Being His Daughter CONTINUED

Cheering Charms

 Gryffindor had won the House Cup. I had expected it since Harry had used his Firebolt. Draco had obviously thought I would forgive him after the match out of pity because he had complained extra loudly to Crabbe and Goyle about how he needed some emotional support, and then looked over at me longingly. But even though not talking to him was sort of taking a toll an my mental health, I wasn't going to give in that easily. Father had even got through my permanent Occlumency barrier to tell me I didn't need anyone, but every time my now red eyes landed on Draco, I had trouble believing it.

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"Sierra! Oh, Sierra!"

Hermione's yells from across the hall caused me to jump and spill my pumpkin juice all over the table. Airam yelped and pulled her plate away from the spill as Jalen eyed it blandly. I waved my wand over the spill and it vanished. I whipped my head over to see the trio hurrying over to me, looking solemn.

"What is it?" I asked them. Hermione eyes Airam and Jalen cautiously and they both gave her small smiles and she seemed to relax. Harry thrust a letter into my face and I looked at it with wide eyes.

"It's from Hagrid," he informed me as I snatched the letter from his hands and scanned it. "Buckbeak's appeal is set for the sixth." He seemed to notice the color of my eyes.

"Hey, your eyes--"

"They're red, I know," I mumbled, and then I looked up from reading the letter and ignored the trios perplexed expressions. "They're bringing the executioner with them?" I asked, wiggling the letter. "But that makes it seem like they've already decided!"

"That's what I said," Ron interjected desperately. "We've spent too many hours in that dusty old library for them not to even listen to us!"

Hermione glared over at him for calling her sacred place old and dusty while I shook my head, a new found determination in me. "Not if I have a say in it. Who's this executioner?" My eyes glanced back to the letter briefly and I smirked with realization. "McNair, huh?"

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I had written a letter to Lucius and McNair, since McNair was a follower of my father, and threatened that if they kept up with threatening the Committee, they would have to deal with me. Though McNair had replied with hundreds of apologies and explanations on how it wasn't his fault, Lucius had simply kept up with the 'it nearly killed Draco' excuse.

Draco, despite being upset about not winning the House Cup, had seemed a bit more cheery knowing he was getting his way with Buckbeak's execution. Whenever I passed by him, I had heard him bragging to the four boys in our group about how he was sure 'the chicken' was going to be slaughtered. I had stopped in my tracks and turned my head to glare at him, which automatically shut him up. I hadn't heard him say anything else about it, but the trio had other to say. He said it way more frequently around them, which added to the fire of anger that was already festering in me. Sometimes I felt like marching straight up to him and demanding he say it again in front of me just so I could smack him like Hermione...but I knew there was no way I would or could do that, no matter how mad I was at him.

Exams along with Buckbeak's appeal inching closer and closer, I was ready to go insane. To make it worse, Professor Flitwick didn't seem to catch onto how Draco and I weren't speaking, and had paired us up to perform Cheering Charms on each other for our Charms exam.

"Professor?" I asked Flitwick frantically, jumping in front of him to stop him from walking off as Draco sauntered over to me with that same smirk on his face. "Could I please partner with Hermione?"