You guys are gonna love this chapter ehehe

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The ground was ice cold. She couldn't hear or see anything, but she was in pain. 

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Draco

It was Monday now, a mere 24 hours after Draco thought he wouldn't be seeing Taylor for a while. They met outside of the Great Hall, discussing where they wanted to eat breakfast. There weren't many options since it was raining outside.  They decided on Hufflepuff's common room. Draco thought that she'd be more comfortable there.

He had an egg sandwich, bacon, and a muffin. She had a slice of toast and half a boiled egg. Which is better than before, this is the first thing she's eaten since Saturday. They sat on the couch and he started discussing the history and origins of the English muffin, then talked about 'nine different ways to cook your eggs.' She kept laughing and smiling, but most importantly, she wasn't focusing on eating. He didn't know the right things he should ask her, so after they finished eating he just kept talking. He tried to show her how to juggle, which wasn't the best idea.

He had been juggling pillows, but they were too big for Taylor so she wanted to use Reducio on them. She somehow was able to miss all of the pillows and shrink the couch, got startled by her own spell, shrank the table, and shattered a window. It took Draco ten minutes to sort everything out. It wasn't much better once the pillows were smaller. She had him explain it over and over again.

"Throw, throw, catch, throw, yeah." "You need to throw them higher." "You know, it would help if you could actually catch them, Tiny." 

Thirty frustrating minutes later, she could juggle two things at a time. They took that as a win. Draco brought her to the courtyard and they played tag in the rain. They were constantly slipping in the mud and were absolutely drenched. He chased her around the old tree, between the benches, and finally caught up to her after two laps around the path. There was a giant flash of lightning and a loud crack in the sky. He reached his arm out and just barely grabbed her elbow, pulling her back and holding her to his chest, laughing and out of breath. She was quiet and her eyes were shut tight, her hands clasped around his. Draco hadn't noticed her perfectly manicured hands until now. He rests his chin on her shoulder and stared down at them. They were soft and gentle. Little cuts fell all over them, and they were covered in mud. Draco's hands were muddy too, probably even more so, and a lot bigger than Taylor's. Her hands were shaking now.

He stood there with his chin leaned on her shoulder, hugging her to him. "Do you wanna go inside?" He asked finally. "Yeah." Her voice was so quiet he could barely hear her over the rain and thunder. She didn't speak to him for an hour after that. Draco could see frustration and embarrassment all over her face as she sat thinking and staring at the floor. They've been standing in an empty corridor because Taylor had stopped walking and refused to leave from that spot. Every so often she would stop her intense thinking and start counting. She was pacing around the area in a very odd way. Draco wasn't sure what she was doing or what to do about it.

"I think we should go back now," he said to her. She didn't even look up at him, "No... no. Not yet." 

"Why not?" He sounded annoyed when he asked, which, he was, but only slightly. He didn't mean to come off like that. But then again, Taylor didn't seem to notice. She shook her head and kept pacing. "Thirty-three, thirty-six, thirty-nine..." Her pacing stopped and she looked at him smiling, "We can go now." Draco was so confused. He's been learning to just go with it. Taylor wasn't exactly 'normal' but he liked that about her. Draco liked trying to figure her out and the feeling he got when she saw that he understood. He figures it must be awfully lonely in that brain of hers. He's been lonely for a while now and hated wondering how bad it was for her.

He liked to think that they help each other. Taylor doesn't know that she's been helping Draco by letting him help her. He's never been so interested in another person before. The last few days have been better with her around. He's laughed more in the past few hours than he has since the start of the school year. His parents would never approve, not with her Muggle blood. He knew his chances of changing their minds were incredibly low. They would just have to get over it.

Stop. He should not be thinking about introducing her to his parents. He should not be thinking about their future. They don't have a future, okay? Not yet, at least. She didn't even like him. He didn't like her, either. 

Well, maybe he was falling in love with her. 

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They reached her dorm and Draco got in the shower. Out of both of them, there was a significantly more amount of mud on him. He laughed to himself when he saw her overly-organized bathroom. The hot water felt like heaven on Draco's freezing skin. The shampoo and conditioner smelt faintly of roses. Draco just rinsed out his hair when he heard the door open. It was Tiny.

