My Damned Lover: Third Year

Chapter 57

It was now dinnertime, and everyone was gathered at the Great Hall. 

The atmosphere was a lot lighter with the Lagora students gone. Not to mention, there was hell of a lot of room, too. 

Seraphina laughed at Ron's joke about his Wizard's Chess game against Dean. She had received a lot of questions about her bruised face, but it seemed like everyone actually believed her lie about bumping into a pole. She wondered if it was because she was so clumsy and grew offended at first but decided it was better than people finding out she had been beaten up by Felix. It would open up a new world of drama that she didn't want to be part of. 

Oliver came to the table after discussing the next quidditch game with Mcgonagall. He hadn't seen her yet, and when he finally took notice of her, he did a double take in her direction. 

"Um... Seraphina?" He pointed to his own face and asked, "What's with the-?" 

"Pole," Seraphina, Hermione, Ron, Harry, Fred, and George chimed. They looked at each other and laughed. 

"Ah..." Oliver nodded then frowned slightly. "Is it-" 

"It's not going to interfere with quidditch. So you don't have to worry," Seraphina assured with a knowing smile. 

"Good," Oliver said with a comforted sigh. 

"You can be a bit off an arse, mate," Fred pointed out. George nodded. "Agreed." 

Oliver shrugged. "As long as I'm an arse who's good at quidditch, I could care less." He sat and started to dig into his food. 

Seraphina laughed, completely unoffended that her captain cared more about the game than her well-being. 

Suddenly, a paper crane floated right towards her. She caught it by pure instinct and stared at it curiously. Seraphina opened it up, and it read, Library tonight? - D.M. She lifted her head and immediately locked eyes with Draco. One corner of his lips quirked up, and he nodded towards the exit. Seraphina couldn't help but mirror his smile. 

Despite the fact that they had hung out practically all afternoon, her heart fluttered with excitement. She nodded and folded the note to put it in her pocket. "Er, I'm pretty much done, so I'm gonna head up first..." 

"Where are you going?" Ron demanded. 

"The library," Seraphina replied. It wasn't a lie. 

"Oh, bloody hell. Here we go again." Ron rolled his eyes. 

"I'll go with you, Seraphina," Neville innocently offered. "I have to catch up on some reading anyway." 

"Er, that's not a good idea, mate," Ron chortled. 

"Huh? Why not?" Neville looked genuinely confused. 

"Cause she's going with that monkey over there." Ron nodded towards the double doors, and Neville turned his head. He paled when he spotted Draco, and he ducked his head between his shoulders. "Um... n-never mind then." 

"I'm sorry, Neville," Seraphina said sincerely. "But I'll hang out with you next time, yeah?" 

"Don't. She's tainted. She's gone over to the dark side," Ron said in an eerie voice and wiggled his fingers to emphasize his point. 

Seraphina slapped them, and he yanked them back with a yowl. She shot him a look before leaving the table. 

Draco broke into a grin when she came closer, and he held out a hand.