It was to my complete and utter surprise at the welcome feast when Draco took the empty seat next to mine.
In all honesty, I didn't know how I was going to be able to eat. His close proximity made my heart hammer so incredibly much, especially combined with the scent of his expensive, earthy cologne; that there was only one thing I wanted to eat, and it wasn't the food on my plate.
He didn't say two words to me; just ate in complete silence whilst Pansy rabbited on in my other ear, not seeming to notice or even care that Draco was present.
Despite his continued silence, I found his presence almost comforting as we listened to Snape announcing the upcoming horrors of what we were to face over the course of the year.
When we were forewarned that the Cruciatus Curse was to be used as punishment if we didn't behave ourselves, Draco moved his shoulder ever so slightly that I could almost have been certain that it brushed against mine.
When Snape finally dismissed us and Pansy shot off to join Daphne and Millicent, I found myself desperately wanting to say something, anything to him.
"Will you be playing Quidditch this year?" I asked, sticking to a safe subject as we both rose to our feet at the same time.
He looked down at me, startled, and then back over his shoulder as if making sure I wasn't addressing someone else.
"I don't think that would be a great idea... under the circumstances," he muttered wryly.
"Oh," I said, struggling to think of how to answer that. "That's a shame."
I inwardly cursed myself as I felt my cheeks flush. Clearly he was alluding to his previous years antics. I had no idea if I should broach further upon the subject.
"It is what it is," Draco shrugged as he pushed his chair back under the table.
We walked side by side as we left the Great Hall and I was desperately trying to think of something else to say; something that would convey my sympathy towards him.
"It's your birthday today, isn't it?" Draco said before I could think of anything.
"Er, yes," I said, feeling slightly flustered, having not expected this. "My seventeenth."
"Well, happy birthday, Ivy," his voice was soft; silky almost, as he spoke my name.
Ivy, I don't think he'd ever called me that before. I couldn't wait to get back to my dormitory so that I could replay it over and over again in my head.
"Thank you," I smiled, feeling a warmth spread through me. "It kind of sucks having my birthday on Hogwarts day to be honest. No one cares, and you can't really celebrate it."
I saw something flicker over Draco's features.
"If it's any consolation," he said, as a peculiar sadness swirled in his silver eyes, "no one even mentioned my seventeenth except for my mother."
I felt so completely blown off guard by this admission that I froze in my tracks. He stilled too, and when he looked down at me questioningly, I had to stop the urge to throw my arms around him and cry.
Because I had remembered his seventeenth birthday. He had been in the hospital wing recovering from the Sectumsempra Curse. I had whispered happy birthday to him as I sat and watched him sleep.
Obviously I couldn't tell him this without looking like some kind of stalkerish freak.
"I'm sorry," I said, instead. "That was no way to spend your seventeenth."
His brow furrowed ever so slightly before quickly smoothing over again.
"Anyway, we better get a move on," he murmured, beckoning towards the dungeon stairs at the far end of the Entrance Hall. "I don't want to be the reason you get into trouble."
That night I could scarcely sleep. I couldn't stop replaying the exchange. I heard him say my name over and over again; my yearning increasing for him.
I tried to block out Pansy's voice in my head about sisters not going there. But I couldn't help it; I was so incredibly in love with him.
I had been from the first day I met him.
*****
The classes run by the Carrows were awful.
Amycus Carrow, the Dark Arts professor, made students go up to the front of the class and perform the Cruciatus Curse on one another.
Luckily for myself, Ginny and Luna, he only ever picked on muggle-borns and half bloods, but it was still horrifying to witness all the same.
However, when the muggle-borns began to mysteriously disappear, Amycus had no problem turning his attention on pure-bloods that he didn't like.
"I think maybe you should stop sitting with that Weasley girl in class," Pansy warned me darkly at breakfast one morning. "She's from a family of well known blood traitors and don't forget that there are suspicions that her brother is helping Potter and that Mudblood on the run."
"You mean Hermione," I frowned exasperatedly. "Remember what Mum said about using that word-"
"Screw Mother!" Pansy spluttered, scowling fiercely at me. "Do you want to get yourself tortured, Ivy? Or even killed?! This isn't Dumbledore's school anymore! It's His!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a head of white-blond hair look up sharply from further up the table.
"She's right, you know," he said to me later that day just as I stepped inside the common room. It was empty except for the Slytherin Prince on the sofa, sat looking morosely into the fire.
I froze, startled. It had been almost three months since that first day back and we hadn't exchanged words since.
He didn't really speak to anyone though, I noticed. He kept himself thoroughly to himself, and everyone seemed more than happy to avoid him.
He was never seen around the castle at weekends and it was rumoured he was one of the masked Death Eaters that performed the Cruciatus Curse on students during Saturday detention.
I didn't like to think he was capable of doing such a thing, but then again, it was hardly as if he was going on weekend breaks.
"Excuse me?" I asked, stepping over to the sofa.
"Pansy," he muttered, not tearing his eyes from the dancing flames. "As much as I hate to admit it, she's right."
"About what?" I asked, boldly deciding to sit down on the other end of the sofa.
From where I was sat I could see the dark shadows under his eyes and the sallowness of his skin on his gaunt, exhausted face. I itched to reach out and place my fingertips against his cheek, to kiss the permanent scowl away from his brow.
"You need to be careful who you are seen with," he swallowed, his eyes darting ever so briefly to mine. "It won't be long before they want fresh meat."
His upper lip curled up in a bitter fashion at this last part and I found myself shuddering at his choice of terminology.
"But surely they won't start on me? I'm a pure-blood Slytherin."
He let out a dry, sardonic bark of laughter. "The Carrows don't give a shit about that, not really. They are power hungry creatures and would even go so far as to inflict punishment upon each other if they ever ran dry of victims."
"Well, it sounds like it doesn't matter who I hang around with then if they are going to start on me anyway," I shrugged, trying to sound casual about it but not being able to help the feeling of terror rise in my stomach.
Draco looked steadily at me for a moment and then released a heavy, resigned sigh. "Just try not to get yourself landed in detention," he paused, and I watched the bob of his Adam's apple as he swallowed; "please, Ivy."
His silver eyes glinted in the firelight as he looked into mine pleadingly and I'd never seen his expression looked so pained before.
"What do you do at the weekend, Draco?" I whispered, my voice trembling apprehensively.
My heart was racing fiercely behind my ribcage as our eyes bore into one another. I found myself hesitantly biting my lower lip as his eyes darted briefly down to my mouth; my breaths started to shallow as the air thickened around us.
And then he blinked, almost as if breaking the spell.
"You don't want to know," he said bluntly, before standing up and striding from the room without another word.
*****