Hidden Feelings - A Draco Malfoy Love Story

Chapter Thirty

"You haven't figured anything out yet?"

Harry shakes his head miserably. He stands before me in the library, book upon book stacked up in his arms.

"I swear, I wasn't procrastinating. I've been looking for something since we found out, I just...can't find anything," he says.

I can't help but smile, but I try to bite it back. "Harry, I'll help you."

"I feel bad," he starts, but I raise a hand.

"I've had mine figured out for a week or two now. I won't tell you or lead you to my idea, although it's not that good anyway, and I won't take yours. Okay?"

He quickly nods and sits down next to me, dropping the books onto the table. I open the first one I see, scanning the table of contents.

"Are you nervous?" Harry asks quietly, as if he himself is nervous about asking the question.

I let out a soft laugh. "More like terrified."

"Me too," he breathes out.

I hesitate, flipping through the pages a little before looking up at him. "This is going to sound really stupid, but I've always had what I at least thought was an irrational fear of drowning."

"I think it's a very rational fear, given the circumstances." He grins a little. "I can't get over the fact that we have an hour to search. It can't be easy to find something if you're given an hour."

I haven't been able to stop thinking of that myself. With my navigation skills, it's guaranteed I'll use up the entire hour. What if the bubble-head charm stops working unexpectedly when I'm too deep to get back to the surface? What if I get so panicked under the water that I can't focus enough to search, and fail the task? As much as I didn't want to do this at the start, being in first place has sparked the hope of actually winning.

We search for as long as we can, yet we still don't have a solution by the time we're being told to leave. Three hours, and we find nothing. I'm beginning to grow thankful for the charms book Moody had given me so long ago; I couldn't even find anything in year seven books, at this point.

We had long since moved back to the common room. I'm on my way to the library for more books, Harry practically falling asleep on one of the couches. He'd spent so many hours the night before researching, I don't mind staying up with him now to help. This task is going to be challenging no doubt, and because I have no desire to win, I have no problem making sure Harry stays safe; him and whatever they take from us.

I pass Malfoy first thing when I enter the room. I breeze past him, determined not to look his way. I head toward the potions section, certain there was something we could manage to make. If worse comes to worse, I could always ask Snape for a little guidance.

I run my fingers along the spines of the books, stopping to skim through the textbooks for years five through seven along the way. My eye catches a book called Defense Against Nature up on one of the higher shelves, and I reach up, realizing my fingers barely brush the shelf it sits on. I turn my head, no step stool in sight.

"Need help?"

I flinch, turning around to see Malfoy in what had been empty space just seconds earlier. "You scared me," I say. You sound stupid.

"Oops." He glances up at the pale blue book I need. "You do have something called magic, you know?"

"My wand is in my room," I explain.

"Is this a tournament thing?" he asks, reaching up and grabbing it with ease. He holds it behind his back, tilting his head at me.

"Yes."

"Getting rather close to the task to be researching, still."

"It's not for me," I say defensively. "I have my strategy. I'm helping Harry."

"Ah."

"Can I have it?" I ask, crossing my arms.

"I don't know, can you?" he teases.

"You're an idiot."

He holds the book up above his head, a small grin on his face. "Here's some practice for the task. Wandless, short, these are obstacles you may have to face."

I bite my lip, not moving. "Malfoy, I don't even know if that has what I'm looking for. I can just go find something else."

"What if it is what you're looking for?" he asks. "And you just leave it here? What if you're responsible for your Potter not doing well?"

"Stop," I mutter.

His smile almost flickers, and I can see the moment he starts to feel bad in contrast to the moment he tries to hide how he felt bad. "Just having fun," he says, lowering the book down. I slowly reach out to take it, pleasantly surprised that he doesn't try yanking it away.

"Thank you."

"You alright, Medlor? You seem stressed."

"Why do you care?" I open the book, flipping through the pages.

"Well, you're helping Potter. Perhaps I'm convincing you to give yourself a break so he doesn't have as good a shot at winning."

"Your attempt at sabotage is quite sad," I say, "especially if you're helping me instead."

"Better you than him."

I scoff, pausing to read one of the headings before flipping a few pages. "As if I'm the one who could win this."

"You're tied with him. I'd say you have a good shot," he says, leaning against the shelf so he's more in my line of vision.

"I doubt this next challenge will be on my side."

"How so?"

"Why should I tell you? Don't want it getting leaked to the press, do we?" I reach the end of the book and sigh, shutting it. The red line on my face practically burns at the thought.

"Wouldn't hurt to get you a little extra fame. The support of the people is something that could really help you."

"I don't need help. I'm not trying to win this, I'm trying to make it out alive," I say, gripping the book tightly as I look at him. His face shows so little emotion, I have trouble reading his feelings.

"I can respect that," he says, glancing down at the book. "Not what you were looking for?"

I roll my eyes, handing it back. He pushes it back into its spot, twisting back around to face me again.

"You don't want the attention, right?"

I cross my arms again. "Of course not."

"You've already got it, Medlor. Why not go for a little more?" He pushes himself away from the shelf, raising an eyebrow as he backs away.

I watch him disappear around the corner, and turn back to the shelf. I find myself not reading the book titles any longer as I replay all he said to me in my mind.

A/N Again, this is kind of a short chapter, but I really wanted to get something out. It's practically been a year which is slightly terrifying, but I really would like to finish this story. I made a post on my profile that basically said I'm going to try and start updating more regularly again. I hope you all are doing well! Thank you to everyone who's stuck with my stories over the past few years.