Draco sat silently next to Eleanor during study hall the following morning. She was surprised to see him so readily back beside her after their argument, but grateful to see him nonetheless.

"Draco, I-" Eleanor started in a whisper. Draco shook his head slightly to stop her. "But I-" she began again.

"We'll talk about it later, El." Draco said, exasperated. But he wasn't using her full name anymore so she accepted this and resigned to remain silent during the hour of study in the Great Hall. Harry eyed them carefully from further down the table, leaving his Transfiguration essay ignored. Only when Professor McGonagall strode over to him and reminded him to use his time wisely did Harry lower his gaze.

"Why is Potter staring at us?" Draco demanded softly, breaking his apparent vow of silence, "did you tell him?"

Eleanor rolled her eyes at him and put down the 3rd year Care of Magical Creatures worksheet she'd been grading for Hagrid. "I thought you'd know me well enough to know that I don't share your secrets even if I don't always agree." She bit out. "We'll talk later." She reminded him.

"Eleanor," Draco pressed again.

"I was frustrated last night after our argument and came back to the Common Room in tears so I assumed Harry is interested to see how you'll treat me today and might also be slightly upset with you, is that what you wanted to hear?" Eleanor snapped.

"Well, I wasn't in a great mood when I got back either, but you don't see my friends staring daggers at you." Draco huffed.

"You're ridiculous." Eleanor groaned. "I don't like arguing with you."

"Then stop arguing." Draco shot back.

"For Merlin's sake, Draco, enough." Eleanor said, louder than intended, and definitely louder than the whisper-level permitted. Several heads popped up to look at them, and murmurs began flourishing. Professor Snape began stalking towards the now sheepish looking couple.

"Though I have very little care for your lover's quarrel, the same cannot be said for your classmates. Perhaps save the marital spats for a time when it is not so distracting to the general public." Professor Snape drawled in annoyance. Eleanor's cheeks blazed red and set her face in a scowl.

"I was just leaving, Professor." She announced quietly and glared at Draco for a moment before collecting her things and beginning to leave the Great Hall.

"Merlin, shit," Draco muttered to himself as he rubbed his forehead swiftly before shooting up to follow her. "El, wait," He pleaded quietly, but if she heard him she didn't let on. He swore to himself again and began sloppily gathering his things and trying not to look desperate as he followed after her, but that attempt to save some aloofness was unsuccessful as everyone in study hall was watching him trail after her; either trying to show some decency by pretending to look away or just staring outright. Any other time that Draco wasn't slowly descending into a panic at the thought of watching his most beloved person walking away from him, he would have sneered at the onlookers.

The hallways were sparse of students, most of them studying or in class at this hour of the day, however it wasn't empty. This fact is what kept Draco from calling out, but he did jog to catch up with Eleanor. The advantage of long legs over her small stride helped him to stop her quickly.

"El, stop." He said once he skidded to a halt in front of her. He could see the angry tears forming in her eyes, but they hadn't fallen yet. She set her jaw angrily and pushed by him, her shoulder making rough contact with his chest. Draco winced for a moment before following her again. "What is going on?" He asked in near desperation, unsure of how this all got so out of hand.

"I don't like feeling like the weight of people's lives are on my shoulders. I just want someone to take care of us." Eleanor bit back. "I don't want to be dealing with all of this without having some support."

"You have me-" Draco tried.

"We're children, Draco." Eleanor whimpered softly. "For a year I've been dealing with adult shit without having someone I can rely on who will clean it up for me when it all goes wrong. This all just feels like it's growing out of our control and I want to give it to someone more capable. I understand why you don't, believe me, I do. And I trust you when you saw that you have it under control but you can't blame the child in me for wanting to pass off these problems to somebody else." ELeanor sucked in a deep breath. "It isn't that I don't trust you. I'm just terrified. I don't want to be responsible for other people's lives anymore. I hardly want to be responsible for my own."

"I understand." Draco let out softly, grabbing some books from Eleanor's hands to lighten her load. "I do. We're both in way over our heads and it's just us making decisions for big family names."

Eleanor let go of some of the tension in her shoulders once hearing Draco's understanding voice. It had all gotten so complicated, all she wanted was to wash her hands of everything, all she wanted was to be a child again. "I'm sorry," she breathed, "I don't want you to think I don't trust you with this kind of thing. I just wish I didn't have to."

