ᶜʰᵃᵖᵗᵉʳ ²²⁻ "ᵀʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ʷʰᵃᵗ ᵉᵛᵉʳʸᵒⁿᵉ ᶜᵃˡˡˢ ʸᵒᵘ. ᵀʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ʷʰᵃᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ᵃʳᵉ"
At dinner, all Malfoy could talk about was his stupid scratch.
Blaise and I exchanged a look and laughed about the daft boy we called our friend. But, right then, we overheard a Gryffindor say Sirius Black had been sighted in Dufftown.
All we could talk about after that was Black.
Even after dinner, when we were sitting in the Slytherin common room, all everybody was talking about was him.
I was sick and tired of hearing about all this nonsense and so decided to go to bed.
"Where are you going?" Blaise asked as I got up from my seat.
I gave him a look. "To sleep. I don't think I can handle any more of this Sirius Black rubbish"
Daphne and Pansy hummed in agreement and decided to join me as well.
As I was about to climb the stairs of the girls' dormitory, someone held my hand and pulled me back.
Impulsively, my other hand grabbed my wand in my pocket, but I let go when I saw it was Malfoy who drew me back. I pulled my hand out of his grip and crossed my hands in front of my chest as I stood in front of the blond with narrowed eyes.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay here in the common room, with all of us?" He asked but it almost sounded as if he were pleading me to stay there. Needless to say, I asked him why.
"J-just," the boy said unable to answer me properly. Not meeting my eyes, bowing his head and stammering, I analysed. It was almost as if he was... shy.
I wagged my eyebrows, delighted by his discomfort but reassured by his uncharacteristic concern. I put my hand over his. "I'll be fine Malfoy. Black can't get into Hogwarts. And even if he did, I don't think I'd be his first target"
"I mean, he is a lunatic murderer. Can't be too sure," Malfoy laughed making me chuckle as well.
"Good night, Malfoy," I smiled turning away.
"Night"
I walked up the stairs where I saw Daphne smirking and wiggling her eyebrows.
"Malfoy likes you," The blonde girl said in a sing-song voice wiggling her eyebrows. I scoffed and shrugged her little 'observation' but she kept on insisting she was right the entire night.
--
I was quite eager to go for DADA that day since I wanted to see how the new professor would do. He seemed like a good professor and a person who knew what they were doing so I didn't worry about it too much.
The topic was boggarts that morning.
I liked the professor already since it wasn't just theoretical DADA but practical DADA. However, boggarts for the first day seemed rather impractical.
When asked what a boggart was, Granger answered the professor- without raising her hand first. I rolled my eyes at her answer, which was just a memorised paragraph from the textbook.
Even though most teachers are impressed by this quality of Granger, Lupin did not seem too thrilled and completed her answer for her.
Merlin, I was liking this man more and more by the second.
He then proceeded to explain the charm to us. "Riddikulus" all of us repeated after the slender professor.
"This class is ridiculous," I heard Malfoy scoff making me chuckle. Not because he was right- he never was- but because of his ability to do what he just did. Scoff and make fun of people, but be so poetic about it.
Once again, the poor Longbottom boy was called forward as a volunteer. All of us snickered as he timidly and fearfully walked up to the cupboard on professor Lupin's instruction.
The tall, lean man instructed the short boy and opened the cupboard.
Laughter spread all over the room when Severus came out of the cupboard- solemn as always- as Longbottom's boggart.
Longbottom cast the spell and my godfather's all-black robes changed into hideous old lady clothes making the room burst into laughter yet again.
Everyone was made to form a line and I could see Crabbe and Goyle pushing people out of our way and breaking into the middle of the line.
I rolled my eyes at their behaviour.
Malfoy or any of us for that matter were no supreme beings. We were quite capable of waiting in line like the rest of the students- which is what I did.
One by one, the students were turning their boggarts into something funny and soon it was Potter's turn.
His boggart turned into a dementor and Lupin stepped in front of Potter, resulting in the boggart taking shape of his fear.
The boggart showed the moon. A full moon.
He turned it into a balloon and put an end to the class for the day.
I was disappointed. I would have loved to know what my boggart would've been.
I never knew what I feared and did not want to lose an opportunity to know what it was. So, I could face it and put an end to it, of course.
--
"What do you think your boggart would've been?" Daphne asked all of us, sitting on the comfortable couch in the Slytherin common room, later that night. "Mine would definitely have been a clothing catastrophe. Or what if it were worse? What if I was the one having a clothing catastrophe?" the blonde shuddered at her thoughts.
Blaise laughed at his friend's assumption. "That is what you're afraid of the most, Daph? Clothes?" When Daphne nodded in reply, Blaise laughed yet again. "Good, because I am too"
"Mine would be my father, probably," Theo thought out loud.
Nobody needed a cupboard to know Theo was afraid of his father the most. I couldn't blame him either. His father was a ruthless, evil man who cared about nothing and no one and performed unspeakable acts upon muggles and his own son.
Pansy cleared her throat. "What would your boggart have been Cass?" she asked trying to lighten the tension.
I was in deep thought and considering I had been pondering the same question as well, I just shrugged indicating I had no idea either.
Looking at my reply, I heard Malfoy scoff from my side. "Please, Parkinson. The Slytherin princess is not scared of anything or anyone and you don't need a genius to know that"
Everyone chuckled at his words and then hummed in agreement.
I stared at the Malfoy boy in surprise with a grin plastered on my face.
He looked at me and raised his eyebrows in suspicion.
"Princess?" I repeated his words in a mocking tone.
Malfoy shrugged at my question and turned his body towards mine. "That's what everyone calls you," he informed. "That's what you are"
I shook my head and laughed at this.
I turned away but I could feel his eyes were still on me. This made me turn to face him again.
And while our friends discussed our Hogsmeade trip in the background, Malfoy and I were engrossed in an intense staring contest.
We made weird faces every once in a while, but neither of us was ready to lose.
However, Malfoy's words rang through the back of my head. I had to have some fears, right?