Battle Scars {Draco Malfoy}

Chapter Sixteen

When Clara went to leave the Great Hall after dinner, she looked down the corridor outside the entrance to see Draco sitting in one of the window seats alone, looking completely upset. She had noticed during dinner that Draco had gone from smiling to a permanent frown, especially when the professors were named. She told Abby to go on before she walked over to him and sat beside him. They sat in silence for a few moments before Draco turned to her.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Keeping you company." Clara told him.

"Why?"

"Because you look like you could use some." she said. "You look really upset...what's wrong? Your mood seemed to change quite a bit when the professors were announced...do you not like them?"

"It's not about me liking them, it's about them hating me."

"Why would they hate you?"

"Where do I even begin?" Draco sighed. "How about Professor Lupin, considering I was one of the students who informed the entire school that he was a werewolf. Which led to parents protesting against the idea of a werewolf teaching their children and then left him unemployed."

Clara pressed her lips together but did not respond as he continued on.

"Then Professor Black is technically family through my mother's side. My aunt tried to kill him...my whole family basically disowned him because he was against the Dark Arts."

"Draco, he can't take any resentment he has out on you, it's not your fault."

Draco shook his head, not believing a word of what the girl said.

"Professor Dover has every right to hate anyone who fought alongside the Dark Lord....a Death Eater killed her father and she's Sirius' wife, so it's just three against one."

"Have you spoken to them at all?" Clara asked him.

"No."

"Then you can't assume they hate you Draco. You haven't said a word to them and they haven't said anything to you."

"They don't have to say anything...I don't have to say anything...it's just obvious."

"I don't see it being obvious. I think you are just getting yourself worked up for no reason. Perhaps you should talk to them. After all with Professor Black and Professor Dover being part of your family whether it be by blood or marriage, they are still family. Talk to them before you count yourself out. As for Professor Lupin, I don't think he's the type to hold grudges. He's always seemed very kind."

"Kind to those who have never put his loved ones in danger." Draco said before pushing himself up and leaving without another word.

When Clara walked into the Transfiguration classroom, she saw Professor Dover leaning against her desk, her eyes glancing over a book in her hands as the students made their way inside. She settled near the front as the woman made no acknowledge of the students entering the class. Clara looked over the beautiful woman before her. The woman's dark locks cascaded down her back as her hair was braided in the front to keep the hair from falling in her face. Her skin was so smooth and flawless that Clara instantly became insecure in the woman's presence. She wanted to hide under the table finally as Professor Dover looked up from her book.

The classroom was quiet when a smile formed on her face.

"Why are you all so quiet? You know I'm not going to yell at you all if you talk...Class doesn't start for another three minutes. Get it out now, because we will have a problem if you interrupt me while I'm talking during a lesson. So please take the last few minutes to get it out of your systems."

She ended up making eye contact with Clara and gave the girl a nod of her head with a kind smile before returning back to her book.

She was far less strict so far compared to Professor McGonagall's teaching. From what she could see she couldn't imagine Professor Dover being mean to Draco. But it seemed Draco was just going to have to figure that out on his own.

When Hermione Granger came in, Professor Dover looked up and greeted her, obviously they were close from the time they had spent together before the final battle. The two exchanged a few words before the class was set to begin.

Clara placed her textbook of A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration on the table as Professor Dover sat on her desk and looked out at all the students.

"For those of you who have poor memories or didn't hear before, I am Professor Dover and I will be teaching Transfiguration...obviously. Anyways, I would-"

She stopped suddenly.

Clara turned her head to see a boy in the back of the class with his hand up.

"Yes?" 

"Is it true you're a mermaid?" he asked Professor Dover.

"Half." she answered quickly before trying to continue but another hand shot up.

"Yes?"

"Can we see your tail?"

"No."

Clara saw a look of irritation sweep across the woman's face as hands continued to shoot up into the air to ask her more questions about the woman's heritage.

Soon it seemed the class was getting out of control, and Professor Dover couldn't get the students to stop asking. That was until she scared the living hell out of all of them.

The woman's face morphed from the kind beautiful face to black eyes and sharp jagged teeth causing the majority of seventh years to gasp in fear.

No one dared raise a hand as her face returned to normal.

" I told you we were going to have problems if you tried to talk over me. Now...where were we?"