If the War Never Happened (years 3-4)

Chapter Two

"There she was, so beautiful and free"
-Butterflies Rising
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"Drea! Hurry you're going to be late!" Hermione laughed as she started  hitting me with a pillow.

"I know that's the plan!" I groaned as I took the blankets and pulled them over my head.
"You need to eat, Drea! Come on!" She argued, "plus you can't leave me alone with those boys," she grabbed the blanket and fought trying to get it off from over my head.
"Okay, mom, I'm up" I groaned again as I pull the covers off and stumbled into the bathroom.

I quickly washed my face hoping it would help wake me up, which thankfully it did. Afterwards I put on my makeup and put my hair in a half up half down hairstyle. I came out of the bathroom to Hermione having laid out clothes for me.

Hogwarts always gives us one extra day to get settled before starting classes, and thankfully no uniforms are required.
As much as I was pissed Hermione woke me up early on our day off, I missed having her around. She was more like my sister, really.

"This doesn't make me less grumpy at you," I said as I walked over to my bed.
"Well maybe it will help?" She laughed as she sat down at my desk chair.

I picked up the red maroon tank she picked out and put it on and slipped on the baby blue ripped jeans. Last, I put on some hoop earrings and a small necklace and headed out the door, slipping on my black vans on the way out.
I grabbed Mione's arm and we walked down to the Great Hall not waiting for the Harry or Ron like we normally would.

As we walked down the stairs I started to get nervous seeing Harry after last night. I wasn't quite sure what to say to him, or how to let him down easy.

"Ready?" Hermione looked at me.
I nodded and we pushed open the doors to the Great Hall. As we walked to our table, Hermione looked at me and said quietly, "uh, Drea, why are the Slytherin boys looking at you?"

I turned to face their table and every one of the Slytherin boys were looking at me, and I swear Theodore Nott winked at me. Actually now that I notice, every Slytherin boy was looking at me except one, Draco Malfoy.

"Umm, maybe its one of their cruel pranks?"  I laughed nervously as we took our seats at our table. I sat further down from Harry, next to Ginny, which made Harry look at me confused. Normally, I sat by him and Hermione at every meal. I gave him a small smile and piled eggs onto my plate.

I looked at the Slytherin table, and they were all still staring at me, which made me highly uncomfortable. The only time they have paid attention to me was when they were pulling a prank on me, or making fun of me.

The Slytherins, namely Malfoy's group, have hated us since first year and probably even before then. Most of Malfoy's family was thrown into Azkaban by my family, during the first Wizarding War. However, I guess fortunately for Draco, his father and mother were spared from this fate. Although, it's unclear how Lucius Malfoy, Draco's father, managed to get out of an Azkaban sentence at all.

Theodore Nott, Draco's bestfriend and main henchman, hated us for the same reason. However, his father also escaped a prison sentence by ratting out his other Death Eater friends. Mattheo Riddle and Blaise Zabini hate us for no other reason then because their friends do.

Each year has been spent dodging the Slytherins pranks and their constant name calling and making our lives as miserable as possible. The fact that they were giving anything that looked like positive attention, completely caught me off guard.

I look down quickly from all of their gazes and began eating my eggs talking to Ginny to distract myself.
After a few moments I quickly stole a glance at the table again, but this time only one face was looking at me. It was Malfoy's. My face probably looked like a deer in headlights as I caught his eyes.
However, instead of making a comment about it, he smiled at me.
Did I see that right? Draco Malfoy smiling at me? I thought. I almost shook my head to make sure I was seeing clearly.