snowflake

eight

October 1st, 1993

Elissia sighed, Professor McGonagall's words were going in one ear and out the other. While she was usually interested in most of the things the stern Professor had to say, today wasn't one of those days. She had a headache, her stomach was hurting for whatever reason, and Malfoy's annoying but apparently kissable face never went out of her peripheral vision.

Speaking of, the events of last night kept replaying in her head. The way his fresh, minty breath was inches away from her face. How she could see every individual freckle that covered his pale, but at the moment light, pink cheeks. Oh, how could she forget that her heart was pounding in her chest; as if it would beat right out in that exact moment. Oddly enough however, she didn't want it to stop. She wanted to experience the rush, the thrill of her first kiss. Even if it was with the one boy who was notorious of having a bad rep, especially when it came to girls. Leaning her face on her hand, she closed her eyes and tried going back to that night.

Elissia was against the wall in Malfoy's dorm, his pale arm was exposed due to him rolling up the sleeves to his forearms at an earlier point in the day. She was struggling to get a sufficient amount of oxygen to her lungs, seeing as how it was now hitched in her throat. His grey eyes were looking straight into her dark green ones, it made her slightly uncomfortable how long they were holding the eye contact, but she didn't want to let it go now. Malfoy's face was slowly moving closer to hers, she found herself being pulled, perhaps by a magnet, to copy his movements.

She could smell his, without a doubt, expensive cologne going up her nose. There was a slight but at the same time, very much noticeable, hint of green apples and mint mixed in there. Was there some pinewood in there as well? She couldn't tell as her attention was focused purely on his averagely thin, light pink lips going closer towards her. Just one last inch, no; one last millimetre and their lips would be united at last. The moment they'd been waiting for, hoping and praying for. Unfortunately, it had been cut short right before it happened because Blaise came knocking on the door to Malfoy's room.

The bell rang, causing Elissia to look up without a start and collect her things into her bag. She stood up and chanced a glimpse at Malfoy, he was doodling in his notebook. It was apparent to her that he wasn't going to be standing anytime soon, so she took it upon herself to start walking to his desk. Then she stopped. Should she tell him that the bell rang and it was time for their next class? She didn't want to just leave him there, but he might want to talk about their almost kiss in his dorm. She shook her head, Malfoy never discussed previous events with girls after its happened, she figured she was safe from that awkward conversation.

"Malfoy, the bell rang. It's time to go." Elissia said, he looked up at her and put his book away. She wanted to see what he was drawing since it looked important, but she didn't want to pry. He rolled his eyes and stood up, putting his bag onto his shoulder.

"I don't need you to tell me when class is over, Reyes." He spat, walking past her and out the door of the classroom. Elissia stayed in the spot she was in, her eyes widening in disbelief. She always wondered why the boys' robe pockets were bigger than the girls', this must be the reason why.

They had to carry the amount of audacity they have somewhere, right?

She unglued her feet from the flor and stormed over to him. "Hey! I could've chosen to leave you there and have McGonagall give you a detention! In fact--" She said to him angrily, stopping mid-sentence and grabbing his wrist. She ignored his complaints and dragged the two of them to the staff room. Without bothering to knock, Elissia walked inside and looked for Professor McGonagall.

"Professor McGonagall? Malfoy over here was trying to find the answer key for next weeks test, I caught him before he could." She told McGonagall, Malfoy looked at her in shock and anger. Is she really tattling on him for something he wasn't even close to doing?

Professor McGonagall looked up from the papers she was grading and narrowed her eyes at the two kids. Malfoy didn't fear much in life, the thought of disappointing his parents scared him, maybe the Forbidden Forest too. Never in his life did he think that a wrinkly old professor, a Gryffindor one at that, would scare him quite like it did right now.

"Well, Mr. Malfoy, cheating is not tolerated at Hogwarts. As a result of your foolish attempts to cheat your way through my class, you will be serving detention everyday for at least a week at 7:00 sharp." She told him sternly, peering at him through the top of her glasses.

Malfoy's jaw dropped, he narrowed his eyes and tried to help his cause, just a little bit. "But- but Professor, I saw Reyes sleeping during class twice last week!" He quickly lied, the words rolling off his tongue as if they were silk.

Elissia raised a brow at this, scoffing and shaking her head. There's no way that somebody as intelligent and well-experienced as McGonagall would believe something as half-assed and ignorant--

"Never in the name of Merlin-! Ms. Reyes, you will be accompanying Mr. Malfoy in his detention." She huffed, collecting her papers and leaving the staff room. Elissia turned to Malfoy, whose angered expression was now replaced with a triumphant smirk.

Malfoy felt like nothing in the world could ever bring his mood down right now. Sure, he still had detention with the head of Gryffindor House, but at least Elissia did too. He wasn't entirely pleased about these arrangements, spending an hour at the Slytherin table with her is bad, spending who knows how long with her in an empty classroom was sure to be worse.

Elissia glared at him, she felt her blood boil and it definitely wasn't the first time since she met him. He knew just how to get on her last nerves, even when he was so clearly terrified of the consequences McGonagall could've given him. She wouldn't be surprised if he was born with not only magic abilities, but also with the outstanding ability to piss people off to no end. Taking a slow breath in, she closed her eyes and exhaled.

"Hopefully by the time detention starts, the stick up your arse will have disappeared." She didn't open her eyes until her back was completely facing him, but she could practically see the image of steam coming from his ears in her head. Going towards the door, she walked out and went to her next class, leaving him there.

Malfoy watched her leave with a clenched jaw, he stretched his neck and shook his head. So, she wanted to play that way? He could join in on her little game, he knew Elissia. She wouldn't be able to last the whole week without eventually snapping. He didn't want her to be more repulsed by him, he truly didn't. For some strange reason that he couldn't even begin to fathom, he wanted to go through with what he told her about wanting to be sort of friends with her.

The only issue is that she made it so easy to hate her. No, it's not that he hated her actually. He hated that she was such a likeable person to the point where he doubted if anyone hated her. Was it possible to hate someone as kind hearted and self reliant as her? One thing he knew for sure, if not these two unanswered questions swimming around in his otherwise tangled and knotted up mind.

He would do whatever it takes to get Elissia to like him. Whether it was how everyone else liked him, or just as a friend, all he wanted was for her to like him in whatever way she could.