I was told I was dangerous, so I asked why. They said: Because you don't need anyone.

That's when I smiled.

- Hifza Shameem

It had been two whole weeks since the hallway incident and it had been pleasant to say the least. I was mastering the art of ignoring Malfoy and my life was so much better without him. I patrolled on my own or occasionally with the Hufflepuffs. I think they're a bit scared of me, but that's proper entertainment.

Potions is the same as before, shoving the cauldron back and forth, both doing parts of the recipe. It works out well enough. Same goes for Astrology. We take turns looking through the telescope without saying anything. He doesn't mind. He doesn't say anything to me either and it's better that way.

I should have done this fifteen years ago.

One thing I like a little less, or well, a lot less: Daphne's been hanging out with him a lot. Sure, she's happy and that makes me happy, but I see her less. If she's with Malfoy, I avoid him, so I avoid her. She's my best friend and I don't like where this is headed, but why in the name of Merlin did she have to catch feelings for that prick? There was absolutely nothing attractive about that boy. And why was he suddenly interested in her? He's known her just as long as I have.

I was not going to make amends for Daphne's sake, absolutely not. There was too much pride involved. He had been an arse, not me.

"Wait one second", Daphne said and pulled my hand. We were just about to leave the common room to have a Saturday study session.

"Oh I don't think so", I said as I saw Malfoy walking into the common room, his bag in his hands. "You told me it would just be the two of us."

"And you told me that you didn't have any plans", Malfoy sneered.

"Oh come on, I wanted to hang out with both of you. We're all fifth year Slyterhins, can't we just hang out together?" Daphne complained.

"No we can not. That's a nasty move, Greengrass."

I grabbed my bag and made my way over to the library, alone. Who did she think she was, trying to set me up like that? If he was going to be her new little boyfriend, fine, but I would not be involved.

I bit the inside of my cheek to remain calm and tried to look as composed as possible. These were personal issues and not of anyone's business.

I sat down in a corner of the library at a completely empty table. It was quiet for a Saturday. I supposed most students wanted to enjoy the last bit of the warm weather before October would come around.

I grabbed my Ancient Runes book and started on the essay that was due next week.

I could feel her eyes on me as she sat down at the table on the other side of the pathway. I could feel her gaze as she put her bag down, as she took a seat and as she grabbed her books. I forced myself to stay put, but I wish I hadn't.

It took ten minutes before she aggressively pushed her chair back and made her way over to me.

"Why are you being so difficult about this? It's just a study session", Daphne said, clearly distraught and unhappy with the tension. We didn't fight often as we were very similar people, but when we did, she always tried apologizing within half an hour. It worked well for me as my stubborn arse would take the argument into the grave if I'd have to apologize first.

"Well firstly, Daphne, I do not appreciate you going behind my back like that. You should've known that."

"Well you would have never agreed if I hadn't!"

"Oh and I did now? Did you expect me to find out and just be cool about it?" I finally looked up and raised my eyebrows.

"Well there was a chance. Why can't you just be civil? For me?" she asked, lowering her voice.

"No, because I hate him. He's a despicable git and I'd rather not be around that, ever." Daphne sighed, taking the chair in front of me.

"You're making me choose between you and him, that's not fair."

"No, I'm not", I muttered. "Besides, that shouldn't even be a choice. We've been best friends since birth."

"See! You're making me choose and you're just expecting me to choose you. Well, I want to have a say too sometimes!" She raised her voice again. I hated that she was kind of right, so I just looked at my book again, knowing she'd calm down again.

"Come on, Eleanor, I really like him and he's finally showing a bit of interest in me too. It's not going to escalate any further if there's so much tension. Can you just try to be civil?" I didn't answer for a while because I knew the next sentence to come out of my mouth was an important one. Friendship or pride?

"How does Malfoy feel about that?" I asked eventually, not deciding just yet.

"He's fine with it", Daphne shrugged. Of course he'd say that. He was not in a difficult situation here, him and Daphne were barely friends and he had no other friendships on the line.

"Does ignoring count as being civil?" I sighed.

"You're the best, Eleanor! I'm going to bring him over here, be nice!" she said and skipped back.

I grunted and laid my head on my book for a second, before I straightened my back again and put on the usual put-together Eleanor Selwyn mask again. I forced myself to keep writing as I sensed them coming closer, taking a chair each on the other side of the table.

"Selwyn", Malfoy said, an air of reluctance laced through his voice.

"Malfoy", I muttered, trying to sound as neutral as possible.

"Great. I swear, you two are going to become friends one day", Daphne chuckled. Malfoy and I looked up at her at the same time. We didn't say anything in the spirit of keeping the friendship alive, but we expressed the same thoughts through our eyes.

No.

The afternoon was excruciatingly long and I got way less done than I had planned as I was constantly disturbed by his presence. I cheered internally when it had reached an acceptable time to use the excuse of "freshening up before supper". I excused myself and quickly left the library.

I came across Adrian on my way back to the common room and he was alone for once. He sat in one of the tall window sills, reading a little pocket novel.

"What an odd sight, seeing you all alone", I said. He looked up from the pages and smiled as he noticed me.

"I like my solitude once in a while. Are you here to disrupt it?" he grinned.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shall let you be if that's what you want", I smirked, getting up to leave again.

"I'm just joking, Selwyn. You can disrupt my solitude at any given time." He shut the book and swung his legs off the window sill.

"The Grand Tales of Merlin the Great, isn't that a children's book?" I chuckled, taking it from him and studying the battered cover.

"Most girls are impressed, telling me how much they like literate men", he laughed.

"Well at least you read, it is a start." I handed him back the novel and enjoyed the sunshine that shone through the windows, onto my skin.

"I'm related to Merlin the Great, you know", I said eventually.

"Yeah, I think in some way we all are."

"No, really. His last name used to be in the family tree at my grandparent's old manor. Believe his great granddaughter is married to my great great grandfather."

"Well, guess his greatness passed on well then."

"Are you flirting with me again, Adrian? This is becoming a frequent occurrence." He laughed at my remark, pulling his legs up again.

"I'm not, you're just hearing what you want to hear."

"Am not", I said, opening one eye to peer at him suspiciously.

"Well, if I were. Is it working?" I suppressed the smile that was lurking underneath and tried to focus on other things than my fluttering heart. Maybe I should ignore him more, that would make my life easier too. But then why did it have to be so fun?

"No." I simply said, allowing the smile to break through, but keeping my eyes closed. Boys were going to be the death of me.

"We'll see about that", Adrian said and stood up. As I opened my eyes, I very briefly caught the wink he sent me before walking off into the castle. Dammit.

"So, what's in it for him? He seems to put in an awful lot of effort to catch your attention. What's the catch?" I rolled my eyes as I recognized the voice.

"Malfoy, I should have known it was just an act to wrap Daphne around your finger."

"No, I'm honestly curious. Why is he so interested?"

"Well most people tend to actually like my personality, Malfoy. I know it's hard to imagine what that'd be like, being you and all, but it's true, really." He scoffed, looking me up and down for a while.

"I have better things to do anyway, like hanging out with your best friend."

I didn't like the way he said that. He stressed the your best friend part. Why?

"What are you up to, Malfoy?" I asked, pushing myself off the window sill. He didn't respond. I grabbed his cloak and pushed him against the wall.

"I said, what are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything. Let go off me", he squirmed. It was useless trying to get any information out of him.

"If you hurt her, I swear it will not be a good day for you", I hissed. I glared at him a bit longer before I pushed him away and stomped back to the Slytherin common room. I had let him get to me again, dammit.