Hope Starts Broken Hearts

“What was that all about?” Draco asked, his eyes watching as Heidi steered her broom the other direction, just after tearing her eyes away from mine.

I really hoped he hadn’t noticed. “What are you talking about?”

“She was glaring at you,” his head lowered to look at me, while the two of us walked down the Quidditch Pitch side by side. I bit my bottom lip, staring down at my feet as I walked. I heard him add, “You two are friends, right?”

“We are friends,” I confirmed. Or at least, we were, but I really don’t know what to think anymore.
“So why—“

“Can we not talk about her?” I immediately interrupted, cutting his sentence short.

That's when the vindictive Malfoy shot me a quick glare.

“Weren’t you the one who wanted to talk about her in the first place?” he asked me irritably.

His tone instantly brought me to silence. The last thing I wanted to do was annoy Malfoy at this moment, seeing as how we were actually getting along. Maybe even as friends. Real friends, not phony best friends or the acquaintance house mates we had been before the weekend. I looked up at Draco, his head faced forward with a rather nonchalant expression on his face, which calmed the vibe around us a bit. The indifferent look in his gray eyes weren’t staring awkwardly at me for once.

Thinking a little too soon, he caught my gaze on him. “What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I replied, maybe even a little too quickly to where I sounded defensive again. “Hey Malfoy,” I said, just to ease the oddity between us. He replied to my call with a questioning look on his face. “On the first day of Hogwarts, when we were being sorted into our houses…After I was sorted into Slytherin, you had a rather—amused look on your face,” I trailed off when I watched as he opened his mouth and gave a short laugh. I didn’t bother continuing; he knew what I was going on about.

“Before you even went up there,” he started, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile, “I bet Goyle five galleons that you were going to be sorted into Slytherin. I was rather amused when I was right.”

The two of us had just now reached the center of the Quidditch Pitch when a suspicious expression spread on my face. “How could you possibly know?” I asked. “We’ve never even spoken to each other.”

Draco’s mouth widened into a breathtaking grin. Believe me, unlike Parkinson, Draco Malfoy was so much cuter when he wasn’t wearing his usual scowl. I felt a small jab from my abnormal thoughts and clutched at my stomach. Damn butterflies.

“Back on the Hogwarts Express that morning, I heard you tell Granger you lost a sickle in her ‘rat's nest of a hairstyle.’” His chuckling made him struggle with letting the words out.

Unlike Draco, who seemed to enjoy my rude comment, my lips were pursed, failing at holding in my laughter. I’ve never liked Hermione Granger, ever since first meeting her at Flourish and Blotts four years ago when she forced Clyde and I listened to her drawl on and on about all the books on the list she had already read. Being top student in our class, a devastatingly annoying know-it-all, and definitely the only student at Hogwarts that could give Aspen a run for his money, I still dislike her up to this day.

“You were the first girl to catch my eye at Hogwarts,” Draco’s voice added in a low, smooth tone.

I felt another jab in my stomach. “Oh, please,” I grinned, bringing my head up to the boy beside me. “How many times have you used that line before?”

Draco stared uneasily at me—guilty, rather, as he looked forward again. His free hand ran through his sleek blonde hair as a smirk inched its way onto his pale face. “Okay, a lot,” he admitted meekly, and I suddenly felt surprisingly disappointed. That is, until I was now staring into his solid gray orbs when he muttered, “But with you, I mean it.”

My face was looking away in a split-second, hoping he wouldn’t notice my reddened cheeks. But luckily, Malfoy was looking away as well. It felt awkward that, just the other day at Tricks and Treats when I held a conversation with him for the first time, I reminded myself that Draco was the first boy to catch my eye at Hogwarts, too.

Being alone with him like this—It really got me thinking. This was Heidi’s ex-boyfriend that I was with; the last boy—besides Clyde, of course—that Heidi’s hugged, kissed, and held hands with. Before I even met her, I noticed her. She was always incredibly happy as she stood there, hugging Malfoy from the side, the two of them looking like a flawless celebrity couple.

