Yearning ➸ Draco Malfoy

𝖭𝗂𝗇𝖾𝗍𝖾𝖾𝗇

When I came back to the Gryffindor tower, my eyes were puffy and my cheeks were sticky with tears. The only people who were still up were Harry, Ron and Hermione. They all look at me when I walk in, and I just hoped that the dim light from the fireplace hid my puffy eyes. Even though I had been crying out of frustration and anger, they would think that I was crying of sadness

And I was not sad. Not at all. Right?

"Hey Alice" Harry says quietly, as to not wake up anyone. His expression was friendly, but his eyes were apprehensive

"Hey," I say weakly, almost a whisper. I was afraid they'd be able to detect the hoarseness of my voice "I'm going to bed now." I say before heading over to the stairwell, faintly waving goodbye to them, keeping my head down.

I don't know what compelled me to, but I had a feeling at the bottom on my stomach that I should listen in on their conversation. So I hid against the stairwell in the shadows and listened

"What do you think she was doing with him?" I heard Ron ask, a flicker of shadow told me that he had gotten up and was currently pacing around the room.

"Dunno. Do you think she's on their side?" Harry asks, a bit of shock in his voice.

"No! Of course not! First of all, her parents were in the Order. Her mom is still apart of it. Secondly, she fought in the Department of Mysteries! She wouldn't be on their side and willingly fight against them!" Hermione heatedly interjects, defending me and my character.

"Well then what's she doing hanging around Malfoy!" Ron fires back, "We all know he's no good!"

"Ron, you're assuming she talked to him. The map only shows that they were in the same place! Not that they were talking to each other" Hermione fights back.

My heart sinks and my jaw drops when I realize they're talking about me and Draco meeting up tonight. How did they know that?

"Hermione, you're telling me you don't find it a little suspicious that at the three broomsticks she goes running after Malfoy after he cursed Katie, goes to see him after Slughorn's party, and comes back crying? It's obvious, her and Malfoy are working together, and she's upset that their plan to kill Dumbledore failed" Ron says, a little annoyed that Hermione wasn't getting the picture.

It felt as if I had jumped into a pool of ice cold water I was so shocked and humiliated. I covered my mouth in shock. Ron thought I was working with Draco? I felt like I was going to be sick

I didn't want to listen anymore, so I quietly ran up the rest of the stairs and climbed into my bed

That night I cried myself to sleep

• • •

The next morning when I went down to breakfast, I sat alone. I looked across and saw Draco was doing the same. Both him and I had puffy eyes, and both of us were staring absently at the wooden table in front of us.

I'll admit, I was upset about Draco. It made me furious -as it always does- to know that he had this grasp on me, but I was 10x more upset feeling isolated from my friends.

I felt so alone. I looked over to my right and saw Harry, Ron and Hermione looking at me skeptically. I sigh, and rest my head on my hand. How did I go from being so happy to being so sad within the span of less than a couple of days?