The next morning you awoke to Luna dressing into her robes. You sat up as she tightened her tie around her neck.
"Good morning," she chirped. Her hair, long and loose, hung at her waist. "You'll need to be getting ready. Defense Against the Dark Arts starts in only an hour." She smiled dreamily.
"Thanks, Luna," you answered. With a large sigh, you stood up and grabbed your robes. They were soft in your hands. You held your hand out by your side, and your wand, as if magnetically attracted, snapped into it.
Luna had noticed.
"Well that's very interesting!" she said, her pale finger pointing to your wand. Her large eyes were lit with interest.
You laughed lightly at her reaction. "I've always been able to do that. Its fun, but I can't really carry anything heavy. Not the most useful specialty." You let go of your wand to demonstrate and gently bounced it in the air around you before guiding it back into your hand.
"Extraordinary." She said simply whilst she finished collecting her books and supplies for class.
You changed behind the curtains, nervous for Luna to see your skin. Your forearm stung, and felt very impure. You were almost ashamed of what secrets it hid. You tried to push down the feeling. Mother and Father were proud.
By the time you'd finished, she'd left for Herbology.
You fixed your hair in the mirror, combing it gently and letting it fall by the sides of your face. As you observed your appearance, fair skin, dark and soft hair, neck framed by a crisp white collar and navy blue tie, you could feel your unease building. Your stomach tightened as you thought of what Ron had said the night before. He was right, though.
You made your way out of your dormitory into the common room. The door squealed as it swung. There were a few protesting scoffs as you appeared. For the most part, those who were not reading were watching you leave. Your light footsteps seemed incredibly vocal. Even the stars that hung above you seemed prejudice. Walking to the exit seemed like walking a hundred miles.
Eventually, after finally making it out, you made it to the doors in front of the Great Hall. Seeing as you had no idea where your class was, this seemed like the right place to ask for help. Right? You looked through the massive archway. Students were eating a rather fragrant breakfast and talking amongst themselves. The general ambiance was almost comforting, yet a reminder that you were very alone. You wished Luna was here with you.
Suddenly, your eyes caught a familiar face. Gregory! You had met him on a few occasions when you were young. You felt yourself grow a half an inch with newfound purpose and confidence. Still, your steps were slightly uncertain. You made your way towards him. As you approached, he looked up at you skeptically. One of his friends even snickered.
"Gregory-" you said tenderly.
"Its Goyle to you," his voice radiated irritation. At this, something foreign came over you. You swiftly remembered that he was an idiot. There was no reason for him to treat you as an inferior. His father was a coward, and he knew not of your association with the Dark Lord.
You stopped your thoughts. It was in moments like this your blood spoke loudly. Your forearm seared somewhat painfully. In automatic response to the sting, you rubbed it. Goyle had noticed this small movement, and his eyes seemed to register something you didn't want to think about. Its significance was heavier than most would think. A sense of pride had washed over your chest. How very unlike you.
You took a deep breath, continuing. "Do you think you could show me to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room?" You furrowed your eyebrows slightly. You felt superior to him at this moment.
'Y-Yes," He said, standing. You could see the cogs of his mind struggling to grasp the newly discovered concept. As he stood, he dwarfed your figure.
You felt somewhat confident at this moment. You'd always been pushed over, never the pusher.
"Lead the way."
~~
"Thank you," you said to him as you arrived in the classroom.
"Yeah. Anytime," he said nonchalantly. His eyes scanned your body. He scoffed and turned, shaking his head.
"See you." You gave him a small wave.
"Right." He turned and clunked away.
You took a deep breath, confidence quickly fleeting as he walked away. You were alone. Again. You shuffled into the classroom and took a seat in the very back. Nearly everyone else had arrived. You could see some familiar necks, which you identified as Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the front. A small woman dressed in a pink outfit stood at the head of the class, a small and irritating smile overtook her lips. Her appearance was nauseating. As you contemplated the area, a seat to the right of you was occupied.
"Hello Tabitha," came a sneering voice.
