Opposites Attract

Defender

Chapter Eleven: Defender

[Y/N]'S POV:

My day so far has been absolutely dreadful. After the odd conversation I had with Malfoy yesterday he's been avoiding me like the damn plague... Or maybe it was I who was avoiding him? Either way, the two of us hadn't spoken since, which wasn't too much of a problem because we only had Potions together after that conversation and we didn't exactly sit near each other in that class. But I was in Defense Against The Dark Arts class now, Malfoy directly behind me.

He hadn't said a word to me as Professor Moody droned on about the Unforgivables... again. It's as if that was the only part about the class he actually was competent in; good at the dark arts part but not the defense part of it all.

I was about to raise my hand to ask a question about something on our homework, when I felt a tap on my shoulder. The action caused me to completely forget about whatever question I had. I turned around to see Malfoy leaning in with a smug look on his face.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" I snapped in a whisper, irritated by his presence and still a little mad about his actions a few weeks ago. He only ignored my tone, instead pointing to a mistake I had on my homework over my shoulder.

"You've got that wrong." He said, tone dripping with condescension. "Honestly, Hufflepuff's. Can't even get the basics right." My lips set into a straight line at his comment as both him and Crabbe giggled uncontrollably together. 'I'm confused. He wanted to apologize for being mean just yesterday and now he's literally being mean again. What's the point? I genuinely want to know what the moral reasoning in his head is like at this point.' Their snickering becoming louder had made me scowl, feeling my anger rising.

"At least I'm not a stuck up prat like you!" I shot back, shutting both of them up before turning my attention back to the unbelievably boring lesson Moody was teaching.

Eventually we had actually begun to learn a defensive spell: Depulso. Casting the spell on an enemy in combat would send them flying away but cause no harm to the opponent unless they were thrown into a harmful object, of course. It was a basic cast if I was being honest and we were only meant to push a pencil away from us with the cast, so then why in the world was it I was struggling so badly with it?!

I reviewed my text book once more, going over the wand movement for the cast again. My eyebrows knitted together as my brain still didn't comprehend it. I tucked a strand of [h/c] hair behind my ear as I leaned my face in closer to the book to reread and attempted the wand movement again. Suddenly a large frame looming over my desk had caused my heart to forego a sinking feeling and all attention which I had on the book was stripped away.

"Having trouble, Miss. [l/n]?" Moody asked coldly. 'Dear Merlin, I hate this professor!' I swallowed nervously before gaining the courage to respond.

"Yes sir. I'm sorry, but do you think you could show me what the wand movement is like? I'm having trouble picturing it from the paper." I timidly asked. He nodded his head which made me relax a bit, only for a moment later for him to begin to criticize me instead of actually helping or teaching me.

"You're doing everything wrong [l/n]! I've never seen someone struggle so hard with a spell as simple as Depulso before!" And suddenly I had felt more idiotic than I had before, regretting asking for help to even begin with. Tears began to sting in the corner of my eyes as his criticism went on, making me feel useless and incompetent. "It's no wonder you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw! You wouldn't last five minutes among smart students." I felt absolutely pathetic, silently letting Moody yell at me in front of the entirety of the class. Even Potter and all his friends had stopped focusing on the assignment to listen in on what Moody had to say about me. That's when a voice speaking up surprised me.

"Leave her alone, professor." His voice firm, the platinum blonde continued. "She's trying her best!" Moody scowled, opening his mouth to yell at him next, only the Slytherin hadn't even given him a chance to do so before mouthing off again. "I mean it. You're not helping her by taring her down!" Moody was too stunned to speak at this point, surprised Malfoy was brave enough to talk back to him, fully knowing that Moody was crazy enough to turn him into a ferret again.

I felt a strange mix of emotions watching Malfoy stand up for me. On one hand, I was really grateful he was defending me. On the other hand, his arrogance was still quite infuriating. As Moody calmed down and class went on I found myself watching Malfoy more closely. Maybe I was right before and there was more to him than what meets the eye. Maybe, he really was worth forgiving. Maybe he was actually deep down a softy, which I have always expected.

Once class ended I began to pack up my things and place my book and homework into my bag. Standing up from my seat my gaze was met with Malfoy's, the boy standing directly in front of me, Drayce wrapped around his arm.

"Forgetting something?" A helpless smile reached my soft lips as I took my pet snake from Draco's arm, letting my eyes drift away from the boy. I was a little ashamed at this point. He probably thought that I was stupid, incompetent, pathetic, forgetful, and overall a horrible person for not seeing where my pet had slithered off to in the mists of being yelled at by my professor. At least that's how I had felt.

"Thanks." I sheepishly said before exiting the classroom entirely. However he followed hot in pursuit.

"You're going to tell Snape what happened with Moody, right?"

"Why would I?"

"Because he's your father." Malfoy said it as if it were just common sense. "You ought to tell him everything anyone ever does to you out of malevolence. That's what I do. And it works out in my favor too." Upon seeing I had no genuine reaction, still feeling down as we walked through the halls Draco nudged my arm before going on. "Plus, Snape's a force and a faculty member. He'd be able to rip Moody a new one. It'd be brilliant."

"Getting people in trouble isn't really my thing." I reasoned, walking faster to both get to my next class on time and to lose Malfoy in the crowd.

"[y/n]!" He shouted before catching up with me. "It'll be good for you to talk to your father about this. Trust me. It'll at least give you an outlet to speak with someone about how you feel." And that's when a realization struck me. 'That's why Malfoy runs to his dad at every inconvenience. Not because he's a pussy but because he just needs someone to listen to him and how he feels. Complaining to his dad about minor things must be the only way he gets to feel heard in his family.' Feeling slightly sorry for the boy I nodded my head, silently letting him know that I'd indeed speak with my adoptive dad over the issue.

He stuck by my side for a little while after that, ranting about how much he hates professor Moody. I wasn't in the mood to talk but hating the man just as much I let Draco go on and on until we eventually had to part ways for our next classes.