#fandom challenge

His expression displayed his dismal mood, causing younger students to scatter in fear as he strode through the corridor and up the stairs. Though he knew somewhere in his mind that they’d done nothing to him, he couldn’t help but wish they would all disappear. These days, he hated everyone more often than not. He couldn’t stop his rage from boiling unexpectedly in his blood.

Involuntarily, his feet drove him up and up and up the stairs until he was faced with a set of doors out of the castle. Figuring that anywhere beat the crowded halls of his school, filled with people he wanted to hex into next year, he waved his wand and threw the doors harshly open. The crack as they slammed against the stone of the castle’s outside walls gave him a sick sort of satisfaction as he strode into the open air.

The weather was hot, September still clinging onto the last vestiges of summer. Sun beamed down onto Draco’s black collared shirt as he realized, to his chagrin, that the outside of the castle was no less crowded than the inside. When did Hogwarts get all these students? His strides continued robotically on, doing precious little to ease the tension in his chest. With his hands crammed into his pockets and a sour frown on his face, he made his way across the grass, attracting stares and whispers of fright in his wake. He could hear them now – I heard he's going the same way as the rest of his family. Didn't his aunt torture the Longbottoms? He did more than just take House Points when he caught Creevy out of bed last week.

For a moment, he felt sick to his stomach at the sound of the stupid rumors, the heat ready to stifle him. He wondered if his legs were betraying him, if he ought to turn around and just go back inside.

Then he spotted you.

The way his eyes fixed on your face was like an involuntary tick. Ridiculous. And yet, he found the tightness in his chest finally dissipating as he took in your smile, the intent little gleam in your eye, and the flowing little sundress that adorned your body as you laid in the grass by the Black Lake. Your hands were busy – he couldn’t see exactly what you were doing, but the fact came as no surprise. In Charms, your hands were always busy too, doodling or fidgeting while Flitwick lectured. Somehow, though, you were still able to answer every last question that he asked perfectly.

Draco’s feet continued on their traitorous trajectory as he drew closer to the lake, and to you.

When he’d entered his first NEWT Charms class that year, he’d been in an exceptionally foul mood. What a stupid class. Charms lessons should have ceased after second year, he’d thought. When Professor Flitwick had announced that seats would be assigned, his mood had worsened further. Though he wasn’t fond of sitting next to Nott and feeling the fool breathing down his neck for the whole lesson, it was better than sitting next to some Hufflepuff, or rather, some Ravenclaw. The moment he’d laid eyes on you, he’d suspected you were going to be annoying, thrusting your hand into the air incessantly like Granger and talking his ear off about nonsense trivia. Yet, you spent the lesson drawing constellations and plants into the margins of your notes and providing soft, certain one-word answers.

During the first class session, he realized that you were less obnoxious than expected. By the second, he’d noticed your smile.

He’d always known you were beautiful – Salazar knew he’d heard Berkshire admiring you at parties more than once. Yet, there was something about experiencing you in close proximity…the smell of your perfume, the shimmer of your lip gloss, the gleam of that gorgeous smile… and Merlin, when he’d heard you laugh during the third lesson? It was like all of his problems had suddenly disappeared. There was no one else in the world but him and you and the sound of your laughter.

Before the fourth lesson, he’d spoken to you. Sure, he’d talked to you a handful of times in your years at Hogwarts, but these days he hardly wanted to engage with anyone, let alone blabber idly with some girl in Charms. As you entered the classroom, though, something came over him. A sudden bout of stupidity, perhaps.

“What is that?” He pointed towards a slip of colorful, woven yarn tied to your school bag. The ends hung loose from the rest of the thing, like the legs of the Giant Squid.

“Oh, it’s silly.” You shook your head, and he fought the urge to object. “It’s just a bracelet, I make them sometimes.”

“Would you make me one?” What? Who says that?

An expression of surprise crossed your face, but after a moment, you grinned. Draco felt his body relax, as though you’d finally cooled the unending boiling of his blood.

