𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓| 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐟𝐨𝐲✔️

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘|𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐀𝐓&𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐍𝐀𝐊𝐄

BLAISE ZABINI

Malfoy sat alone before the fire, staring transfixed into the flames. It was strange to see him y himself, without the pretence of his thick friends. "Are you alright?" I said as I sat across from him in the empty common room.

"I'm fine."

Nodding towards his bandaged fist I tried to dampen the awkward silence by asking, "How's your hand? Does it hurt much?"

He turned to me with a face like thunder and a biting edge of hostility in his hollow voice, "Why do you care?"

"What?" I said, furrowing my brow in confusion, he'd been so moody as of late, and I think I knew why. "Why are you so pissed off?"

The arrival of Mara had somewhat driven a wedge between us as friends, even if we didn't admit it. We tried to ignore it, we never spoke about it, but that didn't change the fact it was still there. The unspoken wall that separated us from one another.

Maybe if we ignored it for long enough it would one day crumble? But deep down we both knew that was a losing game, futile in its foundations, it would only continue to grow and grow until it became so thick and so fast it would be insurmountable and we would never be the same again.

Before he could answer footsteps thundered down the staircase, echoing tenfold off of the stone walls. "Guess who's back!" The girls jeered as they appeared closely followed by a panting and red-faced Crabbe and Goyle. "-And we come bearing gifts!"

Malfoy and I turned in unison to see Millicent brandishing a strange brown ball of fur above her head like a trophy, the look on her face beamed as though she'd just a hundred house points.

At first I thought she had stolen one of Umbridge's horrid hats until the ball gave a small squeak as she threw herself down into an emerald armchair. I squinted at the thing, but it coiled in fear so that I could scarcely make out its pale pink nose through the thick fur. "What the fuck is that?"

"It's not what it is that's important-..." Millicent began, shooting a smug look at Pansy who'd reclaimed her usual seat besides Malfoy, who looked entirely unimpressed. Pansy finished for her, "-It's who it belongs to that matters."

"Ouch you little bastard!" Millicent let out a shriek as the creature latched its teeth around her little finger and she moved as if to strike it.

"Don't you dare." She stopped dead in her tracks at the distinctly dangerous edge in Draco's voice. "Give it here, now."

At once Millicent practically threw the thing into his arms, where it settled quickly on his lap.

There was an awkward moment that settled between us all, like a thick blanket of empty air weighing down upon us but not in a comforting way, this was suffocating.
No one dared speak as Malfoy pet the rodent-like creature affectionately until it fell asleep and he finally looked up.

"Are you going to tell us who it belongs to or not?" He snapped, stroking the sleeping creature between the ears with his index and ring finger.

"Take a wild guess." Pansy said smugly, looking perfectly proud of herself. She wasn't going to let this moment pass easily, she wanted to hold onto it, draw it out and bask in the spotlight for as long as Draco would permit. After all, she sought his approval above all else, that's why she looked at him in the way she did even as Crabbe spoke up. "Hagrid?"

"Don't be stupid, if it was Hagrid's then he would've fed it to that horrid bird thing by now." Pouted Millicent, sucking on her injured finger.

"Potter's latest pet?" Suggested Goyle. "Or Weasley, haven't seen his scabby rat in years, this could be his latest rodent replacement."