Two Doors Down

My nerves were all over the place the next morning. I wasn’t sure if anyone had said anything to Blaise. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I would like the answer either way. Sometimes I hoped that my loving boyfriend knew the truth just so that I didn’t have to hide anymore. For once, I was sitting down at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall the next morning before Blaise got there. As a matter of fact, I was there before most people were.

There was a tap on my shoulder and I turned my head slightly to see that my sister and her closest friend, Madison were standing directly behind me. Madison was a pretty girl with short red hair and dark blue eyes that almost looked fake. She was the younger sister of my best friend, Brittany Warren. The duo sat to my right side and began to pick at some of the fruits that were presented to them.

“I think I’m going to fail Potions.” My sister admitted, obviously overwhelmed with the workload that she was not accustomed to.

“Can’t you get a tutor?” I offered before sipping at my lemon tea, “Blaise had to get a tutor for herbology. I’m sure they could offer you a tutor as well.”

“Our parents would be furious if I admitted that I need help in one of my classes. You know that.” Piper sighed a bit and moved a piece of mango around on the white plate in front of her.

“If you’re interested, I might have some of my old notes in my trunk.” I shrugged a bit and she nodded eagerly, “Plus, you could always ask Draco for help. He’s usually at the top of the class when it comes to Potions.”

“I think I’ll pass on asking him for anything.” She mumbled with an attitude present in her voice, rolling her eyes a little bit and looking down at what was in front of her.

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, Draco and Blaise walked into the Great Hall. My boyfriend had a very frustrated look on his face. But, he still smiled softly when he saw me and he placed a loving kiss to my lips once he sat down. Crabbe and Goyle didn’t tell him anything.

“Good morning, baby.” He said to me sweetly while he sat down on the bench beside me, serving himself a heaping plate of food that made me roll my eyes because of his abnormally fast metabolism.

“Good morning, prince charming.” I teased sweetly in order to keep up appearance, making him roll his eyes playfully at the new pet name, “How did you sleep?”

“Are you kidding? I’m back to a room full of snoring boys that make me miss how much you move around in your sleep.” He teased playfully since we had spent literally every single night of the summer in the same bed, pushed together by our parents and those around us.

“I do not move around in my sleep that much. You’re always exaggerating.” I said to him even though I knew that he was right and I pushed him off the bed at least once a week.

“And that’s why we put the bed in your room against the wall.” I began to explain as he started to dig into the pancakes in front of him, “You’re not allowed to complain anymore.”

“If we could do that at your place too, I would never complain again.”

“You know we can’t do that. It would mess with the whole décor of my bedroom.” I pouted like a spoiled brat and Draco rolled his eyes playfully as he listened to us, “I’d have to redecorate and I’d make you pay for it.”

He rolled his eyes even though he was fond of our endless couple bickering. We already argued and teased each other as if we were an old couple that had been married for decades. The owls flew in a moment later, bringing various letters and packages to the students of Hogwarts. Blaise, Draco, Piper, and I all received letters. The only difference was that Blaise groaned when he saw his.

“Shit, it’s my mom.” He leaned in and kissed my lips gently, “I really have to write her back as soon as possible or she’ll have a fit.” He started to gather up his belongings and he looked down at me once he stood up, “I’ll see you in class. Okay?”

“Sounds good.” I said sweetly while I shifted down a bit in order to have more room and in order to be closer to Draco. I looked up at my boyfriend again as he read through the purple letter he had just received. “I love you.” I said in an attempt to make him feel better.

“I love you more.” He smiled sweetly and pressed one last kiss to my lips before he left.

Draco sighed once Blaise left, most likely upset about the exchange he had just witnessed between his best friend and I. In order to prevent anything from getting more awkward, I looked down at the letter I received from my parents.

