LII
It would be difficult to describe the kind of peace I got just from being here in the countryside with her. Head on her lap as the last of the warmth was dragged down with the sunset.
The pungent smell of cannabis only swept away by a breeze every now and then, and the soothing hum she hummed seemed to tune in with the sound of doves and pigeons nesting down for the night. Even whilst a slave to the darkness, I felt the freest I had ever been.
Y/n's little satchel bag she had unravelled from her waist came packed with a book and flask of wine, of course, why would I expect anything else. There's no avoiding the fact that the girl enjoys dabbling in substances of all kinds, but whilst morphined up to my eyeballs, I honestly couldn't care less. And whilst her fingers raked gently through my hair, allowing my gaze to drift across the stream as she read aloud, I was entirely at ease.
"These violent delights have violent ends. And in their triumph die like fire and powder, which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey is loathsome in his own deliciousness, and in the taste confounds the appetite."
"What does that mean?" I gently asked in response, quickly realising that passage may have been the most beautiful thing to come from a book that I had ever heard. "Well when Romeo tells Friar Laurence that he doesn't care what happens even if it's bad, because nothing could overcome the pure happiness and joy he gets from being with Juliet. Friar responds to warn him, that passion and love can blind a man, owing to the fact that all good things must eventually come to an end, sometimes even disastrously. Shakespeare was a smart dude, way ahead of his time."
"Yeah, yeah I think he may have been. Slightly glass half empty outlook but I guess the guy must make sense because even Blaise is into that shit."
"No way.. Zabini reads Shakespeare?" Y/n giggled to herself, setting the book down into the grass. "Yeah he absolutely loves it, he's obsessed with muggle literature although he wouldn't have it known so you didn't hear that from me."
"My lips are sealed."
"You sure?" I humoured her, and not a minute later did she reach to lift my arm from my chest and to her mouth, gummily clamping down on the side of my hand. Why do girls do that? They just latch on to bite and gnaw for no reason as some sort of affectionate expression. "Mhm, nope. Nom."
Once she had finished smothering it in drool it was placed back where it had been taken from, as if it was normal. "Thank you, I really enjoyed that hand bite. Changed my life."
"Knew it would."
Ironic really, because in a way I did mean it, she had the potential to completely change my life, for the better, and she doesn't even know it. Her cheeks were blushed as she cheekily smirked down at me and I must of begun to stare in admiration because the moment was perfectly ruined. Feigning a loud snort y/n challenged me. "What you looking at maLFoy? Wanna fight?"
"Nope. I'd have to let you win because otherwise I'd obliterate you."
"And you're sure of that are you? Are you willing to bet on it?"
Shuffling enough to leverage both of my hands on to the sides of her head I pulled her down so that her smart mouth was silenced by the sensation of prickling against mine. I'm so inexplicably and irrevocably fucked, because I am so in love it's pathetic. Completely enamoured enough to never wanna let go.
With a beaming smile and drowsy eyes y/n retreated. "Do you wanna come back to mine? By the time we get there mum will have left for her night shift anyways."
In an instant I wanted to accept, but I was unable to stop my mind from wandering to the fact I had snuck out unannounced, with no way for my parents to know where I had gotten to. Believe it or not the dark mark isn't quite the communication system some have grown to think, it is merely a way for us to be summoned or in turn summon the dark lord.
Outside of that it's just downright painful and annoying.
"Uh well..." I acquiesced, quite poorly to be honest. The reluctance was there, but far too futile to make a difference. Of course I was going to follow this girl, I'd walk hand in hand straight into a burning house with her if she asked me to do so. "Yeah fuck it, might as well love."
Her enchanting grin had seduced me with ease, those two little, white baby teeth my weakness. And we both shuffled ourselves up from our spot, collected her book from the ground and began our descent from Aversham hill blissfully happy, quiet and calm.
The second we got to y/n's cottage in Tidworth the fond memories bowled over me like warm water. The car was not here but everything else remained the same. The ivy mesh growing up the wall, the gregariously odd curtains that lined her window, only made more charming by the thatched roof and red painted front door, complete with brass knocker.
Swish and a flick the door was cast open before we had even reached it, and she only glanced back at me as she lead me right on in. Admittedly just walking into this place was far, far easier than scaling up the outside walls and falling in through a window.
The rest of y/n's home was a lot like her room, very eccentric and lashed with streaks of uniqueness. Homely, warm, wooden beams running through every ceiling and wall. Thick plush carpets, but the slightly worn kind, tartan drapes and beige walls, sturdy furniture adorned excessively with pillows and an open fire pit that sat below a chimney.
It was the kind of home I've always dreamed of.
"You can take your hoodie and shoes off if you want," y/n smiled, kicking her own shoes away and twirling off into a kitchen. "Oh my god! Yes! Money shot!"