“Yeah, sure.”

The black knotted yarn rested perpetually against his wrist now, covered by the silk cuff of his shirt sleeve. It was certainly the scrappiest thing he’d ever worn. He wasn’t sure why he couldn’t find it in himself to take it off.

By the third week of lessons, Draco was talking to you regularly. Even when he’d scoffed at his friends and told them to leave him alone, even when he’d wanted everyone in the world to go away, the sight of you grinning at something he said or the sound of you telling him a story could overtake him like nothing else. It was like he’d finally learned how to breathe again after months of choking on air. And when you’d blush a soft pink and giggle as he teased you…Salazar, if a drink or a cigarette could make him feel like that, he would be just as addicted as Riddle and Nott.

He'd assured himself that this was what he was supposed to be doing, garnering respect from his fellow students and bringing prestige to the Malfoy name. Yet, he knew that he could do you no good. You were so sweet, so gentle...qualities of which the Malfoys knew little. The thought of you ever crossing paths with the world he knew made his stomach churn. You would run the first chance you had, and he couldn’t blame you.

Overcoming every ounce of logic and reason that he possessed, his strides came to a stop in front of the grass where you laid. As he watched you, he realized that your fingers were working to weave flowers together in some sort of chain, because of course that was the sort of thing you would get up to on a Saturday. He paused, admiring your peaceful expression.

“Caught you daydreaming about me again, didn’t I?”

You glanced up and spotted him, a grin growing on your face and a familiar pink sheen spreading across your cheeks as you giggled. Just like that, his rage, his anxiety, his perpetual feeling of being trapped melted away. He sat down next to you before he even realized what he was doing. Your smile came into closer view.

“Hi, Draco.” You rolled your eyes at the cheesy pickup line, but he couldn’t even find it in himself to care. The rush in his head as he inhaled the floral scent of your perfume was too strong.

“What’s that?” He nodded his head at the chain of flowers, crossing his legs and leaning back on his hands. The bottoms of his rings dug into the dirt slightly.

“It’ll be a flower crown when I’m done,” you answered cheerfully. “Figured I should make one last one before it gets cold outside, you know?” Draco nodded, despite the fact that he’d never seen a flower crown in his life.

“It’s nice.” Internally, he kicked himself. Who says that?

You were silent for a moment, focused on weaving the stems of the flowers in front of you into a chain before you glanced back up at him. “Aren’t you warm? It’s like a billion degrees.” You eyed his black collared shirt and dark trousers.

The thought hadn’t occurred to him since he’d approached you, but he supposed that even by the lake, it was quite warm. “Oh, a bit.” He eyed you mischievously as you worked. “Why? You want me to start taking clothes off?”

Your eyes immediately flicked up to his and you crinkled your nose, throwing a stray flower stem at him. “You’re the worst.” Shaking your head, you grinned. Draco didn’t miss the slight blush that reappeared on your cheeks. “Is it so outrageous that I don’t want you to pass out from heat exhaustion?” He chuckled, then blinked for a moment in surprise. The sound seemed almost foreign to his own ears.

“Well, I suppose if it will bring you peace of mind.” With a practiced hand, he unbuttoned his shirt and tossed it aside. The sun shone on his toned body as he leaned back, resting on his elbows next to you. He felt a spark of satisfaction in his chest as he noticed your blush deepen.

Birds chirped in the distance as you continued your crafting. Letting out a heavy breath, he felt his body sink into the grass. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed what a beautiful day it had been before.

“You’re still wearing my bracelet.”

Draco glanced over at you in surprise at the sound of your voice and saw you eyeing his left wrist. You’d fastened the bracelet there several weeks ago. A million excuses ran through his head – I forgot about it, I thought it was funny, I didn’t know how to get it off – but they all disappeared as he spied the soft smile that had crept onto your face. Your eyes sparkled happily at the sight of the black yarn on his wrist. “Oh, yeah, um, I thought it went well with these.” He flexed his fingers in front of him, causing his silver rings to glint in the sun.

