Donuts

Donuts

Chapter One

Cheese

"Please tell me he is not sitting under my tree."

It's my last year at Hogwarts; the war was over. Everything was back to normal. Of course that included Potter again being a damn hero, except that he was a greater pain-in-the-ass now that he had defeated the Dark Lord. Articles appearing in every corner of the Prophet, interviews zooming over every Wireless, there was just too much of the Golden Boy in the Wizarding World.

And yet what amazes me is that he doesn't use the benefits of being the hero. He prefers to be alone and away from all of it. Must have been irritated with the whole "The Messiah" campaign and needed some peace and quiet. Too bad for him the crowd wanted the same thing. They wanted to be at peace, to forget the damages that the past war had brought them, and what better way to this than putting the spotlight on the wizard who saved them.

As for me, after Dumbledore's death and my escape together with Snape, we hid from both the Dark Lord and the Order of the Phoenix. We planned to return only after the war's end, especially with the victory of the Light forces. Everyone must have been shocked when they learned that I didn't become the Death Eater they always thought. On our return, Snape was arrested by the Ministry for the crime he committed and I was placed under the supervision of my cousin Tonks, as my parents, the Ministry had put it, have been missing in action since the War.

Luckily, I was also welcomed back to Hogwarts, though I do not experience the same prestige that Potter do. I turned from Prince of Slytherin to Just Slytherin. This is better than being branded as the Scared Son of a Dead Death Eater, or to be crowned as the Ultimate Savior like Potter. The hell to Snape and whatever suffering he endures inside Azkaban. Hell to my parents for leaving me to live with my cousin. Hell, I don't care about anything at all.

Or maybe I do care... maybe just a little...

But there were more pressing issues at hand. Here I am, exhausted from my Saturday's solo Quidditch training, only to find Potter sitting under my tree, humming and munching Merlin knows what, though I hope it is poisoned bread, while I'm left here to ramble about everything when I can just go straight to him and tell him to sod off... wait, why haven't I thought of that before?

I walked towards him, ready to throw the nastiest comment just to get him out of my sight. He looked up to me, his eyes carrying a feeling of puzzlement and maybe a hint of annoyance. Ha! I already pissed him off. I stood in front of him, waiting for the What-do-you-want-Malfoy line. But what I heard was something completely different.

"You want a donut?"

"A what?"

"A donut. It's cheese."

"Oh!"

I have no choice but to take the funny-looking bread from the Golden Boy's hand. So its cheese - the pale, yellowish covering on the top that I was hoping would be poison.

"It's not poisoned, if that's what you're thinking. I ate the first one and I'm still here, alive."

Stupid Potter seems to know my thoughts. Am I that predictable?

"Go ahead. Take a bite. I think I made it a bit sweeter than it should be, but I need a second opinion."

I took one final look at the bread then bit. I looked at Potter, now anxious and waiting for my decision. Is this really that important to him? He doesn't say anything yet the silence does not make me uncomfortable.

After a minute of silent chewing, I finally give him my verdict. "Not bad, Potter. Not bad at all."