SilverGreen Temptation

Chapter 3

The next morning, Sarah woke up on the sofa in the common room. She slowly opened her eyes to find a handsome blond boy was sitting on a chair right next to the couch.

"Finally. How come you needed so much sleep, Costa?"

"Um, y'know, stayed up a bit late last night. But you wouldn't care about that, would you, Malfoy?"

When Sarah sat up, she almost fell off the sofa. Everything around her started to spin. "Merlin's bear! I'm feeling bloody dizzy!" she stated. Draco sneered.

"Oh, am I making you nervous? I know I have that effect on girls." He paused. "But you could definately do with some sunlight. You know, get a nice tan...or how about some blood?" He threw a bottle towards her, she caught it just so. "Snape provided this for you. He knows all about it. You lost quite a lot of blood last night. Drink it up, it's supposed to make you feel better. Even though I must admit that it gives me quite some pleasure to see you like this. Weak, pale, helpless..." -

"Shut up! I could still manage to hex you into oblivion. Better be careful as to what you say." Draco gave her a cruel laugh.

"I would love to see you try, but as it is, we don't have time for that. Drink that and eat the extraordinarily delicious breakfast I have... I mean, Pansy has brought you. And then better be off for class!"

Sarah sighed and opened the bottle Draco had thrown her. It contained some strange, thick, ebony liquid and Sarah didn't look too happy about having to drink it. She took a small sip, just to spit it out one second later.
"Yuck! What in the name of Salazar is this? Tastes like rotten mice!" She scowled. Draco smirked amused by the fact that this was exactly the reaction he'd expected to see. "You can't expect Vampire blood to taste like pumpkin jelly! Besides, you have to drown it all, considering the amount of blood you...sacrificingly donated."

"I didn't do it for the Dark Lord nor for my sake. I could have easily disappeared like I'd done it before, but... can you imagine what that would have gotten you into?" she asked sounding very concerned. Draco smiled smugly.

"Oh please, get a life. It's not as if I couldn't have handled it by myself! Father's still got a lot of influence, even though he is in Askaban. And once my duty is fulfilled I shall be rewarded generously and my father will be freed. So get over it and just drink the bloody...blood!" Any expression of remote feelings that one could have spotted in Sarah's face. She took a big swig of the black blood, dropped the bottle on the floor and walked out of the room. Draco shook his head and got up to go to class.

After this incident, Sarah didn't turn up for any of her lessons, neither did she have dinner with everyone else. It seemed she had stayed in the girls' dormitory all day but when Millicent went in to get a book, it was empty. Millicent knocked on the door of Draco's room, because it was his duty as a prefect to look after every student of his house, plus: She thought he might know more about Sarah's lack of presence.

"Come on in," drawled the Prince. Millicent lowered her head when stepping in.

"Evening, Draco. I just wondered whether you knew where Sarah might be?"

"Probably in her room, sulking. Why?"

"Because that's where she is supposed to be and yet isn't there!" Millicent said with a fling of panic in her voice.

"Hold on. Not there? As in somewhere else? For Salazar's sake, that means I have got to go out looking for her if I don't wanna lose my badge, not to mention several house points." He slowly rose from his chair. "Any ideas where she might be, Mil?"

"Actually, I thought you might have," she stuttered.

"How would I know? I don't give a damn about that conceited, little b...bunny."

"Sorry, it just seemed you two were getting on rather well in the last few d..." -

"Shut up! You were seeing things and that's it. I gotta get going anyway. If you wouldn't mind...?" Millicent turned around, her face being the brightest shade of pink one could imagine, and walked out of the room muttering some apologies.

Draco stopped to think. 'Where could she possibly have gone? Hm... where's a nice place to sulk? She could be anywhere in the castle really, but that wouldn't be like her at all. What are you thinking Draco? You don't know her and you certainly don't WANT to know her! Hang on...know...no! She wouldn't...! Gee!' Draco rushed off, out of the room, out of the dungeons, out of the castle, right into....the Dark Forest. 'What am I doing here?' he thought. 'She's probably sitting in someone else's room, laughing at my stupidity to go looking for her. But there is a chance...and if... I can't leave her here on her own! For Slytherin's and my sake of course.' He went strolling through the woods until he came by the very same place they had met Bellatrix the night before. But it looked slightly different. It seemed much darker and yet Draco made out a strange shape on the ground. It was a human body.

'Oh my...please don't let it be...' "Sarah!" He ran towards the body flinging himself to the ground like Lara Croft. "No! You can't be dead. Please, wake up!" He touched her cheek with the back of his hand.

"Wow, being really dramatic there, Draco," a faint voice said, coming from the body he was kneeling before. "Honestly, I don't think 'wake up!' is the best thing to say in a situation like this. Did you think I was having a doze or something?"

As wide as Draco's eyes had flung open with her first words, they narrowed with her last.

"Well, what are you doing lying on the ground in the Dark Forest at 8 PM in the first place? You should be in your dormitory. Or at least in the common room. Have you been here ALL day?" he asked in an angry tone.