Your heart almost stopped.
He laughed. "Pathetic!"
You had jumped in your seat. NO! NO! Your mind was screaming. This moment had kept you up far too late. Draco was sitting right next to you. Your muscles were now tense, and your breath was stuck in your throat.
"Don't be shy. I don't bite," he said in a teasing voice. You hoped your face wasn't as red as it was hot. He nudged your shoulder, snapping you out of silence.
"Draco!" you said, forcing a smile through the nerves.
"Dagon!" he replied, mocking your reaction. He shifted to better face you. As he did this, you noticed his pale hand on the edge of the desk. It was decorated with silver rings. For a moment, you fixated on it, truly wishing to look at it forever. It was quite beautiful.
"So, Goyle." He raised his eyebrows twice. "Saw you waving him goodbye.. Miss him already?" He poked fun at you, making a pouting face.
You smiled, deciding to play along. "Yes actually. I've always had it in for him.. Even as a kid I thought he was rather handsome." You faked a dreamy look.
"You're joking," he said with a smirk.
"I am not!" You defended. Draco was so easy to talk to. The issue at hand was being avoided. For right now, you had mutually not decided to bring up the Ravenclaw situation. You preferred it this way. "He's amazing. Kind, smart, tall.. And very strong."
He looked at you like you were insane.
You snorted.
"I can't!" You giggled. "He's a bloke! Same as always."
"For a moment there, I thought you were serious. Imagine that. You and him never really did get along did you?"
"He was such a bully! Remember that time he pushed me down the stairs at the manor?"
Draco laughed. "Ha! I do now. We were quite the lot, weren't we? Wish you could've come to the World Cup-"
"Good morning children," came a voice from behind. You and Draco looked at each other. The small woman, who you recently knew as Professor Umbridge, had begun to lecture. She took tiny steps to the front of the room, gently flicking her wand. "O.W.L.; Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations!" Her voice was high and irritating. "More commonly knows as," she took a tiny pause, "Owls! Study hard, and you will be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be-" she shrugged her shoulders, "-severe." With a slight swish of her wand, she distributed textbooks to the class. "Your previous instruction in this class has been disturbingly uneven. But, you will be pleased to know from now on you will be following a carefully structured ministry-approved course of Defensive Magic."
Hermione's hand was in the air. Draco had begun to play with the corners of the books in boredom.
"Yes?" Umbridge said, giving Hermione room to ask her question.
"There's nothing in here about using defensive spells?"
"Using spells?" She gave two sharp laughs. Her face looked at Hermione with a mocking disbelief. "I can't imagine why you would need to use spells in my classroom." She walked towards her, the same infuriating smile plastered onto her lips.
"We're not gonna use magic?" Came a voice from the middle of the room. It was Ron, his face drawn in confusion.
"You'll be learning about Defensive Spells in a safe, secure, risk-free way," she said, shaking her head.
A new voice spoke. "Well, what use is that? If we're going to be attacked it's not going to be risk-free." It was from Harry. You shrunk lightly at the confrontational tone. Harry did scare you, though he was nice.
Umbridge turned sharply. "Students will raise their hands when they speak in my classroom."
What a bitch.
She continued. "It is the view of the ministry that a theoretical knowledge would be sufficient to get you through your examinations, which after all, is what school is all about!"
Harry closely followed. "And how is theory supposed to prepare us for what's out there?" His words were hot. You shrank further. Draco nudged you.
"What are you doing?" he mouthed. The scent of cologne drifted into your nose. You didn't respond.
"There is nothing out there, dear. Who do you imagine wants to attack children, like yourself?" she said with a smile.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe.. Lord Voldemort?" said Harry. You gawked. Never in your life had you heard anyone outside of the servants of the Dark Lord use his name. You looked up to Draco, eyes wide. He was scowling. You gathered from this that he didn't like Harry.
Umbridge looked around a now whispering classroom.
"Now let me make this quite plain. You have been told that a certain dark wizard is at large once again, this is a lie." She had walked directly in front of Harry.
