Brighter Than The Moon (A Draco Malfoy Fanfic)

Chapter 4 // The Christmas Gift

"Harry! Are you alright?" Aliza asked worriedly. She had rushed to the Gryffindor table as soon as she stepped foot into the Great Hall that evening for dinner. Someone had obviously cursed the broom Harry had been riding during the quidditch match earlier that day. Not to mention, someone set Snape's robes on fire, stopping him from muttering his counter-curse. She had spoken to Uncle Sev after the quidditch match about her suspicion that Quirrell was behind the attack. Naturally, Uncle Sev told her to lay low of her accusations while she didn't have any proof.

"I'm fine, Aliza," Harry chuckled. "I mean, we won the match!"

Aliza rolled her eyes at her brother, taking a seat beside him. Honestly, where were his priorities? "Whatever happened out there wasn't normal, Harry."

His expression morphed from cheekiness to seriousness in a second. "I know," he paused, chewing his bottom lip. "Ron and Hermione think it's, well, Professor Snape who was behind it."

"Uncle Sev?" Aliza laughed. "Trust me, Harry, he's doing quite the opposite."

"I hope so. It's pretty hard to convince Gryffindors that Slytherins aren't behind it," Harry frowned. "They seem to wonder why I even associate myself with you anymore."

Aliza glanced around the Gryffindor table. Sure enough, the whispered insults and condemning glares were painfully obvious. "If they're giving you a hard time, we can talk elsewhere," she said in a low voice.

Harry considered it for a while before shaking his head. "It's alright, you're family. It's different," he smiled. "We met Hagrid today for tea and he mentioned a name worth noting -- Nicolas Flamel. It was more of a slip of the tongue. He tends to do that a lot, shooed us away right after saying his name."

"Nicolas Flamel?" Aliza repeated. "You think he's got something to do with whatever Dumbledore's hiding?"

Before Harry could reply, a mob of red hair appeared behind him. "Harry! You can't possibly be telling her everything we know! Especially when you know her relationship with Snape," Weasley said loudly.

"What are you insinuating, Weasley?"

"Ron, it's fine, she's my --"

"Sister. Right," the bushy-haired girl had appeared behind Aliza, "Regardless, you should be careful who you trust. Slytherins should not be on the list."

"So it's house above family now?" Aliza shot back, rising from the bench.

"Do you really expect Harry to trust you when your blond friend has been constantly aggravating us and setting us up?" Ron's face had turned a brilliant shade of red, making him a sight for sore eyes with his flaming red weasley hair.

"My friendship with Draco doesn't determine whether my brother should trust me or not."

"Then why don't you defend your brother? Ask Malfoy to stop his nonsense!"

"Stop it," Harry said, standing up. "All of you." He sighed, picking up his bag from the table. "We've had this conversation before. I can handle Malfoy and his Slytherins on my own." He turned to Aliza, not meeting her eyes. "I think it's best if you just write from now on." He walked past her and left the Great Hall, leaving Aliza alone to deal with the sting of rejection.

She turned and pushed her way past Granger, heading back to the Slytherin table. Her clenched fists shook as she took a seat beside Draco. The table was silent, having seen Harry storm out. The Slytherins were all staring at one another, unsure of what to do to calm the steaming Potter down. Aliza was so caught up in her ugly thoughts of her brother that she almost didn't notice the warm touch at her hand. Her eyes met Draco's and he smiled, giving her hand a small squeeze before piling her plate high with food. She looked around at her housemates, who were all giving her smiles of their own. Even Pansy was piling the last chicken pie on Aliza's plate. A strange warmth of comfort washed over Aliza, and she found herself laughing at the joy of having found people she knew she could count on.