The Kitchens
word count: 2884

Draco leaned back on the velvety lounge chair in the Slytherin common room. He ran his fingers through his blond hair as he sighed of boredom. Pansy Parkinson laid asleep next to him, but to him he thought she was pretending as an excuse to lay her head on his shoulder. With no sympathy, he shot up from the chair and walked out. Pansy instantly woke up and glared at Draco who was leaving the common room.

"W-where are you going?" She demanded, looking far too energetic for someone who had just woken up from a sleep.

Draco rolled his eyes, "out," he replied bluntly.

Pansy scoffed, "so you just want to walk around the halls in the middle of the night and get caught, then lose house point?"

"I'm hungry. Hopefully those bloody elves will get me something if I bring up my father," Draco spat. Pansy got up to join him, but Draco waved her away. "No, I'd rather go alone," he urged. The pug faced girl pouted, then returned to her dormitory. Draco winced as his bare feet made contact with the cold stone upon leaving the Slytherin common room, but he quickly tiptoed up a few staircases and made his way towards the kitchens.

His pace slows as he heard a soft voice converse with he elves. He furrowed his brow in confusion as he carefully made his way into the kitchen, praying that there were no teachers. He stopped in the doorway as he noticed a short figure with long, curly brown hair sitting on the kitchen counter with one bacon strip in her hand and another in between her teeth. Draco cursed to himself, preferring getting caught by a teacher than the Diggory girl that he 'despised'.

Draco was about to leave, but he bumped into a rack of seasonings on his way out, alerting the elves and Arden.

She laughed as Draco fumbled to straighten up the fallen spices, "you're an idiot and a half aren't you?" She teased before taking a bite from her bacon.

Draco scowled, "what do you mean and a half? I'm a whole person Diggory," he spat.

"And you take things too literally," she sighed. "Why are you down here, it's past your bed time Draco."

Draco found himself lost for words, as Arden had addressed him by his first name for he very first time. Arden noticed his shock and rolled her eyes, "excuse me for being polite, I don't really have the energy to bicker like children right now, I just want to eat."

"Well that's exactly why I came here," Draco said defensively.

Arden straightened her posture, subtly trying to compete with him. "Fine."

"Fine," Draco repeated in a more stern tone. He snatched a muffin from the basket beside Arden, but began tossing it between both of his hands as it was too hot for him to hold onto for more than a few seconds. Arden laughed at Draco's ridiculousness before holding her hand out towards Draco, but then lowering it slowly. Draco looked at her oddly, but then quickly realised what she was doing as he could feel the temperature of the muffin decrease as her hand lowered.

He looked at Arden with wide eyes, amazed at what she had done. But his amazement wiped away as a jealousy and confusion washed over him. "How did you do that?" He demanded.

Arden flashed a devilish smirk at Draco, mocking the one that was almost always plastered on his own face. "Magic," she teased.

"You did that without a wand... You didn't even need to say a spell..." He spoke slowly. He was undoubtedly impressed that she could do such a thing, half of the time in class she would always fumble clumsily and accidentally send objects flying, he'd yet to see her execute a spell without causing chaos, let alone cast a spell without a wand.

Arden shrugged as she jumped off of the counter. "I find that holding a wand is difficult as you probably know from you teasing me about it," Arden said with a hint of annoyance. "I could never get that bloody 'swish and flick' right!" She whined, increasing the pitch of her voice when impersonating Professor Flitwick, causing the corner's of Draco's mouth to curve upwards slightly.

"I don't know, I would always get it wrong, so I just tried my best to practice without one and it just... Worked I guess..." Arden sighed.

"You know the only wizards who can do that are Dumbledore and Merlin, right?" Draco said. Any hint of jealousy and hate towards her was now gone, even though the two fought a lot, he knew being nasty after she had opened up to him would just be too much, even for him.

Arden smirked, "and me," she added. "Maybe we're the only ones who realised that wands are impractical," she shrugged.

"Well if it's so easy then teach me," Draco added.

Arden scoffed, "and have you be an arrogant pig and brag about it?" She snapped, her softness quickly disappearing and her annoyance for Draco returning. "No thanks, I'd rather keep this as my little secret."

"Well it's so secret if you've just told me," Draco spat. "Why did you tell me? You hate me."

Arden looked away from Draco and stared down at the white kitchen tiles. Hate, a word she had never uttered when in relation to Draco Malfoy. Of course, she had her fair share of cursing and expressing her dislike for the blond, but never her hate.

She folded her arms and kept her eyes locked on the ground. "I don't hate you," she muttered, almost inaudible.

Draco smirked as he stepped closer to Arden, "I'm sorry Diggory, what was that? I couldn't hear you," he teased, although he definitely did hear her words, and he could feel his pride increasing because of it.

"I didn't say anything," Arden defended, but Draco wasn't buying it.

