Don't be distracted by the views of others: focus on what engages and inspires you. The most exhilarating experiences are generated in the mind, triggered by information that challenges our thinking. If you're excited by a subject that no one else is, all that should matter to you is that you're interested. Revolutionary thinkers who create totally new ideas are driven by their interests, not whether or not others are interested too.

- Rod Judkins

The rest of the month May went by in a blur of books, library visits and a little bit of Draco here and there. The O.W.L.'s were fast approaching and although I had prepared well throughout the year, twelve courses were quite a lot to prepare for.

Next year, I would enter my N.E.W.T. years, meaning that the amount of classes would be cut down majorly and I could choose which classes to take, but first there were the O.W.L.'s.

I had given myself a strict planning to get everything done, but one day in June was almost free of studying and reading, the fifth of June.

The fifth of June was a Wednesday, meaning that we had the afternoon off since we had Astronomy at midnight. It was also our last day of classes to give us some free days to study for the exams that would start next week.

Draco and I were still very private with whatever we had going on, but when I saw him that morning, I needed to talk to him, even for just a little while.

"Good morning birthday boy", I smiled, pulling his attention away from the book he was reading. "Let me be the first one to congratulate you on this wonderful day."

"Morning", he said, clearly not the biggest fan of his own birthday. "You're late though, Pansy Parkinson beat you to it", he smirked, taking my hand and pulling me down on the couch with him.

"Urgh, that stupid dog", I grunted, pulling my feet up.

"She even gave me a little present", he chuckled, pulling a tie pin out of his pocket. It was another snake, guarding the letter P, made out of a green gemstone.

"Oh you're not wearing that", I said snatching it from his hand. "Who does she think she is?"

"Are you jealous, Ellie?" Draco smirked, poking my side.

"No, I'm not, it's just hideous", I protested, crossing my arms. Draco chuckled and put his hand on my knee, stroking it gently. "Besides, my present for you is way better."

"You got me a present?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"I did, but you're going to have to wait until after lunch because if we don't hurry to breakfast right now, we're going to miss Transfiguration.

"I can think of a few things that are more enjoyable than Transfiguration", he smirked. I rolled my eyes and pulled him off the couch.

"Where are your side pieces at anyway?" he asked, noticing the absence of Tracey and Daphne.

"Side pieces? Rude", I chuckled.

"What? It's true, they're just accessories to the main attraction", he whispered, a smug smirk on his face when he pulled away again. He was so ... so smooth.

I had feared that being around Eleanor more would affect my reputation in a bad way, making me seem soft, but it was quite the opposite actually. There was just something about the Malfoy Selwyn combination that made eye contact a very mighty weapon. No one dared to stare and if I did make eye contact with someone, they looked away so hastily, as if that one look could kill them. And I quite enjoyed that power.

As we entered the Great Hall, I saw Pansy wave us over, or probably just me, with one of the only spare seats at the table being next to her. No, thank you.

I felt Eleanor tense up next to me. She was jealous and I quite liked jealous Eleanor. It made her extra fiery, extra intimidating.

"I think you dropped something in the common room, darling", Eleanor said as we passed Pansy. She got the pin Pansy had given me out of her pocket and casually dropped it in her cup of tea. The people who had witnessed the incident were dead quiet. Eleanor just shrugged and walked on.

It used to annoy me when Pansy made moves like that, trying to make herself seem more important to me than she really was.

Eleanor and I was still a concept in the making, not yet something serious, but she was possessive and I didn't mind it. It made me stop caring about these other people.

Pansy could try all her tactics on me and she probably would, but I wouldn't lift a finger, because Ellie would break hers just for trying and mine would still be tangled in the ends of her hair.

"You're really sexy when you're jealous", I whispered as she sat down next to Daphne. She glared at me as I walked over to Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle.

Transfiguration was an absolute bore as we were simply revising the spells we had gone over this past year. Luckily I had something to look forward to, though.

But I didn't get to speak to Draco anymore until after lunch.

I had doubted for a long time about whether or not to get him a present. We weren't really dating, nor were we proper friends. We were just ... content spending some time together whilst making out half the time.

But it felt rude not to buy him something, so I did.

