Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 26: i'll stick with princess

Draco Malfoy | 5th Year

Draco was exhausted. His roommates were all bickering late into the night, and Draco really wasn't in the mood to get dragged into their useless fighting. So, while Theo groaned into his pillow at the sound of Blaise arguing with Crabbe and Goyle, Draco shoved on his shoes and marched to the common room.

When he crossed the threshold, he was pleased to see it was empty. It was a Friday night, so he expected to see students lounging around, but all of the students seemed to be in their beds already.

Draco dropped onto the couch by the fireplace and leaned his head to rest on the back of the couch. He let out a loud groan, but it was cut off when he heard padded footsteps nearby. Briar was leaving the common room and didn't even glance at him. She stepped out of the opening and disappeared. Draco just rolled his eyes and then stared at the ceiling once more.

He ended up falling asleep on the couch down there, and he woke up with a blanket tossed over him. He had no idea who could have done it, but he was grateful for it when he realized how chilly it was in the common room at night.

However, Draco hadn't slept long, so he was tired that Saturday afternoon as he trekked across the corridors and towards the library.

While he was walking, he happened to glance down a corridor he was passing. He expected to see no one in the small offshoot from the main path, but that blonde haired girl from last year was perched in one of the window seats with a textbook propped in her lap. She was intently reading for potions, and she had tugged her plump, bottom lip between her teeth while her eyebrows lowered in obvious concentration.

Draco knew he should leave the girl alone to study, for she seemed content on her own, but there was a buzzing in his body at seeing her again, and he couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk to her.

"What are you reading there?" Draco smirked as he approached her. Her head snapped up at the sound of his voice, and she blinked a few times in quick succession. Her lips parted as she seemed to try to figure out why on earth Draco Malfoy was talking to her.

"Um, my potions textbook?" she said as more of a question than a statement.

"You seem uncertain. Not sure what you're reading, princess?" Draco teased as he stopped directly in front of her, his body resting against the window frame that she was seated in. Their bodies were close, so close. Draco was sure someone had hexed him, for it seemed that electricity was dancing over his skin as he smiled at her.

Her cheeks reddened at the nickname, and she averted her eyes to look down at her textbook again.

"No, I'm certain. I'm reading for potions," she softly said. Her fingers were gripping the textbook so tightly that her knuckles were bleached white and Draco thought it a possibility that the pages could end up permanently wrinkled from her smothering grip.

Draco chuckled and lifted his gaze back to her pink cheeks. "Do I make you nervous, princess?"

Her cheeks flames even more, which Draco hadn't thought possible. The red in her cheeks could put those bloody Weasleys to shame. Draco liked that thought.

"No, you don't. Why do you keep calling me princess?" she said and cautiously met his eyes once again. She tried to not feel startled when she noticed how intently he was staring at her with his grey eyes inspecting her every nervous tic and slight movement. Those eyes always looked so coldly upon others, but there was nothing cold about them now.

Likewise, Draco was captivated by her large, bright blue eyes. It was a blue he had never seen before in someone's irises. It reminded him of the color turquoise.

"You don't like princess? What would you rather I call you, little Hufflepuff?" Draco asked and leaned slightly closer to her with an amused gleam in his eyes.

"Lorelei is my name. You could call me that," she offered and gently bit her cheek. She was just staring into Draco's eyes now. They were a captivating color, largely pale grey, but there were dark little specks around his pupil if one looked closely enough. These specks were darker grey, dark blue, or occasionally brown. She wondered if anyone else had noticed these things about his eyes before.

"Lorelei. Hm, it's a rather pretty name I'll admit, but I think I'll stick with princess," Draco said. He flashed her a smug grin. He walked backwards without taking his eyes off the shy girl, and his smile only grew as he watched as her eyes flit down to her book to avoid his uninterrupted gaze.

"I'll see you later, princess," Draco said when he was nearly out of the corridor. Her gaze slid up to his with curiosity swimming in the bright blue pools in her eyes, but she didn't have a chance to say anything more because Draco disappeared again without warning.

On his way to the library now, he donned a face splitting grin. Numerous first years cowered and backed away from him, even more frightened than usual by this new expression in his face. No one really knew what to do with it or what to make of it. To some, they thought it could have been a scheming look or maybe pride or even arrogance.

However, Draco knew that this was a genuine smile for him. He felt...giddy and elated. Those were words he had forgotten how to use until now. He had forgotten what true happiness was until just moments ago, but now it was filling up his entire being and reminding him what it meant to be alive.

Lorelei.

That was her name. Lorelei was the pretty blonde Hufflepuff who had written him all those scrawled notes on bits of parchment and had fallen into Draco's arms in the hallways after Christmas break. As he began to associate this name with that girl, Draco thought he could breathe a little easier and see a little clearer.

After how his summer went, Draco knew how much he needed this.

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