It was a rainy day at the castle that had been converted into a school of witchcraft and wizardry known as Hogwarts, but for those who were a member of Slytherin house the rain wasn't all that bad. It was barely noticeable really to them, living in the dungeon underneath the school's lake as they simply listened to the waves roll and the rain pound down on them that caused the surface to bubble and ripple on the lake. For two of the students of the house though, this night was going to be the day they met and one of them was someone you didn't speak of casually. The blonde boy known as Draco Malfoy knew this, but he never expected that he would actually meet that girl in person. Her name was Denver Potter and no one talked about this seventh year casually. She was always talked about like she was a myth, like she didn't really exist and was simply a threat to use on the younger classmen so they would behave themselves. He soon learned the hard way that she did exist, walking down into the common room to see the girl he didn't think existed right in front of the green flame filled fireplace on one of the more low backed plush dark green couches in nothing more than a silver robe and matching thigh high socks as she was looking over some papers she had in her hands. She was scanning them over with her hazel eyes, her pale fingers wrapped around them firmly to ensure that they didn't flutter away while her red locks were tied up in a loose messy bun. He carefully made his way up into the common room, looking at her nervously as he came near her though he did try to hide it.
"P-Potter? What are you doing up this late?" The male asked her, placing a nervous hand on her shoulder which earned him a raised eyebrow before she looked back at him and he felt a chill run down his spine at the dead serious look in her eyes.
"Oh. It's you Malfoy." She hummed, shrugging her shoulders and subsequently his hand off the robe covered joint as her eyes returned to the papers. She clearly didn't care what he was doing awake, even if she was an upper class-man and that meant keeping an eye out on the younger students. She never did care about such tasks unless they interrupted her work of keeping the other students in line. This was her little mafia after all or at least that's how she treated the house of Slytherin students. They didn't care if she was real or not, they just knew to behave or find out if she was truly real and get hurt in the process. It was like she was the boogie man of Slytherin house really.
"I'm reviewing some work that the prefects and head students have been asked to ensure gets done. After all; if we hope to win the house cup this year we need to ensure that the students here get all the points that they can. Not to mention ensure some of the debts they've earned are paid back to me in full." She hums out calmly, her legs becoming promptly perked upon the couch to stretch out more comfortably and make sure he didn't sit next to her. He could try to get to know her then and he would be disappointed that he couldn't get anything from her, any reaction from her that he could get from her brother. She didn't want that, not in the slightest so if she put her legs up on the couch he would have to find somewhere else to sit. And Draco, being as curious and certainly not as nervous as he before, did just that. He found a spot on a chair not that far from her and watched her work. Denver looked at him rather confused when she saw him do that, her eyes going back to her work not too long after as she found some questions rolling through her mind. No one ever stayed close to her, not unless they needed something or were paying back one of her debts since they had to come near her to pay her after all. Yet here he was sitting across from her and he wasn't asking for anything. He was just watching her work and it had her confused and rightfully so. He was just being a gentleman of course, but it wasn't like she knew that. She just knew him as the spoiled rich kid that tormented her prick of a little brother. She finished reading one of the papers, flipping to another before she decided to ask him instead of just sitting in the silence of the room around them.
"Well then Malfoy, what has you up at this hour? Let alone sitting here with me? Have a favor to ask of me or something?" She asked, setting the papers down before she raised a cup of tea to her lips as she sat up properly and crossed her legs again. Seeing her stop; the blonde cleared his throat as he shook his head with a sigh, looking at her with calm eyes yet that fake smirk of a smile on his lips. He had been staring after all, so he needed to play it off. Even if he was just curious and a bit scared of the girl.
"No. I just couldn't sleep. I was on my way to go get a drink when I saw you and got distracted from that. Though, now that you ask~..." The male hummed, looking at her with concerned eyes yet the rest of his face was still as it was before. His lips twisted in that fake trademark smirk while she perked a brow in curiosity, looking at the blonde like he was crazy for saying he had not a single favor to ask her yet he had a question to ask her anyway. She never just got normal questions, so this could be rather interesting and the male wanted to know this about her so it was a win-win situation after all.
