Friday's Child // Draco Malfoy

15

"Hey," An unfamiliar voice greeted, interrupting Juno's breakfast. She looked up, met by the sight of Blaise Zabini sliding into the seat across from her at the Hufflepuff table. She shot him a quizzical look and he just smiled in response, his grin only widening as he looked down at the food she was eating. "Interesting choice of breakfast-" She was coating pear slices with cinnamon. 

"Oh. It's nice. Would you like to try some?" She offered. He shook his head, chuckling lightly, pushing away her hand that held a pear slice out towards him. 

"I just came to ask about that study date-" From behind Blaise, she could see Draco's neck craning, a frown taking over his features as he watched the interaction. She caught his eye, and his brows furrowed further, nodding his head towards Blaise questioningly. Her eyes widened, evidently flustered at the situation she found herself in - which only heightened as she realised she'd let the silence linger for too long, and Blaise was snapping his fingers in front of her face and turning his body to see what she was looking at. Draco quickly scoffed and averted his eyes. Blaise could hardly hide his smirk - he knew exactly what he was doing. "Earth to Juno?" 

"Oh - right - yeah, sorry! Got lost in my thoughts-" She nervously laughed, prying her eyes away from the Slytherin table where Draco scowled at his plate, stabbing his food with his fork a little too harshly, ignoring the chatter between his peers. "When do you want to study?" 

"You've got a little something-" Blaise reached over, picking a fallen eyelash of Juno's cheek gently. As if she wasn't feeling flustered enough. Her cheeks burned and her mouth went dry and she tried not to melt into a puddle right there. She heard the sound of a chair scraping back, and looked up to find Draco quickly gathering his things to leave. As he stormed past, he heard the last of Blaise say: "Library? Tonight?" He slowed down, anticipating Juno's response. Please say no. Please say no. He chanted over and over in his head. 

"Of course, I'll see you then."

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Draco couldn't stand the thought of Blaise and Juno huddled together at a desk late at night in the library. The thought of them alone together, of Blaise trying something with Juno, it knocked him sick. He just didn't want Juno to be another of Blaise's girls, he didn't want Blaise to have that connection with her that he didn't - he didn't want to upset the balance in their relationship, and he knew things would change if anything happened between Juno and Blaise. He would be different. He couldn't stand the thought of it. Not Juno. Blaise could shag every girl in the castle. Anyone but Juno. Anyone but his Juno. He tried to convince himself it was just Blaise, and that he just wanted to protect his and Juno's friendship, he told himself time and time again that he wouldn't care if it was someone else - just not someone who was supposed to be his 'best friend' in this facade he'd conjured to become the poster Slytherin. Blaise couldn't have this up on him. He just couldn't. Juno was his. 

His mind wandered back to the conversation he and Juno had about her tutoring Blaise, and her insistence it would be nothing but studying. But, Draco knew better - he knew Blaise better - he knew he didn't really need tutoring, Sprout hadn't threatened to kick him out, he knew Blaise would never ask someone else to tutor him, he'd do it himself or not at all. Blaise's intentions were as transparent as glass to Draco, and he didn't want Juno getting mixed up in it, it made his blood burn with fury just thinking about it. 

He couldn't quite put his finger on the feeling, or understand why he was feeling it. When had he become so attached to this girl? When had he allowed himself to open up? When did he start depending on somebody else? It was so out of character and it had all happened so quick. The only person he'd ever cared for was his mother - he'd been reluctant to care for anyone else, but then came Juniper Lovegood, and, just like that, she'd captured his heart from just a few Friday afternoons. It was temporary, he told himself, a temporary release, a temporary happiness, a temporary friendship to keep him sane while he fixed the cabinet - when that was all over he'd go back to focusing on the important things, on pleasing the Dark Lord and fighting for what needed to be fought. Juno Lovegood would just be a fond memory for him to look back on, a person who he could be grateful for, that he had at a time when he needed her, when he needed the sanity to keep up his side of the work for the Dark Lord. He'd make sure she was okay - she was a pureblood after all, he could convince the Dark Lord to make use of her, so she didn't die, or get hurt. This could go no deeper than a temporary friendship, to keep the loneliness at bay for the both of them. He needed to shut off his growing affections for her, to distance himself emotionally - they could be nothing more than companions. But, he'd focus on that when the Blaise situation was dealt with. So, despite the fact he should have been spending this time working on fixing the cabinet, that night he headed down to the library.