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IN THE MIDDLE OF THE night Nyx was still wide awake. She wasn't sure if she was up to it—it was an unbelievably difficult thing to learn an entire first year's curriculum in two months and a couple of weeks. Nyx had just missed her first year, and the next year was starting on the first of September; they were already days into July! She turned to her side and looked out her window, she had her curtains open so she could see the starry night sky. She couldn't just sit with this, if she did the anxiousness would eat her alive and she wouldn't get any sleep.
Nyx got out of bed, still wrapped in the covers, that now trailed behind her as she walked out of her room. She stick her head out into the corridor looking left and right, no one was around so she stepped outside and scurried down the hall to the bedroom across from hers. She reached for the door handle, gave a little turn and the door opened; thank goodness it wasn't locked. Nyx entered the room quietly, shutting the door behind her.
"Psst," she said, standing by the door and waiting for him to wake up. "Psst, Draco!"
He stirred in his sleep. It was dark in his room, Nyx would have barely been able to see a thing if it weren't for the clear skies allowing the light emitting from the room to give this place some illumination.
Nyx walked forward, she stood directly over his sleeping figure and poked him repeatedly to wake him up. "Draco, Draco, Draco, Draco, Draco, Draco—"
He groaned and opened his eyes. He felt his stomach drop with fear when he spotted a white figure standing over his bed, not realizing at first that it was just Nyx wrapped in her sheets. He looked like he was about to scream, but Nyx covered his mouth first.
"Wait, it's just me!" she said quickly. She waited for Draco to come to his senses then removed her hands from his overtop his mouth.
"You almost gave me a heart attack!" Draco glared. "What are you doing in my room?"
"Do you want to build a blanket fort?" Nyx asked, bringing her covers closer to her.
Draco stared at her. There was something seriously wrong with her, he thought, she must have been dropped on her head multiple times as a baby because there was no other explanation. Why else would she sneak into his room in the middle of the night and wake him up all to build a blanket fort?
"You can't be serious." Draco furrowed his eyebrows. Unfortunately for him, she was very serious and she was also very convincing—or maybe it only seemed that way because of how tired he was. Either way, Nyx had managed to get Draco to drag himself to his feet and destroy his perfectly made bed to build a blanket fort.
"Do you have any paper and scissors?" Nyx asked him when he was gathering pillows for the inside of their fort.
"Maybe? I don't know."
"How can you not know?" Nyx asked.
"What would I need them for?" Draco shot back.
"Cutting things for one."
"I'd just have Father or Mother use a serving charm," Draco said matter of factly. "Much more effective."
Nyx just got up from hanging up yet another blanket to fortify their walls and left in search of some scissors and paper. Much to her surprise, she ran into Dobby the house elf; she would have thought everyone would be asleep at this time. When she explained her situation to Dobby, he snapped his fingers, disappeared from her sight then appeared again with the material and tools that she needed.
"Well look at that!" Nyx laughed. She bent down and hugged the small creature. "Thank you so much, Dobby."
The little house-elf just looked at her with his large eyes, unsure of what to do—no one in his entire life had ever hugged him before, honestly, he wasn't sure what the gesture was; but he liked it.
"Anytime, Miss Nyx Riddle."
With the materials that she needed, Nyx went straight to work, cutting away, folding in certain places and then using some tape that Dobby had kindly gotten for her to piece her fabrication together then she picked up a gas lamp and rushed back to Draco's room.
When Nyx barged back into his room Draco opened his eyes quickly and sat up. He had been trying to get some sleep in while she was away but now that she was back, and that seemed like a pipe dream.
He watched curiously as Nyx set the lit lamp in the middle of their blanket fort and then placed the paper she'd cut up with strange designs over the top of it. His eyes widened when the inside of their fort was illuminated with lights of different sizes and shapes, on closer inspection he saw that they were... stars?
"How did you do that?" Draco asked her, his voice a low whisper.
Nyx laid down across from him, on the other side of the lamp onto some of the pillows Draco had filled their fort with.
"Arts and crafts at my orphanage. About three years ago we learned how to make paper lanterns for Halloween after learning that we couldn't use pumpkins."
Draco nodded and laid down on their back, looking at the lights. But for some odd reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that Nyx was hiding something or rather waiting for him to ask her about something so she could have a reason to talk about it.
