Chapter 15
The next day, I woke up in Draco's bed. Like usual. My head was on his chest and he is reading.
"Morning princess." Draco says, when my head perks up.
"Morning." I lay my head back on his chest and close my eyes. I subconsciously draw circles on Draco's chest, earning a small shiver from him.
"Don't go back to sleep. It's almost time for breakfast." Draco says, making me open my eyes. I really don't want to get up but I actually do want breakfast today. Since I only ate dinner yesterday. I roll off of Draco and lay my head against his pillow. The scent of his cologne enveloped me. How have I never noticed his cologne before? It smells really expensive. I can't pick out a certain scent but it's expensive. I could probably find it in my original reality but it'd be too expensive for me to buy.
"I've never noticed your cologne before." I blurt out.
"That's surprising. I wear it everyday." He says with a shrug. Are there other things I haven't noticed? The main thing I notice about him is his eyes. I think. I feel a blush of embarrassment creep up to my cheeks. I'm such a terrible girlfriend.
"I like the smell of it." I say bluntly. He looks at me real quick and smiles, then goes back to reading.
"Is that the only thing?" He mumbles.
"Don't let your ego get inflated. I just said I like your cologne."
"Ouch that hurts." He says with a fake pout. I sit up and kiss his cheek, then lay my head on his shoulder.
"Come on. I want to go to breakfast." He says before shutting his book.
"I'm going to go get changed. I'll meet you in the common room." I say as I get up, off the bed. I leave the dorm and head to mine. It was surprisingly warm this morning. It's usually quite cold, especially down here. I walk into my room and get changed into a black t-shirt and a pair of black ripped skinny jeans. I put on a pair of converse sneakers, then go to the bathroom to brush my teeth and fix my hair. I sigh, looking at myself in the mirror. Something about today feels off. Like something bad is going to happen. I don't know what though because my knowledge of Harry Potter is mainly based on the movies. I'm disappointed to say I've only read a bit of the deathly hallows and the Prisoner of azkaban. I never finished either one of the books.
I shake my head and walk out of the bathroom and head to the common room.
"You are such a fucking idiot!" I hear Parker scream at Draco as soon as I step into the common room. "You are so fucking lucky that I don't hex you right now!"
"I- what's going on?" I say, confused. I have no clue what's going on.
"Today is the day Buckbeak is supposed to get killed." Parker says, turning angrily towards me. A lump forms in my throat. That's why something felt off.
"Felicity." Draco says as he steps towards me. I step back, inching away from him. I leave the common room without saying a word to either one of them. Not because I'm mad or sad or anything like that. Well I am mad but not enough to just ignore them. It's more of the fact that I'm shocked and if I tried to talk my voice would contradict my thoughts.
I head straight to the Great Hall, neither Draco or Parker decided to follow me. Thank god. I don't want to give them an explanation as to why I left. As I enter the great hall, I am stopped by Hermione, Ron, and Harry.
"Are you alright, Felicity?" Hermione asks, drawing my focus to her.
"Mhm." I hum in response.
"Ok. Um, do you want to study today? I need to get my mind off something and it looks like so do you."
"Yeah. I'd like that." I smile.
"Great. Also Harry, Ron, and I are going to visit Hagrid today. You and Parker are welcome to join us." Ron shoots her a quick glare, that I pick up on but ignore. Not in the mood to deal with Ron.
"Thanks Mione. When do you all want to meet?"
"Around 7: 30 at the clock-tower courtyard." Harry pipes in.
"Alright. I'll let her know. Mione, do you want to go to the library now or when?"
"Now is fine if you want to." I nod my head. Hermione and I walk out of the Great hall together, heading to the library. Our usual studying spot. I've grown to like studying with Hermione, even though I rarely talk about it. She pushes me hard about studying but it's effective.
"Not trying to pry but what's on your mind? It looks like you have a million thoughts going at once." Hermione asks.
