Slythendor

Sitting by herself at a table near the edge of the dance floor, Vanessa reflected on their performance. The crowd seemed to have liked them, and the whole band had loved the experience. Now it was over, so was Vanessa’s fun. She cast a tired eye over the rest of her band. Lewis was dancing with Gen and Claire was helping herself to pumpkin juice. Her heart stopped when she saw Gerard and his new girlfriend next to Claire. His arm was round her waist and her eyes were looking up at him adoringly. Vanessa felt her grip on her goblet tightening, and nearly spilt the drink when she heard a voice behind her ask,

“Care for a dance?”

Whipping round, she relaxed when she saw Draco standing behind her, smirking and holding his hand out for her to take. She looked around, considering her response, and was suddenly struck by her predicament. She was wholly alone. Lewis and Gen were having a good time together, and Claire was talking to her Ravenclaw friends, while Vanessa was bitterly glaring at every happy couple that occupied her vision.

Having realised all of this, she took his hand a bit more eagerly that he imagined, and did not let go of it after she had stood up, which Draco had not anticipated either. However, as soon as they were on the dance floor, Gerard and the rest of his band had taken to the stage. Seeing them and hearing his voice through the magically enhanced speakers, a look of disgust crossed Vanessa’s face. Leaning towards her ear, Draco asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“Come on, you don’t want to listen to this tripe.” Vanessa spat back in to his ear, dragging him by the hand she was still holding out of the hall and on to the grounds.

Arm in arm, the pair began to amble aimlessly in the direction of the lake. Vanessa heard ‘I Don’t Love You’ start to play faintly in the distance and scowled. Draco saw and smirked, “You’re not over him yet.”

In one swift movement, Vanessa stopped walking, whipped her arm from his, turned to face him and then said angrily, “Why should you care? And actually I am.”

Draco simply smirked and explained, “Really, I was under the impression that you had done rather well, but your reaction proves I was wrong. I happen to care very much about you, Vanessa.”

“Psh. You’re going to have to try harder than that to fool me, Draco.” Vanessa scoffed. “I know you. When you look at a girl you don’t see an individual, you see a body. You gawp with lust, never anything more.” She continued sarcastically, “Merlin forbid if the great Draco Malfoy felt any affectionate emotions! The world would come to a standstill!”

“You’re impossible, you know that? It’s no wonder Way couldn’t handle you, the spineless-”

“You’ve never bloody talked to him! How can you make assumptions about people if you don’t know them? Or do you just enjoy being wrong, because you do it all the time.” Vanessa interrupted.

“Why are you defending someone who broke your heart?” Draco asked defiantly.

“It wasn’t his fault... it was never meant to work.” Vanessa sighed.

Taking a step towards her, Draco slithered his arm around her waist and hissed, “What’s to stop us from working?”
“The fact that we don’t have anything in common; that you don’t share any of my values; that you don’t really like me; that I’m pretty sure I don’t like you, to mention a few things.”

“You’re wrong.” Draco smirked.

Vanessa moved closer to him, as if she were about to kiss him, and whispered, “Prove it.”

He smirked even more, and taking advantage of her proximity, gently pressed his lips against hers.