Malfoy to Marvolo

Chapter 5

Seven weeks later

The weeks of detention had been excruciatingly uneventful. Other than a few melodramatic sighs or fidgets from Draco, noise was rarely heard from the two in McGonagal's classroom those evenings after supper.

It had resulted in a positive response from the Professor, who praised the students' ardently. She made a point to note their individual progress since the detentions had begun and particularly commended Adele, who had now jumped ahead of most of the syllabus due to her dedication.

Adele was sure if these detentions had continued on she may as well jump ahead a year. She had never studied at anything so dedicatedly, the motivation solely being to avoid Draco Malfoy's eye at all costs and to be so engrossed in school work that he hadn't a chance of catching her off guard staring out in the distance just to make a snide comment about it.

Nevertheless, the Hufflepuff was content to be more than on top of things, it almost made her evenings bearable. Although, she wouldn't exactly call Draco's company unbearable. In fact, secretly she rather enjoyed the silence of his presence.

His confusing attitude towards her and hurtful comments however, she was not so fond of. But even these seemed to have died down.

She wasn't sure if he could feel the same tension between them that she did as they sat in that cold classroom, night after night. She knew her feelings were likely one sided, but stupidly, as the days went on and drew close to evening, she found a spring in her step as she headed towards her nightly detention.

Perhaps it was quite sad that she simply looked forward to his company. But the silence held so much more than emptiness. In it she felt atmosphere, anticipation, excitement.

For Adele, the majority of time was filled with the sound of her beating heart, a cliché she wouldn't dare to admit. Her heart would rapidly increase in speed on hearing just a twitch, a pen click, a sigh come from Draco's desk. And as strange as it may have seemed, she grew fond of the way her body reacted for her, even though she knew it was a waste of time, and that their detention period would soon be over.

The first week was one filled with dread and self loathing for the fact she was permitting herself to indulge in such petty affections. But by the fifth week in, Adele found herself caring less about what her common sense tried to warn her of.

So Draco was a bad boy, was that all he was? She knew there was so much more to him underneath the surface, whether he'd care to admit to it or not; he could be a good person. She had come to realise that his facade was perfectly justifiable, an outcome of being raised a pure blooded aristocrat. She couldn't imagine how difficult it must be to have to keep up appearances and pitied the Slytherin for not being able to reveal his true nature.

On the other hand, she could be completely over analysing, perhaps she was as delusional as he'd implied. She may be in a dreamlike reality, a world that didn't exist but who cared? Wasn't it so much better than facing the cold and hard truth?

She was sure she was right about Draco's act. It was the only thing that made sense. Or maybe she was a hopeless dreamer in need of a reality check.

"You seem distracted," Said Kiara, munching on a sandwich as she watched Adele, who had now been quiet for several minutes.

"Just thinking about homework," Adele smiled at the Hufflepuff, returning to her jacket potato.

"You've been doing homework every night. Even McGonagal said you were ahead of the rest of the year." Georgia huffed.

"You're not turning into another Mione now, are you Del? Merlin help us all," Kiara mock shuddered causing Georgia to let out a sharp exhale. "Seriously though, what's got you distracted? And don't say work,"