after dusk - draco malfoy

xv. | fifteen

THE FOLLOWING MONTH HAD BEEN A bit of a rollercoaster of emotions for Stella and Poppy. I had told Tommy what had happened at the Black Lake and convinced me to tell the girls. It wasn't the worst idea considering if they'd have found out from anyone else, they wouldn't have been impressed.

Stella had been more open to the idea than Poppy, accepting the fact I was my own person and could make my own choices. Poppy, on the other hand, had been less reluctant to the idea but still very protective of me. She was happy for me that things had been working out.

Draco and I were on the first-name basis by then and we'd been going for a Butterbeer every Saturday and Sunday. Whenever we had the chance, we would sit by the Black Lake - usually after classes had finished and we'd stay there until curfew.

Not many people knew about Draco and me, we decided to keep things on the down-low for the time being. However, people had started noticing we had been in Hogsmede together a lot but by the way things had been going, not many people had given it a second thought.

Fred and George had picked up on it but fortunately, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had seemed too preoccupied with other things to even be anywhere close to notice it. Other than that, it only seemed that the twins and my three closest friends knew. I couldn't have been sure whether or not Draco had told anyone but I highly doubted it.

Easter had come and gone - I went home for the two weeks and spent time with my Aunt Emma and Uncle Leo since they hadn't seen me since September. In any other circumstance, I would've told them about Draco but I decided against it. I told them all about Tommy, Poppy, and Stella, which they were happy I had settled with a good group of friends.

I explained how none of the girls from Beauxbatons had bothered to write back to me so I ended up leaving the photograph of all of us at home. Draco and I sent Owls to one another during the two week holiday, I had missed him a lot.

We had planned to meet one another in Diagon Alley and I would tell my Aunt Emma I was going to meet my friends. She didn't warm up to the idea of me wandering around there alone, worrying for my safety so we both decided just to wait until we were back at school to see one another.

The first day back was quite a warm day and many people were down by the Black Lake, so we ended up sitting in the library for an hour or so when we arrived. No one else was in there, other than Professor Pince, but we took a table in the corner, regardless.

I had been very happy to be back at Hogwarts. Happy to be back with Draco. He had been teasing me about the 'cute freckles' I had produced in the sun over the two-week break. "Draco," I laughed, knocking his hand away from my nose as he pointed them out for the eighth time. "I swear, if you point them out one more time, I'm going to fall out with you," I warned him, jokingly.

He let out a burst of soft laughter, his eyes still focussing on my nose. "I can't help it," he shrugged his shoulders, his nose scrunched up as he laughed. "It's just so cute," he repeated, again. My eyes sent him a fake cold gaze, which only made him laugh even more. "I love it when you're mad."

I raised my brows at him and half scoffed, half laughed at him. "Oh, trust me," I began, pointing in his face. "You haven't even seen me mad, yet," I told him as he grabbed my finger and moved it down before lacing his fingers with mine.

He shook his head at me, a smile making its way on to his face. "Ooh," he teased me, mocking how unafraid he was. "So scary!" My cheeks started to burn from how much I had been smiling but after spending so much time with Draco, it became natural to me and it was starting to be one of my favourite feelings.

We sat for a moment, in comfortable silence, his gaze turned to out of the window. The sun was beginning to set and he took in every detail of the sky. I watched him in admiration, reminiscing on how far we had both come. At the start of the school year, I dreaded the presence of him around me but there we were, six months later, and I couldn't get enough of it.

Draco tore his gaze away from the scenery outside and he was watching his thumb rub the back of my hand, a shadow of a smile on his face. He sat for a few moments before looking back up at me. "You know, Tasmin," he started, his eyes filled with adoration. "I really like you," he finished, not tearing his eyes from mine.

I smiled, brightly at him, returning the same look of adoration. "I really like you, too," I replied. I felt as though those five words weren't enough to describe how I was feeling. I wasn't sure whether or not it was love as we'd only really admitted our feelings around a month ago. As a 14-year-old, I had never experienced love but I knew for sure that if love was any better than this, I was in for a treat when I was older.

Draco glanced over to the clock in the corner of the room and his facial expression dropped, ever so slightly. "We better get ready to go to the Great Hall," he mentioned, motioning over to Professor Pince, who was getting ready to do the same.

I let out a sigh and stood up, getting ready to leave. I had taken a step forward but Draco grabbed my wrist, pulling me to face him. I looked up at him and he placed a kiss on my forehead before slowly letting go of my hand. We had continued to talk about our Easter holiday while walking to the Great Hall, no one paying us a glance due to being too excited about seeing their friends again.

Draco and I parted ways when we reached the Hall, quite a few people already there. I took a seat next to Tommy, across from Stella and Poppy. None of the three said anything to me for a few moments before Tommy finally spoke up. "Someone's looking all loved up," he laughed to himself before taking a sip of Pumpkin juice from his goblet.

Stella joined in with the laughter, while Poppy had to force a smile. "Where have you both been?" Poppy asked me, looking rather bugged by the situation. "We went down to the Black Lake and you weren't there." Something about that made me feel uneasy.

Stella rolled her eyes at Poppy. "No," she interrupted, beginning to get annoyed at Poppy, herself. "We went down to the Black Lake because it was nice and warm," she corrected, pointing between herself and Tommy. "You went to the lake because you're a nosey parker that thinks she needs to know everything going on in other people's lives."

Poppy opened her mouth and closed it a few times, shocked by Stella's bluntness - it was usually Tommy that would've given that response. A horrible tension filled the area around us so I decided to try and squash it. "We were in the library, having a catch-up," I finally responded to her question.

Stella furrowed her brows at me, sipping her drink. "I thought you both met up in Diagon Alley?" She questioned me.

I shook my head at her. "No, that was the plan but my Aunt said-" I abruptly stopped, nearly exposing how I needed to be kept safe. They couldn't know about my past. The three of my friends encouraged me to continue, looking rather confused. "She told me we had other plans," I lied to them.

That had been the first time I had lied to them. The first time of many, each feeling as awful as the previous. It wasn't long before lying to them had become second nature to me. It's for my safety, so it's fine, right? I tried telling myself each and every time. As much as I wanted to tell them the truth, too much was at stake and I just couldn't

And I hated it.