You're Safe With Me ( Draco Malfoy )

Chapter Six ✔️

It was with a large sigh of relief that Alice set her stupidly heavy books down on to the small desk in the far corner of the library, away from any students who might be milling around. Since coming back she understood why Hogwarts didn't have a gym, lugging books around and a school ground the size of a regular town was enough exercise for everybody here.

After leaving her friends in the common room she decided to come to the library for some evening studying, thinking she'd rather have her head in a book than be caught in the Ron, Lavender and Hermione situation. Sure, she did feel almost bad for leaving Harry in there to fend for himself, but Alice was not taking the chance of getting caught up in yet another argument.

Lavender and Ron weren't officially dating, but due to her obsession with him she's been non-stop hanging around the group every chance she gets, especially in the common room in the evenings. Alice had decided to opt out of that and, considering she actually needed to do some studying on potions, she had decided that the Lavender-free library was the best place to come.

It was irritating to both Alice and Harry that Ron and Hermione didn't simply admit their feelings for each other, she supposed that they were equally as stubborn and unconvinced that the other person likes them. Pestering Hermione about talking to Ron had gotten Alice nowhere so far, but there was no way she was giving up that easily.

Alice sat at the small table, smiling at the fact it was hidden away from the rest of the library, so she wouldn't be bothered by other people. Considering quite how easily distracted she could be, being away from the other students was a smart idea if she had any intentions of actually getting work done. 

The table was surrounded on three sides by tall bookshelves, leaving only one side open to get to the desk, which had a chair sitting on either side of it. A candle was floating above the table, proving perfect reading light and making the space seem even cosier than it already was.

Picking her potions book off of the top of the pile of her studying material, she quickly checked the page she needed and flicked through the book, setting it on the table in front of her once she had found what she wanted. Reaching in to her pocket, she also placed Malfoy's quill on the table. Somehow, she had ran out of other quills due to losing them, but she was determined not to lose this one, not thinking that Malfoy would be impressed if she did.

Then again, she wasn't impressed with what happened the other day in the courtyard, so why did she care about his opinions? It was almost beginning to bother Alice that she was so bothered about what he thought of her, but she couldn't seem to snap out of it, still convincing herself that she would get over it in time.

Hermione did ask where Alice had gotten the quill from, but she had panicked and said it was simply a gift from her father. There was no way that Alice was admitting to any of her friends where she truly got the quill, they'd think it was cursed and throw it in the fire. Alice still failed to understand why Malfoy was nicer to her than he was to her friends, if anything he had more things to make fun of about her, since she was effectively 'the new girl'. Despite that, he always directed his snide comments towards Ron, Harry or Hermione. As much as Alice hated that Malfoy did that, she just seemed to forget about everything when it was just him and her, probably due to him acting so differently.

Shaking her head gently, as if to shake her own thoughts out of it, she went back to her potions studies, copying down important pieces of information from her book in to easy-to-read bullet points so that she didn't have to struggle so much to keep up. She really did enjoy potions, it was just so complex, and she didn't have a cheat book like Harry did. Her head was down and she managed to concentrate for about five minutes before she was interrupted.