Muggle | 𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑊𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑙𝑒𝑦

Chapter 123

With that, all eyes turned on me. I was frozen on my spot, staring at Draco with wide eyes, who was giving me a look as if to say 'play along'. I had no idea how I was supposed to react, being completely caught off guard.

I couldn't tell if Harry seemed angry at me as his gaze was fixed on me, or he was just curious as to know what was going on. Even Hermione was staring at me questioningly along with everybody else.

      "Well?" Filch snarled, giving me a nasty look.

     "Er... y-yes," I finally said, my eyes on Draco, who seemed to relax slightly more by those words.

       Filch's expression of outraged disappointment was obvious as Draco walked across the room until he reached me, looking exhausted and ill.

      "Well, carry on, everybody!" said Slughorn, laughing nervously. "And cheer up! It's Christmas, after all."

       And soon, everyone went back to chatting or busied themselves with drinking or dancing, yet Harry and Hermione were still looking at me and Draco in shock.

"Thank you for dragging me into this, by the way," I hissed at Draco angrily through gritted teeth.

      "You're welcome," he said flatly.

"I was being sarcastic!"

"No, really?" Draco scoffed.

"Now everyone's gonna think I actually asked you out!" I whispered in a hoarse tone, glaring at him.

"Yes, that was the general idea."

I then huffed to myself as I remembered how I had told Harry and Hermione that I was going to ask someone. But I was just lying back then only to get Harry to ask Luna, and now it was going to seem like I was planning on going with Draco all along.

The other problem was the way I had acted that day; Hermione was questioning me about how I had insisted on Harry going with Luna and who I was going with. So then to avoid the question, I ran away from her.

The truth was, I acted that way and ran out of the library so I wouldn't have to tell her about knowing every single detail that was going on. But now she was going to think I had ran for it because I didn't want to confess about asking Draco.

"Why are you so bothered by this, anyway?" Draco asked tonelessly, turning to face me so he wouldn't catch Snape's eyes, who was watching him carefully from a corner.

"Because I have a boyfriend!" I snapped at him quietly, my mind racing. "How do you think he's going to react when he hears this!?"

"I don't care." He shrugged carelessly. "Just tell him you asked me as a friend."

"Yes, cause that's definitely gonna matter to him," I mumbled to myself sarcastically, folding my arms.

It wasn't going to matter how I had asked Draco to the party; as a date, as friends, or as cousins. I knew they all loathed him, which meant that I was going to be questioned about it either way.

But thankfully I had already told Harry, Ron, and Hermione that I wanted to get closer to Draco in order to spy on him as an excuse. So hopefully, they were going to see my gesture as that.

We stood there awkwardly in silence that finally when Draco glanced behind his shoulder, he saw that Snape had started to walk toward us.

But before he could reach us, in a quick motion Draco suddenly grabbed onto my hand and dragged me to the dance floor, causing me to let out a small gasp out of shock.

"What do you think you're doing?" I raised a brow at him as he wrapped one arm around my waist and with his other he held my hand, starting to move to the rhythm of the song.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he said. "It has to look convincing that we're here to enjoy the party. If we just stand there glaring at each other, no one will believe that I was supposed to be here with you."

I pursed my lips together worriedly, my eyes connecting with Harry for a second before looking away quickly.

This wasn't going to end well.

Draco was swinging gently to the music, but from his pale eyes I could tell that his mind was wondering somewhere else.

He looked both angry and disappointed, and I knew it was probably because Filch had stopped him from getting to the Room of Requirements.

"Ouch!" I winced in pain when Draco suddenly stepped on my foot.

"Sorry," he muttered coldly, definitely not meaning it.

He was still out of focus. But then I saw him shake his head slightly and finally looked down at me, as if seeing me for the first time that night.

"You don't look too bad tonight, Hooper," he said blankly. "I wouldn't have expected it from a muggleborn."

"And what's wrong with muggleborns?" I raised a brow at him.

"Usually a lot," he said with a scoff, before looking back at me again. "But I suppose — there's always bound to be some... exceptions."

By those words, I stared up at him in surprise, but before I could get the chance to open my mouth and respond, I was cut short when a cold voice behind us said,

"I'd like a word with you, Draco."

Turning around, we saw Snape standing there, his emotionless eyes fixed on him.

Draco's jaw clenched angrily at his sight. "I'm in the middle of something, in case you didn't notice."

"Oh yes, I noticed," said Snape flatly. "But surely Miss Hooper wouldn't mind spending some time with her friends. I'm sure they too would like to know how you two have miraculously started to get along."

My heart sank at those words, knowing that he meant Harry and Hermione.

Usually, I would've protested just to piss Snape off. But I knew a conversation between him and Draco was meant to take place, overheard by Harry.

"It's fine," I finally said, stepping away from Draco. "The song's almost over, anyway."

Draco turned his gaze on me, as if he hadn't expected me to do such a thing to him.

"Follow me, Draco," said Snape and without another word, he turned on his heels and walked away.

"I'm sorry," I mouthed at him, but Draco only gave me a glare and walked after Snape.

I looked down with a sigh, feeling worse than I had in a long time. But I knew things had again started to go as planned when I saw Harry follow them out of the party.

"Lexi?" I turned around at the voice, seeing Hermione walking toward me. I gulped, my heart sinking. "Care to explain what that was all about?"