Communication - Draco Malfoy

Chapter One : The Beginning of Sixth Year

Pushing a bobby pin back into her horribly messy bun, Elinor Weatherscott struggles to push her trunk through the already-crowded train. Term was about to start, and now that her brother Michael was off to work for the Ministry, Elinor had no way of lugging her ginormous trunk onto the train.

"You look a little pathetic, you know, struggling like that." She heard a familiar voice call from behind. It sounded deeper than it had last year, more mature, but it still held the same boyish quality she knew and loved.

"Harry, if I wanted your opinion," she puffs as she shoves the trunk into Draco's compartment, "I would have probably asked for it." Ignoring Draco's scowl, Elinor smirks as she slides the frosted glass door shut. When she turns around, she smiles widely. "Oh, Draco!" she singsongs, taking a seat across from him. "It's yet another year at Hogwarts, how exciting, isn't it?"

Leaning back in his seat, elbow propped against the window, Draco couldn't help but smile at Elinor. She was, after all, always bubbly in the morning, and it gave him a refreshed sort of feeling. "It's something, all right." he mutters, bored. Elinor frowned. That was how he had been talking lately. Drawn-out, bored, like he didn't want to be talking to her. Which didn't make her feel too good, but there was nothing she could really do about it. He wouldn't ever tell her if something was bothering him.

Smile dimming slightly, Elinor smooths her red hair and adjusts her dark blue glasses. She didn't wear them all the time, just when she felt it to be necessary. It drove Draco up the wall, but she didn't care. "Just wear them all the time! I know you need them." He would say to her. They were after all, her eyes, not his.

She looked back to Draco. He had his eyes closed, and for the first time since she entered the compartment, she noticed that he had dark circles underneath his eyes. "Um...Draco...?"

He acknowledges that he is listening to her. "Hmm?" He murmurs.

"Are you feeling alright?"

His eyes snapped open and he sat up, but before he could answer Elinor's question, the glass door slides open, and Elinor winces at the piercing shriek that came along with it.

"Drakey!!" Pansy squeals, rushing in and sitting next to Draco. Elinor raises an eyebrow at the nickname. Draco gives her an uneasy glance, as if to say that he didn't have any idea why she was so affectionate. "So, Drakey, I was thinking that once we got to school..." Pansy rambled on and on, and Elinor stood up.

"Excuse me." She mumbled, face burning. So this was what Draco had been hiding from her! She knew he had been avoiding her, but this? This was huge! Her own best friend entered a relationship and didn't even tell her! That was just like him, not telling her things. Sometimes she wondered why she kept up the effort. As she wandered down the hallway, she bumped into Ron Weasley, fellow sixth year and friend.

"Watch where you're- oh, hello Ellie." He says, taking a huge bite out of the Pumpkin Pasty in his hand. Elinor smiles at him.

"Hey, Ron. How's everything?"

"Eh...I love Hogwarts."

She laughs at his lack of enthusiasm, just knowing that it was because of the schoolwork. She taps his prefect badge and he seems to get the hint. He sets his sight on a group of first years and moves away. Elinor, deciding that she was hungry, stopped by the food cart before heading back to her compartment. She walked slowly, picking through her Every Flavor Beans as she went. Sliding the door open, Elinor looks up to see Pansy has left.

She doesn't look at Draco, she was still too confused. Why would he have kept this from her?

"Elinor?" Draco asks, voice soft. When he mocked others, there was always a soft-spoken word for Elinor. He crosses the compartment to sit next to her. "Elinor...look at me." Eyebrow raised, Elinor glances over at him. He puts his pale hands on her shoulders and turns her towards him. "I know exactly what you're thinking...and no, Pansy is not my girlfriend."

"Draco, I'm not stu-"

"For Godric's sake, Elinor, be quiet." Sighing exasperatedly, he removes his hands from her small shoulders and leans back in his seat.

Setting her box of beans down, she touches his shoulder lightly, and he looks at her pointedly.

"I took her out once. I didn't tell you because it simply wasn't a big deal." He says. An afterthought. "She's not very bright." He stretches out on the seat and lays his head in Elinor's lap. She automatically runs her fingers through his hair. They were friends, confidants.

"And now she won't leave you the bloody hell alone, right?" Elinor snorts as Draco nods passively. She watches him as he closes his eyes, face quiet.

"Are you feeling alright?" She asks again. The air was silent, still. Lately, any time she asked, Draco would grow surly and tell her that he was fine, it was just the stress of living up to his father's N.E.W.Ts (which Elinor knew was a lie). So now that it was silent, she was afraid she had really upset him. "Draco?" She looks down at him, only to see that he had fallen asleep, mouth slightly open. Giggling softly to herself, Elinor settles back to watch the scenery go by, and wait for the appropriate time to nudge Draco awake.