Avery

At the ball, Draco was looking at Avery walking with her date, Leo, who had a yellow corsage on her wrist, meaning her date was also a Hufflepuff. If you went with a different house, the flower would be combined with your house colors. Avery is looking at every couple dancing, eating, and drinking with slow music blasting. People started whispering about the fact that the famous couple of Hogwarts was with different partners.

Draco was grabbing a drink when suddenly, behind him, there were a bunch of Hufflepuff boys talking.

"Leo, you got yourself fucking AVERY?! Our head girl! The Triwizard champion?!"  

Dean added, "The Hufflepuff princess," hyping Leo while others' curiosity beamed.

"She doesn't like people calling her that."  

"Now you know what she likes or not, huh?" Boyle smiled.  

Leo nodded, "Don't call her princess or any of those."  

"I'm always proud of the fact that she chose our house instead of Slytherin, so tell us how you got Avery?" Dean became more curious.  

"We're all proud of her; she's our champion," Boyle said.  

"We just bumped into each other. She was near the magical creatures room. It was rare because other girls were out looking for dresses, so I asked her, and then..." Leo answered. After hearing that, Draco left.

Leo and Avery went out from the ballroom after dancing shortly; they were more keen on nature. While sitting outside under the stars, Leo asked her,  

"I've been wondering and thinking; what is it like being pureblood?" Avery understood his point of view.  

"I never really think of that, but if you're curious, I'll tell you what I feel. It's more duty... to my family, my family name," she said while looking at the sky.

"Sorry if I think of you like that, but we all know you’re different, Avery. We do. We all do. You're not like them; you possess kindness."  

Avery chuckled and looked at his face.  

"You're insulting Slytherins there. So you want to know a secret?" Leo nodded, tensing his body with anticipation.  

"We owe debts." She stared into his eyes and then gazed away.  

"You guys are rich beyond... there’s no way..." Leo said with a confused expression.  

"I know. You’re probably thinking there’s no way a pureblood owes debts; they’re rich beyond, blah blah... but we do. We’ve got debts to pay to our parents, the community, the thousand-year family name to uphold, or such as our duty to continue the line by giving them heirs—pureblood heirs. It’s very suffocating; some say it’s a different kind of burden. We sometimes envy you; you guys are so free to do whatever you like with your life."  

Leo understood now; that’s why these people behaved so differently from them—behind their smugness was a way to cover their restless life. Leo walked Avery to her dorm, saying goodnight and kissing her hand, telling her he was the luckiest man tonight who had the honor of being her partner.

Avery gave him a sincere smile. "Thank you for asking me to be your partner when I didn’t have any."  

She saw her yellow and green corsage that she prepared for her ball with Draco in a box. She cried silently as she remembered seeing Draco with Pansy Parkinson and realized that sooner or later, her place would be taken by her. All her dreams of a future with Draco would crumble into nothing, and her chest spasmed as tears streamed down her face.

She fell asleep and woke up with a pounding headache because she cried herself to sleep. She walked out to smell the fresh air when she suddenly got the idea to channel her anger into some practice with her spells. "Avar..." her wand flicked, but nothing came. She was trying her luck wandlessly. "Avaria..." Fire lit out of her palm. She threw the fire but accidentally caught a tree above her; the branch broke and knocked her on the head. She touched her head and saw blood, so she walked to St. Mungo's to get healed.

Avery didn't go to school the next day because the healer said she needed to rest, so she went home for a day. Draco noticed he hadn’t seen her at breakfast, lunch, or dinner hall that day. He searched for her in other rooms, like the library, magical creatures, hallways, and outdoors, but found none. When all the head girls and boys of each house gathered in the Headmaster's room for the usual meeting, Avery was absent. After everyone had gone, Draco asked the Headmaster about Avery. He said,  

"I thought you were the one who knew better since she's your fiancée."  

Draco asked again, worried sick, "What happened to her?" He was breathing heavily.

"She had an accident in her practice, so she's resting now at her home, I heard," the Headmaster seemed confused as to why Draco didn't know.

Draco stormed off, feeling like the worst human ever for failing to protect his fiancée yet again. He didn't even know she was sick or that something was happening to her; he felt sick to himself.

Draco was always open to the idea of his father's betrothal; he knew his duty until he met her. It turned into something more. Draco thought Hermione would be like flowers, just like his mother always said about women. So he learned he had to protect the fragile flower, but Hermione is nothing like that. She's more like fire — green fire, like when you cast the unforgivable spell, Avada..

And he loves that about her.