In the Melancholy Moonlight, Part 4: Nebula

Chapter 180: Imma Do My Own Thing

HARRY:

"How'd it go?" I asked Lucy once she returned to class.

"Oh, it was horrible," she said, laughing as she crouched down to stroke the head of the nearest porlock. "Merlin, what a nightmare that was. Where's Malfoy?"

"Malfoy?" Ron echoed.

"Yeah, I need a word with him. I suppose I can catch him after class, though."

I leaned closer to her so no one else would hear except Ron and maybe Hermione. "Why do you need a word with Malfoy? Did he...?"

"Oh, no, he didn't say anything to Umbridge, if that's what you're wondering." Lucy looked around for a moment, then gestured for me to get closer. "Archie joined the Inquisitorial Squad," she whispered, "but it's all a ruse, he doesn't plan on abusing his power. He told me that Umbridge instructed the entire squad to keep a close eye on the two of us in particular, so he recommended keeping our heads low."

"Well, that's unfortunate timing," I muttered.

She grinned ever so slightly. "Tell me about it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hermione asked, but Lucy pretended not to hear her. Hermione seized advantage of the silence and continued berating me under her breath for still planning on breaking into Umbridge's office. She laid off a bit when Umbridge herself appeared to supervise Hagrid for the rest of the class period, thankfully, but it was still unfortunate that Umbridge was there at all.

As soon as class ended, Lucy screwed up her face into a hurt expression and walked up to Malfoy. "You've turned Archie against me!"

"Oh, did I?" Malfoy sneered in response, a smug expression on his face. "I'd say I did him a favor. He finally had the good sense to join the noble cause of Slytherin house. Still refuses to call anyone a Mudblood, but I'm sure after a while he'll come around on that point too."

"Yeah, maybe," Lucy spat with a particularly nasty fake glare in Archie's direction. "He's already turned his back on me after we've been friends since first year. He was friends with my brother too. I bet Cedric is — "

"Rolling in his grave? I hope so," Malfoy said, and the false hurt on Lucy's face became real. "He was a disgrace of a pure-blood anyway."

Archie looked for a second as if he'd try to intervene, but Lucy silenced him with a look so I stepped forward.

"The only disgrace here is you, Malfoy," I said, grabbing Lucy by the arm. "C'mon, don't waste your time, he's just going to try to hurt you no matter what you say."

"Yeah, right, save the Mudblood," Malfoy hissed in my ear as I started to walk away.

I whirled around, ready to hex him so hard he wouldn't be able to speak for a month, but Lucy swatted my wand hand. "Don't waste your time, he's going to run crying to his daddy no matter what you do."

"At least I have a father to run crying to, if I so choose. Where's yours, Scars? How about yours, Potter?"

Archie forced a laugh, then clapped Malfoy on the shoulder. "C'mon, mate, bullying the orphans is too easy. Let's go see if the third-year you hexed yesterday has learned his lesson yet before our next class starts."

And with that, it was over. Lucy watched the two boys walk away, her face a perfect blank. After a couple of seconds, she snapped out of it and started walking toward the castle. I fell into step beside her as Ron and Hermione jogged forward to catch up.

She reached out and squeezed my hand a bit. "Don't let Hermione get to you," she whispered. "I know why you have to do it."

The rest of the day passed in much the same way, with me silently stressing about breaking into Umbridge's office, Hermione tearing into me under her breath, Lucy offering her assurances with little touches and affirming words, Ron just trying to balance out the three of us. After a disastrous Potions period, I made my way to Divination, but I was so distracted by how horribly my day was already going I didn't remember my appointment with Professor McGonagall until I was already five minutes late.