Our Little Secret || Draco Malfoy

Chapter 2.

I bounced up and down excitedly in my seat, staring out the window at the foggy green fields racing past us. The rolling hills seemed endless as we snaked through the countryside, speeding along towards Hogwarts. "Isabelle, calm down, you're going to go through the roof," Harry said for probably the fifth time. "Oh come on, let me be excited about all of this. It's my first time on the train!" I said defensively and Harry chuckled, shaking his head in surrender.

It really was - I'd never ridden The Hogwarts Express before. I had always floo'd back and forth between home and school with Dad, so I'd never gotten to see the legendary scarlet steam engine. "You sound just like the first years," Ginny said teasingly, poking me in the side before getting up and leaving the compartment to find her friends. I glanced over at the door and the blonde girl sitting beside it - Luna Lovegood. I didn't know much about her, but she seemed nice. Odd, but nice. I glanced at the door, hoping Draco might walk by. It was too risky to try and find him on the train, but I was dying to see him. A whole month apart had felt like torture after being so close.

"Isa?"

I snapped out of my thoughts quickly, seeing Harry looking at me strangely. "Are you alright? You're on another planet." He joked, and I laughed half-heartedly. "Isn't it obvious? She's in love." Luna piped up without looking away from her barmy magazine. I whipped around to look at her, panic rising in me. 

"In love? What?" Harry said in confusion, looking back and forth at me and Luna. "Luna, you really are a bit loony." I joked, sitting back against the seat in what I hoped was a casual pose. "There's no one at this school that I'm even the least bit attracted to," I said, and Luna's round, curious eyes stared at me over the top of her large, colorful glasses. "When people lie, nargles come and take root in their brains." She said in a very plain voice before turning back to her magazine.

I stared at Harry, who opened his mouth to speak but thankfully was interrupted by Ron and Hermione coming back in from their prefect rounds. "Ron, you can't be so lenient! You're a prefect, we have a certain level of authority to uphold!" Hermione said, her arms crossed in front of her. "Hermione, lay off, they were second years playing Exploding Snap. Lighten up, will you?" Ron grumbled, sitting down next to Harry. He and Harry started up a conversation before Hermione could reply, which made her look absolutely furious. Hermione sat down next to me, fishing a book out of her bag and hurriedly burying her nose in it, making me sigh - the year was off to a great start.

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Our fifth year was an absolute disaster. Not only were we not learning any real defense methods in our DADA class, but we were also barely learning at all. The new DADA professor, that horrible Umbridge woman, used class time to feed us Ministry-manufactured rubbish and it made my blood boil. Harry, though, had reached his breaking point faster than I. And that's why I was still waiting up with Ron and Hermione after everyone else had gone to bed. Harry still wasn't back from his detention with Umbridge and we were all worried.

It was nearly eleven when the door to the portrait hole swung open, and our heads snapped up to see Harry walking into the common room. "Harry!" I said, getting up and hurrying over. "Are you okay? Why were you there so long?" Harry shrugged, shaking his head. "Umbridge wanted me to clean her teacup collection. She has nearly a hundred, it's mad. I'm off to bed." He said, walking past us. "Harry, I know when you're lying to me," I said, grabbing Harry's hand but releasing it quickly when he let out a yell of pain. I stared at him for a second before taking his hand gently, turning it over and gasping. "I MUST NOT TELL LIES" looked like it had been carved into the back of his hand, still angry red and bleeding.

"Harry..." I said in a shaky voice, prompting Hermione and Ron to come over. "Did that old bat do this?" Ron said, a little horrified. "She's torturing students for speaking up about Voldemort!" Hermione said in a shrill voice, and I looked at her, a little shocked. She had never said Voldemort's name out loud before, so I knew that she had finally had it. "Umbridge is going to try to terrify us into silence, and if something really does happen, there's nothing we can do to protect ourselves," I said quietly, looking around at my friends. The reality seemed to sink in, as did the feeling of hopelessness.