The Buddy System. *Updating In Process*

1. Return to Hogwarts

The familiar ache ignited instantly. I stared down at my hands, twisting my fingers together as a lump formed in my throat.

"I'm Raelyn—"

"Diggory," Draco finished quietly.

My head snapped up.

He didn't look smug. He didn't look entertained. He just looked... like he understood the weight behind the name.

"Cedric's sister," I added, voice smaller than before. Most people never recognized me on sight—but my brother, they always remembered.

Blaise let out a low whistle and glanced at Pansy. "Oh. Right. You used to have the biggest crush on her brother."

"Blaise!" Pansy hissed, swatting his arm.

"Well, you did!"

She shot me a mortified look. "Sorry, Raelyn."

But I laughed—a genuine, warm sound I hadn't expected. "It's fine. Really. I think every girl did at some point."

"Just like me then," Draco said, smirking for the first time.

The room stilled.

I raised an eyebrow slowly. "You had a crush on him too? That explains a lot."

Blaise choked on a laugh so loud it echoed off the compartment walls. Pansy covered her mouth, trying (and failing) to hide a smile. Even Draco's smirk twitched, as though he hadn't expected me to give as good as I got.

And something in my chest loosened—just a little.

Draco nudged Blaise sharply with his foot, shooting him a pointed glare. "At least people know who I am," he muttered, tone dripping with boredom. Then he gestured carelessly toward his two friends. "They didn't even know Diggory had a sister. I suppose he was the popular one, and you were simply the 'other one.'"

My jaw tightened.

"Explains why you don't have any friends," he finished with a satisfied little smirk.

"Excuse me?" I said, voice low, sharp.

"Draco," Pansy hissed, eyes widening in warning.

But he only shrugged, leaning back as if this were all terribly mundane. "What? You don't think it's weird she was sitting alone in an empty compartment?" His gaze flicked lazily back to me. "What happened, Diggory? Friends get bored of you? Can't imagine why."

For a moment, I just stared at him.

He looked right at me and still didn't seem to recognize me. At all.

Not the girl he'd bumped into in the courtyard in fifth year. Not the one who picked up his fallen books after Crabbe knocked into him. Not the girl who'd patched him up once after a Quidditch fall because Madam Pomfrey was busy. Small moments. Forgettable ones—apparently only to him. To me, they had meant something. Proof he wasn't always the icy, prickly creature he pretended to be.

But maybe he didn't remember. Maybe he didn't want to.

"Mate, seriously?" Blaise cut in, staring at Draco as though he'd just insulted his own mother.

"What?" Draco asked blandly. "Oh, did I say something wrong?" He tilted his head, feigning innocence so poorly it bordered on insulting. "Are you going to cry now? Or storm out dramatically?"

Oh, I had planned to storm out. Slam the door. Find another compartment. Maybe scream into a pillow.

But not now.

Not after that.

"Oh, Malfoy," I said slowly, letting the heat rise in my voice. "Do you think I'm going to cry because some complete dick insults me?"