"Okay, what's going on?" he asked her. When she didn't answer he turned his head to look at her. Nyx was staring at the lamp, for once her eyes weren't twinkling with wonder and there wasn't a smile plastered on her face. She looked worried, tense even. It made him realize something, in that moment when Draco looked at her he no longer saw a caricature but a human being capable of doubts and worries.
"You came to me." He started again. Her eyes flickered up to him. "You could have gone to my parents but you came to me. Why?"
"I like you," she admitted gently.
"You've only known me for a day. You don't know everything about me if you did," Draco paused. He was sure. They were two different people entirely. "Well, you wouldn't be saying that."
"I like you," Nyx repeated herself, ignoring everything he'd just said. "Everyone I once knew is long gone, but you're here. You're my friend."
"I'm here..." Draco whispered. It was weird having someone say that to him. Draco had friends, sure, but none of his friends had ever said something like that to him; admitted so subtly that they needed him, and none of them had done it after only one day of knowing a thing.
"You can talk to me," he found himself saying. Now, that was certainly out of character.
"Everything has been amazing so far," Nyx started. It would seem that Draco had said just the right words to get her to start talking. "Truly. But now I've realized just how crazy it all is. Learning so much information in a matter of weeks? Then being shipped off yet again to this Hogwarts School? Meeting so many new people... I don't know. I've realized how terrifying it all is. What if I'm not built for it?"
"Not built for it? You're a witch, the second you were born you were meant to do this."
"Is it hard, learning magic? Are the people at Hogwarts nice?" Nyx asked him. It had dawned on her that although she'd always considered herself to be a social person, however, she was only in the confines of her small town with people she had spent her entire life with. Was she prepared to be thrusted into an entirely new environment with so many new people, creatures, and rules?
"You shouldn't worry about all that—"
"That's easier said than done."
Draco had never thought about it before, had never considered the perspective of people who had lived in the muggle world for so long having their entire reality shattered by the existence of the magical; granted he had never been taught to consider their perspective. He looked at Nyx for a while. Was it possible for her to be excited but be scared all at the same time?
"It's like you said, I'm here. I'll be here during the summer, I'll be at Hogwarts. I'll be here, so, d-don't worry." He didn't know why saying that felt so embarrassing. Maybe because he'd never said anything like that before?
Nyx nodded, rubbing her cheek against her pillow as a smile grew on her face. His words gave her great comfort. He was right. She wouldn't be alone now that she had Draco. She would be fine, there was nothing o worry about. This was just another adventure, and what was an adventure without possible conflict? Now she had a friend to go into battle with her, figuratively.
"See," the drowsiness was finally starting to set in as her eyelids grew heavy, "I knew I was right to like you."
Draco flushed, his head quickly snapped in her direction just in time to see her fall asleep. Here they were in the blanket fort under a roof the shiny "stars" and he was busy staring at her.
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The following day Severus returned to the manor to begin Nyx's private education. She tried to converse with him, get to know him a little better seeing as he'd run off the first chance that he got but Severus was a tough cookie to crack. He was a very strict teacher and not at all patient.
"It's not that hard, all I'm asking you to do is remember the ingredients and how to put them in properly," Severus said, standing over her.
Nyx was sitting in the dining hall, it was already the afternoon and they were still focused on positions. Textbooks, rolls of parchment, quills and ink were scattered around her as she racked her brain trying to remember the recipe for this particular potion.
"Um, you would add..." She chewed on her lip. Severus was practically breathing down her neck, it was making her nervous. "An infusion of wormwood?"
"Are you asking me or telling me?"
"...Telling you?" Nyx glanced up at him with a bashful smile.
Severus stared at her for a few gut-wrenching moments before he nodded. "Correct."
Nyx let out a sigh of relief and looked off to the side. There, by the doorway, she spotted Draco peeking in on them discreetly. When he was caught he turned a bit red and left quickly but Nyx just smiled; he was checking in on her and she appreciated that.
She had lessons every weekday from sun up to sun down and on top of everything Severus gave her homework too! Nyx barely had any time to sleep or to explore; actually, during the entire month of July, she probably didn't sleep a wink. On the weekends, when she was doing her homework, Draco would help her with it. She was thankful for him but also felt bad that she was making him do schoolwork during his summer break when he could be having fun.
