The Girl Who Lived

Threats

May 10th, 1996.

_____________

Defense Against the Dark Arts was still Elena's least favorite class.

She would rather sit through a thousand hours of listening to Professor Binns talk about the invention of Floo Powder than ever be in the same room as Dolores Umbridge.

She would rather fight off a thousand dementors again than sit down with Professor Umbridge.

The list could go on and on if she really put her mind to it.

There was one thing that made it tolerable.

And that was sitting with Draco Malfoy and listening to him go on about how deeply he loathes everything.

He hated a lot of things that were completely innocent- for example, he hated Crabbe's haircut. He hated the color pink because of Umbridge. He hated most animals- especially cats.

Elena turned the corner, making her way towards the double doors that towered into the classroom.

Everything rushed back to her but she was ready for it- armed to the damn teeth with knives and a sword and magic to fight off the fear that nearly seized her body.

She would not be afraid.

She had lived after Umbridge tried to break her and coming out of the fear Umbridge held her under was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Elena would bow to no one and would yield to nothing- she was fighting fear.

As she drew in air between her straight teeth, she spied Draco leaning against the wall, eyeing her.

What is it with him and leaning against walls? Elena stifled a laugh.

She approached him, a small stack of books against her chest.

"Do you have an obsession for walls?" Elena asked innocently.

He pulled his eyebrows together, clearly puzzled at her peculiar question.

"Because you certainly love leaning against them during your free time." Elena chimed, the fear disappearing from her gut as Draco scowled deeply.

"I was waiting." He replied, snatching her stack of books angrily and adding them on top of his own.

She stared at him, at the action. Was he feeling alright?

"For who?" She asked, disinterested. She only cared why he chose to carry her books.

"You."

Oh. Oh.

He watched her blush, pink staining her faintly freckled cheeks. He would have paid a thousand galleons to watch her blush and stammer the way she did then.

Draco pulled out her grey sweater without thinking and shoved it towards her awkwardly. Her eyes lit with recognition. "You left it- in the library. Weeks ago."

He whispered the words, glancing to make sure nobody saw them. People passed on by in a hurry, only moments left before they were officially late for class.

Her heart squeezed fiercely inside her chest. He had... held onto it for weeks? But- why?

"Why would you hold onto it?" Elena questioned suspiciously. "Why not throw it away?"

He had asked himself the same questions from the moment he shoved the knit sweater into his bag and took it to his dorm.

He hadn't touched it at first- he only liked to look at it and remember what Elena looked like in it.