𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍 ! [ draco malfoy ]

two

     ALL THE STUDENTS RODE the carriages up to the castle and then walked to the Great Hall, ready for the feast that awaited them. The six of them sat at the Gryffindor table, joined by Dean and Seamus. However, Harry was still nowhere to be seen. The sorting began for the first years and after they were all sorted, the feast began.

     Harry finally made an appearance, speed walking towards the Gryffindor table and squeezing between Ron and Hermione. They all stared at him, along with everyone in the Great Hall, mostly because he was covered in blood.

     "Where've you—blimey, what've you done to your face?" Ron told him.

     Unperturbed, Harry replied, "Why, what's wrong with it?" as if oblivious to the crimson stains adorning him.

     Hermione cast a spell, removing the blood from him after informing him that he was covered in it. They all listened attentively for Harry to provide an explanation but he seemed determined not to talk about it now.

     Jade turned her attention to Neville who started chatting animatedly about his summer with her. Amidst the conversation, an unsettling sensation crept over her, and instinctively, she felt a pair of eyes fixated on her. Scanning the Great Hall, her eyes met his.

     Draco Malfoy had been staring at her, but when she met his gaze, he didn't look away. It was as if an invisible thread connected them, drawing Jade into a silent, intense staring competition. She held his gaze, unwilling to be the first to look away, but her concentration wavered when Neville mentioned her name.

     "What?" she questioned, momentarily lost in the aftermath of the unspoken exchange.

     "You zoned out there for a bit. As I was saying, my grandmother—" Neville continued, oblivious to Jade's momentary distraction.

     Glancing back at Malfoy, she found him still staring, a smirk playing on his lips before he smoothly shifted his attention to Pansy Parkinson. Jade rolled her eyes, the fucking git had the annoying Slytherin girl wrapped around his finger since their first year, not that Jade cared. She just felt a bit bad for Malfoy, as he had to listen to the bitch, and felt bad for Pansy, as she couldn't see he clearly wasn't into her.

     She redirected her focus to Neville, who remained blissfully unaware of her divided attention. Thankfully, Seamus was listening to Neville because he asked him a question about what he was saying and Neville's focus turned away from her to Seamus. Their conversation came to a halt, however, when Dumbledore rose from the staff table, silencing the Great Hall.

     He announced how Snape was being replaced as Potions Master by Horace Slughorn and that Snape was taking up the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position. Then, in usual Dumbledore fashion, he gave a gloomy speech about the current events in the magic world concerning Voldemort and the safety of Hogwarts.

     Her brother's earlier warning, now amplified by the headmaster's grim oration, reverberated in her mind like a haunting refrain, underscoring the gravity of the situation.

     Once Dumbledore's words faded into the hushed whispers of the departing students, the Hogwarts castle echoed with the shuffle of feet and the low murmur of conversations. Jade walked to the Gryffindor common room with her friends along with the rest of her house.

     Upon reaching the common room, Jade's intentions of sinking into the comfort of a plush couch were interrupted by Ginny's tap on her shoulder. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

     Jade nodded, following the redhead to a quieter corner of the common room. Though they hadn't been particularly close, Jade had always considered Ginny a friend.