The Girl Who Lived (Draco Malfoy x OC)

The Snake

November 1st 1996

Harper scratched mindlessly at the white tiled wall of the girls bathroom. She was patiently waiting for Ginny who was at the mirror, magically applying extra makeup over the hickeys decorating her long neck. Hermione also waited nearby, dawdling by the door and anxious to move onto their next class. Though Harper wished she would go on without them after the conversation she had started.

"I don't understand your hesitation," Hermione continued, "McLaggen clearly likes you."

She was trying to convince Harper to take him to Slughorn's Christmas party as well as fill Ginny in with the goss.

"And you clearly like him," she added.

"Why do you have to make it a thing?" Harper whined, her eyes fixed on the white tiles as she scratched away. "It doesn't require a lecture."

"I'm not lecturing you, think of it as advice, Harper. Godric, I'm sorry I just want to see you be happy," Hermione crossed her arms.

"I am happy," she mumbled.

"Very well then," Hermione said. "So you're going to go to his Christmas doo without a date?"

"And who exactly are you taking?" Her eyes zapped to look at her friend.

"Nevermind me," she shook her head.

"I will if you mind me so much," she retorted.

Ginny pulled away from the mirror, sensing the growing tension. "Nevermind any of it," she interrupted then glimpsed at Hermione. "What's got your wand in such a knot this morning?"

"Nothing," she huffed.

"Won-won and Lavy-dovey," Harper said, grimacing at the gross nicknames their friends made for each other. Ginny made a gagging sound as she dabbed the last powder over her collarbone.

"Better?" She asked her friends as she stepped from the mirror, presenting her neck to them. They both nodded, exiting the bathroom.

"I just think life is extremely unpredictable as of late," Hermione continued, "and with such uncertainty, you should make the most of these days, Harper."

"So you should bed McLaggen," Ginny smiled and Harper wondered if she was being sarcastic for her sake.

"Don't be so crude, Ginny!" Hermione shot her a glare. "I just meant if he makes you happy, you should go for it."

"Thank you for the advice, Hermione," she said. "But not everything is that simple, you should know that more than me."

"That's why I was asking, why are you hesitating?"

"Maybe because of the fact that my life is 'extremely unpredictable and uncertain,'" she quoted. "Why would I want to bring someone else into that?"

Hermione's faced softed, hands around her books slacking a bit. "He seems more than willing to be a part of it," she quietly said.

Harper responded with her own smile, thankful Hermione ended the conversation there. No, things with McLaggen were far from simple. Her fickle life was only half of the equation when it came to pursuing her fellow Gryffindor. There was something else in her mind, muddling her thoughts. A particular blonde-haired Slytherin who she could see lining up for class, bossing his friends around.

It weighed like shillings on a dead man's eyes ever since she nearly kissed the guy. Whenever she was in the same room with him since it felt like it was hard to breathe for her. The memory suffocating. She kept trying to convince herself it was a strange lapse of reality, that she and Malfoy both lost themselves in the moment and neither of them meant for it to happen. Maybe there was something weird in the rain, she told herself.