The first dinner at Hogwarts back from the summer was always a blast. New students were filled with expectations and dreams, old students were happy to reunite in their second home, and the Sorting Hat Ceremony was quite entertaining.
Sitting a few seats across, in front of each other, Ellie had glanced at Draco a few times. Asking for a look back, wondering what was wrong. Remembering what their Sorting ceremony had been, how they both had celebrated being Slytherins. That seemed to be all in the past.
She wasn´t paying attention, but everyone from her year seemed to be very busy discussing her relationships.
"So, I must ask, Fern, is it some sort of saviour complex that you have, hanging out with the broken toys?" Pansy asked. She hated it when people called her by her last name, but in Slytherin, the last name was the most precious thing.
She rolled her eyes.
"Why? Are you interested in my services?" Ellie answered while cutting her food.
Draco was paying very close attention, though he would not dare to speak. He knew this was a very important year for his father and for the Death Eaters. He just couldn't.
"I just find it hard to believe that you would downgrade so much. From hanging out with us, to those mudbloods. It beats me." Pansy continued.
"Oh, shut up Pansy, you are just jealous Elizabeth is more popular than you are." Violet Cunningham intervened. Ellie dedicated her a complicit smile, though they were not friends, she had always liked her. "I personally would do anything to stop hearing your annoying voice."
"Can Fern not fight her own battles now? Dear, Draco, you should see if your father can do anything to get her on a more fitting house…" she chuckled looking at Draco for some help in this confrontation that everyone seemed to be paying attention to.
Ellie also looked at Draco, waiting for at least something, a look, a word, anything.
"My father has better things to do than deal with…" he hesitated "traitors". He said without taking his eyes off his food.
Like a dagger penetrating her heart, Ellie almost faltered. He was gone. She needed no more proof. They usually playfully picked on each other, but that was said with contempt.
"At least look at me when you call me a traitor, you coward " Ellie said and left the table to quickly jump down the stairs to the closest restroom.
Draco had also felt that dagger, while he pronounced those words that he truly did not mean. He really had no choice, once again, he had to do what his father had told him to. He knew something good was coming and he couldn´t trust anyone, he couldn't confide on anyone, he couldn't let Ellie in, she would make him unfocused. If his father knew, Draco couldn't imagine what he would do to him. This, the Dark Lord, was the most important thing for his family. He looked at her empty seat, and then at Cedric far in the Hufflepuff table, looking at him, like he had seen the whole thing unveil. Closer, in the Gryffindor table, Harry and Hermione had also seemed to witness the whole thing. Draco really couldn´t deal with Potter and his friends, not in that moment.
"Next year, when we are prefects, we will do so much better for this house, right Draco?" Pansy asked, conceited.
"Next time, don´t involve me in your petty fights, okay, Pansy?" he simply said.
"Elizabeth?" Hermione called entering the toilets. "Eliza…?"
"I´m here" Ellie said as she opened her door and walked towards the sink.
"You missed the entire ceremony! The other schools will be here soon for the Tournament and Cedric – " she paused when she saw her eyes still wet from the tears.
"Oh, Elizabeth… Harry and I saw what happened with Draco, but I didn´t think you were this upset." She talked very quickly.
"It´s fine, it´s just the shock, but it´s fine" Ellie said cleaning her face with water.
There was a pause in which Hermione thought what to say. She couldn´t understand how someone like Elizabeth could care about someone like Draco. How they were friends when he was just pure evil. But, she realized, the Draco Malfoy Elizabeth knew was probably not the same one she knew.
"Can I ask why it shocks you? I mean…. Its Draco Malfoy"
"He is – was- my friend." Ellie said.
"I´m sorry."
"It´s okay. At least now I know what his deal is."
Ellie sat on the floor, leaning against one of the toilet´s door, and Hermione followed her sitting right across.
"I was always curious about you guys´s relationship. I couldn't understand how someone could genuinely like Draco Malfoy." Hermione said.
"I think when you really know someone, it´s very hard to hate them. I know that the Draco that you perceive is not the same one that is my friend. Or was." Ellie said, lacking energy.
"I suppose."
Hermione and Elizabeth had never been close. But they both wanted to be, since Elizabeth had started hanging out with Harry. The two spent a few minutes in silence. Hermione didn´t know what to say, and Elizabeth was too busy thinking about what had happened to open her mouth.
"Oh!" Ellie broke the silence. "What were you saying about Cedric?"
"Oh, yes, Cedric. People are saying he should represent Hogwarts in the Tournament."
Probably every boy over the permitted age would put his name up for the Goblet of Fire, that was a fact, but for some reason, the fact that it was a possibility that Cedric´s name was one of them didn´t sit right with Elizabeth.
"Well, the chances of him getting chosen are not that good, are they?"
"You never know."
It was true, everyone had a chance at being chosen. Elizabeth just hoped Cedric wouldn´t be the one, she had heard stories about how incredibly demanding and dangerous those games were. She was protective of Cedric, the same way he was of her.
After dinner, and the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament, Draco was knackered when he arrived in his room. He hadn´t stopped staring at Ellie´s empty seat, and kept replaying in his mind her hurt look while she left. He shook his head – why was he being so remorseful? – he was Draco Malfoy, at the end of the day. He tried to remind that to himself, recomposing him, and trying to bring back the power he once held.
"You good, Malfoy?" a fifth year, Alexander Cox had asked him during dinner. He couldn´t afford people seeing him down, they wouldn't respect him that way. He really had to find a way to kick Elizabeth out of his mind, if only there was an option to.