Draco crumpled the letter from Lucius and savagely pushed himself back from the table. Several Slytherins looked up at him as he turned away and walked out of the great hall. He felt eyes watch him as he walked though the door and refused to look and see if any of them were amber colored. He didn't want to meet her eyes right now.
He walked out through the front doors of Hogwarts and onto the grounds. Draco took the crumpled letter out of his pocket and tore it into little pieces before letting them go. He watched the tiny scraps drift idly down towards the water of the lake. Draco knew that he would respond to this one. No matter how much he disliked Lucius, Draco knew that he could no longer ignore his letters, or his commands. At least this latest order was simple. Draco was only supposed to meet him in Hogsmeade before the Halloween feast. Draco knew what the purpose of the meeting was, Lucius was still trying to convince him to be a death eater, force him to follow in his footsteps. Sometimes Draco didn't really know why he didn't just agree. Everyone already thought that he was a death eater. Except for Granger though, she had seemed to believe him. Draco hadn't known why it was important for her to know that he wasn't a death eater, but it had been. He had been very surprised that day when he had found her fast asleep in their room. Her brown curls were fringing her face and Draco had thought that her hair wasn't nearly as bushy as he remembered. Draco glared out at the lake and remembered that morning in the library, for a moment, he had almost thought she was pretty.
"Know-it-all Granger pretty?" Draco gave a snort of laughter that didn't mask his doubt.
Draco turned back towards the school; he could see several people had just come out onto the grounds. Moving closer he saw that they were Potter and Weasley carrying brooms with Granger between both of them deep in conversation.
"Stupid Mudblood," Draco hissed as his eyes followed her across the lawn towards the Quidditch field.
Even though Draco went to the library almost every day, his meetings with Granger had become fairly rare. Their time together had eventually dwindled to only a few minutes together in the library to discuss their weekly progress report and in Arithmancy where they didn't speak. Draco had finally realized that Granger was avoiding him. He saw her in Potions and Care of Magical Creatures, but there she was surrounded by Potter and Weasley constantly. He couldn't even taunt her properly with them hanging around. Whenever he made a comment towards her, she would just step back and let her mighty protectors take care of it.
"And who is she to avoid me? She's the mudblood!" Draco glared towards the Quidditch field as he saw Potter and Weasley rise up on brooms. He watched dolefully from where he was as the two friends released the little snitch from its box and began to chase it.
Draco stalked through the castle doors and started to head towards the dungeons. On one of the walls was a notice of the first Quidditch match of the season. Ravenclaw vs. Hufflepuff on Saturday.
"I could skip the match and go to the library. She'd be there then, she'd expect me to go to the match." He muttered under his breath as he looked at the notice. He didn't know why he wanted to see her. He tried to convince himself that it was only because he wanted to check her work. Half of his Arithmancy grade was dependant on her. But there was a nagging doubt in the back of his mind when he thought this, as if there might be some other reason for him to see Granger. As if he might actually want to see Granger, as if he might actually miss her. But Draco easily dismissed thoughts like that as being completely ludicrous. But he did find himself looking forward to Saturday with an odd sense of unjustifiable anticipation.
Draco had to fight his way through the throng of students that was pouring out onto the lawn for the upcoming match. He hadn't changed his mind about going to the library even though he almost felt guilty about not watching the match. He knew that to be prepared for their match against Hufflepuff, he really should become familiar with the way Cedric Diggory's replacement played. But Draco had little doubt that they would be pushover, no matter how well they played. Draco was rather proud of his Quidditch ability and it constantly infuriorated him that Potter somehow always managed to come out on top. He paused to watch a large troupe of Gryffindors pass him on their way outside, Potter and Weasley included. Draco was pleased to see that Granger wasn't with them.
