Draco's Wife

When the Cracks Begin to Show

For the time being I thought there were going to be no more nights like the one with Draco. I assumed we had just randomly met in the middle of the night. Even though I did have trouble sleeping most nights, I never dared to go into the common room again. I felt I would be in even bigger trouble with Draco if I saw him. There was not a lot of potential for me to get into academic trouble, but I still hadn't learned the corridor rules or even the Prefect's names. I didn't know what they would do if I was caught, but I didn't think that it would have been pleasant. I had no intention to get a detention because I was having trouble sleeping.

I received marks for the assignments from the previous week. Out of the highest grades I could get: Outstanding, Exceeds Expectations, and Acceptable, the highest grade I received was EE for Exceeds Expectations. It was received, non-surprisingly, in my History Class. Besides that, I got Acceptable or Poor. I received only one Dreadful, in Potions. Luckily no Trolls though; I wasn't that bad.

I found my biggest issue to be that none of the information stuck. I never got anything. I seemed to only understand the basics. I wasn't aware of how difficult first year was going to be. Putting academics aside, even making friends was hard. I didn't see myself as an unlovable person. In fact, a lot of people seemed to want to talk to me. When they did, I would politely reply or pretend to ask a question to keep the conversation going, but it was all just... courteous. I hated small talk, and it was what I seemed to always be doing. I didn't feel like I was making any meaningful relationships. I was really banking on the idea that Lacey and I would become good friends. We would say hi to each other when we saw one another, and we came together when it was academically appropriate. Her bunk was even across from mine, but she had already decided she wasn't interested in becoming good friends. She had found the people she belonged with, quickly after ditching me. I was hoping she didn't hate me; I felt like I had never given her any reason to. Judging by how well I had heard her do in school, she was far better with a wand than I would ever be. In an attempt to feel less lonely, I tried to become better friends with my bunk mates, but similar to me, they were quiet. It also didn't help that they knew each other. So even though they were quiet; they were quiet between each other.

"Um, Lacey? Hi, I was wondering how you did on the Defense Against the Dark Arts quiz?" I asked her one morning. We were talking in a hallway after eating breakfast.

"Oh, hi Attie, I uh, yeah... I do believe that I did fairly well on that one," She said nodding as if to help remind her, "Did it involve the smokescreen spell?"

"Yeah! That's the one!" I replied.

"Of course, yes! I do believe I Exceeded Expectations, fair enough, how did you do?" She asked. That was not the answer I was hoping for. Lacey was standing with 2 Ravenclaw girls. I didn't know them by name, but any Ravenclaw was smart. I didn't want to say how badly I did on a silly little quiz in front of them. In a perfect world Lacey would have failed the quiz too, and we would have complained about how hard it was...

"Fine," I stated nervously. I felt like running away, "I was just going to say that this one was a bit tricky, compared to the others," I was shifting my weight back and forth; my eyes darting, looking for a way to escape. I made a bad decision by talking to her.

"Yes, I do believe they have been a little more tricky than usual... But tell me Attie, why did you come to me asking such silly questions?" She asked with a mocking smile. The girls behind her smiled: they were mocking me.

"No reason, just talking about school..." I explained quickly. Lacey's face softened a bit.

"Of course! How could I have forgotten? We made a deal the first day," She winked. I wouldn't really call it a deal, but I guess Lacey could have been a bit over dramatic sometimes. In fact, I didn't know why she was acting so cocky so soon; she was a first year as well.