Our Dearest Hanna,
Your mother and I would like to remind you that Luke and Lane will be getting married on December 30th. This means that you and Piper have over two months to purchase dresses, prepare speeches, and find a date.
Lucky for you, Blaise’s family will already be in attendance.
We expect you to help your sister find an acceptable friend to act as her escort.
Send us a response once you two have completed what needs to be done for this event.

As usual, there was no name signed off at the end but the familiar handwriting and the wording let me know that it was my father. I sighed softly and looked over at Piper who had a much longer letter. She was most likely getting asked a series of questions about her first week here in Hogwarts in regards to her friends, studies, and interests. After excusing myself from the room, I walked to the dorms in order to put this letter away as a reminder to write back.

When I came down from the dorm, Draco was standing by the stairs. I sighed softly and crossed my arms over my chest. Even though I was not too happy with everything, I knew that we needed to have a long talk in regards to whatever he said last night to Crabbe and Goyle.

“You look stressed,” he began to say once I stood in front of him, making me smile just a little bit even though I was a whirlwind of frustration and stress, “Am I allowed to ask what’s wrong or would that be too intimate?”

“I’ve just received a reminder of my brother’s wedding. My parents wanted to passive aggressively let me know of my responsibilities.” I walked over to the dark couch and whined as I sat down, “I’m supposed to bring Blaise even though he hates these events and he can’t dance.”

“What a shame,” Draco began to say with a small smirk etched on his face as he sat down beside me, making sure to keep enough space between us that nothing looked suspicious, “I would have loved to have gone with you.”

“We both know that sentence translates to ‘I would’ve loved to sneak some champagne and fuck you in the pool house’.”

“Hey, the pool house was good enough to break our mini dry spell in the summer.” He reminded as I rolled my eyes in response.

“A quickie in a pool house doesn’t clear up a dry spell.” I reminded. “Especially considering that you didn’t even bother to take my bikini off.”

“At this point, I’d like to say that I’m pretty gifted at taking care of you without taking all of your clothes off. It may be my only claim to fame.”

“Shouldn’t we be talking about whatever you said to keep Crabbe and Goyle silent?” I reminded with a slight whine since all my words did was make Draco shrug a bit.

“I told them the truth and I told them to stay silent about it.”

His words made my eyes widen and I was barely able to understand it. Another person other than those involved knew the truth. If we continued at this rate, we might as well print it in the Daily Prophet. Still, there was something settling about the fact that we had more people on our side.

“They’re not going to tell anyone?” I asked him quietly, not really able to digest this news as easily as he expected.

Up to this point, the only people who knew were me, Draco, Piper, and Brittany. I had been hoping that it would stay that way. But, Draco seemed to have other plans.

“Of course not.” Draco began to explain with another shrug of his broad shoulders, “First off, they’re terrified of me. Second, they’re too scared of Blaise to be the ones to bring him this news. Third, they were surprisingly understanding.”

“Are you trying to tell me that Crabbe and Goyle understand that you’ve been fucking me for almost a year and they don’t care?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, I might have also told them that you and Blaise are in an arranged relationship anyway…” he said, making my eyes widen comically.

In this world and in the next, arranged relationships were hugely frowned down upon. Especially considering the fact that they usually occurred in the wizarding world to retain or obtain blood status, money, or power in a family. My family wanted to keep their power and high status. Blaise’s family wanted to make sure that their son married well. If my parents had been interested in more money and willing to look past their differences, I would probably have ended up with Draco instead.

“You told them that Blaise and I are arranged to be married?” I asked, making sure that I properly understood and groaning when he nodded, “Draco, that’s illegal. I’m not even supposed to talk about it. You’re not even supposed to know.”

“I know, but I couldn’t think of anything else. I figured this was the perfect excuse to get them to understand why we were going this in the first place.”

“So, I’m not cheating on my boyfriend,” I began to say to him, “I’m cheating on the man that my parents picked for me?”

“One definitely sounds a lot better than the other. Don’t you agree?”

I nodded my head, hoping that Draco had done the right thing even though I knew that there was still a pretty big possibility that this would all blow up in my face.