Redemption.

Memories

Stiorra's POV.

Stiorra walked the stairs up to the castle along with Luna, catching up with their lives ever since the battle ended and everything had come back to a certain normality again.
From up here, she could see the lights on the small boats that were taking the first years to the castle for the very first time, and she remembered what it felt like being one of them. She felt the exact same feeling again tonight, as she walked up to the castle. However, now it felt like home.
Luna and Stiorra walked in the Great Hall, out of breath, both wearing their respectives house robes, and parted ways to sit at their own tables. Stiorra quickly found Hermione and Ginny, and sat down at the edge of a bench. There was a certain feeling to the air, and she knew everyone was as excited as she was being in Hogwarts again.
More people walked in, crowding the room, and Stiorra couldn't wait to see the first years as they'd take their turn sitting on the stool by the professors' table and they'd have the sorting hat on their heads.

She was looking around the room, trying to see who made it within her year, when her eyes met Draco Malfoy's. Their eyes locked. Her heart sank.

It had been a couple of weeks since she'd been partnered up with Draco Malfoy in Potions. He was really living up to his reputation of being cold-hearted, and not giving any f**k.
It had started getting on her nerves, even though he did help with the work when she thought he wouldn't. She wished he could have been nicer to her. However, she could feel a certain tension rising between the two of them as time passed.
The bell rang and the professor dismissed the class. Stiorra stormed out of the classroom.
She couldn't bear seeing him. She didn't know where to go for she had a free period. She stopped by the bathroom somewhere in the tower where Divination's class was held, and tried to calm herself down.
She walked out of the bathroom, refreshed and calmed down, and headed for the library to study. She was walking in long corridor when she found herself being pulled in behind a pillar.
Draco was holding her ams, gripping on her elbows tightly so she couldn't leave.

"Let go," she told him firmly, looking straight into his cold-grey eyes.

To her biggest surprise, he did. It was the first time she ever looked deeply into his eyes. And he never looked the way he did those last few years. Something had changed. There was a hint of sadness, maybe grief, in his eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry," Draco said in a low voice.

"You'd need to be more precise."

"Okay," he scoffed, looking down at her, "I'm sorry for making fun of you. I noticed you were quite on edge today."

"Yes, you are getting on my nerves and I don't know why," Stiorra told him.

"Maybe because you fancy me?"

"I certainly don't," she said, and she meant it.

Draco Malfoy laughed, shaking his head and looking away from her.

"I'm still sorry," he told her.

"Wow, the great Malfoy is making an apology."

Stiorra was standing close to him, and she could feel the tension rising between them two, just as she felt it during potions earlier. She had never felt this way about anyone, and it bugged her that she felt it around him.
Draco stared down at her, and Stiorra couldn't help it. She wanted to break the distance between them two. Even though she hated the guy, she never found him more attractive.

"What do you say to us being partners?" he said.

"We already are partners."

"I didn't mean it this way."