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DRACO MALFOY AND VIRGINIA HAWTHORNE were practically fated to be friends. Their fathers—Lucius and Elton—were the best of friends in their Hogwarts days, and expected their children to be just as close. Hell, ever since the Hawthornes knew Vee was a girl they were practically planning her and Draco's wedding.
(Spoiler alert, they both got married, but not to each other)
Vee couldn't even remember the exact moment she met Draco, they were just friends; they always had been friends and they always would be friends. The two were practically inseparable their entire lives. If asked in their fourth year at Hogwarts if they had ever had a squabble, both girl and boy would say a resounding no.
Draco wholeheartedly believed it to be so. Virginia Hawthorne was his best mate, and in his mind nothing had ever happened between them. No argument would ever pierce the strong bonds their friendship had formed over fifteen years.
Vee, on the other hand, was lying through her teeth. They did have an argument once upon a time, an argument that almost caused Draco's demise. It was so terrible, in fact, that Penny Hawthorne had to use an unforgivable curse to make Draco forget it had happened.
The year was 1988.
Draco and Vee were playing in one of the many spare rooms of Malfoy Manor, as they usually did. At the age of seven, Vee and Draco spent most of their time together pretending to be Aurors or professional Quidditch beaters. That day, though, both kids were rather tired and elected to just lay on the couches and talk instead.
"My father said something about you to Mum today," Draco told Vee.
Vee turned around from her upside-down position on the couch. "Really? What did he say?"
"He said you look like a Weasley," Draco spat, his words (especially the word "Weasley") laced with disgust.
Virginia had never heard of a Weasley, but the way Draco spoke the word made her realize it wasn't something she ever wanted to be. She glared at the blonde boy on the ground.
"What does that mean?" She asked through gritted teeth.
"Your parents haven't told you about the Weasley's?" Draco mocked, "They're a lot of blood traitors, they are. They all have red hair and freckles and blue eyes. Just like you."
Virginia was getting warm. If Draco would have reached out to touch her at that moment he would've drawn away his hand immediately. She was hot, red hot, which she just chalked up to being mad. She wasn't just mad though, she was angry, getting angrier by the second.
"There's nothing wrong with that!" Virginia screamed, the lights in the room flickering as she did so. Draco didn't even flinch.
"He said you should be one of them, not a Hawthorne. He said there's no way you're Elton's daughter!"
"You take that back," Vee seethed. She was boiling now, so much so that her head started sparking. Seven-year-old Draco didn't notice though, for he started sing-songing "Vee is a Weasley! Vee is a Weasley!"
Suddenly, Vee's red hair caught fire. Draco screeched and reeled away, alerting the parents of Draco and Vee that something was wrong. Vee—her whole body now shrouded in flames—stood from her position on the couch and aimed her right hand at Draco Malfoy. If the kids' parents hadn't run in right then, Vee wouldn't have hesitated to fireball the living daylights out of her best friend.
"Virginia Renée Hawthorne!" Penny Hawthorne thundered, breaking her daughter from her anger-induced frenzy. Vee immediately realized that she almost killed the person that mattered to her most in the world. She ran into her mothers arms, sobbing. "It's alright, Virginia. It's alright," Her mother soothed her.
Draco, however, was inconsolable for about an hour. He was frozen in his position on the rug, refusing to get up even when his father commanded him to. When he eventually did rise, Penny simply obliviated him. Even 8 years later, Draco never remembered what happened on that day in 1988.
Vee, on the other hand, remembered everything. When the Hawthornes arrived at their own home, the first thing Vee was told was that no one could know about her "outburst". If anyone knew, she could be seen as a threat or used as a weapon, neither of which seemed tantalizing.
The outbursts came with more than Vee bargained for. Primarily, when Vee finally got to Hogwarts (something she and Draco would talk about incessantly as youths) she realized that she was hardly a witch. Because her human fireball trick took so much raw energy, in her daily life Vee could hardly do any spells. She was barely passing as a witch.
It also led to a codependency on Draco. Since Vee could hardly do magic, she stuck with her best friend who was a pretty good wizard. Yeah, people would whisper about them being a couple and whatnot, but Vee couldn't seem to distance herself from Draco. He was her popularity, her magic, essentially her life force.
And he was one of very few people who could actually stand the girl.
The outburst also caused Vee to close herself off. She became easily angered and hostile, driving away basically anyone who came into contact with her. She only had three real friends because Draco, Carrington, and Margaret were the only ones who could tolerate Vee's hotheadedness.
Vee wanted it to be any other way. She wanted to be a good witch, like her mother was in her glory days. She wanted to be popular and have friends, not just depend on Draco to do that for her. She didn't want the whole school to buzz about how Virginia Hawthorne was a hot-head.
But that was the way it had to be.
She blamed all of it on the blasted Weasleys. If Draco hadn't called her one of them she would be perfectly fine. She would be a good witch, a good friend, a good person. But the traitorous Weasley family ruined her entire life before she even got to start it. Vee promised herself that she would never ever fraternize with a Weasley. They caused her too much pain, and she knew if she got close to one she would cause them even more pain.
Too bad Ronald Weasley was utterly fascinated with Virginia Hawthorne. He had no idea he was playing with fire.
KATY SPEAKS! here's a super trite intro to vee and her "outburst" as i refer to them. she and draco are also going to be brotp in this story and i'm really excited!
i'm literally so excited for your introduction to fourteen year old vee, because seven year old vee just doesn't do her justice. stay tuned!
