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A Matter of Time	By : AdaraB Category: Harry Potter AU/AR > Het - Male/Female Views: 7796 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything in the Harry Potter universe. I own nothing and I make no profit off of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Chapter 14 – Apology

16 November

It seemed to Ashleigh that the month of November was flying by extremely fast. It had been a month to the day that she arrived in this time from the future although she felt as if she had been in this time forever. Her studies were progressing nicely, she was now almost up to the fourth year level. She did love her sessions with the professors, the one on one was very helpful since she had so much catching up to do. Still, she was glad that she had escaped the boredom that was Binns. Everyone had warned her that the ghost was snooze worthy. They had told her about all the professors although she didn’t agree with the Slytherin’s assessment of Professor McGonagall. They had all insisted that she was an unfair witch, that she favored the Gryffindor’s because she was their Head of House. She didn’t know about any of that because she didn’t attend the regularly scheduled classes. She did however, know that the professor had been perfectly fair to her and she had only received constructive criticism. She also knew that McGonagall knew how to give one mean test, one of which she was busy with at the moment.

Just as Professor McGonagall called time, Ashleigh finished checking her paper. Getting up from her desk she handed the paper in, satisfied that she had done well.

“Thank you Miss Grey. And I would like to tell you that your essays have improved tremendously since the beginning of our sessions. Your last was of outstanding quality.”

“Thank you professor. I’ve been studying Transfiguration with Hermione, she’s so much better at it than I am. I’ve had her explain things to me until she is blue in the face, I still can’t believe she puts up with me.” Ashleigh stated, mad at herself for not being as good at Transfiguration as she was at Potions. She wasn’t used to not being good at something.

“Nonsense, you manage extremely well in my class. You catch onto things faster than most of my students. Not one of them could boast completing three years of schooling within a month.” McGonagall looked as though she would fight Ashleigh to the death if she denied herself proper recognition again.

“Thank you, professor.” She said demurely.

“Do enjoy your weekend. Try to have a relaxing one, even though it is a Hogsmeade weekend. With those friends of yours, I imagine it will be hard to manage. I honestly don’t know how you managed to get Potter, Weasley, Granger and Malfoy to become friends. I never thought I would live to see the day that happened.” McGonagall said with a perplexed look.

“It was the Slytherin in me and I suppose a bit of the Gryffindor as well. The Sorting Hat did say it had a hard time placing me.”

“I’m not surprised. I could see you placed in all of the houses, well, except perhaps Hufflepuff. They are a bit too emotional now and then.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Ashleigh left the Transfiguration classroom, she nearly ran straight into Draco.

“Where’s the fire Draco?” She said with a laugh.

“What?” He asked, clearly perplexed.

“Oh, sorry. American Muggle expression. I was asking what’s your hurry.” She explained.

“I was coming to walk you down to dinner. I thought you may like some company, after all, a beautiful girl like you shouldn’t have to walk down to the Great Hall all by herself.” He stated gallantly.

“Well, I thank you kind sir, your accompaniment down to the Great Hall would be much appreciated.” Ashleigh wove her right arm through his and they set off down the hall.

Draco couldn’t believe his good fortune. He had known that she would take his flirtation in stride, but to actually play along and weave her arm through his, he hadn’t expected that. He also hadn’t expected her to keep her hold on him as they continued their journey to the Great Hall.

“So how was your test?” He asked his throat a bit dry.

“I think it went well. McGonagall said I’ve really improved on my essays. It is such a relief that I’m doing better, I was afraid that I’d fall behind and not be able to join the seventh year classes after Winter break.”

“I don’t think you could ever fall that far behind, especially because of how hard you’ve been working. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. All of the professors think the sun shines out of your arse!” He said, playfully nudging her in the side.

“Hardy har har. Next you’ll be telling me that if I had been sorted into Gryffindor, the professor’s admiration of me would be complete.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you were a mind reader too!”

“Oh, shut up! You’re a git sometimes, you know that right?” She said with a smile.

“I know.” He smiled back.

They entered the Great Hall still locked arm in arm and sauntered over to the Slytherin table like royalty. Well everyone else thought they looked like Slytherin royalty which is why Pansy Parkinson had such a horrified look on her face.

She couldn’t stand it! She didn’t know how that cow had managed to grab Draco’s attention. She didn’t know what he saw in her. If he was looking for a girl with dark hair and perfectly pale skin, well then she was right here damn it! How dare he choose her over the girl he had grown up with, the girl his parents had thought Draco would marry? Once Blaise put his plan into action, that cow would be completely occupied and Draco would want her once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashleigh woke early the next morning. Taking care while dressing, she chose a pair of dark wash boot cut jeans and an emerald green v-neck henly. She had always been told by her parents that the color green brought out the green in her eyes. Ever since she had been told that fact she chose clothing that brought out the green. She didn’t want people to think she was completely vain, so she accepted the compliment with a smile and a thank you every time she heard it, silently pleased that she had managed to bring out that feature. She considered her eyes to be her best feature; she didn’t think she was a knock out by any means.

