"These mudbloods really think they can tell me what to do?" I hear Blaise Zabini tell Malfoy with a scoff. Zabini is standing in front of our desk as Malfoy is sitting down in his spot.
"Pathetic," Malfoy rolls his eyes in disgust. I've never seen him like this. "They clearly don't understand what it's like to be an actual wizard."
"Tell me about it," Zabini lets out a hard laugh. I walk past them and sit down in my spot.
"Sorry to interrupt," I say quietly as I sit down. Zabini looks at me and his eyes seem to soften a bit.
"Morning Chronicle. I'm gonna go to my spot now. See you later Malfoy," Zabini tells Malfoy before looking at me again and then walking away.
"So... still meeting up tonight?" I ask after moments of silence goes by.
"Shh," Malfoy shushes me before looking around. "Don't let the whole class know."
"Why?" I ask, confused.
"Well, you don't want to be known as the Hufflepuff turned evil," he jokes with a grin.
"Yeah right," I scoff. "No one will even notice I'm not around."
"What about them?" Malfoy looks at Tora and Genevieve laughing in the corner of the room.
"They'll probably think I'm just studying or something," I shrug with a smile.
"Alright students, let's begin," Professor says walking past us.
________
"And where are you off to?" Genevieve asks, plopping herself on the couch in the common room.
"Studying," I say, brushing off my skirt.
"Hmm, with Malfoy?" Genevieve props an eyebrow.
"No, by myself," I scoff and try to continue walking but she grabs onto my arm.
"You've been spending a lot of time with Malfoy," she tells me, ignorning what I just said.
"Two days working on a big project isn't quite a big amount of time," I sigh. "And I'm not working with him tonight. I'm studying by myself like I just said."
"Don't lie to me Emmaline," Genevieve says in a reluctant tone.
"I'm not! I'm cramming for the Potions exam," I tell her.
"Just, don't do anything stupid," she sighs and shakes her head before letting go of my arm.
"Well, studying for a class would be doing the opposite," I say with a smile. "Thanks for the advice though, mummy dear."
"Oh whatever," Gen laughs. "Excuse me for caring about you."
"Thank you," I tell her before walking away and down the stairs. I look back to see Genevieve watch me leave and then I try to hide myself as I walk through the corridors.
I keep my eyes down as I walk towards the Astronomy tower. I try my best to not draw any attention to me as I make my way into the room. I first make sure no one else is here as I walk out onto the balcony and look over the beautiful lit-up Hogwarts. I smile to myself as I think about how lucky I am to be able to go to school here.
As I wait for Malfoy, I decide to come back in and sit down by a telescope. I start to write in a useless journal as my nerves kick in about Malfoy and more specifically, my feelings towards him.
These minutes soon combine themselves into an hour and I'm stuck, sitting here with the painful truth: Malfoy didn't show up. Maybe he's just running late, I try to tell myself but I can't help but feel hopeless. How could he?
