Willow Song

V. Regarding a Certain Boy

After tea, the same blonde boy she had seen outside Snape's office met Serena in the doorway. "You must be the new witch. I'm Draco Malfoy," he drawled.

Remembering Professor Snape's advice, Serena focused on his pointy chin as she answered. "I'm Serena Willowsong. Nice to meet you."

"So are you a half-blood, pure-blood, or muggleborn witch?"

"I'm a pureblood witch, I suppose, but I was raised by Muggles. What about you?"

Draco's lip curled. "You must have been raised by Muggles, or you'd know that Malfoy is one of the oldest pureblood names in wizardry. What about Willowsong; it's not a name I've heard before."

"It's the name my mother gave me."

Malfoy looked puzzled and as if he wanted to ask more but decided against it. "I have some Potions notes I need to go through; I hear you're in the NEWT Potions class, would you like to come to the library with me to go through them?" he asked, trying another tactic.

"I have a meeting with Professor Flitwick, but I can meet you there around seven, if you'd like."

"Fine, I'll see you then," he drawled.

As Serena turned to head to Flitwick's classroom, she was stopped by the redheaded fourth year Gryffindor girl. "What are you doing talking to him? Don't you know he's trouble?"

"I can take care of myself. At least he introduced himself and was trying to make friends. I don't even know your name!" Serena flared defensively then huffed away to her Charms class, leaving the girl incredulous.

Draco and Serena met in the library at seven and worked on Potions notes. Once, during the hour they worked together, a couple of gorilla-like friends of Malfoy's went to join them, but he waved them away. Draco and Serena talked about fun, light, and trivial things when they weren't discussing Potions. Since Serena avoided eye contact whenever they spoke, she saw nothing to be afraid of in her friendship with Draco.

The weeks went by with her studying with Draco a couple times a week and enjoying her growing friendship with him. Once he brought her a picture of a dragon he drew and explained what type of dragon it was and how it differed from the other types. Another time he showed her how to fold an origami crane and charm it to fly. Their schedules were such that they rarely saw each other between classes in the halls, so she didn't see the cruel side of him that so many of the other Gryffindors warned her of. She worked hard in her classes and tried to stay as single-minded as possible. The Gryffindors had become even less friendly since they had begun noticing her studying in the library with Malfoy, so she was mostly a loner in the common room and her dormitory room.

Finding dream journals useful, and crystal balls somewhat effective, but astrology and tealeaves pointless, she continued to butt heads with Trelawny. Potions, Astronomy, and Herbology went very well, as did her private lessons. Grubblyplank's Care of Magical Creatures lessons were interesting, along with the whispered conjecture she overheard about where a missing professor named Hagrid might be. But McGonagall, when she wasn't irate with Umbridge, worried about Serena's lack of friends in Gryffindor. She had never guessed that the girl who worked so eagerly by her side all summer would be so unaccepted by her own Gryffindors.

The time for the first Hogsmeade weekend approached. As Serena entered the common room from the dorm, she overheard, "Well, she is McGonagall's ward," and "But look who her only friend is!" as she walked through the door. Then things got suddenly quiet and she noticed Hermione, Fred, and George, who had been having the conversation, turn away awkwardly. She shook her head despairingly and exited the portrait hole.

"Damn these Gryffindors anyway! I don't need them! I wish the hat had just put me in Ravenclaw," she muttered to herself, nearly bumping into another Gryffindor on the way in.

That evening at the library, Draco asked if she'd like to go to Hogsmeade with him on Saturday next. Since her only other prospects were exploring it on her own or shadowing McGonagall, she accepted. The following Saturday she had her early morning defense lesson with Flitwick, then met Draco in the main hall. They had so much fun talking together about what they might do in Hogsmeade that she was only slightly aware of the outraged looks from Gryffindors, the disgusted looks from Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, and the look of furious jealousy from one Pansy Parkinson.

Draco showed her all the sights of Hogsmeade, doing his best to impress her with his bravery near the Shrieking Shack, and then buying her some of each of his favorite sweets at Honeydukes. After a few hours of roaming the shops and sights, he took her to Madame Puddifoots for tea and scones and reached over and held her hand shyly.

"What was it like moving all over the world so often? Weren't you lonely?"

"If I was, I never knew it. There was always so much to learn and see and experience that I didn't miss having friends. You're really the first friend I've made who wasn't my teacher."

"Well, you're the first friend I've made who wasn't a Slytherin. I had a private tutor before Hogwarts, and my parents taught me to be very selective about who I choose for companions."

"Is that why you wanted to know if I was pureblood?"

"Well, yes. I mean, it doesn't mean all that much to me," Draco shrugged and quickly looked at his cuticles, "but if I don't want to be hassled by my parents, it's just easier to choose pureblood friends."

"I can see your point, but don't you miss out on a lot?"

"Well, what my parents don't know won't hurt them, right?"

Serena smiled and almost looked into Draco's eyes, but stopped herself quickly.

Draco reached his hand up to Serena's face and brushed out of her eyes a wayward strand of hair that had fallen from her plait. "You know you're really beautiful, don't you?"

"No, I'm not," Serena replied matter-of-factly. "My mother was, but I didn't get her fine features. I'm shorter, stockier, and plainer. I'll probably end up a pudgy old lady."

"Are you calling me stupid, Willowsong?" Draco asked, with his dimples threatening to show how un-angry he really was.

"No, I just disagree with you. But, well, thank you for the compliment."

