Unwhispered Words

By Monday, it had spread throughout Hogwarts that Harry and I were an “item.” Something like this had never occurred before, that any of the students could remember. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor, dating? It was unthinkable! Preposterous! Absolutely unheard of! Suddenly, I wasn’t invisible anymore, oh no, not at all. Everybody knew my name. Charlotte Peverell, the Slytherin girl dating the Chosen One, Harry Potter, the Gryffindor. Everywhere I turned, somebody was either staring or glaring, whispering, talking about me, him, us. It was so weird.

I wasn’t even sure how to act with all the unnecessary attention. Slytherin’s were sneering at me as I passed them in the halls, something that had never happened before, and all the other houses regarded me like a newly discovered species. I felt like I had a disease. Nobody would come near me. My own brother didn’t even know how to react to the relationship. Sure, he loved me unconditionally, but he hated the Gryffindor’s as much as any other normal Slytherin does.

It probably doesn’t help that Chase is on the path of becoming a loyal Death Eater, and I was dating the boy Lord Voldemort wanted needed to kill.

I didn’t really expect him to take it well. I was just hoping he didn’t tell Mum and Dad. They would kill me before risking the chance of Lord Voldemort finding out that their own daughter was dating Harry Potter, and that isn’t an exaggeration.

Harry didn’t seem to notice, or care, about the way people acted towards us. His attention was always on me. He wasn’t afraid to hold my hand in public, sit with me at lunch (as long as it was at the Gryffindor table), or even pass me cute little notes in class (which he could do because we sat beside one another).

In fact, when I was with him, everyone around me would disappear. It was always just Harry. It was an odd feeling, definitely one I had never felt before. It was absolutely splendid. I don’t know why I went all these years doing my best to stay alone, away, hidden. I didn’t want people to know my name, my face, or anything else that had to do with me, and yet, in less than a week, that all came crashing down, and I didn’t care in the least. I had Harry. That’s what mattered.

Sitting at the Gryffindor table was awkward, at first. Ron and Hermione didn’t know how to react to me being there. All Ron did was glare and make snide comments under his breath that I’m assuming I wasn’t supposed to hear, and Hermione would always take her time, picking her words carefully. Was she afraid I was going to snap at her or something? I’m not a dog, I don’t bite. Ginny never said a single word to me, would never even look my way, even though I had attempted to make conversation with her. She completely blew me off.

Throughout the week it got easier, though. Hermione began to loosen up and Ron stopped glaring, although I would hear a snide comment every now and then. Harry helped me through it, whether it was him holding my hand, snaking his arm around my waist, and a couple times even planting soft kisses on my cheek. He made me swoon.

Now all I could think about was tomorrow, because it was the first Saturday trip to Hogsmeade of the year, and Harry couldn’t stop telling me about how he planned on making the day special in every way. Who knew he could be so sweet?

The only thing that bothered me was that in the past week I had been spending all my free time with Harry, and had barely managed to finish any of my schoolwork, and I was beginning to fall behind, which wasn’t good at all. Thank Merlin it’s Friday and I don’t have class; otherwise, I would be screwed in the education department.

After finishing my breakfast, I said goodbye to the Golden Trio, pecking Harry on the lips a few times, before heading back towards Slytherin House. It was going to be a long, tiresome day full of studies, but it had to be done. From now on, I had to make sure this didn’t happen again, even if it did mean sparing some of my time with Harry. School before boys, Charlie, remember that.

I entered the common room, delighted that it was empty, a scene I had gotten very used to, before I scampered upstairs in search of my bag which possessed all the work I would have to finish. Once retrieving it, I rushed back down the stairs. The common room all to myself? I was definitely going to do my work in here.

