The Malfoy Diaries (A Draco Malfoy Fanfiction)

e i g h t y - e i g h t 💛

Later that afternoon, as the golden glow of the sun shone in through one of the library's windows, Aria went to sit beside Hermione. She thought that it would be a good opportunity to get a break from talking to Draco. Unfortunately, she soon realised that she was mistaken on such a matter when Draco entered the library and went to sit down at a table nearby the two of them. Despite this, Aria chose to ignore him.

Hermione and Aria ended up in the library in the first place because, as could be expected, Hermione wanted to catch up on some of the studying that she had missed during the battle of Hogwarts. Of course, Hermione wasn't the smartest witch of her generation without reason. She put a substantial amount of effort into earning that title. Hermione browsed one of the shelves nearby their table until she settled upon the perfect one.

While she was standing near the shelves, Aria's eyes naturally looked towards Draco table and they locked eyes for a mere moment. It was only for a mere moment because Aria was having a difficult time even looking at him at present. She knew they these feelings thst she had for him weren't going to go away any time soon.

"I know I'm very pretty, Honey, but if you could quit your staring while I study it would be greatly appreciated," Draco said, in that perfectly quick-witted nature of his.

As he said it, Aria felt her cheeks burn furiously. What would he think of next? She decided that her best bet was in returning her attention to the textbook placed in front of her, even though she had limited interest in the contents of the book.

"I do have to say, Granger, it's fairly impressive that you're still studying even now. Well, at least, I suppose so. I'm not sure whether it's impressive or sad," Draco thought aloud.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, as she went to sit back down.

"I think I'm going to take this book back to the Gryffindor common room, Aria. Care to accompany me?" Hermione asked.

Aria didn't need to be asked twice.

She gave a quick nod of her head and soon followed Hermione out of the library and towards the familiar safety of the Gryffindor common room. She just hoped that she would be able to distract herself with her studying for some time. Helga knew that she needed to. These thoughts of Draco would otherwise drive her crazy. She didn't understand how she could feel so many things for one person, both good and bad.

While Aria was out of the library, Draco began to wonder the same thing. Of course, he was eventually pulled out of this particular thought cloud when Blaise Zabini entered the library and went to sit down beside him.

"Alright, mate?" he asked, as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

"As alright as I'll ever be," Draco replied simply, as he tried to pretend that he was reading and hadn't just been staring off into space.

"Have to admire the fact that you're actually studying. I haven't exactly bothered to do that very much since the war," Blaise said.

Draco felt tempted to scoff at this.

"That's because you've been too busy looking for fairies with Lovegood or whatever else it is that she's into. Please don't answer that thought, by the way, I'd rather not know," Draco said.

Blaise smirked at that, but a contemplative expression soon emerged on his face.

"What's going on with you and Aria, anyway?" Blaise asked, with genuine interest.

Draco gave a simple shrug of his shoulders.

"Should anything be going on with Aria and me? She's a friend... Sort of. I don't know. It's complicated," Draco said.

"Define complicated," Blaise said nonchalantly.

Draco released a sigh before he replied to that.

"I was a prick," Draco admitted.

"Standard for you then," Blaise said.

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Do you want to help me out here or not? I don't know what to do," Draco admitted. His eyes glanced towards the amber sky outside of the library window and he realised that he probably hadn't made the best move in what he had previously said to Aria.

"Face it, Draco, you need to apologise," Blaise said to him.

Draco outwardly groaned.

"I hate apologising," he said.

"Even to Aria? Just think about this for a second, she's always been there for you and you said so yourself that you were dedicated to looking out for her and that nothing could get in the way of that, not even your own stubbornness. You need to work out what it is that you want in life, Draco, because if it's friends, if it's people that you want to care about you, you probably need to change how you treat people," Blaise said.

Draco released a long breath after that.

"I didn't exactly ask you for a lecture, Zabini," Draco said.

"I'm not trying to lecture you, Draco. I'm just trying to point something out to you here," Blaise said.

Sooner than Draco could say anything, Blaise stood up from the table again and walked to the doorway of the library.

"Just think about it," was all he said, before he left Draco sat there thinking over his statements.

Draco wasn't sure what he was going to do next but, in all honesty, he really just needed a hug. He soon realised that wasn't even a general need, either. He needed the hug from one specific person. A certain Hufflepuff, to be precise.

Draco swiftly shut the textbook he had opened to a random page and then sighed.

"Insufferable," he said again, prior to standing up from the table and walking out of the library and back into one of the hallways.

Sooner than he could fully consider where he was going, he found himself walking to the Hufflepuff common room. He knew that he needed to speak to Aria as soon as possible because as much as he hated to admit it, he knew he couldn't deny it to himself any longer. He liked Aria and that wasn't going to change any time soon.