Draco's Hufflepuff | Emerging

Twenty-One: Revelation

**

Monday, 11th November, 1996

Sitting in silence the Hufflepuff common room, I was sipping on a cup of tea, and listening to everyone else's conversation. I had barely said two words today, because I was still replaying mine and Hannah's last conversation in my head. I still felt really rubbish about myself.

"Did you want to go somewhere, Mads? Getting a little loud in here, isn't it?" Hannah nudged me to get my attention,

"Sure," I smiled at her, not wanting to. But I also couldn't bring myself to say no.

We didn't go far at all, and no one seemed to notice we had left the group. Hannah and I took a seat up in our dorm room, we were sat cross-legged on her bed. Being alone with Hannah, as bad as it made me feel, I was more comfortable.

I wasn't sure what the matter with me today was. It wasn't the first time I had ever lied to Hannah about being involved with Draco, but the more I was with him, and the deeper my love was growing for him, the harder it was to keep us a secret.

"Are you okay, Mads? You seem really down in yourself today," Hannah mentioned, squeezing my hand tenderly,

"I guess it's just hormones or something, I'm okay," I forced myself to chuckle, needing to lie to her yet again,

"So, tell me how yesterday went. You're not still angry with me, are you?" Hannah smiled at me, shuffling on her bed slightly,

"Of course, I'm not, Han, I know you only set me and Luke up with well-meaning intentions," I said, "It started off a little awkward, but slowly, we warmed up to each other, it was alright actually,"

"Are you going to see him again?" Hannah asked with a certain eagerness in her voice,

"No, we agreed that we're better off as friends. I suppose I have been wondering though, why Luke?" I cocked my head, asking with genuine curiosity,

"I don't know really; Patrick and I were up talking one evening. When you were with Malfoy, Seamus was in detention with McGonagall, and everyone else just happened to be out. We got to talking about you, actually-"

"Me?" I interjected, my eyebrows knitted together,

"Yeah, we were just saying about how nice it is you've become friends. Then he was telling me about how you became friends-"

"What did he say? What did he say about me during that eight weeks?" I interrupted her again, feeling slightly afraid of what he might've said about me and Draco,

"Oh, nothing bad, Mads, honestly! Patrick was just telling me that when we were away, he comforted one evening you were upset, which started off your friendship," Hannah told me,

"Please don't tell me you still want me and him to get together," I chuckled, hoping she would say no,

"Hm..." Hannah pulled her lips into a tight line, looking off to the side, "It's been put on pause. A match-up hiatus if you will," she added, giggling,

"You still never said why Luke, out of everyone," I cleared my throat, looking at her intently,

"Patrick told me about this whole Emily situation. Her and Luke had got talking, and they both took it completely differently – she was being civil and well-mannered, he thought they were going to get back together... Patrick said he was going to be crushed when he found out. I accidentally slipped out that I'd been wanting to match you up with someone. Then we just hatched the plan to get you together there and then," Hannah shrugged her shoulders,