Green Apples and Parchment

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I smiled at her apologetically. "I would, but I already promised a few other friends that I would sit with them."

"We'll all sit together then. Tracey and I don't mind." Daphne said. 

"Works for me." I told them with a small shrug of my shoulders. Slytherins were nothing if not persistent. 

I glanced around the grounds until I found Hannah, who was standing with Neville and Ernie. I waved her over, and the group walked over to us. 

"This is Tracey and Daphne, and they're sitting with us on the train, if that's alright." I said.

"Or if it's not alright." Daphne said cheerily while Tracey grinned along with her. I didn't know them well enough to tell if they were joking or not. Neville looked slightly uncomfortable at the statement, and I couldn't control my laughter. Soon, the rest of the group joined in. It felt weird to be laughing when Cedric died only yesterday, but I couldn't stop. 

The laughter died down as the professors began corralling us towards Hogsmead Station to board the train. We started walking but I fell behind as I saw Ginny. 

"Ginny!" I called to her, and she jogged to meet me, Ron trailing close behind her in an awkward walk. 

"Hey Cass." she said. 

Ron interrupted whatever his sister was going to say next. "You're still with him then?" he said in a condescending voice. "Malfoy, I mean. I saw you two together."

I refrained myself from rolling my eyes. "Yeah, I am. I don't know why it's any of your concern though."

"How can you stand to be around him with all he's done? I can't believe you can forgive him for what he's said to Hermione-"

"If you're implying that I'm a bad friend to Hermione, you're mistaken." I told Ron angrily. "I am not turning a blind eye to whatever evil you think is happening, because Draco's not evil. Which you would know if you ever tried  to get to know him. But you didn't, and you think you pass judgements. If you even tried to have one conversation with Draco you'd realize that he's actually a good person."

"What are you talking to my girlfriend for, Weasley?" I turned at the sound of Draco's voice. He must have realized that I had fallen behind the group and came to investigate. "Asking for handouts perhaps? Your family is poor enough that it wouldn't surprise me."

Ron turned a deep red color, and I felt my cheeks blush as well. I was mad at Ron, but I liked his family. "You're not really helping your case." I muttered under my breath, but Draco chose to ignore me. 

"In fact," Draco continued, sneering, "I'm shocked that I haven't seen you around the Manor. I suppose its only a matter of time before your disgrace of a father comes around to beg my family for money. Let me save you a trip; we won't give you anything, no matter how much you try to suck up to my father."

"Malfoy," Ron practically growled. "Cass was just telling me about how nice you are." He turned to me, his eyes narrowing into slits. "You're a really good judge of character." Ron said sarcastically. 

"Was she now?" Draco said cooly, absentmindedly playing with the rings on his fingers. "It seems that I've given my girlfriend a false impression of me."

Ron looked at me with distrust in his eyes, and I was taken aback by his expression; we had always gotten along before, even if we weren't incredibly close. "I thought I knew you, Cass, but apparently I was wrong. I'll remember this next time Ginny wants to invite you home." He turned to his younger sister. "Come on, Ginny. Let's go." 

With one more backwards glare, they left me alone with Draco. 

"What did you do that for?!" I said, exasperated. "Ginny's my friend, and I quite like her family. Now they're going to hate me."

"You really can't expect me to be nice to everyone, especially not Weaselbee." Draco said with a scowl. 

I rolled my eyes. "But you're nice to my other friends."

"Yes, but I'd rather that not get out. If rumors started spreading that I was actually nice to people, it would ruin the image that I've worked so hard to build for myself."

"I just don't understand why you want everyone to think you're such a bad person when you're not-"

"This is who I am, okay." Draco cut me off defensively. "I thought you didn't have a problem with that."

I sighed in frustration. "I don't. It's just-"

"Good." Draco grabbed my hand, forcing me to follow him. "Now let's go catch up with everyone else."

I allowed Draco to pull me behind him, vowing to continue this conversation another time if he refused to have it now. And to find Ginny and apologize as soon as I got on the train. 

A/N: So uh, all online school did not give me as much free time as I hoped it would (laughs in junior year and student athlete) (I don't even know how my sport is allowed to continue right now but whatever). Anyways, I promise I haven't forgotten about/given up on this story, I'll just be updating slower than I used to. Hopefully things will slow down soon so I can go back to updating more often. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy and drink water and all that good stuff.