(y/n) - your name

(l/n) - last name

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"Draco! Wait please!" the boy clutches his left arm tightly, feeling sick to his stomach about the wriggling beneath his skin as he avoided (y/n) calling out to him again. He walks further ahead into the mass of students, ducking low to blend in before he hid in an empty corridor. He sighs heavily with guilt, slinking down to the floor as he held his head in his hands.

It had been weeks, the cold weather turning to snow and frost that covered Hogwarts and he was yet to fix the damn Cabinet. He didn't know it would take this long, didn't know it would kill him to avoid his love like this.  She had been close to finding him in the room of requirement but he made sure to cast a spell that alerted him whenever she was there. There was a shred of hope every time she searched for him but that soon dwindled when she stopped looking in the room of requirement.

She was slowly giving up on him and it made him feel so hurt. But that was the point. She had to move on from him to be safe. That was the purpose. He wanted her safe but at the same time he wanted to hide in her arms, to hear her say that everything will be ok again but he knows it will never be the same again.

Oh, how Draco wished he could go back to last year, to go back to their kisses and their nights filled with laughter.

"Hey..." Hermione holds (y/n)'s shoulders, seeing her tear up. "It's ok-"

"-it's not ok! I can't do this Hermione..."

"But-"

"-you know how you said the day he stops giving me pears is the day I stop trying?"

"Yeah, but he hasn't-"

"-he did... Last week... I didn't want to believe but..."

"The pears stopped coming every morning... oh I'm so sorry (y/n)." Hermione hugs her as she starts crying, pulling her away to an empty room.

"He doesn't care anymore... maybe he hasn't for a long while... maybe I should stop..."

"Harry told me how he reacted at the train when he saw you. Merlin, we all saw how he looks at you in potions class-"

"-that was weeks ago! He's just... gone... He doesn't show up for classes or quidditch anymore! Just disappeared! He doesn't even have the balls to explain to me why we broke up!" The Gryffindor lets her friend rant, knowing it was long overdue when she had kept everything silent for such a long time. The Hufflepuff had pretended everything was normal for too long that she hadn't given herself the time to just process it all.

"I know (y/n)..."

"He was my everything Hermione..."

"I know." she pulls her friend into a tight hug.

~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure this is best way to-"

"-shush." Hermione cuts Harry off, them looking behind their backs to see (y/n) following them through the snow, huddled up with layers of winter clothes. Hermione had decided to take everyone on a trip to Hogsmeade, just to try and lighten up everyone's mood for the upcoming Christmas.

"You look like a marshmallow." Ron snickers, making a joke but his smile falters when (y/n) doesn't laugh.

"Shut up." she mumbles back and he looks at the others who shrug. They all were trying to cheer up their Hufflepuff friend.

"Harry! For weeks you carry around this book, practically sleep with it...and you have no desire to find out who The Half-Blood Prince is?" Hermione exclaims unusually loud, making sure (y/n) picked up on the conversation.

"I didn't say I wasn't curious. And, by the way, I don't sleep with it."

Ron lets out a sarcastic chuckle at Harry. "Yeah. Right." his friend glares at him. "Well, it's true! I like a nice chat before I go to bed. Now you're always reading that bloody book. It's like being with Hermione." This time it's Hermione's turn to glare. "You levitated me by accident by reading something from that book of yours!" this earns a quiet chuckle from the Hufflepuff, the golden trio smiling in celebration at the sound.

"He levitated you?" (y/n) asks and Ron lays it on real thick.

"Yeah! Made me float up and spin in the air! I was stuck on the bloody ceiling holding onto my bedpost! It took hours for the spell to wear off."

"Goddamn Harry." the Hufflepuff laughs and he smiles brightly at her.

"Well, I was curious. So I went to-"

"-the library." Ron, Harry and (y/n) answer for Hermione as she changes the topic, her looking at her friends in annoyance for cutting her off.

"And?" Harry urges her to continue.

"And... nothing. There's no reference to the Half-Blood Prince anywhere."

"Good. That settles it then." Harry says, hoping this subject would be dropped.

"Can we hurry up? I'm freezing here. Let's get some butterbeer." (y/n) muffles out from her scarf, the others nodding as the four friends run towards the inn, all sighing in relief from the warmth as soon as they stepped in. "Thank fuck..." the Hufflepuff mutters out, shedding her layers but staying in her cardigan over her turtleneck and cargo pants, her winter coat and scarves hung up on a coat rack.

