HIS EXCEPTION || Draco Malfoy

S E V E N T E E N

Draco spent the next couple of weeks sneaking in and out of the Hufflepuff common room, now knowing how to get in and out without Ariana having to be with him. He thought tapping a barrel to the rhythm of 'Helga Hufflepuff' was an incredibly strange way of entering a common room, but then again, Hufflepuffs were strange creatures. He was also grateful that his Prefect status spared him from being doused in vinegar every time he approached the barrels, as students from other houses were not allowed near them.

They weren't able to spend every night together, but Ariana's friends were no less accommodating and kind than they had been the first night Draco had stayed. The girls had even thrown him a small celebration in their room on the night of his seventeenth birthday. He was having to work his brain overtime to move past his old preconceptions about Hufflepuffs who weren't Ariana.

Whilst studying in the library one afternoon, Ariana had asked a question Draco had prayed to Merlin she wouldn't ask him. The two of them were tucked away in a corner of the top story of the library, keeping a distance from each other to people looking from the outside, but a leg each firmly pressed against one another under the desk.

"Would you take me into the Slytherin common room?" Ariana asked him, her voice a whisper over their books.

Draco stiffened, his eyes slowly sliding up from the pages of his book to meet her's. He felt a muscle twitching in his jaw as he considered her request, having known she would eventually ask him.

Ariana studied him curiously, his pale eyes locked on her. She bit back a smile as she watched him seemingly try to come up with an answer for her, his throat bobbing up and down and his fists clenching and unclenching absentmindedly. She could imagine the intensity of his gaze would make a lot of people very nervous, but not her. Ariana tilted her head to the side, wishing she could read his mind. Surely her request wasn't that complicated?

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." He eventually said, his voice low.

Ariana sighed, having expected his answer. She propped her head up on her palm and raised her brows at him. "But you becoming an honorary Hufflepuff is perfectly fine?"

Her teasing didn't lighten the situation like she had hoped for; he possibly didn't appreciate being called a Hufflepuff. Draco straightened up, his posture as rigid as always. Ariana mimicked him, a smirk playing at the corner of her mouth.

"Do you honestly think you'll be welcomed as warmly as I was to your common room?" He began, his tone serious.

Ariana closed her book and turned to face Draco fully, understanding his anxiety about her question. "Is that what you're concerned about?"

Draco imagined the reactions of the other Slytherins if he walked in with Ariana beside him; he felt an odd mix of pride and panic just at the thought of it. He pictured her standing within the cold, stone walls of the common room; it looked wrong. She didn't belong in there.

But he knew he wouldn't be able to deny her anything for as long as he was alive.

After what felt like far too long of a pause, Draco drew in a deep breath and turned to face her, their knees now touching. "So, what are you thinking? A tour? Sleepover?"

A smile split across Ariana's at the change in Draco's demeanor. She could see a small smirk forming at the corner of his lips. "Are both an option? Tour of your bed?"