Torture or not Severus's methods did work because by the time August rolled around Nyx had improved tenfold. She was starting to get a hang of many of the subjects that once seemed so alien to her. She organized little notes and came up with small tunes for memorization. Eventually, she began to excel in subjects like Transfiguration and Charms—the practical version of those subjects because students weren't allowed to use magic outside of school. But the subject Nyx excelled at the most, obviously, was Potions.
As time passed Cornelius Fudge kept his word and would visit the manor every two weeks or so to check on Nyx and see how she was doing. He was very polite and kind—he'd ask her how she was getting along, inquire about any new things she'd learned and ask how her day had been. With every passing visit, Nyx grew to like the man more and more.
There were times though when Cornelius (he'd told her to call him by his first name) would visit with other people. These men and women usually wore dark cloaks and stood off to the side, wands at the ready. Bodyguards perhaps? He was the Minister of Magic so on paper it made sense... but Nyx wasn't entirely convinced, especially when she accidentally made eye contact with them; they were intimidating and they didn't seem to like her.
"Okay, so a vampire jumps out at you and is preparing to attack." Draco read out the scenario. "What defensive spell do you use?"
Nyx smiled. "The Wand-Lighting Charm, Lumos!" She pointed her finger forward as if it were a wand.
Draco nodded and continued to the final question. He'd spent that entire weekend quizzing Nyx for her upcoming "examinations" on Monday. After all this time the school year was just around the corner and so these exams were determined if Nyx had learned enough in preparation for her first year at Hogwarts, as a second year.
"Oh," Draco frowned, "this one was actually on our Potions exam. How do you make the Forgetfulness Potion?"
Nyx sat up, clearing her throat, she clearly recited the instructions. "First you add two drops of Lethe River water to your cauldron. Then, gently heat for twenty seconds and add two Valerian sprigs to your cauldrons. Stir three times—"
"Ah-ah, in which direction?" Draco asked her, looking up from the answer key to Nyx; she needed to get everything right.
"Clockwise," Nyx smiled confidently. "Next, you wave your wand and then leave and return in forty-five to sixty minutes. Now, onto the second part. Add two measures of Standard Ingredient to the mortar, then add four mistletoe berries to the mortar. Crush it into a medium-fine powder using the pestle, and add two pinches of the crushed mixtures to your cauldron. Then stir five times—counter-clockwise this time—wave your wand and, bam, potion complete!"
Draco nodded his head as he sat back in his seat. "You got it perfectly right. Even I didn't get that on the exam..."
Nyx laughed, proud of her accomplishment.
"It's not all that impressive. Severus has been a lot harder on me when it comes to Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts. If it's any consolation my Herbology and History of Magic skills could use some serious work."
Nyx's friendship with Draco had grown exponentially ever since that night they had built a blanket fort together. Nyx was a bit taken aback by Draco's sudden change the following morning after their nighttime constructive efforts but didn't mind it at all. Granted they hadn't had much time to just have fun since Nyx had to solely focus on her studies but with that coming to a close Nyx already had plans for what they could do before heading off to Hogwarts together.
In mid to late August it was back-to-school time, which meant back-to-school shopping. Nyx, Draco, and Lucius travelled to London to visit this infamous Diagon Alley. With a name like that Nyx didn't know what to expect. The only relatively "magical" thing she had seen so far was Malfoy Manor. So a part of her was expecting Diagon Alley to have the same dark, vintage and witchy feel to it; she was completely wrong! Diagon Alley was the liveliest place she had ever been to.
There were tons of people everywhere, hundreds of stores with different bright colours, shapes, and noises. The tallest building, towering over the neighbouring shops was imposing, snow-white and multistoried located partway down Diagon Alley near an intersection with someplace called Knockturn Alley; it was a bank and Nyx could see creatures, Goblins, if her memory of her readings served her correctly, inside.
So in other words, Diagon Alley was booming!
"Wow look at that!" Nyx tore away from the Malfoy men she was with and practically pressed her nose against every window shop she came across. She stared amazingly at the magical items they were selling.
"Draco," she overheard Lucius's voice behind her. "Why don't you take Nyx to get her school boos, I'll rejoin you both later."
