Over the next few weeks, I didn't act out again. I couldn't risk the punishment. It just wasn't worth it. Luckily, Ginny, Neville, and Luna didn't get too bad off a punishment for the sword heist. Hagrid went lenient on them.
It was now well into November, and the temperature had dropped significantly. The leaves were falling and turning red, orange, and yellow as the holidays approached. Fall and winter was my favorite time of the year. Everything just seemed so much magical during the holiday season.
Draco and I had grown closer. We stayed close together in classes and worked on homework together in the evenings. We weren't dating, though. We had sort of a strange dynamic. After we kissed that night of the heist, I was waiting for him to ask me out, make things official, but he didn't. We didn't even kiss again after that night.
On Thursday, our last class of the day was Herbology. I made my way to the greenhouses with Draco. The cool wind hit me in the face, making my hair fly around me.
"I don't understand the point of this class," Draco muttered into my ear. "I mean, how are plants going to help us get a job?"
"Some people's jobs require knowledge of plants," I hissed. "Look at Neville, he's so good, he'll probably replace Professor Sprout when she retires."
"Stupid job if you ask me," Draco scoffed.
"Where do you want to work, you know, when you graduate?" I asked him, tilting my head.
He shrugged and looked down at his shoes. "I don't know. I guess I haven't really thought about it." He looked up at me. "What about you?"
"Oh, I haven't really thought about it either. But we're in our last year of school now... that sounds so crazy to say out loud," I said. "So we'll have to get jobs eventually."
"I'll probably work at the Ministry," Draco replied. "Like my father."
"That's so broad," I said. "What department do you want to work in?"
"Maybe Magical Law Enforcement or something," he muttered.
"Law Enforcement?" I asked, my eyebrows raised. My eyes trailed down to his arm, where his Dark Mark lay, covered with his sleeve. "That's a bit ironic."
"I don't know, all right?" he huffed. "And you haven't answered yet. What do you want to be?"
"Well... maybe a Healer or something," I replied. "I like helping people."
He smiled. "I think you'd be a great Healer."
"Thanks."
When Herbology was over, I slung my bag over my shoulder and Draco and I went back into the castle. We headed down the stairs into the dungeons.
When we rounded the corner by the Slytherin common room, we stopped when we saw a girl leaning against the wall, crying. It was the same first year girl that I had seen crying a few months ago.
"Let's just go into the common room," Draco muttered. "Ignore her."
"Draco," I hissed. "She's upset. Come on, we have to help her." I tugged on the sleeve of his robe, leading him over to her.
I put my arm around the girl. Draco stood next to us awkwardly. "Hey," I whispered. She buried her head into my chest and continued to sob. I stroked her long hair. "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Elora," she cried, "Elora Barlowe."
"Okay, Elora, what happened? Why are you crying?" I asked quietly.
"E-everyone's being s-so mean to me," she said.
"Who's being mean to you?"
"Just e-everyone! The Slytherins say that I'm too weak to be in Slytherin, and the other houses don't like me because I'm in Slytherin," she replied, tears still streaming down her face.
"You must have not met very good Slytherins then," Draco said, finally speaking.
I looked up at him and smiled. "Yeah, Slytherins aren't that bad once you get to know them."
"Well you two are good!" Elora cried. "But all of the first years are awful!"
"Well, I'm sure you can find someone in another house that accepts you. I'm a Slytherin, and I'm friends with Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Luna and more," I said, trying to reassure her.
"N-no, I'm never going to have any friends!" she exclaimed.
"Have you tried talking to people?" Draco suggested. "That's how you make friends."
I scoffed. "Of course she's tried—"
"Not really," Elora mumbled. "I'm really shy, so I haven't really talked to anyone."
"Well, that's why you don't have any friends!" Draco said, throwing his arms up into the air. "If you don't talk to anyone, no ones going to want to be your friend."
Elora sniffled. "Oh."
"Yeah, you just have to start talking to people," I said, nodding. "Once people get to know you, I'm sure they'll love you."
"T-thank you, guys," Elora said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "That really helped."
I released her from my grip and watched her scurry down the corridor and up the stairs.
"I hope she'll make some friends," I said.
"She will," Draco stated and then made his way over the the wall. "Dark Lord," he muttered and the wall opened.
"These passwords are always so horrible," I said as we climbed into the Slytherin common room.
"I know," Draco replied.
There were a few people in the common room. A group of younger students were sitting by the stairs. Crabbe and Goyle were also sitting nearby. Blaise, Pansy, and Carmen were sitting by the fire, talking in hushed voices.
"Let's go see what they're talking about," I whispered to Draco and he followed me over to them.
"What's going on?" Draco asked as we sat down next to them.
"We were just talking about what's going on," Pansy muttered. "You know, how Potter, Weasley, and Granger are missing."
"Well," I began, "Ron's sick with spattergroit and Hermione's probably in hiding because she's a muggleborn—"
"That's bullshit," Pansy hissed. "How's Ron been sick for months?"
"Spattergroit is a very terrible disease," I said.
"I thought I told you this already," Draco said, and we all looked over to him. "Potter, Weasley, and Granger were spotted in the Ministry of Magic in September."
"You didn't tell us that," I said, staring at him with wide eyes.
"My father told me," Draco continued. He looked over at me. "I thought you would know that."
I shook my head. "No one told me."
Pansy scowled at me. "You knew, didn't you? You knew they were on a mission."
"I didn't!" I lied. "Honestly."
"You're a bad liar, Eva," she sneered. "What are they doing?"
"I don't know," I said firmly. "I mean, I don't know all of it."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Blaise snapped.
"I can't tell you guys," I said.
"Why not?" Draco said. "Don't you trust us? Don't you trust me?"
I bit my tongue. "Well, Ginny told me that they're on some sort of mission to defeat You-Know-Who, but that's all she told me, okay?"
I couldn't believe I was telling them this. Surely, they would tell someone, and then I would be the one to get Harry, Ron, and Hermione caught.
"Mission?" Pansy asked. "What kind of mission?"
"I don't know!" I exclaimed. "You can't tell anyone I told you that, all right? Please."
"Well, we can't really tell anyone if we don't have any details, can we?" Carmen said.
"Yeah, we're not going to tell anyone," Draco said. "Right, Pansy? Blaise?"
"I'm not snitching," Blaise said, stretching his arms.
Draco looked at Pansy. "Come on, you can't tell anyone."
Pansy pursed her lips and crossed her arms across her chest. "Fine. I won't tell anyone."
"Good," Draco drawled. "Now let's just go to bed, all right?"
"All right," I muttered.
—————————————————————————
Authors Note:
I'm so sorry that I skipped a couple of days of updating. I had a lot of schoolwork and I wasn't feeling very creative. Thank you all for reading and supporting this story. I can't believe that this has over 40 thousands reads now! Like what the heck? You guys mean the world to me. <3