The first few days of classes started like the summer had never happened. All the students – most of them – walked around the school confidently, finding their next class. You could notice the first years slowly learning their way around the castle.
The first class of the day for Elizabeth was Arithmacy, in the classroom 7A. She was joined by Violet Cunningham, and a few fellow Slytherins she really got along with. It felt as though the house had always been divided by those who followed Draco, and those who generally didn´t care about his dictatorship attempts. After falling out with him, she was discovering this other part , that she was enjoying. She needed fresh air, she didn´t want to have people around her talking about Draco. Like an opened wound, she needed to heal without anyone poking it.
"Fred and George are going to pull a prank on Myrtle, do you want to come see? " she asked
"I don´t know, I want to spend some time with Cedric." Ellie said. Her and Cedric had barely seen each other, and Ellie felt a bit weird about it. Between his prefect duties, the Tournament, and Draco, it seemed like they were both on different wavelengths. Ellie had been so upset about Draco that she felt like she was doing something bad, like she was cheating on Cedric.
The Arithmacy class was quite entertaining, no one enjoyed it more than Hermione, who was clearly very passionate about it. They exchanged a few complicit looks throughout the hour, Elizabeth could feel a friendship forming. Just like with Violet. As sad as it was, not being with Draco was opening many doors for her.
After a visit to the library, she rushed down to the Slytherin common room with Violet. They had around thirty minutes before the next class, and some doubts regarding the Tournament had risen that they wanted to check. As they entered, they discovered Draco, Crabbe and Goyle sitting in the long green sofas. Violet dedicated her a look, like making sure she wanted to enter the room, but she couldn't avoid him forever.
"Oh, hey Fern" Crabbe said looking up at her, as to warn Draco of her presence.
Draco also looked up, almost cohibited by her presence.
"Hello boys." She said. Draco stayed silent.
Violet sat down the dark wooden table, putting the books they had taken from the library next to her. There was palpable tension in the room, both Draco and Ellie wanted to address each other, but couldn't.
"By the way, what modules did you guys choose for this year?" said Violet breaking the silence. Everyone in the room was surprised she had suddenly decided to talk.
"Ancient Runes, you are in Arithmacy, right?" Crabbe said.
"Was `How to be an asshole 101´ all full?" Ellie muttered, but not quietly enough.
"What?" Draco turned around to look at her.
"Oh, you heard me"
"Did your Hufflepuff friends help you come up with that?" Draco said, staring her down from the sofa. If it hadn´t been for the situation, it could have just been banter. They were always playfully attacking each other, but this time it was real. No one was laughing. Ellie was convinced Draco meant whatever he was saying.
"Wow, and there I thought you were only allowed to talk when Pansy told you to." Ellie said back, defying him.
"I would have never guessed you were the jealous type" Draco said petulant. In some way, he was enjoying it. He missed talking to her. At the end of the day she was the person he wanted to talk to, that hadn't changed.
" I really can´t be arsed to talk to you." Ellie said. "Violet, we should go back to the library"
"Alright Hermione, you do you" Draco laughed under his breath.
"You know what Draco?" she exclaimed. "Although I will never understand it, I will always be thankful that you have been an idiot to me. I didn´t realise how much of a dickhead you could be. But you have outdone yourself. Looks like the trash took itself out".
Like the calm after the storm, Crabbe and Goyle were left looking at Draco, who was staring into nothingness. They could tell something was bothering him, but they were not smart enough to reach out or to even begin to comprehend what was going on in Draco´s head. They didn´t really know him, it could be argued that they weren´t even his friends if you compared their relationship to other close friends in the school.