"I-it's hard to explain. Part of me feels guilty because I'm dating the person responsible for what's going to happen today. Then another part of me feels guilty for being mad at him because we had a really good night yesterday. My head is contradicting my heart. Sorry, that came out of nowhere."
"It seems like you've been bottling that up for a while. Anyway, I don't really have an answer I can give to you. You see Malfoy from a different angle than I do. But I do know one thing. You shouldn't feel guilty because of his mistake. What's going to happen today is on him, not you. Besides, you weren't even dating him when he decided to mess with Buckbeak." I nod my head. Damn, she's like Parker. Gives good advice and is always right. But no one is going to replace Parker. I should've seen their similarities in my real reality. Parker would play a good Hermione if there was ever a reboot. But she's not British so she probably wouldn't be allowed to. I hate the rule for no reason but I do.
I sigh and shake my head. She's right and she knows it. Most likely, Parker would've said the same thing if she weren't so angry at Draco.
"How did you feel when you first heard I was dating him?" I ask quickly.
"Betrayed. Then I heard why and the feeling went away. It was hard to believe that my friend was dating someone I hate. But I see you two now and you two look so happy together. Which is weird because the only time I've ever seen Malfoy happy is when he gets Harry into trouble."
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing. That I'm happy with him." I say, quietly. My voice is getting weaker. She looks over and stares at me confused. Like she's analyzing me.
"Why's that? He's not hurting you, is he?" She asks, concerned.
"N-no. Not at all. It's just my mom got me thinking if I should trust him. I'm scared he doesn't mean any of it." I say, basically forcing the words to come out.
"I think he does. Technically by dating you openly he's going against his parents. I know his parents probably don't like the fact he has to be with you but I believe they can see the advantages from it because of your mother."
"That's what I'm worried about. I'm scared he sees the advantages like his parents do." My voice feels small.
"I don't think he does. Weirdly enough I've noticed things about him from before you two started dating to now. Before you two started dating, when he wasn't around his friends he always seemed to have a look of guilt on his face. Like something was eating away at him. Especially after you....." She paused. I know what she's referring to. No one has ever tried to bring up that subject before so I'm guessing she thinks that it will affect me. Talking about it won't, thinking about it will. I don't mind people asking.
"You can say it." I say with a huff.
"I don't think I can physically say it. I'm sorry. I know it probably hurts for you to think about and it hurts to even think that in some way I could've helped."
"No one could have helped Mione. So don't beat yourself up about it. I shut people away. Including Parker. No one would have known. I had barely known that I wanted to do that. It was like an impulse." I put my hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.
"Right. Anyway, as I was saying, he always had a look of guilt on his face. I noticed that after he heard he seemed really freaked out. I actually saw him pacing by the door of the hospital wing." My eyes go wide.
"I-i didn't know that." I stutter. "I was pretty much unconscious the whole time. The only person that I knew who stayed was Fred. Nobody told me anything about what happened while I was unconscious."
"Really? I thought Fred would've informed you who visited."
"It doesn't matter now I guess. Anyway, what are we going to be studying?" I say as soon as we enter the library.
"How bout I show you some things about Ancient Runes? I feel like you'd like that class better than divination."
"Sounds good." I say as we sit down at a table. Hermione pulls out a book from her bag and slides it in between us. She quickly flips to a page in the books and pushes it towards me.
"I found this section an easy one to start with so we are starting with this one." I nod my head and look down at the page. The page is filled with unfamiliar symbols. My head is going to hurt after she's done with me. I can feel it.
"Today I just want you to memorize the runic alphabet. Some are easier to memorize than others but I don't think it will cause any trouble for you." She says as she pushes a quill and piece of parchment towards me. I start writing down the runes, while Hermione instructs me how to write them correctly.
"You're doing really well. Have you studied them before?" Hermione asked after a while.
"No. I've seen the runic alphabet before but I've never taken time to study them. I was more fascinated with Egyptian Hieroglyphs." She nods her head.
