𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄 | 𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐖𝐄𝐀𝐑
december 16,
1994
"Ron is going to be the death of me, I swear." Hermione exclaimed, clearly frustrated as she walked towards the dress shop in Hogsmeade along side Vivian and Lillian.
"It sounds like he still needs to figure out how to express his emotions.." The brunette Hufflepuff replied to Hermione's previous rant about how the Weasley boy had insultingly asked her to the Yule ball, and then got upset when she said she already had a date and then proceeded to ask out Fleur, right in-front of her.
"Exactly! That's what I said too!" Hermione practically shouted.
"Wait, I'm confused, was the part where you told Weasley you actually had a date a lie or not?" Lillian suddenly questioned, her eyebrows knitting together in curiosity.
"Oh," Hermione began to blush, "Well, its the truth.. but—"
"It is?!" Lillian gasped excitingly, "Oh my, who is it? Is he in Gryffindor?"
Hermione almost looked startled by the amount of energy radiating off of the ebony haired Hufflepuff, "N-No, he's not a Gryffindor.."
As Lillian and Vivian began to try and work out who Hermione's date could possibly be, the granger girls face slowly sunk deeper and deeper into her hands.
"Guys! God, if I tell you will you stop asking so many questions..?"
The two Hufflepuffs made eye contact for a moment, silently communicating whether or not they should take the granger girls deal, after a second or two, Vivian nodded her head, "Okay, deal."
And so, with one more deep sigh from Hermione, she began to speak again, "..Do you guys know Victor?"
"Victor? Victor..."
The two Hufflepuff girls rose their brows for a second or two, before Lillian abruptly gasped, "Victor Krum?!"
The facial expression the Gryffindor girl made was enough confirmation for the other two girls. Vivian squealed in surprise, slinging her arm around Hermione, "Oh my gosh! I knew you two had something going on! I knew it! When did he ask?"
"The start of December.. Wait, how did you know we had something going on..?" Hermione stated and then questioned, a surprised smile gracing her features.
Vivian released a small giggle, absentmindedly kicking the slush beneath her shoes, "Well, when you made that comment at the start of the term about how he was cute or something, that was a clue that you liked him.. and then when we were both in that one tent before the first task, I saw the way you two were looking at each other, and then he defended you against that reporter lady.. and I was like 'do you think they're going out or something?' To Cedric!" Vivian rambled, "And he said didn't know, but I was right!"
Hermione blushed but chuckled in amusement, Lillian shook her head fondly.
"So what about you, Vivian? Do you have a date? And we all know Lillian and McCoy are going together." Hermione questioned after a moment or two of silence.
Vivian glanced over to meet the Granger girls eyes, she nodded her head a bit, "Yeah— but, well I don't know if I'd call it a date, I'm going with Pansy as a friend.."
"Oh yeah! Harry said something about you going with 'that one Slytherin girl who hangs out with Malfoy' after you rejected him!" Hermione gasped, now remembering how upset her best-friend had been when he wandered back into their common room that night.
"I remember! Milo practically dragged me away once Potter showed up." Lillian mentioned with an amused smile.
"He was truly distraught.. I don't think he's ever been like, rejected before. It's the first time I've ever seen him cry over a girl." Hermione stated with a frown, causing the Brunette Hufflepuff's chestnut eyes to widen.
"Wait, he cried!?" Vivian squeaked, "He didn't seem that upset when he left! Oh my, I feel terrible now.. should I have said something different..?"
"No, No. Its good that you were straight forward, if you don't like him like that then you shouldn't have to—" Hermione began but was swiftly cut off by the Bright girls concerned voice.
"But that's the thing! I don't know if I like him like that or not— I only said no to him because he took too long to ask me out and I already made arrangements with someone else...!" Vivian grimaced, a terrible pool of guilt swarming in her stomach.
It was true that she had yet to figure out her feelings for the Potter boy.. however, if Pansy had never asked to go with her, Vivian would've most likely said yes to Harry's invite.
"..Well maybe you can dance to a song or two with him when you're there!" Lillian chimed in optimistically, causing the 'V' between Vivian's brows to lessen slightly.
"That's true.. it's not like Me and Pansy are in a relationship anyway." The brunette Hufflepuff girl sighed, trying to look at the whole mess of a situation positively.
S.B.M
After spending nearly two hours in Gladrags Wizardwear, attempting to find the perfect dresses for the Yule Ball, Vivian was nearly ready to give up and just show up in her undergarments.
