𝒯𝒽ℯ 𝒫𝓇ℴ𝓂𝒾𝓈ℯ𝒹 𝒪𝓃ℯ | 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲 |

#21 Meaningless

"Tiara you had his sweater on", Maribel whispered as we made our way to the Great Hall for dinner in the evening.

I just rolled my eyes.

It was hard to convince my sister, that this probably meant nothing. That Draco and I probably just shared a good, friendly moment. Even though I couldn't ignore the rumbling of a thousand butterflies in my stomach as I thought back at the moment, I felt his hand around my waist and his breath on my skin.

Maybe I was the one who was hard to convince, that this meant nothing.

"Yeah, he gave it to me because I was cold", I said literally the tenth time since she came back from the tournament. I still was cold, but by now dressed in my own clothes again as we walked through the corridors. It felt as if the walls let the cold breeze in, as if the storm now raging outside the castle was inside of me too. Swallowing my stable mind along with the hope of an explanation for my current feelings.

"Sure, it isn't as if you could've just grabbed a sweater out of your closet", Maribel huffed amused and shook her head. "I don't believe you."

"You don't have to. I just can say that nothing happened", I shrugged. Definitely the truth. I quickly went around the corner to the Great Hall, which was already busting with students taking their seats for the mealtime. My sister directed me to the Slytherin table were Blaise already saved us seats, to my regret was mine right on the opposite of Draco who sat next to a giggling Pansy. The blonde boy didn't catch my gaze as I sat down, he didn't even look up.

"There she is, the hero in disguise", Blaise giggled and nudged my shoulder playfully. I shot him a quick smile and shoved myself a piece of pumpkin pie on my plate.

"How's your leg?", he asked kinda worried as the boy dug into his own meal.

"It's okay, just tense. I'm glade this creatures didn't bite me", I told him in return.

"Dumbledore was pretty pissed after you two vanished. I heard him talk to Moody and Snape that the Grindylows shouldn't even come so close to the surface of the lake, they're normally staying on the ground in the seaweed. The Weasley twins rumored that he talked to the merpeople, asking them to keep the creatures under control", Maribel explained while she ate her dinner.

A shudder rushed through my body by the thought of the small creatures. They swam past the window in the dungeons from time to time, not my favorites. And now definitely the worst.

"Most important thing is, that you two are okay", Blaise said and turned again.

But for me was the most important thing that Maribel was fine and back on solid ground. That she didn't drown.

And, of course, that Harry was safe and sound back on his table across the room.

Right as Draco disappeared through the door, I tried to keep Maribel on the tournament topic. She told me that Harry made the second place for rescuing not only Ron, but Fleur's little sister Gabrielle too, which made me proud.

Cedric and Maribel talked. Maybe it was her panicked state or the fact that this was the second time she experienced something horrible in the water, that she didn't care for a moment if someone snitched her communicating with the Hufflepuff boy again towards our parents. They spent the way back to the castle together and got things off their chests, which was pretty important I think.

My sister didn't get into detail, but she smiled - and that was all that matters for me. Even though they broke up a while ago now, I knew she missed and loved him every day since then. It broke her heart to stay away. And with hers broke mine too.

By the smirk on her mouth and her gaze shooting over to the Hufflepuff table once in a while, I could swear that there was something going on. Maybe they even met again secretly, but this was something I could ask her in a more private setting later on.