"If her parents saw her … they would be so disappointed. Jane wanted so much for Elizabeth…it´s sad, I think about Jane a lot... We were good friends, you know." Narcissa said with sadness just as Draco and her walked past Elizabeth.
Draco didn´t know much about Ellie´s parents. Ellie didn´t know much about her parents either. After their death, when Ellie was just new-born, the then Minister of Magic decided to send her temporarily with the Abbott family. The main idea was that they would eventually find her a forever home, but that never happened. She got taken from house to house, changing families ever so often, and, although the Malfoy´s would always attempt to take her in, the Ministry didn´t want any kid to be exposed to that environment.
Narcissa was good friends with Jane, and she felt responsible for the child. She would want someone to take care of Draco if she couldn´t. So, on the first of September of first year, she told her son to find a girl called Elizabeth Fern. Narcissa had loved Elizabeth like her own child, but if there was one thing her and her husband couldn´t get past was treason. She thought of Jane and Gideon, and, felt apologetic for turning her back on their daughter, but her hands were tied.
"That girl was Jane´s dream… such a tragic ending" Narcissa continued, thinking out loud.
His mother didn´t usually open up to him. They didn´t talk about feelings at his house. Draco had found her mother crying in her room sometimes, but he knew not to ask questions. He was tired, it had been a long day. It was always a long day when his parents visited. By the time they had left, it was dinner time.
He noticed the male bathroom´s door open a few feet away and decided to go in before sitting for dinner. He needed a break and he found the melancholic darkness and silence of the bathroom comforting.
Like it had been cutting his oxygen, Draco quickly undid his tie and put in on his pocket. He wasn´t planning on this bathroom visit, but some fresh water on his face would do him good. He had no time to go for a nap, dinner would start in a matter of minutes.
Cedric had been on a Prefect meeting and was coming down to go to The Great Hall to have dinner when he saw Draco enter the bathroom. He hadn´t thought about it, but the idea of talking to him sounded perfect in that moment. Maybe if he talked some sense into Draco, he and El could solve their issues and become friends again. Even if he hated Draco, it wasn´t about what he wanted. He made his girlfriend happy, and that´s all he needed to know.
The Slytherin was looking at his own reflection in the mirror, like he had never seen himself when Cedric entered, disrupting the silence. He wasn´t one to bully anyone, he wasn´t a tough guy, but he knew he could be.
"Hey Draco" he said, walking towards him. "Checking yourself out?"
Draco quickly turned to discover Cedric. What was he doing there? Did he want to poke him? To rub it in his face how happy he was?
"What do you want?" He quickly demanded.
"I just want to talk" Cedric said calmly.
"Yeah, well, I´m not interested"
"Yes, you are" Cedric said. He was not much taller than Draco, but the few centimetres worked in his favour to intimidate him.
Somewhat scared, Draco reached for his wand, but Cedric quickly pushed it out of the way with an Expelliarmus. In terms of magic, Draco was no opponent to Cedric. He was older, more experienced. Great at duels.
"Don´t play with me Malfoy, I´m not here to fight you." Cedric said clenching his teeth.
"Is that so? What would someone like you and someone like me ever have to talk about?" Draco said and made sure it sounded like an insult.
"You know exactly what I´m talking about"
"Is she not able to fight her own battles now?"
"Malfoy shut up and listen. You are disarmed, and I bet if Hermione beat your ass, I could too" Cedric paused for a moment to check Draco´s reaction. Was it working? He looked bothered, but he would listen. His eyes had lightened up as soon as Cedric had hinted Elizabeth.
"I don´t know what your issue is, I think it´s just that you have always been a piece of shit, but for some reason Elizabeth cares about you and you are being a cunt to her. It takes a special kind of imbecile to hurt the only person that has probably ever genuinely liked you in this school, but I don´t care about your reasonings, to be honest. So, I´m going to tell you what you can do. You can either apologize to her, or grow a pair and go explain to her why you have suddenly decided you prefer to be miserable by yourself. I don´t care what you do" Cedric said.
"You think you are so smart, don´t you?" Draco snapped, he was crossing his arms on his chest, and the wet strands of hair were hanging on his face. "You think you know anything at all about me? You think you remotely know anything about my relationship with Elizabeth?"
"I´m doing you a favour, Malfoy. It doesn´t take much to notice that you have been wondering the school like a lost puppy for the last three weeks. You think she will be forever waiting for you to get your shit together? One day you will want to clear the air, and you won´t be able to." Cedric said toning down the intimidating tone to a gentler one.
Not in a million years, would Draco had expected to be cornered by Cedric Diggory.
Authors note :
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