Snow and Warm Cloaks (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

Tiny glittering flecks swirled around me, enclosing me in my own frozen paradise. I stood in the center of the courtyard; my arms spread wide open and my eyes closed as the snowflakes bit at my exposed skin, leaving it numb and red. I didn’t mind, though. I loved the snow and, considering this was the first snow of the year, I was in my own state of bliss.
“(Y.N.)! Come on!” Hermione yelled out from the doorway to the school. She was impatiently squirming, trying to protect herself and her books from the snow that fell around her. She mustered a sound of protest and shuffled back farther into the hallway. “We’re going to be late!”
My eyelids twitched open and I squinted against the brightness that enveloped me. I grinned at the grounds, which had now been enveloped in a blanket of glistening white, as if everything were made of diamonds. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and there was no way I wanted to leave.
“Go ahead!” I called out behind me to my shivering friend. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“No you won’t,” I heard Hermione grumble. Her footsteps slowly began to echo across the stone floor as she started to walk away. “Are you sure you don’t want me to wait?”
She was just trying to be polite. I knew that in her head, she was dying to escape away from the bitter cold. To her, winter was a nuisance that drenched her robes and frizzed her hair, chilling her to the bone. To me, it was my own playground that held a magical value more potent than even the one waiting for me inside the school. Hermione’s footsteps gradually grew quieter as she headed off towards the Great Hall, ready to have dinner. I giggled as I twirled around in circles, relishing in my own happiness.
Somewhere to my left, footsteps crunched across the frozen ground, though I was oblivious. I continued twirling around, laughing without a care in the world.  As I spun, my foot caught on a patch of ice and I slipped, falling flat against the ground. As I fought to catch my breath, I continued giggling again, which turned into an eruption of full-on laughter. My eyes squinted closed as I threw my head back, laughing at my silliness.
“Something funny, is there?”
My laughter faded away as a cool, dry voice met my ears. I opened my eyes and tilted my head back to see none other than Draco Malfoy standing behind me. He was tall and looming in comparison to me, who was still lying down on the ground. He stood over me, his posture rigid and tense, as if he would give anything to be somewhere else. His hair, I noticed, was the same color as the snow, allowing the snow to seamlessly disappear once it touched his head. His face was pale also, though it was shadowed. I had noticed recently that he seemed more tired, that the area around his eyes had taken a dark purple tint and his face was more angular. I had started to worry a little, and even confided this to Hermione, much to her dismay. She held disdain towards Draco, though I had always tried to be pleasant to him, even if he had been cruel in the past. Now a days, he had been mysteriously withdrawn, which worried me more than I would have been if he was out taunting the school again.
“Hi, Draco,” I said, clearing my throat. “Enjoying the weather?” I felt awkward talking to him. He looked at me disdainfully, as if disappointed by my behavior. My eyes darted around, trying not to focus on him for too long. I wondered if I should get up—I was starting to feel uncomfortable on the ground as he towered over me.
“No.” His voice was blank and low, void of all emotion. “Though I would assume that you are. Your robes are absolutely drenched in snow, if you didn’t know. And your face is very red.”
“I don’t mind,” I said. I tried to smile, though I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. My heart was pounding in my chest, though I was sure it wasn’t from me twirling around earlier. “I like the snow.”
“You’re going to fall ill.” He stepped back a little, as if realizing that I might be contagious. He rubbed his gloved hands together and I noticed his nose was starting to turn pink.
“No I won’t,” I said confidently. “I have an immune system of steal.” Snow continued to fall around us and the conversation broke into an awkward silence. Draco’s fingers were tapping absentmindedly against the outside of his cloak, and he looked off somewhere into the distance. I wondered if he was going to leave, and I bit my lip, surprised to feel my stomach drop slightly.
“Well,” Draco said after a while. “Aren’t you going to get up?”
“Oh.” I felt my face heat up, though it was red enough as it was. I sat up, brushing some of the excess snow off my cloak, though it didn’t do much to help. “Y-yeah, I guess I’ll just—“
I was broken off by seeing a gloved hand stick out in front of my vision. I stared at it for a second, before following it up to see Draco staring down at me expectantly. “Well?” His voice sounded slightly annoyed, though it faded off a bit at the end, as if he was nervous. “I don’t have all day.”
I grabbed his hand slowly, my red wool glove bright against his black, dragon skin one. He tugged lightly on my hand, pulling me up until I was standing in front of him. He looked me up and down, scrutinizing me and I felt my face heat up once more.
