His Saving Grace

Chapter 24 - Yule Ball Practice & Holiday Plans

Two days had passed since Tom and I had fought in the Room of Requirement. During those days, everything went back to normal. Tom and I discretely stared at each other in class as a way to have telepathic conversations, sent smiles each other's way in the hallways for symbolic affirmations, and would spend most of our nights quietly reading in the Room of Requirement. I felt at peace with how we were currently doing.

I had not conversed with Abraxas in a few days, simply because I was trying to find a way to tell him I would be going to the Yule Ball with the same boy I had said I despised greatly. I knew he would not judge me, at least not directly, but word would reach the school quickly.

Exiting my Muggles Studies classroom, I saw Abraxas walking towards the garden.

"Psst, Abraxas!", I called out trying to get his attention.

Of course, he did not hear me the first time so I had to call him three more times before he turned around searching for the person who kept hissing his name. He looked over in my direction, smiled and walked towards me.

"Athena hey! I haven't even seen you roaming the halls, I thought my favorite Ravenclaw was avoiding me.", he said in an exaggerated tone.

He goes on to give me a tight friendly hug, which I happily returned. I had terribly missed his spontaneous commentary and care-free behavior he reserved just for me, but I was so concerned with assessing my feelings I had completely neglected him.

"I would never ignore you! I feel like such a terrible friend, but I've just been very busy lately.", I replied while releasing myself from his embrace.

Abraxas had become like the sibling I never had; we would joke around, give each other the best hugs and always had each other's backs. I needed to appreciate him more, he deserved it. I only wished we would have become closer sooner, maybe then I would have not been counting the days we had left before we had to go face the world as fully grown wizards.

Abraxas looks at me as if he were waiting for a better response, but he quickly brushed the look off his face and gave me another bright charming smile.

"I have something to tell you, but I have to tell you in private. Promise you won't judge or overreact.", I further said.

He nodded in understanding and led me towards a large bush inside of the garden.

We hid from the few students roaming the grounds and I whispered my small confession, "Don't kill me... but... Riddle and I are going to the Yule Ball together."

His jaw hit the floor faster than I could say 'Lumos'; his face was priceless. I needed to get that small Gryffindor boy with the camera to take a picture, but then I remembered we were currently hiding from the student body.

"Close your mouth Malfoy", I said rolling my eyes at him.

"How, when, what? Are you being forced to go?", Abraxas shockingly questioned.

I snorted and lightly pushed him with my doll-like hands.

"Abraxas, no. I was not forced to go to the ball. Riddle asked, I said yes. I will not be elaborating any further on this.", I replied.

He huffed and looked at me hoping for more details, but I was not going to be telling him about all of the events that led to Riddle asking me to attend the ball with him. He thrived on gossip, it gave him power outside of the Malfoy manor. So, even though I loved him dearly, I did not find him trustworthy enough to provide any further stories on my life during the past few days.

I gave him a quick side hug and said, "Okay, glad we had this talk! See you later Malfoy." and skipped away from the bush we had found ourselves in.