If it were Nyx she would have asked him some questions—Lucius was acting quite shifty. But Draco wasn't Nyx, so he said, "Yes, Father."
Nyx turned and watched Lucius walk away from them in the direction of Knockturn Alley. She wondered what he was doing and kind of wanted to follow him to quench her curiosity but Draco moved first, pulling Nyx along so he wouldn't lose her in the crowd.
"This is really happening, right? I'm not dreaming? I'm not going to wake up in the morning and have this all be some elaborate lucid dream?" Nyx asked him, smiling widely.
"Well, I feel quite real," Draco answered. He grinned, "Then again if were a dream, wouldn't I say the same thing?"
Nyx chuckled.
"Seriously, you're not getting overwhelmed again are you?"
Nyx paused and thought deeply. She then reached up to her ear and started tugging at her earlobe. "Maybe a little bit."
Draco watched her, he noticed how her earlobe reddened with how much she was fiddling with it. He leaned toward her, elbowing her side with a reassuring smile.
"No need to worry. You'll be fine," he told her. "Remember, I'm here."
Nyx smiled back at him, letting go of her ear. "Right, yeah, thanks Draco."
The two of them made it took the bookstore and Nyx looked down at her list to see what they needed for this year. A lot of the books had the same author's name, Gilderoy Lockhart and they were all classified under Defence Against the Dark Arts.
"We should split up to cover more ground," Nyx suggested.
"You better not wander off and get lost," Draco said narrowing his eyes at her.
Nyx let out an exaggerated gasp, faking offence. "I won't wander off!"
Draco did not look convinced. He just rolled his eyes in a teasing manner as he went up to the second floor. Nyx kept her pretend offended expression on her face until he was gone, then she cracked a smile and looked around for her books on the ground floor.
Maneuvering around proved to be difficult. There was a large crowd of women blocking many of the bookshelves and Nyx could barely get past them. She wondered what had made them congregate in this way. Was there something interesting on the other side of the story? Nyx allowed her curiosity to get the best of her as she wandered. She squeezed her small frame through the crowd until she was eventually pushed to its front.
Standing before the crowd of mostly women was a man. He was smiling widely in front of a desk with piles of books, cameras flashed on his face as he flung his arm around a boy; the boy looked like he did not want to be there. He seemed much more uncomfortable in front of the cameras and crowd.
Nyx looked him over. He had untidy black hair and big, round glasses. He was small (maybe the same size as Nyx or just a little bit taller) and very skinny. His face was slim and painted on it was discomfort as his seemingly inescapable situation. But what was most interesting about his otherwise average appearance was the presence of a thin and rather unusual lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Just where had he gotten a scar like that?
"Hm, still don't see what the fuss is about," Nyx whispered to herself aloud. Were the women all here for the books or for the man? She definitely didn't think they were here for the boy.
She turned and melted back into the crowd. Going back through them was far more challenging, this time Nyx was fighting against the current. The number of times she'd almost gotten squished or suffocated was alarming; she was just thankful at that moment that she didn't suffer from claustrophobia.
Nyx reached her hand out of the cluster of women and grabbed onto the first thing she could find to pull herself out—she proceeded to pop out like a cork. The acceleration propelled her body forward, a bit too quickly, and she knocked right into the person that was walking past her. They both toppled over, the stranger breaking Nyx's fall.
"Ow..." a voice groaned from underneath her.
Nyx opened her eyes only to find herself staring at the most beautiful set of emerald green irises she'd ever seen. Had she said that tea-leaf green was her favourite colour? Nyx was now formally retracting her statement. These eyes had to be her favourite, without a doubt.
"Are you all right?" the stranger asked and Nyx looked at him wholly this time. It was the boy from before, the scrawny one with the lightning bolt scar. How had he gotten through the crowd so quickly? Just a few moments ago he looked trapped with the handsome smiling man.
"You have very pretty eyes," Nyx said without so much as a thought.
"Um." He didn't know how to respond to that. A strange girl had just knocked into him and now laying on top of him, instead of getting up, she was... complimenting his eyes?
The reality of her situation struck Nyx like a ton of bricks. Immediately her eyes widened, her face went scarlet and she jumped off of him, helping the boy off the ground. Had she said that out loud before? That was meant to be a private thought!
