NATALIA [Draco Malfoy Fanfiction]

Three | Blair's Little Blue Box

Please note:

When Sirius speaks to her in her head, the words are both underlined and italicizes. If it is just italicized, then it's Natalia talking to herself and/or Sirius in her head.
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No one asks any questions when I return, slipping back into my original seat as the intercoms sound to tell us that we're closing in on our final destination.

"Where's Blaze?"

"With the new potions teacher," Blair tells me, "I guess he's meant to relay some message back to a few of us."

I nod, busying myself by packing up my stuff, and changing out of the sweater I had on that was a few sizes too big, designated for sleeping, train rides, and the occasional smoke. Theo whistles as I pull the sweater over my head, making me wish I could free myself from the material quicker so that I could spin around and glare at him.

"Na-tal-lia," Theo teases, "what a lovely undershirt you've got there."

"Gah," I utter as I grab my dress shirt, "you think everything that comes out of your mouth is funny, Theodore. I'm here to tell you that it's not."

"Theodore? What are you, my mother?"

I turn to look at him once the shirt was covering my chest, not wanting him to see the outline of something suggestive, "I'm sure there's a decent comeback for that one somewhere," I say as I finish with my buttons and loosely tie my tie.

"Probably," Theo agrees, his crooked smile exposing the whites of his teeth. After all, it was no secret that Theo only talked about his mom when he's making a joke.

So, I settling on just mirroring his expression as the train comes to a stop, packing up the last of my things with an inward sigh. There's a silence that falls over us as we shuffle around, giving me time to once again acknowledge everything I'd rather forget.

It was unnerving to feel the dysphoria that filled the room in the absence of our speech, because we never used to be these people, the ones who seem so distant when things got quiet, like we'd slip away from reality the second we no longer had something tangible to hold on to. Another sign that things are different. 

I try not to let my thoughts spiral as I depart the train, everything that I've recently come to discover still trying to work it's way into finding some type of explanation that I can follow, one without the large gaps I'm now noticing I have. I glance over at the Thestral's that snort and stamp their feet as I stand in line and wait for our turn for a ride to the castle. It has me remember that Theo can see them as well, and the two of us exchange a quick look to familiarize ourselves with this shared fact about ourselves before moving on.

I feel a body shove past me when I go to sit down, my head lifting to see Malfoy taking his place next to Blaze without a word.

I hadn't even noticed he was behind us, which was new.

Usually he's the type to make his presence known, with great dignity and poise when gracing us with his words of wisdom. But this time, such wisdom is reduced to a simple, "move," grunted from under his breath, not bothering to look up and see if anyone else had heard such esteemed thoughts, and instead, stared blankly towards our destination.

Until I realize he's not staring at Hogwarts, but at the Thestrals that carry us.

If Theo notices it as well, he doesn't say a word, joking with Gemma as she fixes her shoulder length blonde hair that had been mangled from the train ride over.

"You know what you need, Gemsy?" Theo tells her, "a neck pillow."

"A what now?"

"Muggles use them, so they can nap sitting upright," Theo explains, "that way, you won't look like Hagrid every time you take a nap in an inconvenient position."