Chapter 8

Lo and behold, when I walk into the astronomy tower, Malfoy is there. He is leaning nonchalantly against the railing of the balcony and turns to look at me as I walk further into the room. I choose to ignore him when he calls out to me and continue to walk to the opposite side of the room, head held high. I will not give him the satisfaction of knowing that I am still upset about the other night. With my back towards him, I cautiously pull out my new sketchbook and pencil and begin to draw different animals hanging upside down. After about half an hour of being amused at my drawings I hear footsteps approaching me from behind. I look over my shoulder expectantly, frantically hiding my sketchbook as Malfoy saunters up to me. He reaches for his jacket pocket and I instantly reach for my wand, ready to defend myself.

"Calm down, will you?" he demands. "I'm not here to fight you." He makes a gesture of surrender before resuming to reach inside his pocket. I raise my brow in suspicion as he pulls out a pack of licorice wands and a notebook. He pauses for a moment as if to contemplate what he wants to do with his items. "I owe you nothing now," he yells as he tosses them both on the ground and walks away towards the door.

I ponder for a moment about what he means by "owing" me. When had there been a debt to pay to begin with? Glancing at the notebook, I notice that it looks oddly familiar. I hesitantly open it and see my drawings and as I go through the pages, I realize that this is my sketchbook. The one that Pansy destroyed. My first feeling is astonishment at how he recovered it but I remind myself that I am a witch, he is a wizard, and we are at a school that teaches magic. My next emotion is shock that he took the time to recover it in the first place. I keep flipping through the pages just to make sure that every last sketch is there when I reach the last page that I drew on. A folded scrap of parchment falls out and lands on my lap and I open it to read:

Be more careful next time

I chuckle at myself and open the pack of licorice wands. I contemplate on my previous thoughts from a few nights ago about how despicable and vile Malfoy is for letting his vexing bubblehead destroy my sketchbook. Perhaps he is not as "evil" as everyone perceives him. Perhaps I should wait before judging a person so harshly. Even if they did hurt me emotionally.