WITHDRAWAL. draco malfoy

xix. uncovered

« UNCOVERED »

Dumbledore had ran away, in order to avoid being thrown to Azkaban. And as Lillian agreed he had nothing to do down there, it only meant more trouble for every student that was not a part of the Inquisitorial Squad. To make it more clear, Umbridge had become the new Head of Hogwarts.

And when they thought Umbridge could not find new rules to add, they were shocked to hear the speakers every two minutes, announcing new decrees, all more foolish than the others.

"Boys and girls are not permitted to be within eight inches of each other," Umbridge spoke out loud as the four teenagers walked to their potions' class.

"Wait, guys! That means I don't need to sit at the Slytherin's table anymore!" Lillian said, her eyes opened wide.

"And that means I will finally have some real challenge during this class," Hermione answered cheekily.

"Not nice!" Ron groaned.

"But true," Lillian laughed.

The room was already full of students, Snape patiently —or so he pretented, waiting at his desk, watching the teenagers getting their cauldrons ready.

Discreetly, Lillian walked past the seat where she would usually spend every class, not noticing Draco as he frowned, and she sat at the table where her friends would take this class. She hoped the teacher would not say a word about it but, of course, he would take every opportunity to question a Gryffindor.

"Miss Henderson, may I know why you decided to change of seat?"

"New rules, boys and girls can't be next to one another within eight inches of distance," Lillian simply said, trying not to smile.

"Then, why didn't you sit next to Miss Parkinson?"

"I'd rather not," Lillian answered, eyeing Pansy, "Apparently she is so clumsy she drops ingredients in other people's cauldrons. Not taking the risk to see my potion explode one more time."

Snape kept his eyes locked on the teenager for a few more seconds before turning around in a swift movement, his robes flying around him, as the name of the potion they would have to brew appeared on the chalk board.

"Lilli," Hermione muttered, "Draco is looking at you."

Lillian raised an eyebrow but slowly looked up, in fact Draco was looking at her, an undescribable look on his face. She couldn't explain what it was but it made her feel extremely uneasy, as if he was trying to get inside of her head once more. She coughed and focused back on the board before opening her potions' book to look at the instructions to make the potions.

"What was that all about?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know," Lillian mumbled, trying to forget the weird feeling that had rushed inside of her when their eyes met just a few seconds ago.

+ + +

The school day had ended a few minutes ago and Lillian excused herself to her friends to go work at the library. She thought Hermione would come with her, but she seemed to have other things planned.

As always, the library was extremely quiet and Lillian pulled out a piece of parchment, her ink and her quill on a free table before looking for a Transfiguration book that would help her complete the essay that was due for the end of the week. Unlike Ron and Harry, Lillian liked knowing she had no homework to worry about at the last minute, which was a great way of getting everything done without putting too much pressure on herself.