Sentimental Reasons

39. Dull

Audrey's POV :

It was raining cats and dogs outside. I was alone in the Great Hall, waiting for Daphne.

I looked out the window. White caps covered the lake from the wind pulling the water into the air. From afar, it seemed like the lake didn't move, but as you kept looking at it, you could realise that the water was dancing in every direction as if screaming and shouting in terror.

Daphne was running late, which was unusual for her. Everyone else was already at Hogsmeade, probably enjoying some butterbeers.

It has been four nights since my dream about the green flash. It has been four nights since I haven't slept. I was still so afraid of my imagination, and I couldn't trust myself to not dream of it. So every night, I would stay up all night and read or draw or listen to music. I wouldn't allow myself to listen to classical music as I was scared of accidentally falling asleep. Every morning, I would drink a vial of my potion and go on with the rest of my day, pretending to be healthy.

"Audrey, there you are!" I turned my head to meet Daphne's eyes. "I'm so sorry; I didn't get much sleep." I could see the black circles under her eyes. I wanted to give her a sip of my potion, but I knew that if she knew of its existence, she would figure out my secret.

"Don't worry about it. Trust me, I get it," I told her truthfully, intertwining my arm in hers and heading to the village, forcing myself to hide my exhausted conscience.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Dude, I'm telling you, Harper is just a fucking asshole," Theo said before drinking some of his butterbeer. "He has no place in our team."

"Didn't you just join the team, Theo?" Blaise reminded him with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah, but he's the substitute, not me." He snapped back. My eyebrows lifted at his remark.

The entrance door rang, and Katie Bell and her friend entered the bar. She was at the last meeting with Dumbledore's army. She managed to grab my attention with her fiery spells. I shot her a little smile, not bothering to hide it since Malfoy wasn't with us.

Which got me intrigued. "Where's Malfoy?" I asked them.

Blaise looked down at his beer as soon as I uttered his name. "Probably off doing his business as usual," Theo responded.

"Of course he is," Daphne uttered under her breath.

Talking of the devil, Malfoy entered the bar. He had his eyes fixed on Katie.

"I guess he's done. Draco!" Theo called his name. Malfoy lifted his eyes to look at us. He had a worried face as soon as he realised we were here.

Katie passed us, subtly waving me before climbing the steps to the bathroom upstairs. Malfoy joined us shortly after, but he didn't sit with us. He just stood at the end of the table.

"Hey," He simply said.

"What's that?" Theo pointed to the bag Malfoy was holding.

"Nothing." He responded without emotions. Blaise was looking at him with a sad expression.

Malfoy looked up to where the bathrooms were. "I'll be back." He said without looking at us and left to climb the steps.

Rosmeda, the innkeeper of the Three Broomsticks, looked at him with suspicious eyes.

I drank my butterbeer until there was nothing else in the cup. "I need a real drink."

"I agree. We should host a party soon. I can get us some real drinks." Theo suddenly got really excited. The perfect way for me to stay up all night without being bored. That was perfect.

"I'm down." I quickly showed my enthusiasm.

"We have exams, though." Daphne reminded him.

"Okay, I'll arrange for something to smoke too then," Theo responded. I chuckled under my breath. It wasn't actually a bad idea. It might be relieving.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Katie leaving the bathroom. She didn't wave me back when she passed by. Malfoy came back shortly after, a worried look on his face.

"Hey, you okay?" Daphne asked him as Blaise stood up to look him in the eyes.

"I don't need your help." He hissed at Blaise as soon as he tried to grab his shoulder.

We all looked at him with confusion. He wasn't his normal self.

"I'm fine," Malfoy uttered under his breath as if to convince himself that. He definitely wasn't fine. Finally, he sat down. His facial expression was as plain as the grey sky. There were no emotions there. Blaise, who was next to him, had a concerned look on his face as he observed Malfoy.

"What do you think, Draco? About a little party this weekend?" Theo asked him, but it didn't seem to spark his attention.

"Sure." He surprisingly said as he lifted his head to look out the window. "Don't wait for me." He said as he lifted from the booth seat. Blaise seemed to argue with himself on whether or not he should go after him. But finally, as he watched Malfoy step out of the bar, it was too late to stop him. His gaze lingered on the door until Daphne gently intertwined her arm with his to bring him back to the present.

He looked down at Daphne's arm and softly lifted his look to gaze into her eyes. I could see how comforted he was when he looked at her.

"Alright, we could do it in our dorm. I'll ask Montague to sleep somewhere else." Theo proposed.

"Fuck no, it always smells like shit." Daphne suddenly got woken up by his proposition which made me giggle.

"I never talked to Montague. Is he nice?" I asked them.

"He's not your type." Daphne instantly told me.

"I wasn't going to-" My jaw stayed open.

"He's the one that makes our dorm so smelly," Blaise explained, as he knew I preferred when things were cleaned and organised.

"Okay, never mind." I smiled and relaxed in my seat.

"Why can't we go to your dorm?" Theo asked.

"Because it's harder for boys to enter the girl's dorms than it is for girls to enter the boy's dorms," Daphne explained.

"Souldn't you know that?" I furrowed my eyebrows, given his history.

"They always come to mine." He briefly explained as I chuckled lightly.

"What about Draco's?" Daphne proposed.

"With all the shit he's going through? I don't think he'll want to host a party at his. Besides, he doesn't like when people touch his stuff and move them around. He'll kill you if you de-organise his space." Blaise told us. He looked at Daphne, who looked disappointed. Blaise seemed bothered to see her so blue. "I'll talk to him." Daphne's smile suddenly appeared out of the blue. He would do anything for her, and she knew it.