a cold sensation rushing over his swollen face, Draco found that his pain was quickly dispersed at the Hufflepuff's spell. Aurelia watched him for only a moment before a satisfied smile spread on her lips and she stowed her wand away again.

"All better?"

"Yes." Draco grumbled in reply, turning his eyes away from her.

That was all the thanks that she would get out of him and Aurelia seemed happy with that. He didn't look at her again until her eyes fell back onto the spread of books and parchments in front of her.

It wasn't long ago when he first enraptured his housemates with tall tales of his brush with death.

It was better known as the time he got a bit of a scratch from Buckbeak's talons. Aurelia didn't need to say anything to him as he caught her look from across the hall. There were no words, no scorn, no anything, but Draco knew that she was not happy with him.

By the time that evening fell, there were rumors flying all around about a stuffed purple dragon named Grapes that lived beneath his bed. Draco was livid and after turning his wand on both Crabbe and Goyle, they finally admitted to have accidentally mentioned it to Aurelia Luxe at one point in their stupor. He stalked her down that night, finding her lingering in the Owlery with large black hawk in her company. The moment she turned and looked at him, he knew from that frightening glint in her eye that she was the culprit.

"Bloody hell, Luxe!" Draco burst in a fury. "You started it, didn't you? That bloody rumor was-"

"Wasn't a rumor," Aurelia's voice cut in, a dry smile curving her mouth, "was it?"

He didn't have any words for that. It might have been due to the fact that he was half inclined to hex her into oblivion, or that he was so overcome with insults and cutting remarks all at once that only one could not make it past the rest. Draco was seething because never in all his life had someone hit so close to home and seemingly without any effort at all. But it was that smirk tucked comfortably in the corner of her mouth that intrigued him to no end, that smirk that was so frighteningly Slytherin.

He felt his rage deflate, leaving him standing there as the black attire he wore soaked into the inky shadows. Aurelia's golden hair shimmered in the moonlight as he lifted his hand and chucked the stuffed purple dragon at her. She lifted an arm and caught it with a deft hand. She blinked once and looked at the toy in a slight bewilderment before lifting her eyes back to him.

"Thanks to you, Grapes isn't safe in my room anymore," Draco hissed. "You'd better take responsibility, Luxe."

Her brows came together lightly and Draco shifted with unease, unsure of how she would react to this vague proposal of his. But Aurelia's air quickly softened and she tucked the stuffed toy under her arm. She was trying very hard not to laugh.

She didn't, which Draco was grateful for.

"It is my responsibility," she recited, tracing an 'x' over her chest with her index finger. "I solemnly swear it."

"Good." Draco said shortly, eyes narrowing into a tight glare. Nothing more to be said between them, he turned sharply on his heel and left.

Currently, as Draco inspected the glittering blonde seated in front of him, he took a moment to glance around before propping his elbow on the table. He leaned in slightly, remaining vigilant as he voiced his question to her.

"How's Grapes?" He murmured in so low of a tone that Aurelia nearly missed it.

Her eyes caught his and they were alive with a quiet dancing joy.

"He's fine," she whispered. "He loves the girl's dorm... his favorite time is in the morning and before bed. That's when all the girls are changing."

"Even you?" The words slipped from Draco's mouth before he knew it; even worse, in a tone much too suggestive for their limits.

A shocked quiet sat in the air between them and when he found the nerve to blink, Aurelia only had the mind to stare at him, brows lifted and slack jawed in graceful disbelief. Slowly, her lips curved and she shook her head in a gentle gesture.

"Boys..." was all she uttered, before returning to her studies with a quiet chuckle that made him flush.

With Aurelia busy with her work, Draco was busy with his newly healed nose. Neither of them moved until the period ended and they went their separate ways to class.

xxx

Her dress was strapless and a deep shade of midnight, entirely too complimentary to her fair skin and golden locks. The elegant style she had sported earlier in the evening was discarded by now, and her hair tumbled freely over her shoulders in a style so casual that it was a wonder as to how she managed still to look so regal and refined. Rather than expensive jewels adorning her slender neck, there was a modest assortment of tasteful silver and gold that wound around and around.

"Leaving so soon, Malfoy?" Aurelia swayed softly with the remnants of the music that trailed outside the closed doors of the Great Hall. Inside, the Yule Ball was in full swing as students danced the night away. "The ball is hardly over, you know."

"What are you doing out here, Luxe?" Draco asked, far too curious to disregard the girl with a dazzling presence. Why was she out here all alone instead of stepping in time with her chosen escort for the night? "Your date dump you already?"

She laughed softly, her steps still following a mild waltz as an invisible partner led her here and there. Aurelia never took any of his insults seriously, even when he thought he was being dead serious. With a graceful twirl, she stopped and gave him a smile.

"I simply needed a break from Cormac McLaggen's excessive chatter," she admitted, seeming rather sheepish to do so. "He's a handsome boy and he means well, but... he's a bit like you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Draco cried indignantly.

"You both hold yourselves highly," Aurelia pointed out without hesitation. "Though that is not necessarily awful..."

She wandered closer to him, lifting her chin to peer at his conflicted face in the torchlight. He didn't know what to make of it, nor did he know what to expect. But Draco Malfoy did not expect for Aurelia Luxe to lift her hand and give him a kind smile that drew out the compassion in him that he had long ago buried away.

"Dance with me," she requested, softly.

Draco would never know what it was that possessed him as his hand took hold of hers and guided it to his right shoulder whilst his left hand found her right. He pulled her into a well practiced waltz as he found the curve of her waist. Silently, he led her light steps across the hallway, finding her movements to be comparable to a feather catching the air as it fell to the ground. Her steps were adept and her twirls natural. Aurelia's flawless rendition was the polar opposite to Pansy Parkinson's lead footed waltz.

Time passed, though neither of them were aware of it. And as the music tapered to a close, their steps slowed and eventually came to a halt. Aurelia's blue eyes watched him and Draco found Sanctuary within their borders.

He leaned down and her eyes fluttered closed.

When his lips found hers, they knew that nothing would ever be the same.

When Draco kissed Aurelia, he knew that she was his drug.

When Aurelia kissed Draco, she knew that he was her poison.

They never would have known of the tragedy that awaited them at the end of the school year. Aurelia was crying because her housemate, Cedric Diggory had been killed. The tranquility of her features lasted throughout the revelation of his death and all through the Leaving Feast held in his honor. But when Draco found her alone in one of the less travelled corridors of the dungeon, he knew that she had only come there to lose herself in their isolation.

Her hand was pressed over her mouth, but tears rolled down her cheeks. Aurelia couldn't stop them, no matter how hard she tried. Still, she retained a tragic calm as she turned at the sound of his footsteps. She had never looked so vulnerable or distraught in all his years of knowing her.

Draco stepped closer to her and pulled her into his chest without a word. His other hand cradled the back of her head as she pressed her face into his chest and her hands gripped the front of his robes.

"Don't cry, Rel," he murmured, not knowing what else he could say to comfort the girl.

Meanwhile, the cold, hard reality was staring him right in the face, along with the chill of death hanging heavy in the air.

His future was foreboding, but Aurelia was as golden as the sun.

And try as he might to convince himself otherwise, Draco couldn't let her go, not yet.