Common Ground ⌁ Draco Malfoy [2/4] ✔

26

Emma stared into the mirror in the girls' bathroom, pausing to wash her hands. Her eyes swept over her face, and she looked closely into her own eyes, before she shook her head and turned on the tap. She switched it off and looked up again, wondering if she could do something about her appearance. What if the reason her mother was missing, or what Emma believed - taken, was because Voldemort was searching for her, and his Death Eaters were helping him. What if they were looking for parents who had a daughter Emma's age, born on the same day as Harry, with the slightest resemblance?

This was crazy. If Dumbledore had really separated them as babies, even changed Emma's last name, why couldn't he have changed her birthday as well? Maybe made it a couple months earlier than her actual birthday? For a smart man, he was really silly to have allowed Emma's birthday to have been kept the same. He probably believed it would have allowed the connection to stay between her and Harry as twins, but that didn't really matter as much as she believed it did just two Christmases ago. 

She quickly finished washing up and then stepped out into the empty corridor, where she saw a figure with white-blond hair just passing by. 

"Emma," he said quickly, surprised. "I was just looking for you."

"You were?" Emma beamed, ignoring the confusion that was clouding her mind. "It's been a fortnight, why would you have been looking - in fact, why are you talking to me again?"

Draco pursed his lips for a moment before walking a little closer to her. 

"Are you OK?" she asked. 

"Yeah...er...no," he replied slowly, slow enough to know that he was telling the truth. "No, actually...I..."

Emma furrowed her eyebrows as Draco tried to speak, but it seemed as though his tongue was caught in his throat. Perhaps he was finally giving in and was going to tell her what he had been up to. 

"Hey, look, I'm really sorry about what I said in Potions that time," Emma interrupted him. "I shouldn't have said what I did, it really wasn't any of my business -"

"No, it was your business. As your boyfriend I should have told you what I was up to," Draco said quickly before she could get any further. "But that isn't..." he paused to look away and scratch his head, "that isn't why I came looking for you."

"It's not...?" she said, confused. She really thought he had come to explain to her what he'd been doing in the Room of Requirement while keeping Crabbe and Goyle as lookouts, only he didn't know that she knew that much. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Hey...what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he muttered, blinking quickly. "Nothing...I just...we need to talk..."

Those were the words that had made Emma think the worst, think of what she had been fearing to hear for the last two weeks. It felt like hands were grabbing at her stomach, pulling it, until a hole tore threw it and all she could feel was the wind. She stared at him for a moment, as he stared back, plainly to see what her reaction would be. 

"OK..." she said slowly. "Hit me."

"Why would I -"

" - it's an expression," Emma said. "What d'you want to talk about?"

"Right...well...you see, I don't really...er..." he stammered, avoiding her eyes. "You see...you and me..." he pointed between the two of them, "...it's not really - um - it isn't really...working. And I think we should just take a break for a little while. It's not you, don't worry," he quickly assured her. "It isn't you at all. And it has nothing to do with what you asked me in Potions, I just...I think we should wait till this whole thing blows over."