Fragments of the Sea

Curious Company

~1 Month Later~

Hermione was suspicious. She'd been studying Draco Malfoy since the beginning of the school year, and she'd have to be a fool to miss the way he'd acted for the past 4 months. The blonde hadn't called anyone a 'mud blood', hadn't teased anyone, not even Neville, who had chosen to come back the same as Hermione, during potions. 

Rather, it seemed that he was acting civil. Gentlemanly even! Though this newly shown politeness should have been expected from someone raised with a strict, pureblood upbringing, Malfoy was...Malfoy! But perhaps the strangest thing, was when he started hanging around a Hufflepuff. The girl had chosen to be his partner in Potions, burst into class with him, holding his hand, and with Draco less than articulate, made him smile and laugh- though Hermione had never witnessed it, she just assumed so from his newly formed smile lines.

Their mysterious camaraderie became even more complex when she noticed that they'd both show up tired, with bags under their eyes(though Draco's were a bit more prominent, no one really noticed either students apparent lack of sleep besides Hermione),  and then teased each other about it, making inside jokes and remarks about personal business. She seemed to make him let down his high walls, and Hermione noticed that he blushed sometimes when they came to close to each other, and when the Hufflepuff smiled up at him, Draco's face gained a faint rosy halo.

The golden lioness was on the prowl, and she wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted. Currently, her prey seemed to be the elusive relationship, and what it meant, of Draco Malfoy and the warm-hearted Hufflepuff.

'Curiouser and curiouser...'

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Draco glared at the table around him. How did he get himself into these situations? For the past month, Perci and him had been meeting at Black Lake, around midnight. She'd shared more of her past- her abusive first step-father, how he'd 'mysteriously disappeared' after she'd discovered magic(something about the way she said it gave Draco a bad feeling), along with other tidbits. He, in return, had told her some of his own past. One of the events he remembered most vividly was the night when she'd decided to tell him about some of her friends. 

A nervous satyr, an electrifyingly temperamental punk girl and her younger brother, who had been a goody-two-shoes, yet still went against some stereotypes at his 'training grounds', which, according to Perci, were other words for magic schools. She had gone to both branches of an academy called C.A.M.P., which was short for 'Chiron's Academy of Magic and Preparation', which Draco had called ridiculous, until Perci reminded him of what N.E.W.T. stood for.

She'd listed a few others, but when she reached an ex-girlfriend(which didn't truly shock Draco) with 'long, golden princess curls' and 'stormy grey eyes', he'd felt himself tensing up and avoiding gazing at her.

Draco didn't know why he felt a pang of hurt within him at her words. An overwhelming feeling of disappointment and rejection filled him. He was a bit numb, and Draco was sure some of his woe had showed on his face- how could he be rejected when he hadn't even confessed? When he hadn't even admitted to himself yet, that he liked her in that way- Draco had promised himself at the beginning of this that he wouldn't get involved romantically, but he now realized that that promise was just a mere ploy for him to escape his feelings.

Had someone slipped him some Amortentia? No, it wouldn't last this long. So why were these feelings rising up in him? He had gotten caught up in his thoughts, until a calming voice brought him back down to earth, to face a very confused Perci Jackson. 

Which reminded him of his current predicament, in which Perci was poking his cheek and pouting. She showed him her big, glistening seal eyes, as she always did when he tried(key word 'tried') to ignore her. When he looked back over with an expectant eyebrow raise, she smiled back up at him. Remembering a previous comment she made("Are you sure you're a snake? You seem more like a turtle with your shell!"), he mentally compared her to the cunning members of Slytherin.