And I learned that Draco really wasn't a fan of his birthday, which surprised me. Normally he didn't mind some extra attention, but people congratulating him made him almost awkward.

Again when I was studying in the common room, a wave of happy birthdays erupted when he entered the common room. Our eyes met and he looked relieved for some reason.

"Do you want to go out for a bit?" he asked. He seemed overwhelmed, which was rather adorable.

"Okay, let me grab some things and then I'll meet you outside", I smiled. He nodded and made a bee-line for the exit. I went to my dorm to brush my hair and grab his gift and then went outside again. He was waiting outside of the common room, nervously tapping his foot.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked as I approached him.

"Yeah, just didn't feel like being in the common room today", he shrugged, starting our walk to the Hogwarts ground.

"How come you don't like your birthday?" I asked, enjoying the warmth of June.

"I don't know, I don't get why so many people I never talk to suddenly feel the need to congratulate me and hang around me. I prefer my solitude." I could understand that.

"So when you don't want to be around everyone, you do want to be around me?" I asked and a warm feeling spread through my body. It felt good to mean something to him.

"Don't flatter yourself, Selwyn", he said, but a smile lurked around his lips.

We walked outside and around the black lake. It was quite a walk, but no one was around and Draco seemed to enjoy the peace and quiet. We eventually sat down in the grass under a tree, in between the daisies and clovers.

"So, I got you a little something", I said and finally handed him the box that I had brought with me.

"Thank you, you shouldn't have", he said, taking the box. He was smiling genuinely, a rare occurrence. It made me happy.

"Come on, open it", I said as he just admired the nice wrapping. Eventually he pulled off the ribbon and inspected the insides.

"A book on Alchemy", he smirked, taking the leather-bound book out of the box. "Surprised you found one I haven't read yet."

"It's a pretty rare one", I wiggled my eyebrows. "Had to ask my father for some help to get it, so now he thinks I'm into Alchemy." He chuckled, leafing through the book. I saw a sparkle in his eyes that I didn't see often. He liked it.

"Thank you, it's really nice", he said, putting the book down.

"There's something else in the box", I protested. "It's even better, if I say so myself." He grabbed the box and got out a little velvet ring box.

"Are you proposing now, Selwyn? I wasn't even aware we were officially dating", he chuckled.

"Oh Merlin no", I laughed. "It's not like that."

He opened the box carefully. Inside was a ring, exactly like the one he was wearing now, the one that his father got him, just not an heirloom, not hundreds of years old. He looked up and frowned, not sure why I got it for him.

"Since you hate wearing that ring, but you have to, I thought I'd make it easier. You can wear this one instead and put the real one in the box to save for if you ever want to pass it on. Your father will think you're wearing it like the perfect son you are and you ... you have different memories to think of when you look at it."

It was quiet for a very long time. Draco spun the ring around in his hand, an intense look in his eyes.

And then he pulled me into a hug, tightly, as if he was afraid that I would let go. I wouldn't. I don't think I could, even if I wanted to.

"Thank you", he mumbled in my hair, placing a gentle kiss on my cheek. It felt good to be around him, to feel appreciated, yet so comfortable. Slowly, I was falling in love with him.

He slowly let go of me and then pulled me towards him, my back against his chest, looking over the Great Lake.

If you told me six months ago that we'd be sitting here, like this, I would probably have gotten angry, not believing a word of it. But right now, I was perfectly content, even though things were a little weird and sometimes the pieces of the puzzle still didn't seem to fit.

I used to hate him and he used to hate me, just because we never really got to know each other. We knew the outside, the words and the looks and the appearance. The overachieving, the sucking up to our parents and the rude remarks to feel powerful. But we didn't know each other.

I hadn't gotten to know him by talking to him, at least not really. I had gotten to know him by exploring on my own, finding little treasures here and there, amongst the many obstacles. People are like cities. We show others a postcard glimpse of a floodlit statue or a skyline. But what we don't show them are the small alleys and gardens and cute, little coffeeshops and the daisies that sprout between the sidewalk cracks.

We only really know a person when we go out to explore and find those little gems amongst the tourist attractions. And I felt like I still had a lot to discover.

