"And you're sure this is her room?"

"Yes, a girl from downstairs told me she saw her run in here."

"You better be right, Blaise."

Orla shot up from her bed and ran towards the door before standing in front of it. Looking around, her hand flew out as her glass wand made contact with it. "If you try to get into my room, I'll hex you to next year." Orla states with venom in her voice.

The hallway grew quiet before footsteps could be heard. Orla opened the door slightly to see Draco leaning on the wall outside it. A glare spread over her face. "What do you want from me?"

"Where did you go earlier? He asks pushing off the wall and grabbing the edge of the door and coming closer to her face. "None of your business." Orla states back before holding her wand to his chin. "Impedimenta"

The world slows for Draco as he is quickly pushed back by Orla. "I did warn you." She states while staring at him and watching him try to catch himself before he crashes to the ground. "What did you do?" He asks very slowly.

"I slowed you down a little. The next time you think about breaking into my room, I'll have the windows cave in on you." Orla threatens. To emphasize her threat, she takes some glass from her room and smashes it into the wall above his head without moving a finger.

Draco looks at her strangely as glass falls around him, but does not touch him. "How?" He questions looking over her slowly before her eyes go wide at the realization of what she had done. "Just don't come here again." She mumbles before closing the door gently and locking it.

"Orla, come back out." Draco stares up at the door while slowly reaching towards it. 'She's going to pay for that hex.' He thinks before touching her door. That was when he noticed the strange glow from under the door. "I wasn't trying to break in. We were coming to invite you.." Draco trailed off as Orla opened the door slowly to peak out.

Once the door is opened all the way, Orla sits on the floor in front of him and studies his features. Draco looks around her towards the beautiful lit ceiling. "How did you-" "Oh stop." Orla sighs before waving her wand and undoing the hex.

"That was too annoying." She states staring at him. Draco clears his throat before sitting down in front of her. "You're not going to tell anyone what you just saw." Orla bites her lip before turning her chin a little to look into her room. "If you promise not to tell, you may come in and I'll show you."

Draco looked at her oddly before standing up and offering his hand. Orla looked at it before standing up on her own. They both walked into her room before Draco closed the door. "Latch it." Orla demands before sitting her wand down on the bed.

"You broke the window on the train." He states as he latches the door. "And on the stairwell." She confirms while looking him over. Draco was wearing a black suit that made him look thin, but well sophisticated. "How?"

"Gifts passed down within the Ricci family." Orla says while shrugging her shoulders and sitting down on her bed. Draco looks at her inquisitively. "So, you're not going to tell anyone?" She asks while patting the spot next to her.

"Where's that fun in that?" He asks while sitting by her as a glass cup forms in front of him. "Tea?" She asks moving the tea pot to her hand before pouring the liquid into the cup. "So you just do it by moving your hand?" Draco shakes his head before Orla takes the tea.

Glass forms a small ball in front of Draco as Orla sips her tea. "I can do it with my mind as well." She shrugs as if she's not impressed, but Draco is. His thoughts swirl to dark ones as his mission comes to mind.

"So why this extravagant piece?" Draco waves his hand towards her ceiling. "Why not? I thought it would make me feel more at home. I have something similar to this in my room back in Ireland." She smiles before the smile is ripped off her face by the distant screams of her family.

"You should go. Your friends will wonder where you went." Orla stands up and walks towards the door. Before she could make it very far, Draco grabs her wrist. "They'll catch on soon enough that I'm not coming."

"I have homework." Orla lies looking towards her neat desk and pointing at the books. "Maybe I can help you with your homework. I am in both of your classes after all. Maybe we could be studying partners as well as lab partners?" Draco asks standing up and walking towards her desk.

"But of course, to be studying partners, you have to actually spend time with people. Is that what intimidates you, or is it something else?" Draco questions running his fingers over her delicate handwriting. Orla grabs the sleeves over her oversized sweater before biting her lip. "Maybe I just like to be alone."

