The Girl Who Lived (Draco Malfoy x OC)

The Feeble Glass

May 10th 1997

"How many Salt Water Taffy's do you think I could fit in my mouth?" Nott asked. "I bet I could do ten, easy."

"You are a hazard to society," Draco deadpanned as he exited the classroom beside him.

"And a coward," Blaise added with a smirk, "do twenty."

"Do you want me to choke?"

"Might be nice for you to have a taste of your own medicine for a change," Blaise remarked.

Nott gasped with a hand on his chest. "Zabini, where are your manners in the presence of ladies!"

Draco's eyes shot forward then to see Harper and her friend Lavender Brown walking in front of them. She glanced back over her shoulder at them, rolled her eyes and sped up the pace to get away, dragging Lavender along with her. He sighed through his nose, clenching his jaw as he watched her figure disappear into the distance. Almost two entire months had passed since their last moment together in the abandoned classroom. What a rush that had been. It was so intense, thinking it was the last time they could be together again.

Ever since then, Harper looked at him differently. He never allowed himself to look at her long enough to read it in her eyes. As the days went by, she seemed to look at him with more distance. One thing was clear to Draco though, she wasn't looking at him like she loved him anymore. Where there had once been tiny, shy smiles was now thin, straight lines. Where there had been rosy cheeks was now a paling face. And where there had once been glittering, ardent gems were now lifeless, hollow eyes. His girl was suffering and it anguished him to pretend he didn't care.

She'd begged him to come after all, to be on her side and fight alongside her. One look at his forearm proved that would never happen.

"I will kill him, okay."

"I know you will try."

He flexed his shoulders, trying to roll off the tight feeling that followed thoughts of the Gryffindor. It was the last thing he needed before going to the Room of Requirement. How could he save the girl he loved and his parents at the same time?

"Hey Granger!" Nott's jovial voice rang in his ear. "I know your choices are limited, but there are better purebloods to breed with than that doltish gherkin."

Granger and Weasley looked up from where they sat in a castle alcove, seemingly in a deep, important discussion. She shot daggers at them both while Weasley stood up to say something. She grabbed his arm, begging him to leave it, but Nott was excited now, he stalked over. Draco groaned, following his friend.

"Nott, knock it off," he called out to him, not missing the way the muggle-borns eyebrows skyrocketed at the order. "Leave them alone."

"I'm sorry," Nott scoffed haughtily. "What?"

"Is there too much wax in your ears again? I said to just leave them alone," Draco repeated, gesturing to him to keep walking.

Begrudgingly, he did as told, stomping behind Draco and Blaise for the rest of the journey like some tantrum-wielding toddler. Blaise began talking about the girls he was wooing, boasting about his recent conquest; a senior Ravenclaw with apparently a rack bigger than her brain. Draco zoned out of the conversation, more uninterested than Nott was as he continued to mutter about Weasley and Granger and missed opportunities.

"I'm sorry your day is ruined, you blithering idiot," Draco sniped at the whinging boy.

"Just because you haven't been laid lately doesn't mean we all have to suffer," Nott said.