"Hey," I smiled.
"Hey."
"I'm so-"
"Why...why didn't you tell me?"
I set my bag on the steps. I walked over to the railing. "I was. Here. Now. But I couldn't hold it in anymore. She just got me so angry. And it was going to be hard to talk to you about."
"Bridge," Draco grabbed my hand and stood next to me. "You can speak to me about anything. You know that."
"It wasn't about the thing that happened," I took a deep breath. "It's about who was there. About who participated."
He looked at me with concern.
"Your father was there," I nodded. "I could tell he didn't want to. But he was loyal and faithful to Voldemort so he had to."
"Please don't say his name."
"Draco, I'm not scared of him. That only gives him more power," I squeezed his hand. "But I figured you should know that he was a part of it. And..." I took a deep breath, "And I figure there will be a time when this will happen to you."
He didn't say anything. I knew it was going to be hard to talk about. But I continued on, "I want you to know that I am here for you. If something happens, please let me know. We can work things out together. We've gotten this far."
He nodded, "Okay. But Bridge," he turned me towards him, "I will never hurt you. I will never cause you harm. I will never let any of my family hurt you. I promise I will keep you safe."
I smiled. For once, I felt safe. I felt secure. I didn't noticed our faces getting closer until our noses were touching. His lips collided with mine. It felt like the start of a lightning storm. It was the start of something that you weren't sure you'd make it out alive.
We stopped for a breath. He looked at me. A smile grew on his face, "You know, I've never noticed the three freckles on your nose." I giggled and nudged him.
He grabbed my bad hand. I winced and he looked at it, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"
"That just happened," I looked down. "Umbridge did it. I couldn't care less but I'm not sure if that's legal."
"I'll talk to my father about this."
"You don't have to do that," I shook my head.
"Well I'm going to," he pulled me into a hug. He held me with my head to his chest, "Nobody hurts my princess."
"Mr. Malfoy."
We both froze. I could hear Draco's heartbeat increase. Mine did too. We let go of each other. I turned. As I suspected, Snape was standing only a few feet away.
"Please don't tell my parents, Professor," Draco begged.
"I won't," Snape looked me up and down. "But I'm sending both of you to your dormitories immediately. You should be there anyways. You're lucky someone didn't get hurt."
"Yes sir," we both agreed and left. I walked into the common room a few minutes later. Hermione was sitting next to Harry, holding his wounded hand.
"Took you a long time in the so called bathroom," Hermione interrogated.
"I actually went to speak with Dumbledore about this," I held up my hand. "He wasn't here though, so I told McGonagall."
"Wait, Dumbledore's not here? Why?"
"I don't know, Harry," I shrugged, falling on the couch next to him. "Hopefully nothing bad."
•••
Time passed and before we knew it, it's was already early November. Our quidditch team won a total of 10 games out of 12, so that was fun I guess.
Harry never seemed to be...there though. He was always present, but he didn't talk as much. He rarely smiled either. He just wasn't himself.
I was going to confront him about it. I was sitting on a bench, getting some fresh air until my next class. I saw Harry walking quickly towards what was probably Hagrid's hut. But he knew that Hagrid wasn't there. We both did.
I stood up, "Harry," I called out. I heard him huff, but he didn't stop. I ran and caught up with him, "Okay, spill it. What's going on?"
"Nothing is going on."
"We both know that's a load of bullshit," I was keeping his pace. "You've been very distant lately. You aren't laughing. You aren't even smiling. You rarely talk. Please, talk to me."
"There's nothing to talk about."
"I know you're dealing with something," I grabbed his hand. "Feeling alone? I read your letter to Padfoot."
"Bridget," Harry whined. "That's private information. Stop going through my stuff; you're not my mother."
"I may not be your mum," I commented, "but I'm your friend. Your best friend, Harry. You are not alone. You are surrounded by friends and family. You are not alone."
"What family, Bridge?" He looked to me. Sorrow was filling his eyes.
"Me," I told him as we continued on. "S...Padfoot. The Weasleys. Your friends. We are all here, Harry. You're the one shutting us out."
He didn't reply this time. So I continued on instead, "Look, I know you're going through stuff. I understand. Trust me, I'm going through shit too. Just as much as you are. Don't put pity on yourself. And please, don't turn away from me when I need you most. You are not alone, Harry. Am I not enough?"
We approached Hagrid's hut. Harry didn't reply. He stood there, staring at the abandoned shack. He broke the silence first, "I miss Hagrid."
"Me too," I agreed.
A strange noise came from the woods to the left of us. Harry and I released each other as we turned to see what it was. A thestral was flying above the trees. It landed within them. Harry and I turned to each other.
"Wanna go see them?"
"If you feel up to it, why not," I shrugged.
"Let's go," he grabbed my hand as we ran down into the woods. After a couple of minutes, Harry and I stumbled upon a small herd.
I smiled. They were gorgeous creatures, yet so terrifyingly ugly at the same time. I saw that a familiar girl was petting on. I walked over to her.
"Hello Bridget," Luna welcomed us. "Hello Harry Potter."
"Hello Luna," I smiled.
"Aren't your feet cold?" Harry asked her. I looked down. Sure enough, she was barefoot.
"A little," she shrugged. "Sadly all my shoes have gone missing. I'm expecting the nargles are behind it."
I furrowed my eyebrows as I thought out loud, "I feel silly asking you this, but what are nargles?"
"They're little creatures that are very tricky and are thieves," she whispered to us. "People say that they went extinct but I'm pretty sure I saw one one day while looking in my garden."
I nodded, "Interesting." I watched as the thestral she was petting began to walk away. She watched it. A cute little baby thestral came into view. It was so small and cute. I smiled.
"So these are thestrals?" Harry asked.
"Yep," Luna nodded. "People don't talk about them often; they try to avoid them because..." she trailed off.
"Because they're different," I finished for her.
We started to walk towards the baby and it's mother. Harry asked another on, "And these can only been seen by people who've seen death?"
"Correct."
"So you've seen someone die?" I knew where Harry had been going with that question.
"Yeah," Luna nodded. "It was my mum. She was a great witch and loved to experiment, but one day one of her spells went horribly wrong. I was only nine."
"I'm sorry for your loss," I told her.
"Same to you," she stopped a few feet from the baby. She pulled out an apple from her bag. "Everybody knows by now." She threw it at the baby. It just sniffles it before leaving it to the side. "I understand how hard it can be. It makes me sad at times. Then I remember that I still have Dad."
There was a moment of silence. She spoke up again, "We both believe you, by the way. How you-know-who is back, and you both fought him face to face, and how the Ministry is going against Dumbledore and you guys."
"Thank you," I nodded. "Means a lot."
"At least someone does."
"That's not true," she told us. "But it's understandable that it's how he wants you to feel."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
She took a chunk of meat out of her bag and threw it to the baby thestral, who gobbled it up immediately, "We'll, let's say you feel alone. It's easier to attack people when they're most vulnerable. Getting you alone makes you weak and vulnerable. Isolates you. And if it's just you, you're not as big of a threat as a whole group."
"That's...that's really smart," I complimented her. I stored that information within the depths of my brain.
"I am in Ravenclaw, ya know."
"Right," I nodded. Still smart.