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Ch. 7

I stood there confused for a moment before letting Ron in. After I closed the door, I turned to face him.

"Hi Mione." he breathed, smiling a little. Not going to lie, I was a little confused. This past week, Harry, Ron and Ginny had been incredibly stony to me, given the current circumstances, Ron being one of the stoniest. And now, here he was, standing in my room as if nothing had happened. I didn't blame him for being upset. I fully acknowledged the fact that….Drac-Malfoy and I had gotten a little carried away. After all, everyone and their Mum knew that Ron had been harboring a secret crush on me for ages. And I had been the same for him. Hadn't I? I just didn't know whether to be mad or not.

"You forgot your bag at breakfast…..what with all the commotion. I suppose it was all my fault really." he admitted wistfully. He dropped my heavy bag onto the armchair by his side. I decided against being mean. It's not like anyone else had cared enough to bring me my belongings. I myself had even forgotten I'd left anything. I smiled at his gesture.

"Thanks Ron." I replied beaming at him. No problem, I heard him say, as I realized…he seemed a little down. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but before I could, his eyes met mine, with a magnetized force. Suddenly, he closed the few feet between us and engulfed me in a hug. I melted against him and sighed. I had forgotten what it was like to be in his arms. Since he was much taller than me, my neck strained a bit against his shoulder, but it was nice nonetheless. His voice was muffled by my hair as he spoke.

"I'm so sorry, really I am. I've been such a jerk to you these past few days. But you have to know it wasn't towards you. Most of it was towards that sod you were kissing. The reason why I've decided to forgive you is because I know we all make mistakes. I know you wouldn't go kissing Malfoy if you had the choice. And I swear, if he ever even touches you again ill rip out his voice box and hex him till-"

"Alright Ron, alright!" I laughed, looking at him. "Don't worry about it. I knew you'd come around. Thanks for being here for me and trying to understand. It means a lot, really."

He smiled widely and pressed me to him again. Ron was right.

We all made mistakes.

vvvvvvv

Fifteen minutes after class had ended, I was still in Flitwick's classroom trying to persuade him that he did not want my paper. The little man was ruthless, and insisted that he keep it.

"B-but Professor, it's hardly finished, not at all even, and I-"

"Nonsense!", he tut- tutted, almost wrenching the paper out my hands, "It is an absolutely wonderful piece of work! You obviously have a counterpoint behind it, which-"

Counterpoint? What counterpoint, you silly little cretin!, I wanted to yell. This paper was about no one, not one person. It just happened to come out of my mind for no apparent reason and-

"Definitely means it is simply wonderful and enchanting and well thought out! Although I do understand why you were oh so hesitant to present it to me in class Mr. Malfoy, this girl of yours, she must be quite the catch.", he chuckled.

Catch? Granger couldn't catch me if she offered me all of the Wizarding World's galleons. What happened to this stupid thing not being about anybody? I wanted to blow a fuse in my forehead.

"In fact, I find it so touching and charming that I would be honored if you would present it to the class tomorrow! I was planning on having Mr. Belby present his paper on the theory of the complicated book series 'A Million Charms and their Uses: Books 1-3 ' tomorrow, but I'd much rather have this instead!" Flitwick proclaimed, looking quite pleased with himself.

I felt my stomach drop. Present it to the class? With Granger in attendance?, (she would surely protest to missing two days of class). How could he expect me to stand there and just pour out my extremely private thoughts for everyone to see? Not to mention that Potter and Weasley would know exactly what was going on. I couldn't. It was as simple as that. I groaned, running a hand grudgingly through my hair.

"Professor, you don't understand, those thoughts were extremely private and ended up on that parchment on accident. Surely you can't just expect me to reveal my private thoughts to a class of thirty ( Granger being one of them), students?", I said, trying one last time to convince him that this was wrong.

He looked at me poignantly, and for a moment, there was a large, fleeting amount of hope in my chest.

Had he finally understood?

"Mr. Malfoy", He paused for a moment, thinking. "I suppose the reason why your paper is so interesting is right there in your own words. You feel so strongly about your private thoughts that it brings out the raw creativity in you. That's right on the money, I think. Had I known earlier about your hidden talent Mr. Malfoy, let's just say I would've never stopped a creative genius like yourself from doodling in my classes.", he mused. I stood there for a moment, ogling incredulously at him. Did he really not understand how I felt about doing this? Was he a full blown idiot!

Something ticked in my head.

"It was my quill, for Christ sakes, my stupid, overestimated, five sickle quill! It recorded my thoughts, alright! It wasn't some stupid stroke of inner genius that you're so convinced enough by your own intuition to believe! It . Was. My. Quill! " I puffed, panting at my sudden burst of angry energy. He stared at me with his stupid, know it all, beady eyes. He smiled, obviously amused.

"Whatever you want yourself to believe Mr. Malfoy."

And with that, I stormed out of the room, slamming the doors behind me.

I wouldn't be getting to him anytime soon, I knew. I was to perform my stupid paper in front of the whole class, and Granger, whether I liked it or not. I didn't have a choice, all because of that stupid little overbearing, know it all man. I had long missed the break before the next class, which everyone had already filed into long before. I stopped at a small hidden corridor with a window and sat, sliding down against the wall tiredly. I thought I would've gotten him to understand. I had always been good at getting myself out of things. Had I gotten him to understand, even a little? No. Come tomorrow I would be bearing my soul to everyone in the class. Including her. All because of that little know it all man. Know it all, huh?

Those three words brought a familiar tug to my chest and a turned my mouth into a thin, grim, almost smile.

Things definitely weren't in my favor these days. When had they ever been , really?

…

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