𝕒𝕤𝕡í𝕕𝕒 | shield

XV. A Warning from Nico

Not my favorite chapter, could be better, but also not the worst. Thanks for all the reads!

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March 29th, 1995

Draco Malfoy was not have a good day. Or a good week. Really, it was just not a good year.

The gossip had quickly spread of Percy's leave - to a mental aid institution no less. People were convinced Percy was mental. Draco knew different.

Yes, Percy was scarred. Yes, Percy probably needed help. But Percy was not crazy, and he was not a psychopath. However, people refused to believe anything else. It was driving Draco bonkers. Even his closest friends wouldn't believe him!

And Harry Potter... he did nothing to stop them either.

Draco sat in potions that afternoon, glaring at the aforementioned Potter's head as they sat across the class. The boy was leaning over his and Weasley's smoking cauldron while it bubbled dangerously. Granger had vanished to the hospital wing after Draco lost his temper. Technically, it was her fault - she made a comment about Percy and Draco responded in his defense. Though, perhaps charming her teeth did force him to a new level of low.

As if Potter felt his stare, he turned around, and they locked eyes. They both narrowed their eyes further.

"Oi," Blaise nudged him, tearing Draco's gaze from Harry's. The other Slytherin sighed exasperatedly.

"What?" Draco rolled his eyes as he continued with his half of the potion.

"The two of you," said Blaise, "need to get over whatever the newest addition to whatever arrangement you share. The tension in this room is suffocating me."

"There is no new tension," Draco said. "It's normal, mutual hatred. And what do you mean arrangement?"

Blaise gave him a look which Draco couldn't figure out. "You glaring at the back of his head has absolutely nothing to do with Percy?"

Draco paused his work to glare at Blaise, who put his hands up in surrender.

"Just saying," he said, "neither of you are helping him by glaring at each other longingly from across the room."

Draco felt his face heat up. "'Longingly'! What do you mean by that!"

Blaise rose an eyebrow. "Longing for a fight... is there something else?"

"No!" Draco said quickly, too quickly. "I- need some air."

He walked away from the desk and excused himself to the bathroom for a few minutes. Severus let him; it was strange how they shared a new understanding of one another now that Percy was gone.

He walked in the direction of the lavatory with no intention of using it. He just had to clear his head.

The tension was just hatred. They hated each other. Draco Malfoy hated Harry Potter. For many things. The most recent of them was the boy's complete disregard for his brother. He hated Harry's lack of acknowledgment for Percy, even after he found out that Percy was a demigod and all that he had been through. Even after the countless times Percy had saved his shiny golden-arse. Even after they, together, found out about Percy's child... and now, Harry acted as though Percy didn't matter in the slightest, as though he didn't exist at all, and strutted about the castle as though Percy's expulsion -because that was essentially what it was- was not his fault in the slightest.