Under the Willow Tree | Draco Malfoy

chapter 43: happiness and murder

Lorelei Jones | 5th Year

The sun was drifting through the window pane in Lorelei's favorite corridor, and it was positively lulling her to sleep. Her textbook lay abandoned in her lap as her eyes blinked heavily, closing more and more as the seconds ticked by.

She desperately needed some tea to stay awake or something else reviving. She wasn't going to be able to get anything done in this state.

Luckily, tea wasn't needed, for someone had approached her studying spot with a series of rapid steps. She straightened immediately and blinked away her tiredness, feeling at once terrified that it would be Draco come to talk to her, but her shoulders loosened slightly once she saw brown hair rather than blond.

"Hey, you're Lorelei, aren't you?" the girl said as she approached. She had dark brown hair, and she was the one who had called Lorelei a daft muppet in third year.

"Yes, I am. And you?" Lorelei said softly, not wanting to shrink away from this older girl because she truly didn't know her well.

"I'm Pansy Parkinson. Theodore told me I could find you here. I wanted to apologize," Pansy said with a slight smile and a hand offered loosely towards Lorelei.

Lorelei slowly grinned and took Pansy's hand in hers for a gentle shake. "Well, thanks."

"Yeah, I just thought I should quit being an actual child and just apologize to you about everything. Draco really wasn't worth all that heartache anyway," Pansy said with a delighted laugh, but she cringed at the way Lorelei's face fell at her words. She lifted her hands and began to stammer, "Oh, Merlin's shorts. I'm so insensitive, I'm sorry. I heard about your falling out with Draco, and I'm sorry about that too. He's an idiot, genuinely."

Lorelei let out a breathy laugh and gave Pansy a shaky smile. She gathered up her books with plans of finding Theo. Maybe they could watch a movie or something to get her mind off all of this.

"Wait, where are you going? I-I didn't mean to run you off because I really just...I thought it might help to talk to someone else who has been hurt by Draco as well." Pansy frowned and squeezed her hands tightly.

Smiling gently at what seemed to be an offer for friendship, Lorelei nodded and motioned for Pansy to follow her. The older Slytherin frowned but followed after Lorelei nonetheless. Lorelei led her through the corridors and eventually out into the grassy fields beside the school. Lorelei led her up to a sunny spot beside the Black Lake.

After she plopped down onto the cool ground and luckily dry grasses, Pansy murmured, "This is nice. Do you come here often?"

"Not this specific spot, but I like to relax outside," Lorelei said and leaned back on her hands with a soft grin. She tilted her face up towards the sun and slowly closed her eyes.

Pansy watched her curiously and couldn't help her grin. She was starting to understand why some of her fellow Slytherins were so drawn to the girl. She was absolutely adorable.

After an extended silence between the two girls, Pansy bit her lip and sighed, "I hope I didn't make you uncomfortable with my offer to discuss him. We don't have to, but I wanted to make sure you knew it was always an option with me."

"That's okay," Lorelei said softly. She opened her eyes and looked at Pansy with a shifting gaze. "It's just hard to discuss... He hurt me... I'm sure you already know the details."

"I don't. I didn't ask Theo — it wouldn't be his place to share — and Draco doesn't talk to anyone lately," Pansy shared and stared at the trees nearby that were blowing in the gentle wind. She then switched her focus to her fingers where she began to absently chip at the pink polish there.