"I like learning about Egyptian Hieroglyphs as well. I kind of got jealous when I heard the Weasleys got to go to Egypt but I did get to go to France so that was fun."
"I've always wanted to go to France."
"Did you get to travel when you were young?" Hermione asks, trying to start another conversation.
"No. My mom did, but I wasn't allowed to. The only time I traveled with my mom was when I would come back to London." I responded. She nods her head and stares down at the page.
"Do you talk to Parker about you and Malfoy?" Hermione asks quietly, as if it was wrong to ask.
"Sometimes. Why?"
"She gets worried about you sometimes." I nod my head.
"I understand her concern. But I'm fine. The beginning of the year was a bit rocky but everything is good now." I don't know if I'm fine. I'm not great but I'm not doing bad either.
"Alright. Well it's almost lunchtime so, I think I'm ready to go." Hermione says, changing the subject. I nod my head and help Hermione pack up the book and the supplies.
"Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you weren't a witch?" I ask, randomly.
"I'd probably be alone. What about you?" She responds.
"In some way I feel like I'd still be friends with Parker and Ethan. Otherwise I'd probably not know anyone else." She nods her head and puts the book in her bag. We walk out of the library and head to the great hall. As soon as I walk into the great hall, Parker runs up to me and pulls me into a hug. Surprised by the sudden action I hesitate at first to hug her back but eventually I do. She pulls away after a moment and sighs.
"You're not mad are you?" She asks hesitantly.
"I hugged you back didn't I." I say with a hint of playful sarcasm in my tone. "Besides, the only person I'm mad at is Draco." She smiles and nods her head.
"Come on. I want some food." I say as I take her wrist and drag her to the Gryffindor table to sit down. I grab a bit of food and start eating, as well as starting a conversation with Parker. After a while, Hermione and I left for the library to go study again.
7:30 comes around quickly. Me and Hermione pack up our stuff and head down to the clock-tower courtyard where we said we'd meet with Parker, Ron, and Harry. My stomach is doing flip flops the whole way.
We meet up with Harry, Ron and Parker at the entrance and walk silently to the bridge, past the executioner who is sharpening an ax. I think it's an ax. There might be another word for it but I'm not sure.
"I can't believe they're going to kill Buckbeak. It's just too horrible." Hermione says as we get to the end of the bridge.
"It just got worse." Ron says, stopping at the end of the bridge. The rest of us stop and see Malfoy, some Slytherin kid that I don't know the name of and Crabbe. I keep my head down as the group follows Hermione. I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about this. Malfoy deserves it though.
"You, you foul loathsome, evil little cockroach." Hermione says as she takes her wand and points it at Malfoy's throat. Draco looks over at me for a quick second, but I avoid his gaze. I'm not going to help him.
"Hermione no. He's not worth it." Ron calls. Hermione lowers her wand slowly, and turns around. Draco made the mistake of laughing, so Hermione quickly turns around and punches him in the nose, so hard I'm pretty sure I could hear his nose crack. Draco nearly falls backwards but his friends catch him and they quickly run towards the bridge. I smile slightly through the whole scene.
"That felt good." Hermione says as she turns around.
"Not good. Brilliant." Ron responds.
"That was awesome." I stay silent along with Harry but we both have proud smiles on our faces. We start walking down the path, heading to Hagrid's hut. We walk past Buckbeak, who is sitting watching us walk by. Harry knocks at the door, which is answered by Hagrid. He lets us in, pours us some tea (that I decline) and walks over to the window to talk to Harry.
"I'm surprised you didn't go running after your boyfriend, Wilhite. Everyone would've preferred it." Ron whispers to me.
"Ronald, now is not the time." Hermione snaps at him. Hagrid turns around and gives a bit of food to a creature he keeps in his hut.
"We'll stay with you too, Hagrid." Hermione says while standing up.
"You'll do no such thing. You think I want you seeing something like that. No, just drink yer tea and be off." Hagrid points to Ron. "Before you do Ron." He turns around and grabs something out of a pot. Scabbers.
