Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 16: mon amour

Lorelei Jones | 3rd Year

That morning had been all but disastrous.

When Lorelei woke up late to get ready for classes, she hopped out of bed quickly, but her roommates' clothes were strewn all around the floor, including beside her bed. She hadn't looked down yet when she jumped out of bed, so she took a nasty spill first thing in the morning.

Her roommates didn't help her up. They were too busy doing one another's hair and makeup, so Lorelei picked herself off the floor and tried to find her favorite outfit, but it was nowhere to be found. Her heart was crushed, but she couldn't find it anywhere, no matter how hard she looked.

However, as disappointing as these things were, none of that was the worst part of Lorelei's morning.

It was her birthday, yet none of her roommates even spared her a glance after she had fallen. She didn't think her birthday was that hard to remember — it was the day before Halloween — but she figured they must have had poor memory or something.

Lorelei had put her robes on over a second best outfit and brushed through her blonde hair before she went to breakfast that day. Lorelei got a letter from her Gran at breakfast, and Luna wished her a happy birthday and gave her a butterbeer cork necklace to keep the nargles away before they took their seats at their house tables. Lorelei was very appreciative of this.

Now, Lorelei was sitting away from her roommates with a few open seats between them. She had smiled at them when they arrived, but they didn't see her and sat further down the bench. She rested her head on her hand and just waited for the food to arrive. Hopefully it would be something good for her birthday.

Lorelei planned to go visit the elves in the kitchens after classes ended for the day. She loved when they let her in and made her cookies. She had done it the last two years now, and she hoped to keep up her tradition.

Dumbledore began speaking, and Lorelei tried to pay attention to his every word, but she had no idea what he was talking about. Goblet of Fire? Triwizard tournament? What did any of this mean, and how hadn't she heard of it before?

As Dumbledore went on, he suddenly announced the arrival of students from another school called Beauxbatons. In came a group of beautiful students. Lorelei gaped at how attractive the lot of them were, and her gaze lingered on a few of the boys she thought looked fit.

She wasn't the only one staring at them upon their arrival. Practically the entire school had their eyes glued to these new students who walked with elegance and grace and sent magical, blue butterflies fluttering about the room. Lorelei was practically in a trance as she watched them move about and eventually settle at the front of the room by Dumbledore.

Without much time for Lorelei to process this, Dumbledore announced the arrival of Durmstrang, and the doors swung open wide. A group of students came in. They were banging bo staffs on the ground and breathing fire. Lorelei jolted when one of the boys stopped beside her and thunked his staff there, lighting off sparks. She was in awe of how cool these students seemed. They oozed confidence that didn't come naturally to Lorelei. She wished she had even a fraction of their self-assurance.

Soon, Dumbledore instructed these new schools to take seats amongst the Hogwarts students. Lorelei blushed when one of the beautiful Beauxbatons boys took the seat beside her. He smiled pleasantly at her and extended a hand. Lorelei shook it and introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Lorelei."

"I am Lorenzo, but you can call me Enzo, belle," the boy grinned. He had dark, curly hair, and a delicate beauty to him that Lorelei wasn't used to. She was completely appalled that he was talking to her, and Enzo watched her face amusedly as she tried to fight a blush.

He just called her beautiful? Lorelei's heart rate was beating in triple time.

"It's nice to meet you, Enzo," Lorelei managed to push out.

"Tu es très belle, mon amour," Enzo said with a slight smirk. He could tell from the way her cheeks instantly flamed that she knew exactly what he said. "Est-ce que tu parles français?"

"Oui," Lorelei meekly replied with her cheeks flaming. She knew he had just called her very beautiful and his love in the same sentence.

She was going to die if the heat in her face was any indication.

Lorelei also knew what he asked when he wondered if she spoke French. Even if she and her Gran lived in London now, Gran had grown up in France, and so taught Lorelei to speak both languages from a young age.

"Mm, fille intelligente." Enzo smugly smiled to himself.

He had just called her a smart girl. Oh my god.

Lorelei bit back a smile and murmured, "Non, non. Ma grand-mère est française." Lorelei explained that her Gran was French.

Heather straightened her shocked expression and leaned forward to extend a hand to Enzo. "Hi, I'm Heather."

"Bonjour, Heather," he replied with the syllables easily rolling off his tongue. He loosely shook her hand, but he turned back to Lorelei quickly and shot her a dazzling smile.

Lorelei couldn't help but beam back at him. Never had she ever received this much attention from a boy before, and she had absolutely no idea what to do with it, but she didn't mind.

Once the food appeared, Lorelei got her favorite foods and ate them with a blush that seemed to be never ceasing. When Enzo purposely bumped his knee into hers at some point, she blushed wildly and lifted her hand to her cheek in an attempt to cover the color.

"Non, non, mon amour... It is...adorable." Enzo winked at Lorelei when she momentarily stopped breathing. She licked her lips and stared down her plate with a giddy grin tugging on her lips. He just complimented her in English too? Oh my god.

She let him remove her hand from her cheek, and then he happily went on eating again. Lorelei smiled because she knew no matter what happened, nothing could ruin how absolutely wonderful Lorelei's birthday was now.

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