I hadn't felt this calm in a very long time, maybe ever. To feel completely at ease, without thinking about obligations, deadlines and appearance was a very rare occurrence for a Selwyn and for Draco probably too. But somehow putting two of those people together seemed to create calmness.

A perfect eclipse.

Draco's hands were tangled in my hair, trying to braid it, but failing miserably. The Giant Squid showed a few of his tentacles very briefly, all the way on the other side of the lake.

"I have an idea", Draco said suddenly.

"Hmm, what's that?" I hummed, enjoying the warm sun.

"Come on, let's go", he said and suddenly stood up, taking away the warm back support I had.

"Come on", he said again, extending his hand.

"Where are we going?" I asked, letting him pull me up. I just followed him. He suddenly seemed very determined.

"We're going to the quidditch pitch", he said.

"Quidditch pitch? Why?"

"You always wanted to learn how to play quidditch, right? I remember vividly how annoyed you were every time I went out to play during summer and your mother didn't allow you to join."

"So, you going to teach me? Right now?" I chuckled, overthinking the bizarre idea.

"Exactly."

I blinked a couple times, not sure what to expect.

"Like actually? We're going to play quidditch?" I repeated, catching up to him.

"Unless you're not up for it", he shrugged. Was I up for this? Of course I was! I'd always wanted to play quidditch, I just never thought I'd ever be able to.

"Yes! I am!" I chimed. "Just don't tell my mother." I clapped my hands together excitedly. It was a really, really good day.

"Okay, so you can fly, right?" I asked as I gave her one of my old brooms.

"Yes, Draco, I'm not incompetent", she said bluntly, snatching the broom out of my hand.

"Just checking", I chuckled, mounting my own Nimbus 2001. I had managed to find a quaffle, which was enough for now. Having bludgers flying about with Eleanor around was not a great idea. I pushed off and flew to the middle of the pitch. She followed me.

"Okay, can you let go of your hands?" I shouted. She looked down, carefully letting go of the broom.

"I think so", she smiled. She lost her balance for a swift second as she looked up, but she quickly regained it.

"Okay, I'm going to toss you the quaffle and you're going to catch it, okay?" She nodded eagerly, letting go of the broom again.

I tossed it slowly, trying to aim as well as I could. She caught it quite skillfully, although almost losing her balance again.

"Don't fall down and die, okay?" I chuckled.

"I'm trying!"

We passed the quaffle back and forth a few times. She wasn't that bad actually and she seemed to enjoy herself. It didn't surprise me much, though, there were very few things she wasn't good at.

"Okay, now try to score", I said, pointing at the three hoops in the distance. "But I'm not going to go easy on you."

She turned her broom and made a beeline for the goalposts. Her grip was all wrong though, causing her to lose a lot of speed. She wasn't even halfway there before I managed to catch up to her and steal the quaffle from her.

"That's not fair, your broom is faster!" she complained, narrowing her eyes.

"That's not the problem", I chuckled, flying over to her. "You're holding your broom wrong."

"Is there a technique in holding the broom now?" she sputtered. I liked that she was so straightforward, not afraid to talk back and, most of the times, not thinking before she spoke too.

"Yes there is", I said and grabbed her hands gently. I moved them to the front of her broom so she had to bend forward a bit. "To the front to gain speed, close to your body to slow down", I said. Her hands were cold, yet soft and I liked the way they felt in mine.

"Makes sense", she shrugged. The next moment she had snatched the quaffle out of my grip and sped over to the goalpost. She managed to actually score, without a Keeper of course and cheered loudly.

"Not bad, Selwyn, not bad at all", I grinned.

We spent the rest of the afternoon scoring goals, alternating the keeper position. I really did have a good time. I usually didn't like my birthday because there were too many people around all the time. I liked my solitude. But although I never expected to think these thoughts, an afternoon with Eleanor Selwyn was a perfect way to spend a birthday. I felt ... happy.

"Thank you, Draco", she smiled as we had stored the brooms away in the Slytherin changing rooms. "I had a blast."

"It's nothing", I shrugged, putting the quaffle back in its place.

"Yes it is. I had a really great time", she said, a genuine smile on her face. It was a carefree one, one I hadn't seen before.

"I did too", I said. I really did.