Power ▸ Ron Weasley [1]

VIII. INSECURITIES TENFOLD

CHAPTER EIGHT:

INSECURITIES TENFOLD

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      Apart from Pansy Parkinson, Draco Malfoy was the last thing Nova wanted to see first thing after walking down the stairs leading to the common room from the girls' dormitory.

      Before she had fallen asleep the night before, long after the hours in the kitchens with the Weasley siblings and throwing a blanket on her brother so he wouldn't get cold, Nova had sat at the desk and made sure to write out an elegant and apologetic letter for Lucius Malfoy. What she was apologizing for, she truly had no idea, but she had lived with her father all her life and knew it was usually best to not argue. So, she bit her lip so badly that she drew blood and glared at the quill in her hand as she scribbled words down on a piece of parchment.

      When she saw Malfoy waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, she figured his father had received her letter.

      "So you visited Father last night, then," Malfoy said. Nova was surprised he wasn't tugging along Parkinson. He must have seen the confused look on her face, for he sent her a wry smile that wasn't in anyway humorous and let Nova know he was as annoyed with his usual companion as the Nott woman was. "I told Pansy I needed to talk to you alone."

      "I imagine she didn't take it well."

      "Not particularly," he replied, and Nova gave him a small smirk and an eye-roll. "Father said you mentioned something about-"

      "Malfoy," Nova interrupted, the sinking feeling returning to her gut. She didn't have many friends in the world. Theo was pretty much it for her. But she did respect Malfoy and hated when she had to turn him down. He hadn't done anything wrong, she was just defected. Like a wand that wouldn't work properly. "I thought we discussed this."

      "Oh, I did discuss it," Malfoy replied, giving her a look, "but you never did." As Nova stared at the ground, Draco let out a sigh. "Look, I'm not stupid, Nova. I know you probably wrote that letter because your father told you to. But I also know how stubborn you are, and I believe you wouldn't have written that letter if you didn't believe in what you were writing."

      Nova opened her mouth before shutting it once more. No explanation would be enough for Malfoy, she knew that. He'd keep asking and asking until he understood what he had done wrong so he could fix it. It was the kind of person Malfoy was. He cared what people thought about him and cared if he made mistakes he didn't have the solution to.

      However, the problem in this case wasn't his fault at all. Once again, she knew the blame rested on her shoulders.

      "Malfoy-"

      "Have you guys seen Umbridge's new Educational Decree?" Blaise Zabini asked, popping up seemingly out of nowhere. While Nova normally didn't like being interrupted, she was all too happy to let Zabini slide in this case. She turned to the taller boy, giving him a raised brow. Malfoy sighed, but shook his head in answer to Zabini's question. "You should come see it. She posted it on the Slytherin notice board."