Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. And I'm sick of repeating myself.
Draco Malfoy was asleep in his bed, oblivious to the storm rattling the Manor around him. Despite the fact that his shutters were flung open, being hit mercilessly against the side of the house and the storm pulsed with bangs and booms, he remained undisturbed.
However, a certain Pansy Parkinson was not. She'd awoken from a nightmare to the sound of the storm kicking against the windows of the house, and in no time, her heartbeat had begun throbbing faster than the storm itself.
She had gathered her bravery, and left the familiar guest room she was staying in, in order to go seek refuge with Draco. There had always been something about him that steadied her and calmed her nerves.
She climbed the old, winding stairway with haste, taking three steps at a time, and rushed along the corridor that would lead her to Draco's room. And then, finally, she was standing in front of his door. Grabbing the golden doorknob, creaking open the door, letting out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding.
"Malfoy?" Pansy said, crossing the room. Even though he was asleep, tangled in the silver sheets, and utterly unresponsive, he'd somehow already managed to calm her a bit. "Draco." She hissed, tapping his forehead.
"Mmm." Draco sputtered, whatever he'd been trying to say reduced to an incoherent grumble, a result of his groggy state. His eyelids fluttered open.
"Bloody hell, I don't know how you can sleep through this! You can practically feel the thunder shaking the house." Pansy ranted, making herself comfortable next to him on his wide bed. He seemed to realize there was another person in the room as Pansy slipped under the blankets and pulled the black quilt up to her chin.
"Why are you in my room, Parkinson?" He muttered suspiciously, glaring at her.
Pansy looked guilty, casting her eyes toward the far wall. "I'm sorry… I had a nightmare… you know how I hate storms." He did know how much she hated storms. He'd been unfortunate enough to be caught in the common room late one night in their third year with her as a storm shook around them.
"You should have woke my mother. She'd have been a lot more accommodating than me. Probably would have given you a box of chocolate frogs and told you senseless stories about her childhood until you fell asleep." Draco said. Smirking lazily, he added, "I, on the other hand, am going to turn the other way and pretend I never woke up at all. I expect you gone when I wake up."
"C'mon," said Pansy, a little desperately. While his presence was a comfort, she felt a lot more at ease when he was in a conscious state. "It was stupid of me to come in here, but I thought that the combination of rain, wind, and banging shutters might have woken you too. Obviously, though, that was a stupid assumption to make. Voldemort and Harry could be dueling at the foot of your bed, and you probably wouldn't even stir."
Thankfully, Draco rolled back over and faced her. His dull gray eyes shone like steel in the dark, and his silvery hair was splayed out across his pillows. "Isn't it enough to subject me to your incessant rambling during the daytime? Do you really need to interrupt my sleep too?"
Pansy bit her tongue, for fear of getting tossed back out into the hallway if she said what she wanted to say.
"Most guys would be happy to wake up and find a girl in their bed."
"Most guys don't have to listen to you blabber on mindlessly."
"You could send me home anytime you want." Said Pansy, a little defensively, her eyes turning to slits.
"That's wishful thinking. You know that my parents intend on holding you hostage for the rest of the summer. They like you far too much, which can't mean anything good for me. I'll just have to put up with you." Draco answered looking either vaguely amused or incredibly agitated, Pansy couldn't be sure. There were too many shadows falling across his face.
"You can't honestly hate me that much."
"No. I'd pick you over Potter any day."
"What a comfort."
Draco laughed in hushed tones at her sarcasm.
"Shut up, or my mother might hear us. Wouldn't want her to get too ecstatic about the idea of us sleeping together."
"Bloody hell, Malfoy, we're not sleeping together."
"What do you call this?"
"We're awake. And if we were… sleeping together, it would be in a literal sense." Pansy sputtered, looking flustered. Finally coming to her senses, she realized that she was in Draco's bed, with Draco, and it caused her to blush furiously.
"I'm going." She said, nervously, sliding off the white and black blankets, and swinging her feet onto the wood floor so she was in a sitting position. "You're obviously going to be about as helpful to me as a brick wall, and I'm not putting up with your snide remarks for the rest of the night." She lied, sneering.
"Fine then. Whatever suits you." Draco said nonchalantly, she could hear the grin in his voice.
Slowly, Pansy rose from the edge of the bed, and crossed the room with careful, controlled steps, trying not to think about the fact that this storm would be screaming well through the night. And she would be shut in her own room. Alone.
A burst of thunder sounded, and unsurprisingly, she was caught off guard, a hand fluttered to her chest as she took a sharp breath.
"Scared, Parkinson?" Asked Draco, looking restful and patient, as he lay on the bed watching her nervous antics with a mild interest.
She didn't reply, just stood still, taking deep breathes.
"Bloody hell, calm down. Come back, you can stay in here. You'll probably die of fright by the end of the night if you don't." He ordered, an urging edge sharpening his voice, the site of her pale face and trembling hands tweaking his nerves. "And I hardly want to have to endure my mother if we wake up to find your dead body."
Stubbornly, Pansy remained still, but his words were having an effect on her, and the idea of a nice warm bed next to an ice-cold boy was very tempting.
"Pansy." Draco coaxed, his voice soft. "Don't make me force you back here." She heard the rustling of the sheets and the creaking of his mattress as he shifted around, preparing to get up.
"If you insist." Pansy muttered, turning back toward his bed quickly, concealing her eagerness poorly. Draco laughed at her annoyed voice.
"As if you hadn't been hoping I'd offer so you wouldn't have to beg."
He held the blankets up for her, and she dove beneath them feeling relieved. Draco pulled the covers up to her chin, and smirked.
"Feeling better?" he asked.
"I should be asking you that." Pansy remarked, a mischievous glint in her eye, "You were the one who was practically pleading for me to stick around so that you wouldn't have to lie awake all night worrying about the storm by yourself."
"Don't make this into something it isn't." Warned Draco coolly.
"Then what is it?"
"It's me. Putting up with you. For once in your pathetic excuse for a life."
"Sure it is." Pansy agreed falsely, her voice ringing with amusement.
"I advise you to shut your face and appreciate it, Parkinson, unless your goal is to end up on the floor."
Pansy closed her eyes, not bothering to retaliate for once. Shifting closer to Draco she burrowed deeper into the blankets and rested her head against his shoulder. For a moment he stiffened, but then his muscles relaxed, and his eyes fluttered shut just as hers had.
"Night." He muttered.
"Sleep well." She murmured back, smiling sleepily, her voice muffled by the thick blankets.
And the storm kept storming.
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a/n: this is the first DP that I've done in a while that I've actually really liked. did you like it? or find it completely out of character? If you have an opinion do me a favor and share it, concrit is encouraged. thanks a bundle for reading.