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Here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy!
"Where are you off to so fast Ron?"
He froze and turned back to the lunch table. Hermione and Ginny were looking at him oddly, worried since he'd only eaten two full plates.
"I'm... meeting up with Harry to uh- play some Quidditch," he smiled and hurried away from the table.
The girls turned to each other, Ginny raising an eyebrow at her brother's antics.
"Do you think it's a girl?" She asked skeptically.
"Who? Parkinson?" Hermione shook her head. "Look around- Susan, Hannah, any girl he'd date, they're all still here."
"Do you think he's really meeting Harry then?"
"Harry's taking a private defense class with Becher right now."
"If anyone else had my boyfriend's schedule memorized I might have an issue," the redhead laughed.
Her friend smiled apologetically.
"It's not just him. I know yours, Ron's, and... well nevermind."
Ginny paused with her fork halfway to her mouth to glare over at Hermione. The latter shook her head.
"Hermione."
"Fine," she leaned in to whisper. "Malfoy's. So I'm a little worried about why he isn't here like normal. His class got out ten minutes ago, and he always comes to lunch right after."
"I thought you were going to leave him be," Ginny whispered back.
"Yesterday I might have promised Blaise that I'd keep an eye on him," Hermione replied sheepishly.
Her statement was met with an eyeroll, but Ginny didn't press any further. They ate in silence for a few minutes, Hermione contemplating more seriously when and how she was going to tell Ginny, Harry, and Ron about the manor. Now Malfoy, Zabini, and Nott could accidentally letting something slip, and that was not how her friends would find out. And if they only heard part of the story, she was confident Malfoy would be dead before she could explain.
Cold fingers grabbing her hands drew her from her thoughts.
"You're rubbing your wrists again," Ginny said softly.
So she was.
"I told Hagrid I'd visit before my next class," Hermione jumped to her feet, avoiding any questions that may arise. "See you later."
Ginny watched her leave, brow furrowed with worry. She knew about the mudblood scar on her friend's forearm, having helped try to find a way to reverse the scarring. She had also seen on many occasions the slightly raised, and subtle scarring on her wrists. It had taken a week before Ginny found a book to tell her they were caused by rope burns, and ways to diminish them.
She's brought then lotion to Hermione one day shortly before school started. The brunette had smiled sadly and thanked her, but said in no uncertain terms she wasn't trying to heal the scars anymore. They were part of who she was now.
"How's Fred these days?"
"The healers think he'll be waking up very soon," Ron was always cautious about this topic with Dennis, since his brother wasn't going to be waking up.
"I'm really happy for your family," Dennis said sincerely. "You guys are lucky to be getting him back."
"Thanks," Ron smiled at the younger Gryffindor seated across the table from him. "How're you doing?"
"Better than I have been," he answered weighing his words carefully. "I've been hanging out with this girl, well we were potions partners one day, and her sister died unexpectedly... not in the war, but as a child."
"Sounds like more than potions partners to me," the older boy chuckled.
"She's in Slytherin," Dennis announced quickly, his voice shaking. "But she's nice, and she knows how it feels to lose a sibling unexpectedly. And, you aren't mad?"
Despite how Ron Weasley sometimes acted, he had matured during and since the war. He'd changed enough to know that not every Slytherin was a Death Eater.
"Dennis, when you first owled me and asked to talk, I didn't understand why," he sighed heavily before continuing. "I was angry with the world. I missed Fred. I didn't think I could help you to all... But I did, and I've realized that talking about this has been helping me too."
Ron paused there, never having admitted to anyone, let alone Dennis himself, the impact their counseling sessions had on him.
"I think that part of healing is finding someone who has experienced the same things you have and working through it together. Even if it's the last person you expect. So if your Slytherin girlfriend is-"
"She is not my girlfriend!" Dennis interrupted indignantly.
"Yeah. Whatever. If your girlfriend is helping you, then no, I'm not angry. I'm actually really glad you found someone else to talk to."
"Why? So I stop interrupting your lunch?"
Ron laughed and punched him in the arm.
"I won't alway be here, so if someone knew is watching over you, I'd sleep a little easier," he said seriously. "I enjoy talking to you Dennis, really. Even though you have someone else keeping you busy now, I'd still like to meet sometimes."
