Sarah had been working at Twillfitt an Tattings for a few days. She happily folded shirts, and organized the store.
Madame Twillfitt had been very kind to Sarah while she stayed with her. She provided meals, a place to stay, and even gave her some free clothes.
Sarah did miss Helga, and she felt even worse for her because she knew she was lonely now that Sarah was gone, but she was glad she got lucky enough to be able to stay with Madame Twillfitt.
Sarah looked over her shoulder at a blonde girl with blue eyes.
She had been staring at her all morning. The girl looked away when their eyes met.
Sarah went back to work, then a few minutes later, she felt like someone was staring at her again.
It was the same girl.
After a while of repeating this, the girl spoke up, and said, "You know you're folding those wrong, right?"
Sarah turned around.
"Oh, I am?"
"Yes. If Madame bossy-bum sees that she'll have a fit."
"Madame Twilfiitt?" Sarah asked.
"No. Mrs. Tatting." The girl said, undoing all of Sarah's work, and refolding it.
"Mrs. Tatting?"
"Yeah." She looked past Sarah's head with a look of dread on her face.
"Speak of the devil. Here she comes."
Sarah turned around to see a fat, frizzy haired woman towering above her with her wrinkled hands on her hips.
"Excuse me, but you are folding those all wrong." She snatched a blue skirt out of Sarah's hands.
"Hey! I was folding that!" Sarah almost shouted.
"Do not raise your voice to your superiors! I could have you fired with a snap of my fingers! But no, I find it in the goodness of my heart to keep you here, and this is how you thank me? By making my store look like a mess, and showing no regard for my position?" She got in Sarah's face, spitting on her every time she said "s" or "p".
"Wow, no offense, but you really need a mint or something before you kill somebody with that dragon-breath!" The girl's eyes widened, and and she covered her mouth, trying to hide her grinning mouth.
Madame Tattings jaw dropped. "Well! We'll just see what Madame Twillfitt has to say about this!"
"Problem, ladies?" Madame Twillfitt said calmly.
"Eleanor! This girl you hired yesterday has shown high levels of disrespect! I told you not to hire that little hoodlum! But did you listen to me? No! And now she is disturbing the peace!"
"The only one I see disturbing anyone is you, Madame Tatting. Now if you don't mind, leave the poor girl alone so she can complete the task she is being payed to do."
Madame Tatting didn't say a word. She just walked off, stomping her feet.
"By the way, Madame Tatting, if you really need toothpaste, all you need to do is ask." She said, and walked away with a satisfied smile on her face.
Madame Tatting scowled and walked away.
The girl came up to her and smiled. "I thought I was the only one with enough guts to stand up to her like that! At first I thought you were just another girly-girl... But now I think we might get along. My name is Elaine Hornwater."
Sarah's green eyes widened.
"What's wrong? You look like you just saw a ghost."
"I think I may have..." Sarah said, blankly staring at Elaine.
Elaine chuckled a little.
Sarah snapped out of her trance.
"I'm Sarah Montgomery."
"Nice to meet you, Sarah."
"Did you go to Hogwarts, Elaine?"
"No. I suppose you could say I was... Homeschooled."
They folded in silence for a while. Sarah noticed how empty this girl's eyes looked, and how flat and lifeless her voice was, no matter how much she tried to sound enthusiastic.
Could this be the same cheery, perky Elaine that Helga had described?
"Is she always that cheerful?" Sarah asked.
"That was her in a good mood. She just hates Madame Twillfitt, because when her and Madame Tatting made this store, Madame Twilfiitt got more of the profit and power. Somehow, I think that won't be the last you'll hear from her."
"You said you were homeschooled... Where is home? Before I went to Hogwarts, I used to live in London." Sarah said.
"I used to live with my family before..." Elaine looked down. "Before they all died. I don't like talking about it."
"Oh. I understand. I'm sorry for asking... I just assumed you had a family."
"That's alright. You didn't know. But if you must know... I used to live... In Russia... Until I was twelve, when they died. Then I came here."
Sarah was relieved. She still had suspicions, but Hornwater was quite a common wizarding name. She knew numerous people with the last name... but only time would tell.
Hours passed, and Sarah and Elaine talked while they worked.
"So, did you have someone special while you were at Hogwarts?" Elaine asked.
Sarah's stopped folding, and quietly said, "yes." She started to fold again.
"What's wrong? Did you break up with him?"
"No... He died."
"Oh... I guess it's my turn to say something wrong..." Elaine hung her head.
"It's alright... You're actually doing me a favor."
Elaine looked confused.
"You see... The reason I came out here was to find a way to accept the fact that he's gone... Which was something I couldn't do with my family always telling me it was going to be alright every time I cried, or saw something that reminded me of him. He was amazing. I loved him more than anything in the world, and I know he felt the same way about me... But he fought in the battle of Hogwarts, and when the castle went down... So did he."
"How do you know? Did someone tell you?" Elaine asked.
"He would have found me already when I went into the forest. I was never that far away." Sarah explained.
