| HIDDEN IN SECRETS |

chapter thirty-one

REAL FRIENDS

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Hogsmeade. At last, Verena was in her third year at Hogwarts. That meant she would finally be able to visit the all-wizarding town of Hogsmeade. Verena did not have high expectations of the town. She was fairly familiar with it since she would visit with her mother when she was younger. However, her friends had been hyping up the village, saying how fun it was.

Cho Chang would always tell Verena about the best shops. According to her, they had renovated the Three Broomsticks, an inn with supposedly the best butterbeer in all of Great Britain. She had also heard a lot about Zonko's Joke Shop where she found out a lot of their products were purchased by none other than the Weasley pranksters.

"Lovely day, isn't it?"

Verena spent the trip with Cho and Marietta. She had been invited to hang out with Draco, Daphne, and his friends, but she declined. It had been weeks since the incident with Draco and the hippogriff, but she was still annoyed with him. That feeling grew the more she saw him bullying Potter and the other students.

"Sun's shining, clear skies," Marietta smiled, looking up. "A perfect day."

"I wouldn't say so just yet," said Verena, and they looked at her questionably. "Since I got here, every Halloween has been a mess. First, it was the troll and then Filch's cat got petrified."

"Oh, cheer up," Cho said sweetly. "I bet all that is gone now."

"A perfect day can only be ruined if you think it will be," Marietta said. "I'll go see if there's a table at the Three Broomsticks. Wait here."

"So... " Cho began, turning to her. "Is there a specific reason you're with us and not with them?"

She glanced back across the street. Draco and the other Slytherins walked together down the street.

"I think I'm starting to come to terms with why everyone says Draco's so bad," Verena admitted. "I mean, I keep telling him to stop bullying the others – it's stupid, you know – but he never listens to me or Daphne... "

Cho looked at her, knowing there was more she wanted to say.

"And I told him about my, um, encounter with a Dementor on the train," Verena went on slowly. "Once I told him, I thought he'd stop teasing Potter for fainting, but then he did it again the same day... "

"Don't be so hard on him, Verena," said Cho taking Verena by surprise. "He picks his friends and his enemies. If he wants to get under Harry's skin, it'll be the Dementors. He doesn't direct his insults at you."

"He never listens," Verena mumbled.

"Hasn't he?" said Cho. "You said you told him about your encounter. Draco Malfoy is not the type to show his feelings in front of others."

"Yeah, I know," Verena said quietly.

"But maybe he just has a different way of showing it," Cho said. "It may not be words, it could be his gestures – big or small. Maybe he treats you differently than the rest and that's how he tries to show he cares."

Verena thought back to when she confessed she had fainted. She recalled his soft eyes and his worried expression. She remembered how he had hugged her and asked for her forgiveness. A thought popped into her head: Draco Malfoy was not one to admit his faults and forgive.

"Why do you care about our friendship?" Verena asked. "I mean, everyone else in our House in my year disagrees with it."

"I've never seen anyone else make Draco smile the way you do," Cho replied.