In that moment Draco saw her as something he didn't see her as often. His brave, courageous, tenacious girl was absolutely petrified.


The official groundbreaking of the community garden got pushed until early Spring as the weather changed to snow too quickly. This saddened Eleanor as one of her greatest distractions was now gone. Though Draco and Eleanor hadn't completely solved their conflict, they weren't actively snipping at each other either anymore. Draco did feel sad for Eleanor that something she had been working so hard on was thwarted, and decided to swallow his pride and take her to Three Broomsticks with her friends over the weekend trip to Hogsmeade.

The couple walked quietly behind the three of Eleanor's Gryffindor friends the whole way from Hogwarts. They held hands though the intimacy was not there. It felt like they were going through the motions. Eleanor was holding back tears at the fact that for the first time in a long time, she felt that her and Draco were far apart. She wanted them to be a team again.

Though Draco had honest intentions of sitting with Eleanor's friends, he did feel an intense amount of relief when Eleanor pulled him away to a private table upon their entry of the Three Broomsticks. As he looked back a final time at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, Draco caught sight of Blaise standing under the stairs. Draco locked eyes with his friend and gave him a nod in greeting. This greeting went ignored, no - intentionally snubbed. Draco felt a little shocked, annoyed, and felt a pang of terror go through him. If Blaise was beginning to brush Draco aside, then Draco couldn't protect Eleanor.

Draco checked to see if Eleanor had seen the interchange, but her eyes were locked on the people passing by the window outside and she hugged her arms to herself. Draco turned back to look at Blaise once more, but he was gone. What he did see was Harry looking directly into his eyes. The two young men shared a nod, knowing they'd seen the same thing. Then Harry gestured towards Eleanor, reminding Draco where his attention should be in that moment.

Oddly, Draco felt grateful for Harry's watchful - almost paranoid - eye over the comings and goings of Hogwarts students, and even his eye for Eleanor. Draco shook his head slightly, his own thoughts surprised him. If only his eleven year old self could see him now, maybe he could have been saved years of pent up anger.

"You okay?" Draco asked Eleanor softly as he joined her at the table. Eleanor offered a tight smile and nodded. "No you're not." Draco shook his head at her.

"Things just feel off, that's all." Eleanor provided. "You feel it too, I know."

Draco's eyes fell to the table top and he leaned back in his seat. He clenched his jaw a few times and refused to look up at Eleanor again.

"We'll get through it, we always do." Eleanor continued softly and began wringing her hands together on top of the table. "Have you heard anything more about the Ministry Internship?"

"Slughorn said he might have a connection for me to reach out too, but I'm not sure. He seems a bit...I don't know how to describe it," Draco tried to chuckle. "I think he would prefer me not be there, having disgraced parents, I don't have much use for him."

"You're brilliant. He sees that." Eleanor encouraged with a smile. Draco shrugged.

"He's having a Christmas Party in a few weeks." Draco started, Eleanor rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I've heard all about that." She chuckled slightly, thinking about Hermione's ranting over her change of Christmas Party plans due to Ron's budding relationship. She eyed the two of them from across the pub, they looked like they were arguing again, and Harry's eyes were trained on Ginny and Dean, snogging in the opposite corner.

"Would you want to come with me?" Draco asked. "You're kind of my built in date." He tried to make her smile. She cracked a small one which made his heart squeeze slightly in delight.

"I guess that's one of the perks of having a girlfriend," Eleanor teased lightly, placing her hand in the middle of the table for Draco to hold.

Draco stared at her open hand, reluctant as always to show affection with some many people around. He knew Eleanor needed his reassurance, his love. Things between them were fragile and it felt that at any point, any action of his could cause an irreparable rift between them. He sucked in a deep breath and placed his fingertips on top of hers, tracing the inside of her palm gently. "One of the many perks." Draco agreed. Eleanor smiled brightly at him. It seemed as though it was the first bright smile he'd seen from her in a long time.

His concentration on Eleanor's happy demeanor was broken by Blaise leaving the Three Broomsticks in a bit of a hurry. Draco's eyes followed him and then looked over to Harry, who was lost in a conversation with Ginny who had walked over to join the group. Draco ground his teeth and returned his eyes to the window, trying to follow Blaise's movement but he was lost in the crowd now, putting Draco on edge. Eleanor had watched Draco's change of demeanor closely.

