Beauty and the Beast [Draco Malfoy]

Chapter Thirty-Five

Lizzie's POV:

The end of term was here before anyone was ready for it, and by the time we all climbed onto The Hogwarts Express, every witch, wizard, and child knew the state of things. The Minister had finally recognized that Voldemort was back and The Daily Prophet had covered the happenings of that fateful night.

Draco and I had spent the last few days of term together in a somber quietness that disturbed me. Neither of us knew what to say to each other, so we said little to nothing. We spent most of the time just sitting together, holding each other close.

Harry was doing well considering what had happened. I didn't know how close him and Sirius were, but they were obviously close because Sirius' death crushed Harry. Hermione and Ron were doing their best to keep him distracted, and weren't doing too bad of a job at it. I wanted to talk to them, but couldn't find a moment. I was hoping I would be able to find him on the train.

"Lizzie. Elizabeth. Hello?" Draco waved his hand in front of my face to get my attention.

"Sorry, what'd you say?" I asked.

"I asked you where you want to sit," he repeated.

"Actually, you go find us a seat. I want to find Harry," I told him. Draco furrowed his eyebrows but agreed, leaving me to find us a place to sit.

I searched the train, looking into each compartment trying to find Harry and most likely Hermione and Ron. I found them pretty quickly, sitting with Neville and Luna in a compartment. When I opened the door, their heads snapped to the sound and stared at me.

"Hey," I smiled shyly.

"Hi, Liz," Hermione replied with a polite smile.

"I uh- I came to see how you guys are doing. I haven't had a chance to talk to you since that night at the Ministry." I sat down next to Luna, who was reading a copy of the Quibbler.

"How do you think we're doing?" Harry snapped, causing me to jump.

"Harry," Hermione hissed.

"No, it's alright, I get it," I replied.

"No you don't," Harry sneered. "You're too busy running around with that Death Eater boyfriend of yours to see what's going on around you."

"Harry!" Hermione smacked Harry's arm.

"Insulting me is one thing, Harry, but don't you dare insult Draco," I stated firmly, starting to get angry.

"I'll do what I want." Curse Harry and his attitude.

"How are the rest of you doing?" I switched my focus from Harry to the others, wanting to avoid a row.

"We're doing as good as we can," Ginny told me.

"How's your ankle?" I asked Ginny.

"It's wonderful. Madam Pomfrey fixed it in a jiffy."

"That's good," I smiled. "Anyway, I just wanted to come see how you guys were doing and wish you a happy summer. Please write to me and keep me updated, if it's not too much trouble. I'll miss you all." I stood up and waved to my friends, a chorus of 'goodbye's following me out of the compartment.

Walking down the corridor, I turned over Harry's attitude in my mind. Why had he been so rude to me? I only wanted to check up on him. I can understand a bit of rudeness since he lost Sirius, but he had not only insulted me, but Draco as well. He knows better than to do that in front of me.

I found Draco in the Slytherin compartment, sitting beside Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle. Sitting down beside Draco, I wrapped an arm around him and kissed his cheek.

"Hey," he greeted me, glaring at Blaise as if I had just saved him from a conversation he didn't want to have. "How'd it go?"

"Tell you later," I muttered, not wanting to share the interaction with any of the other Slytherin's around me and give them even more of a reason to dislike me. It's bad enough they all hate me for being a half-blood (though they all think I'm muggleborn since I hadn't told anyone about my new-found-father), I don't need them to know that I am friends with Harry Potter and his group of Gryffindors. "So, did I miss anything?" I asked Blaise with a sarcastic politeness.

"No," Blaise's glare switched from me to Draco. "I was just asking Draco here if he was planning on having any visitors this summer." He stressed the word visitors as this was a specific visitor he knew of.

"And I was telling Blaise here that even if I am, it is none of his damn business," Draco sneered.

"Alrighty then," I cringed at the tension in the air. It was obvious that something had gone down between the two friends, or was about to.

---

In the blink of an eye, the train was arriving at Kings Cross, lurching as the brakes were applied. I looked around me at the train, knowing that the next time I was to step on it, everything would be different. I didn't know how it would be different, just knowing it would be.

"Promise me you'll write me," I turned to Draco on the platform, looking into his eyes.

"I'll do my best," he replied, his eyes darting from mine to something over my shoulder. Turning, I saw his father looking at us.

"I'll um- I'll see you at start of term. I'll miss you, Draco," I murmured loud enough for him to hear over the noise of the crowd around us.

"See you then," he smiled softly. I wanted to throw my arms around him and kiss him right here, but with his father staring at the back of my head, I couldn't manage to find the courage inside of me. So I squeezed his hand and left him there to find my mum, my stomach churned inside of me.

I found my mum standing near the back of the crowd where she usually meets me when I exit the train. She had pulled her auburn hair back into a ponytail and had her arms crossed in front of her chest. When her eyes met mine, she shot a hand into the air and waved at me with a huge smile on her face. She was a very beautiful woman and it showed especially when she was smiling. I smiled in return and ran to her, wrapping my arms around her.

"I've missed you, Liz." I could hear the grin on her face through my hair.

"I missed you too, mum."

"Grayson couldn't get off of work today, so you're stuck with just me for now." She pulled back and held me at arm's length to examine me. "Oh my, you've grown so much." Tears began to collect on the rims of her eyes, threatening to spill forth.

"Don't cry, mum," I told her. She let me go and wiped at her eyes furiously.

"Yes, yes, I know. You're just growing up so fast. Before I know it, you'll be off doing some magical job like Grayson." She grabbed my hand and we began to walk to the wall that would lead us out into the muggle world.

"I'll still come and visit you all the time, mum," I looked at her through my peripheral vision. Her hair swung back and forth as she walked, dodging the people who shoved through the crowd to get to the exit.

"That's what Grayson said, but I haven't seen him since Christmas!" she exclaimed.

"You know I'm not Grayson," I said. She hadn't seen Grayson since Christmas? What was he doing that could possibly be more important than visiting his mum?

"Yes, I know." We jogged towards the wall and appeared on the muggle platform. "I just- I miss him and am worried about you. I mean someone poisoned you!"

"But I'm fine, mum, and that was ages ago, and I took care of her." The truth was that I had almost forgotten about the incident with everything else going on.

"Maybe it was ages ago to you, but it seems like it was only yesterday to me," she muttered. "And you better not have hurt this girl," she used her authoritative mum voice on me with her hands on her hips.

"Don't worry, mum, she won't try anything again," I laughed, climbing into the car.