Fireplaces, Hot Chocolate, and Marshmallows

Chapter 3

For the next few days, Britney saw Draco in the halls and in her classes a few times a day, and with every day, the urge to ask Hermione a certain question grew to a persistent nagging, until one day, she asked her at breakfast.

"Hermione," she asked, "who is that guy in our potions class?"

"You'll have to be a bit more specific than that," she said.

"You know, that blonde guy. I think he's a Slytherin."

"Oh, no, not you, Britney! Of all the girls in this school, I thought you'd know better," Hermione chided. "That's Draco Malfoy," she said in a slightly softer voice. "His parents are supposedly Death Eaters. You know who they are, right?"

Britney nodded that she did. "Why would I know better? It's his parents that are Death Eaters, not him, right?"

Hermione gave her a look of disapproval. "He's the school's 'bad boy' if you get what I mean. Every girl in this school fawns over him."

Britney fell silent at this news. 'It's not like I have a chance anyways,' she thought as she got up with Hermione to go to Herbology.

In Potions that day, Britney could hardly focus on her shrinking potion. 'I bet he doesn't even know that I exist,' she thought as she added her cut up daisy stems.

Near the end of class, however, she caught Draco looking at her with a weird look in his eye.

'Man, I wish I could talk to her,' he thought as Snape added another ten points to Slytherin. 'Wait, who am I kidding? I'm a Malfoy. I can easily talk to her whenever I want to. In fact, I'll do that right after class.'

Draco spent the rest of the class thinking over what he would say to Britney once class was over. What would she think? Little did he know that she felt the same way about him.

The class stampeded out of the classroom once the bell rang, although Snape somehow managed to still give them an essay for Monday.

Draco made his way steadily toward Britney through the dense crowd. As soon as he was close enough, he lightly tapped her arm. "Um," he stumbled as she turned around to look at him with her hazel eyes, as a deep blush spread on both of their faces, "can I talk to you for a second?"

Britney looked at him with a surprised, and somewhat flattered, look on her face. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you at dinner Hermione," she said as Draco pulled her around a corner for some privacy.

Draco found himself at a loss of words when they were standing alone with no one around. 'Not now, you idiot,' he thought, trying to remember the words he had practiced to say to her in class. But the words never came, and Britney's face became an even darker shade of pink as she waited patiently while he thought of somewhere to start.

"Um," he said, still trying to find something to say. "I... I want you to know that..." Britney looked at him very eagerly now, "that... I think you're very pretty."

"Oh," she said meekly. "I think you're handsome," she added a moment later, blushing to a deep pink, almost red now. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

Draco blushed a little, and then nodded his head. What was he supposed to say? That he might be in love with her? 'God, you're so stupid... stupid, stupid," he thought as Britney began to slowly walk away to meet Hermione at the Great Hall. 'Should I have said something else?' he thought as he made his way toward the Slytherin common room to drop off his books.

Britney was still blushing deeply as she entered the Hall. She noticed that several people were now looking at her as if she was an alien. Hermione raised her eyebrows as Britney sat down next to her.

"What?" Britney said, beginning to dish some carrots onto her plate.

"Don't give me that innocent tone," Hermione replied. "Draco Malfoy just pulled you aside after class, and you're asking ME what? I don't think so. I want details. Now."

Britney looked around the Hall, as if searching for spies. "I'll tell you later," she whispered. Hermione still looked at her rather skeptically, as she stuffed some lamb chops into her mouth.

* * * * * * * * * *

Hermione and Britney made their way up to the Tower silently. "Lollipop swirl," said Britney, and the picture swung open.

Ron, Harry, Ginny, George, and Fred were the only ones in the common room, which was odd. Hermione looked at Britney, and asked, "Do you want to tell Ginny too?"

Britney shook her head in disapproval as the girls made their way to their dormitory. Hermione sat down on her bed and patted a spot next to her, signaling Britney to have a seat. Britney let out a long sigh before she began.

"All he said was... he thought that I'm pretty," she said simply. Hermione gave her a skeptical look. "No, really. That was it."

Hermione took this in for a minute. "That's it? What did you say? I know you said something."

"Yeah, I said I thought he was handsome, and then we just stood there. It was pretty awkward."

"Do you know what will happen if any other girl found out about this? They'd send you hate notes like it's going out of style. He practically has a fan club. We'd better be careful. If anyone found out, you'd be killed. You realize that, right?"

Britney yawned sleepily as she said, "Yeah, sure. I'm going to bed, okay?"

"Okay," said Hermione, pulled back her sheets and taking off her cloak.

Britney fell instantly asleep as she fell onto her bed. That night, she dreamed that Draco had confessed he had a crush on her, and she woke up the next morning, smiling.