"So you noticed I wasn't around, eh? But it's not like you needed me anyway," Sarah replied, her voice still sounding rather weak.

Draco looked straight into her eyes, as if to comfort her and then demanded in a firm voice: "What happened?"

Sarah's attempt to get up failed due to her lack of strength to push herself up, her arms were trembling. So she sighed and gave Draco a look full of longing for help. It was the first time Draco noticed the sadness in her face. He gently put one arm around her back and made her sit upright.

"Are you all right like this? 'Cause then I'll help you make your way back to the castle."

"Yeah it's ok, feeling a bit dizzy and out of control over my body, but we'll manage to get back somehow," she answered, looking both very thankful and tired.

Then Draco put both his arms under hers as if to hug her and pulled her up with all his strength.

"Can you stand if I hold you like this?" he asked carefully, thanking God that it was dark so Sarah wouldn't notice his bright red face.

"Yeah...can we go please?" Sarah said indulgently.

"Ok, but be aware that I still want to know what happened to you. As soon as you're up and well tomorrow, you'll have to tell me." Sarah simply nodded and walked to the castle, half-carried by Draco.

After they reached the common room, Draco almost shrieked when he saw what the dark had hidden before: Sarah's arms and face were bruised and battered as though she'd been in a serious fight. But instead of asking more questions, Draco pulled himself together and managed a very gentle "Everything will be ok, I promise!". With those words he disappeared into his room, leaving her to sleep on the sofa in the common room once more.

The next day passed without Draco taking further interest in Sarah's presence. Sarah took a few hushed glances at Draco, but their eyes never met. It was later in the evening, that Draco whispered something into Sarah's ear while passing by.

After 15 minutes, which Sarah spent on the nice, comfortable, so-frenquently-mentioned sofa, she got up and knocked on Draco's door.

"Stay where you are. I'll be with you in a second," Draco shouted.

A minute later a Draco with freshly-brushed hair opened the door and said: "Hey, come in. How are you today?"

"Much better, thank you. How are you?" she replied cheerfully, but something in her eyes stated the opposite.

"Not bad, the usual. Wanna come in? Some people would die to get into this room, you know?" he said grinning smugly.

'Same goes for Potter's room,' she thought, but rather kept that comment to herself. She entered his room feeling a mixture of both awe and curiosity. She'd been at Hogwarts for a really long time now and had never been in Draco's room. Then again, there hadn't been any reason, right? She looked around and was quite surprised that his room was rather messy. Some clothes were hung carelessly over a chair, others were spread on the black carpeted floor, his cupboard door was half-open. The only things which seemed to be in their right place were the pictures on the walls. Draco with his father and mother at some highly official looking event, Baby-Draco in his mothers arms, looking really cute with the white-blond hair and the grey, sparkly eyes and, to her surprise, a picture that showed him, at the age of 6, with a group of friends, including little Sarah. She had a really nasty look on her face, she had to admit, as though she was ready to kill someone. Actually, she was...had been - oh whatever. She didn't want to think about this, not now.

She had been so busy looking at the pictures that she hadn't even noticed Draco stepping next to her.

"Cute, wasn't I?" he asked, still smirking.

"Absolutely adorable, especially the fact that you'd probably played Bunny Foo Foo with one of the house-elves just before that picture was taken," she replied casting him an accusing look.

He reflected that look and said: "Honestly, don't tell me you never bopped house-elves on the head."

"No, we needed our house-elves to do the work for us! I couldn't bop them on the head. Besides, I think it's cruel. No one should be bopped on the head." She bit her lower lip.

Draco gave a cruel laugh.

"If your parents were the same as you, I understand why the Dark Lord had them killed."

She glared at him. "I am nothing like my parents and if you ever compare me to them again, I'll forget my antipathy for bopping people on the head for a few minutes and make sure you know what it means to be the one being bopped."

Draco opened his mouth to reply something witty, but suddenly frowned.

Sarah looked at him questioningly and then quickly apologised. "Sorry, Draco. I didn't mean to be that harsh."

Draco nodded understandingly. "I don't like being compared to my father either. I'd probably have said the same." 'We've got more in common than I thought all these months...she's still annoying and stupid and... a slut. Honestly, she's had 4 boyfriends since she's come here. So bad! There was Antony, who was in Hufflepuff, Lee from Ravenclaw, not to forget the two Slytherins: Simon and Duncan. And all of them are in their 7th year, how is that not slutty? If she was my girl I'd... No, bad Draco, baaaad Draco. Ban those thoughts! Back to business!' He cleared his throat.

"So, you still owe me an explanation of yesterdays events. Feel free to start right away."

"Oh thanks, but...I can't. If I tell you, we're both in great danger. Please understand that I just can't say anything about what happened last night, but you'll know, sooner or later, I promise." She looked almost desperate, so Draco decided not to bother anymore.

"Not very satisfying. But if you say so."

"Really sorry, Draco. But...um... there is something else. Can I ask you a favour?"

Draco cocked one eyebrow. Another favour? He'd saved her life, what more did she want?

"Can I... sleep in your room tonight?" she asked in a very hushed voice.