Dragon's Rose (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

Stressed Out

The gold coin burned in her back pocket. Hermione had been so clever in making the coins that Adeline felt completely safe with having it on her at all times. She pulled it out and scanned the golden piece of metal, flipping it on both sides.

First DA meeting on Saturday at 9 o'clock pm. Location disclosed on Saturday.

Adeline smiled and shoved it back into her pocket. She was sitting in the Great Hall attempting to do some homework during her free period.

The DA was code for Dumbledore's Army. It was a secret club for anyone who wanted to fight against Dolores Umbridge and her rein of terror at Hogwarts. It was in order to fight for their rights as students, to learn to fight and duel accordingly.

War was among them and they needed to prepare.

And who better to teach them these skills than The-Boy-Who-Lived himself?

Adeline couldn't have been more excited to join the group and to see Harry regularly again. She wanted to have conversations with him in private and help him through everything she couldn't before.

However, now with DA meetings, tutoring Malfoy, and school in general, she didn't have very much free time to catch up on books she was reading, or do anything a normal 15-year-old should be doing.

She still barely slept, giving herself 3-4 hours of sleep in which she was half-awake. Some of which ended in such terrible night terrors that she had to put silencing charms around her four poster.

And even then, she would be catching up on essays due the next day, fixing up her notes, de-glamouring and then re-glamouring her face so it didn't look so waxy, and making sure she wrote regular notes to her parents and Ben.

She had no time for gossip, no time for relaxation, no time for secret journeys to the Lake.

She was busy and stressed.

Sometimes she would miss meals accidentally due to making sure she finished working and planning out lessons for Malfoy.

Speaking of Malfoy, she's never been more confused about her feelings.

When she would not be working, she would be fighting back the urge to scream at herself for liking the way he would drawl, or wanting his hands to rake along her body the way he ran a delicate finger over the feather of his quill.

And then she would think about how insufferable he was when he talked about Muggle-Borns — which she noticed he stopped calling Mudbloods — and people he thought were beneath him.

She wanted to hit him sometimes.

But then she also wanted him to press her up against the wall and-

She shook herself out of it and focused on the essay she should be writing.

It was for Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Umbridge wanted them all to write an essay on safety when using magic. That was something that had gone on every year, yes, but in early September, not the end of November.

Still, Adeline got to work. She wrote down reasons why you shouldn't use magic outside of school and why it was illegal for children under the age of 17 to use it. She also wrote a bunch of reasons why it was important to be safe in the way you point your wand.

By the end of the essay, she deemed it good enough and slid it into her bag carefully. She took a moment to put her head in her hands and close her eyes.

If she could just rest for a moment-

"Addy!"

She groaned, pulling her head up to meet a certain ginger's. "Yes?"