1998 - a Draco Malfoy love story

Chapter Eleven - Bruises

"Where in Merlin's name did you vanish to last night!? We were worried sick!" Ginny chides me, as I hold the pillow over my head to block out the light.
"I went for a walk."
"For three hours? Do you think I was born yesterday, Potter? You're even worse a liar than Harry!"
"I wanted fresh air," I shrugged.
"Fine, but if you won't tell me you know I'll just have to find out for myself. Thomas was asking after you all night, even tried to check on you and got the stairs-to-slide treatment." She comments, and my mind flashes back to Malfoy's words about Thomas from the night before.

"Well wherever you were, it's no excuse to miss Quidditch training, get up." She rummages through my drawers once again, tossing me Harry's robes.
"Yes, Captain," I salute, tossing the pillow aside and dragging myself out of bed.

Midway through training, I was certain that General was probably a more appropriate term. She had always been competitive, but as Quidditch captain it was downright out of hand.
She had us run flying drills with the Bludgers for more than an hour before we finally ran a practice game - splitting the team in half, training us against each other. I had to admit, no matter how hungover I was, Seeking against Ginny was always fun.

Afterwards, Hermione cooped us up in the library for the rest of the day to catch up with the assignments she knew we had been neglecting - Charms study, and an essay each for Divination.

The next day was a Sunday, so Hermione and Ginny both headed off to Hogsmeade, but I decided to stay back. Partially because I didn't feel like fifth wheeling, partially because I had another enormous essay to write for Herbology on the properties of the Moly plant, and more than partially because I wanted to sleep until noon.
Neville had joined me in the library to work on his own essay, and I couldn't help but take the opportunity to ask.

"So Nev, of course you don't have to say anything at all, but I also want you to have the opportunity to talk about it if you've been wanting to, and I was wondering... What ever happened with Luna?" I kept my voice low so nobody overheard, even though we were in the quietest corner of the library, with nobody else around.
He exhaled and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his tired eyes.

"Honestly, I don't really know. I mean, I told her I was mad about her, and she just said 'thanks for telling me, Neville', and acted like it never happened. Which is fair, she had every right to respond like that, I'm not criticising her - but you can see how it had me at a bit of a loss." He shrugged.
"That's tough. How have you been feeling about it since?"
"Bit awkward for a while, but it's easier to get over someone once you've at least tried to make it work. Honestly... I had a good chat to Hannah Abbott the other night. She knows so much about plants," he confessed, a bit of a dreamy look in his eye.

"Neville," I gasped, "you playboy!" giving him a light shove and a grin.
"Pretty, too..." He muttered. "She even said something about wishing she had me as a Herbology partner."
"No way!" I felt my eyes light up. "Well she's with Luna right?! We can swap! I'll partner with Luna and you partner with Hannah!"
"Hold your horses, Potter, that would be so awkward," he laughed, blushing a bit. "She makes one offhand comment and I arrange a whole swap without asking her?"

"Well, obviously you can ask her first. Just the next time you see her, shoot her a quick 'hey, if you were serious about partnering up, my partner is happy to swap'."
"Wouldn't that be a bit weird still?" He chews his lip.
"I don't think so, and you never know if you don't ask," I shrug. 'Up to you though, of course - just let me know if you ask and she says yes."
"Alright," he nods, convincing himself. "Yeah, I can do that."
"You destroyed a bridge and a Horcrux mate, you can do anything." I laugh. "I, on the other hand, am finding this essay impossible."

"What's your subject again?" He asked, standing from his chair.
"Moly plant and its uses," I sighed, "but the textbook has like nothing on it."
Neville nodded, disappearing behind a bookshelf for a minute, before emerging with a tiny almanac.