Harry leads the group to a table and a waiter comes over to take their order. "Something to drink?"

"Four butterbeers please."

Draco freezes as she stood at the bar, hearing her voice and the cold chill that clung to him instantly melts when he hears her. He turns around to see her sit with her friends, toying with the necklace he gifted her like a second nature he similarly had with his ring. He smiles seeing her smile as well, quickly checking his pocket watch for his meeting and he gets up.

"Shit I'm so sorry!" he feels someone bump into him and he looks down with wide eyes to see his Puff in front of him, her own eyes blinking in surprise to see him. "Draco-" he reluctantly pulls away from her arms and rushes up the stairs, glaring at Harry before he walked into a room and shut the door behind him. 

Draco grinds his jaw, pulling at his tie when he hesitates knowing (y/n) was in the inn with him where he was going to do the unthinkable but he flinches when he feels his mark crawling beneath his skin, clawing at it. He walks down the steps, searching for the owner of the inn whose back was to him while she counted inventory. 

The Slytherin frowns, feeling sick in his stomach as he raised his wand. "Imperio." he casts the spell over Madem Rosmerta, her standing up straight and turning around with those cloudy eyes. "Deliver this necklace to Dumbledore immediately." he hands a package to the woman who nods, obeying his command.

Meanwhile back at the bar, the golden trio look over at their Hufflepuff friend. "Shit..." they mutter out when they stop talking about Ginny and Dean kissing, looking over at (y/n) and seeing her interaction with Draco. They see her freeze in her spot, looking over at the door with a heartbroken smile before coming back to the table and sitting next to Harry.

"(y/n)-"

"-I'm fine." she snaps at him quickly, chugging her glass of butterbeer before ordering another one. Before anyone could stop her, Slughorn approaches the table.

"Harry, my boy!"Slughorn's voice booms as he waddles over, sloshing a mug in hand. 

Harry stands up immediately to greet him, shaking his hand which the group finds odd for his personality. "Hello, sir. Wonderful to see you."

"And you, and you."

"So what brings you here, sir?"

"Oh, the Three Broomsticks and I go way back. Longer than I'd care to admit. In fact, I remember when it was simply One Broomstick!" As Slughorn guffaws, Harry joins in, laughing heartily as well. Slughorn's belly trembles next to Hermione's cheek and his waving mug sloshes over, spattering the table next to her directly.

"Oops! All hands on deck, Granger!" Hermione smiles thinly, (y/n) taking out a couple of tissues from her bag to clean the table and passes fresh ones to her friend so she can dry off. "Listen, my boy. In the old days, I used to throw together the occasional supper and invite a select student or two. Would you be game?"

"I'd consider it an honour, sir." Harry says quickly.

"You'd be welcome too, Granger."

"Be delighted, sir."

"You can bring a plus one as well if you like." Slughorn winks at Harry, noticing how the boy glances at (y/n) who was talking to Ron. "Brilliant. Look for my owl." As the professor was leaving, he greets Ron and (y/n). "Good to see you, Wallenby and (l/n)." the two look at each other, (y/n) biting back her laughter from Ron's offended expression.

"Oh, he's drunk drunk." the Hufflepuff muses, ordering another butterbeer.

"What're you playing at?" Ron quickly says as Harry sits down after that whole interaction with an unusually wide smile.

"Dumbledore asked me to get to know him."

"Get to know him?" Ron asks.

"Dunno. But it must be important. Otherwise, Dumbledore wouldn't ask."

While the boys talked, the girls finished off their drinks, setting their glasses down as the boys look over at them.

"Um... You've got a little..." Ron points out to both the girls, Hermione quickly wiping away at her upper lip in embarrassment.

"Here, let me." Harry leans over and wipes the froth away from (y/n)'s upper lip, her looking at him with wide eyes. They don't realise one more pair of grey eyes glowing at the Gryffindor when he watched the scene, his hands gripping the banister tightly in fury before he stormed out of the inn.

The four friends stay for a while until Hermione starts getting drunk, helping her up to leave and not realising a certain woman with a package drop it off at the girl's bathroom for a Hogwarts student to pick up.