— thana had spend her summer at the weasleys, who took great care of her. after everything that had happened it didn't come as a surprise that she had a nightmare almost every night. she'd wake up, eyes wide open and sometimes she'd even scream. fred usually woke up too and just held her until she felt better but if it was too bad mrs weasley would make her a cup of tea.
of course she still wrote to draco and theodore but they never wrote back so eventually she just stopped. but aside from the nightmares and ignoring friends she was happier than ever. but she knew it wouldn't last. spending the summer with her boyfriend and his family, who all became close friends of hers, seemed to make up for all the summers at the dursleys.
•••
thana ran down the stairs, her dark brown hair had grown even longer and her brown eyes were shining. "hey mrs weasley is there something i can do? fred and george won't stop practicing their spells on me so i thought maybe i could help you or-" she stopped talking once she saw him, the smile on her face growing even bigger. "harry!" she ran up to him and wrapped her arms around him. "thana dear the meeting is still going on but you and harry can go upstairs, straight upstairs. first foor on the left." the two looked at each other and nodded before racing upstairs. "you look better, happier thana. thats good." thana smiled at his niceness and looked at him, "you uhm are you okay?" harry chuckled, "just some problems in the muggle world."
both of them ignored kreacher and opened the door. thana smiled when hermione jumped in harry's arms and the brunette let herself fall down on one of the beds. "we've heard them talking about the dementor attack." this made thana jump up, "dementor? oh my god harry are you okay?" the potter boy looked at her and laughed, "what did you guys do to her? she's so nice now." harry ruffled thana's hair and hermione shrugged, "guess some time away from malfoy was all she needed."
malfoy. after this summer she felt the need to call him that, malfoy. thana had wrote him multiple letters but he never replied. she didn't even notice she had zoned out until ron tapped her shoulder, "you alright?" the brunette cleared her throat and smiled, "couldn't be better. so harry. you can't really be expelled right? you're dumbledores favourite!" they all chuckled softly and harry decided to change the subject. while ron and hermione explained the order of the phoenix thana just smiled and nodded. "why would he want to keep me in the dark?" harry asked and they could see the hurt in his eyes. "if it helps they didn't tell me anything either. probably for different reasons but still." she shrugged. she didn't lie, they tried not to tell her too many things about the order and their meetings since her secret about being voldemorts daughter wasn't secret anymore. she had told fred in the first week of summer and his reaction was all she could wish for. he held her close and told her how she was his thana and that he knew that if she could change her parents she would. after that it was easier to tell the others, who reacted just as nice as fred.
"after all i'm the one who saw voldemort return, im the one who fought him, im the one who saw cedric diggory get killed." thana let out a shaky breath. his name was still painful. luckily for her fred and george popped up just in time. she smiled at fred and listened to what they said to harry. "thought we heard your dulcet tones." "dont bottle it up though mate, let it out." "anyway if you're all done shouting," "do you wanna hear something a little more interesting?" thana sighed, she already knew what was coming but for once she wasn't worried. if she tried something like this at the malfoy manor she would probably die. but here the worst thing that could happen if they got caught would be that molly didn't give them dessert.
as they were listening to the conversation that was going on downstairs fred gently grabbed thana's arm and led her away from the others. "how are you feeling? i thought harry being here and him mentioning cedric could be a little overwhelming so i just wanted to check on you to make sure you're okay." thana smiled at him and stood on her toes. the flashbacks of that day wouldn't stop playing in her head but once she hugged fred they went away. she felt okay again. "i'm okay. thank you for caring fred, it means a lot." fred smiled and kissed her forehead, "come lets go back to the others."
•••
after the train had finally arrived, which felt like it had taken years, thana, harry, ron and hermione finally made their way through the crowd, happy to go to hogwarts again. "i'm surprised the ministry is still letting you walk around free potter. you better enjoy it while you can, i expect theres a cell in azkaban with your name on it." draco. her eyes shot in his direction. he got taller, much taller. he was wearing a black suit and he grew his hair out a little. he had changed a lot over the years but after not seeing him the entire summer it felt as if she was facing a whole different draco malfoy. she didn't have much time to look at the boy, harry went at him and if it wasn't for ron, who held him back, draco would've probably gotten hurt. draco fixed his suit and finally laid his eyes on thana. "oh so you're one of them too now? daughter of the dark lord but still hanging out with mudbloods and blood traitors?" draco scoffed and turned around to walk away again, "i expected more from you riddle."