“Your hair is a mess,” he said finally, reaching up. My eyes widened in surprise as his hand gently touched the top of my head, smoothing it down. “Like the rest of you, it’s drenched with snow.” His gray eyes met mine, and I broke my eyes away, blushing even more. Draco continued smoothing down my hair, his hands extremely gentle. “You’re either very stupid, or very reckless. Or both. Which isn’t a good combination, at all.”
I bit my lip, annoyance sparking in my veins. I stepped back, allowing his hands to fall down back to his sides. He stared at me, his eyebrows raised. I folded my arms across my chest, my eyes squinting. “I’m not stupid,” I stated bluntly.
He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it, shaking his head. “Come on.” He started to walk away, his cloak trailing behind him. “We’re late for dinner.”
At first, I decided that I would stay there in the snow and let him walk away. I didn’t particularly like being insulted, as much as I tried to be nice to Draco. But, as I lingered behind, a cold chill ran up my spine and I realized just how cold I actually was. I looked down and saw that my robes and cloak were, in fact, entirely drenched. I winced, wondering what I looked like and I felt immediately embarrassed for looking so bad in front of Draco…
My eyes widened in shock. In front of Draco? Since when was I so selfish that I started caring about how I looked in front of others? Especially Draco Malfoy?
I shook my head and started walking, eager for once to get out of the cold. Draco had stopped ahead by the doorway, waiting impatiently, like Hermione had, for me to hurry up. He held the door open and stepped aside as I approached, and I stuck my chin up and nodded my thanks as I walked through the door. I was still annoyed that he had called me stupid.
The door closed behind him and we were thrown into silence, except for the sound of our shoes hitting against the floor. Mine squeaked very loudly (and incredibly embarrassingly) with each step I took, trailing water behind me. The floor was precariously slippery due to the water trailed everywhere and I prayed that I wouldn’t slip into the mush. The last thing I wanted was to embarrass myself even more in front of Draco. While my steps were loud and clumsy, his were soft, only barely tapping the floor. In my head, I cursed his stupid, expensive, no doubt specially-crafted shoes.
While we walked, I felt more rushes of cold trail up my spine, causing me to shiver. I bit my lip, wondering if I would catch a cold.
“Wait.”
I stopped in surprise at the sound of Draco’s voice and turned around expectantly. My eyes widened as I saw that he was taking off his cloak, and I blushed heavily at the sight of him undressing. With his cloak in hand, he walked up to me, holding out his hand. When I looked at him blankly, he sighed as if I was wasting his time. “Take off your cloak. You’re cold—don’t try to hide it. If you sit in that thing for any longer, you’re going to freeze yourself to death.”
“Oh,” I stated dumbly, wincing. That’s a good way to prove to him that you aren’t stupid. I slowly started to take off my cloak, trying to hide the blush that was spreading even quicker across my face. Once it was off, I handed it to him and he took it, holding out his to me expectantly. When I continued to stare at him blankly, he groaned and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling.
“Put this on. It’s made of the best-quality fur one can find. It will keep you warm. As for this one…” He looked at my cloak with his nose crinkled. “…Well, it’s quite cheaply made.” I shot him a look and he backtracked. “I didn’t mean to imply anything by it. I was just stating the truth.”
My nose twitched as I still refused to take his cloak. “I wouldn’t want to get your precious cloak wet with my peasant-like snow. It would be a waste of your precious money.”
His eyes twitched in annoyance. “For the love of Merlin, come here,” he snapped, grabbing my arm. I jumped a little bit at his tone, but he ignored me and instead pulled me forward until I was right in front of him. He tossed my cloak over his shoulder and took his cloak in both hands and placed it around my shoulders. As he was fastening it closed, I couldn’t help but stare up at him. He was quite tall, much taller than I would of thought. My head came up just to his chest, and I had to look straight up to see the rest of his face. Like his hair, his eyelashes were pale and almost white, though they were also quite long. I could see them rest against his cheeks as he focused on closing the cloak. Also, up close, I noticed just how tired he looked. Bluish veins created a network of lines just beneath the skin of his eyelids, casting a dark tint. His eyelids were puffy and swollen, as if he hadn’t slept in days. His skin was paler than pale; it was practically translucent.
