In His Shadow (Draco Malfoy X Reader) MOVED

Chapter 14: My Head Hurts

Earlier That Day:

Draco's POV:

I watched as Epona walked towards the Gryffindor table and sat down. She sat in between Harry and Ron. I mean, it's not a rule that you have to sit with your house, but it's highly encouraged. I stared at her, ignoring the conversations of the people around me, until I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"You do realize she doesn't care about you, right?" Pansy had said, her expression annoyed.

I scoffed, "What do you know, Parkinson?" 

"I know enough to see that you're not her type." 

I turned to face her, "Oh really? Then who is?"

She smiled, "I can't tell you. But, I think you're too nice for her. Look at her, from what you said about your first meeting, when you were cold to her, she was into you."

I scoffed again, "You really expect me to believe that? I'm not stupid. The girl doesn't even know basic things. Much less who she's attracted to. Give her a break."

Then Blaise joined in, "Don't tell me you're going soft, Malfoy. She obviously doesn't want to be with you. Why else would she sit so far away, with her back to you?"

That sunk in. They saw that. They saw the anger boiling up inside me. So they poked the bear, and said Epona told them to. It's not my fault I can't control my emotions. Plus, who am I supposed to trust? My friends, or a girl I met on the internet? 

"Why don't you show Epona her place? You're stronger, bigger, faster, and you have to show it. Otherwise, she'll never respect you the way she should. How will you be able to protect her if she's convinced she's better than you?"

I rested my head on my interlocked fingers, "And how do you suggest I do that?"

They both looked at each other and smirked.

Present

Epona's POV:

I caught up to Harry and his friends, and I was a little out of breath. Still need to get used to this whole moving my limbs around thing.

"Of course you can walk with us. You are our friend after all." Harry smiled.

I smiled, and I joined their walk. They were just having their normal conversation, so I'm assuming what happened with Draco hadn't hit them yet.

Hagrid was standing outside his hut near the Forbidden Forest. There were several open wooden crates on the ground at his feet, and Fang was whimpering and straining at his collar, apparently keen to investigate the contents of those boxes. As we got closer, an odd rattling noise reached our ears, punctuated by what sounded like minor explosions. 

"Mornin'!" Hagrid greeted us, "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this — Blast Ended Skrewts!"

I tuned out of the conversation. I was too worried I had hurt Draco. August wasn't exactly the best emotional support right then. What if I did leave a scar on his skin? Does he know I didn't mean to hurt him? What if he hates me? He was my first friend when I woke up. 

"And why would we want to raise them?" A cold voice asked, jolting me out of my mind. I looked over to see Draco, his sleeves rolled up, showing the bandage on his arm.

I felt bad for two reasons, one, guilty for burning him, two why on earth would he say something like that? Hagrid looked stumped, and Draco continued.

"I mean, what do they do?" He asked, "What's the point of them?"

"You act like you have a point in talking." There were soft chuckles at my remark, and Draco just glared at me.

Soon enough class was over and parted ways with my friends, "I'll catch up! Save me a seat!"

I wanted to go to the bathroom to wash my hands. They still reeked of frog livers. Not that I minded feeding the things. I'm just not too big of a fan of the smell. I felt someone roughly push me against the wall, and lean over top of me, blocking the light's from the hallway ceiling. 

I exhaled, looking up at Malfoy annoyed.

"Get off of me, Malfoy."

"What are you going to do? Burn me again?" He glared at me, his tone cold.

I gritted my teeth, "You started it."

He just laughed, his steel grey eyes were filled with anger and another thing I couldn't put my finger on, "You think I started it? Please! You were the one who kept being stupid and embarrassing in front of my friends. If you had a shred of intelligence you would know that."

I got on my tip toes, and really close to his face. So close I could feel his breath on the tip of my nose, "No. If you had a shred of intelligence, you would remember that I'm not stupid. You are." I broke free of him, and turned around, my voice stern, "Even if I don't know much, I know that you should focus less on how other perceive you, and more on what makes you happy. 

"Because in the end, it's yourself you have to live with." I continued off, heading for the dining hall. 

And of course, like I do, I ran into someone.

"I'm so sorry-" I looked up to see a boy with jet black hair, a tanish skin tone, and deep brown eyes. He smiled down at me.

"It's no big deal. Especially not for you, Miss Potter."

I blinked twice and looked at him confused. How did he know my name.

"August has told me quite a lot about you. My names Phineas Brown." He continued to smile, and walked with me to the dining hall, "I'll have as many fabrics ready as you would like, just meet August or I outside the Ravenclaw tower. We'll let you inside. Until then, Darling." He winked and waved goodbye.

Then, like all of the knowledge a normal fourteen year old came flooding into my head. Oh goodness, some words are really....weird. I swiftly made my way to sit next to Ron and Harry, feeling dizzy.

"Effie! Are you okay? You look like you're going to be sick!" Ron exclaimed, obviously worried.

"It's like a bunch of knowledge burst into my brain...I know what bad words mean now..." I whined, and they raised an eyebrow. Then it hit them, and while Ron started laughing, Harry looked like he had had a heart attack.

"Relax, both of ya'. It's only natural you'd find out at some point. I mean, you did have to hit puberty while being awake." Ron laughed.

I sat up, "Is that what this is? Life is weird."

"To change the subject, what happened between you and Malfoy? People have been saying that you burned him." Harry said, with an expression on his face that wasn't exactly worry.

"He was being mean to me all day and I had had enough. So I was yelling at him, and all of a sudden. "I moved my arms outwards to make it look like an explosion, "Boom I was on fire! Except it didn't hurt me. Just him."

Harry thought for a moment, "Git deserves it....Hurting my older sister..." He mumbled, then spoke, "You could be a pyromancer."

"That's what August said." I replied, eating.

"Who?" Both the boys asked at the same time.

"My new friend. He's a Ravenclaw. He walked me to my house last night because I got lost. He's awesome, a perfect model for my clothing."

Ron laughed again, "Damn, Effie, you're just a magnet that attracts hot guys."

I smiled, "Psh. I'm not his type. I don't think I'm anyones type."

The bell rang, and it was off to afternoon classes I go.