Adored (Draco x Reader)

Spring

After Draco recovered from the embarrassment of his valentine's day, you expected him to ask you out again, but for some reason he never did. Things continued just as they had been before. Draco never spoke about that week he spent with Pansy, and he hexed Ron and Harry when they brought it up. As the weeks dragged on you grew a bit impatient and irritable with Draco. The longer he went without asking you out again, the more hurt and confused you became.

Spring arrived early that year. The days grew warmer and the sun was out more frequently. You were delighted to pull out your favorite dresses and finally stuff your overcoats into the trunk under your bed. The nice weather stifled your worries but was replaced by a sense of restlessness.

"We should go outside." You said closing your notebook in your lap. You were in the library with Draco, like always, preparing for your upcoming exams and you were bored. The sunlight poured in through the library windows but you were still shivering in the drafty library.

"Why would we do that?" Draco lifted his head from his book in confusion.

"Because its nice." You said in exasperation. "Let's go and get a blanket. I'm tired of being cooped up in this castle." You sprung up from the chair, eager to get outside before the weather turned dreary again, as nice days did easily and frequently in britain.

You lay the blanket out in the sun and took off your sweater to reveal your freckled shoulders. Draco took off his blazer reluctantly and sat down next to you leaning back on his palms. You lay on your side and leaned on your elbow to begin reading your novel again. The warmth from the sun prickled at your skin pleasantly.

Draco admired your bare shoulders, and the way your white sundress accentuated your waist. From his angle, he could see down the front of the dress to your pink lace bra. He forced himself to look away out of politeness.

Draco looked off at the lake and thought about the final Quidditch match of the year. It had come down, as it always did, to Slytherin and Gryffindor. This match would likely determine who would win the house cup and Draco had become worried that you might not be on his side this time. He mentioned the house cup to you casually.

"What's the house cup for again?" you closed your book and looked at up at Draco.

"You know, the points that we've been working for all year? Whoever has the most points wins the house cup."

"Yeah, I understand that but what do you win?"

"you win the house cup."

"why?"

"Honestly, Y/N you're impossible sometimes. It doesn't matter because Slytherin is certainly going to win this year." Draco had noticed that you'd been a bit testy with him lately but wasn't sure what to make of it. He sincerely hoped that you would still come root for him at Saturday's game.

"Well good, you can have your house cup." at this point you could tell that Draco was fishing for something. You were always annoyed when he did this. Why couldn't he just tell you what he was thinking?

"No we're going to win it. When we win the game on Saturday."

"Well, that's fantastic."

"Are you going to come to the match on Saturday?" Draco had no idea why you were making this so difficult.

"Oh I see. You want to know if I'm going to root for Gryffindor or Slytherin this weekend?"

Draco threw his hands in the air in exasperation and huffed, "well... yeah! It's the most important match of the year."

You turned to lay on your back and said in a fake posh accent that you sometimes took with him, "I'm always on your side Draco dearest you know that."

"Thank you." He sighed. "That's all I ask."

You raised your hand to block the sun from your eyes and said, "Next time be direct."

Draco gave you an annoyed look.

You put your exaggerated accent on again and said "Draco, darling, read to me. My eyes have grown weary." You closed your eyes, your face pointed towards the sun.

"You're ridiculous." He said. "Nobody talks like that."

You smirked, "You do."

"I do not."

"I do not!" you mocked him

"That's not funny," he swatted at you and you laughed.

"Read to me." You said earnestly this time.

He looked at you, bathed in sunlight with your eyes closed and a small smile. He leaned on his elbows and began to read to you. He was a little embarrassed at first but soon it felt natural and he read to you on the grass until the clouds rolled in and the sky turned grey again.

That evening, Draco met Blaise on the Quidditch field. He was taking advantage of the longer days to get more practice in before the big game.

"Well, you think she's good looking, right?" Blaise bit into an apple he'd snagged from the dining hall
"Yeah." Draco was already getting defensive.
"I hardly see you anymore. You're always with her. I don't understand why you aren't doing something about this."
Draco ran his hands through his hair in frustration "I don't know." Then "look, I've never cared about anyone this much before. I mean never. And what we've got right now, it's really good. It's a good thing." The whole truth was, you made him nervous. You were too beautiful, too intelligent, too charismatic, too intimidating. He was embarrassed that you were the one who had had to rescue him from Pansy. He much preferred to be the one rescuing you.

"You've gone soft, Malfoy." Blaise scoffed

Draco wrinkled his nose, "I have not."
"Mate, you've gone soft. I just don't get it."
"I don't know what to tell you." Draco sighed. "Time me." He said and he kicked off on his broom, leaving Blaise in the field below.