“There. Now you should be warm.” Draco tugged on my collar and looked up, catching me staring at him. Our eyes met for what seemed like decades, gray taking over my vision. After what seemed like eternity, his eyes hardened and his mouth folded into a straight line. Our eyes remained locked, and it was as if I could see straight into his soul. And then Draco leaned in towards me. My heart began to race and the back of my neck tingled as anticipation washed over me. Draco grabbed my shoulders and…
Pushed me away from him. Of course, it was just a light push, nothing catastrophic, but still. I was no longer right in front of him, and instead stood a few feet away from him. Surprise washed over me, along with something else… Disappointment.
Ignoring me, he pushed past me and made his way down the hallway, turning and disappearing into the Great Hall. I sighed heavily as I watched him disappear, remorse settling over me. It was entirely inappropriate of me to have been staring at him like that, but he had also stared back at me, right? And I had been so sure that he was going to kiss me…
Maybe I couldn’t tell the difference between lust and annoyance.
*EXTENDED ENDING*
I had arrived to dinner very late, as Draco had predicted. I only had time to eat a little bit of potato before everyone started moving out and the plates started to disappear. Hermione, Ginny, Ron, and Harry had already left to go to the common room, so I had taken my time as I slowly walked out of the Great Hall and into the hallway. The hallway was mostly empty now, except for a few stragglers, and I stood by a window, looking out at the courtyard where Draco and I had previously been.
Ever since Draco and my encounter, he had been on my mind, as much as I hated to admit it. When I walked into the Great Hall, I had seen him sitting at the Slytherin table, and I quickly looked down, desperate to not make any more eye contact. When I had gotten up to leave, I had looked over quickly at the table to see that he had already left. My stomach had dropped slightly and I scolded myself. Disappointment wasn’t an emotion that I was used to when dealing with Draco Malfoy.
As I stood looking out the window, footsteps echoed behind me, and I turned around to see, once again, the blonde-haired boy. He stood with his hands in his pockets, looking at me expectantly. I jumped, realizing that I was still wearing his jacket. “Oh! Sorry… Your jacket…” I stammered out, fumbling with the clasp.
The cloak had succeeded in keeping me warm, the fur soft and comforting. I was sad to see it go, but it was Draco’s, and who knew how expensive it was.
As I fumbled with the clasp, Draco held out his hand, stopping me. “Don’t worry about it,” he said his voice as blank as always, though his other hand was tapping against the side of his pants as it had been earlier. “You can keep it.”
“Wha-“
“I gave your other cloak to some house elves to clean, though it still isn’t particularly decent. I figured that you deserved to have something of substantial value that will keep you warm when I’m not around, as you do seem to be quite reckless. I have another one up in my dorm room that I can use, so don’t worry about me.” He looked at me critically, looking me up and down once more.
“Are you su-“
“Yes, I’m sure. I wouldn’t be giving it to you if I wasn’t absolutely positive, would I? I’m not stupid. The cloak is yours…” His voice trailed off and he caught my eyes, holding them in place. “By the way… I don’t do this very often, so don’t get used to it, but… I apologize. For calling you stupid. You are rather intelligent, to put it simply. I can see how I offended you.”
I was surprised, to put it lightly. Not only was Draco Malfoy giving me his cloak, but he was also apologizing. To me. And he told me that he thought I was smart. I stammered out an awkward “thank you”, and he nodded and sighed, coming to stand beside me at the window. I could almost feel the heat coming off of him, almost like an electric current was flowing between us. I smiled and blushed, for what was probably the hundredth time that day. We stayed like that for a while, staring out at the snow together.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” I hummed slightly, smiling out at the snow. Now that I was no longer cold, I could fully appreciate its glistening beauty once more.
“Yes, you are.” Draco said absentmindedly, before tensing in shock.
I turned to him. “What did you say?”
“N-nothing,” he stammered, avoiding my gaze. Draco Malfoy was stammering? He continued talking. “Um. Are you feeling okay? You were out in the cold for a while. You aren’t feeling ill or anything, right?”
I turned back to the window, grinning. “Nope. I’m fine.”
“Good. That would be most unfortu-“
He was cut off by me sneezing loudly.
*A FEW HOURS LATER*
Argus Filch groaned as he swished the mop over the soaking wet floor. Dirt and slush was tracked all the way down the hallway and throughout most of the school. In the hallway he was in currently, there seemed to be even more slush, and it all seemed to have come from one person.
“Stupid kids,” he muttered to himself and he continued mopping.