"I'm sorry to hear that..." She said.
The bell rang, meaning someone was coming into the store, but Sarah and Elaine continued to talk about Sarah's past.
"If it makes you feel any better, there's a real cute one over there at the counter." Elaine said looking passed her head, smiling.
Sarah turned around, and her jaw hung open, she turned white, and her eyes opened so wide you would have thought her eyes were about to pop out of her head... Draco Malfoy stood twenty feet away from her.
She stepped back slowly, with a shocked, blank look on her face.
"Okay, I didn't expect you to think he was that great!" She tried to get Sarah's attention.
"Hey, are you okay?" Elaine asked.
Sarah felt her heart speed accelerate, her ears rang, her legs shook, and she suddenly felt dizzy.
(Is my mind playing tricks on me? Am I going crazy?) She dropped the pair of pants she was folding.
"Ahh, Mr. Malfoy! My best customer! Pleased to see you! How may I be of assistance?" Madame Twilfiitt rushed to the counter.
Draco leaned forward and said just quiet enough so only Madame Twillfitt could hear, "I'm looking for a new tuxedo... For the wedding."
"Oh, my. Miss Greengrass certainly is a lucky woman!" She whispered back.
Draco looked at Sarah, then looked ahead again, before whipping his head back around in a double-take, with the same expression Sarah had.
Elaine saw what was happening, and said with her arms folded, "Okay, am I missing something here?"
Madame Twillfitt left to go get something, and Sarah and Draco continued to stare at each other.
Sarah was the first one to break the ice. She slowly stepped forward, and quietly said,
"Draco?"
Still shocked, he nodded his head.
"Is that... Really you?"
He continued to nod his head.
"Sarah?! I-I thought you were dead!"
"Me dead? I thought you were dead!"
"This can't be happening." Draco slightly turned away, and smoothed his hair, with a completely confused look on his face.
"News flash! It is!" Sarah shouted.
They completely if ignored Elaine, who stepped away awkwardly. "Okay, obviously I'm interrupting something... So I'm just going to step away for a moment."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Sarah asked.
"Tell you what?" Draco pretended not to know what she was asking.
"That you were alive! I've been miserable all these years thinking you were gone!" Sarah started to tear up.
"You think you were miserable?! How do you think I felt?!"
Sarah calmed down.
"Wait a second... Why are we fighting? All these years, we're finally reunited... We can be together again!" She took his hand, but he yanked it away an turned around.
"No... No Sarah... We can't." He said sadly.
Sarah's eyes narrowed.
"Why? W-what are you talking about?"
He looked over his shoulder, like he was almost ready to cry.
"Here is you're tuxedo! I'm sure you will look positively dashing in it on your wedding day!" Madame Twillfitt came out with an expensive tuxedo.
Sarah looked at Draco for an answer, but he looked away again.
"No..." She backed up, and ran outside, tears spilling from her eyes like a faucet.
Sarah ran around the corner into the alley next to the store, leaned against the wall, and let herself slide down until she was sitting with her head buried in her knees... It was three years ago all over again.
"Sarah! Sarah!' Draco came out, looked around, saw her in the alley, slowly walked up to her, and crouched down so he was level with her.
"Hey..." He placed a comforting hand on her shaking shoulder, but she just continued to cry like he wasn't even there.
Draco looked around for something to say. "I... I'm sorry you had to find out I was alive like this..."
Sarah looked up. "Why? Why are you getting married?" She knew it was a stupid question, but she had to have an answer.
Draco didn't know what to say.
"You must love her a lot..." Sarah said, wiping her face with her long sleeves.
Draco bit his lip. "Actually, I don't love her at all... I only met her a few days ago." He confessed.
"You don't love her?! Then why in Merlin's name are you marrying her?!" She started to get upset again.
"It wasn't my idea. My parents arranged the whole thing without talking to me about it once!" Draco said.
Sarah glared. "Who is she?"
"Astoria Greengrass."
Sarah looked away.
"Listen, Sarah, my parents only arranged it because they thought you were gone... I've moved on Sarah... And I think its about time you do the same." He stood up, but Sarah wouldn't look at him.
She wanted to break his nose, but at the same time she wanted to kiss him so much that it would make up for the three years that she couldn't.
But she couldn't, so she just glared at the ground, refusing to acknowledge him.
"If you ever need anything... I will always welcome you in my home... Goodbye Sarah."
Draco left, and turned the corner, and then peeked around the corner again to see Sarah screaming, picking up trash, throwing it against the wall, and then go back to sitting on the ground and start crying again.
Draco really felt awful, but what could he do? He was already promised to another. He couldn't take the pain anymore.
So he forced himself to leave.
Draco couldn't believe he was walking away from the girl he had been wishing he could see for the past three years... But he couldn't be with her now, and he would just have to live with the fact that he was going to marry someone he didn't love, while the one he really wanted more than anything was right in front of him.
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Note: for Draco Malfoy, I only do Draco/OC stories, but I will definitely do canon stories if you like. (Ron/hermione and Harry/Ginny etc.)