QL - Round Eleven - Pride of Portree - Beater 2 - Theme: Love them or hate them.

Prompts: [Character] Draco Malfoy; [Creature] Cat; [Colour] Ivory.

Word Count: 1902

Beta(s): NERC; Viola; MoonlightForgotten; CupCakeyyy.

Draco Malfoy stared across the Great Hall at the new first-year students. They were the ones who wouldn't have to grow up with the fear of the Dark Lord looming over them. The ones whose education wouldn't be affected by the war, the lucky ones who were just too young to really understand what was going on.

Obviously, the returning eighth-year knew the war had affected a lot of them, perhaps most in some state or form, however, but it wasn't to the same degree as those who attended Hogwarts.

He grimaced as he looked over the new Hufflepuff faces and how different their smiles were to the returning second-years. They just weren't the same. One year's difference, but a thousand terrible memories which a simple victory of the good side couldn't wipe away.

The disgruntled boy - no man - jumped with a start when something glided across his leg. His wand was pointed at the attacker - a white fluffy snowball of a cat with an ivory collar.

Another frown.

That was another thing Draco had noticed and not liked; the number of cats this year. It seemed that having a pet that you could cuddle was the 'go-to' pet now instead of the practical owl. His eighth year was supposed to be peaceful. The plan had been that he'd turn up, keep his head down, get his work done, get good NEWTS, and then move on with his life.

Instead, he was forced to look at all the fresh faces with genuine smiles, avoid cats left, right, and worse of all, he had been made Head Boy! That meant monthly meetings with every single prefect, with smaller weekly meetings with selected prefects and the Head Girl. That's right, he had to talk to Granger weekly at the very least.

Why was Merlin punishing him? There were lots of options for the Head Girl, even Weasley, but no, they gave him Granger. The girl who had been tortured in his own home while he had stood there and had done nothing. The one girl who had every right to Avada Kardava him.

Though, as his eyes glanced over to her on the Gryffindor table, he acknowledged that she's not a girl, she's a woman. Grown up too quickly during the war and held back in her education; just like him. Just like all of the eighth-years who had returned.

Draco turned his attention to the floor, where that same cat had decided to take a nap by his feet. Even the cat could relax better than he could.

A sigh left him as he stood up from the table, leaving his food untouched, and walked out of the Great Hall. He just couldn't take it being in there with everybody, not where he saw the bodies laid on the ground, not where he knew others had lost their lives. In fact, nowhere at Hogwarts had been really safe; students, adults, innocents could have died anywhere in Hogwarts or on its grounds.

The one room in Hogwarts that Draco found to be the most comfortable was the library. From close examination, it appeared that no damage had been done in this room filled to the brim of history and knowledge. The tables looked the same, the stands still reached the ceiling, and the books remained organised in the same way.

He found himself leaning towards this location when things were stressful, or painful reminders floated to the forefront of his brain - which was most days. Draco didn't mind this though, he had barely paid attention in his sixth year, so had a lot that he needed to catch up on to ensure he received the grades he needed. Draco's current ambition was to get Outstanding or Exceeding Expectation in every single one of his classes - that way, he could be flexible with his career choice; at the moment, it was currently undetermined.

Taking in a breath, Draco allowed himself to relax at one of the side tables in the library. He could see the entrance from where he was seated and would be able to see if anyone walked past to go behind him; it was the best position in the library that he could find. He didn't like sitting in the back of the library, he could be ambushed and cornered there, the front was no good either, it was too open and someone could approach from too many angles, the side, however, was safe. Or at least, the safest option.

A loud gasp left Draco's mouth as he pulled his wand out before he even recognised what was happening. With his heart beating rapidly, he pocketed his wand. "You need to stop jumping up," he told the same white cat from early.

Clearing his throat, he sat back down - having not even realised that he had stood up until he calmed down. The cat strode around the table, very unhelpfully.

"Just… lie down or go away."

As if it understood him, it laid down on the side of the table. Far enough to not bother his note-taking, but close enough that after twenty minutes, he began stroking it.

Draco looked over at the peaceful creature. "Cats usually don't like me. I've been scratched more times than I can remember." He paused with his hand engulfed in the white fluff - or fur, he corrected. "What's your name then?" he asked, reaching over to check the tag.

A frown darkened his expression. Weren't they supposed to have the cat's name here? Or the owner's name? Instead, it was the Hufflepuff emblem. That wasn't overly helpful. He'd call it Snowball.