I sorted out all my belongings on the table, in order of what I wanted to get done first and finish last. I decided to begin with the essay I had to write for Professor Snape on 3 rolls of parchment about the 3 Unforgivable Curses and why they were named as such. After that, I would read through Chapter 4 of my Charms textbook, along with practicing all the spells that would more than likely after to be performed in front of the class on Monday. I would then write the next 2 pages of my research report that I had due in a week for Professor McGonagall, whom had gladly lent me all her books she had on Animagi. Following that would be the 1 roll of parchment that I had for Professor Slughorn, describing why Amortentia is such a dangerous potion and the effects it causes on me, as well as others. I would finally finish it all off with a bit of light reading for Care Of Magical Creatures, next week’s focus being on thestrals.

I quickly became immersed in my work, books spread wide and open around the whole table. I just couldn’t believe I had let myself fall this far behind. It was okay though, because I was actually interested in my assignments, and felt no need for breaks. At this rate, I had no doubt in my mind I would have all of this finished by supper time.

It wasn’t until I had already completed my essay for Snape, my Charms reading, and was halfway through my Transfiguration essay that I noticed he was there, watching me. How long he had been there, I didn’t know, but I did know he was there now, and his gaze was intense. I immediately felt my cheeks begin to redden.

It had been 3 weeks since I had seen him, besides occasionally passing him in the halls, but that was it. I never saw him at breakfast, lunch, or supper. I was beginning to believe he had become a ghost. Oh yes, I had been looking for him, that I won’t deny, and yet he was never there.

Until now.

“Hello Draco.” I whispered, my head facing down, eyes locked on my thumbs twiddling in my lap.

He remained silent, but didn’t break his gaze towards me. Unease began to rise in my stomach. What was going on? I set my quill down before finally gaining the courage to look up at him. Why was he here?

“What are you doing?” he finally spoke, breaking the silence.

“Homework.” I replied as nonchalantly as I could.

He nodded. “That’s an awful lot of homework, even for a girl in all Advanced classes.”

The blush on my cheeks deepened. Why is it he always knows things about me?

“It seems as though you may have fallen behind a little.” He said as he stood and began slowly striding towards me. “Which seems very unlike you, since I would always see you down here every night, Monday through Thursday, hard at work on your studies, and yet, this week, you never appeared, but here you are now.”

What the hell? He’s been watching me? Is he following me too? Is that why he knows about my classes? I began to feel a bit light headed as I gaped at him. He smirked, and that’s what set me off.

“Have you been spying on me, following me around or something? Who the HELL do you think you are? You have no right, no right whatsoever! That is absolutely disgusting, how dare you do such things, you vile prat! I feel so violated right now! Don’t you take one more step towards me or I’ll have your head!” I screamed, pointing my wand at his beautiful stupid face.

“It’s not what you think.” He quickly offered, his eyes widened at the sight of my wand. “I sit down here at night, every night, in the corner over there.” He stopped, gesturing to the area he was speaking of at the opposite side of the common room. “I’ve not been following you, or anything of that accord. I’m surprised you never noticed me before, I never tried to hide. You were just so..focused.”

I flushed, embarrassed by my outburst from just moments before. I quickly lowered my wand, muttering about how stupid I am under my breath.

“Saint Potter sure does have you under his spell doesn’t he? You two hooking up was the last thing I ever expected.” He scoffed.

My eyes narrowed at him. “His name is Harry, not Saint Potter. And we are not ‘hooking up,’ we are dating. I’ve not had sex with him and do not plan to anytime soon, not that it’s any of your business.”

“And what if I want to make it my business, Peverell?”

I was stunned by his words. Did he really just say what I think he said? Before I could reply, he was right beside me, whispering in my ear. “Think about that.” And then he was gone.

I was frozen, though I’m not sure if it was by either fear or confusion, or maybe it was a combination of the two. Either way, I was stuck standing there, doing nothing more than breathing in his sweet scent.

I was so lost by what had just happened. He’s been watching me, but why? And his final words, what could they possibly mean? Make it his business; think about that, oh my goodness what is going on. It seemed as if, in his own way, he was trying to court me. But that’s not possible, is it?

That’s when I felt it coming, and before I could stop myself, I let out a deep, contented sigh.

Draco Malfoy had already implanted himself in my mind. Was he slowly doing the same with my heart?