(y/n) - your name

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Harry follows the sound of sniffles, walking down the spiral steps to find Hermione crying at the bottom with a small ring of twittering birds circling her head. The birds change colour as they orbit, from sunny yellow to a dark, angry scarlet.

She quickly wipes her eyes away, coming up with an excuse for the birds to not embarrass herself. "Charm spell. I'm just practising..."

"Well, they're very good." Harry says, moving to sit down next to his friend and comfort her.

"How does it feel Harry... when you see Draco with (y/n)?" The boy didn't know what to say to Hermione when he was caught. "I know. I see the way you look at her. You're my best friend." She sniffles. The Gryffindors think about the ones they fell in love with who was still up in the Gryffindor common room, a certain Hufflepuff hitting Weasley upside the head.

"What was that for!?" He exclaims in pain, rubbing his head.

"Cause you're an oblivious douchebag." (Y/n) hisses, leaving the common room and out onto the empty hallway to turn invisible and fly away.

She just needed some space from everyone and everything, going through a window in a deserted corridor and sighing in relief from the cold night air. She turns to fly back to the Hufflepuff common room but freezes when she sees Draco up at the Astronomy Tower, just staring up at the stars like they used to. She hesitates but flies up to him, still invisible and moves to sit down on the railing next to him as he stood against it. She didn't know if he could tell she was there and ignored her or not, but he didn't move. Especially when she rests her hand down next to his leaning on the railing and curls her pinky with his.

Draco knew.

He obviously knew and he subtly leans into (y/n) to rest his head against her shoulder, feeling her lean her head on top of his and he holds her pinky tight with his. He closes his eyes from the warmth she gave him, missing her touch so much. He took this chance to watch the stars with her like they used to do, risking being with her until he came back to his senses and stepped away from her reluctantly. He suddenly felt cold without her, a deep frown settling on his face as he walked away and left her watching him leave her again.

~~~~~~~~

It was a quiet school day, classes having just ended a few minutes ago and (y/n) decided to read in the library to take her mind off everything. Hermione and Harry were waiting for her up in the dungeon's corridor, jogging out of the Hufflepuff common room to meet up with them. She doesn't watch where she was going, flipping through the pages of her book as she bumps into someone.

"Shit-" she gasps, stumbling back but the other person quickly grabs her waist to keep her steady, looking up to see familiar soft tufts of platinum blonde hair. "Draco-" he lets her go and simply walks away from her to his common room, the two Gryffindors sighing in defeat at how the Slytherin and Hufflepuff just couldn't talk to each other.

"It's been months (y/n). I think it's time to let him go..." Hermione says, grabbing her arm to pull her away out of the dungeon's corridor.

"I know..." she sighs in defeat. It had been a month since their moment in the astronomy tower and nothing. No reaching out, no letters, no sign of communication and nothing from Draco.

The three friends head off to the library, Harry and (y/n) listening to Hermione complain and rant about Ron kissing some other girl as they walked down the bookshelves. "He's at perfect liberty to kiss whomever he likes. I really couldn't care less. Was I under the impression that he and I would be attending Slughorn's Christmas party together? Yes. Of course, now, given the circumstances, I've had to make other arrangements." she spurs on, the other two looking at each other knowing full well that their friend was not ok with it.

"Have you?" Harry asks.

"Yes. Why?"

"I just thought, you know, since neither one of us can take who we'd really like... maybe we'd go together. As friends." Hermione stops, thinking over Harry's suggestion as she sighs at her stupidity.

"Why didn't I think of that?"

"So who are you taking?"

"Um... it's a surprise." Hermione says, trying to evade the question. "Besides, it's you we need to worry about. And you can't pick just anyone. See that girl over there." Hermione nods to a girl near the window, trying not to be so obvious while Harry and (y/n) peek over. "That's Romilda Vane. Rumour has it she's trying to slip you a love potion." the Hufflepuff does a spit take, choking on her tea as she coughs.

"What!?" she gasps, Harry patting her back until she was ok.

"Really...?" Harry considers the raven-haired girl who smiles at him until Hermione snaps her fingers in his face to grab his attention again.

"Hey! She's only interested in you because she thinks you're the chosen One. You know that, right?"

"But I am the Chosen One." Harry smiles cheekily, Hermione wacking him on the head with her parchment which makes (y/n) snicker, biting back her laughter. He smiles sheepishly at the Hufflepuff, thinking about asking her to the Christmas party instead. "Okay, sorry. Um, kidding. I'll just ask someone I like. Someone cool." the boy simply turns to (y/n) as she was reading her book, tapping her shoulder and she hums as she looks up.

"Yeah?"

"Wanna come with me to the Christmas party as my plus one (y/n)?" Harry asks, Hermione gaping at the audacity of her friend.

Maybe I can take this chance to confess to her.