"Well then Malfoy, ask away. I won't even charge you the normal one silver for it since it's after hours after all~..." She hummed, her own painfully fake smirk on her lips as Draco looked at her worriedly yet she was concealing her supitions in her eyes and nothing else on her features showed it. Draco knew this though, knowing to look her in the eye if he wanted her real feelings since most Slytherins were pretty closed off from the others in their school. He could see she was suspicious and she could see his worry, but they didn't talk about it. If they did they might get close to each other and that was certainly not allowed in her eyes. She was a Potter, a surviving member of a dying family, and if she wasn't careful with who she trusted it could become rather close to being the end of the name. Draco simply nodded his head, chuckling and clearing his throat as he looked up at her with the most relaxed look he could give her.
"Well…" He began, looking at his hands nervously as he knew this question could be hard for him to get an answer for. This only drew a small chuckle from her and in turn from him as he tried to get the question out with a sigh.
"Why do you get the Boogie Man treatment around here?" He asked softly, looking at the fire instead of at her. He was nervous to meet her eyes again, especially with a question that could be seen as so rude or inappropriate coming from him. After all; he didn't know her, not that well anyway, so why should he expect an answer from her that wasn't anger and a violent strike to his features. He had to know though as it was a question bugging him for so long. Ever since he heard the name and an upper class-men told the other students to keep their mouths shut. He had never met her till now, not in person anyway, but every upper class-men told him to beware angering her and that when they had orders or favors they wanted done they had to talk to her. The other thing was that, apparently, the only one who ever saw her face was her closest friend and companion who happened to be his sister. But his sister never told him about her and whenever he asked about her, she would simply tell him to listen to the motto of the school and let sleeping dragons lay. Heather ran the school by day, but Denver…She ran the school by night and he knew that and only that. The room was silent for a moment, so silent that the only thing he could hear was the sound of each ember and log in the fire popping or crackling as they burned and each raindrop as they rippled across the water. It was deafening to the young Malfoy heir, but that silence didn't last long as he listened to his own heartbeat in those few moments. Then suddenly a chuckle could be heard, but it wasn't coming from the male and the sound of it made his heart skip a beat from the mere noise of it alone. He looked up at her with wide eyes, knowing that the noise couldn't come from anywhere else.
"If you must know Draco, it's for one reason and one reason alone." She hummed out, looking at him with amused hazel eyes that gleamed with this odd mixture of both pain and amusement from the question. It confused him more than anything, but he listened to her and was waiting almost anxiously for her to continue. She leaned toward him and rested her elbows on her knees, looking at him as she rested her chin on the fingers she laced together that had nails painted a deep black color.
"I'm just as strong as my brother, but have a year's worth more experience and I'm much more willing to do things that he ISN'T willing to do to get my point across or win a duel." She hums out with a smirk as she looks at him, more than proud of the little reason so many feared her as they should. He slightly trembled in his seat, the look of a predator she gave him making him want to run. He knew better though, he knew not to disgrace his family's name like that and let alone her. It would be rude really, in his own head, to run from someone just like that just because she acted all terrifying. It didn't help sooth him though, knowing that she was just as strong as her brother yet just as willing to cross lines others wouldn't like a perfect Slytherin would do. In terms of how it would disgrace his family, it's the most obvious of answers. It was always seen as shameful to run from a fight just because the opponent was out right stronger than him or smarter than him. If he were to run away now just because of a terrifying look and some new information, it would be disgraceful to his family and himself. Then a thought hit him, realizing she was terrifying and yet she ruled this school from the dark and he never heard her brother mention her. It was always his sister, her only real friend, that ever mentioned her by her name and not her stupid nicknames or aliases. This brought a question to his mind, one he wanted to hesitate to ask yet his pride and vanity stopped him from doing so as he let out a weak chuckle then looked up at her with his best cocky facade.
"Then how come the other Perfect Potter never talks about you?" He asked, watching her for a brief moment as he raised one hand in a shrug and closed his eyes. He was doing his best to come off as cocky and confident despite how terrified and confused he was under that surface attitude. This earned another small moment of silence as the other's features fell in shock from the mention of her brother. It wasn't long after that his voice broke it, continuing the question as he kept his eyes closed to hopefully avoid her wrath and anger.
"After all; if you're as strong as you say you are…why wouldn't he be bragging about you and begging you to help him win the war?" He asked, his voice almost wavering with a nervous tone as he opened his eyes and saw her shock for a brief moment before looking into the fire. The silence that came after, the look of shock on her face, it told him all he needed to know really on the question and whether or not he should have asked it. It was a very decisive no on that front. The quiet was once again lingering for too long until she spoke up, letting out a small 'tch' noise in an angry tone which brought his attention back to her instead of the deep pits of the green flames in the fireplace. Her expression was more complex now, completely blank on the outside or on the brief glimpse, but inside her eyes was deep seeded anger and sadness.
