Skill and Seclusion [2] || Harry Potter x OC x Draco Malfoy

108. I Love Magic

It was the only thing that made her willing to go after she learnt Narcissa wouldn't be joining them.

It would just be herself, Draco Malfoy, and his father placed in the Minister's box surrounded by snobby old people who were, no doubt, very similar to the Malfoy's.

"All ready to go?" Lucius asked as Bel approached the father and son.

Narcissa nodded as she stepped to her husband's side, leaving Bel stood awkwardly in the centre of the room.

She did indeed love the outfits Narcissa chose for her, but she didn't quite love them as much when she realized just how much of a Malfoy it made her look.

Her all-black attire perfectly blended her in with the father and son duo.

It made her feel like one of them, as they had intended her to be.

A pureblood.

Hanging around the 'right kind of family'.

That thought sent uncomfortable shivers up her spine.

It was something her father must have done.

"Took you long enough", Draco's cold muttering snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Draco! Be polite", Narcissa snapped at her son.

"Yes, mother", Draco immediately apologised, hanging his head down slightly.

Bel did derive slight joy seeing Malfoy be put in place by his mother.

Not by his father, however.

That toxic relationship never failed to bring up the shameful sympathy Bel had for the boy.

The way he was so condescending, so controlling, so demanding, so expecting.

It must be suffocating.

Draco had no choice but to become a mimic of his cruel father.

But after his actions last year, Bel was always reminded not to make the mistake of seeing the good in Draco Malfoy again.

Even when he was forced to be kind in small quantities around her at his mother's command.

Just like right now, when he was pushed into a corner to say something sweet.

"Doesn't Bel look lovely?" Narcissa pressed on.

Draco very briefly glanced up to her, letting his eyes quickly look her up and down before he went back to staring at the ground.

After he cleared his throat and placed his hands in his pockets under his blazer, he muttered an answer.

"Not bad."

Bel held back an eye roll and thanked God it wasn't a worse compliment.

Something even more forced.

'Not bad' sounded genuine enough.

Genuine enough for Bel to tap into her perfect manners to return the favour.

"And you look ... not bad too, Draco."

The Slytherin boy scoffed slightly and tilted his head upwards to meet her eyes with a small smirk upon his lips.

Bel's answer was also genuine.

It wasn't necessarily an eyesore to witness Draco Malfoy in a suit these days.

He wasn't ... ugly by any means.

By the way she witnessed the Slytherin girls swooning over him at school she had a feeling he knew it too.

But just because someone was conventionally good looking, it doesn't mean there has to be another opinion which follows.