Intemptesta Nox (The Dead Of Night)

A/N Took my sweet time eh? I\'m sorry! Kiristeen distracted me *shakes fist* Damn you, your challenge was just too good to pass up! Thank you to those who have reviewed and rated, it\'s nice to know my stuff is actually being read, not just scanned looking for smut (that comes later ;) *EG*)

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The days all passed in much the same fashion. In most classes Thera would sit with Hermione and Harry, and Ron if he was there, and between times and during lunch she was always at Draco’s side. At first this attention irritated the Head Boy as it was completely unlike any he had received before. Thera didn’t fawn over him or flirt excessively, she didn’t try to suck up and showed no obvious fear of him no matter how evil his mood. He’d also discovered she was extremely witty and funny. The girl was an incredible mimic, the quirk of an eyebrow and a slight inflection in her voice could turn her from Professor McGonagall to Flitwick to Hagrid. Best of all were her impressions of Snape, she could copy his sneer and deep sarcastic voice exactly. The first time she had revealed this little talent it had been late at night after almost everyone was in bed and Draco had jumped out of his skin thinking the dreaded Potions Master was right behind him. But soon she had him laughing helplessly as she imitated their forbidding Head of House playing tea party and dancing the can can.

By the end of September it became a nightly ritual for the two of them to sit up late in the common room or in Draco’s private rooms if there were many others about. Usually they talked about places they had each been to or joked about things that had happened that day, but sometimes they just sat in silence and watched the flames lick the grate. Draco found this strangely comfortable, normally he couldn’t stand silence and especially so if there were others around. He had an enchanted music box that he always had playing when he studied or attempted to sleep. That’s when it was always worst, lying in the dark staring at the dark green canopy of his bed. He could actually feel the air solidifying around him, pressing down on his face, pinning him to his mattress and curling around him, squeezing all the oxygen from his lungs… He’d always jump up panicking and go and roam the halls. If he stayed still for too long it might catch up to him again. Bittiitting across the fire from Thera he always felt remarkably calm. They would also study occasionally when there was particularly difficult homework, although study wasn’t really the right word, Thera was almost like a tutor. She spent an hour in the library every night after dinner, usually in the company of Granger, and when she emerged everything she had been set that day was finished, even the assignments that were not due for another week or two. Barely a month into the school year and Hermione was already getting a run for her money as top student. Draco sneered happily at the fireplace. Finally, a Slytherin had entered the ranks of Hogwarts’ academic elite. For too long it had been populated by Ravenclaws with only the occasional Gryffindor and even scarcer Hufflepuff student to even things out. Draco himself was by no means inadequate or slack, but even so he wasn’t up to topping any classes other then Potions as he had no equals in his own house. Well, not until now.

He stretched, lengthening every sinew in his body before settling back down comfortably on his stomach, watching the fire and sketching random patterns on the green velvet comforter. Thera got up from where she had been sitting on the floor, directly in front of the grate and also stretched and yawned, before sitting down on the other side of Draco’s bed. There was a hint of red in her normally porcelain cheeks from sitting too close to the grate, she looked like a doll with her hair loose and long dark eyelashes framing deep violet eyes that seemed to glow from within themselves. She clambered up onto the mattress to sit beside him, the movement making her school robes ride up which showed off the striped knee-length socks she preferred to the white ankles ones proscribed for the uniform. Today’s pair were black and purple. The socks always reminded him that no matter how late they stayed up talking, he had never seen her without the black robes covering her uniform. He had removed the irritatingly crisp white shirt as soon as he’d been able. His uniforms may be hand tailored to him and made from the most luxuriant fabrics that could possibly be considered durable enough to wear for more then an hour at a time, but they were still uniforms. The pants were exchanged for soft black slacks and today he had on a fairly thin V-necked sweater to ward off the chill of the dungeons.

It was never warm enough down here, no matter the fires and weather so far outside. He pinched the blue cashmere between his fingertips. He’d received it in a large package of assorted shirts and jumpers that had been sent from the boutique his mother favoured for all pre-made clothing. She had merely sent him in one day during summer for them to check his sizes and on the second day of school they had been delivered. As he has requested, the majority were black, gray or green, but somehow they had slipped in several blue garments and even a yellow polo shirt! And of course, Thera had seen it arrive and had immediately hidden the majority of the black dress shirts away saying they’d make him look washed-out and he should have ordered more blue ones. He shook his head incredulity at the memory, grimacing as his neck cricked. Thera noticed and started to knead it soothingly. Almost immediately the stiffness was gone and he was feeling unusually sleepy.

‘Hmmm, Thera? This weekend is a Hogsmede Saturday, will you go with me?’

Thera finished working his neck and moved onto his shoulders, pausing as he spoke to stroke the back of his head gently though his hair which he had unbound in the privacy of his room.

‘Of course, who else would I go with?’ she kissed the top of his head and stood up to go.

Despite being almost asleep, Draco rolled overdenldenly and grabbed her forearm with his usual quick, feline grace.

‘Seriously. I just want it straight. Think it over if you have to.’ He said scornfully. He didn’t mean to be rude or callous, she was just the most confusing person he knew, a constant contradiction and it brought out the worst in him sometimes.

‘Will you go with me to Hogsmede? And I don’t mean sit next to me in a carriage there, drag me into some useless girly store and abandoning me to run off somewhere else with Scarhead and Co. I mean go there with me, spend the day in my company and come back here in the same.’ His silver eyes locked onto hers and seemed to almost magnetically draw her into him. He pulled her closer by the arm he still held, holding firmly so she couldn’t pull away but being careful not to hurt her. Intimidation wouldn’t work on her like Pansy, nor did she seem to enjoy being dominated like Blaise had.

‘Like I said, who else woulgo wgo with?’ by now she was kneeling over him, her long hair having fallen forward when she had leant down to look him in the eye and it now surrounded both their faces like a black satin curtain, hiding them from the rest of the world. Draco’s breath hitched in his throat as she bent down closer, closer… she kissed him tenderly on the cheek and was gone before he could blink.

He made sure the door was shut, warded and a silencing charm cast before he let himself scream out his frustration. She was maddening and seemed blissfully ignorant of the fact. He still had no idea where he stood with her, despite his attempt to cut to the heart of the matter mere minutes earlier. His throat was hoarse and the blue cere ere sweater torn to shreds by the time he felt calm enough to animate the music box and climb into bed.

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