"Draco?" 

"Yes?" He was surprised at her being in the bathroom. She probably just had to brush her teeth. 

"I'm coming in the shower with you." 

"What?-" The curtain slid open and Taylor stepped into the shower. Draco wasn't exactly opposed, it's not like he hasn't been thinking about this happening. A smirk formed on his face when she got in, but it instantly turned into laughter. Tiny was fully clothed in the shower. 

"You're so weird," he laughed while she pushed past him to wet her hair. "Do you often take your showers with clothes on?"

"Only sometimes." She started washing her hair. Draco didn't know if she was being serious, with all of the strange things she does it wouldn't surprise him if this was one of them. After she rinsed her hair she pulled her shirt off. She was facing away from Draco, whose mouth fell open. 

"And why did you have to shower now?" He was staring at her back, noticing a small scar near the top of her shoulder. Her skin was flawed, yet he thought it was perfect. 

"Saves water," she shrugged. Draco didn't understand this, they were literally in a giant castle that teaches magic. It was probably a Muggle thing. She pulled down her joggers and underwear and hung them over the shower door. Draco was speechless. Taylor often did strange things. She spent the last hour pacing and counting. He wasn't sure if this was one of those times. If so, should he just continue showering like normal? Get out and leave? If not... If not, what would he do? 

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Taylor

Draco just got in the shower. They were both covered in mud and freezing. She felt bad after he stayed with her for an hour while her brain got stuck. It happened a lot. She would get stuck having to think about something over and over. Sometimes she had to count, sometimes she had to step on certain places. Taylor has lost a lot of time because of it. And since Draco lost an hour of his time because of her, she let him shower first. She felt uncomfortable standing there, somehow able to feel every inch of skin that had mud on it. It was more her hair that was a problem. It was messy and tangled in mud. The obvious solution is to shower, so she went to the bathroom. She nearly forgot to tell Draco she was there and almost stepped in with him without announcing herself. 

Taylor couldn't take off her clothes yet, she had to wear them in the shower until she was done washing her hair. It was incredibly difficult to explain why she had to do these things. She just has to. 

Now she was naked, now she was aware of the boy standing right behind her. Her heart was racing. She was in the shower with Draco Malfoy. She was embarrassed at first, but he hasn't left yet. Taylor thought if that meant he wanted to be there. Surely he would have left if he wasn't interested in her. Her head hurt from thinking about it so much. She wondered if Draco could hear her heart beating. She took a deep breath and turned to face him. They kept eye contact for what felt like hours. It could have been ten seconds or twenty minutes. And in a wave of confidence, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed his lips. She fell back down on her feet, a million thoughts twisting in her mind. His hand slipped around her back and he leaned down to kiss her.

And they kissed again and again. Over and over until they couldn't breathe. Her hands were resting on his chest. He had one hand on her back and one holding her face. "You should finish showering," she breathed, smiling uncontrollably. She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her. It was the first time she hasn't finished her routine. The thought sat uneasily in her mind, but she had more important things to think about. Like his lips on hers.

-

Winter break came sooner than expected. Draco and Taylor continued spending every day together. Eating was becoming easier, and she would add a little more to her plate each time. Back at her home, she spent Christmas with her father in their little one-bedroom apartment. She offered him the bed every time she was home, but he always refused. He bought a small Christmas tree from the market, it was barely three feet tall. Taylor wished she could use magic outside of school to do an enlargement charm on it. She could decorate it magically as well. 

On Christmas morning, she woke to the smell of bacon. That was her favorite breakfast food. She jumped out of bed and hurried to the kitchen. They were wearing matching pajamas. Every single Christmas before they died, Ana and mum wore them too. Now only Taylor and her dad were left to keep the tradition. Under the little tree, there were three perfectly wrapped presents. Two of them were from Taylor, and one was for her. She was able to eat her food with no problems, it wasn't that difficult when there was bacon.

