Chapter 11-Complicated History

Draco's POV:

Staring at the ground as I walked, I wandered along the corridor away from my last lesson of the day-History of Magic. The daylight from the courtyard spilled through the windows and fell against the stone walls of the castle and my shadow drifted beside me as the only company that I was willing to allow at the moment. I wasn't exactly sure where I wanted to go-as long as it was away from other people. I had spent an hour listening to Professor Binns drawl on about something to do with a war and it had left me feeling drained and trapped inside my own head; as if I had been asleep with my eyes open. Social interaction was out of the question right now. As it had been for quite a few days…

I just didn't feel like talking to anyone anymore-they all irritated me too much for it to be entertaining. Their constant idiotic blabber and naïve 'gossip' had become unbearable to my ears.

So when I heard someone call my name from along the corridor behind me, I felt my entire body sag in exasperation. I had left History of Magic quickly to avoid this exact situation-having to deny the company of my friends. But they had still found me. And they still wanted me to flaunt my precious time and attention on them, which seemed to me like a great waste.

With a long sigh, I turned slowly on my heel to face my pursuers. There was quite a large group of them. And all of them were heading towards me, some of them giggling or grinning at each other. Blaise led them at the front with Pansy at his side, smiling as she said something to Millicent who was beside her. Crabbe and Goyle were among the mix as where other familiar faces such as Theodore Nott. The rest of the group weren't worth my time recognising. For them, this was the highlight of the day. The part where they could join together after the last lesson and head off to do whatever they wanted in a large, intimidating group. It had been my favourite activity once as well. But that had changed and they didn't seem to be getting the hints that I threw at them.

"Draco!" Blaise called again, smiling widely at me. "We're going to the Hufflepuff Quidditch practise. Do you want to come?"

The others in the huddle begin to chuckle. 'Going' to watch the Hufflepuffs train meant at least 'sabotage' or 'intimidate' and they all knew it. They were already bubbling with excitement; it was practically radiating from their individual faces. I on the other hand, was just desperate to get away from them. Even looking at them all together was making me feel miserable and detached. But there was no explanation for these new feelings of resentment for my once called friends. They had just surfaced unexpectedly over the past few days and had yet to leave or provide me with a reason for the way they had routed themselves inside of me.

Not wanting to face them any longer, I shook my head with an indifferent expression, no words bothering to leave my mouth.

But this seemed to offend some of them. Theodore-who was ordinarily disconnected and unaffected by everything anyone else did-turned his gaze to me with a raised eyebrow in confusion. Pansy began to scowl, her dark eyebrows reacting oppositely to Theodore and dropping into a straight line over her eyes as her lips pursed outwards slightly to give me her disapproving expression. Blaise didn't seemed too surprised but the smile still slipped from his face to be replaced by a small frown. He looked like he would leave it there.

"Why?" Pansy snapped. My steely grey gaze drifted slowly back to her, giving me time to think of an excuse.

"Because Pansy, I'm going to the library." The words flew effortlessly from my lips and floated towards them through the air. It had been the first location to pop into my mind. And further, rapid deliberation proved it to be a safe place to get some peace.

"Why?" She repeated, her nose wrinkling slightly-seeming even more disgusted with this answer than the first.

"I wasn't paying attention to Professor Binns and I want to learn what he taught us now instead of trying to cram it into my brain the day before an exam. It's called being responsible for your life Pansy, perhaps you should try it at some point."

The others in the group sniggered slightly before waving farewell to me and turning to leave. Pansy huffed in annoyance before following them, slamming her feet on the ground as she walked.

Rolling my eyes, I turned in the opposite direction and headed for the library. It made sense to go there now that I had given valid reasons to Pansy-I had accidentally convinced myself that I needed to be there as well. But it gave me a feeling of purpose as well so I went without any hesitation.

I travelled through the empty hallways and up multiple sets of stairs-pausing once or twice while I waited for the staircases to move back to me. Although the school was empty, as it was a Friday evening and everyone had better things to do than be indoors, the grand staircase was filled with hundreds of voices. The portraits muttered inside their own frames and chatted loudly inside others. The incoherent conversations joined together to create a buzzing and mumbling in my head. Even the people that weren't actually real sought out company; why wouldn't I?

