snowflake

one

September 4th, 1993

Elissia Reyes was a Slytherin, a half blooded one at that. Before I continue, what comes to your mind when you hear that word? Slytherin. You may think of serpents, or pureblood supremacy, or if you're like Elissia; you think of Draco Malfoy. Now, she didn't think of him when her house came across her mind because she liked him. No. Far from it, actually. She's never hated anyone more than she hates him. And this feeling was reciprocated on his side, it's not like it was a one-sided hatred.

Everyone at Hogwarts knew that those two hated each other more than Hagrid loved to break down doors, and more than Dumbledore loved awarding Gryffindor house points for the most ridiculous non-reasons(and that's saying something). Draco and Elissia have been going through their whole, "I hate you and you hate me, so let's continue to bully each other relentlessly," for their entire lives. Practically at least, since they've only known each other since the beginning of first year when Elissia accidentally stepped on his robes at the Sorting Ceremony. Following his reaction, however, she never really regretted doing it.

They were now going into their third year at the wizarding school, and not much has changed. I use the term, "not much" sparingly since in both person's viewpoints, a lot has changed. For starters, Elissia has grown to hate Malfoy a lot more than she did the year before. Sure, she hated the way he pranced around the school as if he owned the place. Not to t how much he tormented her for being in Slytherin when, in his words, she "should be in Ravenclaw with all the other pathetic nerds."

It didn't bother her that he thought she should've been in Ravenclaw, since that was viewed widely among everyone at the school as the "smart house", it bothered her that he thought she was a nerd. She was far from it, her grades were a little bit below average and most of the time she needed to read for hours and hours until 2:00 in the morning if she wanted to get more than a C on a test or quiz. It didn't surprise her though, that Malfoy didn't know what she was actually like outside of their daily bickering.

They never really got any time to genuinely get to know one another, not that there could be any time since any encounter they had was spent with their wands at each other's throats. She wasn't sure if there was something behind the seemingly unbreakable strong façade. Was there a different side to him that nobody got to know about because he didn't let people get too close to him? How was he around his "friends", like Blaise and Theo?

It was questions like these that made Elissia want to get to know him. While that didn't mean she still didn't hate him, it did mean that there was a part to him that intrigued her, that made her feel compelled to at least make an attempt to see if her suspicions were true; or if he truly was cold and heartless. Of course, she's never actually taken an initiative to do any of this since, in her mind, there isn't much you can do in terms of fixing something that just doesn't seem fixable in the slightest.

Despite this, she still found herself sitting the library, alone at a table and writing on her homework. Some other students were at the library, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione. The three of them were her friends, but they didn't really interact much, mostly because of the age-long rivalry between their houses. But it was also because Elissia wasn't that much of a social person. She tended to keep to herself but occasionally talk to and spend time with her friends. However, she chose to sit on her own and worn quietly in her abundant amount of homework assignments.

It wasn't an extremely peaceful study session seeing as how a few feet away from the table she was at, the platinum blond, grey eyed Slytherin was stationed at his own table. He wasn't necessarily doing anything to her, he was simply in a chair and preoccupied with his own things. It was his presence that bothered her, it was knowing that no matter how much she wanted to stay away from him because of how much he's tormented her and her friends; she was still very much inclined to get to know him. There were many reasons as to why she didn't enjoy him being in the same room as her, whether he blatantly made his being there known or not.

Elissia dipped her quill back into the ink pot and brought it back down to write on the piece of parchment. She had a lot of homework to do, due to the fact that their professors were under the impression they were magical robots of some sort instead of just normal teenagers with the ability to use magic. Because of this, she thought it wise to start on the assignments once breakfast was done on this overcast Saturday morning. The library was, as mentioned, occupied with no more than seven other people. Two Ravenclaws, three Gryffindors, and Malfoy. Everyone else was spread out across the room, since it was a rather expansive area. Elissia chose a spot by the window, by doing so she'd have natural lighting(which was always preferred when doing work) and there would be that familiar feeling of solitude and serenity.

Malfoy had other plans, it seemed, he strolled into the library with his bag. His eyes scanned the area before they fell on Elissia, who was already immersed in her studies. He didn't min tray she was there because he knew that, unless he started it, she never openly started talking to him. He'd like to keep it that way, her voice was irritatingly in close comparison to a soap opera singer. It was so high-pitched and light, you'd think she got it altered to make it sound as if it were made purely of feathers.

She herself seemed like she was made of feathers, the way she practically glided through the halls, leaving behind a trail of pink mango and vanilla perfume. It made him sick to his stomach knowing he had to face the displeasure of that oh-so-familiar scent going up his nose now when he was actively trying to work on his school assignments.

He dropped his bag carelessly down on the ground beside him, ignoring the rather indignant glare Madame Pince threw his way. He took his books out and started reading through them, she hadn't bothered to look up at him as he sat down; but he knew that Elissia was well aware of him being in such close proximity to her. He saw from the corner of his eye the way that her shoulders tensed uncomfortably, the up and down motion her leg made and the way she tried(very obviously, might he had) not to avert her eyes to him. He knew this wasn't the real reason but he chose to believe she avoided his gaze because she was afraid of falling into his charm like everyone else.

Was this the real reason? He wasn't sure about that, but he was 100% sure that no matter what anyone else said, no matter what his friends or internal voice told him late at night; he would never go after someone like her. He made sure that was clear to everyone in that blasted school. Everyone loved to obsess over who would be Draco Malfoy's new arm candy, who would get to see his dorm and spend a night with him.

They wouldn't make it to see him leave the dorm and shower, only to go straight to the Great Hall as if nothing had happened. Malfoy didn't care who they said would get to act as his "girlfriend" (he thought the idea of having a significant other was rubbish, it's far easier to have hook-ups since that way, nobody gets attached), but he would rather tell his father he was in close relations with Granger than have people push him towards being with Elissia.

He scoffed, leaning back in his chair and giving the blonde girl a few feet away from him a sideways glance, all while these thoughts ran through his head. Elissia Reyes was one of the very few Slytherins he hated with every fibre in his body, and for as long as he lived, nothing could ever change that fact.