Since that first year at Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, you were always someone Draco Malfoy chose to tolerate and even prefer over others—not because he cared about your lineage or your house badge, but because you were the only reflection he found of his own youthful arrogance and that need to have someone laugh at his jokes while he felt like the owner of every corridor at Hogwarts.
Time, however, changed things. Draco began to surround himself with those he considered his equals. Little by little, he stopped seeking you out, until one day, when you tried to strike up a conversation, he brushed you aside with a dismissive gesture, as if your presence didn't deserve a second of his time. He simply acted as if you had never been part of his life. He never gave an explanation, never a 'why.'
The Hogwarts Express moved through fields tinged with the first colors of September. The windowpanes were fogged with cold, and the carriages were bursting with students laughing and looking for empty seats. You had been searching for quite a while; your left arm began to ache from carrying your heavy suitcase when you arrived, almost by accident, at the compartment reserved for prefects.
And there he was...
Draco occupied one of the seats with that confident, arrogant posture he had always possessed. Beside him sat Astoria Greengrass, wrapped in Draco's old black sweater.
You recognized it instantly...
It was the same one that had once ended up on your shoulders during a cold afternoon in Hogsmeade, while Draco muttered, with evident annoyance, that he was only doing it because it irritated him to see you shiver. He never lent it to you again, but it wasn't necessary. That gesture had been enough to turn that sweater into one of your favorite memories.
Now, it was she who was wearing it...
As if he had felt your presence, Draco looked up. His grey eyes barely lingered on you before looking away with total indifference. Then he leaned toward Astoria to whisper something in her ear. She chuckled softly, and Draco, with a lopsided smirk, draped an arm over her shoulders to pull her closer.
It was a scene too calculated to be casual.
And it completely shattered you...