THREE YEARS LATER

April hopped onto the Hogwarts Express with a familiar blond-haired boy at her side. The Malfoys had been kind enough to invite her to stay for the summer. Her and Draco had become fairly close, and it only made matters worse about April's visions.

"April," Draco said, his voice monotonous. They entered a carriage swiftly and April slammed the door shut, sitting opposite her confused friend. "What's the matter?"

"There's something I haven't been telling you but I just can't," April cried as she threw a hand to her mouth. Her eyes began to well up, and soon enough, Draco spotted the tears escaping down her cheeks heavily.

He moved to her side almost instantaneously. "April, you don't have to tell me anything."

"But I want to!" April snapped. She regretted her actions immediately as she saw the pain flash in Draco's hard grey eyes. He rolled up one of his sleeves, clearing his throat. Disconnecting their eye contact, he rushed onto the other sleeve before standing up.

"You don't," he told her with a distant expression. April winced as the door creaked and echoed throughout the train as Draco flung it shut. She wept into her hands for the rest of the journey, and when it came time to get off board, she waited until everyone else was gone. April forced herself out of her seat and followed the crowd sluggishly.

Draco came out of the train just after her. Seeing her figure walk so slowly, so dully - it hurt him, perhaps more than his actions hurt her. She was the closest thing Draco had to a friend, but even he knew a snake wasn't able to maintain a friendship with a mouse.

If only the boy could hex himself, he would've done right there and then. Maybe for his own selfish reasons so he didn't have to see April so broken.

He skipped dinner.

So did April. She slumped onto her bed, hoping to Salazar that Pansy and Daphne wouldn't return from dinner until late - she was in about as much luck as she could be, because they didn't return until approximately eight o'clock.

"April, what's wrong?" Daphne muttered as she wandered over to April's bedside, seeing the girl distraught and wrecking her pillow with her tears. She shook her head profusely, and Daphne took this as a clear sign to bugger off.

Daphne sighed and repeated April's notion to Pansy, who shrugged and went back down to the common room. "We'll be downstairs if you need us," Daphne called out as she shut the door behind her. April's body shivered as she remembered the incident in the train.

Her body sucked her into sleep, exhaustion finally overriding upset.

The next morning, April's muscles couldn't bear to move. She had to slide out of bed and stand up with such force that she almost fell back down again.

"Come on, April," Pansy said as she grasped April's arm and placed it around her shoulder. She took her to her own bed, where April perched on the edge and gave a sigh of relief. "It's about Draco, isn't it?"

Pansy had seemed to back off of Draco ever since she recognised how close he was getting to April. It just wasn't worth her feelings anymore. She sat down beside her friend, sweetness filling her heart like nobody had expected it to.

"I hurt him," she cried out, holding her hands to her face and resisting the urge to claw at them. "I hurt him."

"April, I'm sure you didn't," Daphne chimed in as she got out of her bed and joined her mates. She slumped on the bed next to April.

"I did!" April exclaimed.

"April, please tell us so we can help you," Pansy told her. Her voice was calm.

April sighed, looking at the ground as if ashamed of herself. "I told him I wanted to tell him something. He thinks I don't. He thinks I don't even want to be friends anymore, I bet. After such a good summer, I've messed it all up. I've messed everything up."

Pansy held out a tissue to April. She gladly took it and wiped her eyes.

"I'm sure Draco will get over it," Pansy smiled, sweet as a flower.

"Yeah, it's just a little tiff, April," Daphne added as she held a finger to her chin. "Say, could it be that you fancy Draco?"

April's cheeks lit up. Despite her resemblance of a Christmas tree, the other two girls giggled. "You do!" they said in chorus.

"I do not!" April defended herself. Rushing to her feet, she held her arms up in front of her, letting her soil-coloured hair fall over her face. "I do not fancy Draco Malfoy," she repeated.

Her friends continued to snicker to themselves, much to April's displeasure. She couldn't bear to see it, so she scrambled back onto her bed, and tipped Daphne and Pansy onto the floor. They squealed in unison.

That was how April's morning began the next day, cheeriness being shared between her and her friends. Little did she know, a certain platinum-haired boy stood in the common room of the Slytherin house, listening to every giggle or gasp, wishing it was him who could make her laugh.