Bully | A Draco Malfoy Love Story

eleven / an interesting evening

Allison Mayhem

              I walked down the hall by myself as I made my way to Slughorn's dinner he was hosting for only students who were at the top of his class. Harry, Hermione and I were his top three in his second hour, so I decided to meet them there, as I was caught up for another night, observing Draco fixing up the cabinet. It was definitely a long process, so a part of me was glad I didn't have to do it all on my own, but I also wanted to help more, because for some odd reason, I felt bad for him doing it by himself. But any time I'd extend my services, he's shut me down. So I just continued to do the same thing every time we met in the Room of Requirement, hw fixed the cabinet, I read some book from the library. I guess it was a win win, as he was left unbothered and I got some time to read without distractions of the other students. As I continued down one of the side corridors, I heard footsteps approaching, and quickly turned around.

"Where are you off to?" The sweet voice rang. I smiled at her.

"Just Slughorn's little dinner party." I shrugged. "How about you, Luna?"

"Just trying to find one of my shoes," she continued to look around the hall, and I followed her lead. "I suspect a nargle stole it." I stopped looking and nodded, curiously.

"Ah, well, I'll let you know if I find a shoe." I laughed a little as she smiled in return.

"Thanks, Alli. How have you been holding up?" She tilted her head, as she proceeded to walk me to Slughorn's.

"Eh, you know, same old." I wasn't sure what more to say. After all, she did know almost everything about my predicament, so there was nothing more needed to say.

"I'm sorry, Allison." She smiled, apologetically. I nodded at her, with a shrug. We both knew there was nothing that could be done, so it just wasn't a relevant topic for us to speak on. We arrived shortly within minutes to the front door of the room where the dinner was being held and she gave me a quick hug and wandered off. I let myself in, seeing as there were just two empty seats left, so at least I hadn't been the last person to arrive.

"So, tell me Granger, what do your parents do in the muggle world?" Slughorn asked Hermione after I was greeted and took my place at the table beside Blaise Zabini.

"My parents are dentists." She said in response. Everyone looked at her in a sort of confused manner. "They tend to peoples teeth." Harry laughed a little at the fact that she had to describe what a dentist was, considering wizards, I guess, didn't really need them. Suddenly, Ginny came abruptly walking in and the tension began to rise. "Her and Dean have been fighting." Hermione whispered over to Harry, just loud enough that I could hear. And seemingly effortless, he stood straight up up. It annoyed me a bit that he felt the need to stand up and protect Ginny when the two of them hardly even talk all that much these days. He had never expressed his liking of her, but Hermione and I had guessed it.

"Harry." I said in a whisper while smirking, since he was making it a little too obvious of his fancying of the girl.

        After dinner, Hermione and I walked back into the corridors, talking about the quidditch match tomorrow, being that it was our final one and once we arrived to our rooms, we climbed into our beds. "Goodnight, Hermione." I whispered. She didn't respond so I knew she was already out like a light.

        In the morning, we sat in the Great Hall when Ron walked in, clearly bothered by something.

"How was it then?" Ron asked, staring down at his plate of toast and eggs, bot even bothering to eat. That's when I knew he must've been upset by the fact that we all had a night out, and he didn't.

"Pretty boring." Hermione said. "Slughorn's having a Christmas party, and we're supposed to bring someone. I was thinking of bringing you." She said to him.

"You sure you don't want to bring Cormac? Seems as though he's been eyeing you for a while now." He grumbled, looking over at her. She rolled her eyes at his ignorance. We had just a short amount of time until the last and final Quidditch game against Ravenclaw, and a part of me was just wanting it over with, since I was forced to stay benched due to the injuries I sustained a while back. So I wasn't too much excited anymore, especially considering Harry gave my spot to blood Cormac, of all people.

          We celebrated the win that night in the Gryffindor common room. Ron was seemingly full of it, when all of a sudden, Lavender Brown came rushing in, snogging him. This caused Hermione to leave. I chased after her out into the halls. As she found a stairwell, and sat on the steps crying, so I reached my arms around her and held her tightly.

"Hermione, I need to tell you something-" I began, feeling like I needed to get some honesty to her out for once. I was just going to finally reveal my truth about being forced to marry Draco. I wasn't going to say anything of death eater sorts, just that our families were close friends and were demanding it of us. It was a stupid lie, but the only thing I could think of to at least have some honesty with her.

"What's going on?" A voice interrupted as we both turned to see Ron staring over at Hermione as she quickly wiped her fallen tears off her cheeks.

"Opogno." Hermione said. And the birds fluttering around us began to chase after him, so he quickly ran off. She stood up, sniffling and wiping her tears away from her face. "I'm heading to bed." She muttered.

"Want me to come with you?" I asked, standing next to her.

"I need some time alone." She shook her head. I nodded and watched as she walked off and down the hall. A noise from the staircase to my left startled me, so I found myself walking up them and to a different tower. I noticed a figure in black standing at the edge leaning on the railing and staring outward from the window. I walked towards the being and quickly realized who it was. I stood next to him. We didn't say anything, but I knew he was upset, as I could see the tears glisten from his cheeks from the moonlight. I hesitantly slipped my hand over top of his and we gazed out into the night sky, in complete silence.