Shrugging on her black, wool, hip length pea coat she exited her rooms. Once again, she almost walked into Draco.

“Is it a fantasy of yours to have me walk all over you?”

Draco was a bit mystified at the possible implications of that question. Yes, he would like to have her ‘all over’ him. Just in a different way that what she was obviously thinking. He quickly replied to her question hoping she wouldn’t convey anything through his silence.

“My, what a smart mouth you have this morning.” He said, eyebrows raised.

“The better to bite your head off, my dear!” She said with a wolfish grin.

Draco swallowed loudly, taking her statement in a completely different context form what she meant.

“You look nice today, very Slytherin.” He noted, taking in the green top and black coat. “The green brings out your eyes.” He said seriously, his eyes studying her own.

“Thanks.” She said, blushing. She turned her head, uncomfortable with his unwavering stare. What was wrong with her? People complimented her eyes all the time and she had never blushed like a silly school girl before! But there had also never been someone like Draco to give her that compliment before either.

Together they walked to the Great Hall in companionable silence. At the doors, they split ways as she had promised to eat breakfast with Harry since she was going to Hogsmeade with Draco.

Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were already seated at the Gryffindor table munching on their breakfast.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?” Ashleigh asked as she took her place beside Harry. This spot had become her designated place at the Gryffindor table since she found out about her relation to Harry. It made her an honorary Gryffindor of sorts.

“Hi, how’d your test go yesterday?” Harry asked. Harry had taken it upon himself to keep track of how she was doing in school like a concerned older brother. She enjoyed the fact that he was worried about her progress, it showed he cared and she didn’t mind one bit since she did the same to him.

“It went pretty well I think. McGonagall said my essays have really improved so of course I told her that all the credit should go to Hermione since I would have failed miserably without her help.” She said, giving Hermione a grateful smile.

Hermione’s blush was almost Weasleyish in color.

“How have your classes been going, dear cousin? Have you decided that Potions really is your favorite class yet?” She inquired. She had been teasing him constantly about his complaints of ‘the greasy git of the dungeons.’ She really couldn’t understand how she could love it so much and he hated it so much considering they were related. She also found no problem with Professor Snape; he was perfectly civil to her. She had heard that he was unfair to those in a house other than Slytherin, but he couldn’t be that bad could he? She would just have to wait and see when she joined regular classes in January.

Harry scoffed at her question.

“As if I’ll ever like Potions; well I might, if Snape wasn’t teaching it. He makes it hard to concentrate while he’s standing over me mocking me about being the ‘Boy Who Lived’ and all that rot.” Harry exclaimed grumpily. “But my other classes are going well; I got full marks on my test in Transfiguration.” He said happily, the memory instantly making giving him higher spirits.

“So you’re going with Draco to Hogsmeade, right?” Harry asked, once again making suggestive movements with his eyebrows.

Ashleigh nearly pushed him into Ginny who was talking to a sixth year girl sitting next to her.

“Would you stop that, we’re just friends. I went to Hogsmeade with you guys last time and it didn’t mean I was trying to jump your bones. We’re friends. And besides, I thought I’d give him a way out from hanging out with the douche bag brothers.” She said, in true Gryffindor form (she is an honorary Gryffindor after all), referring to Crabbe and Goyle.

Harry nearly spewed his pumpkin juice, he was laughing so hard. Ron and Hermione had a break in their own conversation when she said this and also started laughing. Ron was all but rolling on the floor.

Ashleigh looked at them with a satisfied smirk, happy that her little comment had been a hit. She had been afraid that it would be too tame for the comments they usually reserved for the two Slytherins.

“That was a good one.” Ron said, still trying to catch his breath.

“Yeah, it was. Oh, good lord Ashleigh, you’ve been hanging around Draco too much. You’ve adopted his smirk. Well, I’ll just have to take you to Madam Pomfrey and have you looked at, this case of the smirk could be quite dangerous, it could lead to a sneer!” Harry exclaimed in a playful manner, a look of fake seriousness on his face.

“How dare you question my smirk? I’ll have you know that I bought it at Harrods last summer! I would never stoop so low as to copy it from another!” She said haughtily, playing along with his game. They often played these games. It was always about something completely stupid and pointless but it was special because they only did it with each other, they weren’t mad enough to talk to someone else in such a manner.

“You guys are going batty.” Ron said; a slightly confused look on his face.

Everyone just laughed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ashleigh stood by the stairs in the Entrance Hall waiting for Draco, their designated place to meet. She could see him exiting the Great Hall trying to shake off Crabbe and Goyle. After a moment he started toward her, shaking his head all the way.

“Problems in paradise?” A cheeky grin on her face.

“Paradise my arse! They don’t know when to quit. I tell them I’m going to Hogsmeade with you and they can’t take the hint that they aren’t welcome. I had to bloody well spell it out for them.” He said, frustration in his voice.

