ivy | theo nott

1

"Abbott!" The familiar voice hissed from above her as she looked into the icy gray eyes, though only for a moment, before he had crashed down beside her in the bustling hallway, dragging the book from her fingers and ducking behind it.

"Draco," She bit back a laugh, watching as he tried to conceal his face from the passerby. "I was reading that."

"You've got to save me," He whispered.

"From what, exactly?"

"Parkinson." Grace's eyes found the brunette before he had even answered, her lips pushed out into their signature pout as she scoured the room for the blonde slouched down beside her.

"What's she done now?"

"It's not what she's done," His whispers were becoming comical now. "It's what she's trying to do. She's relentless!"

"What, she wants to ask you on another date, Malfoy?" Grace giggled, earning herself a cold glare as Pansy turned the corner at last, Draco dropping the book to his lap with a sigh.

"Yes, actually." He snarled, leaning back against the stone walls behind them. "She told Blaise this morning she was going to ask me. To my own family's ball? She's a complete headcase."

"Your fault for leading her on all this time-"

"I've done no such thing." His lip curled at her suggestion.

"So ask someone else and be done with it!"

"Maybe I don't want a date. It's just Christmas, I don't see why it's got to be such a big deal every year."

"Christmas is always going to be a big deal. And your parents are always going to want you to bring someone." She teased, snatching her book back from his lap.

"Alright," He agreed, turning to face her now as the students slowly cleared the once crowded hall. "Go with me then? Get Parkinson off my ass?"

Grace barely held back the choke threatening to spill from her lips at his words. Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy was asking her to their annual Christmas party.

"Well, don't look so thrilled." His eyes rolled towards the ceiling as her lips pulled into a smile.

"Sorry, I was just pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming." She teased, looking to him with a grin and waiting for his own smile to return. "Your parents will want you to go with someone else-"

"They don't pick who I hang out with." He fought back, "And besides. Mum will love you, and my father couldn't care less."

"I feel like I've been hearing otherwise for the past..." She held out a few fingers, pretending to count each one, "four and a half years-"

"Shut it, Abbott, honestly. Are you going to go with me, or not?"

"Pansy'll have me dead by the end of the week." She pointed out and he rolled his eyes and stood from their shared bench.

"You're coming. I'll keep you alive until Christmas, then you're on your own, Grace."

"What a gentleman!" She called after him as he started down the hall.

"I'll buy your dress!" He called back, "Hope you like green!"

"Piss off! I'm not wearing green!" She called back, standing up as if it might help her voice reach him as he turned the corner out of sight.

She sighed, watching him fade from view for a few moments before turning back to the bench behind her, a gasp escaping her lips as she jumped.

"Theo!" Grace exhaled, ignoring the smirk painted along his lips and reaching for her book from his grasp. "Give it." She ordered, grabbing for the book as Theo held it farther out of her reach.