"Do you want to go?" She suggested softly.

"Yeah, I just want to keep an eye on him." Draco whispered. Eleanor nodded in understanding and began to stand collecting her things. Her friends looked as though they were preparing to leave as well and walked over to join her and Draco.

"Alright, Eleanor?" Harry asked softly, glancing only briefly at Draco who was too distracted to be annoyed at Potter's constant assumption that he was the one causing problems.

"Yeah, we were just going to start heading back. Draco has some things he needs to do back at the castle." Eleanor replied, grabbing Draco's hands with hers in an attempt to bring him back to reality.

They all wrapped themselves in their scarves, hats, jackets, and gloves before exiting the pub and beginning the snowy trek back to the castle. Eleanor could barely keep her eyes on the path, constantly looking up at Draco, attempting to see what was in his brain. She knew better than to bring it up with her friends in such close proximity, and saying so would start another fight, but she wanted to know why he was so set on protecting Blaise when his actions caused Draco such anxiety.

Then, a scream pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked to the path ahead of her to see Katie Bell suspended in the air, her face stuck in a perpetual scream as her body began to be flung through the air at breakneck speed.

"I told her not to touch it," her companion yelled in terror. Eleanor's eyes were drawn to the package that was strewn across the ice.

"Don't touch that," Hagrid's booming voice came in a panic behind them as he scrambled to collect Katie in his arms, "only the wrappin's."

Draco and Eleanor shared a knowing look, full of fear.


Back at the castle, Katie's friend - Leanne - recounted the story of how Katie came into custody of the cursed necklace to Professor McGonagall.

"She said it's important it was delivered to Professor Dumbledore." Leanne added. Professor McGonagall looked disturbed by this bit of information and nodded solemnly.

"Thank you, you may go." She permitted, then looked disapprovingly at the students left in front of her. "I'm surprised to see you here, Mr. Malfoy, but everyone else…" She trailed off and looked at Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Eleanor with raised brows.

"It seems I've gotten myself rather involved." Draco added quietly, glancing at Eleanor.

"Then I suppose you should get used to being in this position." McGonagall quipped. "Oh, Severus," she called as Snape passed the classroom, "This is your area of expertise. What do you think about this?"

Snape observed the necklace closely for a moment or two. "I think Miss Bell is lucky to be alive." He murmured.

"W-was she cursed?" Draco asked, almost afraid to know the answer. He lightly squeezed Eleanor's hand, bracing himself for his suspicions being confirmed.

"I know Katie." Harry spoke up, "When she's off the Quidditch Pitch, she wouldn't hurt a fly. She wouldn't deliver a cursed necklace knowingly."

"Yes, she was cursed." Professor McGonagall confirmed.

"There's a Death Eater in the school." Harry stated, looking harshly at Snape who glared back at him.

"Do you have any evidence?" Snape drawled.

"Do I need any? A classmate was just cursed to kill our headmaster." Harry snapped.

"Careful, Potter." Snape warned.

"If you see any suspicious behavior, Mr. Potter, I encourage you to speak up, but otherwise any accusation could be detrimental." Professor McGonagall said. Eleanor looked at Draco, urging him to say something. She could see his mind was swimming with all of the revelations, but he continued to stay silent. "You all may go." She dismissed them.

"We all know what we saw this summer," Harry huffed, "why do we need to keep covering for him?"

"Dumbledore said-" Hermione started.

"No, Hermione, he's lying. He's lying to Dumbledore, he must be." Harry continued to seeth.

Draco slowed his pace and pulled Eleanor along with him. Ron, Harry, and Hermione continued walking ahead and Eleanor looked up at Draco in confusion. He could see the hurt in her eyes, the disappointment that he knew something and didn't say it.

Seeing Katie Bell suspended in the air had struck a chord with him. It could've been Eleanor. As far back as his history with Blaise went, he knew that his old friend's loyalty wasn't invincible. At the end of the day he had a mission, and if he was instructed to hurt Eleanor, he would. Draco was terrified.

"I need to talk to Dumbledore."


Hi all! It's been awhile, so sorry for the delay! I love hearing from you and what you're thinking and feeling, so please leave a review and let me know!