Everything is completely different going into my sixth year of school. Fred and George didn't return to Hogwarts, instead they dropped out and decided to go with their "plan b". Harry had given everyone a portion of the money he had received for winning the Triwizard tournament, and with this Fred and George decided to open the joke shop they had been dreaming about owning since they were kids.
Dumbledore had been reinstated as headmaster after Umbridge's immediate removal following what happened in her office, and Professor Snape had finally landed teaching the one subject he had always longed for. That being said, Horace Slughorn had returned to Hogwarts after many years to fill in Snape's previous position as potions professor.
My friends have barely spoken to me since we arrived back at Hogwarts as well. There's been a lot of tension brewing between us due to their suspicions about Draco. But that no longer matters, because Draco hasn't spoken to me since the train ride back to school. He won't even look at me and I have no idea why.
My heart has been broken more times than I can count at this point, but the fact that Draco wants nothing to do with me is a pain so excruciating and sick it's worse than that of everything else I've ever experienced combined all together.
My brain can't seem to wrap around how you can go from being enemies with someone to caring about them deeply and then to acting as if the other person just doesn't exist. Draco's the first boy I've ever truly loved whether I want to admit it or not, and it's been completely destroying me that he wants nothing to do with me at all.
Various sniggers and torments surround me in corridors, everyone becoming seemingly aware that Draco no longer wants me. Once again I've become the laughing stock of the entire school, and on top of what I've been going through with my friends it's made me sink into a deep depression.
I feel so alone, so hated and unwanted. Honestly I've been considering dropping out of Hogwarts completely and returning home with Daniel to start my life totally over. Everything has been becoming too much for me to handle and I'm not sure I can take it anymore.
-
Since Slughorn had taken over as potions professor the class has gotten impossibly more complicated. Potions has never been my best subject, but even now some of the potions we are expected to brew are way beyond my capabilities. Even Hermione has been having trouble with excelling in the class, although she'll never admit that directly to anyone.
I spend most of my time in the library chiseling away at assignments since my friends don't come around much anymore. No matter where I go I'm constantly getting stared or laughed at almost as if I'm repeating my first year all over again.
And today is no different. Sitting at my usual table hidden in the back corner of the library surrounded by a million and one various scattered books and parchments, I keep to myself and attempt to complete one of the hardest potion assignments yet but am failing miserably.
My eyes scan the length of the old battered pages of the book in front of me, my hand and quill scribbling a mile a minute against the crumbled parchment. Becoming flustered and overwhelmed with the difficult assignment laid out in front of me the quill slips through my fingertips and softly thumps to the table. Sighing, I drop my head into my hands, rubbing at my sore temples in attempts to refocus on the difficult task at hand.
Taking N.E.W.T level potions is probably one of the biggest mistakes I've made thus far in terms of lessons. If Hermione Granger, top witch at Hogwarts is also struggling with the class, how on Earth am I going to survive?
Sighing to myself after the two minutes I've allowed myself to wallow in self pity, I pick up the quill and begin scribbling frivolously once more. My thoughts have been so scrambled and out of whack I hadn't noticed Ron's presence across from me, his hand gripping the back of the chair tucked under the table.
