In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*Ginny...

Once the rest of Hogwarts had returned from their holidays, the school seemed to be more empty than last term and it turned out a lot of muggle born students' parents hadn't wanted them to come back because of the Chamber and all the attacks

And the students who did remain were all more tense than before, as if waiting for the first attack to happen, but as January flew by and there was nothing, there was a shimmer of hope that there wouldn't be any more attacks

But on the morning of February 14th, the students were greeted with the most horrifying sight in the Great Hall. The walls were covered in large, bright pink flowers and heart-shaped confetti was falling from the roof

"Oh"

"My"

"God"

Henry, Ginny, and Briar made their way to Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were already seated at the Gryffindor table. Hermione had finally recently been released from the Hospital Wing now that her cat ears, hair, and nose disappeared. The boys looked absolutely revolted by the pink decorating the hall, while Hermione was beaming with excitement

"What's going on?" Henry asked them

Ron merely grumbled in disgust and jabbed his finger towards the teacher's table. Immediately they spotted Professor Lockhart, who was dressed in pink robes to match the decorations, while the rest of the teachers looked about as pleased as Ron and Harry

Lockhart got to his feet and waved to the students, which made everyone fall silent "Happy Valentine's day!" He shouted "And may I thank the forty-six people whohave so far sent me cards! Yes, I have taken the liberty of arranging this little surprise foryou all — and it doesn't end here!"  He clapped his hands and through the doors to the hall marched adozen dwarfs wearing golden wings and carrying harps  "My friendly, card-carrying cupids! They will be roving around theschool today delivering your valentines! And the fun doesn't stop here! I'm sure mycolleagues will want to enter into the spirit of the occasion! Why not ask ProfessorSnape to show you how to whip up a Love Potion! And while you're at it, ProfessorFlitwick knows more about Entrancing Enchantments than any wizard I've ever met, thesly old dog!"

Ron groaned and turned to his friends "Hermione, please tell me you weren't one of the forty-six" but Hermione seemed rather preoccupied suddenly searching for her timetable instead of answering

And for the rest of the day, the little dwarves would interrupt classes to barge in and deliver love poems to students from others

While the first years were all heading to transfiguration from charms, they passed the second years and one of the dwarves was calling for Harry

"Potter!" it shouted. Harry tried to escape through the crowd but the dwarf pushed through by kicking other student's in the shins and Harry found himself trapped "I've got a musical message for you"

"Not here," sighed Harry and tried to get away but the dwarf grabbed ahold of his bag. Harry tried to tug it out of his grip, but the dwarf pulled it back and the bag suddenly split, with all its contents spilling onto the floor

"Right" The dwarf said as Harry scrambled to collect his belongings "Here is your valentine: His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad, His hair is as dark as a blackboard, I wish he was mine, he's really divine, The hero who conquered the Dark Lord"

Draco Malfoy cackled when it finished and Harry flushed bright red, desperate to get away from everyone now. As he began to place his books back in his bag, Malfoy crouched down and picked a black leather diary out of the pile

"Give that back," Harry said but Malfoy just smirked

Next to Briar, Ginny's eyes were bulging when she saw that diary

Harry snatched the book from Draco and stuffed it in his bag. Thinking that the show was finally over, Briar nudged Ginny and Henry, signalling towards the transfiguration corridor as they would now be late and Professor McGonagall would certainly be unimpressed

So the three of them began to hurry down the steps

"I don't think Potter liked your valentine much, Weasley!" Draco called after them and Ginny flushed in embarrassment as they hurried away

For the remainder of transfiguration class, Ginny kept her head down, eyes fixed only on her desk. So after class, when they finally had lunch Briar pulled Ginny into their closest bathroom

"Are you okay?" Briar asked her best friend "I'm sorry about Draco, he shouldn't have made fun of you"

"It's fine," Ginny whispered

"No it's not" Briar said "But are you actually okay? You've been really down lately,"

"I just don't want the school to be closed in our first year," replied Ginny "And if the Chamber stays open or anyone dies, I think it will"

"Professor Dumbledore would never let that happen," Briar said "If he wanted to close the school he would have done it already. Once they catch whoever is behind this, they'll be expelled and we'll all be safe" Briar had expected those words to comfort Ginny, but instead the red head broke into tears and crumpled to the floor, holding her knees "Gin!" Briar dropped to her knees beside her friend and wrapped her arms around her "We'll be okay"

Once the Weasley had calmed down, the two girls headed to lunch and the continuous interruptions of singing dwarves seemed to cheer Ginny up

That night Gryffindor had a late evening quidditch practice. The rain pelted down on them hard, but Wood was determined that they would train as hard as possible to beat their upcoming opponents, Hufflepuff. So when it finally ended, Briar hurried inside the castle, not caring that she was trudging mud and rainwater behind her as she went

But before she could make it to Gryffindor tower, she jumped when she rounded a corner and came face-to-face with a familiar looking man. He had a cold sneer on his face and his long, sleek platinum hair fell around his shoulders. The man from Diagon Alley. Mr Malfoy

"Sorry" Briar stuttered, instantly feeling intimidated by his piercing look

"Ms Lupin," he drawled, his lip curling in anger or disgust - she couldn't tell "I see you, like Mr Potter, are associating with the mudbloods and half breeds of this school"

"My friends aren't mudbloods or half breeds" She replied 

"And what of you?" He asked "An orphan I heard. I'm not surprised, given the filthy condition of your father-"

"My father was a good man" Briar snapped 

"And how would you know?" He asked "He abandoned you before you could walk." He knew he had struck a nerve with her when she fell silent and her eyes cast down to her hands. Lucius Malfoy knew Remus Lupin, and the way he spoke about him made Briar nervous. Was her father a bad man? "Good evening, Ms Lupin"

He swept away from her, his long black cloak brushing along the stone floor as he did. As Briar lay in her bed that night she couldn't get his words out of her mind. She didn't even know what her own blood status was, let alone who her parents were.