dear draco,

twenty-six

A few minutes, or maybe a few hours later, the door creaks open with a lazy knock. I glance up hopefully, wondering who it could be, but Filch's desk faces the open door and I can only see the back of it.

"What do you want?" Filch snaps, glancing once at the doorway before turning back to his drawers.

"I've come from Snape's office," says Draco's voice from the doorway. Of course it's him. "He needs you."

"He needs me?" repeats Filch. "I can't go, I'm doing a detention. Tell him I'll go later."

"He knows that," says Draco. He sounds bored. "He sent me to supervise while you go up. He says it will only take a few minutes."

"Why would he need me now?" says Filch, but Draco doesn't bother replying. Filch slams shut his drawer, jumping guiltily at the loud noise it makes, and pushes past Draco through the door. I hear him grumbling as he trudges away towards the headmaster's office.

Draco swings the door further open, striding into the office with contempt. Finally, his eyes latch onto mine. "Oh," he says pointedly. "It's you."

I give him a dirty look and turn to the detention slips littering the desk for the first time. "It's your lucky day," I mutter.

"How come you're here?" he says, staring at me. "Not with Alecto?"

"Back to this, are we?"

"No. I'm just wondering. You got off lucky, if you're not with her. Did Snape get you out of it?"

"Not everyone's best friends with Snape, like you are."

Draco's eyes harden and he turns around to face the drawers, his back to me. "Well, Filch should only be gone for a few minutes. So."

"So what?"

He doesn't reply. I glance at the clock on the wall again. I didn't think it was possible, but time is going even slower now than it did before Draco arrived. A few minutes. I can do a few minutes.

Draco paces slowly along Filch's dreary office, rattling his fingers against the metal handles of the drawers. And then he paces back, and does it again. And again.

"Will you stop that?" I say sharply. "I'm trying to do work here."

Draco snickers, still facing the drawers. "Work? You're actually doing the work you're set in detention?"

I frown. "Sorry," I say to his back. "I forgot you were so rebellious yourself. How many times have you had a detention again? Once, wasn't it, in first year?"

He doesn't reply, but turns to the window I was looking out earlier. The old clock ticks loudly, and in the heavy, awkward silence, Draco drums his knuckles against the grimy glass, as if willing it to disappear.

"Do you enjoy it?" I say finally, unable to bear the quiet. I almost wish he would start rattling the drawer handles again.

His eyes flick to me, and for a moment I think he's going to turn around and come closer. But he looks back towards the window. "Enjoy what?"

"The whole high life you're living right now. You know, prancing around in undeserved status while your fellow classmates undergo undeserved punishment and torture?"

He raises an eyebrow, still staring out the window. "Yeah. It's great, thanks."

"Charming. I don't know why I ever felt anything for you."

"I don't know why you ever think I care."

There's another pause, and the clock ticks louder than ever; its steady beat drumming through my brain. Draco has opened one of Filch's drawers and is flicking through its contents. I bite back the sour taste in my mouth. "Where's Filch?"

"With Snape."

"I know. I mean, why isn't he back yet?"

"How should I know?"

"Well, you're the one who flounced in here and told him to leave-"

"What, you think I want to be here?"

My throat is dry. "Not interesting enough for you? Need some Death Eater action to liven things up?"

Draco slams shut the drawer. In the half second that it echoes around the stone walls, he stares at me, fire in his eyes. "Tell Filch I had to go," he says, stalking out of the room. "Or don't."

And then he is gone.

-

"I don't understand," says Neville later, when I tell my friends about the incident. We sit in our usual place in the Gryffindor common room. My nails dig into the deep red carpet. "Snape knows you dated Draco last year. Why would he send him?"

"He also knows we hate each other now," I say darkly, glaring at the fire that flickers quietly in its fireplace. It's dying. "I suppose it's his idea of a funny joke."

Neville nods slowly. "He was being so weird earlier too. I don't understand why wouldn't he just let Alecto organise your detention."

"He knows she'd screw me over if he did, I suppose. Although I don't see why he has a problem with that."

"Maybe because practicing the Cruciatus curse on pupils is insane?" suggests Ginny dryly. She lies on her back, staring at the ceiling.

I fall silent. "How was your detention with Hagrid?"

Ginny shrugs. "Fine. It's just Hagrid, it's not like we were going to have an awful time."

"But that's what I mean," says Neville. "Why did Snape let us off so easy?"

"Because he's an idiot," replies Ginny, her voice hard. "He didn't think to consider that we like Hagrid, and would actually have a good time with him. He probably just thought we'd be scared of the forest."

Neville sits back into the couch sleepily. "I guess."

"Or maybe he's secretly good", I say, biting back a smile. "Maybe he's a double agent."

Neville and Ginny laugh. The fire flickers behind them, and their laughter is warm and nostalgically familiar in my ears, but it's not loud enough to drown out my thoughts of Draco, and how he strode out of the office emitting no emotion but pure hatred, and how nothing will ever be the same as it once was.