"it's only malfoy."
and thats what made her realise. ron was right. its only malfoy. she didn't know what happened between them or why they were being like this but if he wanted to play it like that she could easily do the same. she was sure her friendship with theo hadn't changed, having one slytherin friend was enough. she didn't need draco and he obviously didn't need her.
•••
"good evening children. now we have two changes in staffing this year, we're pleased to welcome professor grubby- plank who will be taking care of magical creatures while professor hagrid is on temporary leave." thana turned her head around and stared at draco and his eyes met hers almost immediately. she raised an eyebrow and he just shook his head, breaking the eyecontact immediately after that. "we're also wish to welcome our new defense against the dark arts teacher professor delores umbrige." the woman who was seated next to snape chuckled and the man himself didn't seem to be very excited about her presence. "and im sure you'll all join me in wishing the professor good luck. as usual our caretaker-" the woman who had just been introduced cleared her throat, an awfully happy smile on her face. dumbedore didn't seem to know what was happening either when the new professor stood up and walked to the front.
"thank you headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. and how lovely to see all your bright, happy faces smiling up at me." thana's eyes met with fred's and they both had to hold back their laughs. no one was smiling at the woman. they still tried not to laugh but couldn't help it when ended her speech with: "very good friends." she could hear fred and george say "thats likely," and thana just couldn't hold it in any longer. the professor send the twins a glare and looked up surprised when the room was filled with thana's laughter. she hoped that if she'd start laughing everyone else would too but the only ones who joined her in laughing were the twins and ron. they all got warning looks from filch and immediately stopped laughing.
•••
the first class was anything but nice. thana and theo were seated in front of draco and paige. as the two best friends discussed their summer they watched the paper that flew around the room get burned up by the professor. there she stood, that stupid smile on her face again and another all pink outfit. thana could feel draco's eyes on her as she glared at umbrigde. the brunette dramatically slammed her head on the table when she started talking. luckily she wasn't the only one who had trouble staying serious this time.
of course harry had to argue the oh so lovely woman and thana found herself agreeing with him. two years ago she'd laugh at him with draco but this time she sat up a bit and paid close attention to what they were saying. "oh i don't know maybe lord voldemort." this made her smile drop for a second, the class started whispering and thana felt extremely uncomfortable. "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." thana felt the anger rise and theo put his hand on her arm, trying to keep her from screaming and doing things she'd regret. "its not a lie. i saw him! i fought him!" but harry didn't stop when umbridge gave him detention, "so according to you cedric diggory dropped dead of his own accord?"
"cedric diggory's death was a tragic accident"
"it was murder! voldemort killed him! you must know that!" umbridge snapped, "enough!" harry went quiet and thana saw this as her cue to speak up. "cedric diggory's death was not an accident. the only thing thats tragic about it is how you and the ministry are denying it. i was there, do you think i'd lie about having to see my own father killing my good friend?" the class went silent and umbridges smile fell again. being voldemorts daughter was something she was trying to hard to forget. "your father? well then you must confirm that he isn't back. so miss riddle. is your father really back?"
"yes he is professor."
"lie! detention for you too, being the dark lords daughter doesn't make you better than any of us, if something it makes you worse. and it certainly does not make lying acceptable." the woman started to scream again but this didn't calm thana down at all. instead she pulled her wand out and pointed it at the professor, "come with me," the tall blonde whispered in her ear, "don't worry professor i'll take care of this." draco said as he took away thana's wand and dragged her out of the room. "what the fuck was that all about?" she hissed once they were outside. "i could ask you the same thing." he said calmly, leaning against the cold wall. "whatever draco, i need to find fred before i murder someone." she was about to walk away but his arm blocked her from doing so. "yeah sure run off to your boyfriend. i don't get what you see in that filthy blood traitor." thana rolled her eyes and pushed past him, turning around after a few steps. "is it going to be like this the entire year?"
draco shrugged, trying to seem like he didn't care. he didn't want her to call him malfoy. he didn't want her to be with fred. he didn't want her to hate him. but he knew it was for the best. he was a prefect now and he knew that there was much more to come. thana and harry had made it very clear they were on the same side and draco knew it wasnt his side. as much as he wanted to stop her and try to fix what he said and did he couldn't. he knew that if they were friends with everything that was going on the friendship would get lost forever. he didn't like to admit it but he was hoping that he would get a chance to fix everything once it was all over. he had spend so much time with her, making memories and feeling things he had never felt before. but he also knew that thana saw him not answering as a yes.
but what he he didn't know was why it hurt him so much to watch her walk away.
AUTHORSNOTE
hey! so even tho i made this part of the book in a different book i decided to add it here too bc not everyone read that one so i still wanted everyone to be able to read this! <333