Inferno | Draco Malfoy

𝟎𝟕𝟑 | 𝐀 𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲, 𝐖𝐡𝐨'𝐬 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬

Professor Slughorn's little get-together will take place after school today. His Christmas party will take place in a few months, maybe I'll invite Daphne as a friend date (that is if Blaise hasn't asked already).

Maybe I should ask Malfoy... But I've been spending so much time with him recently. Helping him with the Vanishing Cabinet of course, I wouldn't spend my time with him out of interest — most of the time anyway. We have been spending our free periods in the Room of Requirement, where we often work in silence to create an optimal environment for concentration. While we do share our notes with our trials and errors with each other, nothing much happens, aside from the few glances and occasional smiles thrown across the room.

The Vanishing Cabinet is just so unpredictable, it effortlessly exports objects, but nothing ever seems to be imported... Whatever, I shouldn't be thinking about that right now.

Ancient Runes is advancing well, in fact, it would be advancing fantastically, if only the homework overload wasn't draining me. This year, we have assigned seats, and I sit with a decent student, Lisa Turpin. It's meant to be three students per table but, I'm pretty sure one of the students is still trying to rectify their timetable as it had been scheduled incorrectly, (that's what I overheard from Lisa anyway).

Professor Babbling hands us our worksheets as she finishes explaining part A of the textbook. Thank goodness I actually understand this rubbish, it's truly becoming Advanced Ancient Runes.

"Sorry Professor, McGonagall just handed me my correct timetable. I was meant to be here but instead, I went to Astronomy." I look at the Ravenclaw boy, Terry Boot.

"That's alright Mr Boot, take a seat next to Miss Turpin please. I'm sure she and Lady Harlow will be delighted to inform you about the work." Professor Babbling gives a friendly smile at the boy as he approaches us.

"So you managed to pass your exam after all." Lisa laughs as Boot sits down on the rounded table.

"You thought I couldn't?" Boot looks through his bag. "Crap, left my textbook in the common room."

Scribbling and focused on my work, I pass my textbook to him, not uttering a single word, as the textbook is of no use to me at the present moment.

"Thank you, Lady Harlow." Boot says and I lift my head up, realising that he's staring at me. "Uhh are you sure you're done using it?"

I nod a simple yes. The boy is in a few of my lessons, but I've never got a close-up of him. His hair is a rich shade of chestnut brown; his eyes, like obsidian, are much darker and hold much more depth. Albeit, his spectacles gloss his eyes with some shine.

"Terry Boot, we share some of our lessons together." He flashes a toothy grin.

"Yes, I recognise you." I reciprocate the smile, though with less enthusiasm, as the urge to complete my work relentlessly chases me.

As the lesson progresses, I find myself occasionally lending Boot a helping hand with some runes. The moment I reached question nine, the translation query, I realised I needed my textbook back. Since Lisa is on question six and Boot is starting nine, I don't hesitate to adjust my seat to try and get a better view of my textbook. Boot notices my need and hands my textbook to me, but I decide to place it between us so that we can both see it.

Together, we analyse the translation task, attempting to form logical, coherent answers. Though as some of our translations turn silly, we laugh, letting our absurdity fill the room.

The boy is pretty amiable, though a little awkward. He's definitely smart if he managed to get in a lot of these advanced lessons. And the good thing is that he hasn't made one comment about my appearance or tried to touch me in any sort of way. Those were the two signs that should've come across my mind as warnings when it came to McLaggen. I was completely blind. My fair judgment had never been so low.