Draco's Hufflepuff | Emerging

Six: Illuminate

**

Friday, 6th September, 1996

The first week of school was officially nearly finished. It had been a relatively easy week, considering. Even though it had been an easy week, I was still looking forward to a lie in tomorrow morning. Draco had even offered to "tutor" me on some weekends.

I was pleasantly surprised when my friends didn't say too much about what Draco had said. I knew it was all a ruse, and I'm sure there would come a time where they'd have more to say about it all. I was relieved when they kept their mouths shut and simply said it was nice of him.

We were sat in the Great Hall for breakfast, I was making my way through some blueberry jam on wholemeal toast with a cup of tea and happily listening to the conversations around me. I didn't mind that I wasn't involved with any of them.

Hannah and Megan were talking about their boyfriends and their double date on Sunday, Susan and Justin were talking about Prefect duty, Leanne was talking to a seventh year boy about his upcoming N.E.W.T.s, and all the boys were talking about Quidditch.

Patrick looked over at me and smiled, waving slightly. He was talking to Olivia about something, I could only assume it was about Head Boy and Girl stuff. He was focused on me as Olivia spoke in his ear.

"You okay, Maddie?" Patrick shouted over. Draco clearly heard because it caught his attention,

"Yes, thank you, Patrick. How are you?" I replied, trying to avoid looking at Draco,

"I'm good, thanks. I was just wondering if you could see me later, I just need to have a word with you about something," Patrick said, Draco rolling his eyes behind Patrick's head,

"Sure, is it something I've done?" I wondered, which got a chuckle out of Draco, and it made me incredibly nervous,

"No, of course not!" Patrick laughed, "It's just boring Prefect stuff,"

"Oh, okay then. Well, I'll speak to you later," I smiled, trying to sound polite, whilst not pissing off Draco.

The interaction between Patrick and I made Hannah and Megan stop speaking, and they were obviously listening in to what we were talking about. They glanced at each other, and they had a look of knowing on their faces.

"Okay, what is it, you two? Come on, spit it out," I playfully rolled my eyes,

"Nothing..." Hannah smirked, hiding her face in her cup of coffee, giving Megan the side-eye,

"I know what you're both thinking. Am I not allowed to speak to him now without you two getting ideas?" I chuckled,

"Of course, you can. Just not when you flirt with him so openly," Megan shrugged her shoulders.

My blood iced in my veins, feeling a surge of guilt rush over me. I didn't flirt with Patrick, did I? Was that why Draco always hated me speaking to him? How could I flirt with someone and not know it?

"I don't," I said simply, swallowing deeply,

"Okay, there's no need to look so sheepish, Maddie," Megan laughed, "Honestly, you've gone really pale all of a sudden, are you okay?" she added, her tone now filled with genuine concern,

"Yeah, sorry. I'm just hungry, that's all," I forced myself to laugh.

I slumped back a little, feeling as if every single person in the Great Hall was now looking at me, judging me for something. I lost all my appetite, but I knew I had to eat my jam on toast, as I had just made out I was hungry.

**

The rest of breakfast fortunately flew past without any further hiccoughs. I even walked to Divination with Draco and Blaise, and I was incredibly delighted about it. I was relieved that he wasn't upset with me for talking to Patrick, or he at least didn't show that he was.