𝐚 𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐚𝐧 {a Draco Malfoy story}

chapter thirty

3rd person

     The next morning, when Ron was in the hospital, Rose had decided to visit. Not because she wanted to out of love, but because she thought it would've been suspicious for her not to do anything. When Rose first arrived, she was greeted by an unhappy Lavender Brown storming out of the hospital wing. She dodged the girl and continued to Ron. 

     "Oh, Rose, I hadn't expected to see you here," Harry said. 

     "Of course I'd come, Pot- Harry. I want to make sure Ronald is all right."

     Harry looked at her warily, catching onto her mistake. She smiled, trying to hide the fact that she had almost called him Potter. She turned to face Ron. "How are you feeling?"

     He groaned in response, and Hermione clutched his hand. "Well, I don't want to interrupt anything. I hope you are all well," Rose said, and she left the room.

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Draco

     I stayed in my dorm all day, skipping all my classes. When all the classes had ended, Theodore came back to our dorm, bringing me food and checking on me. He opened the door with a plate in his hand. He half heartedly smiled at me and nodded. "You okay, mate?"

     I rested my cheek on the palm of my hand. "Yeah, just thinking about how I'm supposed to help Rose."

     He looked at me sadly, and shook his head. "I thought you gave up with that."

     "I did. She's my girlfriend, Theo, I need to help her anyway."

     "Ex."

     I looked at him. "I'm sorry?"

     He looked to the side. "You can't keep calling her that, Draco."

     "Theodore, we never broke up."

     "Now you misunderstand me. Rose is still your girlfriend, because as you said, you never broke up. But whoever the new girl is... that's not Rose. Give it one more month. If nothing changes, you need to move on."

     I glared at the boy in the dorm. I knew he was right. Anybody with a brain knew he was right. But a month was not enough time. "A month?"

     "A month. You've already had 2, but January and February were total fails. It's March. Give it until April - all right, all right, don't look at me like that, give it until May first. If nothing changed, move on."

     I stared at the ground. "I don't think I'm able to love anyone the way I loved her."

     "Try."

+++

Rose

     I sat with Potter and Granger during dinner. "Any changed with Ronald?"

     "No, nothing since you came. Rose, why do you keep calling him Ronald?" Granger asked.

     "What? I've always been calling him that."

     "No, you used to call him Ron. Is anything wrong?"

     I touched the skin around the dark mark in a circular motion. So, I've got to call him Ron from now on. "No nothing's wrong. Did you find out who poisoned him?"

     Potter's eyes widened and the bushy haired girl stared at me as if I had become Voldemort. I was confused, not knowing what I had said to make them -

     They never said anything about the poison. "Rosalind, we never mentioned Ron being poisoned."

     Potter glanced at my left arm, searching for the mark. I mentally slapped myself. How could I be so stupid? "Oh I just, well, uh, Slughorn mentioned it."

     Way to go, Esparay.

~

     You'd think for being completely emotionless, your sense of logic would be heightened. Idiot.

+++

3rd person

     Harry and Hermione went back to the Gryffindor common room. Harry couldn't shake off the feeling that something was... off. "Hermione, I think something happened to Rose."

     "Harry, I highly doubt she's a Death Eater."

     "It all makes sense, though. She knew about the poisoning, she knew protects Draco Malfoy whenever we say the slightest thing about her, and she's been covering her left arm whenever she's around us."

     Hermione tutted, annoyed by Harry's accusations. "She already said Slughorn told her about the poisoning. She's dating Draco, if you must know, and I'm sure the arm covering is just a coincidence."

     "She hasn't been around Draco in ages. I can't remember the last time I saw them kiss."

     "Oh, so you're watching them kiss, now? Are you jealous or something?"

     "God, Hermione, I know you've noticed their lack of affection towards each other."

     "So what? They may have just broken up. You can't assume everyone is suddenly a Death Eater, Harry."

     Harry furrowed his brows. "Still, there's something wrong. She's not as happy as she was before. She almost called me Potter the other day, and she keeps referring to Ron as 'Ronald.' You must admit that's strange."

     Hermione held her books close to her chest. "Well, yes, that's peculiar. I'll talk to her later."

     "You're amazing, Hermione. Have I mentioned that?"

     She girl bumped into Harry and smiled. "May have mentioned it once or twice."

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ok sorry it's short i'm trying to fill in some gaps lmao my baddd