"I was just worried about my...boyfriend."
Y/N POV
Thankfully, the rest of the class seemed to forget Draco's big announcement once Hagrid let the students take individual rides on Buckbeak. First, Harry Potter unknowingly volunteered himself to ride, as he was thinking too much about what Draco had said to even pay attention.
At first, Harry was frightened by the creature. But, as soon as he landed back down on the ground, he was smiling from ear to ear in fascination.
I beamed, "Great job, Harry!"
At my enthusiastic words, Draco Malfoy scoffed and advanced towards the large creature, "Give me a go at that thing!"
Switching my gaze onto the blonde boy, I furrowed my eyebrows and asked, "Draco, what are you doing? You're going to get hurt-"
"Please, if Potter can do it, it must be easy," Draco replied, stepping before Buckbeak. "You're not dangerous at all, are you, you great ugly brute-"
"Malfoy! No!" Hagrid yelled.
But, it was too late.
In a flash, Buckbeak's claws slash down on Draco's arm, causing him to fall over from the forceful blow. Heaving several panicked breaths, Draco immediately looked down at his bleeding arm and let out several loud cries.
"It's killed me! It's killed me!" Draco whined, rolling around in pain.
Gasping in disbelief, I stood and watched from afar as Hagrid raced over to his limp body. After bending down and picking him up, he then announced to the class, "That's all for today!"
Keeping still, I watched as Hagrid carried Draco through the trees, heading straight for Madam Pomfrey. It wasn't until Hermione Granger tapped my shoulder that I broke out of my trance.
"Y/n, aren't you going to go with him?" Hermione asked.
Shaking away my thoughts, I hesitantly turned to her and answered, "Yes, of course. I'll see you guys later."
Just before departing, I spared one more brief glance at Harry, who's beaming smile had now fallen into a frown. It was obvious that he was upset, and by the way he was looking at me, I could tell that there was something he wanted to say.
But, that moment quickly passed.
"Go on," Harry spoke lowly, pulling his gaze away from mine and focusing on the ground.
Without another word, I turned away from the boy and followed after Hagrid and Draco, heading back towards the castle.
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After entering into the Hospital Wing, I slowly made my way over to the closest occupied bed. Taking a seat beside Draco, I watched as Madam Pomfrey continued to clean his wound.
"Ouch!" Draco hissed, flinching in pain. "Careful!"
Sighing, I shook my head and spoke down to him, "Relax. She's just trying to help, Draco."
Looking up to meet my gaze, Draco's furious expression seemed to soften ever so slightly. It almost seemed that he wasn't expecting me to come. Lifting an eyebrow, the boy asked, "I didn't think you'd be here."
"Well, you know..." I trailed off, sharing an awkward glance with Madam Pomfrey. "I was just worried about my...boyfriend."
Letting out a light chuckle, Draco hissed in pain once more. Cursing under his breath, his once content expression switched back to a look of annoyance.
"Just wait until my father hears about this," Draco spoke lowly. "He'll get rid of that bloody chicken for good."
"Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrows in disbelief. "All because you got a scratch on your arm?"
"It almost killed me y/n!" He spat.
"You know, I warned you that you'd get hurt..." I trailed off, shrugging my shoulders. "But you were too focused on trying to take the attention away from Harry. You didn't listen to me."
He thought for a moment, then looked back up at me.
"But if Hagrid hadn't brought in that bloody bird-" He was cut off by the doctor.
"You are free to go," Madam Pomfrey spoke, obviously annoyed with Draco's harsh tone.
"B-but it still hurts." He whined.
"You'll be fine."
Without another word, Madam Pomfrey quickly gathered her things and returned back to her office.
Letting out a sigh, Draco reluctantly pushed himself up to a seated position. I could tell he was having a little difficultly, so I reached my hands out to help him.
"Here, let me help," I spoke, lifting him up the rest of the way.
Turning to face me, Draco met my gaze once more. But, just as he was about to speak, several voices began to call out his name.
"Draco! There you are!" Crabbe shouted.
Standing at the entrance to the Hospital Wing, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy, and Blaise all made their way over to Draco with shared looks of worry on their faces. At the sight of them, Draco slowly laid back down in bed, holding out his freshly bandaged wound for them to see.
"Gosh, does it hurt terribly, Draco?" Pansy asked, her voice softening as she lightly touched his bandage. "I was so worried."
Shrugging, Draco replied, "It comes and it goes. Still, I consider myself lucky. According to Madam Pomfrey, another minute or two, I could've lost my arm."
Lifting my gaze up to meet Pansy's, I watched as she frowned in my direction, sending me an intense glare. It was clear that she was uncomfortable with me being there, as were the rest of them.
"You know what, I'm gonna go," I told Draco, pushing myself up to a standing position. "I'll see you later."