"Honestly at this point I might as well go naked!" The brunette exclaimed in frustration, Lillian had already found a dress, it was silver and had lace details, and Hermione said she already had something to wear back in her dorm, meaning Vivian was the only one left out of the three to find something decent enough to wear.
Hermione released a small chuckle at the comment her friend had just made before she hollered, "Stop being so indecisive and just pick!"
"If only if were that easy, 'Mione! Some of us don't have the mental stamina for that." Vivian scoffed in amusement as she continued to search through the isles and isles of fancy dresses and robes.
"Wait! You guys, I think I found something!" Lillian called out suddenly from where she had been help in the search.
Vivian paused, crossing her fingers as she bounded over to where the other Hufflepuff girl had been standing, Hermione made her way across the store a bit begrudgingly.
"This better be it, Lilly, or so help me— Oh my gosh!" Vivian's eyes widened, she beamed at the piece of fabric in-front of her.
"You're gonna look so gorgeous, Vivian." Lillian smiled upon seeing her friends face light up at the sight of the dress in-front of her.
"Let me see— Oh wow!" Hermione cut herself off, genuinely surprised at how magnificent the dress truly was.
"Okay, I am trying this on right now!" Vivian stated quickly, practically yanking it off of the rack, Hermione and Lillian were quick to follow behind her as she made her way to the dressing room section of the store, weaving in and out of racks and racks of beautifully designed and coloured items of clothing.
It took a good 5 minutes of struggling to even get the dress on, But Vivian decided it was well worth it when she was finally able to spin around and look at herself in the dressing room mirror.
She was pretty sure she had never looked better.
As the brunette girl stepped out, bracing herself for what the two other girls might say, she nearly cried upon hearing their reactions.
"Vivian, you looked like a princess! You'll let me do your hair for you, right?" Lillian exclaimed excitedly as they checked out. It was of-course her dream to one day own a hair salon of her own.
"Oh, of course. I cant show up to the Yule Ball in a dress like this without my hair being done by a professional hairstylist!" Vivian laughed, shaking her head as she linked arms with Lillian and Hermione.
"Stop it.." Lillian blushed but nevertheless kept the wide grin plastered to her face.
"You guys are adorable. Merlin, I wish I had someone to do my hair. But it's either myself or Ron, and well I think he would end up burning it off... The idiot he is." Hermione cringed at even the idea of the Weasley boy coming near her hair.
"I don't doubt it— Sounds like something Ron would do.." Vivian shook her head at the mental image of the Weasley boy attempting to curl The Gryffindor girls hair.
"You should just sneak into the Hufflepuff dorms, that way you won't have to get ready by yourself!" Lillian added with a smile, even though she wasn't quite sure how you would even manage that.
The three girls made their way back to the castle accompanied by laughter and smiles. Vivian grinned once she made it back to the set of stairs that led down to the Hufflepuff common room alongside Lillian, It was truly a great way to spend the day.
The brunette, who was about to make her way down to the yellow houses common-room and discard of the bags that were weighing down her arms, stopped when she heard the voice of Milo from a few feet above, "And what's got you in such a good mood, hm?" He questioned loudly with an amused tone.
Vivian turned around, shaking her head a bit in amusement of her own as she allowed him to take a peak inside the bag that held her dress, "This."
Milo glanced at it for a moment, shaking his head and wincing his eyes, "It's so sparkly it nearly blinded me!"
"Oh, shut it." Vivian laughed, whacking her best-friend on the arm somewhat softly.
"Do you think I could fit in it?" Milo questioned as he tried to take the contents out of the bag.
The brunette Hufflepuff was quick to move the bag out of his reach, rolling her eyes as she did so, "Definitely not."
"Why'd you get the dress anyway?" The McCoy boy asked as he high-fived someone walking by, "I didn't even think you were going?"
Vivian furrowed her brows but still kept a smile on her face, confused as to what gave him that impression, "What? Who said I wasn't going?"
Milo, clearly confused, scrunched up his face, "Well I assumed that since you rejected Potter you weren't going in the first place..?"
"Oh?" Vivian pursed her lips, "No.. I'm still going, just with someone else."
"Y-You are? With who..? Don't tell my it's Pucey.." Milo grimaced at the memory of the 6th year Slytherin.
"Bloody hell no! Never." Vivian scowled, shaking her head at even the idea, "No it's, it's uhm Pansy..?"
