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chapter sixteen

___ was sitting next to Draco in Potions class. It had been a good day, but ___ was exhausted. She kept yawning and there was a headache forming at the front of her head. As Professor Snape dragged on and on about the uses of potions, ___ struggled to keep her eyes open. She found herself dipping her quill into her ink longer than necessary, and ended up scribbling her letters in a downwards slope.

Halfway through the class, she felt a hand on her lap. She jumped and leaned back. Draco had a note in his hand. She took it from him and swallowed. As she unfolded it as discreetly as possible, aware of Professor Snape circling around the classroom.

When he went by her, she put down her quill and looked down at the note. In Draco's handwriting, it said:

Meet me in the courtyard after class.

She smiled and tucked the note away in the pocket of her robe. Draco turned his head and smirked. ___ smiled back, and then took his hand underneath the table. He gave it a gentle squeeze and continued to write down his notes. 

When Snape dismissed class, ___ quickly put her things away. She slid out of her seat and walked out on her own. A majority of students were going to the Great Hall, but she walked outside. The snow was deep and threatened to go past her boots. She shivered as she trudged forward, making a path of footsteps in the snow.

Draco was already standing beside a bench. His hands were stuffed deep in the pockets of his fluffy winter coat. He flashed a smile at her as she approached, wrapping her arms around her and bringing her robe to wrap tighter around her body. He shook his head.

"You were supposed to bring a coat," he said.

"It slipped my mind," she replied, wincing as the wind blew a few flurries against her face. She caught them in her eyelashes. "You couldn't have picked somewhere warm to meet, could you?"

"No, I couldn't," he said. He pulled out a small wrapped gift. "Here. This is for you."

She carefully took the present from him and unwrapped the shiny paper. On the inside was a flat box completely covered in velvet. She popped the lid off and gasped at the sight of a small bracelet laying on top of a thin pillow.

"Draco," she gasped. "This is too much."

"Please," he scoffed. He took it out of the box and held his hand out for your arm. You held it out and watched as he clipped the silver chain together. It fit perfectly, a shimmering silver with an emerald charm. "I asked Father to buy something that was nice looking. Do you like it?"

"Your father knows about us?" is all she could ask.

"He knows that I'm seeing someone," Draco said cautiously. "But I didn't tell him who. Are you all right? Do you not like it?"

"No, I love it!" she assured him. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug. "I love it. But your father-"

"You're not making a big deal about this, are you?" he asked.

"I just thought we were keeping this a secret," she said. She bit down on her lip. "It's not that I don't trust your father, Draco, but-"

"You're paranoid about Weasley finding out," Draco finished.

She nodded. "And your father hates them an awful lot. The last time he saw Arthur, there was nearly a full blown fight. What if he says something just to spite him?"

"We'll be all right," Draco assured her. He grabbed her hands and smiled. "Stop worrying so much. It's your birthday. And speaking of, we'll celebrate more tomorrow at Hogsmeade."

"That sounds great," she said.

Draco dropped one of her hands. "Now c'mon, your lips are turning blue. Let's get you inside."

They started their trek back through the snow that was piling up by the minute.

//

On her way out of Divination, Hermione noticed her wrist. "That's a beautiful bracelet," she said. "Where did you get it, might I ask?"

"Um, my aunt, actually," she lied. "She mailed it to me this morning. Apparently, it's been in our family for generations."

"I thought you didn't have any family left," Hermione said.

___ swallowed. "I don't. I mean, I do, but my aunt is really not well anymore. Some days she doesn't remember who she is, poor thing. I couldn't have lived with her."

"Oh. That makes sense, I suppose," she replied. She shrugged and smiled. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you," she replied. Hermione walked ahead to catch up with her friends.

"It's your birthday?" Professor Trelawny said. ___ turned around and nodded. "And you're..."

"Fourteen," ___ replied.

"Ah, yes," she said, as if she had already known that. Professor Trelawny stepped forward and leaned down. ___ pulled away as the professor's eyes widened to look at her. "You have many shadows under your eyes, my dear."

"I had a bad dream last night," she explained, stepping back. "That's all."

"Ah, but perhaps there's more to the dream, my dear!" she said. She grabbed ___'s hand. "Dreams are glimpses into the future! Looks into our greatest wishes. Come, let me show you your future-"

"No," ___ said. She pulled her hand back and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Professor, but I don't think that could ever be in my future. My parents passed away seven months ago."

"Anything could happen," she said in a soft voice. "But we won't know if your parents truly are alive unless we gaze into the-"

"I have spent months trying to deal with the fact that they're gone," she continued. "I don't want to get my hopes up for something I know cannot happen. I'm sorry, Professor."

She smiled sadly. ___ turned away and left quickly. There were hot tears springing out of her eyes as she walked out of the classroom. She sniffed and ran down the curving steps to get out of the North Tower. As much as she wished for her parents to be alive, she knew the truth. She wasn't going to see them again, and staring into the bottom of a tea cup wasn't going to change that.