Chapter Twenty-Four
In the day that followed, Harry made every attempt to talk to Malfoy, and Malfoy managed to avoid him every time.
After running off that Saturday night, Malfoy had been caught by Filch of bed past curfew, resulting in him earning a week of actual detentions. This meant that Malfoy would have to face Harry on Monday evening, but the blonde Slytherin was completely elusive through all on Sunday.
Harry searched the library, the Great Hall, the grounds by the Great Lake, the Quidditch pitch, and he even stopped by the Potions classroom before dinner to check if Malfoy was there, but no luck. Obviously, the blonde was taking advantage of his newly rekindled acceptance into Slytherin and staying in the one place he knew Harry couldn't enter: the Slytherin common room.
At dinner, Harry ignored his food and friends in favor of searching the Slytherin table for any signs of a familiar silver-blonde head. Several times, Hermione asked him what he was looking at, and everytime he gave her some barely coherent excuse. Eventually, his friends gave up wondering what Harry was so distracted by, and let him presumably stare off into space.
That night was long, but dreamless, which Harry was grateful for; he didn't need to be having nightmares in the midst of his utter confusion. He woke up feeling not so well rested, but even more motivated to speak with Malfoy. They had Defense together that day, so it wasn't as if he could completely avoid Harry without missing his classes entirely, and Malfoy didn't seem like the type to miss class without good reason.
To Harry's luck, he was correct. Malfoy was, in fact, standing in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom when he arrived, speaking to Zabini and Parkinson in hushed tones. As soon as Harry walked up, their conversation fell silent and they stared at Harry.
"I need to talk to-" Harry tried to lock eyes with Malfoy, but the Slytherin kept his gaze on the ground, even as his face turned pink. Zabini and Parkinson completely ignored Harry, pretending like they hadn't heard him speak, and ushered Malfoy inside the classroom.
He trudged inside the room, hoping that he'd be able to pull Malfoy aside for a few minutes before the start of class, but unfortunately, Professor Noble decided to start class a little early that day.
"We will be continuing our work on dueling this class, but next week, we'll be starting a new unit, so come prepared," she said, sitting on the edge of her desk with surprising ease. Hermione raised her hand.
"What is the new unit about?"
"It's a surprise," she said ominously, winking. Most of the students began to whisper excitedly about what their next unit could possibly be on, but Hermione grew increasingly agitated.
"You said to come prepared, how are we supposed to come prepared if you won't tell us what we'll be studying?" Hermione kept her voice level, but Harry could see her frustration beginning to bubble at the surface.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts is all about being prepared for the worst. Even if you don't know what the worst will be," she explained, still smiling. Despite Hermione's mixed attitude about her, Professor Noble had taken quite the liking to Hermione; it was almost as if she liked to be challenged in her own classroom.
Hermione put her hand down reluctantly, begrudgingly accepting that she wouldn't know their next unit until the next class.
"Please get into your dueling partnerships and begin when ready." With that, the class stood and made their way to their partners. Harry, however, began to instead walk in Malfoy's direction. He was stopped by a strong hand on his shoulder.
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Harry Potter and The Boy Who Had No Choice
Fanfiction"Face it Malfoy, you're a bloody coward." Harry's smile was gone, replaced by a menacing scowl. While he was talking, he had made his way back to Malfoy, who was now standing in front of him, seething with anger. "I. Am. Not. A. Coward," Malfoy sa...
