The next day was our last day at Hogwarts until September. In my dorm, the other girls packed their trunks sluggishly, and no one was in the mood for talking. Once I finished packing, I walked into the common room, looking to say goodbye to my home away from home for the next few months. All of Hufflepuff seemed to be in a daze; the mood in the common room was subdued and quiet. "Support Cedic Diggory" banners still hung from every wall, yellow and black streamers littered the floor and fluttered from the ceiling, and there were even more Hufflepuff themed decorations than normal. No one seemed to be able to muster the strength to take them down, so the house elves would have to do a thorough cleaning over the summer. Everywhere I looked, I had to stare into the face of dead boy. Tears formed in my eyes, and I was forced to divert my gaze to the floor.
Dumbledore's speech from the previous night kept running through my head. I couldn't think of any other reason behind Cedric's death; I was sure that none of the other champions would kill him, and while I had no idea what was in the maze, it must have been made safe enough to avoid student deaths. Even if it wasn't, I didn't see any major wounds on Cedric's body, which made me believe that he had been subjected to the killing curse. Still, I just didn't want to believe that You-Know-Who was back. But it was better to be overly cautious than underprepared, right?
Justin's emergence from the boy's dormitory pulled me from my thoughts. His usually tidy hair was unkept, and he looked like he hadn't slept very well. Then again, I didn't think that anyone, especially any Hufflepuff, got a full night's sleep.
"Are you alright?" I asked him.
Justin shrugged. "As I can be, I guess. You?"
"The same."
"I don't know what I'm going to tell my parents." Justin sighed. "They don't know anything about You-Know-Who, but I'm sure they wouldn't want me coming back to Hogwarts if they knew that a boy from my house was murdered on school grounds."
"I'm sorry Justin."
While we were talking, the rest of the fourth years came out into the common room. "You could always just not tell them." Megan suggested to Justin. "I'm sure you don't want to lie to them, but what else can you even do?"
He shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess I'll just have to figure it out."
Soon after we finished our conversation, it was time to get going. As a house, we filed out of the common room and headed for the grounds, where the rest of the houses and the foreign students were waiting. Everywhere around me, students were saying goodbye to friends, exchanging hugs and promising to send owls. Since I wasn't close with any of the Durmstrang or Beauxbatons students, I instead started looking for Draco.
Before long, I managed to find him. I headed over to him, and he enveloped me in his arms. I buried my head in his chest, and he rested his chin on the top of my head. I took comfort in Draco's familiar scent, and was suddenly reminded of our amortentia lesson so many potions classes ago. I couldn't believe how far we had come; at the start of the school year I couldn't stand the sight of him, and now I couldn't stand the thought of being away from him during the summer holiday.
"How are you?" Draco asked me when I finally pulled away from him.
I shrugged. "I'm alright, I guess. I didn't know Cedric well, but I still can't believe he's gone. And You-Know-Who being back is terrifying."
Draco's face hardened, and, remembering his parents, I suddenly dropped the topic. I was relieved when Tracey and Daphne came over and started talking.
"You're sitting with us on the train." Tracey phrased it more like a statement than a question, putting her arm around my shoulder like we were already best friends.
I smiled at her apologetically. "I would, but I already promised a few other friends that I would sit with them."
"We'll all sit together then. Tracey and I don't mind." Daphne said.
"Works for me." I told them with a small shrug of my shoulders. Slytherins were nothing if not persistent.
I glanced around the grounds until I found Hannah, who was standing with Neville and Ernie. I waved her over, and the group walked over to us.
"This is Tracey and Daphne, and they're sitting with us on the train, if that's alright." I said.
"Or if it's not alright." Daphne said cheerily while Tracey grinned along with her. I didn't know them well enough to tell if they were joking or not. Neville looked slightly uncomfortable at the statement, and I couldn't control my laughter. Soon, the rest of the group joined in. It felt weird to be laughing when Cedric died only yesterday, but I couldn't stop.
The laughter died down as the professors began corralling us towards Hogsmead Station to board the train. We started walking but I fell behind as I saw Ginny.
"Ginny!" I called to her, and she jogged to meet me, Ron trailing close behind her in an awkward walk.
"Hey Cass." she said.
Ron interrupted whatever his sister was going to say next. "You're still with him then?" he said in a condescending voice. "Malfoy, I mean. I saw you two together."
I refrained myself from rolling my eyes. "Yeah, I am. I don't know why it's any of your concern though."
"How can you stand to be around him with all he's done? I can't believe you can forgive him for what he's said to Hermione-"
"If you're implying that I'm a bad friend to Hermione, you're mistaken." I told Ron angrily. "I am not turning a blind eye to whatever evil you think is happening, because Draco's not evil. Which you would know if you ever tried to get to know him. But you didn't, and you think you pass judgements. If you even tried to have one conversation with Draco you'd realize that he's actually a good person."
"What are you talking to my girlfriend for, Weasley?" I turned at the sound of Draco's voice. He must have realized that I had fallen behind the group and came to investigate. "Asking for handouts perhaps? Your family is poor enough that it wouldn't surprise me."
Ron turned a deep red color, and I felt my cheeks blush as well. I was mad at Ron, but I liked his family. "You're not really helping your case." I muttered under my breath, but Draco chose to ignore me.
"In fact," Draco continued, sneering, "I'm shocked that I haven't seen you around the Manor. I suppose its only a matter of time before your disgrace of a father comes around to beg my family for money. Let me save you a trip; we won't give you anything, no matter how much you try to suck up to my father."
"Malfoy," Ron practically growled. "Cass was just telling me about how nice you are." He turned to me, his eyes narrowing into slits. "You're a really good judge of character." Ron said sarcastically.
"Was she now?" Draco said cooly, absentmindedly playing with the rings on his fingers. "It seems that I've given my girlfriend a false impression of me."
Ron looked at me with distrust in his eyes, and I was taken aback by his expression; we had always gotten along before, even if we weren't incredibly close. "I thought I knew you, Cass, but apparently I was wrong. I'll remember this next time Ginny wants to invite you home." He turned to his younger sister. "Come on, Ginny. Let's go."
With one more backwards glare, they left me alone with Draco.
"What did you do that for?!" I said, exasperated. "Ginny's my friend, and I quite like her family. Now they're going to hate me."
"You really can't expect me to be nice to everyone, especially not Weaselbee." Draco said with a scowl.
I rolled my eyes. "But you're nice to my other friends."
"Yes, but I'd rather that not get out. If rumors started spreading that I was actually nice to people, it would ruin the image that I've worked so hard to build for myself."
"I just don't understand why you want everyone to think you're such a bad person when you're not-"
"This is who I am, okay." Draco cut me off defensively. "I thought you didn't have a problem with that."
I sighed in frustration. "I don't. It's just-"
"Good." Draco grabbed my hand, forcing me to follow him. "Now let's go catch up with everyone else."
I allowed Draco to pull me behind him, vowing to continue this conversation another time if he refused to have it now. And to find Ginny and apologize as soon as I got on the train.
A/N: So uh, all online school did not give me as much free time as I hoped it would (laughs in junior year and student athlete) (I don't even know how my sport is allowed to continue right now but whatever). Anyways, I promise I haven't forgotten about/given up on this story, I'll just be updating slower than I used to. Hopefully things will slow down soon so I can go back to updating more often. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy and drink water and all that good stuff.