Shrugged It Off

Shrugged It Off

People

Some people talk and talk and never say a thing.
Some people look at you and birds begin to sing.

Some people laugh and laugh and yet you want to cry.
Some people touch your hand and music fills the sky.

-Charlotte Zolotow

You watched him smile at you, and it scared you dearly. What was he, your enemy, doing smiling at you? It confused you at first but you just brushed it off. He probably wasn't even looking at you.

The next day in Potions he did it again. He glanced at you multiple times with reddened cheeks. You didn't know why he was doing this, but you still shrugged it off. Maybe he was sick.

He bumped into you in the halls and you made him drop all his stuff. He apologized, which was odd, and knelt down quickly to gather his things. As he left you noticed a small scrap of paper on the ground.

It had your name in the center. Just your name in green ink with little doodles dancing around it. Draco Malfoy. How odd. You didn't understand why your name would be on this little scrap of paper. Or why he would have it. Strange thoughts flew through your mind, but you just shrugged them off.

You left the paper crumpled on the floor and forgot about it.

Pansy greeted you in the Slytherin common room. She was dressed in pink and kissed you on the cheek. She was your girlfriend, after all. You two sat on the couch as she chatted about her day.

Your mind drifted off in boredom and it found something interesting to think about. Him. What was wrong with him? You two rarely fought anymore. He never spoke to you and paid almost no attention to you, other than the glances. Nothing interesting was going on to get you to tease him.

And he never teased you. Not first, anyway.

Pansy kissed you on the cheek again and went up to sleep. You hardly slept at all that night. The next day you were a mess. Dark circles were under your gray eyes and your hair was mussed, like everything else on you. Your friends didn't even notice, but he did.

He stared at you with obvious sympathy and concern, which unnerved you. As he passed you in the hallway, the same one where he dropped his stuff yesterday, he grabbed you by the shoulder. You tensed up. He asked you how you were, that you looked sick. You just retorted that he must've given you something, because he looked the same for days.

He stares at you, looks down, and blushes. You've never made him blush before, it made him look younger than he really was. He never let go of your shoulder. You look pointedly at it, and he blushes some more and removes it. You didn't know why he would blush twice in your presence. Or maybe you did, and just shrugged it off.

He stays there before you and seems to be fighting with himself over a decision. Finally, he turns around and starts to walk in the other direction. You didn't move. He turns at the end of the corridor and tells you loudly that he was sorry to bother you. You didn't know about the tears streaming down his face.

Or maybe you did.. and you just shrugged it off.

The next few nights were horrible. Thoughts of Potter followed you through the nights and days; through classes and meals. He continued glancing your way, but quickly lowered his head when you noticed. You finally admitted to yourself what was going on. You knew what he gave you. But you just shrugged it off and pretended you didn't know.

Did you really know? You hoped not.

You stared at the ceiling of your dormitory, it was passed midnight and you suddenly felt a surge of hunger. Probably because you had forgotten to eat dinner again. Soon you were walking towards the portrait of fruit. Soon your hand was reaching up to tickle the pear. Soon it brushed against another, a warmer hand that always seemed to catch the snitch faster than your own.

Part of you knew you would find him here. You turned and glimpsed at the other boy, his face was flushed again and he had a liquid-like cloak in his hand with some parchment. It was rolled up and looked extremely old. You never asked, you just knew.

He turned to you with a question in his eyes. You didn't know what to say, you've been struggling with the answer for days, and ignoring it for years. You didn't know what it was, or maybe you did, and you just shrugged it off. The other boy looked terribly mixed-up and scared of rejection.

You could reject him. But the question was, do you want to?

You knew what you wanted. And now was your chance to get it. Without speaking, you grabbed his hand, "I didn't know," you said regretfully.

He looked at you carefully.

"You knew. You just shrugged it off. Shrugged me off. So I took my chance, and you still shrugged me off. Why did you do that, Draco?"

You looked at him as he spoke your first name and replied, "I didn't know. I didn't want to know. This isn't right. This feels weird to be talking to you at night, politely. I lost the urge to terrorize you awhile ago, but we're still not friends."

The moment those words left your tongue you regretted it. But you walked away anyway. Who needs a Potter?

The next morning you found a rumpled scrap of paper on your bedside drawer. You recognized it instantly, of course. But you opened it anyway to see that it not only said your name on the paper- but Harry's. Little hearts floated all around it with a message in each.

Tonight?

You smiled slightly. A sweet, crooked smile that not many witness.

Tonight.

The End