Finally entering the doorway that lead me onto the third floor-where the library could eventually be found-I marched along it unaccompanied, once again ignoring the continuous portraits that lined the walls and tried to talk to me. There was almost nowhere in this castle that I could be truly alone. People, portraits, ghosts and teachers surrounded me on all sides and closed in on me, their persistent words pressing against my skin and engulfing me until there was nothing left but an irritated shell of myself. I hated it. Part of me longed for the long, empty hallways of my family manor; the echoing of the oversized rooms didn't seem so ominous now. A frustrated groan escaped my mouth. Why did I despise solitude at home where both my mother and father matched me for intelligence but crave it here, where I was surrounded by people that I could easily overpower with clever words? It had been a joyous discovery when I came to Hogwarts in my first year to find that not everyone could outwit me as effortlessly as my parents could. But the appeal of that fact seemed to have dwindled over the years to leave me feeling restless due to the lack of a stimulating conversation. Something was surely wrong with me.

I reached the library without realising how far I had walked whilst being trapped in the maze of my own mind. So seeing the giant archway of the book haven stunned me a little, causing my feet to stop momentarily.

When I entered the library, I wasn't surprised to see that it was basically empty. It was a sight that anyone who used the library was accustomed to. Madam Pince sat at the main desk near the entrance, her face pressed close to the paper and her tight bun bouncing slightly as she wrote. Several tall stacks of books were piled up on either side of her-looking as if they may topple over. But she probably had an enchantment on them to prevent that sort of thing-she wasn't a simpleton. As I walked into the room, she lifted her head to acknowledge me. Over the past few weeks, I had been spending quite a lot of time in here-even when I didn't specifically need to-so that I could keep an eye on Granger and her idiots; so Madame Pince was used to seeing me here by now. I nodded in response before continuing on my way to find a table.

I chose an empty table next to one that looked occupied. There were enough books spread across the wooden surface to fill an entire shelf and each one had been opened onto a page and left there. But there was no sign of anyone using them anymore. So I didn't really care about sitting next to it.

I swung my black school bag under the table with one arm and pulled out a chair with the other before sinking down onto the hard surface of the ancient looking seat. Leaning backwards in it, I undid the top button of my shirt and loosened my tie to relax a little more. But then I found a problem.

I hadn't been paying enough attention in class to actually remember what Professor Binns had been trying to teach me. So how was I supposed to find the correct book and then find the correct topic in said book?

Gawping around the room in confusion, I tried to recall at least something that Professor Binns had said. It had been something about a war hadn't it? But there were so many wars that he droned on about. Could it have been a Goblin war-or did that not even exist?

With a sigh, I heaved myself out of my rather uncomfortable seat and turned towards the rows of shelves. There were so many-but I just needed to find one with something to do with wars in it. Great.

Deciding to start at the most obvious place-the section filled with history books-I made my way there and wandered through the shelves; glancing absently at the titles of the many heavy books. Thick dust swirled around and a few books floated past me to find their places on the shelves. But none of them were sticking out to me. I didn't have a clue what I was searching for in this giant room full of dead trees and too much information. Irritated, I ran a long-fingered hand backwards through my hair and let out another groan of aggravation before returning to my table empty handed.

Once there, I leaned back in my chair again and propped my elbow on the back of it; supporting my weight a little more comfortably and staring uninterested around the vacant room.

But then I noticed a head of thick brown hair sticking up from the books on the table next to me. My eyes widened as I looked over, giving the table my full attention. Granger was sat amongst the scattered books that had been there earlier, leaning forward intently as her gaze swiftly raked over the pages with a bright sheen in her chocolate eyes. Suddenly, she jerked upright and pulled a different book from her messy pile towards her; reading that speedily instead and grinning widely to herself.

I wrinkled my nose slightly. The one time in weeks that I had come here with the sole purpose of avoiding her-amongst others-she was still here, within my line of sight whether I wanted it or not. And she was looking far too happy about whatever she was doing. Which was insane because who could possibly be that happy about sitting alone in the library on a Friday evening. I had chosen to come here alone but it wasn't exactly making me joyful.

"Seriously Granger?" I asked, shaking my head as I watched her. She lurched upwards in surprise, her eyes widening as she finally saw me and her mouth opening to suck in a sharp gasp.

"When did you get here?" Granger mumbled, almost icily, as she tried to regain her dignity from being caught off guard. "You better not be following me Malfoy because this is getting a little ridiculous."

"Following you?" I scoffed. "I got here first."

She sat back in her chair, placing a hand over the book she was reading to ensure that she didn't lose her page.

"I think you'll find, that I got here first. You probably hadn't even left the first floor when I sat at this table."

"Well why weren't you sat there when I came in then?" I smirked.

"Because I was getting more books from the back shelves." Granger raised an eyebrow at me. Pausing, I ran my tongue along my teeth and looked at the table to avoid her stare. How could I have not have thought of that?

"What are you doing here?" She sighed.

"Why do you have to ask me that every time that you see me in here? It's a library Granger. I'm allowed. When will you get that through your head?"