"Wait-"
Ignoring his words, I stepped away from the group of Slytherins and made my way towards the exit. However, just before I was about to leave, I heard a series of snickers coming from Draco's bed. I knew they were talking about me, but I chose to ignore them. Once I exited the Hospital Wing, I turned the corner and head straight for the Great Hall.
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"Where have you been?" Harry asked as I sat down at the Gryffindor table.
"I was in the hospital with Draco." I said, looking down at my empty plate of food.
"So what he said during class was true..." Hermione trailed off, skeptically raising an eyebrow. "You're dating Draco Malfoy?"
Gulping once, I nodded and replied, "Yes, I am."
I knew it was wrong to lie to their faces, but I couldn't tell them the truth. It would ruin everything.
"And how bloody long has this been going on for?" asked Ron.
Taking a deep breath, I did my best to relax before replying, "Two months ago. The Malfoy's were hosting a small party at Malfoy Manor last summer and things just kind of...happened. I don't know how or why. They just did."
"Two months ago?!" The three of them burst, causing several eyes to fall on us.
"Will you keep your voices down!" I harshly whisper back, leaning towards them. "People are staring!"
Shaking her head, Hermione spat back, "How could you keep this from us? "What do you even see in him?"
"There are reasons you just don't understand," I sighed, letting my head fall in my hands.
This entire situation was stressing me out, and I didn't know how much more of it I could take. Sure, the whole "fake dating" thing sounded like a good idea at the time, especially if it was going to help out my family. But, now that its affecting my life at school, and separating me from my friends, I wasn't sure if it was the best idea anymore.
After a long, incredibly tense silence, Harry Potter then spoke, "Y/n...I think it's best you leave."
Taken aback by these harsh words, I furrowed my eyebrows and replied, "Excuse me?"
Just before Harry was about to speak again, Seamus Finnegan shouted from the other end of the table, "He's been sighted! He's been sighted! Sirius Black!"
Within a split second, nearly every Gryffindor student, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione, raced towards Seamus as quickly as they could. Bending down, they all began to read what was posted in the Daily Prophet about the escaped murderer.
Letting out a sigh, I decided to exit the Great Hall and make my way back up to the Common Room. It had been an incredibly long day, and all I needed was some sleep. However, I wasn't able to make it far down the corridor before I heard a familiar voice call out my name.
"Hey y/n! Wait up!" Draco said, chasing me down the hall.
Letting out a groan in annoyance, I turned to face the boy with a frown.
Noticing my expression, Draco immediately furrowed his eyebrows and asked, "Hey, what's wrong? Where are you going?"
"I'm going back up to my room to get some sleep," I explained, rubbing my forehead. "Just not feeling the best right now."
"What do you mean?" Draco asked, obviously confused. "Is there something going on?"
"No, no, nothings going on."
"Are you sure?"
Desperately wanting to change the subject, my eyes averted down to his sling. Looking back up to meet his gaze, I pointed down to his wound and asked, "Um...how's your arm?"
Following my eyes down to his arm, Draco only shrugged, "Sure, it hurts a little, but it's only a scratch."
"Then why are you making a big deal out of it?" I asked.
"Not really sure..." Draco trailed off, meeting my gaze once more as a smirk formed on his lips. "But it sure is getting the ladies attention."
Letting out a soft laugh, I couldn't help but roll my eyes and reply, "Just tell those ladies that you're taken."
"Are you jealous?" Draco asked, still smirking.
"Of course not," I defended, crossing my arms over my chest. "But if you get caught with other girls, we're gonna have a problem."
Nodding in understanding, Draco replied, "You're right, I'll keep that in mind."
Suddenly, a series of loud footsteps echoed through the corridor, approaching us from behind. Turning around to see who it was, I quickly spotted Harry Potter and Ron Weasley turning the corner near us.
Of course, I wasn't going to run off like I had before. If those boys weren't going to accept this relationship, thats on them.
Turning back to face Draco, I stood on my tip toes and wrapped my arms around his neck. Then, in one swift movement, I placed a soft kiss on his cheek and spoke, "Goodnight, Draco."
At first, the boy was taken aback by my actions. But, once he saw Harry and Ron standing a few feet away with angered looks on their faces, he couldn't help but gladly play along.
Wrapping his arms around my torso, Draco lifted me into the air and called, "Goodnight, sweetheart."
As soon as he set me back down, I looked behind me, only to see that Ron and Harry were not standing there anymore. Proud of our performance, I turned back to Draco and smiled, "You're really good at that."
"I could say the same to you," replied Draco.
As I made my way back to the common room that night, I couldn't help but wipe the smile off my face. Even though what Draco had said to the class this morning was incredibly uncalled for, I was relieved at the fact that we didn't have to hide it anymore.
Now, everyone knew.