The Proposal
The completion of the first task calmed the castle down as the second task was announced to take place after winter holiday in February. Draco thought that this would bring some much needed peace to Hogwarts, but The Daily Prophet had something else in mind. When he sat down for breakfast the day after the first task, Nott slapped the newest edition of the newspaper down in front of Draco wordlessly and chose a seat at the opposite end of the table with the older students. Draco thought the gesture was odd, but upon further inspection, the front-page headline was a ridiculous puff piece titled “Love Amidst The Flames: Romance During The Triwizard Tournament.” The headline was followed by a photo of Maeve throwing herself into Potter’s arms followed by the image changing into her caressing his cheek. Even without reading the contents Draco felt sick. He skimmed Skeeter’s report, which contained sentence after sentence about Maeve’s outfit and what her father would think as a Ministry official. Draco slipped the paper into his bag to be burned in the common room fireplace later, but he couldn’t escape the rumors.
However, the lull only lasted a week and Dumbledore brought a different chaos amongst the students with the announcement of the Yule Ball. All the chatter around the castle was who would ask who to the ball, what to wear to the ball, and more. Draco was starting to get dizzy from the monotony of the conversation, which had even plagued his friend group. Pansy was committed to the idea of Draco and Maeve going to the ball together, so much so that she had written him a “playbook” of sorts that consisted of different ways that Draco should pose the question. When Pansy first presented him with the ridiculous roll of parchment, Draco rolled his eyes and tossed the roll dismissively on his bed, but when he was sure his roommates were asleep, he read through his friend’s advice with the curtains of his four post tightly drawn.
Draco didn’t have the confidence yet to ask Maeve to the ball, but he was worried that if he waited too long that some Durmstrang boy or even worse, Potter would beat him to it. Draco also knew that if Potter were to ask Maeve, she’d immediately say yes. He refused to lose his chance to cowardice. The two were back on nightly patrol since McGonagall wanted extra eyes during the time of high pumping hormones. Draco thought this was a perfect opportunity to get Maeve alone to ask her to the ball, especially since she had been avoiding him. Well, Draco wasn’t sure of the fact, but he noticed how she spent more time with Hermione and Pansy, which made it impossible to try to talk to her. Pansy offered herself up as a buffer for Draco to ask his question, but he didn’t want her to influence Maeve’s decision with her presence. Draco considered an approach where Maeve would think it was her idea to go to the ball, but he worried it would be too manipulative. Draco was certifiably going insane.
While the two were doing their patrol, Draco spent the walk in complete silence to let his mind overthink with freedom. He worried briefly that his silence would be mistaken for coldness, but Maeve wasn’t talking either.
“So… Have you asked anyone to the ball yet?” Maeve finally broke the silence, making Draco raise his eyes in amusement. He couldn’t believe that she was bringing up the topic first.
“W-why?” Draco stuttered, twisting his family’s signet quickly. Maeve laughed at Draco’s nervousness and he was thankful that the darkness of the castle hid his heated face.
“I dunno, that’s just what friends ask,” Maeve said tauntingly. “I feel like everyone has been asked already.”
“You’re going with Potter, I presume?” Draco pressed, earning another laugh from Maeve, this time much airier.
“You’re funny. No. He’s asking Cho Chang. I told you, we’re just friends,” Maeve smacked Draco in the arm and he fought a grin at the revelation. “I got asked by some Durmstrang boys, but they were really just being wingmen for Viktor Krum and Her- Never mind.”
“So you said no?” Draco knit his eyebrows together. He ignored the last piece for being irrelevant to him.
“Yeah, of course,” Maeve laughed. Draco felt his heartbeat in his ears and his breathing got shallow.
This would be the perfect opportunity for him to ask the question. But he feared rejection, especially since Maeve just admitted to comfortably rejecting multiple Durmstrang boys. Draco looked over at Maeve, who was nervously gnawing on a hangnail and avoiding his gaze. The silence between the two quickly grew awkward and Draco cursed himself for not using the opening that Maeve offered him to ask her to the ball.