And then it brought me to Clyde's question earlier. ’What does she bloody see in that boy?!’

What did she see exactly, that put a smile on her face whenever she’d look at Malfoy, even after they’ve broken up?

It got me thinking what other girls that liked him saw in the infamous Draco Malfoy, too, other than his devastatingly good looks, of course. Did they see a cold, heartless jerk that half the school saw in him every day? Or a rather misunderstood one like I see right now—who, rude and malicious at times, can even have a soft side? Someone who's more than just sick humor, someone that can keep a normal conversation going even after you've got under each others' skin a few times. He hasn't said a single mean thing to me, after all. Well, not anything that he meant, I'd hoped.

“What’s on your mind?” Draco’s voice startled me a bit, breaking through my thoughts.

“What?” I had forgotten I was even with him.

“You’re quiet.” He looked at me; his face rather emotionless. “I’ve noticed that you always seem to be deep in thought when you’re alone with me, yet obnoxious otherwise.”

He was very observant, as I hadn't even noticed that until he said it. I was blunt and full of energy when with Aspen or Maggie, or when Draco's friends were nearby, but whenever I was alone with him, it was like I was more cautious of what came out of my mouth, so I kept everything in my head most of the time.

It was like, if I said one wrong thing to him, I could mess up any chance I had to get to know him better.

I pouted a bit in protest. I had to play cute or he'd lose interest in a second. “Well, the topic in my mind is private,” I explained. “There’s a reason I’m not saying my thoughts out loud.”

I didn’t even notice until I looked at my surroundings that the two of us were in the tunnel leading out of the Quidditch Pitch.

“So you’re thinking about me, then?” he raised a brow at me leeringly, and my heart skipped a beat. “I mean, if it’s that private. I wouldn’t be afraid to admit it, though.”

My face flushed in both embarrassment and frustration. “Conceited!” I exclaimed childishly. “And why,” I paused, bringing my hand up to press a finger onto his arm, “would I be thinking of you, of all things and people in the world?”

Draco shrugged; his free hand slipping into the side pocket of his black and green robes, while his other hand continued to lug the broomstick he was carrying around. “Just figured you’d be thinking the same thing as me,” he mumbled indifferently, and I grew curious now.

A cool breeze passed through both of us as we walked; the large castle of Hogwarts beginning to appear in front of us. I looked up at Malfoy, mimicking his actions by shoving my hands into my pockets. “So what is on your mind, exactly?” I asked, making my tone sound more curious rather than taunting. “Since, you know, you’re not afraid to admit it.”

Draco didn’t look at me when he answered. “How less annoying—different you are than I thought; why, after four years of curiosity, I only chose to meet you now; why the bloody hell I’m even here right now, telling you all this, while at the same time the both of us walking who knows where,” he glanced around. “Just that sort of stuff.”

After hearing what he said, I realized that the both of us just passed the back entrance of Hogwarts, and we were now walking along the side of the castle, off of the path and trotting mindlessly through the grass. He didn’t seem to care, so I pressed on the conversation.

“I’m flattered, Malfoy, really,” I said, and it was time to get him back. He looked confused. “In that short silence we happened to endure, you were thinking about me. That's definitely a step up from being asked to simply sit with you, right?"

No words seem to be able to come out of Draco’s mouth, which now hung open, completely stunned. Instead, his head jerked the opposite direction, and I caught a slight tinge of pink streak his face.

“But, to be totally honest,” I pressed on, keeping my head facing the opposite direction of him. Just because I thought he should know, I nervously hesitated before adding, “You were right. In that short moment of silence, I was thinking about you, too.”

“Mira!” a quick, raspy voice suddenly blurted my name, catching both Draco and I off guard.