Draco scooted in closer. "I have to leave early for Quidditch team practice, but this has been such a brilliant day, I didn't want to end it without doing this." Then he leaned over and sweetly kissed her mouth. The kiss was soft and tender. It was Serena's first. She appreciated its gentleness and began to smile at Draco, when she felt a rush of energy flood into her heart. The kiss had become like cool water to a wanderer in the desert. She kissed him back firmly. She felt strange electrical charges drawing her closer to him. Draco opened his eyes, surprised, and then held the back of her head as he began making tentative explorations with his tongue. Serena responded by kissing him more aggressively. The kissing continued progressing in passion for many minutes until Draco finally pulled away from her gently, explaining that he really had to go. "See you soon," he spoke breathily.

She sat at the booth, trying desperately to understand what had just happened. She glanced at her watch. Had she really just spent thirty minutes publicly necking with Draco, when this morning they had only been friends? This couldn't be what kissing was always like! How was she going to live until she saw him again? She didn't want to breathe, eat, study--she didn't want to do anything but spend her every moment physically entwined with Draco. Is this what is meant to be in love? What had happened to her?

She wandered back to the castle in a daze, her body tingling as she remembered each moment and needing more. She felt like she'd die if she didn't get another kiss from Draco. She met Draco, wearing his muddy Quidditch robes, near the doors of the front hall. She ran up to him crying, "I missed you," and gave him a full hug. Draco seemed to be both embarrassed and empowered as the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team watched and snickered. He shrugged and looked at his teammates, smiling awkwardly, "She just can't get enough of me." Then he turned to Serena, lightly pushing her away, and instructed her to meet him after dinner. Serena reluctantly agreed to wait until then. She'd have kissed his toes if he'd asked her.

Between the displays in Madame Puddifoot's and in the front hall, the rumor mill was running overtime about the unlikely pairing of McGonagall's ward with Draco Malfoy. If Serena noticed, she didn't care. She walked to the Slytherin table after supper; Draco took her hand and walked her possessively out the hall, brazenly sending a dirty look to the Gryffindor table as he did. She blissfully let him lead her to an isolated closet on the fifth floor.

Draco began kissing her passionately. Serena couldn't stop herself from responding even more hungrily. He moved his kisses to her neck and opened her blouse. "You're so beautiful," he said, looking at her chest. He continued kissing her, moving down her cleavage. "What was your mother's name?"

"Tatienne Verte-Chantes, she went to Beauxbatons," she replied deeply. She and Draco continued to kiss aggressively, but as she horribly realized what she had revealed, she opened her eyes. Draco's eyes were open and looking right into hers. She saw in them his treachery, his selfishness, his bullying, his arrogance--and she didn't care. Part of her was horrified that she didn't care, but mostly she just wanted to get more physical: this was the most sensual pleasure Serena had ever experienced or even imagined.

The door of the closet suddenly burst open, and Gryffindor prefect Ron Weasley stepped forward saying, "All right you two, clear out!" when he realized who his cornered lovers were: Draco Malfoy, and Serena--open-bloused, messy haired, and sporting several hickeys down her neck and cleavage. Ron's ears turned scarlet, then he lost it. "What the hell were you doing?" he yelled at Serena. "What the bloody hell kind of a slut are you?" Draco made a quick exit, looking like he was already plotting his revenge on Weasley. Ron continued to lecture Serena and look at her in disgust. "What kind of desperate skank goes for a git like him?" He grabbed her by the upper arm and marched her to Gryffindor tower, still lecturing her. She was sobbing freely by the time they reached the common room. Serena ran up to her bed while Ron told Hermione what he found.

The next morning Hermione made Ron talk to McGonagall after breakfast. When McGonagall asked where Serena was now, they replied that she'd skipped breakfast and hadn't come out of her dorm room. McGonagall and Hermione marched back to the dorm rooms to confront Serena.

When Minerva entered the dorm room, she found Serena curled up in a fetal position on her bed with the covers held tightly over her head. "Serena, Weasley and Granger just told me what happened. I need to discuss your behavior last night."

"Go away! I can't talk right now. Please go away," cried Serena's voice from under the covers.

"Accio blankets!" was McGonagall's angry response. Then she gasped as she looked at Serena. Her eyes took in the pattern of hickeys through Serena's open nightshirt, and then stopped in horror at her face. Across Serena's forehead was a large bruise colored mark that read, "WHORE." "Heavens to Merlin! What happened to your face?"

"Someone hexed me in my sleep. I deserved it. I hate myself."

"Miss Granger, were any of the Gryffindors out of their own dorm rooms last night?"

"No, not as far as I know."

"Then after I finish talking to Serena, I shall have a chat with the sixth year Gryffindor girls. Serena, what happened yesterday?"

Serena told McGonagall the whole story and how the change had come over her after Draco kissed her. She told her how much she wanted him even now, even though she now knew how bad he was, even as she wished herself dead.

"Miss Granger, take Serena to the hospital wing. Tell Poppy to test her for love spells, potions, and enchantments. I'll be there as soon as I've finished talking to the sixth year witches."

"Of course," said Hermione, "why didn't I see it?" Hermione slapped her forehead. "Serena's under a love spell." Hermione then handed Serena her robe. "I'm sorry I doubted you, Serena. Just put your robe on. I'll take you to Madame Pomfrey right away."

Serena limply pulled her robe over her shoulders and allowed Hermione to lead her out of the room.