"I never wanna leave, I'll never say goodbye." ~ Walk by the Foo Fighters.

Chapter 21: Lucius's Letter

"Shh," Dora hissed, crouching behind a wall. "Elizabeth's talking to him!"

Quickly, I crouched behind the wall and surveyed the scene before me. Elizabeth Stradlin, one of the not-so-nice girls from my year, had dumped Darren a few weeks ago, and was clearly looking for another boyfriend. I wished that she hadn't marked my best friend, though.

Dora and I were awkwardly crouched behind a pillar in Hogsmeade, watching Elizabeth talk to Charlie. She was one of those girls who was born flirting; it came naturally to her. My lip curled in disgust as I saw that Charlie wasn't immune to her flirting; his cheeks were pink and he was shifting slightly. Dora only knew Elizabeth by what I had described, but judging by her disgusted expression, she didn't like her one bit.

"You performed really well yesterday," she said softly, looking at the floor. Gag. She's going for the shy fangirl approach.

"Um, thanks," Charlie said, rubbing his neck.

"No problem," she said, snapping her head back up and grinning brightly, puffing her chest out slightly. To my annoyance, Charlie's eyes flickered to her chest for a moment, before he looked back up at her grinning face.

Charlie looked as though he was going to say something, but seemed to decide against it. Elizabeth spoke again.

"You know," she whispered, taking a step closer to him. "I know a girl who might be interested in you."

My lip curled again as Charlie smirked. He wasn't an idiot; he knew exactly what that meant.

"Really?" he said, in a tone that I had never heard. It sounded almost... flirtatious. I exchanged looks with Dora, who was looking as incredulous and bemused as I felt.

"Yeah," she said, placing a hand on his chest. Ugh, she's only fourteen, for godsakes! She can't be that forward! "She might be standing in front of you."

Before Charlie could say anything, her arms were wrapped around his neck and her mouth was attached to his. Dora started giggling like mad, whereas I just stared at the scene before me. Charlie hesitantly placed his hands on her waist and kissed her back.

You know, I would have thought that I would be repulsed by the whole situation. But instead, I found myself giggling like mad with Dora, like the immature sisters that we are.

"Shh," Dora hissed after a while. "Look!"

Charlie was pulling away from the kiss. He was slightly pink in the cheeks, but he smiled.

"Um, I've gotta go. Thanks," he added, before swiftly walking off. Elizabeth stood where she was, then pouted, walking off, no doubt to find some other guy to snog.

"Come on, let's go and find him," I said, grabbing Dora's hand and dragging her away from the scene. We found him in the Three Broomsticks, sitting with Kenzie. He was still flushed in the cheeks, and a smile was playing on his lips. When he saw me, he grinned.

"Hey, Maggie."

"Hello," I said cheerily. "You look flushed. Been busy, have we?"

He turned an even darker shade of red. "Erm, no. It's just a warm day, is all."

I cocked an eyebrow. "Right. So what were you doing snogging Elizabeth Stradlin?"

"What? I wasn't snogging her!" he said, and I rolled my eyes; he was a hopeless liar.

"Oh, we both must be blind," Dora said. Kenzie looked interested.

"You snogged Elizabeth! Oh, please don't date her, Charlie – I don't want two of my best friends having had gone out with her!"

"I haven't gone out with her," I said, mock confused. She rolled her eyes.

"Not you, you bint – Darren!"

Charlie's expression changed. "Ew. I just snogged someone who's snogged Darren!"

"Aha!" I said triumphantly. "So you did snog her!"

"Yeah," he said, shuddering. "First and last time for everything, I think."

After both Easter and my birthday passed, I had sorted out my plans for the holidays. I was going to spend the first couple of weeks with Kenzie, and the rest with my parents. Dora would be staying with Charlie for the first couple of weeks, and then she too would be returning to our place. Kenzie was only allowed to invite one friend over, and as she was closer to me, I was the choice. I was going to visit the Malfoys... but I received a letter from my Uncle.

Magnolia,

Your Aunt would not like me saying these things, even though she agrees wholeheartedly with me, but I feel the need to do so. You have been sending Draco so many letters this year, and he has not read a single one of them. His behaviour and attitude has changed immensely over the past year and it is entirely your fault. He's moody and irritable and not at all a pleasure to parent. I hope that you feel ashamed. You have corrupted him and made him put too much stock in you. You are not allowed to step foot in our home ever again. If you do, you will deal with my... displeasure.

Sincerely,

LM

I received the letter a few days ago, and I've been pretty upset and angry about it to say the least. If his words made me feel bad, it was nothing compared to what he threatened. I wasn't allowed to see Draco, ever. My Aunt even agreed with him. How had I corrupted him? It wasn't my fault that the boy loved me! Even though I received it three days ago, the anger and frustration was still fresh in my mind.

"Come on, Maggie," Charlie said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "At least you get to spend your holidays with Kenzie!"

I turned to him and frowned. "I have no idea what it's like to not have anyone, Charlie, and neither do you. And that's what Draco's going through. I'm going to be finished Hogwarts by the time he starts! And I'm forbidden to see him... even my Aunt agrees! If I rocked up on their doorstep, I don't know what Lucius would do."

Charlie bit his lip. "Tell you what," he eventually said. "In three years time, when we're of age, if you still haven't seen him, I'll go with you. We'll go to Malfoy Manor and see him, I promise. If that Uncle of yours lays a finger on you, we'll be able to hex him, remember? And you can still write to him, even if he doesn't reply. Things will be okay, Maggie."

I felt tears sting my eyes. Oh bloody Merlin, I was crying?! Furiously, I wiped the tears away from my eyes, feeling hollow and empty. This year has been just as good as the last, and it would have been close to perfect, if it wasn't for this.

"Sorry," I said, taking a deep breath and trying to stop my lip from wobbling. Why must he be so sweet?! It's making me want to cry even more!

"It's okay," he said softly, wrapping his arms around me in a hug. It took all my self-restraint not to break down in his arms. I squeezed my eyes shut and felt them burn with tears. I was just so angry and frustrated and upset and confused... all I wanted was to tell Draco, even if it was the last time, that I loved him, no matter what.

The portrait door swung open and Kenzie and Darren walked in, the former of the two smirking at the sight before her. I hastily pulled away from the hug, knowing exactly what thoughts she would be experiencing.

She didn't approach us, however, merely gave me a look that clearly meant 'we'll be talking about this later'. I hadn't forgotten about the fact that she and Dora thought that Charlie liked me, so I knew what sort of things she would be talking to me about.

"You alright?" he asked. I nodded and gave him a weak grin.

"Yeah," I lied, knowing that he saw straight through it.

As predicted, Kenzie interrogated me later on.

"So, you and Charlie, eh?"

"No," I replied evenly, looking at a photograph of Draco and me from several years ago. "We're friends."

"With benefits," she joked, and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Haha."

She knew why I was so snappy, but she didn't bring it up. I didn't want to talk about Draco with her. I share that sort of thing with Dora and Charlie, just not Kenzie. She's a great friend, don't get me wrong, but she's the sort of friend that I don't bring up family issues to. Friend issues, yes, and crushes (which, admittedly, was only once) but not anything major.

"Anyway," she said. "These holidays are going to be great, don't you reckon."

I smiled. "Yeah," I said honestly. Lucius may be trying to make me guilty, to make me feel ashamed, but I wasn't going to let his words bring me down. I'll see Draco again, whenever that time will be. I'll never say goodbye to him, and I'll never leave him. I will keep writing to him in the hope that he'll see sense and reply.

I'm not going to let some egotistical pureblood get in the way of my life, Uncle or not.