Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 11: don't be mean about that

Lorelei Jones | 3rd Year

The next day, Lorelei took her seat in Defense Against the Dark Arts next to Luna. She was glad Hufflepuffs shared so many classes with Ravenclaws because it meant she was able to sit beside Luna in most of her classes, despite them being in different houses.

While Luna was getting herself settled and performing her usual routine to protect our desk from the nargles and other nefarious creatures, Lorelei was avoiding the curious glances of a few classmates by staring down at her desk. Her eyes were drifting over the wood of the desk, and that's when she noticed a few dark strokes of ink in the bottom corner of the desk. The letters were minuscule and barely noticeable unless you were paying attention, so Lorelei shifted her face slightly closer to read the short phrase.

Will I ever feel safe?

Those five simple words made Lorelei feel sick. She hated knowing that someone else at this school felt this way, and she was overcome at once with the need to do something about this situation.

After tugging out a small piece of parchment and her quill, Lorelei began to write a message back to this individual. She hoped she could say something to help them, even just a little. No one deserved to feel that way, she thought.

So, she practiced her best handwriting and began to dash her quill across the page.

Hello. I hope this finds the person who left the message about safety. I'm so sad to read that you don't feel safe. You deserve to feel better, friend, and I just know it in my heart that one day you will.

Lorelei folded up this short note into a small square and used a charm to keep it secured to the underside of the desk until someone found it. She feared the person may not even check under the desk, so she bit back her discomfort and drew the smallest of arrows underneath the scrawled message and pointed the arrow towards the edge of the desk.

Luna had finished her routine at this point and settled back into her seat with a dazed grin. "We're protected now," she hummed happily as she got out a scroll of parchment and quill for note-taking.

"Thanks, Luna!" Lorelei chirped, but her mind continued to come back to the sorrowful message on her desk for the rest of the day.

—

The next time Lorelei had Defense Against the Dark Arts, she was practically buzzing with anticipation to see if this mysterious writer had found her note and replied to it.

She hurried to her seat at a much faster pace than Luna, practically throwing herself into her seat once she got close enough. If Luna noticed though, she said nothing as she took her time to approach her seat and settle into the spot beside Lorelei.

Once Luna was distracted, Lorelei slipped a hand under the desk and cautiously felt around for her note. When her fingers brushed over parchment, she deflated, but she decided to tug the note out from its hiding place nonetheless. She unfolded the same beige piece of parchment from the day before, but she noticed that her delicate letters were the only words on the page now.

I understand you probably think you're helping, but empty promises are worthless. Also — we aren't friends. I don't know who you are, and I probably don't want to.

Lorelei frowned when she read this cold response — for they didn't seem like a very kind person — but she finally decided that it probably made sense for someone who felt so sad and scared to act so guarded towards strangers. With a small smile and a matching dance, Lorelei decided she could change that. She didn't have to stay a stranger. She would tell this person who she was. Well, not her name, but her name was one of the least important things about her. A name was just a label, but her dreams and passions were what made her her.

She fished out her quill and some fresh ink to write a response for this person. She flipped the scrap of parchment over to ensure she would have enough room for her message after she reread their note once more.

You're right. You don't know me, so I'll tell you about myself, and then you can do the same.

My favorite color is pink — don't be mean about that. It's a pretty color. I think of the color of the sunset when the red has faded into that soft pink shade.

My favorite band is probably Oasis right now. My Gran loves that band — she even met them once when they had just started, before they got any popularity in the Muggle world. I think they're pretty cool too.

My favorite person is my Gran, and my favorite food is definitely cookies...mm or home-baked bread. Do you like baking?

I really like the smell outside just after it rains, and I HATE pickles. I've always dreamt of traveling the world like my mum or my Gran, but Hogwarts is the farthest I've ever been from home.

I'm running out of space. Tell me your favorite things too! 🤍

After Lorelei finished writing her note, she folded the crinkly page once again and reattached it to the underside of the wooden desk. She just hoped this mysterious person would find her note again and reply. Maybe this person just needed a friend — someone to listen and truly care. Lorelei was great at that, so she was absolutely confident that she would be able to help this person through this hard time.

Lorelei couldn't just watch someone battle their suffering alone. Once she saw someone hurting, she had to help them. Part of her ached to have someone see her hurt and help her too, but she shoved that down. She pushed a smile onto her face and reminded herself that her life truly wasn't that bad. She had Luna and Gran and Hogwarts. What more could she need?

//