The End of The Night
The blood that rushed to Draco’s head pressurized into a deafening headache that only worsened when Maeve wrapped her hands his neck. Her touch was much lighter than his previous dance partner’s, with a matched nervousness. Maeve was a much better dancer than Daphne, jerking his limp body to the music as he struggled to keep up. Draco’s thoughts moved as clumsily as his feet, and he hoped that the music would slow down soon. He was hyper focused on how tight his hands were around her waist, and he found temporary relief in Maeve’s large sparkling smile. He barely realized the new romantic pace of the music, only feeling the slowing sync of his and Maeve’s heartbeats. Maeve dropped her head to rest her chin on Draco’s shoulder and he became increasingly aware of his breathing.
“You’re a better dancer than Daphne,” Draco admitted awkwardly in Maeve’s ear, mentally kicking himself for only being able to say the last thing on his mind. Maeve giggled, sending a pleasant but nervous chill down Draco’s back.
“My mother made me take dance lessons as a kid,” Maeve explained, swiftly moving Draco into another direction with a sweep of their feet. “You looked pretty cozy dancing with Daphne though.”
“Only as cozy as you were with Potter,” Draco replied slyly, earning a snort from Maeve. Her warm breath made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and he unintentionally tightened his grip.
“Ready to sit down?” Maeve removed her face from Draco’s shoulder to look at him in the face. She had a dreamy glaze over her eyes, distracting Draco from forming any intelligent thought. “Draco?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” Draco mumbled, letting Maeve pull him off the dance floor. He caught a glimpse of Daphne and Blaise, who were twirling each other around in grandiose off beat and bumping into other students, but they were locked in their own world of fun. Maeve pointed out Longbottom with her cousin, the girl Weasley, and Krum with Granger. She said something about their energy despite the night climbing well into the double digits and Draco agreed without hearing her.
When the two got back to the table where Draco’s other housemates were, he realized in the light off of the dancefloor that the magic that made Maeve glow wore off, her hair now messily falling out of placement, and her cheeks were flushed from activity. Draco thought she had never looked better. Maeve undid her hair with a sigh, then leaned on her elbows while fidgeting with her hairpin.
“Do you want to leave soon?” Draco offered, unwrapping one of the brightly colored candies that decorated the table and handing her one.
“I want to leave now, honestly,” Maeve shrugged, making Draco raise an eyebrow. He worried that she wasn’t having fun and that she wanted to end the night to get away from him. Draco tried to pinpoint a moment where things went wrong, which made Maeve laugh and place a reassuring hand on his knee. “It’s not you. I just think I danced all I can tonight. I’m getting a little tired. And I’m supposed to leave before tomorrow noon to return home.”
“I wasn’t worried about anything,” Draco lied, coughing in relief. “We can go. I’ll walk you back to the tower. You don’t want to say bye to anyone?”
“Eh, I’ll see them in a few weeks,” Maeve stood up, grabbing Draco’s hand. She slipped the two of them out through the crowd and past the teachers that were stopping students to check for intoxication successfully. They walked in a comfortable silence, especially since the ringing in Draco’s ears wasn’t just nervousness but also the after effects of the loud music of the band. As the two crossed the bridge, the Ravenclaw belltower struck twelve times, jarring Draco’s sense of time. He made a comment about how late it had gotten and Maeve replied with something along the lines of “time flies when you’re having fun.”
Draco’s heart pounded as he got closer to the Ravenclaw common room. He recalled Pansy’s lessons to him about a date and he fearfully dreaded the other most important rule, after the flowers, which was to conclude the night with a kiss. Pansy had explained that this was a way for him to seal the night off with good luck and to leave Maeve with no questions. He wanted to kiss her but feared her reaction. He wondered if she was expecting a kiss and if he chickened out that she wouldn’t talk to him anymore. The deadline to make a decision was quickly approaching, just as they were to Maeve’s common room. Draco tried to not think about it, as the entire situation made his hands clam up. Unfortunately, they reached the portrait that concealed the Ravenclaw quarters and Maeve spun herself around to look Draco in the face. He couldn’t figure out if this would be the appropriate time or if it would be easier to do it right before he left so he could flee the scene.
“Thank you for tonight, Draco. I had an amazing time. Well, yeah. You know, all things considered,” Maeve spoke rapidly. Draco was surprised; was she also nervous? Was she nervous because she thought he was going to kiss her? Draco couldn’t weigh the outcomes fast enough to reply to her.
“I- Yeah. I had a fun time, too. Thank you for accompanying me,” Draco quickly twisted the rings on his finger, feeling the same nausea from before as his heartbeat started picking up. The two of them stood looking at each other for an awkward suspended moment and Draco knew he had to act immediately.
“Okay, well. Good night,” Maeve said, raising her eyebrows as she was confused to why Draco hadn’t left yet.
“Good night…” Draco nervously trailed off and he took a cowardly step backwards to leave. Maeve rolled her eyes with a chuckle and took that extra step up to him and gingerly held his face. She planted a small and sweet kiss on his cheek before squeezing his shoulder while she reached on her tiptoes. Draco felt dizzy and reached out immediately to hold Maeve steady and leaned forward, missing her cheek and landing his lips straight onto hers.