"It's not a lie I saw him! I fought him!" Harry exclaimed.
"DETENTION, Mr. Potter!"
"So according to you, Cedric Diggory dropped dead to his own accord?"
"Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident."
"It was murder!" yelled Harry. "Voldemort killed him you must know thi-"
"ENOUGH!" Umbridge screamed.
You flinched, raising your hands to your face at the sound.
"Enough. See me later, Mr. Potter." She said sweetly. Most of the class looked between her and Harry. "My office. As for the rest of you, please begin chapter one and two."
Draco had lightly pushed your arms down as she talked. He understood why you had put them up in the first place. Words weren't needed for him to understand. You looked up to see his reaction about the row that had just taken place.
"The Ministry." He scoffed. "Naive as ever. Does Potter really think he can convince everyone? Father says they're playing right into our game. They refuse to believe it." He whispered, looking down at you.
"I feel its almost obvious. Not that I really know what's been going on in London," you said gently. "What do you think of Harry Potter? Do you think he has some kind of power?" You looked to his spot in the room, seeing his jet black hair next to that of Ron's.
"Don't be dim," Draco answered rudely. You felt a squeeze in your chest. "He's pitiful. Aren't you supposed to be smart? What happened to your Slytherin future?"
The question had come up, though rather more casually than you had expected. "I don't know what happened, Draco. I guess I'd just met some new people and the hat thought I should be with them. Who am I to tell you? I'm not stupid."
"I just don't want you making friends with the wrong sorts," he said, thumbing through the pages of the textbook.
"The 'wrong sorts' have been remarkably kind to me, thank you. They didn't leave me to be alone on the way to the school." He was aggravating you a little. You were not going to let him walk over you. Though it wouldn't have normally happened, you could feel tears stinging your eyes. The past day had been extremely stressful and quite disappointing. You had not expected to hurt your relationship with Draco, who was your oldest friend, either. Maybe you were making a bigger deal out of this than you needed to. He didn't need to be mean though.
"Tabby-" he said with a sigh.
"-Lets just read." The accumulation of tears was dangerously high. You knew that if you blinked, one might fall. You could see his blurry figure turn away reluctantly.
You made it through the chapters, lifting your finger slightly to turn each page. The bell rang. You stood, grabbing your books and quill. The class had seemed like an eternity, and you were glad it was finally over.
"Bye, Draco," you said quietly. He stood at this. It looked as if he wanted to say something more, but he glanced around the room. Everyone was leaving, it was very public.
"Tabitha," he said with a small nod. His eyes lingered before he turned and left, following Crabbe, who snuck a glance at you.
You shut your eyes tightly, feeling another little squeeze in your chest, and stood for maybe a minute to prevent yourself from crying. As you walked out of the room, you collided with someone. Hard.
"Bloody Hell!"
Shit. Ron.
"I-" you began.
"Oh perfect," he said as he recognized you. "It's you."
This had done it. The tears you had been holding back spilled from the corners of your eyes.
Hermione smacked Ron with a book.
"What did I do to you?" you choked. You couldn't understand why Ron hated you so much. You let out a small cry.
He seemed to soften slightly at the sight of this. "You're a bad lot, that's what. If you're friends with Malfoy, you're no friend of mine."
"I'm not a bad person!" you insisted. "I- I'm sorry."
"Just stay out of my way," he said quietly. "Don't touch me." His eyebrows were furrowed. "Come on Hermione." Hermione looked at you with sympathy in her eyes, yet she said nothing.
He turned and left. Hermione followed. You watched his tall figure walk away. For whatever reason, you craved his approval. He seemed so impossible, so out of reach, and you desperately wanted that to change. With tears streaming down your flushed cheeks, you returned to the Ravenclaw common room, then to your dormitory.
That night you seldom talked to Luna, and tried to fall asleep as fast as you could. She had given you space, leaving once only to return with a small glowing flower, which she left on your nightstand. You dreaded the day to come.
~~
More inspiration for Tabitha!
Next chapter will be spicy