"I'd like to change that." He states grabbing the glass flower off her desk and turning towards her. "I would like to spend more time with you." Draco says while looking down at the glass lotus as Orla makes it disappear from his hands. "Then first, you need to learn boundaries."

"I'll go grab my books and come back here. We can work on our lab paperwork together." He looks down at the pile of glass shards before stepping over them and walking out the door.

Orla let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding. 'Who is this jerk?!'

~~~

Draco came back a bit later and knocked on Orla's door. She had put on white tennis shoes to accompany her orange and white sweater paired with jeans. Her wand occupied her back pocket. "Why don't we go on a walk instead? Unless you really wanted to work on homework." She looked down while putting her hands behind her back.

Draco nodded before putting his bag on the floor next to the door. "I can take you somewhere." He says while reaching his hand out towards her. Orla looked at it before putting her hand in his. His grip was firm but not firm enough to hurt. "Where are we going?" She asks, closing the door behind her as they walked towards the Slytherin gathering hall.

Music could be heard as they rounded the corner and descended the stairs. Orla gripped Draco's hand while looking upon the crowd over the banister. "Not to that I hope." Orla glares at Draco before slightly letting go of his hand to escape back to her room.

Draco grabbed her hand a bit tighter before shaking his head. They walked around the back of the crowd of dancers and drinkers before exiting the Slytherin house and heading towards the exit of the castle. "There's a boat dock below the castle this way." He explains as he tugs Orlas and a little.

"A boat dock?" Orla questioned wondering why a place like this would need one. "The first year we were here, that is how they brought us to the castle." Draco answered, remembering the way the water shined with lights from the reflection of the castle. "That must've been a spectacular view at night." Orla smiled as they rounded a corner into the boat house.

"It was." Draco helped her into a boat before rowing it out a bit. "Are we even supposed to be out here? It's past curfew." Orla looked around the night sky, taking in all of the beautiful stars and the crescent moon.

Draco stops rowing before laying down in the boat and looking up. Orla looks over at him strangely before laying down on her half of the boat beside him. They both sit in silence for a bit before Orla breaks in.

"Tell me something about yourself." She demands while looking for a few constellations. "I hate the classes here." He states making Orla look over at him and scoffing a bit. "All of them? I quite like my astronomy class, but I've always studied the stars and the cosmic age associated with that subject." She rambles before looking back up.

"I could tell almost all of the star constellations." Orla smiles as Draco makes a 'hm' noise. "Am I boring you?" She asks looking over at him. He shakes his head before looking back over at her. "Opposite actually. It's nice to talk to a nerd." He teases making her sit up and reach for the oars. "Then this 'nerd' will row us back to shore so that you can get away."

Draco sits up and grabs her hands before pulling Orla away from the oars and towards his chest. A blush creeps across her face as she looks up at him. "What ar-" Orla is cut off by Draco connecting their lips. It takes a few seconds for Orla to understand what's happening, and that's all it takes for her to pull away.

"I'd like to go back now." She states, carefully standing up and walking to the seat further away from Draco and turning away. 'I can't. Not until Voldemort is done with me. I will not endanger anyone else.'

There are no words spoken as Draco starts to row them back to shore. As soon as they hit the docks, Orla hops out of the boat and quickly walks away. Footsteps echo along the concrete as Orla makes herself invisible. She steps a few feet away from where she was originally and trunks around to see Draco looking around.

"I know you're still here." He whispers before drawing out his wand. "Aparecium" He says, waving his wand in the air before looking around to see nothing. Orla frowns before walking away from him a few more steps only to crunch a twig beneath her feet. She freezes looking down before seeing the snapped twig beneath her feet.

"Got you." He says reaching for her but missing. Orla runs away and down a dark corridor before turning and hiding around a corner. Trying to settle her breathing, she looks around the corner to see nothing. Letting the glass drop around her, she sighs before touching her lips. 'I liked it, but I'm not allowed to..'

Aparecium - Revealing Charm

6/19-6/20/21