"Parkinson?!" The McCoy boy gasped, a look of distaste crossing onto his face, "Why the hell are you going with Parkinson?"
Vivian shrugged, frowning slightly upon seeing Milo's practicable reaction, "She asked me to go with her and I said yes..? We are friends if you haven't forgotten."
The Hufflepuff boy folded his sleeve clad arms across his chest in a father like disappointment, "of course I haven't forgotten you and that snake are friends. But that's all it is, right? You aren't like in a relationship with her, right?"
"No, we aren't in a relationship! Don't you think I would've mentioned that if we were?" Vivian rolled her brown eyes in annoyance.
Milo held his hands up in defense, "Well I was just making sure, you do like— them, so."
"Them? Who's them?" Vivian questioned, widening her eyes almost immediately.
"Y'know... Girls.. women... females.."
The brunette Hufflepuffs mouth practically dropped open upon hearing the words that just escaped her best-friends lips, "Yes? That doesn't mean I'm in a relationship with every single one of them! I can still have friends Y'know!"
"I know, I know! It's just not a good idea to be too close with a Slytherin. Whether it's friendship or something more." Milo stated stubbornly, causing Vivian to roll her eyes, she knew where this conversation was going. It went the same way whenever they talked about the brunettes new friends in the green house.
"Milo, listen. I know you don't or can't trust Pansy, but I do. Okay? so you just have to trust me on this." The Bright girl said calmly, though from the look on the McCoy boys face you would've guessed she screamed it instead.
"I trust you— it's just, they're dangerous! It's literally in their blood for them to be evil and prejudice! Almost every single Slytherin has gone to You-know-who. So I'm sorry for not wanting them to take advantage of you!" Milo rambled forcefully and Vivian could feel the anger and frustration building up inside of her.
The brunette took a deep breathe, attempting to stay calm, "Well if everyone believes all that Slytherins are is prejudice and evil then they aren't going to get an opportunity to change the stereotype, Milo. Pansy's not nearly as prejudice as her family, and neither are her friends. If you just took the time to get to know them then
may—"
"Oh so Draco Malfoy doesn't go around calling you and every other half-blood or muggleborn in this school a mud-blood or some other slur every chance he gets? That's who they are, Vivian. It's not just a outdated stereotype. Stop trying to see them as anything different." Milo cut the brunette off ruffly, his eyes grew slanted and you could practically see the anger dripping off of him.
Vivian could feel herself growing angrier and angrier as well, the deep breathes she had been taking had been losing their calming affect, "Draco's one student. He isn't the blueprint for all of them! And he's not even all evil
either— It's not all black and white."
"So now you're defending Malfoy? Are you besties with him now too?" Milo growled, causing Vivian to stumble back slightly. "And it's not just him who says those things, Vivian. Did you even hear about what Parkinson said about Hermione to Rita Skiter? Is she still some saint for saying those things? Do you still want to be associated with her?"
"Milo, just leave it, mate. We need to get going." Ernie, who had been standing around to witness the whole ordeal, finally spoke up in an attempt to get his friend to let it go.
"No, MacMillan, Vivian needs to understand that being friends with the Slytherins isn't going to end well!" Milo stopped him, his voice growing louder at every word he spoke.
"W-while I can't defend Pansy for saying those things, it doesn't mean she can't change and grow.. it doesn't mean she has to be the bad person forever." Vivian spoke as confidently as she could, though it proved to be a bit challenging. She hated getting yelled at after all, and she rarely was able to keep it together when someone did raise their voice like this at her. Unless it was Draco Malfoy, of course.
"You aren't listening to me! I don't know how many more times I need to say this before you understand, they are using you, Vivian! To get to Harry, because of how goddamn in-love with you he is, or some other twisted reason we don't know. Because they are the enemy. Pansy doesn't actually want to be your friend. Why would she? I'm sorry, but You're just some boring Hufflepuff in their eyes." Milo's words, that were probably just insulting if anything to most people, struck a nerve somewhere inside Vivian. Because for as long as she could remember, she had always been called boring or useless or pathetic or average.
She hated that it affected her as much as it did. She hated that even if Milo meant well by saying those things, it still didn't stop her face from crumbling, the brunette, who did her best to compose herself quickly, didn't say anything more as she speed walked away from the McCoy boy who still had a look of fury on his face. Not that she was paying much attention to it anymore, her eyes were fogged with tears that tempted to drip down. But Vivian would not allow herself to cry in-front of him. She would not allow herself to show that his words actually affected her.
