In His Shadow (Draco Malfoy X Reader) MOVED

Chapter 81: I'll Try My Best

The week leading up to their O.W.Ls were stressful to say the least. Epona refused to talk about what she and Snape had talked about on career day, and she had to deal with the stress of the twins leaving. Of course, August was slightly a mess, he cried for a while until he found a box under his bed. A parting gift from George, which was a charm of a lion, and a photo of his own bracelet with a bear charm. Though, that made August smile and cry. Very emotional.

Ginny had started hanging out with the group more, and they had started calling themselves The Chaotic Royalty. Since, well, August was clever and imaginative, Cassie was charismatic and focused, Ginny was straightforward and independent, and Epona was feisty and sneaky. Oh, not to mention all were quite powerful wizard and witches. Cassie and August loved the idea of Draco joining the group, but the redhead disagreed with them. Epona was excluded from the argument as of bias toward him. Not that Ginny didn't have it against him, but that's a different story.

Most of the time, when her other two friends weren't around Epona was with the Weasley.

"Oh, shut up! You're going to do great on your O.W.Ls! Have some confidence, Efs." Ginny grinned, and Epona smiled at her friend.

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

"Though, it would be nice if I could hear what you talked about for career day..." Ginny started, and the fifteen year old stopped dead in her tracks.

She turned to look at her friend, a forced smile on her face, "Oh, look at the time. I'm going to be late for the test. I'll talk to you later."

Ginny gave a sad look and called after the Potter, "Good luck, Ef..." She put her hand down and sighed, putting her head in her hand. Why were things so complicated? Why couldn't it just be simple for her and her feelings and the stupid Potter twins.

A Couple Hours Later:

Cassie groaned as she stretched her arm over her head, "Stars, that took longer than I thought it would."

Effie nodded, "Yeah, no kidding. It was so hard to stay awake. I didn't get enough sleep last night at all."

"Yeah, you kinda look dead, girl. No offense." Effie glared at her friend a bit, and Cassie laughed, putting her hands on her shoulders, "Effie, we gotta loosen you up a bit. If only the Weasley twins were here. They always knew how to cheer you up. Or Draco, but he's been in a mood lately."

Effie sighed, "Tell me about it. He won't talk to me, like at all. He just keeps telling me to stay with you guys and make sure I always have someone with me that's not one of the Golden Trio. Which is confusing. He's not the controlling type, and I'm genuinely worried."

Cassie shrugged, "Well, he is part of that whole extra credit class Umbridge has. He's a very confusing guy."

The two girls continued to chat until their phones chimed. Effie checked hers first, an eyebrow raised, "August said in the group chat to meet him at The Three Broomsticks."

She then grinned, "He shouldn't have..."

"Of course he did." Effie laughed with a smile.

When the two fifteen year old girls arrived, there were cheers, and they were engulfed in a hug. Ginny, August, and a bunch of others were there. Including other fifth years. Effie turned her attention to Lucas, who was sitting with a girl. The girl had shoulder length brown shaggy hair, one light hazel and the other a mixture of dark brown and the hazel color like the other. She recognized the different eye colors as heterochromia, it wasn't common, especially with hazel eyes. She was quite tall for her age, assuming she was the same year as Lucas, who was kind of short. And the girl was wearing a Gryffindor uniform.