snowflake

nine

October 1st, 1993

Elissia trudged dreadfully to Professor McGonagall's office. The cloud of misery that had been looming over her the whole day only got worse as she approached their detention's location spot. 'At least Malfoy finally got his comeuppance.' She thought, trying with all her might to find just a small glimmer of hope in this, otherwise, dreadful situation she pretty much put herself in.

But there was something nagging her about Malfoy serving detention with her. Not only was this her first detention, but it was her first detention with him. She couldn't help but wonder what they'd be doing tonight. Knocking on the door, he thoughts were cut short by Malfoy swinging the door open, she saw a sour expression evident on his face as he did so.

"You're late." He said crossly, she raised a brow and walked inside. He shut the door behind her, watching as she sat down at a desk.

Elissia took her books out, dipping her quill in some ink before writing down a few things. "I was told the detention was at 7:00. If she changed the time without informing me, the fault is on her; not me." She answered simply, not having the patience to put up with him now.

Malfoy furrowed his brows, he was expecting a more irritated response from her. Sure, her tone indicated that she was annoyed, but her answer was bland compared to how she's retorted against his comments in the past. He sat down next to her and leaned back in the chair, crossing one leg over the other. He looked at her and saw that she was bent slightly over her notebook, her blonde hair falling a little in front of her face. He wanted nothing more than to push it behind her ear so he could get a better look at the face that was hidden behind the makeshift veil that her hair made.

Wait what? These weren't the kind of words that held any traces of hatred or loathing behind them. For a second, Malfoy almost had himself believing that he wanted to be near her. That he almost wanted to be closer to her than he was right now. Merlin's beard, what the hell was going on with him? He had to say something rude or else these new thoughts may turn into something more.

"You're doing that wrong."

She looked at him, putting her quill down. "What? Reading? No, I'm pretty sure I know how to read." She said coldly, he cleared his throat awkwardly and pointed to her sheet.

"The notes, that's not what she wrote down on the board." He told her, motioning with a nod of his head to the board a few feet away from where they were sitting. She followed his lead and felt her cheeks flush pink. He bit his lip, he clearly made her embarrassed and that wasn't the goal of what he was trying to do at all.

"Oh.. thank you." She mumbled, the corners of his mouth twitched upwards a little at her words. He nodded curtly and thought for a moment before standing up, bringing the board over to her desk. She looked at him in mild confusion, pursing her lips while she tried figuring out what the boy was supposed to be doing. He let the board stand up in front of her desk and sat back down, looking at her expectantly.

"There are you then, that should be better." He got his notebook out and started writing the notes down. She stared at him with widened eyes and an opened mouth for a few minutes, was this his way of helping her? And if so, why was he doing it? She was the reason he was in detention in the first place. Elissia allowed herself to give a faint smile as an expression of her gratitude, even though she was sure he couldn't see it.

But Malfoy saw all that he needed to see, he kept peeking glances at the girl next to him since he sat down in his chair. He wondered what was going on in her head, after seeing the shadow of a smile on her face though, he was satisfied enough for now. He really wanted to work as hard as he could to make her smile, a real smile. Not one that she tried to hide, not a smile that she gave him just to try and get him to stop talking to her. How he was going to do it, that's a question for another day.