Chamber of Love

Chapter 20

  "Please wait for me!" Juliette's pleading voice chased after the careless Slytherin. Her footsteps could be heard by Draco, who did nothing to stop her from following him. Juliette let out a tired sigh but kept walking after him. She was intending to mention her second vision to Snape but when Draco stormed out of the classroom without glancing at her, she had an unexpected change of plans.

"Draco, will you stop being dramatic?" Juliette finally said instead of pleading which Draco ignored.

"Dramatic?" He suddenly stopped and turned around, almost causing Juliette to crash into his chest, and looked at her with a frown. "I'm simply trying to walk away but you keep following me."

Juliette tried not to show her displeasure towards his unfriendly tone. "I'm trying to talk to you."

Draco fixed his shoulder bag and turned around with an eye roll. "Well, I don't want to hear it."

Slumping her shoulders in defeat, she started to follow him once again like an obedient house elf. "Why? I didn't do anything wrong. Why are you ignoring me?"

"I'm not ignoring you." He replied, eyes focused on the half empty corridor. Several students were glancing at their conspicuous little argument.

"Then let me apologise—" She started, hoping he could give her another chance even though she believed that her words weren't that big of a deal, but Draco interrupted her.

"I said I don't want to hear it." His voice was harsh. He wasn't even looking at her but she knew that if he did, his silver blue eyes would be colder than a dementor's unwanted presence.

Juliette gathered her nonexistent courage and stepped in front of him, causing him to halt. He looked at her, bright eyes full of annoyance. She couldn't help but shiver because of the invisible distance between them.

"I'm sorry for saying that you're not my friend." She blurted out, not giving his stubborn self to interrupt her once again. She looked up at him, her dark eyes wide with expectancy and hope.

Draco deepened his unfriendly frown and examined her face with caution. "Why would you apologise for that? It's the truth." Juliette noticed how his voice was freed from harshness and now it was just calm and quiet.

Juliette averted her eyes, feeling timid all of a sudden under his gaze. She was glad that he was finally listening to her even though the distance was there, trying to squeeze between their bodies to keep them apart as far as it could.

"Maybe. But... maybe we could just—" She wetted her dried lips, trying to gain some time to think before talking. "I mean, I wouldn't mind being friends with you. I think. Probably."

Draco's eyes never left her shy expression. He slightly leaned his head back, which made Juliette feel small as he looked down on her.

"You think?" His voice sounded amused even though there wasn't any trace of emotion on his pale face. Juliette believed that his sarcastic mode was on.

"Yes." She said, playing with her fingers as usual, showing her uneasiness. "If– If that's okay with you."

"Interesting." He hummed and thoughtfully pursed his lips. "You want to be my friend, yet you don't tell me anything about yourself without lying."

Juliette gritted her teeth to stop herself from starting another argument that wouldn't end very well.

"You know... my favorite colour. And animal." She said unsurely. Even the castle walls sent her bored looks.

Draco rolled his eyes and attempted to walk past her with all his annoyance but Juliette hurriedly put her slightly shaking hand on his chest to stop him from leaving again.

"Wait!"

"Juliette, I have to go to my class and—" He unsuccessfully tried to convince her to step aside before Juliette interrupted his bored voice.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip on Sunday and Cedric and I are going to celebrate. You can join us and after that we can... we can talk about everything."

Draco showed nothing but confusion at her little ramble. "Celebrate what?"

"My, uh... My birthday." She said with a shrug as if trying to show the unimportance of the event. Her birthday was always during school years and she never had the chance to celebrate it with her family since the arrival of her Hogwarts letter. Her first two years at the new school were lonely. She didn't have any friends and therefore she didn't even get a birthday cake. Only a card and a wrapped gift from her parents that came with their family owl but in third year, when her friendship with Cedric started, he did anything he could to make her happy on the rainy 30th of April. He convinced the elves in the kitchens to make a birthday cake with chocolate and strawberry for her and he gave her a handmade bracelet which she was still wearing. It was a simple spiral braid made by yellow and black strands, the colours of the Hufflepuff House. "You know you belong in this house, right? I'm glad the hat didn't put you in Slytherin." He said while trying to tie the bracelet to her thin wrist. "Me too." She replied with a grateful smile. Grateful for having him as a friend.

She blinked a couple of times, trying to come back down to earth when she realised Draco's lack of answer. He was looking at her with hesitancy. Students came in, walked past them and disappeared behind the classroom doors as they kept staring at each other without uttering a word. The lonely, cold walls were waiting for an answer with Juliette.

"You don't– You don't have to buy me anything." She started to nervously fiddle with her fingers. It didn't escape Draco's careful eyes. "You don't actually have to come. It was just a suggestion."

Draco lowered his eyes and pretended to bite his lip in thought as he tried to restrain himself from openly showing his amusement. He couldn't help but soften his unfriendly gaze as Juliette noticeably squirmed in front of him every second that he didn't give an answer to her.

"Can you please give me an answer so I can stop embarrassing myself?" She asked with a pleading look. The bright sunlight that was coming from the arch of the corridor was touching her face without asking for a permission and placing shadows just on the right places.

"I'll think about it." Draco answered, averting his gaze and trying to look uninterested. Truth to be told, he was quite successful at showing disinterest since Juliette looked extremely convinced with her pursed lips and slumped shoulders.

"Oh, okay. I'll wait at the Courtyard for you." She murmured before adding quickly, "You know, just in case."

"Right." He nodded while playing with the strap of his bag, not knowing what to do. He frowned and let go of the leather, not liking how Juliette's nervous habit was rubbing off on him.

"Okay." She bit her lip and took a step back. "I'll just leave, then."

Draco silently gave her another nod. Juliette turned around and before walking away, she looked over her shoulder and sent Draco an awkward wave. He couldn't help the slight curve of his lips, which made Juliette less nervous about the whole situation. She was glad that he wasn't completely mad at her.

She walked towards the staircase that was waiting for her at the end of the corridor before realising that her next class was in the opposite way. Closing her eyes and preparing herself to face the awkwardness, she slowly turned around and hesitantly walked back to where Draco was standing. He was watching her with a raised eyebrow.

"My class is that way." She said, voice no louder than a quiet murmur as she pointed at the other side of the corridor which was behind him.

Draco shook his head with amusement and looked away from Juliette's blushed face to hide his smile which was threatening to widen.

"Sorry." She added, not knowing what to say to pop the awkward bubble that imprisoned them.

Juliette quickly walked past him while looking down and nervously scratching the skin beneath her bracelet. While she walked away from the blond Slytherin that she really liked hanging out with for some reason, she couldn't help the small smile that was spreading over her face. And she was unaware of the same expression that was taking over Draco's face.

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I'm sorry I haven't been updating and I'm sorry this chapter isn't that good :/