𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 - 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 (𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝟐)

4 - Back Home

"Dear Draco,

Our house is being renovated, so we will be staying in a hotel room for the remainder of these weeks. This will be the last letter I send before I see you at school, and I won't see your response as I don't have access to my mail. I'll see you soon. I miss you dearly.

Love, Caroline"

----

The next few weeks passed by fairly quickly. We all played a lot of board games while the adults did most of the work. Harry's hearing was successful, so he'd return with us to Hogwarts tomorrow. Fred and I had grown close the past few weeks. It felt nice to have my friends surrounding me once again. I slept through the night soundly, hearing a few shuffles upstairs. Harry had told me he'd been having night terrors. Who could blame him? He had so much trauma and could barely control his feelings. I guess when he slept is when he let it all out.

We woke up at 6:00am. It was just beginning to lighten outside, sparrows slowly chirping in the nearby trees. Our trunks were packed and moved to the door last night in preparation. We all took separate cars. Ginny convinced Mrs. Weasley to let her drive with Father and I to King's Cross Station. The entirety of the group met outside the main doors.

We rolled our luggage inside, walking towards the brick wall that would take us to Platform 9 3/4. I looked around the platform for Draco, but he was nowhere in sight. We swiftly got onto the train, as I hugged my father goodbye. "Stay safe," he pulled away. "I will."

We sat in the compartment, but I eyed Harry still outside on the platform. "I'll be right back," I explained, getting off the train. "Harry?" I walked up to him. He was staring into nothingness, stuck in a trance of fear. "Harry," I shook his shoulders. "You alright?" Suddenly, he snapped out of it. "He, he was right there," Harry pointed, his voice completely flustered. "Harry, there was nobody there," I said quietly. "No, he was," Harry shouted. "It was your mind Harry, look at me," I turned him towards me. "Come on, let's get on the train," I assured him, pulling him through the doors.

We sat back down in the compartment, Harry, Ron and Hermione on one side, Ginny and I on the other. "Have you seen Draco yet?" Hermione asked. "No, not yet," I sighed, putting my cheek in one hand. "Anything from the trolley dears?" our door opened. We quickly ordered, and I threw a fizzing whizbee into my mouth. God I missed these.

Harry was quiet the entirety of the ride. We arrived at night fall, getting off the train at Hogsmeade Station. I stood in the mix of the group, out of sight. "Surprised the Ministry's letting you walk around free Potter, better enjoy it while you can," I recognized that voice. "I suppose there's a cell in Azkaban with your name on it," Draco sneered, as I slowly moved out from behind Harry. I stood there breathless in front of him. It took everything I had to not throw my lips on his in an embrace. "I'll catch you later, okay?" his tone immediately softened, his voice filled with care as he looked into my eyes. I gave him a small nod, unable to produce any words.

"Stay away from me," Harry yelled at him as Draco and his friends walked away. "It's only Malfoy, what'd you expect?" Ron held him back. We approached the carriages and Harry's face went white. "Are those-" "Thestrals," I finished his sentence as he stood in front of the carriage. "That's why you sit in the front," he whispered. "You're not going mad, I can see them too," we looked upwards to see a fair blonde girl with beautiful blue eyes sitting in the carriage. "You're just as sane as I am," she spoke, her voice soft. We loaded onto the carriage. I sat next to her, Ginny to my right. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat on the other side.

"Got room for one more?" Neville asked, holding a plant. "Sure, squeeze in," I smiled. "Everyone this is Luna Lovegood," Hermione said awkwardly, introducing us to the girl. "What an interesting necklace," Hermione smiled. "It's a charm actually," Luna smiled. "Keeps away the nargles," she whispered. I looked at her. "I'm hungry, I hope there's pudding," she smiled at me. Yep. I was definitely going to be friends with this girl.

We arrived at the castle, and I waved goodbye to Luna as she went to sit at Ravenclaw table. We sat at down at our table, and I eyed Draco longingly. He stared at me from Slytherin table, unable to hide the smile that was creeping onto his face. "Who's that pink lady sitting at the professor's table?" Ginny asked. "She looks like a bloody pygmy puff," Fred elbowed me. "She really does," I laughed, turning to him. Suddenly, Dumbledore stood. "This year, we welcome our new defense against the dark arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge," he announced. She got out of our seat, and walked towards the front of the podium.

"It is with great pleasure that I get to teach defense against the dark arts here at Hogwarts. And how nice to see all of your happy, smiling faces looking up at me," she smiled annoyingly. I looked around, literally every student's face sat platonically. "I'm sure we're all going to be great friends," she clasped her hands together. "That's likely," Fred and George said. "She was at my hearing," Harry said suddenly. "Did she vote for you to be expelled, or-" "yeah, she did," he scoffed in response as she finished her speech. God, her voice was annoying.

Dumbledore clapped, clearly unamused with her sudden lecture. "Thank you Professor Umbridge, for those illuminating words," Dumbledore exclaimed. "Illuminating?" Ron scoffed. "Defense against the dark arts this year is going to be living hell," I rolled my eyes. "This means that the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts," Hermione scowled. Great.

As dinner finished up, we left through the great hall doors. Suddenly, I felt a cold hand grab my wrist.

"Hi darling."