Muffliato (Draco Malfoy)

13 - DIVINATION

Alora Lin

Winter break was finally over, and the new term had commenced.

I was sitting at a small round table in Divination alongside Anthony and Padma. Professor Trelawney was fumbling around with some bizarre artifacts scattered across her desk as students were making their way into the class.

"Seems like we're looking at balls today," Anthony groaned, gesturing at the crystal ball perched in the middle of our table.

I let out a giggle as Padma rolled her eyes, "It's called crystal-gazing, Anthony. Does your hormonal teenage brain ever think of anything else?"

Anthony put a finger to his chin, pretending to ponder as he replied, "Hmm, no not really."

I bit my lip, looking down as I tried to suppress my laughter. Anthony's cheeks turned slightly pink as he briefly glanced over at me, soft chuckles escaping his lips.

My attention turned to the front of the room once Professor Trelawney began lecturing us. Her theatrical gestures earned conspicuous eye rolls from students throughout the classroom. 

Peering over my shoulder, I spotted Draco sitting at a table with Pansy on the other side of the room. My heart suddenly felt like it was lodged at the bottom of my throat, making it difficult to breathe, as I realized he had been staring at me this whole time.

Unfortunately, but also not surprisingly, he and I hadn't spoke since our last encounter on New Year's.

It was becoming increasingly obvious that I was just a good fuck to Draco. He wanted nothing more from me than a quick hookup. And to be frank, I wasn't sure how much longer I could put up with that.

As much as I enjoy being wrapped up in his arms, I can't continue with this if he keeps sending me mixed signals.

Professor Trelawney soon finished her speech and instructed us to gaze into our crystal balls and record what we saw.

Breaking eye contact with Draco, I circled around to find Anthony and Padma furrowing their brows as they squinted their eyes, trying to make out any sort of image from the crystal ball.

"See anything?" I questioned.

"No, nothing," Padma frowned.

"That clump of smoke kind of looks like a salamander, doesn't it?" Anthony questioned, pointing to mass of smoke that did not remotely look like a salamander. Regardless, Padma and I nodded to make him feel better.

"Have you seen anything, my dears?" Professor Trelawney approached our table, gaping at us through her thick glasses.

"Not really," I admitted.

"Well, let me try and see," she said, taking our crystal ball off of its stand.

She moved her calloused fingers over the ball, gazing into the glob of blue-gray smoke. Her breath suddenly hitched, causing the three of us to lurch back in our seats as we all looked at her. She yelped, dropping the ball to her feet, which drew the attention of the rest of our class.

"Oh, you poor thing," she exclaimed, turning to me. "I see... I-I think I saw..."

Her fingers began to tremble as she pointed at me.

"What? What is it?" I asked, becoming increasingly worried.

"Death," she replied. "Death is what I saw."

"What do you mean death?!" Padma shrieked.

"You, my dear, will experience a love like no other, but... Merlin's beard," Professor Trelawney turned away from me and began pacing around the room, nervously biting on her fingernails.

"Well, what is it?!" Anthony demanded.

"You have love in your future," she continued addressing me. "But heartbreak and death are looming over you, determined to take that love away at all costs."

My mouth was agape and my forehead crinkled as I looked over at Anthony and Padma in confusion. Both of them stared back at me with alarmed looks.

"Wait!" Professor Trelawney cried out, causing all of us to flinch again. "I see something else..."

She inched back over to our crystal ball that she had dropped and picked it up.

"Happiness," she smiled. "There is bound to be much happiness in the near future."

I turned to her, absolutely baffled, "So you're telling me that I'm gonna die, but I'm gonna be happy about it?"

"Well, I-uh..." Professor Trelawney stuttered, darting her eyes around the classroom to be met with concerned looks all around. "Class dismissed!"

We were bewildered by her brisk movements as she placed our crystal ball back on our table before grabbing her bag and darting out of the classroom.

"What the fuck was that all about?" I said as Anthony, Padma, and I began packing our textbooks.

"I don't know," Padma replied, worry written all over her face. "But I'm hoping it's just another silly prediction of hers."

"Yeah, don't worry, Alora," Anthony tried to reassure me. "I'm sure everything's gonna be fine. And if not, you know we'll always be here to protect you."

"Thanks," I beamed, giving him a one-armed hug as I clutched my textbooks in my other arm.

The three of us left the classroom and began making our way back to the common room since Divination had been our last period of the day. We hadn't walked a long way when I felt someone tug on my arm and pull me back. "Come with me."

Draco held a firm grip on my wrist as he dragged me away from my friends. I felt a sudden surge of anger rise as I realized that this was how he was acting towards me after a week of giving me the silent treatment.

"No," I bellowed, ripping my wrist out of his grasp and stopping in my tracks.

"What do you mean 'no'?" he spat, turning to look back at me.

"I will not let you use me as a toy to play around with only when you're in the mood," I retorted. 

"What are you going on about?" he jeered.

"You know exactly what I'm going on about, Malfoy," I stated firmly.

"I don't actually. I have no idea what I did to make you so sensitive all of a sudden. Unless, you're on your period?"

I gritted my teeth, ready to slap that smug look off his face when Anthony called out from behind me, "Alora, is he bothering you?"

I spun around to see Padma and Anthony walking towards me and Draco. Padma had a worried look on her face, while Anthony was too busy glaring at Draco.

"No, everything's fine," I declared, not wanting them to fret about me any more than they already have today.

With one more glance at Draco, I hissed at him, "Just leave me alone."

"Fine," he snapped back. "I didn't need you anyway."

For a split second, I thought I saw his eyes soften. I was quickly reminded of the way he looked at me just a week ago when we were wrapped up in each other's arms in the bathtub.

He can't have been pretending, I tried to convince myself. You can't just look at someone like that if they didn't mean something to you.

But with another blink of my eyes, his look hardened again, and he turned cold. After shooting a subtle glare at Anthony, Draco whirled around and stormed in the opposite direction.

"Absolute git, that one," Padma shook her head, placing her hand on my back as she began ushering me to our common room.