"That was some brilliant acting" Draco gushes as he halts to a stop beside me, he places a hand on my shoulder and exhales deeply.
"mm…" I reply nonchalantly.
"Something wrong?" Draco picking up on my tone of voice immediately.
"When you made fun out of Harry for being an orphan I won't lie it bothered me a bit…" I reply. "I'm an orphan too you know." Deciding honesty would be the best approach to this situation.
"Fair enough but you do understand neither me nor Potter get along, in fact I loathe his entire existence." Dracos voice raises by an octave.
"But why?" I enquire. I mean I understand the base line for why they had a dislike for each other but I don't exactly get why there is such intense hatred between the two.
"I'm sure you've heard Potters side." It doesn't sound like a question but I nod anyway. "Besides Ari, just because we're friends doesn't mean I'm going to start getting along with your other friends. That isn't how this works." He says quite firmly. At that however I feel a pool of anger simmer in the pit of my stomach.
"I never asked you to be nice to anyone? I know who you are, I know what you are Draco, I was just expressing my unhappiness."
"And what is that Aria. Tell me. I want to know. Because I know what you are too." He spits, ignoring the last segment of my sentence.
"Don't you dare say it." I threaten.
"Aria Riddle." I gasp out loud.
"The Dark lords daughter, here to restore honour to the pure bloods society" I didn't mean to but it was as if my body was moving on its own. I slap Draco across the face. Even before my hand makes contact with Draco's face I already regretted my actions. Time slowed down but the motion of my hand moved so quickly that by the time my brain told my hand to stop it was already too late. It was as if I was an unknown entity and I was viewing the entire situation take place from an outsiders perspective.
"Aria!" I hear screamed from the end of the hallway. I turn and see Harry, Ron and Hermione standing there, all three of their facial expressions looked shell shocked. But I didn't have time for them. I turn to Draco and see him clutching his face where I had just assaulted him.
"Draco I-" I didn't get to finish whatever I was going to say because Draco places a hand up in the air meaning for me to stop talking. I do. He brushes said hand through his lose bleach blonde hair and turns on his heel.
"Draco?" I call but he doesn't turn around. I wait a moment, hesitation telling me not to bother him when he's this angry. Because Draco? Speechless? Unheard of. I was worried sick. I then start to walk towards him but I feel another hand clamp down on my shoulder.
"Ari leave him." It was Harry. I push his hand off and turn to my previous target.
"Seriously Ari. Leave him. I know you guys were childhood friends. I get it. But leave it. Please" I turn back towards Harry. I mean what right did he have to tell me what to do but before I can even open my mouth harry continues.
"We're on opposite sides of the war. I don't need to remind you what that means." He says quite firmly. This whole conversation sounds like an older brother scolding his little sister. But maybe he was right? Me and Draco Clearly stood for different morals. Maybe a friendship between the both of us was just a ridiculous pipe dream, maybe the both of us just wanted to cling onto a tiny shred of our childhood. A small morsel of happiness in our otherwise quite bleak young lives.
I sigh deeply and physically feel my shoulders slump. In the opposite direction of where Draco stalked off I sling off towards my room. Why was something as simple as having a friend made so incredibly difficult by the state of the wizarding world.
I skip dinner all together and the next morning when I force myself to go down for the breakfast for the sheer reasoning of needing sustenance I am greeted by a beaming bunch of Weasleys.
"Wicked hit you landed there yesterday Ari." Fred starts off as I descend the last few steps.
"You should have seen it Fred. Bloody amazing." Ron gushes at the memory. I smile weakly.
"Breakfast?" I ask into the group at now one in particular, hoping the get off of this topic.
Approaching the great hall I catch sight of blindingly bright patch of blonde in an otherwise vast sea of brown and black.
"Draco" I start off. I was ahead of the others with only Harry besides me and as he was aware of our past affiliation I didn't think it was wrong of me to use his first name. I stare up hopefully at my long-time companion however he just walks straight past me. As he does so I swear I feel a breeze that sends a shiver straight down to my bones.
"Did anyone hear something?" Draco speaks into the hallway. "Must have been a nothing." He says. Again I shiver. The edge in his voice was so sharp it could impale a brick wall. I stand there for a moment, stunned into silence. I feel Harry put an arm around my shoulder and lead me towards the Great hall, our original destination.
I push around a plate of eggs but suddenly I have no appetite and I just know that if I even attempted to swallow the contents of my plate it would just end up as a mess of bile. I had never had a falling out with a close friend before. I had no idea how to approach the situation. Sometimes I can't help but get mad at my mother for sheltering me away for a majority of my life, shunning me away from simple life experiences such as damage control on a flipped friendship. But then of course I remember why she did what she did and now another extra dolloping of guilt is slapped on top of my plate of negative emotions. In my peripheral vision I notice students standing and guess that means that first period was about to commence. I stand also and make my way to my first lesson of the day. Defence against the dark arts. Great.
When I arrive at my destination I enter the threshold of the classroom and stand shocked in the entry way. My stopping was abrupt and a Slytherin girls clashes with me.
"Move it." she spits as she shoves me to the side. I don't even register the unhappy Slytherin, I scramble to my seat and focus on what I see before me.
"Good morning class." Umbridge Beams. She stands proudly at the front. Hands placed behind her back. Her woven pink suit is garish against the dullness of the rest of the room. She couldn't contain herself. Standing beside her was Draco, besides him was Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Graham Montague and finally Cassius Warrington.
In fact the whole lot of them looked positively pleased with themselves. "Class, before you stands a collection of exceptional students, students that I think are avid rule followers. They embody precisely what Hogwarts stands for and you should all feel privileged to be able to call them your peers." Around me amongst the Gryffindor side of the room I hear a few gagging sounds and some chuckles.
"Silence." Umbridge shrieks. I wince at the shrill tone of her voice. "As I was saying. These students are now part of the Inquisitorial Squad. They are in charge of ensuring order among the student populace, they have the authority to dock points and-"
Again my side of the class collectively groan. "Quite." Umbridge screams once more. "Young Malfoy here will be the leader, I trust his judgement explicitly. Be wary." She finishes off. The Inquisitorial Squad smugly walk back to their seats. There are a few light applauds from the Slytherin side of the class. The last to leave the front of the classroom is Draco. And he smiles at me as he does so. But it wasn't the kind, warm smile I'm use to that made me reminisce of happier times. This one was filled with malice. I couldn't bear looking at him when he looked so full of hate so I avert my gaze. I look down at my books and hope I was imagining the look on his face.