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean all that—I promise I'm not as weird as that whole encounter makes me seem," Nyx was laughing through the embarrassment. "So let's just start over, okay? I'm Nyx."
"Potter—erm, Harry Potter." He shook the hand he'd grasped onto when Nyx helped him off the ground.
Nyx nodded and looked at him, just staring into his eyes. She couldn't help herself, they were the kind that was just so easy to get lost in. It was strange, they just held each other's hands seemingly forgetting about the world around them. No further words were exchanged between them, there was no need—their eyes did all the talking.
"Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" Draco chimed in spitefully. He was glaring long and hard at the two of them, rage just bubbling inside him that his chest felt like it was on fire.
Draco's voice seemed to be the trigger that brought Harry and Nyx back into reality. They let go of each other's hand, each of them embarrassed that they'd held on for so long and wondering if the other noticed.
Nyx looked away from Harry, trying to be inconspicuous but her face was so notably red.
Draco sneered, his eyes narrowing into slits as he moved between them. Nyx stumbled a bit when he unexpectedly forced his way through.
"Famous Harry Potter, can't even go to a bookshop without making the front page."
Nyx stepped out from behind Draco, he'd purposefully placed himself in front of her. She looked at him confused at the dramatic shift in his attitude from when she'd left him. Before he was joking around, he was smiling and now... well now that boy who'd made her feel comforted and safe was gone. Replaced by a new Draco Malfoy, one that was so malicious that Nyx felt personally attacked. Why did he loathe Harry Potter?
"Leave him alone," a new voice spoke up. "He didn't want all that."
Nyx looked away from Draco and spotted a young girl now by Harry's side. She had orange-ginger hair and was about Nyx's height—no, actually she was a bit smaller, possibly younger too. Nyx noticed a brilliant blaze behind the girl's pretty brown eyes.
"Potter, you've got yourself a girlfriend." Draco taunted, glaring at the young girl.
She blushed at his words.
Nyx wasn't sure what to do at the moment. She was so derailed and at a loss for words at Draco's behaviour. Now he was picking on people younger than him? Just what was he doing? What was he thinking? She wanted to say something, wanted to do something but before she could Lucius's black cane dropped into Draco's shoulder and he pulled his son back.
"Come now, Draco, play nicely." Lucius looked upon the mess his son had caused and his eyes found Harry; something dark flashed through them. "Mister Potter. Lucius Malfoy, we meet at last. Forgive me"—Lucius pulled Harry closer to him when Harry offered to shake hands. He moved Harry's black hair from his forehead to reveal the full extent of his scar—"Your scar is a legend as, of course, the wizard who gave it to you."
"Voldemort killed my parents," Harry replied. He placed some distance between himself and Lucius. "He's nothing more than a murderer."
So, Harry was an orphan too? Nyx glanced at him quickly. There was empathy there in their similar origin stories. Voldemort, the way Lucius had briefly described him sounded as though he was a big deal. Why hadn't Nyx heard of him before? If she was to believe that her mother was dead could it be possible that Voldemort, an assumed murderer, had something to do with it? Maybe—or maybe Nyx was just fabricating another story to fill the holes in her hollow life history.
"Hm, you must be very brave to mention his name." Lucius looked down at Harry, literally and figuratively.
"Fear of the name only increases fear of the thing itself," a new voice chimed in. It belonged to a girl, around Nyx's age, standing on the staircase that led to the second floor of the shop. She had bushy, untamable dark brown hair, brown eyes, and protruding teeth; another friend of Harry's?
"And you must be," Lucius glanced at Draco for verification, "Miss Granger?"
Draco nodded, confirming his father's suspicion while scowling at the girl.
"Yes, Draco's told me about you and your parents. Muggles, aren't they?"
Muggleborns. Nyx remembered reading about them for one of the few History of Magic lessons Severus had taught her. Apparently, back in the day when wizards were on the brink of extinction, they started forming relationships— procreating with muggles and as time passed some muggles grew to have distant wizarding blood in their family ancestry thrust causing muggle-borns to appear; people who otherwise had two muggle parents yet developed magic abilities.
The girl, Miss Granger, frowned at him. Her parents were presumably a touchy subject. Why else would Lucius be using them as a vague insult?
