The Girl Forgotten

The Deal

Neville had insisted on walking with Haley to her Potions class, rambling on about a herbology until she could hardly stand it. At last, she reached the doors to the dungeon of Snape's classroom. She said her goodbyes to her childhood friend before making her way into the class and finding a seat beside Luna.

She tried to calm her breathing as she scanned the classroom for moonlight blonde hair. Ravenclaws and Slytherins had Potions together and although the last person she wanted to see was Draco Malfoy, she needed to speak with him. She had stayed up half the night with worry over Harry and she knew she needed to act now.

Luna glanced at her nervous stance curiously. "Everything alright this morning?"

Haley gave her a strained smile. "Just peachy."

"Hm. Worried about Harry?"

Then she saw the moonlight haired boy and her shoulders sagged slightly with relief as she faced Luna. "Sure. A bit."

Luna blinked understandingly and remained silent. The other girls found Luna strange but Haley found a certain comfort in her unusualness.

Snape paraded suddenly to the front of the room, swinging his black robes dramatically behind him and faced the class with an expressionless face. He began class as normal as students took out their books. Haley found herself glancing in Malfoy's direction quite often. He hadn't given a single look her way and she couldn't discern if he was purposely ignoring her or if he hadn't even noticed her.

She remembered the words spoken between them in the Tutoring Room and realized getting him to speak with her might be harder than she had anticipated. He couldn't be around his friends when she approached, he would most certainly turn her away without a second thought. No, he needed to be alone. But how to get him alone?

Then as if an answer to her prayers, he raised a hand and asked Professor Snape to use the lavatory. He put away the ingredients of the potion he was working on and casually slandered out of the classroom. Instantly, Haley popped out of her seat and hurried to Snape's desk, the movement causing a rare sliver of surprise to cross Luna's features. Luna lightly shrugged and continued working on their potion as Haley stopped in front of the professor's desk.

"May I use the lavatory?"

"Malfoy is currently using it. When he returns, you may." Snape replied flatly without looking up from the parchment he was writing on.

Haley rocked back and forth on her heels before leaning an inch closer and attempted to look embarrassed. "Please Professor, it's- it's girl problems."

Snape slowly lifted his face from his work and set her with a hard glare before lifting his hand and flicking it as if to say, go then.

Haley didn't linger long enough for him to change his mind as she spun around and rushed out the door. The hallway before her was empty and her heart sunk as desperation began curling at the edges of her mind. Her feet moved her down the hall as her eyes searched for him.

Suddenly he appeared rounding the far end of the corridor, coming back from the men's restroom. He halted at the sight of her, his expression unreadable. She stopped too, looking at him, she wasn't sure what her expression showed.

"Malfoy."

He tensed at the sound of her voice. "Come to gloat, have you?"

She walked unsurely towards him. "No, not at all. I actually need a- a favor." She lowered her tone at the end.

Suddenly his tense demeanor relaxed and he laughed. It was a hard laugh, full of vice and resentment. He marched towards her, closing the remaining distance between them. "And why on God's green earth, would I help you?"