Haunted by her second year and now with a murderer on the loose, Gwenevere Everill finds herself facing more battles that she does not think she can win.
Tormented by dementors and struggling under the impact of her new studies, will Gwen be able t...
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Malfoy returned to classes a week later, arm bandaged up and in a sling. He sauntered into their double potions class, as usual, making a song and dance, to which Snape said nothing. Gwen knew that had that been her or any other student who wasn't in Slytherin, that Snape would have instantly given them detention.
Malfoy dropped his cauldron on the spare worktop at Harry and Ron's table, announcing loudly every time he needed someone to slice his ingredients.
Gwen, who was sitting at her usual worktop with Theodore Nott, tried to ignore Malfoy. His voice grated on her, and she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes every time he spoke.
'I know you don't like him,' Theo murmured beside her. 'But you've got to give the guy a break. That Hippogriff--'
'Don't defend him,' Gwen said sharply. 'What happened was his own fault.'
Theo didn't respond. He had been trying and failing over the course of the week to get Gwen to feel some sort of sympathy for Malfoy. After seeing Hagrid that evening of the accident, she had been stiff in her resolve that Malfoy really was good for nothing. She did, admittedly, wonder what it was that made him so cruel, but she couldn't put it down to anything other than that was just how he was.
She had decided to no longer dwell on it.
Snape was making the rounds of the classroom, as usual, picking on Neville for his Shrinking Solution being wrong. Hermione, who was at his desk, was whispering instructions to him after Snape had decided to test his solution on Trevor the toad. Like Malfoy, it seemed Snape was also inherently cruel.
The class finished with a perfect Shrinking Solution from Neville, which, of course, Snape deducted house points from Gryffindor for, his reasoning being that he had told Hermione not to help him.
Gwen left the Potions classroom ahead of Theo, who caught up to her through the bustling crowd of students in the Entrance Hall.
'Gwen, can you stop acting like I've done something wrong?'
'I'm not,' she said coolly.
He raised his eyebrows.
If she was honest, he was right. She had been treating him coldly since last Thursday, and he didn't deserve it. She was so angry at Malfoy for making Hagrid so miserable that she hadn't really realised that it was Theo she had been taking it out on. He must have been torn between his friendship with her and his friendship with Malfoy. She, Gwen, was probably slightly unbalanced on that scale given his loyalty to his house.
Heaving a sigh, Gwen apologised. 'I didn't mean to take it out on you,' she said. 'Malfoy's just-- the worst.' She had to stop herself from cursing.
'Look, even I'll admit Draco's a dramatic git,' said Theo. 'But he's not a bad person.' Gwen couldn't say she agreed with the latter.
