Heart-shaped Box

glue

A/N: Hey guys! This one will be a filler chapter, because I wanted some more bonding with Ali and her friends, and also because i really wanted to end the fourth year with chapter 20, hehe. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know what you think!

Song inspiration: Glue - Bicep

Tension fills the school as the third task approaches rapidly. Who would've thought that a year already passed? I can tell Harry's nervous, for he's more absent during conversation and seems to be lost in thought, but hey, who could blame him? Even I was nervous when thinking about whatever awaited him and the other champions.

"Ali!" I halt on my way to Potions, and spot Draco who rushes to catch up with me.

"What's up, Draco?" I ask him, the both of us continuing on our way, since we have this class together.

"Not much, but I heard Snape arguing with Karkarov the other day. It seemed like Snape was really angry. I wondered if you might know more, since you're kind of close with Karkarov?" He explains, a curious look on his face. He probably was out for information to tell his father or something, but the words make me freeze up inside. He wouldn't have seen me sneak out of the ship, right? Igor was with me the entire way. Maybe Snape suspected something and confronted him about it. Shit.

"Uhh, I wouldn't know, really, sorry. Maybe they're just tense about the third task?" I offer, feeling terrible about lying to him, but Draco wasn't that good of a secret keeper, if I was being honest. He just enjoyed bragging occasionally, and dropping information others didn't know was part of that.

"Hmm, could be. Do you want to work together this class?" He then asks, and let out a relieved sigh at the change of subject.

"Sure!" I say with a smile, and I follow him inside the classroom.

As I work with Draco, I realize that I quite miss being around him. Despite the two of us going to the same school now, it felt like I had even less time to hang out with him than before, and this silly Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry wasn't really helping either.

"It's nice to have some time with you, you know." He eventually says as we're busy pouring ingredients into the cauldron, making me flash him a smile.

"Yeah, I feel like I barely have time to see you!" I agree, and he hums.

"You can always come over to my place if you'd like. We can have a sleepover, like old times." He suggests with a grin, and nostalgia hits me as I remember those times. We would build a fortress in the living room with every blanket and pillow we could find, Narcissa would make us delicious snacks, and we'd eat them in our fortress, sheltered away from the world. We would talk about anything and everything throughout the night until we saw the sun rise again, and we would be tired as hell, but it were some of the best memories I had. When I look over at him, our eyes meet, and I can tell he's thinking exactly the same thing.

"Yeah, we should definitely do that!" I agree, and he smiles at it, but when the smile falters, I can tell we might be in trouble.

"Miss Leroy, Mister Malfoy. Is this a tea party or a Potions class?" Snape asks, and I turn to find him standing next to our table, dark eyes staring me down.

"I'm sorry, Professor." I mutter, my mood turning around for the worse. Did he really have to ruin this as well?

"It won't happen again, Professor." Draco adds, sounding a lot more genuine. Snape stares at us for a moment more, but then he walks away to criticize Ron and Harry's work. Draco and I lock eyes again and he winks, making me roll my eyes playfully before we get back to work. At the end of the class, I can say that our potion is one of the best.