Denying Draco

24 - A Peaceful Place To Read

Poppy and Ginny spent the next few days side by side around their classes from hanging out in the common room together to staying up late eating snacks in the dorm. Poppy tagged along with Ginny when she was at Quidditch training and Ginny tagged along with Poppy when she went to the library. They had come to realise that they had a lot more in common than they'd initially thought and were becoming very good friends.

'Anything else happened with Malfoy?' Ginny asked, as they strolled through the corridor together after lunch.

'No,' Poppy replied. 'We used Amortentia in Potions class last week and he could smell Pansy in his.'

'Oh no,' Ginny murmured, wrinkling her nose awkwardly. 'That's not good. Who did you smell?'

'Him,' Poppy sighed.

'In front of the whole class too?' Ginny gasped.

'I didn't tell everyone I could smell him,' Poppy replied. 'I just made something up.'

'Oh shit, I'm sorry, Poppy,' Ginny murmured. 'That must have been...uncomfortable. What did Harry smell?'

'Weird stuff,' Poppy laughed. 'Treacle Tart.'

Ginny smiled softly in amusement. 'His favourite dessert.'

'Also umm...a broomstick,' Poppy continued. 'And like...flowery shampoo or something.'

'He said that?' Ginny asked.

'Yeah, why?' Poppy turned to her curiously.

'He always comments on how strong my shampoo smells when he's next to me,' Ginny said, her lips pressing together tightly as she stared at Poppy. 'He told me once that it smelt like flowers and I told him it was Wild Rose and Mimosa Flower.'

'So...that could likely mean he smelt your scent in his Amortentia,' Poppy said, smiling widely. 'That could be a sign that he likes you.'

'Do you think?' Ginny asked, biting her lip.

'Why wouldn't he?' Poppy asked. 'I think if there's anyone I would have to pair up with Harry, it would be you. I think you'd make a great couple.'

'Slow down,' Ginny snorted. 'We don't even know if he feels that way. I mean...we did kiss during the summer so-.'

'You kissed?' Poppy gasped. 'Why don't I know about this?'

'It was when my brother Bill got married,' Ginny explained. 'At my house before the wedding, he pulled up my zipper on my dress and we just...kissed. But since then, there's not really been anything else happen or even said about it between us, so I just believed maybe he'd thought it was a mistake.'

'You should just talk to him,' Poppy said. 'He has a lot on his plate right now so maybe he's just thinking the timing just isn't great at the moment.'

'You know, I still think he fancies you,' Ginny sighed. 'I know you don't fancy him but...I think that's why he was annoyed about Malfoy.'

'You're wrong, Ginny,' Poppy replied. 'Trust me, he's only bothered about me and Draco because it's Draco. Harry was well aware that he and I were just friends all along and he's never pushed for anything more than that.'

'Well, he's far too busy heading off doing all sorts of crazy shit to even have time for a romance right now anyway,' Ginny said. 'I have to go this way for class. I'll see you later, yeah?'

'Yeah, bye.' Poppy waved her off and continued down the corridor. She had a free period so wanted to spend some more time in the library but found herself wandering back up to the seventh floor. She hadn't seen much of Draco but she had still not forgotten about the fact that she knew he was certainly up to no good in the Room of Requirement and she wanted to know what it was that he was doing in there.

She approached the corridor where the room was located, seeing the blank, empty wall, and she wandered past it three times like Draco had told her, thinking of him in her mind. She thought that if he was in there, surely it would show itself to her? She continued to wander left and right past the door, starting to think about how she knew that he was withholding a secret that involved the room and possibly something that he was hiding in it. She continued to pace and asked the room in her mind to show her whatever Draco was hiding inside.

She stopped pacing and turned to see the doors were in front of her and she smiled in success and darted inside. The room had shown itself to her when she had asked for what Draco was hiding, therefore this could suggest that there really was something. As she stared around at the room full of junk, her smile quickly faded. If Draco was hiding something, she was never going to find out what it was amongst everything inside.

Wandering around the room, she looked at as many objects as she could to see if anything stood out to her or looked somewhat suspicious. Most things were covered in dust, so she looked for anything that appeared clean or recently used. Nothing stood out to her in particular and she knew she was wasting her time.

She wandered across a dusty old set of drawers and studied the items laid out on top of it. A slight sparkle caught her eye and she moved forward, seeing a large, blue crystal stone disguised by dust. She reached out and picked it up, dusting it off on her robes and she gasped as she studied the beautiful item in her hand. It looked like a tiara, silver with the stunning stone in the centre. She smiled as she admired it's beauty and wondered what something so expensive looking was doing in this room. If any student found it, they might certainly steal it. Looking around, she spotted a broken set of drawers in the corner and hurried over to them, placing the tiara inside the very bottom drawer where she knew it would be safe.

Giving up on her search for Draco's secret, she headed for the door and left the room, heading back down the corridor the way she had come.

She hurried to the library where she wandered the shelves looking for a new book to bury her head in and eventually, she found something interesting and took it from the shelf. Looking around, she saw there were no tables free and she checked her book out with the librarian, choosing to take it back to the common room instead.

'If you're looking for a peaceful place to read, you should go where I sometimes sneak off to.' A female student with a gentle, soothing voice and long, blonde hair who was stood nearby and had seen her looking for a table approached her. 'The Astronomy tower is a nice place to take a book.'

'The Astronomy tower?' Poppy questioned, still wondering how the girl knew what she'd been thinking.

'Yes, it's quite tranquil actually,' she replied. 'I'm Luna, by the way.'

'Nice to meet you,' Poppy said, smiling back. 'I'm Poppy. So the tower...isn't that only for use during Astronomy classes?'

'It is supposed to be off limits outside of classes but no one ever checks,' she replied, and proceeded to direct Poppy, who thanked her and left the library.

She repeated Luna's instructions and found herself at the staircase that led up to the entrance to the tower, and when she arrived, she realised she was at the tallest tower of the school. She smiled at the view and wandered around, taking in everything she could see and then the sound of someone clearing their throat brought her out of her moment.

Draco was stood leaning against the rail,  hidden in the shadows with his eyes narrowed slightly and his lips pressed in a gentle pout of disapproval as he stared across at her. 'What are you doing up here?'