"No, no you definitely said something," he teased, stepping even closer towards her. The two were inches away from each other. Draco towered over the short Hufflepuff as he waited for her to clearly repeat her words from earlier, just so he could toss them around and have her never hear the end of it. He didn't know why exactly he wanted to tease her for it, but knowing that the beauty in front of him in fact didn't hate him entirely gave him a boost of confidence.

Arden glared up into his grey eyes. Her heart was beating at an alarmingly fast pace. She couldn't tell if it were because she was growing frustrated with him as each second passed, or if it were because he was so close to her. Draco's cool breath sent chills down her spine, making her feel smaller than she actually was. She shoved the tall blond away from her and sent a nasty glare his way.

"I don't hate you, but Merlin you do annoy the shit out of me," she spat. A smug grin formed on Draco's face at her words, causing Arden to grow annoyed at his cockiness. She clicked her fingers, and a frying pan on the counter near Draco levitated and smacked him on the shoulder.

Draco cursed, and glared at Arden, "for a Hufflepuff you sure don't have any patience do you?" He spat.

"It's only you that makes me so impatient," Arden muttered under her breath, just loud enough for the Slytherin to hear. Draco sighed as he leaned back on the counter, finally taking a bite out of the muffin he had taken.

"It's cold," he sighed. Arden looked up from the ground and stared at the blond. She held out her hand again and slowly raised it, making the muffin slightly warmer. Draco looked up at Arden who continued to avoid his gaze, but he noticed the quick glances she made towards him. He chuckled before taking another bite again, "thanks."

Arden nodded, "no problem, Draco." The two then stood in silence. Arden occasionally walking off to grab the two cups of water or whatever drink either of them felt like, but neither of them spoke another word.

Arden sighed as she wiped away the excess water on her top lip. "We're both so bipolar aren't we?" She joked.

Draco looked up at her with a raised eyebrow, "bipolar?"

"It's when you have these really manic episodes, then they die off I guess... I'm not really sure, probably shouldn't joke about that since it's an illness..." Arden sighed. "I'm just saying, you and I, we were literally bickering and then we were calm and what not. It's exhausting honestly."

Draco scoffed, "what, are you saying you want to end our legendary feud?" He joked.

"Well if you want to leave your mark on the world as the blond ferret who wouldn't stop fighting with Arden Diggory then sure let's keep going," she spat. Arden then groaned and put her head in her hands, "this is exactly what I'm talking about."

"We're too different. You're Arden Diggory; the perfect little princess of Hufflepuff who everyone adores. I'm just the slimy 'blond ferret' who everyone wants to kick in the nuts at least once." Draco sighed, "I'm just saying, if you're mentioning this because you want us to start getting along, it's just not going to work."

Arden sighed and took a sip of water. "Right, and as if I could be even on neutral terms with you anyway, Harry wouldn't let me."

Draco scoffed, "right, I just realised another reason why I can't be neutral with you, you're dating Potter." Arden scowled at Draco, but he just shrugged. "Why would you let Potter control who you can and can't like?" Draco asked. Before Arden could answer, Draco continued. "I'm not saying that because I don't like Potter -even though I bloody well despise him- I'm saying that because that's just common sense. You don't just let someone control you like that even if it's in small ways."

"What's this? Malfoy giving me advice?" Arden teased, wanting to drop the subject.

Draco sighed and headed towards the exit. "Another reason why we stay against each other. You can't even take me seriously when I'm trying to be genuine." Arden felt her stomach churn with guilt as she watched the blond begin to leave. Perhaps her and Draco Malfoy couldn't stop being enemies, maybe that's just how it was mapped out for them, but that didn't stop Arden feeling as if she could change it some how.

"I'm sorry," she called out, hoping that Draco would turn around and at least forgive her. Draco stopped in his tracks and turned his head slightly so he could see her out of the corner of his eye. He sighed and began to leave again, but not without saying one last thing.

"Good night Arden."

-

Arden sat with Harry's arm draped over her shoulder at the Gryffindor table. She picked at her pancakes, not feeling hungry for breakfast at all. She wasn't sure if it were all of the food she had eaten so early in the morning, or if it were the unsettling memory of Draco calling her by her first name. It rung through her mind over and over, the way that Arden rolled off his tongue so perfectly, smoother than silk. It was an unfamiliar sound uttered by the Slytherin, such a new and different experience that it left Arden in a state of shock.

Harry looked over to his girlfriend and noticed she wasn't eating. "You alright? You've barely had a bite," he asked with concern. Arden snapped out of her thoughts and looked into Harry's green eyes that she adored so much. 

"Yeah, I think I'm still full from sneaking into the kitchens last night," she laughed. Harry rolled his eyes and buried his face in the crook of her neck, the coldness of his glasses against her skin tickling her, causing her to giggle.

