Green Eyed Monster | Draco Malfoy

34. Delusions

Chapter 34 - Delusions

By the time I woke the next morning, Alya had wisely disappeared from the dormitory. Daphne had been sure to wait up for me so we could head down to breakfast, but I did not make any indication that I knew she was there - as unusually kind as the gesture was, it didn't fix what she had broken. I had nothing to prove to Daphne and I had nothing there to outweigh the bad she had done the year before. And yes, even though Theodore and I had walked for hours in comfortable silence last night it was Daphne who had caused the rift between our trio in the first place. And I was not ready to forgive.

I allowed the annoying first years to trail me all the way down to the Great Hall, even though I had sworn I wouldn't, simply because I wasn't in the mood to ream them out and try to disappear where they wouldn't notice me. That was a lot of effort for children who would end up asking Theodore and have him lead them down without complaint. Nott followed me at a closer distance than the first years dared to, and he was sure to sit exactly to my right at the Slytherin table. We were all isolated into similar groups from the night before this morning, which meant that I was sat far too close to Crabbe, Goyle, and Malfoy. When Daphne thought to join our little breakfast club she seemed to keep her culture in check and sat closer to Lillian and Tracey. To her merit, the three of them were quite blatantly glaring at Millicent, Pansy and Alya - all of which were fiendishly whispering about me and feeling no subtlety toward the idea of it.

"Mr Malfoy...Mr Goyle...Mr Nott...Miss Potter..." I had not even noticed that Snape had come round to hand out our class schedules until it was put on top of my plate - which had nothing on it. I looked up to Snape, watching his eyes bore through the page he'd laid down and then flicker back to me again.

Eat.

I could not tell whether or not it was Legilimens or instinct that told me Snape was ordering me around - as always - but I moved the schedule off the plate and placed a piece of toast on it with a glare, taking my sweet time to put on raspberry jam that I didn't necessarily enjoy. I liked strawberry, but that required reaching over to Malfoy, who had used it last.

"We have Divination first, Audrey," Nott sighed, turning his schedule over to me as if I couldn't read my own. "But at least we have double Potions after it - then History of Magic and double Defence Against the Dark Arts...we're split between Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs today."

"Splendid," I sighed, picking at the burnt crust on my piece of toast.

"Oh, get over yourself and eat it," Malfoy hissed from near my unattained strawberry jam. "You're so bloody annoying, Potter. We have prefect things to do, you know, and your moping isn't going to help either one of us. Drink your pumpkin juice, eat your toast - you look bloody dreadful - and then plan your revenge like you always do. Your angst is a bore."

Then Malfoy stood up and left the table.

"Er..." I didn't know where I was supposed to look right now, but my raised eyebrows and curious eyes naturally followed him and watched him retreat out of the hall. The hypocrite had left his breakfast mocking me with the strawberried toast and our apparent 'prefect things' seemed not to have been as important as he'd preached.

"He's in a foul mood today," Tracey - who was always quite adamant on saying things exactly as they were - looked nearly as surprised as I did.

"What's gotten his wand in a knot?" I turn to Theodore and Tracey, who had already gone back to their breakfast instead of watching him leave as I had. "I understand all the gossipers and you being all 'defensive friend power' and all, but what's eating him?"

"Er..." Nott sounded exactly as I had. "He's been having a bit of a rough summer, you see."

"A rough summer?" I responded with a frown. "Did his involve dementors too?"