My Deepest Erised (Draco x Kaiye x Harry love triangle)

Part 23 - Pairings

"As a part of our annual Defense Against the Dark Arts exercise, we will be camping in the Forbidden Forest this weekend," Snape announced.

I wasn't sure whether I heard him correctly.
As far as I knew, the Forbidden Forest was off-limits for students, as it was too dangerous of a place.

I looked around the room, trying to see whether anyone was as concerned as I was, and sure enough, people were whispering to each other across the whole classroom.

"Silence!" Snape shouted and the classroom went quiet immediately, "As we all know, the Forbidden Forest has its name for a reason.
But, as some of you may have heard from the previous generations, the part that we're going to go to is the safest one - guarded with a spell from every beast that you're not yet prepared to battle."

I gulped. That still didn't sound too promising.

"Now, last year I realized that each student having their own tent was a stupid idea - it's not as practical as it should be.
So this year, you will be sharing a tent with one person from your own house.

Now, I know some of you don't get along - but this is a test - not only a physical, but a mental one, and I do not want to hear any words about switching tents. You're not toddlers and if you can't handle sleeping in the same tent with one of your classmates, you shouldn't even be at this school."

No one seemed happy with what Snape said, but nobody had the courage to comment on it either.

"Here we go... I'll start with Hufflepuff," he said, and started reading names off of a list. The only thing that caught me off guard was the fact that there were male + female combinations as well - not something I would have expected to be allowed.

The list went on, Harry and Ron got paired, while Hermione was in the same tent as Neville. Ron gave Snape a dirty look, while he read on.

"And now, for my own house:

Zabini and Nott.

Crabbe and Goyle.

Malfoy and Adonis..."

What?

I didn't hear anything he said after my own name, positive that he made a mistake.

I saw Hermione, Ron and Harry all looking at me, while I turned around to look at Malfoy, praying that it was some sort of a mistake.

But judging by the smirk on his face, I was assured that it was not.

"Fuck," I thought, well aware that I couldn't do it. I already told myself that I would stay away from him, even after the late night incident, and sleeping in a small space with him next to me was surely not the best way to do that.

Once the class was finished, I waited for everyone to leave, trying to avoid Draco as much as I could. When everyone was out the door, I approached Snape.

"Professor..." I started, not really knowing how to approach the subject, "I- uhm... I know you said that you wouldn't allow any changes to the pairings, but I really don't see myself being able to do this..."

He looked at me with a cold glare, "Who are you paired with again?"

"Draco Malfoy," I said quietly, then took a deep breath.

"Hm," Snape tilted his head, "I'm sure that this will be a great challenge for you Adonis."

"But he's-"

"He's what? Not your ideal partner?" Snape scoffed, "You see Adonis, not everything in this world is revolving around what you think is right or not. Now get out of this classroom and start using your energy on more important things than who you'll share your tent with!"

I turned around, and rolled my eyes, making my way out to the hallway.

"Hey Kaiye," I heard a familiar voice and turned around. It was that girl from the party, Luna I believed, "I wanted to ask the professor something, and couldn't help but overhear your conversation... I don't mean to be rude, but I just wanted to tell you that I don't think Draco is a bad person at all.

He is a bit troubled, but he's not evil from what I know.
Try to actually get to know him, and I'm sure you'll have a nice time."

"You're the first person that I've heard think that way," I smiled, "But you could be right. I'm just not sure I'm ready for that yet."

"Well, the weekend is a few days away," she shrugged and I nodded, "There's still time."

"Thanks Luna," I said and went to the backyard.

I wasn't sure if I was imagining things or if people were really whispering things to each other when I walked passed them, but either way, I tried not to pay them much attention.

"Well if it isn't Malfoy's tent pair," I head Pike tease as I walked pass a tree in the backyard. I turned around and saw their group talking underneath it.

"Shut up Pike," I fake punched him in the arm.

"Lucky Malfoy, why couldn't one of us be paired with a hot girl?" Goyle asked.

"If you think she's hot, you can have her," Malfoy said, looking me directly in my eyes as he did.

My entire face dropped.

"I'd gladly trade Nott for Kaiye," Zabini jumped in, smiling at me, but I couldn't bring myself to smile back.

Of course Luna was wrong. How could anyone believe anything that came out of Malfoy's mouth?
It's easy to play stupid when we're alone and no one can see us, but in reality, he was just a regular asshole.

"I'd gladly trade this rock for Malfoy," I said, kicking a rock under my foot, "Or anything really."

He didn't seem very affected by my comment, but I walked away from them either way.

"Hey Hermione," I sat down on a bench she read on, all alone, "What's going on? Where's Ron?"

"He's inside comforting Ginny," she answered.

"Why? Is she okay?"

"Harry broke up with her yesterday," she said, looking at the ground, "I feel really bad for her... She really loves him."

I knew that there was a possibility that that would happen, but I still couldn't believe it.

"God... do you know why they broke up?"

"No clue. She didn't say anything to me, or Ron as far as I know. But Ron won't speak to Harry at the moment, and I'm just waiting for all of it to pass."

She really sounded hurt by the whole situation, and I started feeling guilty, even though I wasn't the one to blame for what happened.

"Do you think you could speak to him?" she said all of a sudden.

"Who? Harry?"

Hermione nodded.

"You know, I don't think I can talk to either of them without the other one feeling betrayed by me, and I'm sure he needs someone to talk to as well..."

She looked at me with hopeful eyes.

"But I'm not sure that I'm someone who he'd like to talk to..."

"Trust me Kaiye, Harry loves talking to you! He speaks very highly of you whenever you're not around. I'm sure it would mean a lot to him."

I didn't know what to say.

I didn't feel like I was ready to speak to him about his breakup, but after what Hermione said, I couldn't help but feel bad for him.
And if it wasn't for me, he probably wouldn't have had a reason to leave the poor girl.

"Where is he?" I sighed and Hermione got excited.

"Probably at the usual spot."

I got up and headed to the hill.