You're Safe With Me ( Draco Malfoy )

Chapter Fifteen

Alice was sat in the common room, her legs lazily hung over the side of the armchair she was sitting on as she absentmindedly flicked through the pages of one of the muggle story books that Hermione had left behind. Although she had little to no interest in the book, Alice has found herself so horrifically bored recently that she had started reading the stories anyway. They were stupid, and had entirely inaccurate depictions of werewolves in them. Muggles are silly.

Of course she had Draco to keep her entertained throughout the day, but when it got to the evenings and he couldn't join her in the common room for obvious reasons, she found herself fed up without her friends here. As well as that she found herself wondering why Draco wasn't put in Gryffindor, and then began thinking about how much easier that would make everything, plus she wouldn't be so lonely if he were in the common room with her.

Although, she thought, maybe he should stick to Slytherin, green does look damn good on him.

Alice began kicking her feet out of boredom. Her friends should be here right now, and Alice was beginning to grow concerned. Today was the last day of the holiday break, and everyone had returned to school, the Hogwarts express had dropped of those who had went away for the holidays mid-afternoon. The Great hall was just as full as it usually is at dinner, but it was missing the Golden Trio. 

It was nighttime now, and it was late. The windows were shut and bolted and the sky was an inky black, not a single star was visible, it almost looked intimidating. Although she was tired, Alice wanted to stay up for a while to see if her friends eventually made an appearance, but she was beginning to lose hope. Slowly, her eyelids drooped shut, her head lolling back in to the soft cushion of the armchair and the book dropping on to her chest as she began to doze.

This didn't last long, however, as she was woken up by the portrait door swinging open and three familiar voices filling her ears.

"I don't know what we're gonna do, I mean, Mum's saying..." Ron trailed off when Alice sat up abruptly, forcing herself out of soft, comfy sleep to be able to stay awake long enough to talk to her friends without it coming out as sleepy gibberish. "Blimey, you're still awake?" Ron asked, sounding surprised.

Although the room was only lit by the fire and the odd candle dotted around, Alice could see that the three of them looked terrible. Hermione's eyes were red, as if she'd been crying, and her hair was all over the place, Ron had large, dark circles under his eyes but by far the worst was Harry. He seemed more pale than usual, his cheeks and eyes looking sunken and a permanent solemn expression was on his face, taking up the place where he usually smiled. He looked like someone who doesn't even know what a smile is, and it was so unlike him that she almost wondered if he were an impostor.

Alice instantly knew that something was wrong, her mind began racing with the possibilities of what could've caused this. Clearly, it was serious. Internally she was glad that she had stayed awake to greet her friends, maybe she could help them feel better.

"I'm sorry, Alice, I'm shattered. I'll talk to you in the morning," Hermione said softly, tears welling up in her eyes again. As Hermione was climbing the stairs to their room, Alice heard her let out a heartbreaking sob. Something was really, really wrong. 

"I think I'm gonna turn in too, you gonna be okay, mate?" Ron asked Harry, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, Harry simply nodded. He hadn't spoken yet, Alice wondered if he had forgotten how. "Alright, I'll see you two at breakfast." He then left the room, heading to the boys dorms and leaving Alice and Harry in silence.

Harry was yet to move, standing completely still. When he didn't go to talk, Alice placed her book on the table and shuffled over to one side of the armchair, leaving just enough space for Harry to sit next to her. It was a silent invitation of sorts.