𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙡𝙙𝙚𝙣 - 𝙝.𝙥. ⚯͛

𝐱𝐢𝐯 - 𝖻𝗋𝗈𝗄𝖾𝗇 𝗉𝗋𝗈𝗆𝗂𝗌𝖾𝗌 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗂𝗇𝗏𝗂𝗌𝗂𝖻𝗂𝗅𝗂𝗍𝗒 𝖼𝗅𝗈𝖺𝗄𝗌

─── · 。ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

╰┈➤ ElSIE'S POV

February 2, 1993 (three days before the Ravenclaw v. Gryffindor Quidditch match)

Elsie had been tutoring Draco in the library for the past two hours. She glanced up at the clock on the wall which read 9:05 and yawned as a group of Ravenclaw students got up from their table and left. It was pitch black outside; all she could see through the library window was her and Draco's reflection as they sat at a table, huddled over their textbooks in the candlelight.

"Alright, I think that's enough studying for tonight," said Elsie, closing her textbook.

"Good," sighed Draco, dropping his quill on the table. "My brain feels like it's going to explode after all the information I crammed in there."

He stuffed his textbook and quill back inside the pocket of his coat and buttoned it up. It was much too warm inside the castle to be wearing such a heavy coat.

Elsie eyed him curiously. "You still haven't told your friends you're being tutored?"

"Merlin no," Draco scoffed. "I'd be ridiculed if the other Slytherins found out I was being tutored in Potions by a Gryffindor."

"So what do your friends think you're doing right now?" Elsie arched an eyebrow at Draco's large wool coat. "Smuggling screaming yo-yos and fanged frisbees?"

Draco's sly grin turned into a mischievous one. "They think I'm tutoring you."

"What?" Elsie's notebook slipped from her hands and fell with a loud thud.

"Shhh," Madam Pince hissed as she walked by, pushing a library cart.

Elsie whispered "sorry" to the librarian, even though there were only two other students in there besides her and Draco, and furrowed her brows at Draco, who had started walking out of the library. Elsie hurried after him, falling in place at his side.

"You're a new student," said Draco casually, picking a piece of lint off his coat sleeve. "A poor girl who has witnessed a terrible tragedy at her old school and needed a handsome Slytherin to help her work her way around Hogwarts."

Elsie nearly laughed. She didn't know what was funnier-- Draco referring to himself as handsome or him thinking that she was some girl who needed to be saved.

"Oh please," said Elsie crossly. "No one's thick enough to buy that. And my friends certainly know that's not true."

Elsie thought about the deadly look that Pansy Parkinson had given her during Hagrid's last Care for Magical Creatures class. Well, maybe Pansy's thick enough to believe that lie.

Draco shrugged, a sly grin on his face. "All that matters is that the Slytherins believe it."

"Wow," said Elsie, shaking her head. "Now all of Slytherin is going to think I'm some dumb git. Thanks so much," she said sarcastically.

"They won't," said Draco casually.

Elsie arched her brow, slightly taken aback. "What do you mean?"

Draco kept his gaze on the floor as they walked. "I've told them you're smart."

Elsie's mouth dropped and she stopped in her tracks. "What? Why?"

Why would Draco Malfoy, the top Slytherin bully, tell his friends that Elsie, a Gryffindor, was smart? What else did he tell his friends about her? What was he playing at?