Merely Misunderstood

Chapter Twenty-Six

I pretended to be struggling with my trunk and told Mirah and the others to go ahead. Then, I purposefully got off the train later than everyone else, not wanting to have to talk to anyone.

I couldn't help but overthink the conversation I'd had with Harry — would it really be so horrible if I was dating Draco? I supposed, to him, it would be.

And this made me feel awful for two reasons: One, I was too much of a coward to admit my feelings for Draco simply because Harry and the others would react badly, and Two, what would it do to Harry and the others, not to mention Draco, when they found out? Would I lose them forever? Would I have to choose between them and Draco?

And what if Draco found out that I couldn't even tell my friends how I felt about him? He'd surely get offended; all his friends knew how he felt about me. Hell, the entire house of Slytherin knows. And yet, I could barely admit it to myself.

I sighed as I made my way toward the horseless carriage, walking slowly behind the crowd of students.

"I'm surprised the ministry's still letting you walk free, Potter!" I looked up at the sound of Draco's voice, my eyes landing on him as he sneered at Harry, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle as usual. "You better enjoy it while you can," he continued, and I abandoned my sulking, hurrying toward him. "I expect there's a cell in Azkaban with your name on it!"

Harry lunged at Draco, but was thankfully held back by Ron as Draco flinched away.

I stepped up to Draco, grabbing his arm and pulling him away from Harry. "Draco, don't," I muttered. Draco looked down at me, resisting at first before he sighed, turning away.

"What'd I tell you? Complete nutter!" Draco muttered to Crabbe and Goyle, finally giving into my tugging and putting his arm around my shoulders.

"JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Harry shouted after Draco as I walked away with him.

I shot them an apologetic look over my shoulder, which only Hermione returned — Harry and Ron watched us retreat, Harry looking furious while Ron looked worried about Harry's behaviour.

"You really shouldn't provoke him," I warned Draco as the horseless carriages carried us to Hogwarts.

Draco snickered, raising his eyes to the cloudless sky. "Probably," he shrugged. "But it's fun."

I rolled my eyes, shrugging his arm off my shoulder. I wondered what the others thought when they saw him put his arm around me.... Well, Ron wasn't watching us, and Hermione didn't seem to notice at all — maybe she assumed it was just Draco's careless behaviour? — but Harry... he looked incredibly angry. Of course, that could have just been toward Draco's words, but he'd been watching....

I stressed about this the whole way there, and I could tell Draco noticed my distraction, because he didn't say anything to me, but he kept glancing at me, his eyes narrowed.

I hardly ate much — I still felt nauseous as the conflict from earlier returned.

As usual, I paid no attention to Dumbledore's annual speech. At least until I heard a very annoying, girly cough.

"Hem hem."

I glanced up, seeing a short, squat woman dressed in pink standing at Dumbledore's podium.

I tried to pay attention to her speech, but lost interest quickly — what she was saying wasn't all that interesting. I still listened to what she was saying, though, and something about her speech didn't rest well with me; it sounded almost as though she was here to change the ways of Hogwarts. And it didn't seem like she was going to change it for the better.