ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ 1-3

secrets

Harry did in fact make the same mistake. Not only in the many years I've known him, but on that very same night. To set the scene, he had just told us that no, he hadn't been expelled and, as I'd predicted, he'd been made a Seeker on the Quidditch team. The youngest player in about a century.

"What did I tell you?" I said to Ron, who was still in shock. "He's a natural."

Fred and George came over to congratulate him. I stood to follow after them, realizing this was my chance to catch them off guard. As soon as they had left, Malfoy approached the table. I raised an eyebrow at him, but was too interested in my investigation of the Weasley twins to care.

"Fred! George!" I called after them. They turned around in sync, eyebrows raised inquisitively. I asked them which of them was Fred and which one was George. This time, pointy-eared one said he was Fred, and the one whose nose was slightly crooked said he was George. Last week, they'd said it was the other way around. I frowned and crossed my arms.

"You switch it every time!" I told them, somewhat frustratedly.

"You must have been falsely informed," one said as the two looked at each other impishly. "We don't know what you're talking about.

"Yes, you do," I said indignantly. "I can tell you apart when you're together, and every time you switch which one you are."

"That's rubbish!" The one called "Fred" said. "We're identical."

"Nearly identical," I told them. "I can tell. I basically spent my childhood playing Spot the Difference."

They looked at each other, seeming unsure what to say. Finally, "George" looked back at me. "How can you tell?"

"That's a secret," I told them. "Until you tell me the truth."

"Well what if we figure it out before you?" "Fred" grinned. I shook my head at him, somewhat excited by the prospect of a race. "Do your best."

"Challenge accepted," they both said. I shook both of their hands at the same time, then bid them adieu.

After dinner, we went back to the common room. I was quite tired, and was very excited to maybe go to bed a little bit early, but as soon as Hermione saw me sit on the mattress she shook her head. I raised an eyebrow at her, confused.

"Oh, didn't I tell you?" She asked. I shook my head. "Tell me what?"

"Harry and Ron are planning to sneak out tonight at midnight to fight in a duel with Malfoy," she said plainly, seeming irritated. "They're going to lose us so many points!"

I barely registered that last part. So Malfoy had decided to go through with it. I realized that that's what he had been doing at dinner. I couldn't believe Harry had gone through with it again.

(But also I could, because he was rather easy to rile up.)

"We can't let them walk into that," I told Hermione. "It's a trap. Malfoy told me himself. He's not going to show and they're going to get caught. He tipped off Filch!"

"Malfoy told you? Why on earth would he do that?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"To be honest, I'm not sure," I shrugged. "As much as I dislike admitting it, I reckon I've taken a liking to him."

Hermione's eyebrows shot up. I shook my head quickly.

"Only a small one!" I said. "He's just an interesting character. We'd never be friends, but he can be rather funny, and he's..." I glanced at Hermione's befuddled expression and took it as my cue to shut up.

"Awful," I concluded. "He's awful."

"Alright," she grimaced. "I never thought I'd hear anyone say anything even remotely good about Malfoy, but that's besides the point. We need to stop Harry and Ron from getting expelled."