surrender|| draco malfoy

chapter 3

Celeste

I walk into the Great Hall with Pansy after Divination class, squeezing past Cedric Diggory, a sixth-year Hufflepuff that I recognise from the Quidditch pitch, to get to the Slytherin table.

"Excuse me, sorry. Is this yours? I think you might
have dropped it." He calls to me before I sit down, making my heart flutter in chest, which is a very rare occurrence. He's quite handsome, floppy chestnut brown hair, sweet blue eyes that somehow remind me of mornings during Spring, when the air is crisp and encouraging. The gold flecks among the intertwined grey and blue are glinting, telling me there's more to him, and I'm curious what.

And it's strange, because he's not the type of boy that I had envisioned myself fancying a liking to— so clean cut and pristine.

He crouches to the ground to retrieve a pot of midnight-blue ink, and hands it to me. But when my eyes flick down to his robe, the stained blotches of blue contrast against the yellow lining, and I realise that I've only gone and spilled ink all over him, and my bag by the looks of it.

"For fucks sake! I'm so sorry, this is literally so typical of me." I cringe, though he just chuckles kindly. I think that even Neville would have been a little irritated if I had managed to coat his uniform in  permanently ink, though Cedric just smiles and hardly casts a second glance to it.

"It's no problem, really, Celeste."

"You know my name? Seem a bit of a stalker to me."
I tease him while the corners of my mouth twitch into a stubborn and accusatory grin, as if I somehow have the knowledge of something that he doesn't.

"I don't know that much about you, apart from you're clearly a Slytherin from the colour of your tie. I hope you'll be cheering me on at the first competition." He says to me with a cheeky grin and making eye contact, I break off in a few seconds when I realise that I'm ever-so-slightly blushing, much to my own refrain and distaste. I think he might have given me a slight dig at the ambiguity of the comment, though I'll allow i to slide given the fact that I have just coated him in sticky, staining ink.

"I'll have to see if you're good enough first." I reply.

Someone shouts his name, grabbing our attention. Our moment has been cut off a lot sooner than it appears he would have liked. "I'd better get going, see you later, Celeste." He says, shooting me a sweet grin as he walks off to the Hufflepuff table.

I take a seat next to Pansy as she gives me a look of complete curiosity. I roll my eyes, but can't hide the furious blush rising in my cheeks, as I turn to pour some pumpkin juice into my cup with shaking hands.

"Watch where the fuck you're going, White," Draco spits at me as we walk into Herbology. I accidentally bump into him as I turn around to face Hermione. I'm sort of taken aback, I thought he'd be at least a bit nicer to me after our conversation last night. Though I suppose I can only blame myself for my own naivety. 

"It's not my fault you're so self-absorbed that you can't even take notice of the things happening around you." I bite back, rolling my eyes.

He passes his bag to Goyle and slowly struts over to me, smirking. "What did you just say to me?" He spits through gritted teeth, before raising his eyebrows.

"I said—"

He cuts me off, "I know what you said. It was a rhetorical question, imbecile."

I don't say anything. I just fold my arms across my chest, standing my ground. Absolutely infuriated.

"What was that? Nothing? Thought so." He sneers in a quiet yet harsh voice. This usual ignorance and entitlement appearing once again, and I curse myself for believing that perhaps he was more than I'd originally thought.