We turned around with a natural curiosity, only to be greeted with Maggie, running as fast as her short legs could take her. Her wide, worrisome eyes glanced at Draco for a quick second, as if surprised he were beside me, then quickly removed the thought from her mind and her orbs flickered back onto mine. “Heidi fell!” she panted.

I felt my heart jump. “What?”

“She fell! She hit the goal post and fell off her broomstick!” the small girl immediately turned around again, running in the direction of the door entering Hogwarts. “I’m going to get help!”

“Draco,” I instantly turned to him, feeling my heart begin to race with worry. “We have to go back.”

Draco’s face showed no hint of concern at all. He looked just as apathetic as always, which upset me nonetheless. “There’s a lot of people back at the pitch,” he stated dully. “She’ll be fine. You’re worrying too much.”

“She’s my friend!” I snapped.

“Yeah?” he raised a brow up, his eyes gleaming with slight contempt. “She doesn’t seem to think likewise.”

I backed away from him by a few steps back, feeling as though I was just punch right in the gut. “W-We’re still friends…Whether she thinks so or not,” I stammered faintly. “We just have to go see if she’s alright!”

He shot me a quick, stern look, murmuring, “If you go back with me, she’s certainly not going to consider you a friend anymore than she does now.”

My eyes widened in complete, utter shock. “You know..?” I whispered in disbelief. “You know that she’s still in love with you?” I shook my head vigorously, my mind going blank. “But how? You hardly even remember her!”

“I’m not stupid, Crowe, I’m smart enough to know when a girl fancies me,” he shot back bitterly, stabbing the end of his broomstick into the grass beneath us. “I’ve noticed the way she looks at me, and the way she looked at you earlier for being with me.” His voice grew lower, maybe even an octave deeper. “Back at the Quidditch Pitch, and at Tricks and Treats. It’s beyond obvious. That’s what you wanted to talk to me about, right?”

I shook my head a final time, slowly and calmly. “Well, I don’t care what you think of her, but I’ve got to go see if she’s okay, whether you come or not.” I turned around and dashed off, straight towards the area Draco and I just came from. A wave of sheer disappointment hit me when I looked over my shoulder at him several meters away now, only to watch him go off the other direction.

I take it all back. Draco Malfoy was as heartless as he's rumored to be.

It didn’t take long for me to reach the Quidditch Pitch once again. Would have been a lot quicker if people weren’t running into me as they scurried off to go find the help that Maggie was already acquiring. I was panting once I entered, but didn’t bother to stop to catch my breath. That was because, right when I took a look around the stadium, I instantly spotted Heidi sprawled up on the floor, with a crowd gathering around her fallen figure.

With an even greater amount of concern thrusting through my body, I used the little remaining stamina I had left to run to her. When I did, Clyde was already attempting to pick her up, her scraggy body flinching in pain.

“No one tried to save her?” I muttered angrily through strongly gritted teeth. “A levitation spell? A charm? Anything before she hit the ground?!”

“Calm down, Mirabelle,” Storm pressed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Before any of us noticed—before we could even pull our wands out, Heidi was already on the ground.”

I took a few steps towards the fragile girl lying limp in Clyde's arms. One side of her once flawless face was completely cut up as traces of blood were seeping through. Her eye was swollen and unrecognizable, and there were long, red scratches along her leg and right arm as her robes lay still in the grass.

“She’s got minor fractures in her leg and a few broken bones in her arm,” Clyde told me sadly as he stared down at his girlfriend, pointing out the worst thing visible. “I’m scared to even move her before a medic arrives.”

I reached an arm up to her, tears stinging the corners of my eyes, but before even making contact with her at all, her scrawny hand slapped mine away. “Mira,” I heard her whisper, and my stomach immediately flipped, just hearing her soft, angelic voice say my name. I stared, shocked, as her eyes slowly opened, just to send me a resentful glare. “Don’t touch me,” she growled viciously, and I immediately pulled my arm back.

I was struck speechless as I looked at her, and little did anyone know, I was probably in just as much pain as she was.