They sat on the couch with their presents. She tore the paper off of the small box, and inside was a ring. It was beautiful and made out of gold. "How much was this?" She asked in disbelief. "Don't worry about that, do you like it?" Her dad always tried to hide how little money they had. She knew he couldn't afford a gold ring, it was probably gold-plated. But it didn't matter if it was real or not, she genuinely appreciated it. "I love it dad, thank you!" 

She watched excitedly as he opened his gift. The first was a picture of their family. She spent hours looking through photo books and digital cameras to find it. Tears started to pool in her father's eyes when we saw it. They laughed and cried together, wishing Ana and mum were still here. "They're always here. I know that they are. They're right here with us." His dad's voice sounded hopeful instead of sad like it usually was when he talked about them. 

His second gift was a ticket to a football game. Dad loved football, he used to watch it every day on the tv. They had to sell it a while ago, but now he could watch it in person. "Taylor! You didn't!" He was so happy, she hasn't seen him like this in so long. 

After spending a few more hours together, Taylor went out on a 'walk.' She was really going to buy weed from some kid she used to go to primary school with. Taylor thought it was funny how they used to play tag together, and now he's dealing drugs. Not only that, Taylor was a witch now. Well, she's always been a witch but didn't know it when they were friends. She's smoked weed twice before. It was really fun so she wanted to do it again. She wanted to bring it back to Hogwarts and smoke with her friends. Most of them probably don't even know what weed is.

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Draco

Winter break was finally over. Draco couldn't go another day without seeing her. He knocked on her door and it opened almost immediately. Her face lit up at the sight of him. She squealed and threw her arms around him before kissing him. They sat on her bed and talked about their Christmas. "I got a lot of new clothes," Draco started, "I've been outgrowing my old ones and needed more. Mum also got me a new broom. It's a firebolt, the new edition. What did you get?"

Taylor sat pondering the question as if she never heard of getting presents on Christmas. "My dad got me this ring," she held out her hand. A little gold ring sat on her middle finger. It was almost falling off. Draco saw it was turning her finger green, it wasn't real. Did she know? "I got him a ticket to a football game and a picture of our family," She was excited talking about how happy her dad was and getting him ready by painting colors on his face. He felt awful. She got a fake ring for Christmas and spent all of her money on her dad. She shouldn't have to do that.

"I'd rather spend money on someone else than myself. But I did buy one thing for myself. It's actually for a few people..." She dug through her things and pulled out a plastic bag. Draco smirked, it was weed. "I thought we could smoke together. Me, you, and your friends. My friends don't like drugs or trust anything Muggle." 

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They had gathered in the Slytherin common room. Draco, Taylor, Pansy, and Blaise. The others weren't too upset that Draco brought her into their common room again because she brought weed. Pansy never smoked before and was excited to try it. Blaise only took one hit from the bong, said that was enough for him. Pansy only took three and was off her shit. Draco and Taylor kept passing the bong back and forth between them, taking eight or nine hits. Everything was funnier after smoking it. The walls and the floor felt like they were vibrating. Draco leaned onto the couch, staring at his hands and laughing. He suddenly felt sick. 

He went to the bathroom and sat on the floor for twenty minutes before deciding he was fine. But when he got back, Taylor and Blaise were gone. Pansy was laying on the floor and looking at the ceiling, giggling to herself. Draco couldn't think about where Taylor was. He couldn't focus his thoughts on one thing. He brought himself to Taylor's dorm, expecting her to be there. 

Her dorm was empty. Draco sat on her bed and waited. He should be looking for her, but he was too high to even move. He didn't know how much time had passed when Taylor finally came in the door. She was shaking, her makeup was smudged and her eyes were puffy from crying. She looked at him and said very flatly, "Please leave." 

He wasn't as high as he was before but still couldn't comprehend what was going on. "Are you okay?" He managed to ask. She shook her head and repeated, "Please leave." Draco wasn't going anywhere. "Talk to me, Tiny. What happened?" She started to cry again and sat next to him. He put his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder. He was ready to kill anyone who made her upset.

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HUGE content warning for the next chapter.