“Pansy said if nobody asks me, we could go together, but I don’t know… I don’t really want to do that. Even Luna’s been asked. Respectfully,” Maeve rambled, making Draco’s heart beat faster. He didn’t want to delude himself into thinking this was an invitation. He decided to take the bait.
“We… I mean, uh… You and I? Could… Go?” Draco choked, immediately regretting his decision. Draco felt incredibly lame, which was heightened by the fact that Maeve completely stopped in her tracks ahead of him and he couldn’t see her face. At this point, Draco fidgeted with his ring so hard that it ended up twisting off his finger and it dropped to the stone ground with an embarrassing “clunk” and rolled towards Maeve’s foot. She quickly lit her wand and bent down to retrieve it wordlessly and Draco was ready to run the other direction. He wished she would say something or at least laugh at his stupid attempt. Maeve dropped the ring into Draco’s open, shaky palm. She slowly made eye contact with him and he could see that her face was flush with matched embarrassment. Maeve started opening her mouth to form a reply when she was cut off by an adult voice at the other end of the hall.
“What are you two still doing up? Your shift ended thirty minutes ago! To your rooms immediately,” Professor McGonagall’s familiar voice scolded that caused the two to jump apart from each other. Maeve gave Draco an apologetic look and he used the opportunity awarded him by McGonagall to walk quickly down the hall back to his common room. His ears rang and his stomach turned sour with regret. Draco tried to convince himself that Maeve’s silence wasn’t a rejection, but he had trouble believing it himself. When he finally got to the Slytherin entrance, he basically threw himself through the opening and down the stairs. Luckily, the common room was empty, except for one person who was reading with their back towards Draco. He tried sneaking around the stranger, then realized it was Zabini who was fumbling through a Muggles Studies textbook.
“You have heavy feet, Malfoy,” Zabini said coolly without looking up from his book.
“My bad, mate. Er- I need to talk to you,” Draco gritted his teeth and scratched the back of his neck nervously. This time, Zabini closed his book and gestured towards the empty space next to him in the adjacent sofa. Draco had hit a low point in his life. He couldn’t believe he was going to Zabini begging for girl advice. Draco decided that he was already too far gone.
“You look wretched. What’s wrong with you?” Zabini pushed a cup of tea towards Draco, which felt very intimate and comforting.
“This is actually so embarrassing,” Draco took a long sip from his offered tea cup, immediately feeling a wash of relief. He figured the boy must have enchanted the liquid. “I asked Maeve… Prewett to the Yule Ball and I think she rejected me? Well, I asked and then before she could reply, McGonagall shooed us away. I just… Do I drop the idea?”
“Oh, her,” Zabini laughed, making Draco gnaw on his bottom lip. Draco wasn’t in touch with his feelings that well and felt like a watched animal under Zabini’s eyes. “You know Nott asked her to the ball too?”
“R-really? She just told me that Durmstrang boys asked her,” Draco took another long sip. He couldn’t believe that Maeve would reject the poor boy twice.
“And Potter,” Zabini added, to which Draco choked on his tea. “So don’t feel too bad if she says no. Just being honest, mate.”
“Do I say something to her? Could I convince her? Should I?” Draco was speaking so fast he was basically slurring his words together.
“I hear Prewett and Parkinson giggling like fools over you. Play it off like you did it so the other guys would back off,” Zabini shrugged. Draco was pleasantly surprised at the advice and took it to heart. “Okay, mate. I have this Muggle Studies test in the morning.”
“Cheers,” Draco said lightheartedly, feeling soothed by Zabini’s words and tea. He couldn’t believe that Maeve hid the fact that Nott and Potter had asked her to the ball. Draco wondered if she felt embarrassed by the fact and wanted to hide it from him. He’d figure it out in the morning.