“Maybe this will go well too.” He followed your gaze to see a finished circlet made of flowers sitting in front of you, which you took in your hands. “I realized I made it too big for my head, but I think it’ll suit you.” Struck silent by your beaming grin, he didn’t object as you placed the flower crown atop his platinum hair. You sat back, eyeing your work with satisfaction. “Perfect.”

Others, even his friends, had earned his ire for much less. To sit some dirty flowers on his head like he was some sort of doll to play dress-up with was ridiculous. Somehow, though, he couldn’t summon the rage that had become like a second skin to him as he looked into your eager eyes. In fact, he found a strange sort of pride swelling in his chest as he displayed your art for you.

“How do I look?” He winked, causing you to giggle.

“Very handsome.” You grinned back, and he was left wordless as you moved closer to him, resting your head against his shoulder.

He wondered for a moment if he should wrap his arm around you, pull you close to his chest, perch you on his lap, ask you on a date, for Merlin’s sake. But he knew full well that he couldn’t. This wasn’t who he really was, sitting by the lake and making you laugh. If he brought you into his life, you were far too sweet to survive. He knew his friends would scare you away – the perpetually bloodied and intoxicated Riddle, the bitter Nott, the crafty Berkshire – let alone any of the dozen dark problems that plagued him daily. But he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from you. So, though he knew it was the worst idea he’d had in a while, he leaned into your body and allowed your blissful presence to wash over him.

“Salazar’s sake, Malfoy!”

A sudden exclamation yanked Draco from his blissful state. As you sat up, allowing him to turn around and see a frowning Blaise Zabini standing behind him, he felt the familiar ire boil up in his blood again.

“What do you want?” He found his lip curling in displeasure, and he hoped you weren’t watching. Theo, Enzo, and Mattheo stood behind Blaise. Apparently after their Exploding Snap game had ended, they’d all gone looking for him.

“If you were ditching us for some girl, you could’ve just said that.” Blaise let out a low, derisive chuckle. “And what in Merlin’s name have you got on your head?”

“I made it,” you chimed in, and Draco felt his heart sink at your sweetness, your naiveite. His friends were going to tear you to shreds if he didn’t do something about it.

“Aww, isn’t that cute.” Theo’s drawl was as harsh as ever as he eyed up Draco. “Have you gone soft all of a sudden, Malfoy?”

Draco pulled his wand out of his pocket as he glared sourly at the boys. “I’ll show you exactly what way I’ve gone if you don’t shut up, Nott.” Mattheo snorted, raising his eyebrows incredulously. “Got a problem, Riddle?”

“Sorry, mate, you just look so ridiculous saying that with that thing on your head!” He let out a gale of laughter, the other boys joining him.

Draco felt rage boil up in his throat. There was no reason why you should have to listen to his idiot friends talking about your creations this way. However, before he could retort, he was interrupted.

“Get out of here, boys.” Your voice was bolder than he’d ever heard it, a snap of sass contained within your words. He glanced over at you in surprise to see you meeting Blaise’s challenging glare.

“Yeah?” Blaise scoffed. “Or what?”

Before he could open his mouth to object, Draco saw you fix his friend with a smirk, your eyebrows raised as you crossed your arms.

“Or I’ll happily tell Nott over here exactly what happened to his new Nimbus after you borrowed it last week.”

Draco scarcely prevented his jaw from dropping, and Zabini didn’t even fare that well as he stared at you incredulously. Meanwhile, Nott glowered in anger.

“Where's my broom, Zabini?”

“Or…Riddle.” Draco noticed with awe how Mattheo tensed up as you locked him in your gaze. “I could always let Berkshire know which girl you snogged after the game last week, even though he’d already called dibs.”

“Riddle!” Enzo roared, swinging around to face Mattheo, who shrunk away from the other boy with fear in his eyes.

