The Snake Pit

16; Lunch

After the wedding was over I left the observation tower and stayed in my room for the majority of the night wondering why the boys would suddenly decide not to be friends with me. It didn't make sense, like ten years of friendship meant nothing to them. After the obvious hurt I felt faded away, anger replaced it. I stayed up the entire night trying to think of any reasonable thing that would make them do something like this. They know how much I value our friendship and I thought they valued it too.

When the sun started to come up and I could see the evidence of early morning peeking through my curtains I realized that I had come up with nothing logical and decided to ask my mum about it. That would have to wait until she woke up so in the meantime I wanted something to eat. I got out of bed in the pajamas that I changed into sometime around midnight, and headed down the stairs into the house elves' kitchen.

It was the size of a commercial kitchen, not the same as the usual kitchen we reside in closer to the front of the house, and was full of working elves. I smiled at them as I moved towards the fridge for some fruit and yogurt. When I closed the door my mother was standing on the other side in her robe. I jumped and dropped the fruit I was holding. "You scared me. I didn't even hear you come in," I said as I bent over to pick up the fruit off the floor.

She laughed and followed me to sit at one of the barstools. It was nice to hear her laugh, she doesn't do it much anymore. "I heard noise in the hallway and was concerned."

I mouthed an 'oh' and bit into one of my strawberries. We sat in silence for a couple of minutes before I remembered I wanted to ask her about the boys. "Can I have some advice?"

"About what?" she asked.

"Blaise, Theo, and Draco have been avoiding me all summer and then at Enzo's wedding they told me they didn't want to be friends with me anymore." I huffed with the realization of saying it out loud.

"Really? Draco said that? I thought he...." She trailed off and looked at me with confusion etched into her face.

"Well Blaise was the one who actually said it but that doesn't really matter does it?" She moved to get up from sitting and towards the door. "Wait, where are you going?"

"I have to talk to your father." She reached into her pocket for something, "Oh I almost forgot. Here." She handed me a letter from Hogwarts and scurried out of the room before I could let her know that she never actually gave me any of the advice that I had asked for.

I shook my head and focused my attention onto the letter in my hand. I broke the seal and pulled out the tri-folded piece of parchment on the inside. It was a letter from Dumbledore informing me that I had been made a Slytherin prefect. It didn't, however, tell me who the other prefect would be for my house. I silently hoped that it would be Draco so that I could talk to him about what was going on.

Folding up the letter I sat back down on the stool and finished my snack, now alone, before heading back up to my room to get ready for the day. My mother and I have plans to go to Diagon Alley at noon and get supplies before going back to school in a week.

I took a long shower, knowing I had time to spare, and got dressed by eleven thirty. I sat at my desk, pulled a piece of parchment, and dipped my quill in ink. I wanted to write a letter to Draco letting him know I was made a prefect and I hoped that he would care enough to write me back. In the letter I asked him how his summer with Blaise and Theo were and then I asked him if he knew who the other Slytherin prefect was going to be.

"Evangeline!" My mother called from downstairs.

I quickly rolled the parchment up and tied it to the leg of our family owl, who happened to be sitting on my windowsill waiting for a treat. "Take this to the Malfoy's," I told her before rushing down the stairs with my supply list.

My mother apparated her and I right into the alley and we shopped for my school things without running into anyone, thankfully. After we got my things we went into a café for a late lunch.

"We used to meet Narcissa and Draco here during our school trips," said my mother while she looked out the window at the street.

"I would like it if we didn't talk about them, please."

She smiled innocently at me and I was sure she would change the topic. "I invited them to have lunch with us." I was wrong.

"Why?"

She had a sip of tea before answering. "It's basically a tradition. I thought we would honor it." She nodded her head to the street and I turned around to see Draco and his mum walking inside. They made their way over to us and Draco smiled at me before sitting down.

I half smiled back, confused as to why he would agree to having lunch with me if he didn't want to be friends anymore.

Our mother's started a simple conversation and Draco turned to me. "Did you get the books for school?" He asked.

I looked at him with a confused look on my face and whispered, "Oh so we're friends right now?" The hurt and anger I was feeling was evident in my tone.

He considered for a moment and then responded with a nod and a smile. I glared at him thinking he was funny, and went back to stirring my tea.

"So have you bought them? We could go together if you haven't." He suggested, stirring his own tea. He gets more confusing the more I talk to him. When I saw him in the library he was acting nervous and ushering me away, then at Enzo's wedding he wouldn't even look at me, and now he wants to have a normal conversation with me like this summer never happened.

I ignored him while I picked at the muffin I ordered, keeping my eyes on it rather than looking at him. After a couple minutes of Draco staring at me waiting for an answer my mother said to me, "Evangeline it's rude to ignore people," without looking away from Narcissa.

I grumbled and said, "Sorry, but I already bought my books," then went back to picking at my muffin.

He leaned back in his chair. "That's a shame. Do you know who the other Slytherin prefect will be with me?"

I furrowed my brows and asked, "Didn't you get my letter?"

"No. Why? Did you get mine?" He sent me a letter? He hasn't sent me a letter all summer.

"I'm a prefect," I said unenthusiastically.

Out of the corner of my eye I see his lips twitch into a small smile, but it disappears quickly. "So I guess we'll get to be prefects together." I nod, knowing he's still looking at me.

My mother chimes into our conversation. "Congratulations, Draco." He thanks her and Narcissa congratulates me, then our mothers return to their own conversation. Draco and I stay quiet for a little and I can hear small parts of their conversation. My mother keeps asking her questions in a hushed voice, "Did you get my letter? What does he want? Do you know why? Do you think they will?" I couldn't hear the answers without looking up at them and then they would know I was listening.

Instead I look up at Draco for the first time today, and find him looking at me. We stare at each other for a moment while I take in what I'm seeing, I hadn't really noticed how tired he looked when I saw him in the library. Seeing it now makes me realize I must have overlooked it. He has bags under his eyes and his skin looks paler than usual. I wonder what's keeping him up at night.

He cleared his throat, letting me know I was staring and shyly looked away.

The rest of lunch we made small conversation with our Mothers occasionally joining in. Narcissa said her goodbyes on the street, heading in the opposite direction as us. My mother started walking towards the apparition point and I followed without saying another thing to Draco. He stayed rooted in his spot and when I spared a glance at him he looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. Watching him, he shook his head and followed after his mum. I hurried after mine in anticipation of reading the letter he said he wrote to me.