DARK SOULS ☽ 𝚍𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚏𝚘𝚢

𝔵 | fourth year

"Wow, Y/N," Hermione says, pressing a cold towel against my head, "I can't believe you were just out there alone for that long. You could have died!" 

"Don't remind me," I groan, and look up at Harry, Ron, who stand next to the Hufflepuff seeker, Cedric Diggory. He's very attractive with his arms crossed, eyebrows furrowed in concern for my condition.

"Oh, my apologies," Cedric says, holding out his hand, "I realize I haven't introduced myself. My name is Cedric. Cedric Diggory."

I smile through the pain of my head injury, pretending that I didn't know who he was before we met, "It's nice to meet you Cedric. I'm Y/N Larkspur."

"Nice to meet you too, Larkspur." We shake hands, and my face flushes a bit. 

"My parents have talked to the Petrym girl's parents and they've Portkeyed home after knowing you're in safe hands with us." Ron says, leaning against the wall, "But don't worry we'll get you to school on time."

"Thank you so much, Ron." I say.

❂

The next morning, I walk into the great hall, a little bit late, though people are still finding their seats. Earlier that morning, the student body watched as students from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and the Durmstrang Institute, the French and Bulgarian magic schools arrived. The French in their beautiful chariots, flown by Pegasuses, and the Bulgarians in a large galleon. 

I scan the table for Aurora and my friends and see them packed into the left side of the table with no room to spare. I sigh, and look for a spot next to someone not so terrible.

Pansy and Millicent have a spot open next to them, but I would honestly rather spend my breakfast with Malfoy then sit next to those leeches. I look around for anyone that I could spend my time with. Cassandra Carpathia sits alone with two empty spots beside her. I take a deep breath and sit next to her. 

"Hi, Cassandra." I smile, trying to be friendly. Cassandra is known to not talk to anyone in Slytherin, and seems to be embarrassed that she was even sorted into the house, "I'm Y/N, I don't think we've met."

She glances at me for a second and whispers a greeting under her breath. I sigh. I feel bad for the girl, since she is Muggle-born and gets a lot of grief about it from other Slytherins. 

"Can you believe this year is the Triwizard Tournament? I've always dreamed of seeing something like this in real life. Do you think you're going to enter your name?" I say, and she raise an eyebrow.

"Not me." She says, playing with her fork. I guess she's never even known what the Triwizard Tournament is. 

Suddenly, someone plops down beside me, along with his two cronies. I roll my eyes. Malfoy. "Nice to see you two mudbloods bonding. At least you two have something in common, being the embarrassments of the Slytherin house."

"Leave us alone, Malfoy." I retort, noticing that Cassandra looks upset, "I'm not in the mood to deal with your attitude."

"Quite feisty today, aren't we, Larkspur," He creeps his face closer to mine, and I pull away, "Don't talk to me like that ever again." His low voice slithers down my body, and I feel a strange warmth from his words. 

I furrow my brow in confusion, "Are you seriously hexing me right now?" I laugh harshly, and he pulls away from my face in shock.

"A hex?" He chuckles, "You think I would waste a hex on your traitorous, muddy blood." He settles in next to me at the table, "You are something else."

I wonder what that feeling was then, because if Malfoy wasn't hexing me to feel some way towards him, then I don't know what was going on. I felt...comfort. Comfort from Draco Malfoy's horrible words towards me. Laughable. 

I stand up and leave, and notice that Cassandra doesn't follow me.