To Be So Lonely

9

1 9 9 3

Holiday at Wool's was exactly what one could expect.

Being locked up in the laundry room in complete isolation without the exception of Barberry, the owl that kept Nel company and allowed her to exchange letters with her few friends, and her magic books which kept her entertained and helped her pass the time. Any other year Lucy would've snuck her out or snuck in some pastries or anything to bring a little bit of light into the now fourteen-year old's life, but that had been years ago. It had been two years since she had last seen or heard from her friend Lucy and wherever she was Nel hoped she was okay.

Her third year started pretty much the same as the last two. She started getting off the wrong feet with Malfoy which by now was a very irritating tradition. This was also the year that Sirius Black, a mass murdered, had managed to escape from the Prison of Azkaban.

She fainted in the train when dementors attacked and made Tracey and Theodore swear not to tell anyone. As far as she knew nobody else knew. Instead rumors that Harry Potter had fainted spread like wildfire as well. Earning him taunts from Malfoy and the other Slytherins during Study of Magical Creatures. A class Nel did not like in the least due to the distaste most animals had for her.

"Shut up you insufferable lot," To everyone's surprise she defended Harry to the taunts of the Slytherin boys.

Harry was- well they weren't particularly friends, but they were friendly acquaintances. Even having spent a Christmas dinner together with a group last year.

She hadn't defended him because she wanted to defend Harry, she had done it because to her it was personal. She had also passed out from the Dementors, felt could still remember coldness that they brought with them and the numbing pain flooded her body when the dark creature had come near her.

"Oooooh, looks like you've got a girlfriend Potter," Draco taunted. Rolling up her sleeves Nel had had enough of him, she was ready to go and take it up with him personally. She had already punched him in the face once she wouldn't hesitate in doing it twice.

"Don't," Harry and Ron had to hold her back.

"What's wrong Malfoy? Run out of hair gel?" She commented on his new hair do. He had shed his gel helmet and now wore his hair lose, blonde bangs falling carelessly over his face.

He flushed as several other male students laughed at her comment.

xxx

After class Malfoy tailed after as the two headed towards Divination a class Nel hated due to the fact that Professor Trelawny had made a prophecy about her on the first day of class.

"My child you carry a terrible curse!" She had cried and reached for her face with both hands. "You bear the mark of the serpent-bearer on your face! You undead one!"

It was all of course, complete nonsense. It simply made her feel self-conscious about the several moles scattered on her face.

She didn't know what Malfoy wanted, but she was a feeling it was going to ruin her day.

"I didn't know you and Potter had a thing," He said walking next to her. She hated that he was prying into her personal life, why was it any of his business anyway? She hated the way he said 'Pottah' even more. She considered saying yes just to piss him off.

"I don't see how that's any of your business," she retorted dully eyes frozen ahead to the staircase leading to the classroom.

"Of course," he uttered with disgust. "Saint Potter and Saint Nel," he gagged. "Makes perfect sense if you ask me. Both of you have so much in common. Parselmouths, Muggle-borns, the fact both of you fainted in the train-"