PRECEDENT : Draco Malfoy II

18

I do not see Draco Malfoy the next day. However, I do catch a glimpse of him in the stands while we are waiting for the Third Task to begin. It seems the buzz about Patricia Stimpson and Robbie Browning hasn't spread. People seem to respect that she wants privacy. I figure out who Robbie is though when she comes to the tournament. While she is uninjured, I hear the Slytherins snickering at her when she gets there. I never see Patricia.

Others watch the tournament; I watch Draco, from my spot next to Mandy Brocklehurst. She is all over Anthony and staring at Terry. I suppose that I'm not any better. Malfoy is having a laugh with his friends. He seems to bear no shame from what happened, not as I had hoped he would. I was hoping he would somehow carry the sign of the kiss. Love is a powerful magic, and kisses are supposed to stem from love. This one didn't though. Now that I think about it, I imagine that lots of kisses don't come from love. I hope, after thinking about all sorts of kisses, that the numbers are at least split down the middle in favour of love and no love, but I would be surprised if that were the case. Lust and evil seem, in my mind, to be the favoured category.

My thoughts are interrupted not even by the fanfare of the winner, but the gasps and screams at the results. Cedric Diggory is dead.

Harry's voice seems to echo in my head, "he's back. Voldemort's back."

The stands are not quite chaos. The people who aren't whispering to each other are crying. Mandy is holding Anthony's hand as he whispers to Terry and Michael. The three of them turn to look at me. My head spins, finding itself in the Slytherin stands.

The Slytherins look quite amused with themselves.

All of the professors begin to clear the stands. People are pushing and jostling. Terry reaches out for me. I could grab him, but I don't. The crowd moves in waves, and not as in we are let go in repetition, one after the other, but as in it actually feels like I'm stuck in water that shifts around me with every breath. Our chests are tight. Then, we reach the castle.

The worst part of the whole ordeal is that we are expected to continue on after the whole thing. It wasn't a weekend, the day of the tournament, and so we are sent back to classes the day after his death. A couple of the muggle-borns cling to Professor Burbage's room, only leaving for class. Others hide in their rooms. Most continue on, business as usual. I don't see Robbie Browning no matter where I look. Maybe I should follow her lead.

The other Ravenclaws take a uniformed approach on interactions with me. I wonder if they had a meeting. No one, not even Mandy, talks to me other than to ask me how I am doing. Although, Anthony Goldstein does purposefully doodle when I'm not paying attention in Arithmancy. He gets points taken away from our House, and afterward, he offers me a smile. I suppose that is something.

Amongst the Slytherins, there is a mixed reaction. Some of them do seem nervous or upset, though I only catch those ones having moments of anxiety in the privacy of whatever hallway corner they can find alone. When I see them, wandering the halls when I ought to be in class, they resume a stiff posture. Other Slytherins though, seem emboldened. Maybe it's the news of You-Know-Who's return, but it might be the aftermath of the attack on Robbie and Patricia. Definitely it could be somewhere in between.

At the year-end banquet, which has come far too late, Professor Dumbledore announces that Cedric was murdered by You-Know-Who personally. He asks us to drink to both Cedric and Harry, and we oblige. Many of the Slytherins don't drink to Harry. Malfoy doesn't.

Soon after, we all get on the train. I have to sit with the others in a compartment. Wizards don't have portable devices to listen to music, so I am stuck listening to their conversation. It is brutal. They carefully skirt around the conversation. Ginny Weasley has joined us. Her legs are draped over Michael Corner's lap. The world is so out of my focus that I hadn't even noticed that they were dating. I hadn't even noticed that they met at the Yule Ball.