Green Apples; Draco Malfoy [1]

Chapter 6🍏

"𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯". 

It's early Friday afternoon and Alexis is with Thea in the library. Their first week at school had flown by thanks to the teachers keeping them busy with work, giving her little time to think about home. The girls are trying to do their potions homework, but it's a lot harder than it seemed in class.

Alexis likes to think she's a good student. She never left her work to the last minute and she always tried her hardest, but the school work here was very different from regular homework, and not just because it was magic.

"Nor do I. I thought Snape liked us more because he's head of our house," grumbles Alexis, twirling her quill mindlessly as she rereads the same question in her book for the fifth time.

"He does," says another voice, "but he still gives us tons of homework." Pansy is hovering over the two girls with three textbooks under her arm. Another thing she didn't understand is why the students carried their books in their hands.

They walk down the hallways with books stacked to the ceiling instead of having a comfortable bag back or satchel to carry them in. Alexis had asked her mum in a letter to send her her favourite shoulder bag because she was not going to continue suffering like the rest of them.

"And the answer is on page 50." 

Alexis glances at Thea before turning to the page in search of the answer, and to her delight, she was right. 

"Huh... thanks. Would you, uh, like to sit down with us?"

Thea glares at Alexis and jerks her head in objection, but she has to be the bigger person and admit defeat. They need help.

And Pansy isn't that bad either, she's just... in need of proper friends. She's a bit like Malfoy but less annoying and somehow sadder in Alexis' opinion. She thinks it's because she has no real friends and Malfoy's group isn't really suited for her, plus, most of the girls in the other houses stay away from the Slytherins leaving them to associate with their own kind.

"Cool." Pansy takes a seat next to Alexis, who shoves Thea under the table as a 'behave' warning. While Alexis had been making an effort the past week with Pansy, Thea had been harsher with her. Alexis could tell that Pansy didn't mean to say some of the things the way she did, but it was just in her nature.

Reading through the lines was something that she was good at, so understanding what a person truly meant was easy for her, but her friend didn't have the same ability.

"So what are you going to do this afternoon?" asks Pansy as she answers the next question of her homework. "Malfoy said something about exploring the castle. You can come if you want."

Alexis twists her mouth nervously, not knowing what to say. She definitely does not want to go, but she doesn't want to disappoint Pansy either. She wants to spend more time with her and Thea, to try and help them get along better.

"Uhhhh..." is all Alexis can come up with, and Thea is no help either. She pretends she hasn't heard a thing, looking around the library as if she hasn't been here for the past hour. Just as Alexis was going to say that she needs to write a letter to her parents, someone else interrupts.

She turns around and Harry and Ron are standing behind her, hiding slightly behind a bookshelf.

"Oh, hi!" she says, glad for the distraction. 

"Uhm, we wanted to know if you would like to meet Hagrid," says Harry, stepping out from behind the shelf. 

Ron speaks up as well, but he doesn't move from his hiding spot. "He's invited Harry over to tea and we thought you might like to come with us, you know, if you want."

A smile forms on her round face as she looks at the two timid boys. They had thought of her, of all people. "Sure. Let me take my books back to the dorm and I'll meet you at the bridge in 10 minutes, how's that?" 

Harry nods his head and waves goodbye, dragging Ron away with him.

"Sorry, looks like I have to go," states Alexis, standing up to pack her books. She turns to Pansy to address her, ignoring the death glares she was getting from Thea. "How about you stay here and help Thea with Potions? When I come back, you can help explain it to me, sounds good?"

Pansy accepts, glad that she was asked to stay, even if Alexis isn't going to be there. The start of the year was harder than she thought it would be, her parent's notoriety having more influence than she wanted. Making new friends outside of those she previously knew had not gone well, so for Alexis to take note of her was a comfort.

With her books in her hands, Alexis looks at Thea and tilts her head to the side. 

"Please, I want us to get along. Just try, pretty please," she whispers, giving her puppy eyes.

Thea sighs internally and mouths 'Fine'. Alexis gives her a big thumbs up and leaves, disappearing behind the old books.

After waiting for a moving flight of stairs to come back to her floor, which took ages, she walks down to the ground floor and heads to her common room. Inside, no one was around. Everyone must be out in the sun, enjoying their first weekend she thinks to herself as she goes up to the bedroom, where she leaves her books neatly in her trunk and picks up her cloak just in case it's cold on the way back. When she goes back down to the common room, she runs into, of course, the one and only Draco Malfoy.

Still upset with him for last week, she doesn't look at him as she makes her way towards the door. If he's going to be rude and bully her, he doesn't deserve to see her face.

"You're supposed to say hello when you see someone, or did your parents not teach you any manners?"

The way he talks to her rattles her cage. She's usually good at ignoring people, but they usually talked about her behind her back and in whispers. But never to her face. This felt different, more menacing. 

Unable to leave it alone, Alexis stops in her tracks. "Thing is, I don't usually speak to bully's."

She doesn't lift her face, keeping her eyes on the ground. Thank goodness she declined Pansy's offer because she definitely wouldn't be able to spend more than ten minutes with him and his so-called friends. She starts walking again when he clears his throat, addressing her once again, but she doesn't have the time for this. He's only going to say something stupid again.

"Wait," he calls out.

With a hand on the door, she sighs and turns around. "What now? Are you going to call me rude? Stop me from leaving?"

Looking up, her eyebrows furrow as she realizes that Draco looks guilty. The expression leaves his face almost immediately, replaced by a bitter frown, but the young girl had caught what seemed to have been an emotion that wasn't spiteful.

It was resentment.

• • •

Draco felt bad for calling her rude, but he wasn't really sure why. She had been rude after all, and he called her out for it, but he instantly felt bad after speaking. Alexis left soon after, insisting she had to go, leaving Draco alone to his thoughts.

He had been taught from a young age that disrespect was something that should not be tolerated. If anyone was foolish enough to insult someone who bared the Malfoy name, they would be taught a lesson. Speaking up for himself came naturally, but for the first time ever, Draco had wished he'd kept his mouth shut.

Alexis is an unusual girl, too kind and cheerful to be a Slytherin he thought. Something about her was different, and he had sensed it the very first time they had crossed paths in Diagon Alley. He double-took when he saw her, mesmerized by her aura and the warm feeling she emanated.

Every other girl he knew was nothing like her, all of them very much like him, their parents all fellow Slytherins, just like his.

The young blonde didn't want to care at all what she thought about him, because it didn't matter. It doesn't matter.

But he does care. He cares enough to feel wrong.