Traitor: A Draco Malfoy Story

thirteen

"Okay, so Umbridge is officially crazy," Jenna said as we left the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. "She was on your arse."

I nodded, not caring to respond. My mind was still swirling around all the things that Harry had said in Dumbledore's office and then again in Umbridge's classroom. Dumbledore seemed to be the only one who believed Harry's story, and it looked as if Umbridge had been sent in by the Ministry to do damage control on their reputation since clearly, they hadn't been able to stop the Dark Lord from returning. I was disappointed, but not surprised, that the wizarding world had just as much political corruption as the Muggles. Then again, there was the question of if Voldemort was back at all.

"Something on your mind?" Jenna asked me.

"Do you believe him?"

"Believe who?"

I lowered my voice. "Harry's story about Voldemort?"

She sighed. "I'm not sure what to think. It seemed pretty cut and dry last year right after it happened but we all just kind of took his word in the moment...I just don't know."

I saw Harry hurry past us with the brunette girl and the ginger boy. "Hey I'll catch up with you later," I said. She gave me a quizzical look but didn't say anything of it.

"Hey, Harry!" I called. He turned, as did his friends. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure." He turned to the other two. "This is Azalea Beckett. Azalea, meet Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley."

"Nice to meet you," Hermione smiled at me. Good to know she's as sweet as she is smart.

"Hi," Ron said. I couldn't tell if he was just shy or had succumbed to the same rumors as everyone else. He looked scared I might bite his head off.

"It's wonderful to meet you both, but I was wondering if I could steal Harry for a more private conversation."

Hermione and Ron looked at each other, and then at Harry when he agreed. "Let's go to the courtyard."

"I see what you mean by no one believes you," I said once we had started walking. He laughed lowly as I continued. "I hope detention isn't too bad, you seemed to hit a nerve."

"The Ministry only sent her in to disprove me," Harry said in disgust. "Apparently the Minister of Magic wants to keep fear levels down, so he's just, you know, lying to the public."

He sat on one of the stone benches positioned around a large oak tree and looked up at me. "You do need to keep a lower profile, though. Especially with Umbridge. She's going to be the type of teacher who picks the students she adores and the students she hates within two classes, and I'm sure it'll stay that way for the whole year unless you do something wild. And drawing attention is not something you can afford -- even for my sake."

So he could tell I was trying to avenge him. I sighed. He was probably right, but unfortunately, I had a bad habit of not keeping my mouth shut when I needed to. That would probably end up going really bad for me, and soon. "Yeah. I'm just gonna finish her homework on time, participate just enough to be a good student, and leave it at that, I guess."

I looked around and saw several students hanging around the archway into the corridor and I sat next to Harry. They were all standing in groups, whispering and looking at us. "On the upside," I said. "Dumbledore's plan may be working."

"Or at least giving them something to talk about," Harry glowered. "You'll find that at Hogwarts, your business is everyone's business. It's quite irritating."

"That's what happens when you put all flavors of teenagers in a giant castle for three-quarters of a year," I joked.

He chuckled, then stood and straightened his tie. "I gotta get to the Great Hall and meet Hermione and Ron for lunch. See you later, Azalea."