Something Wicked This Way Comes

Written by: Dawn, Valerie and Michele for Dina 

           It was a chilly winter’s night and Dina Briant was shivering in her brightly coloured wool socks.

          As she trudged into the living room her sharp blue eyes lit upon the cold stone of the empty fireplace. Dina, being the intelligent person that she was, had discovered a solution to her unpleasantly cool temperature.

           She headed across the room, where just to the left of the hearth sat a pile of firewood. Dina was grateful that she had taken the time earlier to methodically stack and organise the wood (and yes, there was a lot of it).

          She lit the kindling, and as the sparks began to fly, she figured that it would take some time for the fire’s warmth to spread throughout the room.

         Dina decided to leave the fire to its own devices for the time being and strolled into the kitchen. She set the kettle on to boil and retrieved her favourite mug and tea from the cupboard.

The tea-making process was a relaxing one and Dina held the steaming mug in her hands, allowing its heat to warm her.

         She made her way back to the living room where the fire was crackling merrily across from her favourite love seat. Dina settled herself down onto the couch and made herself comfortable in the now much warmer room. She started to lift the mug to her lips when out of the corner of her eye she noticed something odd. Her blazing fire had suddenly lost its orange and yellow glow and lit up in a dazzling shade of emerald. Her eyes widened at the strange occurrence and she wondered what could possibly be happening.

       Without warning, the body of a young man tumbled out of the fireplace and onto her freshly swept floor.

Dina was both terribly confused and slightly irritated.

        The stranger gingerly pushed himself up off the ground with a groan, and dusted off his knees.  He turned around, and Dina’s eyes widened with shock, her frozen hands nearly dropped her steaming mug.  The young man had fine white blond hair, which was long enough for the fringe to fall over his silvery gray eyes.  He was incredibly pale, and his jet black, high collared robes only proved to accentuate his light skin tone.  She would know this young man anywhere.

“Malfoy?”

      His head turned sharply toward her and his eyes bored into her. “Who are you, and why do you know my name?”

       Dina was taken aback for a moment, but quickly decided on a course of action.  She gave him a slight smirk and replied “Yes I know your name, what are you doing in my living room?”

          Malfoy glared at her, “I asked you a question, and I insist you answer me before throwing your own meaningless chitchat at me.”

“But you’re the one intruding in my house so I insist you answer my question first,” Dina replied calmly. 

        Their banter continued for a few moments, with Malfoy never successfully unnerving her into telling him how she knew who he was. 

       Malfoy was angered by this girl, but intrigued at the same time.  She was facing him down with all the cool and cunning of a bonafide Slytherin.  He took a moment to let his gaze trace her body. Perhaps there was far more to this girl than what meets the eye.

         Against his better judgement, Malfoy decided to give in. “I was flooing to the Hogs Head, but somehow, I ended up here instead.” He sneered at her and continued in a patronizing drawl, “Those incompetent fools at the Floo Network must’ve been getting into the Firewhiskey again.”  He ended his sentence with the sexiest and most satisfied smirk he could muster. There was no way that she would understand his answer, and as such, she would finally be rattled.

             Dina snorted. “Well I would have gone to the Leaky Cauldron or the Three Broomsticks myself.” A satisfied grin slowly formed on her face as Malfoy’s smirk slid from his. “Why didn’t you just apparate?”

              Malfoy was momentarily speechless before he could compose himself to respond to, what was now, her clearly taunting him. “You’re a witch aren’t you? You must be!”

“Sadly I am not.”

             This was all he could take; he stalked forward suddenly, and in a last effort to confront her, planted his hands firmly on either side of her shoulders. If Dina’s knees had not been tucked up under her body, his body would have been pressing up against them. As it was, he was close enough for his bangs to graze her forehead and his steely gaze locked with her glimmering stare. He opened his mouth and very slowly spoke to her. “You’re going to tell me, right now, exactly how you know of myself, and my world.”

           Malfoy’s warm breathe tickled Dina’s face, and as she fought to keep her eyes locked with his, rather than allowing them to avert his intense gaze and wander elsewhere, Dina coolly replied, “Or what?”

        He seemed at a loss for words, and she snaked her arm under his to set her long forgotten mug of tea on the table by the end of the couch, which brought her face tantalizingly closer to his.  “You’re not going to be able to go anywhere for a bit. As a muggle, I am kind of lacking in the Floo department.” She offered a slight smile. “Would you care to get comfortable?”

         Screw it all, he thought to himself. Her words in combination with their close proximity were enough to drive him over the edge of reason.  With his hands still braced against the back of the love seat, he closed the minute distance between himself and this mysteriously beautiful girl. Dina started to speak, but her words were caught on his lips which now covered hers. Whatever she was going to say no longer mattered, as this kiss expressed more than even the most carefully worded of sentences. He was asking her questions, pleading with his tongue, and the only answer she could give was to kiss him back. His rigid stance weakened and he loosened his grip from the back of the couch. Dina seized the opportunity and reached for his wrists, it wasn’t called a “love seat” for nothing. She gently tugged at them, inviting her visitor, once again, to make himself comfortable beside her.

           Malfoy, or Draco as she had started to think of him, snapped his eyes open and pulled away. Their eyes locked once again and, slightly breathless, Draco wondered how to face this challenge. Never before had HE been given such an order... yet he wanted so badly to obey. Dina kept her sultry gaze on his, waiting.

“Tell me one thing first” Draco said finally, after a long moment of silence.

         Dina nodded, indicating to him to go on.

“Who are you? And how do you know so much about me?”

             Dina laughed “That’s two things.” 

        Draco cursed silently. 

“But please, sit.”

           Draco obliged somewhat reluctantly yet gracefully sank onto the cushion beside her.

“Tell me,” she said, “How close are you to a lady named Joann Rowling...”