“What was I supposed to do? She came onto me!” His protests seemed unlikely to help him as Enzo stormed forward.

“Oh, and Nott…” You winced mockingly. “I might just have to tell your friends about you and Parkinson’s little – ”

“Okay, okay!” Theo cut you off, his eyes widening in alarm as he shook his head. He took a step back in retreat. “Please! We’ll leave you guys alone.”

“I dunno, I kind of want to hear that last one.” Mattheo raised his eyebrows. You shrugged, giving the boys a smug smile.

“Sorry! I keep my bargains.”

“Right…” Blaise remarked as the boys backed away. He shook his head. “Merlin, Malfoy, she’s more brutal than you!” Draco couldn’t help but chuckle under his breath as his friend group devolved into chaos, arguing loudly as they retreated back to the castle.

As he turned back towards you, he felt a new admiration spark within him as your eyes shone, a self-satisfied grin on your face.

“How do you know all that?” His eyebrows raised as you laughed. As you moved back towards him, he wrapped an arm around you.

“I pay attention.” You shrugged. “Everyone assumes that just because my hands are busy, I’m not listening, but I can still hear. You wouldn’t believe the stuff people let fly around me while I’m drawing.” For a moment, you paused, pressing your lips together. “Besides the Zabini stuff, I just happened to see him run that Nimbus into a tree.”

“Merlin,” he murmured, eyeing you in disbelief.

“What? You didn’t think I was all flower crowns and star doodles, did you?”

“A bit.” He grinned at his own admission as you giggled.

“I’m the youngest of five siblings. If I wasn’t a little vicious, I would’ve been eaten alive.” You twisted the stray edge of his shirt between your fingers. “Not only do I keep an arsenal of information for blackmailing purposes, but I can manage a pretty harsh Stinging Charm and throw a mean right hook.”

“Really?” His eyes widened.

“Yup.” You popped the p. “Not that you would know anything about that, only child.” You poked him playfully in the chest, laughing as he made a face.

“You really are brutal.” In spite of his words, he pulled you closer so that your head was resting on his chest. As you sighed contentedly, he felt his heart thundering in his ears. There was a strange, hopeful feeling rising up in him – he hadn’t known it for some time now. You didn’t scare half as easily as he’d believed. He paused for a moment, a smile dancing on his lips. “It’s a good thing you’re cute, too.”

“Draco,” you giggled softly in protest as your whole face turned red. The sound of his name slipping from your lips was more beautiful than music to him – the moment he heard it, he knew he needed to hear it again. You tried to bury your face in his chest, but he hooked a finger under your chin, preventing you from hiding.

“There she is,” he murmured, smirking slightly at your blush as you glanced bashfully at the ground. It struck him just how close you were, and how you were getting closer, and then with a slight lean of his head, his lips were touching yours.

Oh, Salazar, his lips were touching yours.

He’d been enamored with your laugh, fascinated with your blush, intrigued by your cunning, but they had nothing on this feeling. This was an addiction from the first dose, as you gasped softly against his lips and kissed him back, first hesitantly and then with a passion that made his head spin. Everything in the world disappeared but you as his lips worked against your own, your fingers gently caressing the bare skin of his chest. As he deepened the kiss, one hand on your waist and the other wrapped in your hair, you whimpered softly. He had no idea how long it had been when you finally pulled away ever so slightly, pupils blown.

“I think people are staring,” you whispered, grinning against his lips.

“Let them.” He chuckled softly as he moved back to look at you, tucking a loose strand of hair behind your ear. “Let them stare at us in Hogsmeade, too. Will you go with me?”

You beamed. “I thought you’d never ask.” As your eyes softened, you pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Ive created this template for those of you who need some inspo/help mapping out a post. Feel free to use it as is or decorate it! The boxes are transparent, so you can add your own moodboard pictures behind the template in apps like adobe fresco, procreate, pic collage or others.

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