𝐌𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐓

Chapter 8

Mother Knows Best

Chapter Eight

Malfoys New Boy

Harry knew from the second he stepped out of the dorm room that morning that something was going on. Walking through the halls to breakfast, he noticed that many people, students and teachers alike, were giving him strange looks and even whispering to their friends about him when they thought he wasn't listening. At first, he thought it must be because of what he was wearing, which didn't exactly follow the dress code seeing as all he had on was a pair of jeans and the black wife-beater he'd slept in the night before, but when he sat down at his usual table in the cafeteria, he found he wasn't the only one who was receiving this type of treatment.

"Am I being paranoid, or is everyone staring at us like we have some sort of contagious disease?" Harry asked, drowning his pancakes in maple syrup.

He and Draco were the only two at their table, which was no surprise considering it was Sunday and still fairly early. Harry usually slept in on the weekends like the rest of his roommates, but he was hungry and figured Draco could use the company.

Speaking of Draco, Harry noticed that the blond didn't look up at the question, which told Harry that he actually did notice the strange behavior of his schoolmates, but chose not to acknowledge them. And looking around, it seemed like the blond was actually receiving the brunt of every ones attention.

"You're being paranoid," Draco answered easily, staring at his plate, which had barely been touched.

No matter how uncomfortable it was making him, he took Draco's example and tried to ignore it. Or at least pretended to. The rest of breakfast was almost completely silent, and he could tell that the blond was just, if not more, freaked out than he was, but still, he brushed it off. That worked for a while, until they got back to their dorm room.

"'...dark delinquent when he's supposed to be getting his education at the legendary boarding school, Hogwarts Academy? Somehow, we doubt it."

Their roommates were all awake by now, looking over Seamus' shoulder as the Irishman finished reading something to them from the laptop sitting on the coffee table. Everyone seemed to be somewhat surprised by something.

"What's going on?" Harry asked them, trying to sound casual, but not fully succeeding.

Blaise looked at them, wearing an amused little smirk that Harry knew could only mean trouble. "We seem to have a problem here," he stated.

Seamus put a hand on Blaise's shoulder, signaling that he could take it from here, and cleared his throat. "Is there, um, something you two need to tell us?" He spoke slowly and calmly, like a parent would when they knew their child had stolen the car, but wanted to give them a chance to confess before grounding them for a year.

"Er, no?"

"Liar!"

Blaise gave the Irishman a wack on the head. "Seamus, stop!"

"Harry, you don't have to lie about it anymore. It's not like we actually have any room to judge you. We just want to know why you guys didn't think you could tell us," Dean interjected, trying to be the voice of reason.

"And why Malfoy of all people? Gross," Ron added, shuddering.

"Ron! They have no idea what you guys are talking about," Blaise told them crossly.

The Irishman took a calming breath and tried again. "Okay. I was on TDP this morning, seeing if they had anything on The Marauders," he started.

"And...?" Harry asked when he didn't continue.