The Invisible Life

We played in the water for a short time before we dragged ourselves ashore underneath a tree. I used a charm to dry us both. I turned to him and smile, “That was the most fun I’ve had since we’ve been here. Thank you for that, Draco.”

“You’re welcome, Pia,” he paused a moment to think. “May I ask you a question?”

“You just did, but sure,” I smiled at my smart ass comment.

“Why, if you’re so lonely, did you never make friends here?”

“Ah, the million galleon question, I’m honestly not sure. I just never made any friends. Our first day here I was so scared that I wouldn’t be good enough for anyone to be friends with, that I wouldn’t meet up to their expectations. So I just didn’t try and kept to myself. The only friend I had up until the end of our fourth year was Joseph Willow. It’s been a year here without him, because he’s off in Norway to study dragons, and it’s only because he’s gone that I realized how truly lonely I am. Then again no one has ever tried to be my friend either,” I ended my sordid tale slightly bitter. “Anyways, forget about it, it’s in the pass. So, Mr. Malfoy, what do you like to do when you’re not working on class work?”

“I’ll go with talking with my friends, though they hardly make me laugh as hard or as much as you just did. What do you do?”

“I mostly just wander the halls. I know them almost as well as the Weasley twin, and they had a magical map,” I bragged grinning.

He laughed, “That would explain why I never see you outside of class.”

I kept grinning, “Yup I’m just that good.”

I turned my eyes from the beautiful scenery in front of us to look at Draco. Our eyes met and for the longest time I was lost in a sea of icy blue. I saw so many emotions running through them; admiration, happiness, fear. I couldn’t quite understand why he would want to be around me; I’m a Gryffindor, I’m a loner, and I’m not that interesting.

He opened his mouth to say something, but someone cut him off, “Draco?”

We both turned to look behind me to see Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Blaise Zabini, and Pansy Parkinson coming towards us. They saw me with him and immediately sneered at me; I recoiled and turned away slightly. “Drakey, what are you doing with her?” Parkinson whine in an unnaturally high pitched voiced that grated on my ears and made me wince.

In a sudden burst of confidence, I turned towards her and answered her as politely as possible, “Draco and I are friends, Pansy.”

“What a load of rubbish! Draco wouldn’t dare be friends with the likes of you, Gryffindor,” Zabini sneered.

“Draco, tell them how we’re friends,” I said and waited a moment to hear him defend our new friendship. There wasn’t a reply. I turned towards him and looked into his eyes to see a new emotion; guilt. It was pleading with me, pleading for me to stop, pleading for me to understand, and pleading for me to not hate him. It was like a flip of a switch and his mask was on. The guilt was gone replaced with fake anger. “Tell them we’re friends, Draco. Tell them, please,” I pleaded in a whisper.

The glared stayed in its place on the mask, but underneath the mask I could see the guilt and desperation. He was still pleading and telling me that we were friends. “You’re off your rocker, Gryffindor. We are not, never have been, and never will be friends. So, leave before I hex you,” he sneered at me with all the practice of a pureblood snob.

The underlying looks weren’t enough for me, but I was in shock. I sat in the same place for a few moments staring. My mouth was slightly agape and I wasn’t actually processing what had just occurred. Did he really just humiliate me for the sake of his reputation? Even after I told him my story? He did, he actually did. The tears began to pool in my eyes, but, for the sake of my remaining dignity, I would not allow them to fall. I stood up brusquely and held my head high. “If that’s the way you feel, Draco, then excuse me,” I said in a voice that was thickening with tears.

I then turned on my heel and proceeded to walk away calmly as the group of Slytherins laughed at my humiliation. Once I was sure I was far enough away where they wouldn’t notice, I looked back to see Draco with the mask still on.

A damned traitorous tear slid from my eye down to my cheek. Before I turned to walk to my dorm, Draco looked in my direction and caught my eye. Another tear slipped out and I hastily wiped it away, trying to hide the evidence of the effect that had on me. But I knew he saw it. My back straightened and before I could even think, I was walking away.

As I walked into the castle my ears caught the sound of my name being called. I turned to the right and saw Hermione, Ronald, and Harry. Hermione greeted me warmly with a hug as soon as she reached me and I smiled at how nice it felt to actually be hugged by a friend. “Good morning, Pia,” she smiled after we had pulled away from each other.

“Good morning, Hermione.”

“Are you alright?” She asked with a concerned look about her face.

“I’m fine,” I looked at her with my brow furrowed, “Why do you ask?”

“Um… there are tear trailed down you cheek,” she murmured before wiping my cheeks.

“Oh, um, thank you. But it’s just allergies. I didn’t take my potion today,” It was easy, believable, and partly true.

“Alright. Oh, Pia, these are my best mates; Harry and Ron,” she gestured to the two boys behind her. “Harry, Ron; this is Pia.”

“Nice to officially meet you, Harry and Ronald,” I smiled at them.

Ronald was sort of nice and a shy and quiet ‘hello,’ but Harry was completely rude and just scoffed. I flinched the smallest of degrees and nodded to them before I moved to be directly in front of Harry. “Harry, may I speak to for a moment in private?” I asked softly.

“Sure,” he answered brusquely. The two of us walked a little outside until we found a deserted spot amongst some trees on the lake. I knew that Draco could possibly see us, but I didn’t care in the slightest. We sat ourselves on a log facing the water for a few minutes before Harry turned to me. “You wanted to talk?”

“Yes, mostly I just want to apologize for yesterday and I how I handled the situation. I could have done a lot better. It’s just we’ve been here for five years and in that time I’ve only had one friend. So, when you interrupted someone actually attempting to be my friend I got slightly angry.

“You’re not the only one who has to apologize. I’m sorry as well, I think we both could have handled the situation differently,” he smiled.

I smiled briefly but replaced it with a frown, “I should have listened to you though, Harry. It would have saved me a bit of humiliation a few minutes ago. That and I’m back to basically being on my own,” I took a breath before I stood up, “Well I’m glad we cleared the air, Harry. I’ll see you around.” He stood and took my hand. I looked at him with my brow raised.

“You’re not alone, Pia. You now have Hermione, Ron, and me as friends,” he said with a warm smile. “That is, if you want to be friends with us.”

“I would like that very much,” I smiled brightly at him and he smiled back. I pulled him in for a hug, letting a small tear of happiness to leak out. “Thank you, Harry, so much, “I whispered into his ear.