Sentimental Reasons

50. Reunited

I tried to calm my breathing, making sure my mind was blank before thinking of a happy memory. I decided not to think about my memory at the Opera de Paris, noting how it might've been twisted. Instead, I tried to think of something. But thinking of a happy memory is tricky. When someone asks you about a fun fact about you, you stumble on your words. This was the same thing with thinking of a happy memory.

Of course, I had a beautiful, healthy and happy childhood, but I couldn't choose a memory. After several minutes of nothing happening, I opened my eyes. I sat back down in my seat, exhausted by my failure. I looked around the room I was in, but it only held weird memories. I had decided to practice my Patronus in the classroom Malfoy had shown me because I couldn't find another unoccupied classroom, noting that most of them were blocked by a particular spell.

All right, I'll admit, I was half hoping to stumble across a specific blonde head when I entered the room. I still couldn't figure out what to do about Malfoy, which was eating me up. At least, it was a distraction from parents.

I looked down at my watch and quickly jumped up. Everyone was coming back in an hour. I quickly got excited and hopped away from the classroom. I walked along the corridors, eager to see my friends again and leave this loneliness forever.

Once I was outside, I regretted not taking a scarf with me. The wind blew my hair away, exposing my neck to the cold.

Finally, I arrived at the train station, despite the cold. I was two minutes late, but the train was nowhere to be seen. I saw the carriages waiting outside the station but saw no horse attached to them. I remembered Daphne telling me thestrals were pulling them, but they were naked to the eye that hadn't witnessed a soul leaving a body. I cursed the day I would finally see them.

Finally, I turned my head toward the city, where I found the train whistling its arrival. My heart splattered with excitement. The train finally stopped in front of me, and the station started filling with laughter and chatter as students departed.

I looked around the station, searching for familiar eyes, but I couldn't find them. Suddenly, arms braced me as laughter reached my ears. "Audrey!!" A high-pitched voice screeched into my ear. "I missed you so much!"

"I missed you too," I told her as I buried my face in her hair. "It was so lonely without you."

She pulled away from the hug to shoot me a smile. "I have to show you what I got!"

"Yes, please! Show me your new Dragonhide Gloves!" I lifted her hands to look at the new pair of gloves. She squinted in excitement.

"Aren't they wonderful! They look so stylish, so French!" She giggled.

"They do." I giggled with her. I looked behind her to see Blaise and Theo walking toward us with their suitcases and Daphne's.

"Missed us too, I hope?" Theo said with a grin. I walked toward them before hugging them both.

"You have no idea." I exhaled. I had waited for this moment for so long. The holiday had seemed like an eternity without them.

"Where's Draco?" Blaise asked, making my smile suddenly drop.

"I don't know," I said without making a big deal out of it. I quickly turned around to face Daphne again. "Come on! Let's go to Hogwarts!"

"Gladly!" She joined my excitement. "Aren't you cold without a scarf?"

"I am. That's why we should go now." I said as I intertwined my arm with hers, and the boys followed us to the carriages groaning because we didn't offer to help with their luggage.

Finally, we hopped out of the carriage and entered the castle, joining everyone in the Great Hall. The castle was eventually filled with students laughing and running around. My eyes sparkled. The silence was finally over.

I was seated at my usual seat, but I wasn't sitting in silence this time. All my friends were with me.

"So, tell me about your Christmases. How was it?" I eagerly asked, excited to fill the void that was filled by my loneliness.

"Nothing much, honestly. I spent some days with Rachel. And trust me, you don't want the details. It was a mess." Theo started, and his grin grew wider as he recalled the memories.

"Good for you." I was happy about anything.

"I was mostly with my mother and her new boyfriend. He's a fucking asshole." Blaise said.

"Oh. How come?" I asked.

"He treats me like I'm his son." He started chewing on his meal, clearly not wanting to discuss this.

I looked behind them to be met by Harry's smile. I smiled back, happy to see him back.

"What about you, Daph?" I asked her as Harry looked away.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I stayed home most of the time. I wasn't allowed to leave the house. But it was fine. I spent time with my family. I'm just happy to be back." From the way she said it, I could tell she was hiding that it was a terrible holiday. I grabbed her hand under the table to reassure her.

"Anyway, what about you? Did you do anything interesting? Has anything happened?" Blaise said. My eyes met his.

I didn't think it was right to tell them about Malfoy. I still hadn't decided about the whole situation about us. "I learned Occlumency." I gave them at least that.

"Really? Who was your teacher?" Daphne asked me, digging for details.

"I learnt by myself. Eating up books about it." I lied. I didn't need them to hover over the situation when I was hovering over it already.

My eyes shot up at the entrance of the Great Hall as I recognised his platinum head. He was already looking at me. I stayed silent for a moment, lost in his eyes. I looked back at Blaise, who was smiling at me. From the corner of my eyes, I could see him walking up to us. My heart beat faster at each step he was taking. I tried to concentrate on something else, anything else, but it was to no avail.

The last time I saw him was when he confessed his love to me or rather reproached it to me. I wasn't ready to face him yet. Suddenly, the chair in front of me scratched the floor as Malfoy pulled it. His gaze didn't leave me as I looked down at my plate, unable to meet his eye.

"Hey, man. How've you been?" Blaise said. I could feel his gaze pulling away from me to look at Blaise.

"Good." He said. I allowed my eyes to finally land on him. I hadn't seen him in a week. He seemed much healthier. The bags under his eyes had disappeared, and his cheeks weren't as hollowed.

"Did you guys meet up during the Holiday?" Theo asked out of the blue, making Malfoy's eyes look up at me.

We stayed quiet momentarily before Malfoy broke the silence, "Not really, no." His gaze detached from me to look at Theo, but my gaze never left him. Seeing him again made me feel something. I didn't know quite what yet, but it was there. "Never got the chance." If only they knew.

Daphne's hand squeezed, and I broke away from my gaze to look at her. She mouthed the words, "Are you okay?" and I answered with a nod. But I wasn't sure if I was. I hated what I was feeling. It was only bad news.