dark side • draco malfoy

13 | Ivy

Three nights later, I was sat in the empty classroom waiting for Malfoy to arrive. I honestly didn't think he would come after what happened last time, so I was extremely shocked when he walked through the door at exactly eight o'clock.

"You're here." I blurted out, staring at the blonde boy across the room from me.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. Of course I'm here. You need me to help you get a good grade in Potions, and it would be an absolute tragedy if you failed the class." He rolled his eyes, walking over to me and dropping his leather bag onto the table in front of us.

"Well I... yeah. I do." I admitted, running a hand through the mess of dark curls that was my hair.

"Let's get started then. I don't want to be in your presence any longer than necessary." He sighed extra loudly, beginning to pull out ingredients and supplies.

"Trust me, the feeling is mutual."

***********************************

"No, Chapman! Stir twice clockwise and four times counterclockwise." Malfoy scolded, and I groaned before doing what he said.

"Fuck, you're never going to improve your Potions grade at this rate." He chuckled, and I cringed inwardly.

"I know, I'm hopeless."

"Are you sure you aren't a squib?" He asked. I didn't even have to look at him to know that he was smirking.

"Oh piss off, Malfoy."

"I was just asking. You never know." He held up his hands in defence, and I shot him a glare from across the table.

"Alright, the potion has to sit for half an hour now." He explained, transfiguring a spare cauldron into a chair for himself. Yep, he definitely didn't need help in Transfiguration.

"What? Are you serious?" I groaned, rolling my eyes.

"Yes." He replied, pulling out a book from his bag.

"Romeo and Juliet." I read the title of the book, surprised that Malfoy was reading a classic Muggle novel.

"Good, you can read. Now please shut up." He snapped, opening to the page he had been on.

I hadn't brought any form of entertainment like him, and so I pulled out my wand and pointed it at the chair he was sitting on.

"Colovaria." I mumbled, and the chair turned from a deep brown colour to a bold, lilac shade. I flicked my wand again, and this time it changed to a royal blue.

"What are you doing?" Malfoy spoke up, closing his book and looking up in curiosity.

"What does it look like? I'm changing the colour of your chair." I shrugged, casually leaning against the table.

"How?"

"What?"

"Teach me how."

"You want me to teach you?" I frowned at the Slytherin in front of me.

"Yeah." He nodded, standing up.

"Um, alright. All you need to say is Colovaria, and imagine the colour you want very clearly in your head. Got it?" I asked him. Malfoy nodded, and pointed his wand at the chair.

"Colovaria." He whispered, and suddenly the chair was a dark green colour.

"Not bad, Malfoy. But I bet you can't do it nonverbally." I chuckled, and he turned around.

"Is that a challenge?" He smirked, staring into my eyes.

"Maybe." I shrugged nonchalantly, trying hard to forget the way his icy, grey eyes seemed to stir something inside my chest. He pointed his wand at the cardigan that I had discarded on the table, and focused all his attention on it.

Suddenly, my cardigan burst into flames and my eyes widened in shock.

"Aguamenti!" I shouted as water spewed from my wand and onto my flaming cardigan.

Once the flames had been put out, I turned and looked at the boy behind me.

"What the hell, Malfoy?"

"Shit Ivy, I'm really sorry. I just wanted to turn it bright orange, but I guess I must have been thinking of the colour of fire because well... that happened." He bit his lip nervously and I burst into laughter at the priceless look on his face.

"It's fine, it's just a sweater. Don't worry about it."

"Aren't you going to be cold?" Malfoy asked, and I suddenly noticed the goose bumps covering my skin.

"Just a little. I-I'll be fine." I tried to fight the sudden chill that had come over me, but my shivering body betrayed me.

"Shit no, you're freezing. Here, take my jumper." He handed me his black pullover sweater, revealing just a white button-down shirt and a loose Slytherin tie underneath.

"Are you sure?" I asked, looking at the jumper in his outstretched hand.

"Yes. Please take it, it's the least I can do for setting your sweater on fire." He insisted.

I nodded finally, and pulled the sweater over my head. I immediately felt much warmer, and was overcome with his scent.

"Thanks." I breathed, inhaling the smell of peppermint and aftershave, and some fancy cologne that I couldn't possibly name.

"You're welcome." He mumbled, before turning around to face the cauldron, "The potion should be ready now."

"How is it?" I asked, tugging at the sleeves of his jumper and trying get rid of the rosy blush that had quickly spread across my cheeks.

"Surprisingly decent." Malfoy chuckled as he effortlessly performed a nonverbal spell and cleaned the cauldron.

"I guess I'll see you in three days." I changed the topic, my voice coming out in a whisper as he threw everything back into his bag.

"Same time and place. See you then." He replied quietly, and then he was gone. It was almost as if he had never even been there. Draco Malfoy had a habit of appearing and disappearing rather quickly, and I felt dizzy trying to keep up with him.

It wasn't until I had returned to the Gryffindor common room later that night and was tucked up in bed that I realized something; Malfoy had called me by my first name for the very first time ever.

He had called me Ivy.