Merely Misunderstood

Chapter Five

At lunch, I noticed Malfoy sitting alone, playing blankly with the sling holding his arm and not eating. I looked around for Crabbe and Goyle, spotting them at the end of the table, each stuffing their faces eagerly.

I frowned, continuing my lunch, determined not to look at Malfoy again. But why would he sit alone? Was he really considering my words to him after Potions class? Maybe I'd offended him. Maybe he knew I was right, and was sulking. Maybe I was just overthinking it.

I questioned this all the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts, but as I walked in with Mirah, I saw Malfoy standing with his "friends" again.

I glared, unable to believe I'd wasted my thoughts on him for so long. Why had I allowed myself to think about him over some stupid lunch time isolation? Maybe he just wanted to be alone, who knows? I shouldn't care.

I realized I was hovering in the doorway, holding up the flow of people entering the classroom. I went to stand beside Mirah, seething.

Professor Lupin was addressing the class, explaining what was causing the large cabinet in the center of the room to rattle as if something were trapped inside. Turns out, something was trapped inside; it was a boggart.

"...when I let him out, he will immediately take the form of whatever each of us fears the most," Lupin was saying, and Neville let out a small sputter of terror. "This means that we have a huge advantage over the boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Hermione's hand shot up, and Harry looked at her with discomfort as he answered uncertainly, "Er — because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?"

"Precisely!" Professor Lupin exclaimed, and Hermione put her hand down, looking rather disappointed. "It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a boggart. He becomes confused...."

"Brianna," I heard Mirah whisper my name, and I looked up at her curiously. She had a strange expression on her face; it was like a mix of shock, curiosity, and disgust. I was about to ask why she looked like that when she discreetly pointed across the room, and I looked in the direction she'd gestured, my eyes landing on Malfoy.

He was staring at me once again, but now, he watched me curiously — a big difference from the narrowed-eyed bewilderment he always gave me before. And when I met his eyes, he didn't look away this time; he only furrowed his brow slightly, as if trying to read my thoughts through my expression. I stared back at him, confused as to why he wouldn't look away, and even more confused as to why I couldn't.

I snapped back to the present as Lupin said, "After me please.... Riddikulus!"

"Riddikulus!" the class repeated in unison, and I muttered the incantation, feeling dazed. I stared at the floor, determined not to meet Malfoy's eyes again as Lupin asked Neville what scared him most. But the feeling of eyes on me grew stronger, and eventually, I had to look up and meet Malfoy's eyes again, at least to shoot him an icy look.

And when I glared at him, he smirked, shaking his head as he looked away. I stared at him, nonplussed, wondering why he was acting so strange, and a sudden roar of laughter echoed through the classroom.

I turned to see Snape wearing a green dress and vulture hat and burst out laughing, both at the fact that Snape looked like a grandmother, and that Neville's worst fear was Snape.

Parvati stepped up to the boggart next, and I looked back at Malfoy without thinking, a bright, humored smile still on my face.

Malfoy's eyes widened when I met his eyes, and he quickly looked away, seeming flustered. He spotted Crabbe and turned to mutter something to him, not looking my way again.

Mirah dragged me into the forming line, eager to face the boggart. Seamus stepped up to the boggart after Parvati, and then Dean was next, and then, as Mirah stepped up to the severed hand caught in a mousetrap, I heard a voice in my ear ask, "Was that an invitation?"

I whirled around to see Malfoy standing behind me, looking slightly nervous.

"What?" I asked, bemused.

"Earlier, after Potions," he said, staring ahead as Mirah's swarm of bugs were suddenly trapped against the floor with a mesh bug net. "Was that an invitation?"

But I didn't get the chance to respond; I was next up for the boggart.

It morphed quickly into a sheet of pitch black, surrounding me in suffocating darkness. My heart pounded, and I screamed, terrified. Malfoy's sudden question had taken my focus, and I'd momentarily forgotten what I was supposed to do. I started to panic as I tried to remember where I was and what I was doing, but the darkness wrapped around me like a blanket, wiping my mind of anything but fear.

But then, it came to me. "Riddikulus!" I cried out desperately, and the blanket of darkness unraveled from around me as a ball of light appeared in midair before my wand, chasing the darkness wildly around the room.

"Excellent! Ron, you next!" Professor Lupin exclaimed, clapping his hands together enthusiastically as I stepped aside shaily to let Ron have a go, giving him an encouraging smile.

I searched the classroom for Mirah and Hermione, my heart still pounding erratically, hardly noticing as the boggart shifted into a giant spider.

"The dark? Really?" Malfoy's voice said from behind me, and I turned to see him standing alone, leaning against the wall. "That's what you're afraid of?" he asked jeeringly, his smirk thoroughly amused.

I sighed irritably, continuing my search for my friends. "Everyone's afraid of something, Malfoy," I said boredly, suddenly not in the mood to encourage his taunting.

He chuckled. "That's where you're wrong, Locust," he said, and I turned to glare at him at the nickname. "I fear nothing," he finished with a shrug.

I smiled humorlessly, raising my eyebrows. "Care to test that?" I asked, gesturing toward the boggart, which Ron had successfully ridiculed into a giant spider without legs.
Malfoy swallowed hard, his smirk wiping off his face, and he didn't reply.

I scoffed, nodding. "That's what I thought," I muttered, turning and walking toward Hermione, who stood on the opposite side of the room, watching curiously as Harry stepped up to the boggart.

Once I reached them, I couldn't help but glance back at where Malfoy stood, but I was surprised to find the spot empty. I searched the room, confused, and spotted him standing at the back of the line, waiting for his turn to face the boggart.