"Scabbers. You're alive!" Ron says as he takes Scabbers out of Hagrid's hands.
"Keep a closer eye on your pets, Ron."
"I think that means you owe someone an apology." Hermione says.
"Right. Next time I see Crookshanks I'll let him know." Ron replies sarcastically.
"I was talking about me." Hermione snaps back. Parker and I give each other a knowing look and try to hold in laughter. The vase in front of me shatters, making everyone turn to face it.
"Ow." Harry says after Hermione picks up a rock off the table. Harry turns around and calls Hagrid over to the window.
"Crikey." Hagrid whispers under his breath. "It's late. It's nearly dark. You shouldn't be here. If someone sees you outside the castle at this time of night you'll be in trouble. Particularly you Harry." He walks around and grabs a blanket, while talking. A loud pounding comes from the door.
"Be with you in a moment!" Hagrid shouts to the door. He quickly drapes the blanket over the creature and motions for us to go to the back door. We hurriedly walk to the back door. Hermione opens it slightly and looks out front to see when we won't be spotted. As the adults walk in, we run out of the hut, and hide behind the patch of pumpkins. We watch and listen for a second to what the minister is saying.
"What?" Harry asks as he notices Hermione turn around, scanning the forest.
"I thought I just saw...Never mind."
"Let's go." Ron says and we all turn around, then run up the hill. I look behind my shoulder, throwing a quick glance at Buckbeak. He's going to be alright. We stop at the rock formation where Hermione had just hit Draco, looking over at the scene fixing to play out. We watch as the executioner walks over to where the trio thinks Buckbeak is and drops the ax. They think it's Buckbeak but it's a pumpkin. I can't tell them that though. I wish I could but I still want to do this adventure. I put a comforting hand on Hermione's back.
"Ow." Ron says about a second later before dropping Scabbers on the ground. Ron starts running after Scabbers, with me, Parker, Hermione, and Harry running and calling after him. We follow him all the way to the Whomping willow, where he's sitting down holding the rat.
"Harry, you know which tree this is." Hermione says, out of breath.
"That's not good. Ron run!" Ron looks up, with a terrified look on his face.
"Guys run." Ron shouts while pointing behind us. We all turn around and see a huge black dog growling and snarling at us. Well more the rat in Ron's hand. I stand frozen. I didn't think this would be scary in person.
"It's the grim." Ron shouts from behind us. Sirius gives a loud bark then runs and jumps over Hermione and Harry, heading towards Ron. I don't bother turning into my animagus form to fight him off. I know Sirius' intentions. Sirius grabs hold of Ron's leg and pulls him to the trunk of the tree and into a tunnel.
We run after them as Sirius is dragging Ron. Harry barely misses him as Ron gets dragged into the hole. Me, Hermione, and Parker stop and wait for Harry to stand back up. A branch came and hit each of us in the stomach, throwing us backward. I could hear a small cracking noise come from my rib area as the larger part of the branch hit me. I struggle to breathe lying on the ground next to Parker.
"That probably broke a rib." I say in between breaths.
"Come on, we have to go get Ron." Parker says as she gets up and extends her hand to me. I take it and stand up. I wince. There is a crushing feeling in my chest and I can barely breathe.
"You going to be ok?" Parker asks.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, let's go." Everyone runs toward the Whomping willow, avoiding tree branches. Trying to get to that tunnel. Me, Parker, and Hermione duck under a branch while Harry gets flung by that same branch. The crushing feeling in my chest intensifies with each weird move I make. Before I even realize it, me and Hermione get swept up by a branch and start flying through the air. We rushed through the tree. Leaves are hitting my face and I can feel blood start to trickle down my face. I start slipping off the branch. My legs are dangling off the branch and my arms are starting to burn from holding on. Hermione ends up grabbing Harry by his shirt. I get flung off of the branch and towards the tunnel.