The Girl Who Hid | George Weasley

ch 6 : the imbecile

The next morning, you were seated next to Susan at breakfast when the mail came. You didn't expect to get anything, so you jolted when a letter dropped onto your luckily still empty plate. You carefully opened it.

Did you like the candies?
-DM

You frowned. The only person you knew with the initials DM was Malfoy, but that couldn't be. Why would he get you candy? You carefully put the card away and glanced up at the Slytherin table, making fleeting eye contact with Malfoy who had already been looking your way. He stared down at his plate after you made eye contact, but his harsh stare confused you. How could someone who looked at you so angrily have sent you a gift just the day before?

You blinked a few times before carefully tucking the letter under your plate so that you could get some breakfast. You tried to understand this the entire time you were eating, but you couldn't wrap your head around it. It must be some mistake right? There was no way Malfoy had sent you your favorite candy.

The day based by in a blur of confusion. Nothing seemed to make sense with this situation. It made no sense as to why Malfoy would send you candy, and you figured he only could have nefarious reasons for doing so. You were suddenly glad you hadn't eaten any of the candies last night. After classes, you studied with Hermione in the library, but you couldn't stop thinking about your gift. You were tempted to mention it to her a few times, but you were worried about what she would automatically assume if you had told her.

After you both finished studying for the day, you rushed back to your dorm, happy to find the room empty to give you time to look at the gift again. You pulled out the candy and the note once more when an owl landed in your open window with a letter.

You carefully removed the letter and asked the owl to stay.

You didn't answer my question earlier.

You furrowed your eyebrows together and grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment. You quickly wrote out, "No. I did not eat it yet."

You sent the owl back with the letter and sat on the edge of your bed, waiting for it to return. It did just minutes later. You removed the note and asked it to stay once more as you read it over. This letter was written slightly more sloppily, as if written in a rush.

Why not? Do you know how difficult it was for me to find it, you ungrateful twit?

You sent back, "Are you trying to poison me?"

This response came even faster than those before it.

Of course not, you imbecile.

You shook your head, knowing that this absolutely had to be Malfoy. You replied, "You often try to put me and my friends in harm's way. Can you blame me for feeling suspicious?"

A few minutes passed before you got a response to this last letter. You had sat down on your bed and examined the candy for any sign of tampering. When you decided he likely wasn't going to reply and got up to change, an owl flew into your window.

Meet me at the astronomy tower in 15 minutes and bring the candy. I don't need a response to this letter in case that wasn't obvious.

You carefully tucked all of these letters into your dresser underneath your undergarments, hoping that no one would look there. You stood in the middle of your room for a few moments, fighting an internal battle with yourself as you tried to decide what to do.

You thought of Malfoy standing alone in the astronomy tower, waiting for you for a while if you didn't show up. More anxiously, you thought about how he might retaliate if you didn't listen to his request. Finally, in a moment of poor judgment, you huffed and pulled your robes and shoes back on. You stuffed the candy into the pocket of your robe and made sure to grab your wand.

Since it was still before curfew, you slipped out of the dorms without any of the Hufflepuffs in the common room saying a thing. You sneaked towards the astronomy tower, not wanting to be seen in case someone had already noticed Malfoy heading that way. You made it to the tower and climbed the steps as quietly as you could. When you reached the top, you noticed Malfoy leaning against the railing, looking out.

You cleared your throat, and he whipped around. He eyes darted down to your empty hands with narrowed eyes. You carefully pulled the candy from your pocket, which made the corner of his lips twitch in what had to be the closest thing you had ever seen to a smile on his face. You thought for a moment that you might have imagined it since its presence was so brief.

He moved towards you quickly, making your eyes widen before he tore the candy from your hands. He ripped off the corner of the wrapper with his teeth and put one of the candies in his mouth, his lips turning down in disgust as he chewed it. He stared at you seriously the entire time he ate it.

He grumbled, "That is disgusting. Why do you like that?"

You softly chuckled, and you noticed his hard stare softened when you did so. He pulled another one of the candies out, and you expected him to pop it into his mouth again, but instead, he stepped towards you and carefully put it in your mouth. As his cold fingers brushed against your soft lips to open them, heat slowly rose up your cheeks. You carefully chewed the candy while he stood right in front of you, staring at you while you ate it.

He grunted, "See? Not poison."

Staring at your feet, you both sat in an unusual silence for a moment before you whispered, "Thank you."

You lifted your eyes and stared back into his cold grey ones, finding them widening at your two simple words. He nodded at you, breaking the eye contact and glancing around. You stepped closer to him to take another candy from the bag before putting it into your mouth. The corners of his lips twitched up into a slight smile at your gesture before he handed the candy back to you and turned to leave the tower.

While his back was to you, you called out, "I forgive you, Malfoy."

You watched as he hesitated, but he didn't turn around. He continued to head down the steps of the tower, and you waited until you knew he was gone. You grinned down at the candy in your hands before putting it back into your pocket and leaving the tower as well.