I do not own any part of Harry Potter, that is JKR.
"Malfoy?"
The boy was a wreck, his shirt was disheveled and his tie was loose and crooked around his neck. He had clearly been pulling at his hair, the state of it worse than even Harry's morning bed head. Worst of all those were his eyes.
They were red and swollen with the tears that kept escaping as he looked at me and struggled to pull himself together. They were full of pain, I had seen the same expression in many people over the last two years, too many to count. I dropped to my knees in front of him, even as he flinched away while wiping at his face.
"Draco, what is wrong?" My heart shouldn't hurt for the person in front of me, I shouldn't care, but I did. He sniffled and scooted away from me, closer to the wall.
"Nothing I would ever tell you." He tried to sound tough, but his usual arrogance was missing from his voice. I sighed and sat back against the wall on the opposite side facing him.
"Can I help at all?" I studied him closely. He wasn't wearing his robe, so his stark white shirt made it clear there were no injuries. I felt at a loss, I had never seen Draco Malfoy anything less than pompous and entitled. But seeing this broken boy on the steps made me want to reach out and help him.
"Honestly, Granger, just get lost." He said with a sad sneer, still not looking at me. I gave a small smirk back.
"Sorry, but no can do. As a prefect it would be terribly unwise for me to leave you here alone, so close to curfew." He snorted, we both knew curfew was a couple hours out and since he was a prefect it wouldn't have mattered much either way. He rubbed his eyes and, surprising me, kept them closed and just leaned back against the wall.
We sat there in semi-awkward silence for awhile, I honestly couldn't tell how long I was there for. I refreshed the candles around us, brightening the small hide-away, and transfigured a cushion for me to sit on. After another bout of silence with me just playing with my hair and Draco just ignoring me, I pulled out my wand and started working on my birds again.
"How did you do those?" his voice startled me and I ended the charm abruptly. The tiny birds weren't intricate at all, but he picked up one of the finished ones. "These aren't the ones we are learning about in Transfiguration."
"No they aren't." I said simply, a small proud smile on my face. "I did that spell, but the birds faded over time, I wanted to have something that I could perfect and keep. I went to the library and found this spell and have been practicing it ever since."
"Hmm." he muttered, turning the little glass life-like bird in his hand. His eyebrows arched as the bird slowly started changing from its clear glass to a light almost watercolored green. "Did you do that?"
I shook my head, "It's another part of the spell that I don't quite understand. Most of the birds that I hold tend to become a mustard yellow hue. Maybe it just adapts to whoever's holding its favorite color."
My face got hot a bit after I realized that I had shared my favorite color, I wasn't sure if even Harry or Ron knew that. The only person that I knew for sure that knew it was my favorite color was Mrs. Weasley. He nodded slightly. We sat there in silence for a little while longer, before the clocks bells went off signalling dinner time.
I stood up and used my wand to get rid of all the practice birds that were around the floor, leaving the one in Draco's hands alone. Even if he wasn't the biggest fan of me, I could see him studying it. I smiled softly as I stored my wand and left him alone with his thoughts.
Draco POV
I couldn't really explain it, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to even consider it, but I was feeling better. Granger may have been the last person that I had wanted to see, but it was like she knew exactly what I needed. Companionship, without having to bat away questions about why I was feeling like this. Then, being the stupid show off that she is, distracted me with this almost brilliant display of magic.
I turned the bird over in my hands. The green was soft, it was like it was barely there. Grangers theory about the favorite color made sense, since this mint color was indeed my favorite color. The boldness of emerald green was too bright for my tastes, though if anyone asked that was the color I went with, had to maintain house pride after all.
I shook my head at the small object as I pocketed it. I couldn't believe that at one point, I had believed that she was anything other than a gifted witch. Not to say I didn't still hate her, because I did, but damn she was skilled. Would I ever tell anyone that? No.
I gathered myself together, fixed my clothes and my hair, and headed for the Great Hall. Almost immediately after sitting down, Blaise plopped himself down next to me and started filling his plate.
"I couldn't find you after potions." He said, acting like he couldn't care less. But I knew Blaise, he was probably my only real friend, he cared. I smirked.
"Don't worry about it Blaise, I had some personal matters to take care of."
Blaise rolled his eyes, but understood that I was not going to talk about what had happened. It was one of the reasons that we were such great friends, we both have boundaries and we allow the other to keep theirs.
"I think I am gonna ask Granger for some extra study help." He said with a smirk, not even looking at me. Which was great because it actually made me pause, before I just continued eating. "I mean, I don't really need the help, but it could be fun to ruffle her feathers on a more personal basis."
"By all means, go for it, then maybe she will leave me be for longer than two seconds." I shrugged.
"I don't know how you get any studying done anyway, Granger is a babe." He stated plainly, it made me choke on my food. Blaise thumped my back once and I quickly took a sip of water, staring at him wide-eyed the whole time.
"Clearly you need your eyes checked." I glanced over at Granger. "She is probably the least attractive person at Hogwarts, Blaise. Even Goyle could do better than her." Blaise laughed and shook his head.
"You're insane, but I will let you keep living in your fantasy world." He smirked and then turned to Daphne and started talking to her quietly. Whatever he said must have had an impact of her, because her face quickly blushed and he looked very proud of himself. I rolled my eyes at him and looked back at Granger.
Blaise was the insane one, she was nothing if not plain. Her bushy hair made her head look much bigger than it probably was, even if it had toned down considerably since first year. She was... she was just a frumpy prude and would probably stay that way forever. Watching her hang off of Weasleys every word just went to show how pathetic she was. I shook off my thoughts of her and focused on my plate. I just wanted this year to be over already.
Hey, long time no see!I have to apologize for both how long this chapter took and and the shortness of it. I am without a computer currently, so I had to borrow a friend of mine just to get what I had up for you. I promise that as filler as this chapter seems, there were a few ends I needed to weave, everything has a purpose. I hope the next chapter will come out in the next week or so, but it could be longer...
I am still in the process of editing the previous chapters as well, and filling stuff out, keep your fingers crossed for a new laptop for me! Also, if you are interested in Beta Reading for me, please PM me!
As always,
Ali
