Weakness

"Wasn't expecting to find you here," a voice rang out in the silence.

Ellietta looked up from the book she was reading and was met by the smiling face of Ron Weasley. He sat down next to her and tugged the book from her hands, reading the back cover in a quick glance before slapping it shut and placing it on the floor between them.

"You wouldn't even be able to get in here if it wasn't for me," she said, picking the book back up.

"Hermione talks too much" Ron complained, "All I wanted was to copy her potions homework and instead I get a lecture on the importance of homework and doing it on time and blah, blah, blah. I needed a break."

"She does talk a lot," Ellietta agreed.

"And I'll never finish the potions homework now," he sighed, "Snape'll have me in detention all week."

"What about Potter? Couldn't copy his?" she asked.

"I don't think he's done it either and he's at Quidditch practice anyway," Ron let out a discontent sigh.

"You can copy mine, but you owe me," Ellietta thought very clearly of the rolled parchment sitting on her night table in the dormitory, flicked her wand and muttered, "Inanimatus Conjurus."

"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed as her completed homework appeared in his lap, "That's bonkers! That's NEWT stuff! Percy can't even do that yet!"

"It's not that hard," she said with a shrug, and in an instant a fresh parchment and a quill appeared by Ron's side.

"Thanks," he grinned, a look of admiration shining in his green eyes.

She felt eyes on her the moment she left the room of requirement. A glance over her shoulder revealed nothing, though she could have sworn she heard footsteps. Then suddenly as she rounded a corner, someone grabbed her around the waist and threw her roughly against the wall.

"Why are you hanging around that traitorous filth?" Draco sneered, his face millimeters from hers.

"I can do what I want," she hissed, "Now get your hands off me before I hex them off your body."

He relinquished his grip, "It makes me look bad; my best friend all chummy with a Weasley."

She was going to snap at him, give him a taste of his own medicine, but she couldn't do it. Her heart soared at the fact he had called her his best friend. Her hair turned a brilliant indigo and butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She'd never had a proper friend before, and certainly not a best friend. Ellietta searched his eyes for a minute and she could tell that he was being genuine.

"I hate you sometimes," she breathed out.

Draco opened his mouth to speak and then closed it, as though he'd thought better of it. "Come on, I'll walk you to your dormitory. It's almost curfew," he said after a bit of silence.

"Okay," she agreed.

He put his hand over hers and smiled proudly to himself as they walked down the corridor. "Winter holidays are going to be awful."

"How could Christmas be horrible?" Ellietta asked and then said, "Salazar" to the wall that opened into the common room.

"Are you kidding? No Ellie for weeks? I might die," Draco laughed.

"Won't be so different from usual," she took a seat on a green sofa.

"What's that supposed to mean?" confusion swirled in his grey-blue eyes.

Ellietta didn't answer him. She directed her gaze to the green flames in the fireplace and didn't say anything. Draco took her hand in his again and gave it a gentle squeeze but she continued to ignore him. She really did hate him sometimes; they way he could be so sweet yet also such a clueless jerk. No matter how infuriating he may be, she wouldn't change it for the world. For the little girl who felt nothing, infuriating was invigorating.

"We don't even speak much," she decided to voice her opinion for once, "You only really spend time with me during free period when all your other friends are busy or when the common room is empty like now. Half the time you drive me mad, you know, but you think we're best friends. Here you are going on about how'll you'll miss me over holidays and I don't … I don't know if I believe you."

"That's not fair," Draco let go of her hand, "I try to include you in things and you just sit there reading or staring off into space. You're only really you when it's just us. And you really are my best friend. Crabbe and Goyle are idiots. Zabini's not much better. Nott's alright I suppose, but I'd take you over him any day."

"Pansy?" the name tumbled out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"Merlin's beard, Ellie!" He was somewhere between laughter and anger, "You know I can't stand her."

"So you really will miss me?" Ellietta whispered.

"Like crazy," Draco admitted, "Your mom's going to get angry because my owl will be tapping on your window every five minutes."

"Must be a really fast owl," she yawned and rested her head on his shoulder.

The fire smoldered out and Draco's head drooped as he fell asleep, landing softly on top of Ellietta's. They stayed that way until morning, when the sun streamed through the watery windows and gently woke Draco. It took him a minute to register what happened, how they'd fallen asleep. Ellietta's head was still on his shoulder, their hands intertwined. He nudged her a little and she blinked.

**********************************************************************************************

The last week before the holidays went by quickly. Draco and Ellietta hadn't spent much time together since the night they'd fallen asleep by the fire, but he did make sure they walked to breakfast together. The Great Hall seemed extra noisy when they got there. It was the last day before school broke for the holiday and students were extra cheery. They were exchanging gifts with friends and showing off things that had been sent from home. Ellietta didn't feel as excited as everyone else appeared to look. She was less than thrilled to see her mother but more than that, she would miss Draco.

She'd had an opportunity to tell him as much but she'd fallen sleep before the words could leave her mouth. She would miss him terribly. After having lived the first eleven years of her life devoid of all emotion, Draco was exhilarating. Thought most of the time the only emotion he made Ellietta feel was infuration, she'd take that over nothing any day. And he did have his moments; Ellietta knew he had a heart buried deep beneath his icy façade even if no one else did. When he showed his softer side, those were her favorite moments spent with him. The quiet smiles he flashed her when nobody was looking, the rhythmic beating of his heart under her ear when they sat by the lake, the warmth of his hand when it encompassed hers; there was nothing better. It truly would be awful to be away from him.

"I'm coming back the day before term starts," he was telling Zabini.

Ellietta sighed from her seat to Draco's left and stood up. He didn't seem to notice, much to her chagrin, so she shuffled back to her dormitory on her own. She was packing up some things to take home when Pansy strode in with Millicent and Daphne right on her heels. At first they acted as though Ellietta was not there, giggling to one another and readying their own trunks to go home. Then Pansy's eyes lit up and although she was not speaking to Ellietta, she wanted her to hear everything she was saying.

"I'll be spending half of the break at Malfoy Manor," she divulged, "My parents have very important business to attend to. It's going to be amazing. I bet you a galleon I'll be Draco's girlfriend before we return to Hogwarts."

Daphne and Millicent giggled some more and Ellietta left without so much as word to the other girls. She wandered around looking for Draco for a while but she couldn't find him so she settled for reading in the Room of Requirement until it was time for bed. Draco was sitting by the fire in the common room when she arrived, talking to Crabbe and Goyle. He waved in her direction, and Ellietta waved back, but she did not stop to talk. She went straight to her bed and tried to sleep, though it didn't work out too well.

The next morning she was tired and cranky about having to go home. She avoided Pansy and her friends like the plague and made certain to find an empty compartment on the train back to King's Cross. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle appeared in her compartment just moments after she'd settled in. Crabbe and Goyle shared one bench while Draco took a seat next to Ellietta. She wondered if maybe she was imagining things because it seemed to her that he was awfully, almost unnecessarily, close to her. Not that she really minded.

Then, just before the train began to move, Pansy barged in. She plopped herself in between Draco and Ellietta and didn't move for the duration of the ride. She prattled on endlessly about things nobody gave a rat's behind about and occasionally Draco would nod his head or give her an, "Uh huh" or "You don't say." By the time they reached King's Cross Station, Ellietta was ready to jinx her own ears off just so she wouldn't have to hear Pansy. She saw her mother waiting on the platform and begrudgingly made her way over after waving goodbye to Draco.

"Ellietta, darling, I've missed you!" her mother crowed.

"May we go now?" was Ellietta's response.

"Of course," her mother's smile faded.