Beauty and the Beast [Draco Malfoy]

Chapter Seven

Draco's POV:

I sat myself down at the Slytherin table for breakfast beside Blaise and Goyle.

"Morning," Blaise mumbled through a mouthful of toast. Pansy, who was sitting on his other side, punched his arm. "Oi!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Blaise," she said sternly, grabbing an apple and taking a dainty bite from it.

"I can do what I want," Blaise grumbled in return.

I munched on a bit of toast as Pansy talked on and on about things of not much interest to me. My mind began to wander to other more important things, such as Quidditch. Tryouts were several weeks ago and of course I was the seeker on the Slytherin house team. We had already started practices and our first game was in a few months. We were working feverishly because we were determined to beat Gryffindor, if they ever got permission to reform.

Umbridge had banned all school clubs and groups from meeting and could be given permission to reform at her own choice.

It was then that I realized I was staring. Not only was I staring, I was staring at Lizzie. And she was staring right back.

She looked elegant sitting down there at the end of the table. Knowing Lizzie for as long as I have, I know she is not one for elegance. She was that girl that spoke with her mouth full of food. The girl who sat in the corner with a book rather than socialize. The girl who laughed louder than anyone else in the room.

Her face was unreadable as her cloudy eyes bore back into mine. I could feel the blush rise into my cheeks.

I wanted to forgive her for lying to me for all this time, but I couldn't find the courage. If I did forgive her, the rest of the Slytherin house would disown me. I missed the talks we used to have and the way we would tease each other mercilessly.

Despite how much I was missing her, I was also very hurt by her betrayal.

"Earth to Draco, come on. Class will start soon," Pansy said, pulling me from my thoughts and following my gaze down the table to Lizzie. Liz gave a snarky smile when she made eye contact with Pansy.

I stood from the table and began my journey to Defense Against the Dark Arts class. "Did you hear what happened with the Gryffindor quidditch team other night?" Blaise asked me, a frown spread wide across his face.

"No, what happened?" I questioned, my interest peaked.

"They got permission to reform," Pansy piped in. "Umbridge finally gave in."

"Wonderful," I groaned.

"I know," Blaise said.

Before anyone could say anything else, we were in Umbridge's classroom. Lizzie was already there, sitting in the back of the room. How she had beaten us, I'll never know.

"Let's sit at the front today. Don't want to get any mud on my shoes," Pansy said loud enough for the entire class to hear. She looped her arm through mine and dragged me to one of the tables in the front of the room.

Once everyone had settled down, Professor Umbridge stood. "Good morning class," she squeaked.

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," everyone replied monotonously. She had us trained like dogs.

"Today, you are to read chapter 24 and write a one foot essay due tomorrow." The class remained silent except for the shuffle of pages as students flipped through the book.

"'Muggles, Muggleborns, Half-Bloods, and Half-Breeds and Their Impact on the Wizarding World'?" a voice called out from behind me. I closed my eyes and begged her not to pick a fight.