"You need to stop doing that!" Harry laughed as he pulled Arden closer to her, making her grin wider. Draco watched the two closely from the Slytherin table. Pansy Parkinson had her head leaned on his shoulder, but Draco was too focused on Arden and Harry to shoo her away. He couldn't tell if he was staring because the public display of affection disgusted him, or if it were just Arden that he was captivated by.

He shook his head to clear that last thought, but kept watching the two anyway. Harry took a bite of Arden's pancakes, but grimaced. "They're cold," he whined. Arden's eyes widened and a grin formed on her face as she reached into her robes.

"Oh! I can fix it, I've been practicing a spell-"

"Oh honey no you don't need to-" Harry tried, knowing that Arden wasn't particularly great at magic, but seeing the excitement on her face, he stopped himself and encouraged her, although he shifted away from her slightly as he braced for whatever disaster would occur.

Arden pointed her wand at the plate in front of her. She knew she had to get better at casting spells with a wand eventually, she couldn't just go through classes changing the way she had to do things just so it benefited her by using her hands, she knew it wouldn't be allowed. Arden muttered a spell and waved her wand. She sighed as nothing happened, but quickly shot up from the table as a fire erupted on the table.

Pansy Parkinson fell to the floor from laughter, but Draco sat still in his seat, feeling pity for Arden. After her telling him that she had immense difficulty with wand magic, he felt bad for teasing her for years about her being clumsy. He knew now that she was in fact magically talented, just not with a wand. 

Harry frantically searched for his wand to put the fire out, but Arden waved him off. "No no! It's okay! I'll put it out-"

"Arden no!" Hermione shouted, but it was too late.

"Aguamenti!" Arden yelled. Instead of a light shower of water being emitted from her wand, a high powered jet stream of water shot out of her wand, sending her flying across the hall. Pansy began to cackle louder, while Draco got up from his seat and sprinted to the other side of the hall where Arden had landed. 

Arden groaned as she rubbed the back of her head. The room was spinning, and the voices of the students were silenced by the sound of something ringing. Draco was the first one by her side, which caused some to hurry by her side and try and push him away, but he refused to move. 

"Arden? Arden, are you alright!?" Cedric asked in a hurried tone, holding her face in his hands. He ran his fingers through her hair to check her skull for injuries, then sighed of relief when he found none. Harry soon ran to Cedric's side to check on Arden. Neither of the two boys noticed the blond search his robe for something as they were too busy focusing on the concussed girl in front of them.

Draco pulled out a small vial and handed it to Harry. "Give her this, it'll-"

"I won't give her your bloody poison, Malfoy!" Harry spat. He smacked the vial out of Draco's hand, sending it right into Arden's face. Arden screamed as the glass shattered, causing shards of class to cut deep into her cheeks, and dangerously close to her eyes. Harry cursed and apologised almost a million times as he tried to wipe away the pouring blood, but Cedric pushed him away.

"Get out of here Harry! You just wasted a potion that was going to help her and made her condition even worse," Cedric spat. Harry glared at Draco and Cedric, feeling completely hurt that his girlfriend's own brother would defend Draco over him. He got up and stood away from the two, but didn't dare to leave Arden from his sight. Cedric sighed as he carefully picked up a crying Arden in his arms. "Do you mind grabbing her stuff over there and bringing it to the hospital wing?" Cedric asked Draco.

Draco looked at Cedric with a confused look. He didn't understand why Cedric would want his help over Harry's, or even at least Ron or Hermione's, even the incredibly clumsy Lena Oxton would have more of Cedric's trust than him. 

"W-why me?" Draco stuttered. He of course wanted to help, but he was also conflicted. Arden was supposed to be his enemy, yet here he was, wasting a precious potion to make sure she was okay, assisting Cedric with getting her to the hospital wing. He knew he somewhat liked the Diggory girl, but at the same time, Draco Malfoy was incredibly confused.

"Because you tried to help my little sister, and for that, I at least somewhat respect you," Cedric said. Draco nodded hesitantly and retrieved Arden's belongings from the Gryffindor table, ignoring all of the dirty glares that were sent his way. He followed Cedric towards the hospital wing. He had a war with himself, whether or not he had feelings for her or if he hated her.

Either way, all Draco could think about, was Arden Diggory.

~

I haven't edited this at all so my apologies.

I just got back from Japan! It was so amazing, I went to HP world at USJ and got a Hufflepuff scarf!! I can cosplay as Arden now since I literally based her off of my appearance and just chose Emilia as a face claim bc y'all needed a FC. The HP rides were great but they'll never top that spider man ride... boy that was truly my favourite.

Annyyywayyy, love you all! I can't wait for Drarden to pull the anchor and finally start sailing, even though it won't happen for a while.

Toodleoo xx