Slytherin's Touch

Chapter 4: Golden Trio No More

The two continued to look into each other's eyes until Draco seemingly snaps out of whatever trance they were in. He clears his throat, looking away from her as he lets go of her hand. "We should probably go to breakfast now"

Harleyn nods, a light blush appearing on her cheeks. "Yeah, we probably should" She clears her throat, gesturing to the door, "Let's go then" She follows Draco out the door, silently cursing herself for not noticing the stare she was giving her formal rival.

The walk to the Great Hall was silent with both students mentally berating themselves for the awkward moment earlier. As they arrived in front of the Great Hall, Draco turns to face Harleyn. "See you at Potions, Harleyn"

"Harley"

Draco raised his brow. "Pardon?"

"Harley" She repeated, "Just call me Harley"

Draco glances at her, surprised by her request but nevertheless nods. "Okay, Harley" He adds, pushing open the doors doors.

They continued inside the Great Hall and were welcomed by the calm morning silence. Which was expected really after all, who has the energy to wake up at 7 am for breakfast?

This was a change to what Harley was used to, having to share a room with three other people made silence a privilege. A privilege that she honestly had mix feeling for, on one hand she liked it because it gave her time to relax but on the other hand it also gave her anxiety, with her poisonous self-doubting thoughts running wild in her mind.

Suddenly a loud angry shriek snapped her out of her thoughts, she turns her head to the source of the noise and spots her friends, well ex-friends. Ginny, who was red in anger, stomps her way to Harley and grabs her by her hair, forcing Harley meet her eyes. "What in Merlin's beard are you doing here, Potter?!" 

Harley winced in pain as her hair was pulled back. "I'm still a Gryffindor, Ginny, I have every right to sit here"

Ginny grits here teeth, taking a quick scan at the teacher's table before further tightening her grip on Harley's hair, going so far as to yank her to the ground. "Shut up, Potter and don't you dare call me Ginny!" She spat out, not even bothering to lower her voice and with no teachers present why should she?

"And what do you know about being a Gryffindor, Potter" Ron hissed while Hermione gave Ginny a warning look, making her let go of Harley's hair.

Harley stood up and glared back at them. "More than any of you would ever know"

Meanwhile at the Slytherin table as chaos brew on the other side of the Great Hall, Pansy Parkinson sighed as she took a sip from her cup of Earl Grey. "Seriously a fight this early in the morning? How childish of them"

Daphne Greengrass nods in agreement. "I know right, couldn't they at least keep the fighting inside their Common Room? Come on, Rule Number 2 people" 

"Bold of you to assume that the Gryffindors follow the same rules that we do, Daphne, they're the favorite house in Hogwarts, they get away with anything they do" Blaise Zambini scoffs, gathering the agreement from their group, well almost everyone.

He turns his gaze to Draco, who sat beside him and immediately gestured their friends to quiet down. Once they were silent, Blaise snaps his fingers in front of his blond friend. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" Draco answered, without spearing him a glance as he continued to look over to the Gryffindor table.

Blaise followed his gaze, "Because Draco, you don't normally 'waste' your time staring at the Gryffindors, so what's wrong? What did the Gryffindors do to make you so irritated this early"