Draco's Hufflepuff | Emerging

Fourteen: The Boathouse

A/N: Dom Draco, I hear you say?! The end of this chapter gets intense... I giggled and blushed as I wrote it haha!

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Monday, 21st October, 1996

Our batches of Polyjuice Potions were very nearly completed, so all Professor Slughorn had us do was read through the instructions and ingredients that went into Polyjuice and talk about them with the people we sit with on our benches.

Of course, none of us were actually discussing the techniques of brewing Polyjuice Potion, and I think Professor Slughorn knew this. But instead of saying anything, he just chuckled to himself and carried on walking around the Potions workroom.

"So, who else is excited for Halloween? I for one love it," Lisa said to us all, "It's my favourite holiday,"

"Oh, definitely. I love Halloween too," Susan agreed, almost immediately,

"Since when, Susan? You usually say it's a pointless and stupid day," Hannah questioned.

Susan looked embarrassed and I could have sworn her cheeks were flushed, although the dim lighting in here covered it. I felt really bad for her all of a sudden.

"Maybe Susan's only liked Halloween over the past couple of years, Han?" I said, trying to help Susan out a little.

Susan smiled at me gratefully, as if she were saying thank you.

"Yeah, it is possible to change your opinion on things you know," Lisa tutted, rolling her eyes, "That's a little narrow minded,"

"Alright, alright! I was just saying," Hannah raised her hands in defence,

"Lisa has a point, Hannah. Maybe you need to look at your biases and views on things. That's pretty shitty to think like you do," Padma Patil said with an almost condescending tone,

"Woah, what the fuck? Susan knows I didn't mean anything bad by it," Hannah said, clearly feeling offended,

"That was a little out of order, Padma," I said on behalf of Hannah,

"Keep out of it, Maddie. I think Hannah just needs to admit that she's a little-" Padma cut her sentence short,

"Don't talk to her like that. I'm a little what?" Hannah huffed, her tone a little short,

"You're just a little prissy-"

"I am not prissy!" Hannah gasped,

"Entitled? Stuffy? Finnicky?" Padma shrugged her shoulders, looking at Parvati,

"Okay, I think this is getting a little out of hand," I said, rubbing Hannah's arm kindly,

"She is shrill though," Parvati muttered under her breath,

"Why does everyone think I'm fucking shrill? First Malfoy, now you," Hannah said, her voice cracking like she was hurt.

She pushed herself off her stool and stormed out of the classroom. Everyone looked our way, including Professor Slughorn. It looked as though she was crying.

"What's going on here, ladies?" Slughorn wondered, walking over to our bench, "Who knew a discussion about Polyjuice could cause such a stir!"

"May I go after Hannah, sir, and check she's okay?" I asked Professor Slughorn, trying to sound as nonchalant as I could.

Knowing that every single eye was on me at that moment, I wanted to keep my mouth shut, but I knew my friend was hurting, so I needed to get a grip and ignore all those watching me.