"Yes I know it's a library." She snapped. "You just always made it seem like coming here was below you. So what's the purpose of today's visit?"

"I just wanted to read over what we learnt in History of Magic. Nothing that concerns you." I shrugged, not really caring what she was here for so not bothering to ask. Knowing Granger, she was probably preparing for her exams months too early.

"But you haven't got a book." She stated, nodding her head once at the bare table in front of me.

"I couldn't find the one I was looking for. Unlike you."

Granger glanced down at her pile of books and the tiniest of smiles began to appear at the edges of her mouth.

"Funny you should say that-

"No it's not." I interrupted. Granger shot me a glare as she continued.

-because I probably have the book that you need."

I stared at her, observing the almost smug expression that was smothering her face. The challenge that it displayed irritated me to my core and made the desire to snap at her rise in my throat like boiling water. But I held it back. I wouldn't get anywhere this time by causing an argument.

"May I have it?" I asked as politely as I could manage. Her eyes practically popped open as a stunned expression wiped away any previous traces of arrogance from her features.

"That depends-which book is it that you need?" She responded after recovering from the shock that my courtesy had caused.

"Umm…Just the one that has today's topic in it." I tried, hoping that she would be able to provide me with the correct book simply by using that pathetic description. Granger nodded as she turned back to her pile and began shifting through it, sliding books out of the way and flipping some over to glance briefly at the front cover in case it was the one she was searching for.

Eventually she must have found the one that I needed because she lifted up a thick, crimson book and held it in her outstretched hand, presenting it to me. I took it tentatively from her. It was so thick. How was I supposed to find anything in it-especially when I didn't even know what I was looking for? And it must have been ancient because the front cover felt rough; as if centuries of hands had passed over it, ruining the once soft texture. Some of the pages on the inside were brown and crinkled, the corners of them so feeble that they were either torn or had fallen off already. Once Granger had stopped looking at me and was back to reading through her heap of books, I put mine down on the table in front of me and opened it to the contents page; staring with raised eyebrows at the range of subjects there. None of them were making any links in my brain to something familiar-which I had hoped would happen. This was going to be impossible.

"Do you need any help finding it?" Granger asked. My eyes darted back over to her in surprise. She was watching me with a suspicious expression.

"No." I barked defensively, turning away from her.

Propping my elbow on the table and resting my chin on my hand, I continued to stare at the contents page. How should I do this? I couldn't possibly read the whole book, hoping to stumble across the right thing and retain the information afterwards by accident-there was too much in the book. I would forget everything I had read as soon as I ended the first chapter. And I couldn't guess. Because my chances of picking the section that I needed were extremely slim.

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Her gentle voice pecked at me again, making my shoulders hunch over in frustration and my head lower itself; as if she had dropped a weight on top of me. Why was she even bothered?

"I'm sure." I spat.

"Malfoy, you've been staring at the contents page for about five minutes now."

"Stop watching me if I'm annoying you with it."

"Will you just put your pride aside for one second?" Granger complained, pushing her seat firmly away from the table and standing. She was beside me in an instant and I didn't have time to react. Then the book was snatched from my grasp.

"There." The Gryffindor sighed impatiently as she placed the book back in my hands-which hadn't moved in the few seconds that she had stolen the book-and turning back to sit at her table again.

I looked down at the open book in my hands. It had been set to a relatively clean page approximately three quarters of the way through. The title told me that it was about the Giant Wars. The words sent a jolt of recognition through my mind. Of course. That's what Professor Binns had been droning on about today.

Glancing at the girl-who had returned to reading silently-I let out a short breath of defeat.

"Thank you."

Granger shot me a look of pleasant surprise and threw in a slight smile for me.

"You're welcome. Next time pay more attention in class."

I cleared my throat and turned back to my book. It wasn't a usual thing for her to smile at me-no matter how pitiful or false it was-so I was unsure as to how I should respond. Our history was too complicated. But I instantly felt a stab of guilt for not even bothering to ask her what she was doing here after she had taken the time to ask about my purpose and to then help me, even though I had repeatedly refused it.

"So…what are you doing here?" I inquired, not lifting my gaze from the words on the page in front of me. I didn't see her reaction but she still answered.

"I was just doing some further research on the Giant Wars, I'm quite interested by it but Professor Binns left out some of the unnecessary-but still intriguing-facts."

I rolled my eyes at her answer. It was just as I had suspected.

And then I remembered-her mother was still sick. Yet here she was, still slaving over extra research alone in the library. Basically, still being Hermione. She was even being kind to me. I lifted my gaze to her, watching her as she read her books; oblivious the attention that I was giving her. Gryffindors. I rolled my eyes again.