shattered | f.w, d.m

six

Draco.

November, 1997.

—

Draco's eyes followed Keziah as she strode away from her table.

From where he sat at his table, he saw Fred Weasley look at the back of her head as she left the Great Hall before he turned away and started talking to his friends.

Holding his green apple, Draco clutched his book bag with his free hand and walked out of the room. Afar, he could see his sweet Keziah walking calmly down the corridor to her first class.

On the bright side, he had today's first class with her.

"Keziah." He heard Professor Lupin greet her when she walked into the classroom. "You're early again."

"Wanted to read a bit before class." Her angel-like, mellifluous voice made Draco's knees want to buckle beneath him as he stood outside the classroom, against the wall.

"I'll leave you to it while I organize my lesson for today." Lupin's footsteps were all over the place, like he was walking back and forth from his desk to the chalkboard he had.

Draco waited nearly two minutes before he could no longer resist and he walked into the classroom.

There she sat, flawlessly and perfectly, at the desk in the middle row. This class had assigned seats, so Draco couldn't sit next to her. Sadly.

He went to his assigned seat in the fourth row and kept his gaze on her.

She looked very unbothered by the fact that she just argued with her stupid boyfriend and by the fact that he did not go after her. Fucking idiot. Fred Weasley was a fucking idiot for not going after her.

Draco would have gone after her. He would have told her he was sorry and he would have knelt before her to show how much he cared for her.

He could treat her better than Fred Weasley.

Draco also found out that apparently Fred and Keziah had been dating for a while. Fucking pathetic. It truly was.

But all she was doing now was sitting in her stool, forearms propped on the edge of the desk as her book splayed in front of her. Her feet were balanced on the rail of the stool below. She was already reading, escaping the world around her like she always did.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think you've got a crush on Miss Cai, Mister Malfoy."

Yanked away from his thoughts, Draco's gaze lifted to see Lupin amusedly grinning at him over his shoulder as he scribbled on the chalkboard.

"Pardon?" Draco's eyebrows furrowed together, befuddled.

"You've been staring at the back of Keziah's head for nearly five straight minutes." Lupin was still grinning as he turned back to the chalkboard.

Keziah's eyes and head turned over her shoulder to Draco. She didn't smile at him or anything. The features on her face were relaxed and blank.

She just stared at him for a moment before she veered her attention back to her book.

He dropped his gaze to the floor over his desk, leaning forward with his forearms upon the surface. His mind ran and ran, thoughts twisting and turning.

You didn't smile at me. Why didn't you smile at me? Are you mad at me, Cai? Did I do something? Talk to me, please. Tell me what I did. I'll make it better. I'll make it all better.

Draco's heart actually ached at the blank look she gave him. Not a smile or anything. Not her addicting, alluring downwards smile.

Oh, how he absolutely adored her natural downwards smile.