Orion's Belt | d.m

1.11

I walked quietly to the kitchen after about an hour against the wall. I placed the teacup on the counter seeing it magically lift up and be placed with the other dirty dishes.

"Clover!" I looked behind me seeing Poppy appear in the doorway. He smiled at me scrambling up to the stool that he placed beside me. "What do you want to do today?" I smiled at the elf, thinking.

"Do you know how to make green tea? I saw that you have the powder."

"Yes! Green tea is Lady Malfoy's favorite! She likes it extra strong." He reached for the cupboard which was a bit too high as I took down the ingredients instead. I smiled at him as he pointed to everything he needed as I got it down for him.

"Lady Malfoy likes 3 and a quarter scoop! Poppy made sure." He motioned with the small wooden spoon as I picked it up. I reached for the bag, noticing a shadow that befell over me. I looked up as Poppy let out a nervous squeak. Draco was standing behind me, eyebrows raised. I felt my cheeks heat up remembering the small smile he had on his face. I turned away as Poppy shrunk back a bit.

"Can I help you?" I asked scooping in the powdered tea into a delicate black cup.

"Since when do wizards take orders from mere House Elves?" He sneered as Poppy let out another squeak. I turned to Draco narrowing my eyes.

"He's not a mere House Elf and his name is Poppy and he happens to be teaching me how to make tea from scratch." I huffed turning back around. I sighed forgetting how many scoops I had already done.

"You scooped only 2." Draco seemingly answered my thoughts. I looked at him in shock as his lips turned up into a smirk. I pouted, turning back to the tea as I scooped one final one than a quarter. Draco was leaning against the counter facing me with his arms crossed, watching.

"Okay, Poppy what's next?" I asked, looking at the elf. He was looking nervously between Draco and I as he fumbled with his fingers. "Just ignore him, I do." I smiled hearing Draco grunt beside me. Poppy glanced at Draco before timidly pointing at the mixer.

"You w..whisk the powder until it turns to liquid. But if you do it..too much it'll turn the amount too little..y..you have to do it just r..right.." I nodded, grabbing the whisk but stopped noticing that Draco had brought down another cup and had started to pour his own green tea. He looked at me, raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"You trying to one up me, Malfoy?" He scoffed, holding the spare bamboo whisk.

"As if I needed to justify myself against a halfblood." I frowned as he started to whisk the powder at a relaxed speed. It was like he had done this before. I frowned following his lead. Poppy slowly poured in some water into both of the cups as I saw the powder slowly turn into tea. I still saw some residue of the powder as I continued whisking.

"You're overdoing it." Draco said, smirking at me. I glowered not looking at him and continued to whisk. "No really, you're overdoing it. There's gonna be nothing left." He continued as I frowned, finally finishing. I hadn't even realized that there was barely any water left. I shot a glare at Draco who smirked some.

"Well let me see yours then." I snapped looking over at his cup. He had a perfect steaming cup of green tea. He smirked again, placing his hands in his pockets. "Howd you do that..."

"Magic." He whispered, a slight smile on his lips. I immediately blushed again turning back towards my cup.

"Let me try it again, Poppy." Poppy nodded, putting the dirty cup away and giving me a new one. I tried again this time slowing the whisker down a bit. Draco leaned towards me, peering down at the cup. His breath tickled my ear as I bit my lower lip.

"Stop." He said softly. I stopped as I lifted the whisker out of the cup seeing an almost identical cup of green tea as Dracos.

"I did it!" I smiled brightly looking up at Draco who hadn't moved. We were inches apart from each other as I gasped quietly. His grey eyes were studying me, moving from my eyes down to my lips than back up. His smile slowly faded as he leaned away. He didn't say anything but immediately rushed out of the room leaving Poppy and I speechless.

"What's up with him?" I grumbled turning back to my tea. I pushed my cup towards Poppy. "Try it." I smiled as he nodded. I looked back at the door than at Draco's cup. I reached for it and taking a sip. My eyes widened slightly.

It tasted like home.