"So what? I wouldn't expect him to. No matter how strong I am, I'm just the little traitor of the Potter Family. So why would he talk about me?" She hummed out with a small sigh, keeping her eyes trained on the fire as Draco's eyes went just a bit wider at her words. He should've stopped himself there. He should have just kept his mouth shut at this moment. But he couldn't at her questions, looking at her in utter confusion and a bit of anger at her words.
"Because you're his big sister and have been an avid member of Dumbledor's Army despite every other Slytherin not being one. How could you possibly be a traitor to him and your family?" He asked, looking at her with a slew of emotions written across his features. The big one was anger, like someone had just spat in his food and he was being forced to eat it anyhow. But there was also a great deal of confusion at her response and a great deal of uttar bafflement, as if Harry was being unappreciative of having such an amazing big sister such as her. This only made her eyes snap onto him and it became clear as day that he shouldn't have pointed this out. That his last question was something that shouldn't have been asked as she glared at him and he flinched back slightly at the sight.
"Tell me one thing Draco…" She growled as she stood up from her seat, causing his cocky facade to falter even more when his expression was factored in.
"What house common room are we in? What house do I run like it's my own personal crime syndicate? The house I play for as the beater for their Quidditch team?" She asked, her eyes a firm glare as she moved closer to him which made him straighten up and lean back into his chair more. Her steps were slow, but angry and very firm on the stone flooring of the common room as she walked toward him.
"I'll give you one hint. The answer to each question is the same house." She snarled out, watching for him to answer her questions. He did so after clearing his throat, trying to hold back the fear and nervousness as she braced her hands on either side of his arm chair. This effectively trapped him in the plush dark green piece of furniture, his eyes looking up at her as she glared down at him with anger boiling over in her eyes. It was like looking at a snake that was getting ready to strike an intruding enemy and it shook him to his very core.
"Th-The Slytherin House…" He murmured out, his fear and nervousness seeping through in his tone as she glared him down and her anger over flowed in this moment. She straightened up, clapping her hands together for a moment before they returned to trapping him once more in the arm chair.
"Exactly! Clever boy Malfoy!" She barked in anger, making him flinch back again which only earned another small yet angry 'tch' noise from her once more.
"So; care to tell me why you, a clearly smart boy, thought to ask me such a stupid question as to why my only remaining family member and arrogant little brother hates me." She hissed out, her eyes filled with anger as she looked at him as that last little thread of sanity in her finally snapped and he saw it. That thread in her snapping as he had to stare into her liquid hazel eyes as she began to go on a rant he never thought he would hear from THE Denver Potter of all people.
"Why am I the traitor to the Potter Family you ask?! Because I'm here, in this green and silver house and I'm not ashamed of it!" She barked out as tears began to prick at her eyes, though he couldn't tell if they were from anger or sadness as her rant began with a statement he never thought he would hear from a member of the Potter Family.
"Because I have the drive to survive, no matter what it took to do so! That I willingly take every bit of abuse HE, the supposed fucking choosen one, throws at me just because he's pissed off at one group of people! Because I see the world in shades of gray, not black and white! Because I recognize the pain OUR FATHER put Professor Snape through and don't see the perfect man Harry does! Because I got to leave the abuse a year early and didn't tell him because I was sworn to secrecy by our damn headmaster and he's never been able to let it go!" She hissed out, yelling and nearly screaming out her pain so loud that the whole house could have heard her if they had been awake. She stopped there, unable to breath as she felt her tears slip by through the whole speech and were now feverishly running down her features as she hung her head in shame. This had Draco staring at her wide eyed, watching her body quiver and shake slightly as she tried to keep in the sobs and was barely managing to do so as the tears poured down her face. This hit home for him, his mind racing as he recognized her pain from the same pain his sister went through since she was sorted. Not to mention the other things she mentioned that he had never heard about making his head spin. He had to do something though, right? Here was a woman, a beautiful one no less, crying in front of him and he was frozen to his seat. Sure; she was seen as the enemy by most other slytherins and death eaters certainly hated her, but…she was still a crying lady in front of him and he sympathized with her. What would his mother say if he didn't try to comfort her in this moment. It was an obvious answer in the brief moment he thought about it. His mother and sister both would hate him for it, for not comforting someone he sympathized with who was crying just because of her name or side in this war. He very carefully, after a moment or two, brought his arms up from his sides in the chair and gently wrapped