Peppermint; Draco Malfoy [2]

TWELVE

ALEXIS' P.O.V.

Yesterday was brilliant. I stayed up until late with the group, eating some of the many sweets Theo bought and having a great laugh.

We were up so late that I could barely get out of bed this morning. Of course, Thea left me for breakfast, like the pig she is, but Theo waited for me in the common room.

"Hurry up!" he laughs, dragging my hand.

I drag my feet lazily across the stone floor. "I can'ttt, I'm too tired."

"Okay, fine, I'll give you a ride." Theo bends his knees and crouches down.

"A piggyback?" I ask, placing my hands on his shoulders.

"Yeah, hop on."

I jump on his back and shout as he lifts me up, holding my legs in place. He starts running and I scream with laughter. My arms wrap tightly around his neck as we speed down the castle halls, the only ones in sight.

"Put me down, put me down!!" I squeal as we enter the Great Hall. He drops me and I get off, fixing my clothes.

I receive snappy looks and daggers from a group of girls at the Hufflepuff table and my smile disappears. I really don't get it. I don't understand why other people are so interested in my life.

After Hogsmeade, everyone thinks Theodore and I are a thing, like dating dating. They saw like, two seconds of us holding hands, and know they think we're in love. I seem to be the most talked about person of our year, no thanks to Lavender and Parvati. If they had just kept they're little mouths shut and minded their own business, I wouldn't have to deal with this crap.

It's stupid and pathetic and it puts me on edge.

"You look great today, by the way," whispers Theo, placing an arm around my shoulder. He's trying to take my mind off of things, but it's not working. Instead, fingers are pointed our way and I hear ooohhhs from the Gryffindor table.

"Thanks," I whisper.

"He's been sighted, he's been sighted!" yells Seamus suddenly, throwing a newspaper on his table.

"Who?" I ask, turning around and walking over with Theo.

"Sirius Black!"

A group of students clamour around the table and we peer at the heading.

"Dufftown?" says Hermione from under me, shocked. "That's not too far from here. It's right by Hogsmeade."

Harry is beside me and I tap his shoulder. "Hey, can we meet later today? Say Quidditch pitch at 6?"

He nods, a funny sort of smile on his face. It looks forced, and I can't help but wonder if it has to do with the fact that Theo still has his arm around me.

I head back to our table and seat myself next to Thea, whose eyes capture mine immediately. "Uhm, darling, what happened to you?"

I look at her and frown. "What's wrong?"

"Your blouse – it's a bit... small, don't you think?" she whispers.

I look down and stare at my white shirt. It is a bit small, but I hadn't really thought about it – until now. My boobs grew a little... okay, a lot, over the summer, and I bought new shirts, but I forgot them at home. My current shirt is undone at the top because the buttons don't reach, and the ones that do are rather tight.

"Yeah, forgot to pack the new shirts in my trunk and you know how my mum is, she takes forever to send me stuff."

"You're so dumb, just use mine! My clothes are your clothes," says Thea.