𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 - 𝐑𝐚𝐲 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 - 𝐑𝐞-𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞

Chapter Seventeen

I'm sitting on my bed at home, waiting for my Snowy Owl, Lily to come back. I sent a letter out to Draco seeing if he wanted to come with me to Diagon Alley to shop for school. Just as I'm wondering if she somehow got lost, Lily flies through the window with a letter around her leg. I untie the letter and start to read it.

Dear Y/n,

Yes, I would like to go shopping with you at Diagon Alley. Let's meet there on the third of August, which is tomorrow in case you've forgotten. I'll see you then - Sincerely Draco.

Draco is so formal when he writes letters, even to his close friends. Well I guess I should tell father.

Time skip to the next day

Father and I are now in Diagon Alley looking for Draco and Uncle Lucius. I see them walk out of Knockturn Alley. A grin makes its way to my face as I swiftly head over to Draco and hug him while my father heads to Lucius.

"Drakie poo!" I cry, imitating Pansy while I throw myself onto him.

"Nope, get off of me right now."

"Hmm, no, you're just gonna have to deal with it." I chuckle. He tries to shove me off and I just cling onto him tighter. Uncle Lucius and father head off leaving us by ourselves. More people make their way out of Knockturn Alley and I see them again, with more siblings this time. I then see Norman making his way over to me.

"Hey Buttercup, long time no see." Norman proceeds to pull me into an embrace. I will admit I have missed his embrace, but considering that we were in public I just settle for patting his back awkwardly. He lets go of the hug and I merely glance at the rest of his crew, however I pause at a green haired girl and a chocolate skinned boy.

"And who are you two?" I ask, turning to the people that I don't know.

"I'm Gilda, it's nice to meet you." The spinach haired girl introduces herself first with an undertone of anxiousness.

I nod in acknowledgment.

"I hope you manage to be more tolerable than your sister," I state, glancing at Emma tauntingly. "What about you? What's your name?" I ask as I motion to the boy who has yet to introduce himself.

"I'm Don," He beams. "It's nice to meet you."

"Hm, likewise... I suppose."

"Y/N!" Draco yells over his shoulder to me.

"Coming! See you at Hogwarts." I sprint to Draco. When I reach him, he rolls his eyes and drags me away from them.

Ray's Pov

"She seems... nice" Don comments once Y/n is out of earshot from us.

"Tell me about it." I scoff, turning back to the list of new books in my hand.

"Don't say rude things about her," Mom reminds us. "She probably just felt uncomfortable."

"So? Is it that hard to say; 'nice to meet you', back?" Ron snorts and shakes his head.

"You haven't seen the worst of her yet Don, trust me on this." Ron tells him. Hermione slaps the back of his head hard and Norman subtly glares at him.

"Don't say that Ron! She stayed with you when you were unconscious!" Hermione scolds, Norman and Emma nodding in agreement with her.

"That doesn't change the fact about how awful she is." Ron argues.

"Come on, she's not that bad once you get to know her." Norman insists.

"Yeah! Like mom said, maybe she's just not used to us yet!" Emma agrees, backing up Norman's sentence.

"Why do you keep defending her? She's done nothing for you." I question them, crossing my arms.

"Well- she seems nice!" Emma reasons, seeming unsure of herself at the same time. "Norman is friends with her so she must be nice!" I scoff at her attempt at a rebuttal.

"Sure."

Y/n's Pov

I'm in the book store, Flourish and Blotts. Draco and I are on the second floor, we are waiting for our fathers to finish doing whatever they are doing. We have already bought the books we need for this year so now I'm just browsing through the books. There's suddenly a big commotion downstairs so me and Draco look over the balcony to see Potter and the others.

"I bet that you loved that didn't you Potter. can't even go into a bookstore without making it into the front page." Draco smirks, going down stairs after the crowd had calmed down. I follow but don't say anything. Oh great, Draco just has to annoy them.

"Leave him alone"" Weasley's little sister says, stepping in between him and Potter.

"Ooo~ got yourself a little girlfriend there?" Draco teases with a hint of jealousy in his voice. I looked at him confused. Why would he be jealous? Unless... The mini Weasley girl starts blushing, putting her hair color to shame.

"Shove off, Malfoy." Weasley says, stepping in front of Potter and Weaslette. I just stand and watch as everything is happening. I notice Norman standing further back so I leave Draco's side to go talk to him.

"Hey Snowflake, what's up?" I greet him. He smiles at me, and by his side I notice the boy from earlier... What was his name again? Oh right, Don.

"Hi Don," I greet him as well, a tad bit more reluctant than I greeted Norman. "So are you going to Hogwarts this year?" He smiles and nods.

"Yep! I can't wait to go there, I've heard so many great stories from Norman about it!" His face lights up in a huge grin as he talks about going to Hogwarts.

"What house do you want to be sorted into?" He's probably going to say Gryffindor.

"Slytherin or Gryffindor!" Huh, that's surprising.

"Oh really? Of all the other houses, why Slytherin?" I query,

"To be honest, I've heard some bad things about it so I kinda wanna see if the people there live up to the rumors."

Ray's Pov

I overhear Don and L/n's conversation. He has heard some bad things about Slytherin, especially from Ron. To be honest, they're not all that evil, most of them aren't bad, they just keep to themselves. I feel bad for the ones who are nice people but are being perceived as terrible just because of what house they're in.

Y/n's Pov

"Well I hate to burst your bubble but you don't seem fit for the house of Slytherin." When I finish talking to him, Lucius walks into the store. Uh oh. Lucius dawdles on for a bit and slips something into Weaslette's cauldron.

"Y/n, Draco! Come on, we're leaving." Lucius announces, not before he rakes the Weasleys up and down with a disgusted look. I wave goodbye to Norman and Don as I follow Draco out of the store.

"Y/n, what were you doing with those two mudbloods?" Lucius questions me.

"She's acquaintances with them, father," Draco answers for me. "I don't understand why she bothers being polite to them though."

"I only interact with them because Uncle Severus wants me to help them with school work." I explain, half lying. If he found out that we were actually friends he would probably tell my mother and then it would be this huge mess. Lucius nods his head, believing the half truth for now.

Ray's Pov

"She certainly doesn't live up to all the bad things you've said about her." Don tells Ron. He's still going on about L/n.

"She might've only been tolerable because Norman was around." Ron suggests while Norman grimaces at him.

"Or she might actually be trying to be nicer." Hermione suggests with an exasperated sigh.

"Not possible." I say to her, she just shrugs at me.

"It's always a possibility." A silence falls over us and I zone out in thought. Why was she being nicer than usual? Is she actually trying to get better? But last year she said she wouldn't stop treating us like trash until we got on her level.

Is it because Norman was there?