Letters To Harry | Harry Potter

Chapter Thirteen

 Harry was so busy for the next month or so that he hardly had time to think about Declan Malfoy. Between school, Quidditch tryouts, meeting with Professor Dumbledore, and finding a mysterious book in potions class that was written in by the 'Half-Blood Prince', the Hufflepuff boy hardly ever crossed his mind.

 But one morning, in the Great Hall, Harry spotted Declan sitting at the Hufflepuff table looking at his plate as if the idea of breakfast made him sick. There was another boy sitting next to him who looked like he was trying to get Declan to eat, but Declan just shook his head.

 "Today's the team tryouts," he heard the other boy say. "You should eat at least a little."

 Declan shook his head again. "I'm just not hungry."

 About a minute later, the other boy got up and said, "All right, then. If you won't eat, we may as well go down to the Quiddtich Pitch. But you should bring something with you, in case you do get hungry."

 Declan began to get up, but stopped when he saw Harry looking at him. He stared back at him, apparently frozen.

 "Declan?" The other boy looked at him. "What is it?"

 "Nothing." Declan look away from the Gryffindor table. "Let's go."

 They both left the Great Hall after that, with Harry watching them go.

 They must have talking about Quiddtich tryouts, Harry thought. But Declan had once written that he didn't play Quidditch. But then again, that was three years before; he might have changed his mind since then.

 Harry still had studying to do, and he had meant to do it with Ron and Hermione. But he supposed it wouldn't hurt if he went down to the Quidditch Pitch during tryouts. If anyone asked what he was doing there, he could just say he was a friend of Declan's.

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 Harry had to admit that Declan was pretty good with that beater's bat. He had found good beaters for the Gryffidor team this year, but he found Declan to be impressive.

 When Declan's turn was over, he looked up, and saw Harry sitting on one of the benches. He froze, and stared up at him. Buthe quickly regained himself, and went up there himself.

 "What are you doing here?" he asked.

 "I...I heard you talking about Quidditch tryouts," Harry replied, "Back in the Great Hall. Um, you were great. You really ought to make the team." He looked down at the broom Declan was holding. "Is that a Nimbus 2000?"

 "Oh. Yeah. I think it might a bit outdated these days, but I don't mind. My parents don't really know much about Quidditch. They gave it to me as a gift last year when I told them Rolf and I were thinking about trying out for the team. So...you really came down here just to see the tryouts?"

 "No, of course not. I wanted to see you. I've been so busy since the school year started that I didn't get a chance sooner. Look, I don't know why you started sending me anonymous letters in the first place?"

 "Why I sent you anonymous letters?" Declan cried. "You wonder why! I am a Malfoy! It doesn't matter if I'm in Hufflepuff, does it? I come from a family of Slytherins, and makes it worse is that they're the Malfoys, who you hate! Now can you see why I wrote anonymously!?"

 "Declan?"

 The other boy was breakfast, whom Harry was assuming was Rolf, came up to them.

 "What's going on?" he asked. He stopped when he saw Harry, and his eyes widened a little. "Oh. Am I interrupting something?"

 "No," Harry said, getting up. "I think I'd better leave. Declan, can we meet up? Maybe later in the library? Or tomorrow?"

 "All right," Declan said, glaring at him. "I'll see you there later."

 Harry nodded. "Great. I'll go, then."

 Declan nodded back. "You do that."

 Once Harry was gone, Declan kicked the bench and cried, "And he wonders why I wrote to him anonymously!"

 "I suppose this means you haven't made up, then?" Rolf asked.

 "No, we haven't. Thanks to my horrible cousin and his horrible parents, Harry Potter has some sort of prejudice against the Malfoys. He was silently judging me, Rolf, and it was so obvious! He'll be lucky if I even decide to go meet him at the library."

 "I think you'd better calm yourself if you're going to the library later, or Madame Pince will be on you. Come on, let's get back to the castle."

 Silently following Rolf, Declan thought about Harry. Harry was apparently so busy that he hadn't given him much thought. That hurt Declan more than one would think, because he had thought about hardly anything but Harry so far that year.