Nyx looked around and they were suddenly surrounded by freckles-faced, orange-haired children; there was practically a whole army of them! Just how many people were in this family?
Lucius seemed to notice the influx of gingers as well and scoffed.
"Let's see," he looked around at them and the items they'd purchased. "Red hair, vacant expressions... tatty second-hand book, you must be... the Weasleys."
"Lucius." an older man with red hair, likely the father of this red-haired clan, stepped forward. It was clear he was at least acquainted with Lucius, seeing as he called him by his first name.
"Busy time at the Ministry I hear. All those raids," Lucius glowered at the man, "I hope they're paying you overtime."
He began to reach into the youngest ginger (the girl)'s cauldron and picked out a very old, very battered copy of A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, as the title read.
Her book confirmed her age to Nyx—the girl was in her first year if she was buying that textbook for herself.
"Obviously not." Lucius clicked his tongue while examining the old book. "Dear me, what's the use of being a disgrace to the name of wizard if they don't even pay you well for it?"
The ginger man flushed scarlet.
"We have a very different idea of what disgraces the name of wizard, Malfoy," he said.
"Clearly," Lucius agreed. His eyes drifted over to the only people in the shop who were wearing (what Nyx thought) were normal, "muggle", clothes. The man and woman, likely Miss Granger's parents, were watching the scene apprehensively. "The company you keep, Weasley... and I thought your family could sink no lower."
"That's awfully rude—" Nyx didn't even get to finish her thought, because suddenly there was a thud of metal as the ginger girl's cauldron went flying; her father had thrown himself at Lucius, knocking him backward into a bookshelf!
Dozens of heavy spellbooks came thundering down on all their head. Nyx ducked for cover before anyting got the chance to potentially injure her. Her eyes were bulging out of her head as she witnessed the violent altercation between the two men.
"Get him, Dad!" an identical set of twins, both gingers, yelled.
"No, Arthur, no!" a woman (also ginger) shrieked in horror.
The crowd stampeded backwards, knocking over more shelves.
"Gentlemen, please—please!" cried an assistant who worked there.
Nyx just watched while breathing heavily. It was a bit startling, watching grown men fight, especially considering how small she was in comparison to them. But at the moment, she was completely on this man, Arthur Weasley's, side. Lucius had insulted his family, and if any ever insulted Nyx's family she'd do the same thing. Although April had always taught her violence wasn't the answer, Nyx had seen the woman throw down when she wanted to; it was a terrifying sight because April was a master in a few different martial arts.
"Break it up, there, gents, break it up—" Nyx's jaw dropped, as a gigantic man was wading toward them through the sea of books. Without any trouble, he plucked Mr. Weasley, and Lucius apart. Mr. Weasley had a cut lip, while Lucius has been hit in the eye by an Encylopedia of Toadstools. Lucius was still holding onto the ginger girl's old Transfiguration book, and thrusted it at her, his eyes glaring with malice.
"Here, girl—take your book—it's the best your father can give you," Lucius spat, and pulled himself out of the gigantic man's grip, beckoned Draco and swept from the shop.
Nyx stepped out of her hiding place and looked around at all the destruction that the fight had left behind.
"I'm terribly sorry." Nyx's voice echoed in the otherwise hushed bookshop.
Immediately there was a cluster of eyes on her. Nyx gulped, she wasn't sure if there was anything she could do to fix this mess. The damage had already been done.
She could only stare back in shock, humiliation, and so much confusion.
"Nyx!" roared Lucius, he was definitely still mad about the whole thing.
Nyx flinched at his voice and looked over her shoulder. She saw him and Draco waiting outside. Nyx frowned at them and looked back at the family of gingers.
"He deserved every punch that was thrown at him," Nyx spoke frankly.
Unconsciously her eyes searched for Harry to find that he was already staring at her. She hoped that the Malfoys' behaviour didn't reflect badly on her, but it was extremely likely that it did. With a final apologetic smile, Nyx walked out of the bookshop.
Harry watched her leave wondering who she was exactly; he'd never seen her before this day. She was blonde and pale, she hadn't told him her last name. He was close to assuming she was a Malfoy. But she looked nothing like them, not like Malfoy or Malfoy's father. There was something different about her, he'd seen it when they bumped into each other.
