Winter (Draco x Reader)

Chapter 17- The Forbidden Forest*

Thankfully, the Stone hadn't been stolen by the following Tuesday, nor had it by the time we had reached the end of May. It had begun to feel like summer. The gusts of frosty wind had been replaced by a daily warm breeze, the Lake had liquefied again, waves lapping up gently against its shores, the sky a steady periwinkle blue.

One day, after Professor Snape had assigned a particularly long, complex essay, Blaise and I had decided to work outside. I sat down against the trunk of a tree nearby the Lake with a relaxed sigh, letting the sun warm my pasty face. Not long after, Luna joined us. We worked in silence, lulled into a comfortable daze by the sound of quiet breathing, pages turning, and the scribbling of quills against parchment.

Blaise sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "Foolish of me to think it couldn't get worse than the poison antidote task."

I smiled, nudging him playfully. "You only say that because you got an Acceptable."

"It's not my fault he didn't like the clinical applications," the boy rolled his eyes. 

"Neither did you, apparently, and it must have shown," I grinned. 

He scoffed, annotating his rough work in a sloppy hand. His shoulders were tense under his black cloak, one foot tapping anxiously against the pea-green grass.

"You'll do better this time, I'm sure of it," I encouraged. He smiled back ruefully. 

"All you have to do is believe in yourself," Luna agreed, turning the page of her textbook. 

Our peaceful work atmosphere was soon marred by someone screaming my name.

I looked up with wide eyes to see Hermione, Harry, and Ron running to us like they were haunted. Once they were within hearing range, Harry panted, "Fifty points."

"Excuse me?" I demanded, eyebrows furrowed.

"Fifty points each," Ron rectified, punctuating his sentence with a small moan.

"For what?" I asked, bewildered. "What's going on?"

Blaise sighed quietly, closing his notes. Hermione's eyes flickered to Luna-- who hadn't blinked once since they had shown up-- suspiciously, but I waved her off. "She's a friend, don't worry."

"We were so stupid," she wailed. "Hagrid hatched a dragon that he called Norbert-- entirely inappropriate for a dragon, we agree-- and we had to bring it to the Astronomy Tower last night so Ronald's brother could take it away, only Malfoy found out and we all got caught!" She inspired sharply, wringing her hands. "So now we have had 150 points taken from Gryffindor and detention to boot!"

"This is because of Draco?" I choked out. Blaise's mouth was curving up at the corner, although he fought hard to keep his amusement hidden. "That little... I'm going to hex him so badly that he won't be able to tell his face from his feet!"

Harry seemed to be contemplating the idea with a certain amount of relish. "Not exactly... Technically, he's the only one who would have been caught, except we forgot the Invisibility Cloak at the top of the Tower."

"Seriously?" Blaise snickered under his breath, earning himself an irate glance from Ron. I stared disbelievingly. Gryffindors, honestly. "Well, then," I dropped. "When's detention?"

They gave each other an uneasy glance before Hermione said, "It's tomorrow evening. Midnight, the Forbidden Forest."

"Very funny, Mione," I grinned, flipping back to the right page in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. And Fluffy was a fire-breathing salamander.

"Oh, they're not kidding, Y/N," Luna interjected softly.

My smile faded instantaneously. "They can't do that, it's off-limits for a reason!" Blaise, unbothered, had reopened his textbook and was jotting down ideas as calmly as ever. Luna had been distracted by the ripples across the lake and was gazing at them thoughtfully. Only the three Gryffindors shared my horror. "Merlin knows what's in there, you could get hurt! Did Dumbledore agree to this?"