~~~~~~~~

"I don't know if this is a good idea (y/n)..." Ginny says as she sits on her bed, her friend standing in front of her mirror while she got ready for the Christmas dinner party tonight.

"What do you mean?" She asks innocently, pulling up the black gloves on her arms before smoothing down the black velvet evening gown she wore. It was a floor-length sheath/column dress that was off-shoulder and had a moderate leg slit, diamond beading embellishing on the sweetheart neckline, the waist of the dress and the sleeves.

"Going as Harry's plus one to get back at Draco..." the Hufflepuff purses her lips, fixing her hair that was pinned to the right, revealing the elegant diamond double helix earring cuff she was wearing. She made sure the dark makeup was perfect, glitter in her hair as the final touch.

Was she doing this to get back at Draco? Yes. Of fucking course she was. She was sick and tired of him giving her mixed signals, sick and tired of waiting for him to take the first move and talk to her. If he didn't take that initiative for the many opportunities she gave him, she sure as fuck will get a reaction out of him as going as Harry's date. Was she petty? Duh.

"I don't know what you're talking about." (Y/n) says, gently touching her green necklace and the bracelet Draco gifted her. They were always on her along with her key bracket. She never took them off, she couldn't. She didn't want to. She still wanted to feel like she was his even if he didn't want her anymore. "How do I look?" She turns around to face Ginny who looks at her in awe, mesmerised by the older girl.

"Harry won't know what hit him."

Draco neither.

"Ok good. I can't keep him waiting." The Hufflepuff quickly puts on the white fur coat she has, making sure her heels were on properly before walking out of the girl's dorm, yelling goodnight to Ginny as she quickly exited the Gryffindor common room. She walked down the steps to find Harry waiting for her at the bottom, wearing an elegant black suit with a dark coat on top.

Harry shifted his weight on his foot nervously, quickly turning around when he heard someone walking down the stairs. His whole face turns pink, his mouth falling open at the girl that made his heart race give him a sweet smile. He was lost for words at how beautiful she looked in her gown, almost afraid that this was a dream.

"(Y/n)-you-wow..." the boy's tongue was all twisted and she chuckles, closing his jaw.

"You don't look too bad yourself Harry." He shivers from her voice, realising that she wasn't wearing her glasses.

"Your glasses?"

"I'm wearing contacts Harry. And yes I can still see." (Y/n) muses.

The two chatted for a little while, not realising another person overhearing their conversation as he sat hidden behind a wall.

Draco grinds his jaw in fury, quickly standing up and looking around the corner for his breath to be taken away. His eyes immediately fell on (y/n) and his heart pounded seeing how stunning she was in her gown. He swoons against the wall as she tucks her hair back, a sweet smile lifting her devilishly red lips. He couldn't take his eyes off her, noticing how she still wore his jewellery and he smiles faintly at how she held her necklace for solace. She was absolutely ethereal, mind hazed as he stumbles after her when she and Harry walks past him, succumbing to that sweet floral scent that always dragged him to her.

The Slytherin quickly stops himself, his nails piercing his left arm remembering his mission and he cut himself out of the daydream-like trance he wished he could fall into forever. He cursed himself, reminding himself of the horror that was his waking life as he walked away down the opposite corridor, looking over his shoulder one last time to burn the image of his love's smile in his mind.

He had to try and forget about her, try and focus on fixing the cabinet as he stormed down the hallway to the room of requirement. He closes his eyes to try and calm himself but images of her flash in his mind, quickly shaking his head and entering into the room of requirement. He weaved around the trinkets, remembering the path like the back of his hand before he stood in front of the cabinet once more. He uncloaked the furniture, revealing its metal and wooden glory, opening the door and placing a green apple into the cabinet before closing the door.

It has to work.

Draco takes in a deep breath as he closed his eyes, heart racing with fear. "Harmonia Nectere Passus." he whispers, waiting for a few moments before he opened his eyes. He hesitantly reaches over, opening the door to reveal the apple gone from the cabinet. There was a smile of relief that it had worked but it drops completely when he realised what this meant. The Slytherin pushes forward, closing the door and repeating the spell once more. He waits nervously before opening the door to reveal the apple had appeared back where he set it down in the cabinet.

It worked...

The boy grabs the apple to inspect it, rotating it around to his field of vision to see that someone from the other side had taken a bite out of the apple.