When I turned to peer around she was losing her mind over the fact her mum had obviously baked something fresh before leaving for work and truthfully we were so fucking stoned that I had to catch back the drool I almost had escape my lips. It smelt divine.
As she got to hacking at whatever was in her kitchen I took off my shoes and began studying the framed pictures and polaroid's scattered about the place. Most of them were of her and a woman with curly hair and glasses, in the photos where y/n looked younger the woman didn't seem that old at all. In her mid 20's at most, especially in the baby and toddler photos.
My thoughts were snatched back by y/n skipping up to me with an enormous slab of something in her hand. "My mum made cake and it's like a sugary orgasm, taste, but it's got caramelised pecans in it so if you're allergic to nuts you need to run."
"Would it not make more sense to check if I'm allergic before you come over here you fucking knob-end?" Sucking her cheeks into her mouth the realisation overcame her, but fortunately I am not allergic, so I accepted a mouthful of the goods and she wasn't wrong. Maybe I was just really stoned but it was exceptionally good. "Holy fuck, I think I just came in my pants."
"Amazing idn't it?" Y/n agreed trying to eat her fair share, and as a matter of instinct I gathered up the hair away from her face so that she wouldn't end up with it in her mouth, but was startled by the fact the girl looked me dead in the eye, her own tearing up even with a mouthful of cake. "Oh no, what did I do?"
Through muffled strains, her words managed to bypass the cake in her gob as her bottom lip wobbled when she softly said.. "That was the nicest thing anyone's done for me."
Admittedly this is where the inner workings of the female mind get beyond my comprehension. The simple gesture of holding her hair away from her face so she could eat had somehow sparked an emotional response that I'll never understand. It was like I'd saved a kitten from drowning or something. "Your welcome? You weird girl.."
With a sniff and sigh she melted into my embrace, finishing off the little bit of cake that had elicited some sort of flashback to a past life or something. "Is that your mum?" I asked pointing to one of the pictures. "Yep, her name is Ruth. She's awesome. And that's my gran in the one above with us too."
"And they're just muggles?"
"Yeah, as muggle as you can get. Exceptionally ordinary, in every way." She spoke of them both fondly, it was clear that it wasn't a large family system like I had. But in the pictures, they all looked perfectly happy with that. There was photos of y/n riding horses, jumping into swimming pools blindly. It was clear then, that she'd always been fearless and had a wild streak. "Well.. I'm glad you're not a muggle."
"Yeah?"
"Mhm, because then I never would of met you. That would of sucked for you admittedly, like imagine not having me in your life. Fuck that. How unfortunate could one person get?"
"Oh fucking hell, shut up," y/n grumbled, breaking away from my side to roam off through some slatted doors and on to some stairs. "Come on fool, my room."
With a menacing smirk I darted after her, sending her into cackling hysterics as she tried to book it up the steps on all fours, only narrowly missing being caught by the ankles as I chased up behind her. By this point my physical pain was non-existent. The potent combination of morphine and weed was like the cheat code to beat suffering.
"Kikiiiii!" y/n sing-songed as she stumbled into her room. Giving her strange owl a soft scruff on it's head. I followed suit, cracking a smile at the cuteness of an owl enjoying being petted. "I could swear she's not an owl sometimes, much like her owner is a fucking ferret."
"Yep well, maybe she's just a metamorphmagus. Perhaps she's my evil twin or something."
As y/n shucked herself down onto her bed and opened up a draw rifling through to set her book back inside, I caught sight of her desk which was once more spread across with papers. There was graphs and diagrams, lists of different plants and their properties.
It surely must be some sort of assignment, but, if I'm in advanced herbology too then why was I not made aware?
"When did we get this assignment from Sprout y/n?" I asked, picking up one of the lists. Her head shot back with widened eyes. "Oh- It's- That's just something I've been working on for myself don't worry about it."
So when I turned back to it, my eyes scanned over the writing. It was indeed her own, listing the healing properties of Persian Blue Ivy on blood curses. According to this, a daily dose could reduce fatigue measurably. "Going for extra credit?"
"Yep, so do you mind getting your hands off of my research?" She strode over and pulled the papers together, tapped the edges and slid them out of the way into another draw. "If you want extra credits you certainly won't be copying what I've compiled."
"Darling, even as brilliantly smart as you are. I'm perfectly capable of earning extra credit by myself."
"Hm good," she hummed, running her hands up my chest and arching into me. Resting her mouth beneath my ear and whispering lowly as she walked me back toward her bed. "But now we need to research for something else."
"Yeah, what's that?" I whispered back, heartbeat climbing at an alarming rate. "How many orgasms we can have without needing a break to catch our breath."
Well fuck, okay then. I mean, I just got nearly tortured to death but I'm not opposed to a little extra-curricular activity, not in the slightest. What kind of man would I be if the way she propositioned had no effect?
And as she so eloquently expressed, it is after all, important research.