The World and Her Stars

Chapter Twenty-Four

ROSE POV

"Potions or Charms?" I asked, popping one of those delicious chocolate candies into my mouth.

"Potions, easily." Draco scoffed at how easy that one was to answer.

We laid on the same couch from the night before, snickering and blushing slightly as we sat back down on it.

He sat normally and I laid my head in his lap, looking up at him as I hogged the treats from his mum.

"Snape or Flitwick?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Neither." He rolled his eyes playfully.

"That's not how that works but okay..." I tried to think of another question to ask.

"London or Paris?" he asked me, lightly brushing his fingertips through my hair.

"That's a hard one. There's things I like about both." I bit my lip and contemplated, then remembered his little infatuation with my nervous tick and I stopped.

"Paris...but I would miss London." I finally answered.

"Why Paris over London?" he chuckled, plucking a candy out of the container in my hands.

"The food, the fashion, the scenery, the language, the people. I could go on." I answered.

"Morning or night?" he asked, still playing with my hair.

"I like both, but when we are in school, just night. Out of school I like them both." I went back and forth.

"How does that work?" he chuckled.

"Well, waking up early for school is hardly ever pleasant, but waking up in the summer to...I don't know...drink tea and watch the sun come up or go on a walk or something...that's nice. And...summer nights are nice because it's still warm and the little lightening bugs come out, but I like the cold too, but only when it snows, otherwise it's just annoying." I rambled on. "What about you?"

He smiled down at me slightly before reaching for another candy, "Both. For the same reasons. Except I'd rather drink coffee than tea in the mornings." He popped the treat into his mouth as he thought.

I smiled. We were similar than I remembered.

"How many more weeks until winter holiday?" I questioned, twiddling my ring on my finger. This caught Draco's eye, and he reached for my hand and started messing with my fingers.

"Two weeks, I think." He answered, sliding the ring on my index finger on and off.

"Where will be infamous Malfoy Christmas trip be to this year?" I sat up from and shifted my body the opposite way, so my legs draped across his lap.

"Nowhere. They've decided it's best if we...stay put this year." He shifted uncomfortably.

"Because of the war?" I blurted out.

His face tensed slightly. "Yeah,"

Leo's words popped back into my head, and I found myself nervously chomping on more of the treats in my hands. It had been in the back of my mind all day. I found myself looking at my friends all day, at Draco all day, genuinely wondering if they would be alive this time next year.

The thought of losing any of them made me want to double over, but none stung like imagining Draco being gone for some reason. He was a constant in my life. He was always there. My first memories involve him. He's been at every birthday, every recital, every dance class and manners class and death eater meeting. He was always there and I just now started to realize that.