It can never be the same

Chapter 17

Some bonds are formed way before the people have even met. It was forged in the stars; the people pre-destined to meet in that lifetime. Perhaps they had even met in previous lives. She heard that, if a bond was strong enough, it could transcend lifetimes.

Y/n wasn't so sure that was true but it was how she felt about her new friends. She had been friendly enough with Harry, Ron, and Hermione but she had never worked up the courage to actually become their friend. It was scary, being at a school as big as Hogwarts, filled with so many students. One's voice could get lost in the crowd if they weren't careful.

She was scared of getting lost, of never finding friends, of being forgotten in the sea of people with no anchor. How did one even go about making friends anyway? But then she had walked into a bathroom to find Hermione Granger crying and stayed with her, trying to coax her out of the stall and comfort her.

Then a troll barged in and she pulled Hermione behind her. Harry and Ron showed up not long after and the rest was history. Fighting a troll together was one way to make friends. It felt as if going through that ordeal together had formed a bond between the four of them that would be hard to break.

She was sitting in the courtyard with her new friends when Hermione brought up a strange topic.

"He's looking at you again."

She followed her line of sight and saw Malfoy staring at them. She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe he's still miffed about you refusing his friendship," she joked as she shoved Harry playfully.

She, Ron, and Harry laughed, but Hermione huffed.

"No, not Harry," she said, turning to look at her. "You."

"Me?" she asked, baffled. "Why would he be looking at me?"

"I'm not too sure, but I think he might fancy you."

Harry's face screwed up in disgust, "Ew."

"You're bloody joking, right?" Ron asked, equally disgusted by the idea.

She turned back to look at Malfoy who caught her gaze. His whole face turned red and he turned his head away rather violently, pretending that he hadn't been staring at her the whole time. She frowned.

"Well, how else do you explain him constantly staring at her?" Hermione asked a bit annoyed that Harry and Ron were challenging her idea. "What do you think, Y/n?"

"I don't know," she said still staring at Malfoy.

She turned back to her friends as she snorted. Skepticism clear on her face.

"One thing I know for sure is that there is no universe where Draco Malfoy and I are a thing."

Y/n awoke feeling more tired than she had when she went to sleep. She lay in bed for a while, staring at the ceiling before Hermione came by her bedside and told her to get ready for the day. Sleep had been hard to find last night; anxious thoughts had kept her awake.

She was worried about Malfoy and his reaction to the news of Katie Bell's return. She was worried about how life was going to change once the Vanishing Cabinet was fixed. She was worried about Harry searching for Hocruxes with Dumbledore. She was worried about what Harry was going to do with the information he apparently discovered.

Hermione had come to her some time ago and told her that Harry had Kreacher and Dobby tail Malfoy. The house elves came back to him when Hermione and Ron were sitting with him (and when she had been with Malfoy) and reported back that Malfoy had been spending suspicious amounts of time in the Room of Requirement. She thought that was all there was to it but Hermione hesitantly added that they also said that they spotted her entering the Room of Requirement while Malfoy was in there.