"Who was that?" Ron asked the first to speak up now that Nyx was gone. He looked at Harry who merely shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm not sure," he admitted. He wasn't lying either. He only knew her name, Nyx. It was a rather unique name, he wondered if maybe it meant something.
⍣ ೋ
She couldn't just let this go not after what had just transpired. It went against everything that Nyx believed in, everything that she thought was right. She felt sickened by their actions, their words, their behaviour and here they were acting as if nothing had happened—worse, acting as if they were the victims and not the ones at fault!
"Who were those people?" Nyx asked after a long way of staying silent.
Draco looked at his father, who had a tight grip on his cane.
Lucius was glaring as his eye started to swell a bit. He was positively furious just the mere thought of those people and everyone they so shamelessly associated with made him furious.
"No one you need to concern yourself with," Lucius snapped; his welcoming deception quickly crumbling before Nyx's eyes. "Just a bunch of blood traitors involving themselves with muggles are if they're our friends."
Nyx pressed her lips into a firm line as she took in his words with raised eyebrows.
Lucius promptly dropped dead in his tracks. Draco looked at his father curiously, while Nyx came to a stop as well. Lucius allowed his anger to get the best of him at that moment—he turned to Nyx with an awful expression; his skin was bright red, his face all scrunched together, and he was breathing heavily too. It wasn't a sight that Nyx enjoyed.
"I don't want you anywhere near those children, do you understand me?" Lucius wasn't suggesting, no, he was ordering her to do as he said. Strange, when he wasn't her father or her guardian.
"No." Nyx challenged, crossing her arms.
Lucius's eyes widened, he went to counter, he went to scream, but it got caught in his throat when he saw her livid glare.
"Nyx—"
"I don't even understand what that was back there. Why would you attack them? Just ridiculed the whole lot of them? What was the reason? Just because they're of lower-income? I think you've forgotten where I come from, where I was raised. Little Akers wasn't a heavily funded orphanage. Oh, and I'll have you know that was my best friend who's practically my brother just so happens to be a muggle!" Nyx shouted all at once, still glaring intensely. "I could have applauded that man for lunging at you. Both of you behaved horribly. You were rude and completely out of line. Honestly, you really embarrassed me."
Was this it? Was this the truth hiding underneath the surface? Nyx had noticed a few things when she'd first met the Malfoys but had brushed them off. Were those actually warning signs? Slip-ups? She looked away from them. The image of this recluse, maybe a bit socially inept but generous family taking her in was cracking and fast.
Upon witnessing this Draco turned to his father desperate. They were blowing their chances. It was his father who had convinced Severus to have Nyx live with them, to get in her good graces and they were blowing it. But there was more to it for Draco... he just, well, he couldn't stand the sight of her looking at him like that.
"Well." Lucius was tongue-tied and it was blatant. "You don't understand the whole situation, Nyx. Those people, uh, they—"
"They bullied me!" Draco blurted out and his father and Nyx turned to him. The boy cleared his throat and put on a saddened expression as he lied through his teeth.
"All through last year, they made my life horrible. Seeing them just, I don't know, made me so angry. Father knows about them because I told him all about it, he was, uh, just sticking up for me."
Draco caught a glimpse at Nyx's face. She had her hands other her mouth, her eyes had softened significantly and grew teary as she looked at him sympathetically.
Lucius let out a sigh of relief when the girl stepped forwards and hugged his son.
There was no proof to corroborate Draco's story but there didn't need to be any. It had only taken a day for Nyx to like him, she had spent most of her life making up stories about people and grew up in a small-knit community—in other words, the perfect mixture to make her far too trusting. Draco was her friend, why wouldn't she believe him?
"Draco, I'm sorry, I didn't know," Nyx whispered as she held him close. She pulled away from the hug and looked at him guiltily. "I get why you did it, I do. But, I don't know, I don't think you should lower yourself to their standards or you'll become just as bad as them. At least, that's what April use to say."
"Yeah, you're absolutely right, Nyx." Lucius cleared his throat, ready to move on from this whole ordeal. "Now, let's put this all behind us and continue with our day."
Nyx nodded putting her arm around Draco reassuringly as he continued with his victim façade.