Draco Malfoy and the Girl Who Hid

11

The fresh scent of the trees was welcomed by Yn after having the stench of the damp tunnel to battle with before that.

No one spoke as the group weaved in and out of trees, constantly looking over their shoulders, before veering sharply to the right and deep into the dense trees.

It was dark outside and the coverage from the trees blocked any light provided by the moonlight. Yn tried to stay as stable as possible as they walked through the overgrown roots, but the occasional trip was inevitable.

They bumped into several small group of their fellow peers form neighbouring houses, scouting out the forest. By the end they had all converged into a large group.

As they drew closer, Yn smelled the smoke before she saw the glow of the fire or heard the tremor of excited voices over the music that was playing from an unknown source. Yn noticed that it was muggle music, yet the pure bloods were chanting back the words of Tupac. In the centre of the trees there was a clearing, and students circled the fire. It was chaos. Groups were throwing back drinks. But the drinks were fizzing and bubbling with illusions. There were girls dancing on top of fallen trees, some were levitating in the air. Boys were jesting to each other, whizzing around on broom sticks.

It was almost like the muggle parties that Yn had attended whenever she was back in London. Matilda was a muggle born and although she was born and raised on the south coast of England, her sister, Charity, who lived in London when she wasn't teaching at Muggle studies at Hogwarts, convinced her to visit as often as she could and by association Yn would tag along. On these trips Yn had become acquainted with Charity Burbage's neighbours. In particular, a boy of a similar age to Yn. Yn had met George, after returning from a quick errand to the corner shop for her Governess. George lived in the flat below Charity's and was stood at the half height iron gate that guarded the path up to the house that had been converted into four flats, along with some other boys, presumably his friends, kicking around a football, showing off to each other. It just so happened that that football came gliding towards Yn and slammed into her shin. Ow she had winced.

"Sorry,' he grimaced, plucking the ball from her feet. His eyes were squinted as he looked at her face, by the sunlight that was blinding behind her. "Hey... ummm... you're staying with Charity right?" He speculated.

"Just visiting," Yn replied. The boys behind George were mumbling to each other and one of the nudged George. Clearly this was a well thought out set up. They knew that she had left and also knew that she would have to walk through them when she returned.

"Well, if you're still around on Friday, there's a party just down the street. Matthew's parents are away and he's throwing a little end of the summer holidays get to together if you're interested."

Yn looked at him questioningly, but she could see the colour in his cheeks and how much courage this took him.

He took her silence as a bad sign. "There will be a bunch of people. Pizza. Music. Beer. Matthew's dad is a cocktail connoisseur so we can siphon some spirits away without him noticing." He added in hopes to persuade her.

"End of summer holiday?" She said. She was home-schooled at that point, so summer holiday wasn't really a thing for her, so she had found it irrelevant to keep track. She was lucky if she knew which country she was going to be in by the end of the week.

"Er yeah." He scratched his eyebrow, and shooed the boys blocking the path out if the way. He offered to take a bag from her and led her towards the front door. "Where do you go to school?" he asked holding the door open.

"Not around here," was the answer she offered.

"So is like Charity you aunt or something. Cause you don't look nothing like them."

Yn frowned at the reminder that she didn't have much family. Only her father who she saw in passing for a couple of minutes every other day. But she knew that he always came to check on her when she was sleeping. She though he worried that she may have disappeared. For him seeing her breathing seemed to be enough.

"Er, no. Charity's sister, Matilda, she... takes care of me."

George was puzzled by the phrasing. "Like she fosters you?"

Yn shook her head. "My dad's busy, all the time. Matilda is like my governess." She elaborated.

"Oh. Ohhhhhhhhh," he says raising his eyebrow. Yn could see the questions whirling through his head.

To avoid anymore awkwardness she had taken the bag off his hands and swiftly turned to Charity's door knocking it firmly, to be let in.

"So will I see you?" He hurriedly added, suddenly aware that his chance was slipping away.

"Huh?"

"The party?"

"Oh right, yeah maybe."

"Okay. Well, I hope to see you," he grinned at her before backing down the stairs. That was how it had all started and from then on that's how she lived a normal life, even though there was nothing normal about her. Because she did go to that party and here, she was comparing this to that. But wizarding parties were a completely different ball game.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Theo breathed into yn's ear, with a grin. She did not see him materialise beside her while she was reminiscing. Blaise had disappeared into the crowd and Draco had shrugged away and was leaning by a tree where plumes of suspicious smoke were swirling. They had left her as open target. Those little snakes. And now Yn was all to aware of the gleam in Theo's eye. She recognised it. It was that of desire. That of the wilful game he hoped to win.

"Hm" she nodded, slinking away to join Millicent, Daphne and Miles at the tree stump that played the role of the bar. As she approached them, Miles held out a drink for her. She took it from him, giving Daphne a look of approval. She supposed some of the Slytherin boys weren't too bad.

On the other hand, Theo was still smirking at her from the other side of the fire. She knocked back her drink, shuddering at the bitter taste that burned down her throat. She looked away from him but inevitably locked eyes with Draco, who tried to maintain his look of indifference even though the curiosity was growing.