He picked up the quill and went back to his Charms notes. Draco had decided to list as many charms that he could remember, including their wand movements, incantation, and what each of them did. So far, he had thirty-four written down, but he knew there was more.

When he got to thirty-nine, his gaze automatically looked up when a figure entered the library; Granger, not an immediate threat.

However, her entrance changed his peace and quiet when she walked directly towards him. "Malfoy," she greeted politely.

"Granger," he replied, removing his hand from Snowball and gracing the Head Girl with his full attention. "How may I help you?"

"I was going over the prefect rota and noticed that the Slytherin fifth-year girl only has one patrol instead of three," she informed him. Straight down to business as usual.

Draco's brows furrowed as he held out his hand. Taking the rota he looked over it. "She's supposed to be doing Tuesday morning duty with the fifth-year boy, Monday evening with Ravenclaw's fifth-year girl, and is the back-up for all of the evenings."

Granger nodded. "So, she should be on two, that makes sense. It looks like she got the Tuesday morning covered for the last two weeks."

"She has a free Tuesday morning, there's no reason she can't ensure everybody has gone to class," he replied, annoyed by the prefect already. She had been a pain in his butt since day one. "We can address this at tomorrow's meeting?"

Granger nodded in agreement but didn't leave.

"Anything else?"

"I didn't know you had a cat," she commented. "I have one myself, they're better than owls."

Draco didn't quite know what to do with this conversation, the two of them had firmly stuck to professional conversations up to this moment. Did she love cats that much or was she just trying to be friendly? Either way, he wasn't completely comfortable. "It's not my cat… it just keeps following me around."

"There's probably a worried first-year looking for it," she pointed out.

He wanted to retort that that first-year should keep a better eye on their creature, or even put its name on the collar, but didn't. Instead, he was the one that nodded. "It's from Hufflepuff, I'll ensure it's returned safely today."

"She."

"Excuse me?"

Granger smiled - an actual smile. "It's a female cat."

Draco looked over to the fluffy-ball when Granger walked off and frowned. For some reason, that made it worse. Being followed around was annoying enough, even when it was calming for Draco to stroke it - her.

Returning to his revision, it wasn't long until Draco was happy with how many charms he had written down from memory and put it in a folder to come back to later; he'd leave going through books and finding more to another day. After all, it was time for dinner - he had spent the majority of his Sunday in the library and hadn't eaten much, or anything, all day.

Just as he finished packing up, he noticed three first-years scurrying into the library, one of their eyes bloodshot and red from crying. However, upon closer inspection, and seeing the nervousness in their eyes and how they stuck together, he just knew that they were actually second-years.

He glanced at the cat and took note of the Ivory collar again before his eyes drifted over to the three. The crying female was wearing the exact same shade of ivory - that couldn't have been a coincidence, right?

"Ivory," he called.

It was a silent room, so he would have gained their attention regardless of what he said. He waved them over and very hesitantly they followed his silent orders.

"Hello Mister Sir," a brown-haired girl greeted.

Draco tried to offer them a smile, but he knew it didn't show. "Is this your cat?" he asked as he stepped to the side and indicated to the white puff-ball on the table.

Instantly, the red-eyed blonde female jumped up and rushed the small few feet to it and picked up the cat. "Snuggles! I was so worried about you! I didn't know what happened! Thank you so much, Mister Sir! Thank you!"

"It's Malfoy."

"Thank you, Malfoy, Sir! I was so worried about Snuggles, I didn't know where she was and if she was okay. Thank you for finding her! You're so kind. I just love Snuggles so much! My Daddy bought her for me after… after… last year."

Draco nodded, he was getting more information than he needed, or even wanted. "You should put your name on her collar if she wanders off again."

All three of them nodded. "I will, Sir Malfoy! I will! Thank you!"

"Go and get yourself some dinner," he ordered, waving them off.

They all nodded and practically ran out of the library in glee.

Though he was a little annoyed at their hyperactivity, the gratefulness and easiness of being around him was actually really nice. They didn't care that his last name was Malfoy. Or that he was a Slytherin. All that mattered to the Hufflepuffs was that he had returned their cat safely. They saw him as the good guy instead of looking for a reason to see him negatively - they could have accused him of stealing the cat, but they hadn't done that either!

A genuine smile made its way to his face as he picked up his bag. The first-years were still too innocent and untouched to be respected, but if the second-years could find happiness in a creature of all things after what they had suffered last year, and see good in him, then perhaps Draco could move forward too.

Though, he definitely wouldn't be getting a cat; they were too much work. He'd stick with his owl.