them under her own in a motion to pull her into a hug. He then very slowly, but firmly pulled her down into a hug as her body provided little to no resistance in this weakened state she was in now. He held her like this for a moment, one hand on the back of her head while the other gently gripped her back to keep her close to him. She was a mess in his arms, crying and silently sobbing as her arms became pressed to her chest as she wept in his hold. They stayed like this for quite some time, her weeping and silent sobbing coupled with his shaken up greatly despite his firm grip on her body. With every passing second; Draco found himself becoming more and more sympathetic to the girl, feeling his heart go out to her as he put it all together now. The reason she treated this place like her personal mob, the reason she made sure no one in this house was treated like garbage despite it making her scarier, was because she had suffered such injustices from her own family. She didn't care if she was seen as the villain because, despite what everyone might think, she was only being the villain to be someone else's hero. She put up with all of it from everyone, including her own brother, and never said a word to anyone in correcting it. She just…bit her tongue and bore with it despite the pain. He knew that feeling, he knew it well. Everyone saw him as this rich arrogant prick since his family, particularly his father, demanded he behaved that way despite how he outgrew it over the years. He gently rubbed her head, holding her close as everything hit him and finally he truly understood why everything was the way it was now. He knew what he was about to say might piss her off, might make her walls go back up despite the progress they made here and now, but he had to try now despite himself as he looked down at her.
"I…I didn't know, but now that I do I want to help you…I want to be your friend…" He says in a soft murmur, looking down at her as he tries to calm her down and make her feel better. His words had the expected effect, a small gasp leaving her lips as she pushed herself away from him. She still had red streaks of tears going down her face, the marks making her cheeks shine as she did so. She stood up frantically, moving to grab her things as she did so.
"I-I don't need friends and I-I don't need help! J-Just keep your mouth shut about this and I-I won't have to hurt you!" She barked angrily as she looked down at him as he sat amazed in his armchair, looking up at her with amazed and worried eyes. He wanted to help her, to calm her down, but she was being defensive once more. He had to help her out, he had.
"Wait! You don't need to threaten me to keep my mouth shut!" He said as he watched her body language, trying to keep her calm as he tried to get her to that relaxed state. He stood up, bringing his hands out to gently touch her. He wanted to pull her into another hug, to get her to relax so she would listen to him. She had this look in her eyes, this look that screamed defensiveness and discomfort with the idea of getting closer to him.
"Don't you dare fucking TOUCH me!" She barked out, looking at him with fear in her eyes as she did so. She was scared and didn't want him to know that, but she couldn't bear to be touched by him now either. To know he understood she was in pain. To have felt comfort in his arms despite herself. It made her scared and it made her body shake as she had one thought in her mind at the idea. She had to ensure he spoke of this to no one. So; as swiftly as she spoke, she had drawn her wand from her robe sleeve and now had it pointed right under his throat with a small whimper passing by her lips.
"If YOU say a word of this to anyone and I mean ANYONE, even your own sister, and I'll have your soul! I'll put you under so many curses and hexes that it will make your own sister unable to recognize you! Understood!?" She asked in a harsh hiss like noise, biting her lip as she watched for him to nod his head. When he did, it was out of sheer terror that she would follow through with that threat. He knew she was serious, but he didn't dare to push it much further than this. He knew that this, helping her to get better and helping her self-destructive behavior even out, would take plenty of time and effort on her part. If she wasn't ready and didn't want his help, he couldn't force it on her now. The most he could do was stay as stubborn as always and hope he gained her friendship at one point or another. This small motion of him nodding his head earned a small bit of give in return, her wand pulling back from his throat as she did so with a small grumble of thanks. She then rushed off back to the girls dorm and the seventh year dorm specifically. He sighed as he dropped back into the chair once she left, looking at the ceiling with a sigh as he tried to keep himself calm. Tonight had been an intense night and he was left to wonder…just how much time it would take to help her and what other sorts of pain she was in. There were only two real ways to find out and that was to either ask his sister or to befriend her on his own. He knew the first option would piss her off more, so it would be the struggle of a lifetime to befriend a girl he never thought of befriending before. Sure; he saw her on the Quidditch pitch and they worked well together then, but that wasn't the same as befriending her and he knew it.
"This is…going to be quite the interesting year…" He hummed out softly, looking at the ceiling with soft eyes as he got ready to try and befriend the other as best as he could.