The doors of the Entrance Hall opened letting everyone out into the sunshine on this chilly, breezy day. The hoards of third through seventh years heading out down the path to Hogsmeade chatted excitedly. The first snow of the season had not yet fallen, making the trek to the town a rather easy one.

When Draco and Ashleigh reached the town, Draco immediately pulled Ashleigh into a book store. He claimed there was a new book that he wanted to read and now was his best chance of getting it before anyone else found out about it. Apparently, his father had some connections at a publishing house and had found out about it quite early. He was supposed to be picking up a first edition copy. Ashleigh thought he was a bit over excited about a book; it had better be a good one.

“Let’s go to the Weasley’s shop. I haven’t seen Fred and George since last month and I want to see how they’re doing.”

“Must we? Honestly, I don’t know why you keep such company!”

“Oh please, you know you like them. It’s hard not to. Plus, your friends with Ron now so that automatically makes you a friend of the family and an honorary Weasley.” Ashleigh tried her best to stifle her laughter and keep her face straight, especially at his face of pure horror at the last bit she mentioned. She succeeded for only a moment, and then doubled over laughing.

“I was only joking Draco, there’s no need to have a cow. I don’t think that family’s ready to receive you with open arms just yet. I don’t think you have anything to worry about. And I wouldn’t be talking about the company I keep if I were you. Crabbe and Goyle aren’t exactly stimulating conversationalists.” She told him, with a sideways glance.

“I suppose I can’t fight you on that one.”

“No, you can’t.” She replied with a smile. Grabbing his hand, she led him into Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. Draco noticed that once they were in the store, she made no attempt to let go of his hand. With a satisfied smirk, Draco let her lead him around the store. He didn’t mind the noisy contraptions at all as long as she was holding his hand. They were looking at the Pygme Puffs when the owners of the store walked over to them.

“Ashleigh my girl, long time, no see!” Fred said.

As Ashleigh and Draco turned around, they let go of each other so that they could turn on the spot since the store was so packed.

“Well, I can see we’re out of the running.” George chimed in.

“What?” Ashleigh had no idea what they were talking about.

The twins did not miss, as Ashleigh did, the look on Draco’s face that told them to back off before they stepped on his property. The twins, never the stupid type, took heed to Draco’s warning. They could tell that his reaction would not be friendly if they so much as touched her. Their own translations of the look he gave them intensified as he draped his arm around Ashleigh’s shoulder.

“Oh, don’t pay any attention to him; we were up for a job at the Ministry to create some new things for the Auror’s but it fell through. He just got the message a minute ago.” Fred told her, giving his brother a look. He was just glad he had a true story to fill in for his brother’s slip about their fancying the new girl.

“So where are our successors? Out plotting brilliant pranks I hope!”

“We’re off on our own today. They should be by later, they were headed over to the Quidditch store the last time I saw them.”

“Ah, well then we probably won’t be seeing them for the next few hours. You can’t tear Harry, Ron and Ginny away from a broom.”

“What about Hermione?” Ashleigh asked, confused as to why they left her out. The four were joined at the hip from what she saw.

“Our Hermione has what we would call, an irrational phobia of heights, ergo she hates flying.”

“Can’t understand it ourselves.” Fred continued.

“Flying and Quidditch is in the Weasley blood, it is.” George finished.

Turning to Draco, Ashleigh asked “Draco, you’re on our house team right? Do you think you’d have time to teach me to fly sometime this spring?”

“I think something can be arranged. You’re not afraid of heights are you? Because I’m really not fond of having screamers on my broom.”

Ashleigh smirked, catching his double meaning. “No, I’m not afraid of heights you arse!” She said good naturedly.

“Well good, because I was planning to offer to teach you this spring anyway.”

Checking their watches, Fred and George excused themselves from the two flirting younglings and headed behind the register as their extra employee left for her lunch break.

“Do you want to head out for lunch?” Draco asked, desperate for a reason to leave the store.

“Sure, the Three Broomsticks?”

“Sounds good to me.”

Together they left the joke shop, Draco holding the door for Ashleigh as she exited. She gave him a brilliant smile at this.

They reached the overcrowded pub and claimed a table for two as soon as a couple got up to leave. Draco went up to the bar and ordered drinks and sandwiches while she held their table. Draco had only been gone a minute when Blaise settled into his seat and startled Ashleigh.

“What are you doing here Blaise? I thought you were with Parkinson today?” She asked, hoping he was not here to flirt with her now that Draco wasn’t around.

“I just wanted to apologize for how I’ve been acting toward you. I’m afraid I’ve been too forward with you. I fancied you quite a bit, but I get it that you like Draco and that’s okay. I just wanted to say that I won’t be bothering you in that way again. So I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, sure.” She was barely able to answer before he walked away. Completely confused, she turned to see the direction his eyes had gone and saw Draco looking ready to kill, coming toward her with drinks in hand.

“What was that all about?” He demanded in an unsure tone.

“He apologized.” She said slowly, not believing Blaise a bit. “For the way he treated me and said he wouldn’t be bothering me again. He’s planning something and I don’t think I want to know what it is.”
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A Matter of Time