Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 32: i'm going to kill him for this

Lorelei Jones | 4th Year

After what happened with Heather, Lorelei was certain everyone in the school was going to be whispering about her and Draco the next morning, but no one spared Lorelei a second glance. Heather seemed too terrified to whisper a single word about it. Honestly, she hardly even looked at Lorelei without apologizing profusely. Lorelei didn't understand why. Was Draco really that intimidating?

Nevertheless, Lorelei was grateful for this lack of gossip as she got ready for the Quidditch match after breakfast. She was wearing her normal school uniform with her Hufflepuff robes on over it, but she found a thick, wool hat that Gran made for her in a forest green color. Lorelei played with the hat for a few moments until she relented and tugged it on.

It was a little large on her and kept falling down toward her eyes, so Lorelei had to keep pushing the hat up as she tied her shoelaces.

"I like...I like your hat," Ashley said once Lorelei stood up again.

She beamed and faced her three cowering roommates without seeming to notice their fear. "Thanks!" she chirped before she picked up her bag and practically skipped out of the room.

Lorelei met up with Luna just outside the castle on the way to the Quidditch Pitch. Luna was wearing a lion's hat to support Ron Weasley, but she didn't seem surprised to see the green knitted hat on Lorelei's head.

The two girls sat at the edge of the crowd, away from the rest of their respective houses. Lorelei  was ready to cheer on both teams as she didn't spend much time with members of either house, but part of her knew that Draco wouldn't like to see her cheering for Gryffindor. That was odd to her since they weren't very close, but it was just another clue she added to the top of her suspicions about her soulmate.

When the game began, Draco and Harry Potter both began zooming around the pitch, looking for the golden snitch. It was instant chaos as the game broke out, and Lorelei was already sucked into the action. The November wind was biting across her exposed skin, and she was kicking herself for not grabbing a pair of gloves. Her fingers were practically numb from the cold before long.

Lorelei was switching between cheering for the teams — gathering numerous curious looks from those nearby when she cheered for both sides — and sticking her ice cold fingers under her arms to warm them.

She was currently sitting with her hands tucked away for warmth when Slytherin scored the first goal. Lorelei clapped and cheered for them as loudly as she could while Luna stayed relatively quiet. She was closer to the Gryffindors than Lorelei was after all.

Draco was beaming and scanned the crowd until his eyes found his target. He smiled broadly at Lorelei with his eyes crinkling in happiness to find her already staring back at him. She had seen Slytherin's goal and was cheering.

After that, Draco's eyebrows lowered, and he scanned the pitch with even more vigor. His gaze was laser focused on his surroundings, and his lips were pressed thin across his face as he searched. Potter was searching as well from his position, but neither had been able to find it yet.

Lorelei was watching Draco with a pleased smile on her face, and little butterflies erupted in her stomach until she started to hear a strange chant coming from the Slytherin stands. She turned her face towards them to pay closer attention to their words, but she paled when she realized what they were saying.

"Weasley is our king."

Ron Weasley looked rather upset by this chanting, and it distracted him enough that the quaffle was passed through the Gryffindor hoops once again. Lorelei's frown deepened, and Luna started to notice the commotion as well.

Draco looked at Lorelei, but he noticed that she wasn't looking at him anymore. Now she had a deep frown on her face, and her face was tilted towards the Slytherin stands. Their chanting was only getting louder, and some of the Slytherins on the Quidditch team were starting to join in. Theo and Draco both stayed silent.

The game continued on like this until Harry and Draco darted off. They were both flying down the pitch with hands outstretched as they flew at their top speeds through the air. Lorelei could hardly see the golden snitch, but the two of them seemed to be right next to one another the entire time.

Lorelei was completely captivated by this chase. Even if she knew Luna was hoping Harry caught the snitch, Lorelei was secretly rooting for Draco. She couldn't imagine how big of a smile he would give her if they won because he had caught it.

Because she was completely enthralled in the chase, Lorelei didn't notice how Crabbe had sent a bludger towards the stands after missing Angelina Johnson. Lorelei was too focused on following Draco to pay her gasping classmates any attention. However, what felt like a second later, Lorelei blinked her eyes open with a splitting and stabbing pain ripping through her body. She was lying on the floor of the stands after the bludger smashed into her and knocked her unconscious.

Now, she was trying to process where she was and who she was as a dozen people stood over her gasping and whispering to themselves.

Lorelei couldn't tell from her dazed position on the ground, but all of this commotion and her sudden disappearance had captured Draco's attention. His sudden concern for where Lorelei had gone made him slow down, and Harry caught the snitch not a moment later.

Some of the Gryffindors noticed and started their own shortened version of the Slytherin chant.

"Jones is our queen."

Others joined in as a way to mock the cruel Slytherins who were mocking Ron, but this only added to the immeasurable embarrassment Lorelei was drowning in. Madam Hooch had Lorelei escorted to the hospital wing by Professor Sprout as Lorelei had been hit badly and couldn't pull herself to her feet without falling down again.

Lorelei lost consciousness again on her way to the hospital wing, but she woke up briefly to hear someone in hysterics as they spoke to Madam Pomfrey.

"Please. I just need to see that she's alright."

"I've told you that she's alright, now get out of here. She needs to rest."

"I don't bloody care what you told me. I want to see it with my own eyes."

"She's going to be fine if you let her rest, boy. Now get out of here," Madam Pomfrey said from a place that sounded far away from wherever Lorelei was laying.

Lorelei blinked her eyes open and croaked, "Madam, who is that?"

Madam Pomfrey scurried to her bedside, surprised to hear Lorelei speaking so soon, and this allowed Draco the chance to sneak in as well. He ran in after Madam Pomfrey and let out a long sigh when he saw Lorelei's slightly dimmed blue eyes slide over to his approaching figure.

"I'm going to kill him for this, Lorelei. I'm so sorry he did this to you," Draco said when he stormed up to Lorelei's bedside and ignored Madam Pomfrey's glare.

"I'm okay," Lorelei said, but it was all she could muster. The room started spinning wildly, and she was on the verge of blacking out again.

Lorelei squeezed her eyes shut tight as Draco demanded, "What's happening?"

That was the last thing Lorelei heard before she lost consciousness once again.

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