With Love, || N.B.

𝑭𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒚

As Madame Pomfrey stood over Draco and tied his arm in a sling, Eleonora watched carefully.

"It'll be tender for a while," Madame Pomfrey informed him. "A ferret," she scoffed. "I always knew there was a reason we called him Mad-Eye, but to turn a student into an animal as a punishment? It's preposterous!"

She rushed around the room with her wand, directing unused items into their right place and shutting and locking the door to her office. "Now, Mr. Malfoy, you are free to go. Just remember to not overwork your arm for a week or two."

"Thank you so much, Poppy," Eleonora smiled. "You can go down to dinner now! We won't be far behind you."

A thick silence filled the chilly air of the hospital wing as soon as the door shut. Eleonora took a deep breath as she sat back in the arm she occupied and crossed her legs. "She wants to talk to you, you know."

There was a visible change in Draco's demeanour as he stared straight ahead. His jaw clenched and his nostrils flared, but it didn't seem to be out of anger. "I know," he said, the words coming out strained as he continued to stare ahead. "She said that in the letter you gave me."

"Your mother misses you very much, Draco," Eleonora said softly as she leaned toward him.

"I know!" he snapped back. But as soon as his words left his mouth, guilt flooded his features and he relaxed, his tone softening as he glanced at Eleonora. "...I know. Sorry."

"It's alright," she replied.

Draco finally turned his head toward Eleonora, visible tears starting to form in his eyes. "I saw the front page today."

"You're not the only one," Eleonora sighed, chuckling after.

To her delight Draco returned a half-smile and chuckled as well. "Yeah...Last winter holiday, I had gone to stay with my friend for Christmas, and when I came back home, I asked Mum if she was alright over those few days. She said she was alright. That an old friend came to stay with her." He paused to take a deep breath as his throat began to feel tight. "...That was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes," she muttered. "And I-"

"I'm not mad at you," Draco said, cutting her off. "I think I'm mad at Mum...I can't tell anymore. There's just so much going on, and Father keeps telling me things that I don't know whether to believe or not. I wish she didn't leave me. I wish I stayed beside her at the World Cup..." He paused again, thinking before he spoke. "I don't think I've seen her smile like that around Father-in the picture I saw of you two." His gaze softened as he looked at Eleonora. "How long have you known each other?"

Eleonora smiled. "A very long time. We were in the same year at Hogwarts, and it was only in seventh year when she decided to stop bullying me and make real conversation."

"Why did you stop talking?" Draco asked after laughing with her.

"Just lost contact," Eleonora responded, shrugging her shoulders. "And then you taunted that hippogriff, and here we are!"

"I never thanked you for that, by the way," he said. "You didn't have to do that."

Eleonora grinned. "Oh, it was no big deal. I've been meaning to show off my super strength."

As she looked at the boy in front of her, Eleonora couldn't help but crumble a bit. Everything he loved was being torn from his grasp one by one. His mother was gone, his father unavailable. There was no one in his life anymore to take care of him, and there was hardly anything she could do.

"Draco," she suddenly said after a moment of thinking. "The next trip to Hogsmeade is the 19th, right? The Saturday before the first task."

Draco looked confused. "Yeah. What about it?"