dislike ↠ draco malfoy

twenty-four

"I don't understand how Snape expects us to write this essay in one day," I muttered as I scribbled out a word that I had misspelled with my quill. Hermione and I were in the library again, doing homework.

Hermione looked up from her essay. "It's really not that hard—"

"Well, you're smart, I'm not," I retorted.

Her cheeks flushed. "You're smart!" she exclaimed. "Besides, Defense Against the Dark Arts is my worst subject. I didn't even get an Oustanding O.W.L. in it."

I rolled my eyes. "You got an Exceeds Expectations, Hermione. That's brilliant."

Her cheeks went red again and she looked down at her essay.

"How are things with Ron?" I inquired.

"Oh, um... fine," she muttered.

I titled my head to the side. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"He's not with Lavender anymore," she replied.

"That's good!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, but, I don't think he likes me."

I rolled my eyes. "Just ask him out, Hermione."

"No, I can't," she said firmly. "I'm done with my essay." She stood up and gathered her books. "I'm going to bed, I'll see you tomorrow."

I barely had time to say, "okay," before she took off. I sighed and looked down at my essay. I stared down at it for a few minutes, but my brain was blank.

I heard voices from across the library. I looked over and saw that Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were talking in hushed voices. Lavender looked awfully distressed, and Parvati was trying to calm her down. She must have not been taking the breakup with Ron too well.

I gathered up my papers and decided to head back to the common room. I would work better in a quieter environment.

I strolled down the corridors until I got to the dungeons. I tapped on the wall and said, "Salazar Slytherin."

The wall didn't move. "Salazar Slytherin," I repeated.

The wall stayed in place. Had the password changed and I had forgotten? I groaned. How was I supposed to get into the common room? It was quite late, so surely everyone would be in bed already.

"Forgotten the password, Hastings?"

I spun around. A boy with dark, messy hair and a cheeky smile was standing there. It was Theodore Nott.

"Oh, good, you can let me into the common room," I said, suddenly relieved.

"Nah, I don't know the password either," he replied.

I frowned. "I guess were both stuck out here then."

He rolled his eyes. "I was joking, of course I know the password. I don't have the memory of a goldfish."

"Oh," I said, sounding stupid. "Well, what is it?"

He smiled even wider. "I don't have to tell you."

I glared at him. He was really testing my patience. "Well you're going to have to tell me eventually, because I'm not moving until you do. Don't you want to sleep in your bed tonight?"

His smile suddenly vanished. "All right, then. The password's Veritaserum."

"Thank you," I said as I watched the wall open up. I stepped inside with Nott at my heels.

Draco was sitting at a table, working on homework. Except for him, the common room was empty.

"I think you owe me for that one," Nott said smugly.

I gripped my books tightly to my chest. "Excuse me?"

"I gave you the password. Now you owe me a favor. That's how it works," he replied.

"A favor?"

"Yes. You have to accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend," he stated very matter-of-factly.

I scoffed. "What?"

"She doesn't owe you anything, Nott," Draco drawled.

"This isn't your conversation, Malfoy," Nott snapped

"Draco's right, Nott," I said, "I don't owe you anything. Especially not a date."

Nott stared down at me. "You'll regret saying no, just you wait—"

Draco stood up sharply and his chair scraped across the floor loudly as he pushed it away. He went right up the Nott so that they were only a few inches apart. "Oh, say that again—"

"Do you want to fight me, Malfoy?" Nott spat.

"I will—"

"Just stop it!" I exclaimed.

They both turned to look at me. "God, boys are so dramatic. You don't have to fight about everything."

"What are you talking about?" Draco said. "He's being a dick."

"Okay? That doesn't mean you have to get into a fight with him. Besides, this isn't your fight. It's mine."

Draco scoffed. "Whatever." He backed away from Nott and sat back down in his chair.

"Nott," I said, turning to him, "I'm not going to Hogsmeade with you, all right? And please take no for an answer."

"Fine," he said coldly and bounded up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

As soon as he was gone, I approached Draco and set my homework down on the table. He still looked angry.

"Did you finish the Defense Against the Dark Arts essay?" I asked. I pulled out a chair and sat down next to him.

"Working on it," he replied dully, dipping his quill into ink. "Why?"

"I need help with it," I replied. I took it out and got out my quill and ink.

"Go ask Granger or something. She's top of the class." He had a sort of resentful look on his face when he said that.

"You're second in class," I reminded him. "And you're right here."

"Right. I'm second in class behind a Mudblood, that's just great."

My face heated up. "Muggleborn, not Mudblood. Don't call her a slur just because your jealous that she's smarter than you."

"I'm not jealous of Granger," he replied coldly.

"I don't understand you," I burst out. "Sometimes, you're this nice and comforting person. You kissed me at Slughorn's Christmas party. That time on the Astronomy tower, and that time in the bathroom. But sometimes you're a right fowl git. And I just can't— I can't figure out why I feel so strange around you."

He stared at me. For a moment, his face softened, but then he said bitterly, "You should probably sort out your feelings, they're a bit of a mess." He stood up and bundled up his things. He turned around and went up the boys' dormitories.

I sat there, tears welling up in my eyes. Why had I just said that?