The redhead left it at that, trying to avoid being too sappy. Dennis jumped up and hugged him tightly.
"You're such a great brother. Your family is so lucky," he whispered.
Ron patted the boy's back awkwardly, glad once again that he hadn't ignored the small reddish-brown owl knocking at his window.
Draco Malfoy had sensed someone following him since the moment he had entered the corridor. A boy, judging by the footsteps, was behind him, slowly getting closer. He didn't dare look back, keeping his eyes fixed ahead at the intersection he was quickly approaching. From there it wasn't long before he'd be close enough to the Great Hall to be safe from an attack.
The blonde had been keeping his pace even, but now was being caught up to quickly. He spun around, drawing his wand from his sleeve as he realized he wouldn't avoid a confrontation.
"I can hear you walking," Malfoy snarled. "You're little sneak attack isn't going to work."
"I know you can. I also know you didn't hear him."
Even as the words left his mouth, the wand in Draco's hand went flying. Another boy sauntered up from behind. It was then Malfoy noticed the Gryffindor robes.
"What do you want?" He sneered with false bravado, knowing that without his wand, he stood no chance one-on-one, let alone two-on-one.
One of the boys grabbed Malfoy's arms, pinning them behind his back. He thrashed, trying to break free, but the kid holding him was surprisingly strong. The cold tip of a wand pressing into his neck stopped his wild, jerky movements.
"Good afternoon Draco Malfoy," the boy adjusted his robes, digging his wand deeper into Malfoy's neck. "My name is John Pounce, and I have to tell you... I'm not to happy to have a Death Eater living a door down from me."
"Yeah, well I'm not exactly glad to be there either," he spat back.
"You know... Draco... I could end you right now. Make what your little Slytherin buddies did to you look like child's play."
Pounce punched the former Slytherin just above the bridge of his nose. It didn't break, but it did bleed, running down his face to drip onto his robes.
"Go fuck yourself," Malfoy hissed, spraying blood onto the floor and Pounce.
He brought his fist back again, but the punch never landed.
"Stupify!" Two voiced called in unison.
Pounce hit the ground like a ton of bricks.
"Beat it Stevenson."
The Gryffindor holding Draco dropped his arms immediately and took off down the corridor, leaving his friend behind. Malfoy dropped to his knees holding his nose gently. Neville knelt down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You alright Malfoy?"
Luna joined them on the floor.
"I'll fix that for you Draco," She offered.
"S'not broken," he muttered.
She ignored him, casting a spell that stopped the bleeding.
His gaze snapped over to the couple who were looking at him with concern.
"What are you two doing? Don't you hate me too?"
"There aren't enough Wiffledragons in the castle for me to hate you," Luna answered dreamily.
Neville smiled at his girlfriend.
"Don't care much for you to be honest, but I'm over old grudges. You saved Hermione's life, so..." He trailed off, standing up and offering his hand to Malfoy.
Dinner that day saw Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy sitting in amicable silence across the table from each other. The latter would never admit it, but Longbottom wasn't awful to hang around- better than Potter and Weasley certainly. They couldn't be called friends, not even acquaintances really. More like they tolerated each other.
Hermione watched them from her seat next to Harry and Ron.
"What's up Pounce's arse?" She questioned, as the Gryffindor sixth year shot a look of pure hatred at Malfoy and Neville.
"Looks normal to me," Harry laughed.
"Oh, didn't they tell you Hermione? John and Draco had a tiny disagreement today," Luna had drifted over to the trio. "Neville and I put a stop to it after I sensed the bubbleguffins poisoning the air."
Without giving them time to respond she moved away to sit next to Neville on the other end of the table.
"Bubbleguffins?" Ron asked quietly.
Harry shrugged.
Hermione couldn't see anything visibly wrong with the blonde, but noticed once again that he only picked at his food, taking a bite occasionally, but not eating near enough for a teenage boy. It worried her.
He set his napkin on his plate and rose to leave.
It worried her a lot.
Well? Leave a review, and let me know what you thought!
Side note, why are college textbooks so expensive like why? I leave August 16th for school, so I'm trying to get the writing done before then, then all I have to do is publish the chapters.
Next update... Tuesday/Wednesday? Maybe a little sooner?