Draco's Hufflepuff | Emerging

Fifty-Two: Inhibitions

**

Saturday, 11th January, 1997

It was hard to feel remotely bad when waking up in Draco's arms. Somehow, the smaller bed made it even better. We were even closer, and it was my favourite thing in the entire world.

He kissed me good morning, and Merlin, his morning voice should be illegal because it done all manner of things to me. I've noticed that he's even more touchy-feely first thing in the mornings, and that's saying something, because he's always finding a way to touch me, sexually or not.

Draco checked to make sure the coast was clear, and that the third year Slytherin, Jasper, or Riley, were nowhere to be seen. As we made our way up the narrow staircase into his common room, I made sure to admire the view out into the Black Lake quickly, which made Draco shake his head and laugh. He said to me that he was absolutely perplexed as to why I liked looking out there so much, because it was, "fucking disgusting and boring."

We decided to skip on breakfast, choosing to spend as much time alone together as we could. Draco gave me a raspberry and almond croissant from the cabinet of food they still had in their dorm, and he fixed me a cup of tea to wash it all down with.

He did joke that was intending on getting us both drunk later on, but I wasn't sure how serious he was being. Draco was all too happy to show me the collection of alcohol they had in the small drawer. A part of me was sure he was trying to impress me slightly.

"Can we go look at the snow, please, Draco?" I asked, "It always looks so pretty when it's freshly laid and I haven't been able to look at it much, what with being in the Hospital Wing, and then being at your manor,"

"Of course, we can. You know I'll do anything for you," Draco winked at me, kissing my cheek.

**

We were strolling around the castle, making our way out into the grounds, and the only thing that could be heard was the crackle of the lamps on the wall. It was strange for the castle to be so quiet at this time of day on a Saturday.

Draco and I were walking hand-in-hand and enjoying each other's company. It still blew my mind how easy it was with him now, it somehow made all of the pain and doubt and confusion worth it in the end.

"Did you have a good birthday anyway, Madeline? I can't believe I haven't asked you about it yet," Draco said out of the blue, filling the silence up,

"I did, thank you. I didn't really do much, and I wished I were with you instead, but it was nice," I told him honestly, "I even had a conversation with Riley,"

"Yates?" Draco asked, his tone full of surprise,

"Yeah, she was actually quite pleasant to me. She can be friendly when she wants to be," I nodded my head,

"What did you talk about?" Draco wondered, his eyebrow arching with curiosity,

"You... amongst other things," I said shyly,

"Oh yeah? And what did you say about me, huh?" Draco teased, laughing in a cocky manner.

We were now out near Hagrid's Hut, imprinting fresh footprints onto the snowy sheet that covered the grass. I couldn't feel my nose, I was shivering, and I was sort of regretting asking Draco to come do this with me.

But getting to spend some quality alone time with him, no matter what we were doing, was the best thing in the entire world. I was happy to take advantage of the last remaining Christmas holidays with him – before reality set in again.

"Just girly stuff, none of your business," I giggled, blushing slightly, luckily, the bitter chill to the air was a good excuse as to why my cheeks were crimson,