Blinding | Draco Malfoy

nine

"How did it go with Draco last night?" Hermione rushed to catch up with Aurora in the hall after her Herbology class. They were both on the way to lunch in the Great Hall now.

"Shh!" Aurora scolded her, and Hermione giggled. This was exactly what their experience here should be like. They shouldn't be worried about fighting off the Dark Lord and the Ministry. "He took me down to a spot at the Great Lake and we sat there under the moon and listened to the waves crash. It was... magical."

Hermione grinned and clapped excitedly. "Well?"

"Well what?" Aurora asked nonchalantly, playing it all off though she couldn't stop thinking about it since it happened. He was all that had been on her mind since the moment she went to bed and woke up.

"Did you kiss?" She nudged her, and Aurora's face turned bright red, which answered her question. "Oh my gosh, was it amazing?!"

"It was." Aurora tried to resist her giddy smile, but she couldn't.

"What was amazing?" Ron and Harry caught up to them.

"Nothing!" The two of them rushed out quickly, and definitely not suspiciously at all. They two boys shared a look before just changing the subject. They didn't want to get into their girly matters.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing, I don't know..." He sighed. "I'm just worried about Dumbledore. I feel like it's all my fault he got taken away."

"You did everything you could. No one could win against that old hag." Ron offered.

"Even he didn't see this coming." Hermione continued.

"The Ministry was going to do this one way or another, they've been conspiring against him this whole time." Aurora assured him.

"If it's anyone's fault, it's ours." Hermione looked to Ron.

"Yeah, we talked you into it." Ron agreed. They were good friends for trying to share the blame. That reinforced the fact that they were all truly in this together.

"Yeah, but I agreed." Harry sighed.

"We agreed." Aurora corrected.

"Nonetheless, I tried so hard to help and all it's done is make things worse. Anyway, that doesn't matter anymore. Because I don't want to play anymore. All it does is make you care too much. And the more you care, the more you have to lose. So, maybe it's just better to..." He paused, and they didn't like the sound of what he was saying. He was going to try and push them all away again, they could feel it.

"To what?" Hermione asked.

"To go it alone." He decided.

"Harry, that's not the answer." Aurora shook her head. "We're in this with you through thick and thin."

"You all just need to let me do this on my own." He raised his voice slightly, then walked off away from them.

"I wish he wouldn't do that." Hermione sighed.

"What, push us away?" Ron asked, and she nodded. "Me too."

"I get it." Aurora muttered. "It hurts to lose the people you care about. I think he'll come around. He has to."

"Well," Ron broke the silence after that. "I think Fred and George are planning something."

"Like what?" Hermione asked.

"Like, something big. Something to mess with Umbridge." He explained.

"Mrs. Weasley's going to be livid." Hermione chuckled, and so did Ron and Aurora.