Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 132

The next day after our Charms class, I excused myself from going to the library with Hermione and immediately left the classroom, determined to get Draco to talk with me.

Seeing him walking down the corridor with Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini by his side, I ran after them.

"Hey, wait up!" I said loudly, calling after Draco.

By that, the four Slytherin boys came to a stop and turned to glance back at me, all looking surprised to see me; all, expect Draco, who dropped his gaze away from me uncomfortably, avoiding my eyes.

"Can we talk?" I asked him, ignoring the nasty looks I was receiving from the other three boys.

"He's got nothing to say to a filthy Mudblood like yourself," Zabini snarled at me.

Draco turned to glare at him sharply, looking like he was about to snap back at him. But as if he thought back about it, he shook his head and looked away promptly.

"I wasn't talking to you," I told Zabini before turning to face Draco again. "Please?"

"You heard Blaise, Hooper," Draco finally said coldly, "I have nothing to do with you."

I gaped at him for a few seconds, feeling my heart sink at those words. "Wh-what?"

"Listen here," Draco started again tonelessly, "the only reason I told Slughorn that I was your date for his pathetic Christmas party was so I wouldn't get into trouble. So don't get any ideas. I don't care about you."

I gulped in shock. I never thought that such simple words could ever hurt me as much as they did at that moment.

"Is that your final word?" I said icily, trying to hold a firm and strong face.

There was a pause.

"Yes," he said simply.

I stared at him for long seconds, until I finally nodded. "Fine." And with that, I turned on my heels and stormed away from the corridor.

I don't know for how long I'd been walking around the castle; maybe an hour. Maybe two. I had probably skipped Transfigurations at that point.

I didn't even know where I was going. All I knew was that I didn't want to stop. I thought that maybe walking could ease my mind. However, it seemed helpless.

But suddenly out of nowhere, I heard footsteps approaching me in a hurry, although before I could even turn around to see who it was, a hand grabbed onto me and I yelped as the person dragged me into an empty classroom nearby.

"What are you doing!?"

"Shhh!"

Turning around, I saw Draco there. As I was trying to steady my breathing, he closed the deserted classroom's door, turning to face me again.

"Hi," he finally said, the edge of his lips curling up into a small grin.

"Hi!? What do you mean hi!?" I retorted furiously.

"Oh c'mon, you can't actually be angry at me."

"Oh, you think so? Well, I am angry!"

He rolled his eyes with a sigh. "Look, I couldn't have acted like we were friends in front of them! What do you supposed they would think? I was just pretending! What did you expect me to do!?"

"I expected you to stand up for what you believe in! Not what other people expect from you!"

Draco said nothing for long seconds and just kept his pale eyes on me. "Fine..." he started uncomfortably, clearing his throats as he struggled to get the words out. "I'm — er — s — I-I'm sorry."

I found myself suddenly smiling at that word, but stubbornly folded my arms and instead grinned at him. "I would need more reassuring than that."

"What do you mean!?" he retorted angrily. "I just — I just apologized!" he whispered the last word, as if it were taboo.

"Not too convincing."

"Ugh, then what do you want me to do to make you feel better?"

My smirk widened. "There's a Hogsmeade trip next week. Come with me as a friend. Prove them that you don't care."

There was a long pause. Draco kept staring at me as if I had gone mad, until he finally blurted out, "No way!"

"Fine, see you never, then," I said, turning on my heels to leave. But before I could even touch the doorknob, Draco stopped me.

"Okay! Okay!" He huffed to himself. "If I come with you, will you stop acting all bitchy?"

"Yes." I nodded with a grin.

"Fine, then," he said moodily, opening the classroom door as he glared at me. "I'll meet you in the entrance hall. And don't be late! I hate to be kept waiting."

And with that, he left the room, leaving me alone as I smiled triumphantly to myself.

***

On February 14th, I got ready as soon as possible for the Hogsmeade trip. I told Harry and the others that I was meeting up with Draco, lying and saying that my spying plan was going great and I was slowly gaining his trust.

So as promised, I awaited Draco in the entrance hall and finally met up with him, but he was still in a foul mood.

I grinned at him and opened my mouth to joke around with him, but he beat me into it when he said grumpily, "Just shut up and let's go."

None of us said anything as we walked the snow covered grounds through Hogsmeade. Draco had put his hands in his pockets with furrowed brows, walking hurriedly to avoid people's stares, and I kept quickening my pace to keep up with him.

I knew how hard it must've been for him to walk around with someone with such blood status. But frankly, even though he was in a bad mood, I still appreciate it.

But that didn't mean I was going to tolerate his grumpy arse any longer.

So with that thought, as he was walking ahead of me, I stopped on my spot and bent down, making a snowball with a grin playing on my lips. And so I aimed at him carefully, throwing it with full force.

"Ouch!" Draco yelped as the snowball hit him on the back of his neck and so he turned to shot a glare at me.

"It wasn't me," I said innocently, shrugging.

"What are you!? Five!?" Draco gave me a look and then shook his head in disbelief, obviously not believing me, and so he turned to keep on walking.

But I stopped him again when I grabbed an even bigger snowball and threw it at him.

"Okay! That's it!" he snapped, pacing quickly toward me and immediately going down, making a snowball and throwing it at me before I could react, hitting my head.

"Ugh!" I yelped, holding my face. "Ow... you hit my eye..."

"Oh...," said Draco guiltily, taking slow steps toward me. "Are you okay?"

I waited for him to get close enough before laughing and bursting out, "Ha!" And with that, I threw another one at him.

We both laughed as we started a snowball fight, until Draco finally tackled me on the ground, grabbing onto the snow nearby and throwing them on my face while I roared with laughter, trying to get him to stop as he was straddling on top of me.

But we both came to a halt when a voice suddenly said behind us coldly, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

I didn't even have to look up to know that it was Fred.