Green Apples and Parchment

Chapter Twenty-Four

I spent the rest of the weekend with my family. It was good to see them in person again, especially since I didn't come home for Christmas, which I was feeling a little guilty about. 

On Sunday afternoon, it was time for me to go back to Hogwarts. My trunk was already packed, and my father insisted on apparating me to Hogsmeade himself. He was standing with his arm outstretched while my mother looked on with a slightly sour look on her face; she had made it clear that she didn't want my father performing too much magic so soon. 

"I'll be fine, Anne. Really." he said reassuringly as I grabbed on to his arm. He waited for a nod from my mother before stepping forward and apparating. 

There was a suffocating tightening, until I was suddenly in Hogsmeade. Professor Sprout stood close to us, and seemed to be waiting for me. 

"Oliver," she greeted. "It's so nice to hear that you're feeling well. And it's good to have you back, Cass."

I smiled at her. "It's always good to see you, Professor." My father said. He turned to me. "I'll see you when term ends. Be good." He hugged me briefly and without another word, disapparated back home. 

"Come along then." Sprout said to me, leading us to a nearby carriage. We sat as the carriage flew us all the way to the Hogwarts grounds, the silence broken up only by Sprout's occasional question. 

In no time, we arrived at the castle. I grabbed my trunk and headed straight to the Hufflepuff common room. As soon as I walked inside, I was greeted by most of my housemates. I dropped my trunk off in my dorm, then came back to the common room.

"Cass! Are you alright?" Susan asked me as soon as I returned.

"Where were you?" inquired Megan.

The room quieted down as I told them about my week, excluding my visit from Draco of course. Once I was done, most people turned back to their original conversations, satisfied with new information. My friends, however, crowded around me.

Hannah sat down next to me in my armchair,  squishing us together, and threw her arms around me. "I missed you. I'm glad everything's okay." She declared. "How was your surprise visit?" she continued in a much softer voice so that no one else could hear. 

I grinned at her. "Good. Thanks for telling him where I was, by the way. I'm kind of surprised you did, actually."

She shrugged. "At first, I thought he was just curious. Once I realized that he was actually going to see you, I knew there was no changing his mind."

I spent the rest of the evening surrounded by my friends. It was good to be back.

*

The next day, I was in a cheerful mood as I walked down to the dungeons for potions class. So far, my teachers had all been glad to see me back. I was sure the trend would end with Snape, but at least I could be with Draco all class. 

I sat down in my seat and waited for him to show up. Like usual, Draco swung into his seat right before the bell rang to start class. As the other students turned their attention to Snape, he winked at me, and I ducked my head to hide my blush and elbowed him gently. 

Class ended with yet another partner assignment. I stood up and grabbed my bag. 

"I'm picking you up before we go to the library today." Draco told me.

I stopped and looked at him. "Why? I wasn't gone long enough to forget where the library is."

"I'll see you in an hour." Without another word, Draco walked away. I looked after him in confusion, then left for my common room. 

Almost an hour later, a knock sounded through the Hufflepuff common room. People turned towards the door with curiosity in their gazes. 

Draco was early, and I still needed to grab a few things from my dorm, but I didn't want to leave him waiting in the hallway. I quickly opened the door. "Hey, I still need to grab a few things. Do you mind waiting out here for a minute?" 

"Actually," Draco stated. "I need to say something to Abbott. Can I just come in?"

I furrowed my brow. "Are you sure?" Draco pushed past me into the common room. "I guess you are." I mumbled as I closed the door. 

Most of the Hufflepuffs were shocked to see Draco Malfoy in their common room. "I'll be right back." I told him, then rushed to my dorm, not bothering to close the door. I needed to go fast, before something went wrong. 

Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough. I heard Zacharias Smith's voice through the open door. "What are you  doing here?"  

"Waiting for Cass. Do you have a problem with that?" replied Draco's cool voice.

"Why don't you either wait for her outside or follow her to her dorm? No one wants you hanging around out here." 

"Surely you know guys can't go into the girls dorms. Unless you're too boring to have figured that out." Draco sneered. 

I shoved the last of my things into my bag and rushed back over to Draco. "I'm ready. Let's go." I practically shoved him out the door and closed it behind me. 

"So... what's up?" I asked him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Draco smirked, tucking his hands into his pockets.

I rolled my eyes, but dropped the subject. Soon, we arrived at the library to discover that our usual secluded table was taken. Draco instead sat down at a small desk next to a group of chatting Ravenclaws. I dropped my bag on the floor and slid into the seat across from him (which was much closer than normal), pulling out the potions assignment. 

"Where do you want to start?" I asked, my hands laying flat on the table.

Instead of responding, Draco leaned across the table and grabbed one of my hands. He began stroking my fingers with his thumb, and I froze.

"Draco." I said softly. "There are people around." 

He smirked. "So?"

I opened my mouth to say something else, but no words came out. Draco leaned across the desk so that his face was mere inches from mine, tucked a stray hair behind my ear and cupped my cheek with his hand.

"People are looking." I weakly reminded him. 

"I don't care." He leaned even closer, and we were a breath from touching. "Let them." he murmured, and then he kissed me. 

When we broke apart, I looked around the room to realize that everyone sitting at the surrounding tables was staring at us. I blushed. "We, uh, should probably get started on the homework." I mumbled.

Draco smirked. "As you wish."

As we continued working on the assignment, I kept getting distracted by Draco. He would purposely keep grazing my hands with his own, or reaching out to touch my hair and face. After what felt like forever, we finally finished. 

"I'll walk you back." Draco announced, standing up. I grabbed my bag off the floor and followed him. He held my hand all the way back to my common room. 

We reached the entrance to Hufflepuff. Before I could say goodbye to him, Draco spoke. "I never got to talk to Abbott, so I'm coming inside."

There was no way this was going to end well, but I nodded. When Draco made up his mind, there was no changing it. I tapped one of the barrels, opening the door. All eyes turned to us as we entered. 

"What's he doing back here? Cass, you have to stop inviting him in." Zacharias Smith said. God, I couldn't stand him. 

"What, can I not walk my girlfriend back to her dorm?" Draco said cockily. 

As the common room erupted in whispers, I turned to Draco. "You didn't really need to talk to Hannah, did you?" I asked, grinning.

He pressed a brief kiss to my lips. "I'll see you tomorrow." he smirked.