She moved through the castle, trying her best to stay out of crowded corridors and walkways. She was pretty sure that even a glance at her face would give it all away.
After what must've been the fasted Vivian could've possibly walked through the castle, she found herself crumbling in an abandoned hallway near the quidditch pitch. There wasn't any practices today so there was a small probability of anyone running into her there.
One of the downsides to going to a boarding school was that no matter how hard you tried, there was always bound to be at-least one person lurking around.
Vivian sat down on the uneven stone pavement, burying her head in her knees as she silently wept. She hated that she was this emotional over every little thing someone said to her. She tried to stop letting it affect her, she told everyone it didn't. But that was a lie. she supposed it was just in her nature to care.
Maybe 2 minutes had gone by. Vivian was pretty sure she was going to drown in her tears that seemed to never stop, when suddenly, much to her confusion, she felt someone kneel down in-front of her, placing a large hand on her shaky arm causing the brunette to peel it way from her knees.
She glanced up, eyes widening when she released who she was across from. Her brown eyes met his sliver ones that were dressed in concern..? But why?
Vivian blinked, unsure if she was dreaming or not, a tear sliding down her face as she did so, "D-Draco.? W-why are you—"
"Who did this to you?" He cut her off harshly, causing the brunettes eyes to widen in shock.
"Uhm— it's-it's.." Vivian began but soon realized that it would be absolutely insane to even think about telling the boy in front of her what happened.
Vivian didn't respond, she could tell that Draco wanted to desperately say something, something she wasn't sure of— but the words seemed to be stuck in his throat.
She watched him for a moment or two, the conflicted look in his eyes, the way his face shifted ever so slightly whenever a tear dripped from her brown eyes. The blond flinched at the feeling of the drop of salty water that dripped onto his hand.
Draco cleared his throat, hesitating slightly, "Are you okay?"
That question was enough to send Vivian over the edge, another wave of sadness and frustration hitting her, she felt her mind go blank, unsure of what she was even doing as she rapped her shaky arms around the Malfoy boys middle, burying her head into his black turtleneck.
Dracos whole body tensed up as soon as he felt felt her arms rapping around him. He nearly jumped. Draco couldn't remember the last time he'd been hugged by someone who wasn't his mother. And now he was hugging— no holding the weeping Hufflepuff who smelt of coffee and citrus. Who he was pretty sure was about to crack and break into a million pieces.
Vivian couldn't even bring herself to glance up in surprise when she felt a pair of long, slender arms hug her back. Maybe if she was in a less delicate state, she would've yelled at the Slytherin boy or shrugged him off of her.
But here she was, a crying mess of emotions allowing herself to be hugged by the enemy.
S.B.M
Maybe it was because Draco had never had much physical touch in his life at all, not even when he was a child— but the feeling that lingered in Draco's chest beneath his tear soaked turtleneck was something he wasn't quite sure he had ever felt before, and if he was honest, he wasn't sure if he loved it or hated it.
It had never accorded to him that he could maybe— possibly— have a crush on someone, let alone a Half-blooded Hufflepuff, until this year. But things inside of him had been changing and changing quickly.
What he now knew scared him, terrified him, even. Not that he would allow what he was feeling about Vivian to ever get out, he would never let her know.
It wouldn't work out anyway, even if she wasn't a half-blood and her family wasn't looked down upon by most of the pure-blood community, Draco and Vivian were just too different, he was a Slytherin and she was a bloody Hufflepuff, that should be explanatory enough.
Draco pushed back the feelings as far as they could go, attempting to suppress anything other than hatred he might have felt for the brunette girl.
At the start, the Malfoy boy thought Vivian was nothing more than a boring Hufflepuff, pathetic if anything else. He originally thought that teasing her throughout the years was because she was an easy target. She was known for being kind and caring, a typical Hufflepuff...
But now, Draco realized that maybe, maybe the reason he payed so much attention to her is because he liked her attention.. and that was the only way he knew how to get it.
So, the blond boy had to think of something fast. Something that would distract him until this little thing that he had for the brunette girl blew over, Because the last thing he wanted was to have a crush on Vivian Bright.
...
Barely proof read but who's surprised at this point.
Not sure how to feel abt this chapter but I haven't updated in a fat minute bc it's finally summer and I've been crazy busy, I'll try to update more frequently thooo
I hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading! Have a great day,
xoxo
Word count: 3600+
Date: june 2, 2022