In The End

Chapter 16 - Dinner by Candlelight

Luna immediately noticed Eliza's change in persona as she took a seat next to her best friend. She had assumed that Draco finally asked her out and she was nothing less than overjoyed for her friend.

"I'm assuming he's asked you out, then," Luna said, grinning.

"You knew?" Eliza asked in surprise.

"I spoke to him a few days ago and he said he would do it." Luna smiled.

"That's sweet. But then he has also asked you not to tell anyone about us?" Eliza asked carefully.

"I recall him mentioning something along those lines," Luna said calmly.

"Good, then you'll keep it a secret for me?" Eliza pleaded.

Luna was a little surprised that Eliza suddenly wanted to keep things between her and Draco under the radar. After all, they were basically a couple now, why not tell everyone?

She supposed it had something to do with blood status, although she personally didn't understand it all. Luna was a good friend and even though she disagreed, she nodded and promised to keep it a secret if that was their wish.

Eliza had given her a big hug to say thank you and the friends talked and laughed on the train ride home. Eliza snuck a few glances at Draco and Draco discreetly winked back at her every now and then.

---

Draco dished up a huge plate of food for himself and quickly stole an extra plate before leaving the Great Hall. He had made it out just in time because mere minutes later, the majority of the school flooded in and started dishing up supper.

When he returned later, he did not have the food with him. He quickly spotted Eliza sitting at the Slytherin table and pulled out a piece of paper. He wrote a short message and charmed it to become a bird.

The paper bird gracefully drifted across the hall, until it landed gently in front of Eliza. She felt slightly confused and looked up towards Luna, who was sitting with the Ravenclaws. Luna shrugged, showing that she had not sent her the note.

Eliza slowly opened the piece of paper. There was a short message written in a familiarly slanted, compressed cursive.

Meet me in the Room of Requirement.

Eliza felt her heart skip a beat. Had he been working on the closet without her again? Had he improved it in some way? Maybe he got it to work.

All these thoughts swam around in her head as she made her way out of the hall and to the Room of Requirement.

She arrived to find Draco leaning up against the wall outside. He was waiting for her.

"What is it? Did you get it to work?" She asked.

"What? Oh, no, nothing that exciting. I was just thinking that maybe we could go on that date you promised to go on with me." He said smiled charmingly as he took her hand in his.

She simply nodded and let him lead her into the room. She felt her chest warm up at the sight that presented itself. There was a little round table with a lit candlestick in the centre. Draco had set two plates of food, still steaming.

Eliza felt warm in the dim light of the room. Draco pulled out a chair for her and she took a seat.

"I see you know exactly what food I like." She commented, looking down at her plate.

"I do pay attention, you know." Draco drawled sarcastically.

Eliza couldn't hide her surprise. Had he really watched her so often that he could predict what food she would choose at the dinner table?

"How could you possibly know what food I eat?" She asked in disbelief.

"I used to watch you every night at supper," Draco replied bluntly.

It was the truth, but Eliza didn't know just how true. Draco had found himself watching Eliza since the very first day she defied him on the train in her first year. He couldn't help himself. There was something so oddly unique about her, his curiosity had forced him to study her.

Eliza had started to blush at Draco's honesty. She had never imagined that anyone would notice her at all, let alone watch her as Draco had.

"You're rather intriguing." Draco continued.

"I could say the same thing about you." She retorted, poking a fork in his direction, "You're very easy to pick out in a room, you know. It must be the hair."

"What about my hair?" He asked with amusement.

"It's very... stark." Eliza giggled.

The conversation only got livelier as the pair spent a good few hours alone together in the Room of Requirement.

As far as first dates went, it was absolutely perfect in Eliza's eyes and Draco was just happy to see her happy.

After the date was over Draco gave her a deep, but brief kiss and she walked back down to the Slytherin common room with her heart aflutter.

Draco couldn't sleep, so instead, he walked up to the astronomy tower and admired the stars, thinking about that night when Eliza stood just where he stood and saw those same stars through her beautiful, glistening eyes.

He felt so peaceful, that he was soon compelled to go to his dorm and for once, he slept soundly, even if it was only for a short while.