after dusk - draco malfoy

vi. | six

MADAM POMFREY QUICKLY BANDAGED DRACO'S ARM up, and I just sat there, silently watching. She would occasionally make small talk with me about my own incident, which Hagrid had mentioned to her when dropping him off.

After she had finished cleaning and bandaging him up, she left the hospital wing in a hurry, talking to herself about things she needed to get done. Draco looked up at me and rolled his eyes. "Enjoying my pain, are you?" He snapped at me and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm the one who has just carried your bag all the way up here so you don't have to go back down later," I replied, rage beginning to fill up inside me. Pinch of salt. Take it with a pinch of salt. "Look, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me to be here, so just suck it up and deal with it."

He looked at me, rather shocked I had stood up for myself and a small smile crept on his face, followed by a soft laugh escaping his lips. "You know, you've got fire, I'll give you that," he told me, the first nice thing he'd said about me since I arrived.

I had promised myself not to let anything he said get to me - good or bad. But the thing is, I loved it. Receiving a compliment from him was the best part of my day. It seemed as though all this time I had been falling into his traps, I had been doing it all to lead up to this one moment. His approval.

When I didn't reply, he sat up, wincing at the pain in his arm. "So you're going to be like that then?" He spoke up, rolling his eyes at me. "Right, forget I ever said anything."

The approval was quickly simmering away and I wanted, no, needed to get it back. "No, it's just I'd never thought you would ever compliment me," I told him, honestly.

He shook his head at me, my hazel eyes catching with his bright blue ones, that feeling coming quickly back. "I wouldn't say compliment," he mentioned, my chest tightening even harder. "More of a positive comment of observation."

I laughed at him, not being able to stop myself and I smile, slightly. "I'll take that, Malfoy," I replied before Madam Pomfrey quickly rushes through the doors again. She told me I could go back to where I needed to be, and at that point, it was the start of lunch so I made my way to the Great Hall, not saying a single word more to Draco as I left.

As I entered the Great Hall, I sat down by Poppy and Stella. "And where have you been?" Poppy questioned, raising her eyebrow, obviously already knowing. I waved it off as I began to get some food down me. "Listen, Tasmin, Draco Malfoy is bad news."

I swallowed the mouthful of food and washed it down with some water. I placed the goblet back on the table and turned to her. "It's not like I had much of a choice," I replied, defending myself. "I can't even stand the boy."

"He's been sighted! He's been sighted!" Seamus called, interrupting us and running up to the side of us. He slammed down a newspaper in between Hermione and me. People began asking who, to which he panted out. "Sirius Black!" Harry and Ron rushed over to the newspaper, looking over my shoulder.

"Dovetown?" Hermione exclaimed, skimming through the article. "That's not far from here," she noted, looking at me in an informative way.

Neville looked up, slightly worried. "You don't think he'd come to Hogwarts," he spoke up, stammering slightly. "Do you?"

"With Dementors at every entrance?" Poppy questioned Neville, trying to make him see sense. I thought there would be no way of him getting into the school.

Seamus scoffed and shook his head, pointing down at the article. "Dementors?" He rolled his eyes. "He's already slipped past them once, hasn't he? Who's to say he won't do it again?" He pointed out, which was actually a very good point.

"That's right," Tommy decided to speak up. "Black could be anywhere. It's like trying to catch smoke. Trying to catch smoke with your bare hands."

My eyes caught contact with Fred and George. I tried to hold back my laughter but the three of us all burst into hysterics. "That's all a bit doom and gloom for a Monday, don't you think, pal?" George laughed.

Seamus started to get a bit angry at the fact we were all laughing and snatched the newspaper off the table and stormed off. "What did you have to go do that for?" Ron scolded his brothers, then his eyes landed on me. "He's going to be in a stonking mood all day now."

Fred turned to Ron, standing up out of his seat. "Fret not, little brother," he tried to calm him down. He grabbed Ron by the shoulders and sat him down. George then made his way over to the two and at this point, there was a twin on either side of Ron's face. "We'll work the Weasley twin magic," they both said in unison.

Ron immediately protested. "No!" He exclaimed. "Definitely not! You're just going to put him into an even worse mood. You know how Seamus gets when he's in a mood."

Fred and George turn to face each other before smiling brightly. "Precisely!" They sounded together. I almost fear what they would do. They're both full of tricks that I would not like to be on the other side of. Ron let out a huge puff of annoyance and stopped eating, to which Hermione was surprised by.

I sat back down in my seat, next to Poppy and she began to scold me, again for talking to Draco. "Just don't even bother to retaliate," she suggested, which for me was a lot harder than she thought. I was very short-tempered and I could never bite my tongue, which isn't the best combination. "He messes around with every girl's feelings then ditches them when he finds another girl to entertain him."

Tommy must've overheard the conversation and moved up a bit so he could join in. "Who's this? Malfoy?" He asked then answered his own question.

I shook my head, realising what Poppy had just said. "Wait, do you really think I want to get involved with him like that?" I exclaimed, concerned she would think so low of me. "Hagrid sent me to the hospital wing with him, it's not like I had a choice. We both hated it as much as the other."

I heard footsteps behind me but didn't bother to pay any attention to them as it was busy in the Hall. "Is that so, Delaney?" I heard Draco's voice from behind me. Startled, I jumped out of my skin. I turned around to see a smug expression on his face. "I thought you rather enjoyed it."

I scoffed and turned back around. "Please, don't entertain yourself," I shook my head, taking a drink from my goblet, noticing my hands were starting to shake a little. Pinch of salt. Pinch of salt. I could still feel his presence behind me so I looked over my shoulder once more. "Are you going to stand there all day, or is there something else you need?"

He opened his mouth then closed it, a smirk taking its place. "Actually, no, it doesn't matter," he replied, finally turning away and heading over to his own table.

I let out a big sigh and I could feel Poppy, Stella, and Tommy all looking at me. I looked up and they all had their eyes fixed on me. I sat up straighter and Tommy decided to break the silence. "How's that for 'not being involved with him'?" He asked me, a shadow of a smile lurking on his lips.

I looked at Poppy and Stella, who were quite obviously trying to hold back a laugh. After a few moments, all four of us begin to erupt into laughter. I could tell this is a real friendship as it reminded me of my three best friends back at Beauxbatons. It reminded me of home.