BANALITY : Draco Malfoy

83

"You're sleeping way better, hey?" Amanda says.

In the morning, I'm not hungover. Ali is though. She is chugging a sports drink at the table across from me to try and fix the pounding in her head.

I shrug. I don't think I am, but I'm so used to putting up the silencing charm as a habit, "yeah, I suppose so."

"Man, you used to shout a couple of times a night," Ali says. "Amanda told us not to bother you about it though, so we wore earplugs like champs."

Amanda had mentioned the nightmares to me once when we were vaccinating fish. I barely remember it. The details are fuzzy. Our conversation must have gone so poorly that Amanda decided to never bring it up again. It was only once I met Draco that I found out they happen every night, loud enough that others can hear them.

My old flatmates are taking the morning off to nurse the uncomfortable remnants of drinking last night. Niamh isn't even out of bed yet, and Amanda seems like the only one who is even able to stand up on her own to make food.

Not much has changed since I left, according to our conversation last night. Everyone knows that Niamh is a lesbian now, and no one seems to mind all that much. Ali has a gay uncle who she really likes, and she said she's cooler with it by virtue of being from New York and not Tennessee, and I nodd along like I'm supposed to know what that means. Ali said she's so cool with it that she even got drunk and made out with Amanda to prove it.

Amanda blushed intensely at this revelation. Niamh already knew, so I was the one who looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Then, the conversation turned to Draco. Ali wanted to know if she was right about him being well endowed, and I said yes even though I don't know yet, because I didn't want to explain why we hadn't slept together during our so-called sex-scapades. I told them we went to London, and Derry, and I even met his mother who seemed like an uptight bitch.

That shocked them all. Ali had thought that we weren't that serious, at least not the kind of serious that you meet someone's family, and I'm sure that the others thought so too, but they had the good sense not to say that to me.

Talking about him somewhat reminded me of the good times. At least, the good in the bad. He loved me, so much, and I think I was starting to love him too. How can I reconcile this? The full memories might help construct the entire picture. Zabini surely wanted to seed doubt in my head. Now, it is here.

This morning, Ali is reaping the repercussions of her curiosity and her drinking.

"So, where is Draco?" Amanda asks. "Is he in a hotel nearby?"

"He's out of the country," I tell her, knowing Ali is listening in despite her headache. "I'm supposed to meet up with him in a few weeks. For now, I've been staying with a friend of his in Sussex. She doesn't call it her house. It's The Estate."

"No wonder you are there instead of working at the hotel," Amanda smiles.

Ali groans and puts her head against the table.

The buzzer goes off.

"Did you seriously invite Graham?" Amanda's eyes flash over to Ali.

"I told him to come around lunch," Ali says.

Amanda points to the clock, "it's 11:30."

"Fuck," Ali groans.

The door buzzes again.

Niamh storms out of her bedroom. In a flash, she is at the buzzer system, letting in Graham. Her blonde hair is wild, and her eyes narrow in on us.

"Shut up, all of you," she says.