Desolation Row | A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction

Chapter 16

April Fools Days was never a large tradition in the Avondale household and this meant that I never did much for it at school either. Elisa and I were planning on having a long homework session after classes had finished (as sadly it was only Tuesday) in order to get ourselves on top of the quickly growing pile of homework we had both been receiving. Today, however, Elisa had found me at breakfast and said she couldn't come and do homework due to being invited to the Weasley twins' birthday gathering and had apologised profusely. I assured her it was okay and this meant that I had dragged an unwilling Draco along with me instead.
"Do we have to?" whined Draco as I pulled my Defence Against the Dark Arts homework from my bag, shrugging off my robe.
With a nod and a cheeky grin, I hurried off down the aisles in search of any books that could help us. By 7:30, the sun was just beginning to set, the bright oranges casting shadows on the floor of the library as I ran my fingers along the spines of the books I was passing. I returned with a large pile in my arms and I dropped them heavily in front of Draco, making him jump. Laughing, I sat down and pulled the first book from the top of the pile. This large pile was blocking my view of Draco but I could still hear him talking quietly to himself as he flicked through book after book.
"Ah, could this help?" he asked, pointing to something in the book he was showing me (he had lifted it over the pile in order for me to see).
"O-only for th-the sec-second part of o-our es-essay," I stated. smiling at him and he nodded, placing the book next to him, open on the page he had just displayed and picking another off the pile.
It wasn't long before the pile of books was considerably smaller, however, many of them were spreading across whatever space we had free on the table. There was a small pile growing by my feet of useless texts. Once we had looked through every book, I returned those that were useless back to their respectful shelves with a quick flick of my wand and pulled out my ink and quill from my bag, placing them on the table next to my homework. Quickly unscrewing the lid of my ink, I dipped my quill in and began to write. Draco and I worked in silence and every now and then I would sneak a quick glance at him. I loved how cute he looked when he concentrated, I loved how his hair would fall in front of his face when he would bend low over his work, I loved how his fingers curled around the quill and played with the parchment he was writing on. I sighed. I just loved him.
"What're you looking at?" chuckled Draco, glimpsing up and noticing me staring.
"N-nothing." I laughed, a slight pink rising in my cheeks.
"You're cute when you blush," stated Draco, turning his attention back to his work.
My eyes widened. Draco didn't seem to be kidding. Usually, every time he complimented me, he usually laughed afterwards and followed with a sarcastic comment. Nothing followed. I swallowed and tried to focus back on my work. Just then, however, I heard a cry of frustration echo from the corridor. Elisa. Throwing myself off my chair, I grabbed my robe and bolted out of the library, leaving everything, including Draco, behind. My feet pounded against the stone floor as I followed the voices carrying down the corridor. I could hear Elisa's voice slowly rising but I couldn't hear who she was talking to. There were several more grunts of annoyance from Elisa, followed by "Get the hell away from me!". While I rounded the corner, I saw Jack Atkins walking away from a frozen Elisa with a repugnant smirk plastered all over his face. Slowing to a walk, I hurried towards Elisa and reached out to put my hand on her shoulder. As I approached her, however, I discerned hot tears streaming down her face.
"Elisa?" I inquired, catching her attention.
She looked up at me and attempted to wipe the tears from her face, however, the exercise was futile as they just kept falling.
"C-come on," I said, comfortingly as I escorted Elisa quickly back to her quarters.
We drew level with the door and I allowed Elisa to push it open. She had hold of one of my hands and she did not let it go as we entered her room, affirming to me that it was okay to enter. As we crossed the threshold, I closed the door behind me and looked around.
"Sit down," sniffled Elisa, gesturing to the sofa that was against the wall.
I sat myself down and watched my best friend as she made her way over to the small kitchenette.
"Coffee?" she asked and I shook my head.
I had never taken a liking to many muggle drinks. After brewing herself a coffee, Elisa made her way over to the sofa and climbed out of her chair. She sat next to me and I turned to face her as she took a sip of her coffee.
"W-want to t-talk ab-about it?" I asked gently, allowing her time to think.
After a pause, Elisa nodded slightly and looked down at her mug.