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chapter nine

___ walked in late for breakfast. She went to the Gryffindor table and smiled as Ron made room for her. While she began to eat an apple, she read from her Herbology book. She ignored the group's conversation until Ron heavily sighed.

"What?" ___ asked through a mouthful of apple. "Something wrong?"

Ron jerked his chin toward the Slytherin table. "Malfoy," he spat. "He's really dragging this whole hurt thing out, isn't he?"

"Well..." She turned around to look at the group of her fellow Slytherins. ___ swallowed thickly and shrugged. "I mean, it did really hurt him..."

"Yeah, sure," Ron grumbled.

"I was there, Ron," she said. "Draco never cried in front of me before, and those were tears. That doesn't change the fact that he is probably using this for attention, but to be fair-"

"Honestly, ___," Ron interrupted with a scoff. He pointed at the blond boy who was smirking as Pansy Parkinson touched his arm. ___ scrunched her nose in disgust as Pansy batted her eyelashes at him. "You can't look at him and tell me that he isn't just doing this all for attention. That thing never hurt him."

"He's told his father," Hermione said. "And I hear that he's mad."

"Well-" ___ began.

"What's with you defending him lately?" Ron asked her angrily. "If you care about him so bloody much, why don't you go sit by him, instead?"

___ clenched her jaw and stood up. She grabbed her things and leaned down. He leaned back in surprise at her anger. "You know very bloody well why, Ron Weasley."

She walked off. As she went by the Slytherin table, she stood behind Draco. "Draco," she said, "I need to talk to you."

He turned around and began to speak, only to be silenced by Crabbe, Blaise, and Goyle as they snickered and leaned forward. ___ glared at them for a moment.

"Well, would you look who it is," Blaise said. "Running back to us."

"Are you sure you're a Slytherin still, ___?" Crabbe asked.

"Maybe being an orphan guarantees a spot in Potter's group, yeah?" Goyle asked. They all laughed.

___ crossed her arms and fought hard to ignore them. She wasn't about to let them knock her down. She didn't want to seem weak, especially in front of Draco, no matter how ridiculous it was of her to try and impress him even now.

Draco shot them all warning looks as he stood up. "That's enough, you three. Leave her alone."

"Oooh," Blaise said. "Draco's still got a crush."

Draco shot him another glare. He stepped close to her and leaned down. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Your father," she whispered, "what did he say about Buckbeak? Is he angry?"

"Naturally," Draco said. "Why? What does it matter to you?"

"I'm getting a lot of heat because I stood up for you," she explained in a hushed voice. "Please tell me you're not doing all of this just for the sake of getting Professor Hagrid fired and an animal killed just because of its nature."

"If those things do happen, it will do the school a favor," he said.

"This isn't the way to do things, Draco," she hissed. "This is only making you look bad. And me."

"I could care less what others think about us," he hissed. "They know we're superior."

"That's besides the point," she said. "Relationships are about sacrifice, right? So perhaps it'd be best for you to sacrifice the attention from the sprain to save me from being verbally abused by my friends."