Thicker Than Water {a Draco Malfoy story}

three.

- O L I V I A -

After spending the whole afternoon in the library, I made my way to the Great Hall, ready for a warm meal. But, as I walked in, I could see several pairs of eyes on me. I knew that attending the Ball with Draco had rubbed some people the wrong way, but I didn't realize that so many people were so upset by it. Or so I thought.

I approached our usual spot and took a seat beside Harry. "What have you guys been up to today?" I asked innocently.

No one answered.

I turned to Fred who sat on my other side, "Is everything alright?" He gave me a sad look and opened his mouth to answer, but Harry piped up before he could.

"So, when were you planning on telling me about this?" He asked, a distasteful tone in his voice. He held up a piece of paper, clearly ripped out of a book. On it was the list of Gryffindor fifth year students along with their school portraits. Mine was circled in dark ink, below it my full legal name. Olivia Thomasina Riddle.

Immediately, I felt like I was going to be sick. "Harry, where did you get that?"

"It was posted on the bulletin board in the common room," He said shortly, putting it down on the table. "You've been lying to us."

I shook my head, my face starting to grow hot. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't think that it mattered so much," I stumbled, trying to formulate a reason without giving away too much.

"Didn't matter?" He huffed angrily, "Why would you think that this didn't matter? You're directly related to the man who murdered my parents. I trusted you. And, if it didn't matter, then why would you bother lying about it?"

"I..." I stammered, "Dumbledore told me..." Tears started to form in my eyes. I couldn't sit here in the middle of a crowded room with everyone's eyes on me and cry. I had to get out of here.

Without another word, I stood back up and ran out of the Hall, too embarrassed to look anyone in the face.

As I ran, I felt my shoulder knock into someone. "Olivia!" It was Draco. I couldn't turn and face him right now. Not after he had done this.

This had to be the reason why he attended the Ball with me. All that he wanted was to get information from me so he could expose my secrets to the entire school. And Pansy had been in on it. That was why she had interrogated me, but he wanted to be more discreet about his intentions. I should have known better than to trust a boy like him. He was vile and manipulative. And to think that I had even felt bad for him...

I could still hear him calling after me as I darted up the stairs towards the Gryffindor common room. A small voice whispered in my head telling me to turn around. After all, why would he want to speak to me after doing something like this?

"What do you want?" I huffed, almost yelling as I whipped around to look at him.

He was only a few paces behind me. When he saw my face, he stopped dead. "I'm so sorry," he muttered.

"So it was you, wasn't it?" I asked, anger boiling up inside me as I looked into his eyes. These were the very same eyes that I had fallen for the night before, though now they looked dark, like a stormy night sky.

"No," he said, "It wasn't me. It was Pansy."

I didn't believe him. "What reason would Pansy have to do something so spiteful?"

He blinked, his face growing sad. "And what reason would I have? Pansy is jealous of you, and she's vindictive. She's mad at me for going with you. She has been obsessed with me since we were children, and I chose to spend my night with a Gryffindor instead of her. You know full well that she despises you," his eyebrows slowly inched closer together with every sentence, his forehead creasing.