after dusk - draco malfoy

iv. | four

WE HAD A FEAST IN THE Great Hall, which was the most amazing thing I had ever eaten. I got quite close to Stella, Poppy, and Tommy, who seemed like very lovely people. I was having a rather pleasant conversation with them before my night was ruined. "Oi!" A boy called from another table. I looked across to see Malfoy turned around and all of his friends looking at me. "I heard that all the girls from Beauxbatons were meant to look like Goddesses," he began. "What went wrong with you?"

All the boys around him laughed and a few of the girls from Slytherin looked down their noses at me smirking. I didn't say anything, unable to open my mouth due to how hurt I was. I could feel the heat rushing to my cheeks, praying silently to any other being out there not to make me cry. "What's wrong? Are you going to cry like a stupid little first year? No doubt, that's where you belong, all the girls at Beauxbatons are just looks, no brains there at all. Of course, you must lack in both."

I kept my eyes fixed on my plate, trying to get myself to eat some more to distract myself but just feeling sick at the thought of eating any more food. My eyes began to prickle with tears nearly brimming over and rolling down my cheeks. "What's your problem, Malfoy?" Poppy defends me, loudly, gaining the attention of everyone around me. Harry, Ron, and Hermione focus on the conversation, Hermione now looking worried for me.

Malfoy scoffed and shook his head at Poppy. Harry and Ron turned around to look at Malfoy to figure out what is going on. "My problem? Ask her what hers is. She's the one that keeps barging into me like she owns the place," he accused me, my hurt now turning into rage.

I quickly stand up, slamming my hands on the table. "I accidentally walked into you at Flourish and Blotts," I corrected him, feeling my face heat up in rage. "You're the one who has been a complete stuck up git ever since. Why don't you grow up and get a life?" I yelled across the table. A lot of 'oohs' sounded from the Slytherin table as I put Malfoy in his place.

Malfoy shook his head at me one more time, pointing at me in a threatening manner. "You better watch yourself and that attitude of yours," he warned me. I stuck my middle finger up at him and sat back down in a huff.

Hermione turned to me, a bit cautious on how to approach the situation. "Try to calm down," she said, quietly, handing me a goblet of pumpkin juice. "Drink this, try to breathe." I did as I was told and drank the pumpkin juice.

It wasn't much longer before we all started to make our way up to the Common Room. I had my arms crossed over my chest, scowling the whole way out of the Great Hall. That was until we reached the staircase. "Oh, yeah, the staircases like to move," Stella pointed out. "I wouldn't hang around on them for too long."

My mood completely changed, watching the staircases move. We reached a portrait of a fat lady singing, hurting our ears as she did so. Stella and I were following Seamus Finnigan and Harry very closely. As Seamus reached the painting he uttered the password. "Fortuna Major."

She shushed him and told him to wait before carrying on singing. It seemed as though she was trying to break the glass she was holding with her voice. "Here, listen, she just won't let me in," Seamus explain to us, pointing to the painting with his thumb.

Harry turned to the painting and let out a huff. "Fortuna Major." She brushed him off and told him to wait. She began singing again before screaming. We all cover our ears and I watched her hit the glass on the wall behind her. "Amazing! Just with my voice!" She claimed. Tommy let out a sharp exhale before pushing through everyone waiting. "Fortuna Major!" He yelled at her in annoyance.

She stopped making a fuss over her 'amazing singing' and sighed. "Yes, alright," she shook her head before finally opening. "Come on in." We all made our way into the Common Room. She began singing once more before Harry and Seamus comment on how she can't sing.

"So," Poppy began, looking around the Common Room. "This is the Common Room. I'll take you up to the Dormitory. All your things should be there by now," she told me, taking my hand and guiding me to the Dorm. "Percy will hand out our schedules when he comes back," she explained as we made our way up the stairs. She opened a door and revealed a room of four-poster beds, all with curtains on. "Pick a bed!" She exclaimed.

I grabbed my things from the front of the room and threw my trunk on the bed nearest the far window. "I think I'm going to get settled up here and go to bed," I told her, opening up my case. "If I change my mind, I'll come back down."

"Oh, okay," she nodded her head, reluctantly. She began to walk away before stopping at the door. "This isn't about Draco Malfoy, is it?" She asked me, to which I paused for a moment before shaking my head. "Look, he's an arse and not a lot of people like him," she told me, sitting down on my bed. "Just pay no attention to him, he's just picking on you because you're a new target for him. It'll blow over soon."

I just nodded my head with a smile, getting out the two photographs Uncle Leo had given me a few days prior. Poppy looked down at the photos before smiling. "Your Mum looks beautiful!" She pointed out, to which I nodded. "Awh, your parents look so in love."

A smile made its way on to my face. "Yeah, they were," I confirmed, my eyes locked on my parents. Poppy snapped her head towards me, her smile no longer there. I was confused for a few moments before I remembered I used the past tense, something that came naturally to me now. "Oh, they were in a car crash when I was two years old," I told her. "I don't really remember them, but everyone says I look just like my Mum with-"

"Your Dad's hair," she pointed to my dark hair. She scanned my facial features for a moment before looking back at my face. "And the eye colour. The same shape as your Mum's though," she added. I nodded my head before putting both pictures on my nightstand. "Do you miss it at Beauxbatons?"

I paused for a moment, in thought before replying. "I miss my friends," I concluded, pointing over to the photo of us four. "The schoolwork was all very hard and the teachers put a lot of pressure on us to do well and excel," I explained. "With us being an all-girls school, Madam Maxime wanted us all to prove that women can be smart. She's not one to care for our feelings, though."

Poppy nodded her head at me to show me she was taking it all in. "Yeah, it doesn't sound pleasant," she agreed with me. "Anyway, I'll leave you to unpack. Come join us, if you change your mind."

I nodded my head and she left me to unpack my things. It took me a while to do so and a few girls had already come up and gone to sleep by the time I had finished, so I decided to join them, quite tired myself.

The final thought in my mind before I fell asleep was a promise to myself. I promised myself I wouldn't take anything that Draco Malfoy said seriously. Nothing at all. Positive or negative. He wasn't worth my time and I knew that. I wanted to settle into Hogwarts as quickly as I could and this was the only way I was going to do it.

Draco Malfoy meant nothing to me, and I thought he never would. Oh, how naive of me.