home (reader at hogwarts)

sixty one

"i do feel so sorry," says draco malfoy, "for all those people who have to stay at hogwarts for christmas because they're not wanted at home."

you glare at him, watching as he smirks at harry.

crabbe and goyle let out chuckles on either side of him, and harry, who is too busy measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignores them.

malfoy and the slytherins in general seem especially unpleasant following the quidditch match in which they had been beaten by gryffindor.

disgusted by how badly slytherin had lost, draco's newest fascination is getting everyone to bully harry with remarks about how a wide mouthed frog would be replacing him as seeker.

no one, of course, finds this funny. the school generally is warm towards harry, impressed with the way he managed to stay on his bucking broomstick.

you glance over to your father, his brows still furrowed in concentration as he marks through the last of the papers at his desk.

all thanks to dad, you think.

but harry won't know that for a while.

so since draco's attempts to make harry unlikable so far have been completely unsuccessful, he's resorted back to making comments about the fact that harry's got no parents.

mean.

in a sense, before severus, neither did you.

"draco." you warn him, from across the table.

he laughs. "what? it's true."

you shake your head and walk away to wash your hands.

by the end of potions, you knew you could get to harry and ron without being noticed, or questioned by many people as they were all in such a rush to leave.

the dungeons were especially cold this time of year, you could see your breath in front of you and the students, throughout the duration of the lesson, had tried to huddle as close as possible to the warmth of the cauldron working in front of them.

the entire class heads down a hallway, but unsurprisingly harry and ron are the first to leave and are ahead of everyone else.

you join them.

"i'm sorry about malfoy." you tell harry.

he shrugs. "i'm used to it."

"you shouldn't be." ron grumbles.

the three of you walk through the corridor and find yourselves blocked by a big fir tree. two enormous feet and the sounds of huffing and puffing tell you that, the gatekeeper, hagrid is behind it- holding it up.

"hi hagrid, need any help?" ron asks, sticking his head through the branches.

"nah, i'm alright. thanks, ron."

"would you mind moving out the way?" malfoy drawls from behind you.

you roll your eyes.

his eyes land on ron, who he just overheared offering to lend hagrid a hand.

"are you trying to earn some extra money, weasley? or perhaps you plan on staying on as gamekeeper yourself- i suppose."

"draco-" you sigh. "that's not funny."

"y/n, i'm being completely serious here." the blonde holds up his hands defensively. "i mean that old hut must be a palace compared to what his poor family is used to-"

before harry could grab him, ron made a dive for malfoy- just in time for your father to swoop in and spot him.

you, of course, knew ron would get violent.