WITHDRAWAL. draco malfoy

viii. memories

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It's with her head down that Lillian knocked on the door leading to McGonagall's office, not ready to get an earful from the very strict teacher. Lillian really appreciated the lady, as well as her course, and had never been disrespectful to her but the rules were the rules, Lillian had already caused too much trouble for the Gryffindor house which meant she would temporarily bow down and accept whatever punishment McGonagall would give her.

"Get in," McGonagall announced, letting the girl open the door fearfully.

And Lillian shot her eyes wide open when she noticed Dumbledore standing next to her House Head.

"Take a seat, Miss Henderson."

It wasn't very often that Lillian would do what someone would tell her to do, but McGonagall and Dumbledore had this immediate effect on her, that even her own parents had a hard time getting. She wouldn't say she was rude, she just was not made for rules.

"If we are here, it is because we need to discuss your behaviour ever since the school year started," McGonagall started, eyeing her strangely.

"You should know that sending a stunning spell is extremely serious, and was absolutely not appropriate," Dumbledore added, "Something like this should not happen within these walls."

"A—Are you going to expell me?" Lillian asked with a small voice, her eyes glued on her feet.

"This is what Mrs Umbridge wants," McGonagall announced, a stern look on her face.

"But it isn't what we want," Dumbledore said, a little smirk hardly detectable under his long white beard.

Lillian's eyes lightened up, a big smile forming on her lips, she had a hard time believing that these two wizards in front of her had defended her cause and avoided her an expulsion from the school, but apparently, that is what had happened.

"However," McGonagall raised her voice, a finger pointed towards Lillian's face, "It must never happen again, we might know you have some anger issues and want to protect your friends and family, which is a very respectable thing, but Mrs Umbridge will not be as nice next time."

Lillian cringed at the word 'nice', if her detention was nice, then she really didn't want to know what could be worse —except for the expulsion of course, but nodded nonetheless.

"You should know something, Lillian," Dumbledore spoke, walking until he was in front of the girl,

"Every single thing you do today, determines what you will do the day after. But you mustn't know what you will do tomorrow, now or you will not do the right thing that present day,"

Lillian listened carefully, always in awe when Dumbledore would start talking this way, and more when he would talk this way directly to her.

"Live, Lillian, that is the only thing you must know."

Dumbledore, then, left the room by the back door, almost as if he was disappearing, and Lillian wondered if he had planned this very theatrical exit from the beginning, or if his little tricks was something she would never get used to.

McGonagall noticed Lillian standing still, and patted her back in order to extract her from her thoughts, "You can go now, Miss Henderson."

+ + +

Walking for a while, Lillian finally decided to stop her trail at the Black Lake, both Ron and Hermione had refused to come with her because they had to work on their potions' essay, as for Harry, he had disappeared right after lunch that same day.