"What are you doing here, Malfoy?"
Draco groaned inwardly, scowling outwardly. Harry Potter and his gang were the last thing he needed to deal with today, along with all the other things on his plate. "Am I not allowed to use the library as well?" he asked, lowering his book a bit to see the Golden Trio plus the Weaslette standing over him. He fidgeted absently with his left sleeve, tugging it down a bit to make completely sure it covered everything. He winced the tiniest of bits as the rough fabric rubbed against the tender raw skin of his new mark. He thought he saw Ginny frown a bit at him in suspicion, and he glared heavily at her. It took her a moment, but she eventually gave up staring at him to follow her friends off to the other side of the library.
"What do you think's the matter with Malfoy?" she asked as she plopped down at their table.
"You mean other than his fat head, big mouth, and over-sized ego?" Ron said, making Harry snigger. Ginny rolled her eyes at them while she pulled all of her homework and supplies out of her bag.
"Yes, other than that. He seemed really jumpy all of the sudden, not nearly as calm as usual. And, he's wearing a long sleeved shirt, indoors, in the middle of April. And, he's alone. No Crabbe, Goyle, or Pansy in sight to tell him how great he is. That's just not normal. Well, for him, at least," she pointed out.
"I dunno, gin, but I also really don't care," Harry said, leaning back over his Transfiguration homework. "I highly doubt he wants us to know his personal problems anyway. And he could just be being his usual pissy self."
"If you say so," she replied dubiously, glancing over her shoulder at Draco. He looked preoccupied, staring at his book without actually seeing it. "He looks worried about something," she whispered, more to herself than the others, "almost scared." His brow was creased, he was frowning, and he continued to pick at his sleeve. His hair didn't look as though he had put nearly as much effort into styling it as he usually did, and his usually perfect skin was marred by the bags under his eyes, which were flitting around nervously. "It looks like he hasn't been sleeping much. Something's obviously really bothering him," she mused out loud, leaning over the back of her chair. Harry made a noise of impatience.
"We came here to study, not discuss Malfoy's issues," he said, obviously annoyed.
"He's right, Gin. And you need to finish your Charms work by tomorrow," Hermione added. Sighing, Ginny turned back to her blank parchment and began working, only glancing back occasionally to see if his stance had changed any. It hadn't. She did this sort of thing a lot. Not with Malfoy specifically, but with people in general. She couldn't very well help that she was such a nosy person.
And very observant at that. She wanted to know everyone's problems and fix them for them. She watched people, reading their body language if anything seemed out of ordinary. Then she could go ask them what was up, or just give them general or cryptic advice that would help them out in the end. That was what she considered her job, and she was very good at it.
Hermione called it her sixth sense, and it was going wild around Malfoy today. She usually had to look for signals to interpret, but Malfoy's were jumping out and bothering her, begging to be solved. He was usually so tight and controlled that she couldn't read him at all, but today he seemed to have let his guard down entirely. He was obviously bothered and, enemy or no, Ginny couldn't help feeling sorry for him. But she knew he would never confide in her, or be inclined to take her advice.
Well, she thought, I'd say leave well enough alone, but Draco Malfoy looks anything but well.
