Rotten | D. Malfoy

Twenty-Two

One month later..

As I glance down the Slytherin table, noticing Draco and our friends eating together, chatting and just doing the normal things we used to do — it drives me insane.

It's been a month since Draco dumped me and I can tell he isn't his normal self but he tries to pretend like everything is fine. His cheeks have hollowed and he almost looks ill. Maybe it's not our breakup though, maybe it's the stress of attempting to complete an impossible task.

I haven't even tried speaking to him, unsure of what to say and afraid of being rejected again. I poke at my shepherd's pie, pushing the peas around with my spoon instead of eating them. Light fingers tap on my shoulder and I peek over, seeing Aria stood behind me.

"Go for a walk with us, yeah?" She offers so I nod, climbing off the bench. Aria and Colin hold each other's hands as they stroll ahead of me. The weather is getting a bit better, it still rains at a near constant but today the sun is out.

We make our way outside into the courtyard and it feels good to have the sun on my skin. I stop and turn my face up to the sky, feeling the rays dance over me.

"Hey." A voice calls from behind me, snapping me from my thoughts. I spin on my heels, turning to the voice to see Potter standing there.

"Hey." I mumble back, keeping my eyes low to the ground.

"I heard what happened." My eyes snap up to his, he has no right to bring it up.

"It's none of your business, Potter." My words come out harsh, but they have no bite. Harry laughs softly, a real genuine laugh. I stare at him, dumbfounded, wondering how he could possibly find any of this funny.

"Just thought you could use a friend." He replies, still chuckling and I shake my head in disbelief. I turn around to look for Aria and Colin, seeing they've found themselves a tree to lie under as they look up at the sky.

"Maybe I could." My statement makes Harry beam and he leads me over to a stone bench where we both have a seat. "Why do you want to be my friend?" I ask him, genuinely curious.

Harry laughs, a bit nervously compared to before, "I figured that now you may hate Malfoy and well the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

His answer makes me laugh for the first time in over a month. "Unfortunately for you I don't hate him, but I will be your friend if you still want me to." I tell him and he visibly seems to weigh his options before ultimately giving in.

"Fair enough. Now, tell me more about yourself, Birch." I bark out a laugh at his forewardness and I shake my head.

"There's not much to me. You already know my sister, everyone knows my parents work for the ministry. What else is there really?" My vague response seems to displease Harry. He scoffs as though offended I didn't give him my whole life story.

"Aurora, can I call you that? Look, yes people know of your family status but what about you?" This time it's his response that catches me off-guard. Not even Draco has asked me about this, well not for years but still things about myself have changed since then.

"I-I don't know. I love to read, at my parents home I have a stash of Muggle books." I shrug, not knowing if it'll suffice but to my surprise Harry claps his hands together, laughing a bit.

"Now that is what I'm talking about, what else?" I smile softly at his exclaimation, finding the confidence to go on.

"I collect Muggle records and I love Wizard rave music, you should listen to it sometime. Also, I usually go by Rory so you don't have to call me Birch or Aurora, both sound weird to me." I tell him more about myself, a smile pulling on my lips for the first time in weeks.