The Girl Who Survived - Start And Stone

Into The Woods

Malfoy. Draco, Malfoy. The Ferret, as she had recently started calling him again, was scanning the room when his eyes landed on Ellie and quickly darted away again. Ellie was annoyed to say the least; her dislike for him had increased since the start of his attempt to avoid her. She was more annoyed knowing she had to spend detention with him, making it clear by sighing quite loudly when she got closer, knowing it would issue a reaction.

"Could you sigh any louder?" Snapped Draco, rolling his eyes.

"Hmmm... no, no I don't think I could."

Ellie smirked and leant against the cold wall next to Draco, unconsciously breathing in his scent: Green Apples and Mint Toothpaste. A perfect combination. Yet she became saddened when the boy continued to ignore her, like she was invisible.

"So you're still avoiding me, right?"

No reply. Ellie sighed. "Alright. Well just so you know, I didn't tell anybody."

"Yeah, okay." Sarcasm. "What about Diggory?"

"I don't tell him everything Draco."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

"Really!?"

"Really what?"

"Why were you really crying?"

"I already told you."

"I'll rephrase the question. Were you really crying because of me?"

At this, Draco's breath hitched. "I'm not going to tell you."

"I won't judge you."

"No."

"Ple -"

"Ellie!?"

Ellie whirled around to find Harry walking up to her with Hermione at his side. Neville was there too, looking ridiculously nervous while he trailed behind the pair. Ron was nowhere to be seen.

"Harry! Hermione!" She proclaimed, running up to them. "Neville. " The boy gave her a half smile. "I'm so glad you three are here." Ellie lent in close to them. "I would die if I had to spend a detention stuck with this twit."

Harry laughed and looked at Malfoy, who seemed to have heard Ellie and appeared quite saddened by her comment.

"Hey, you five!" Filch appeared as if out of nowhere, with Mrs. Norris of course, who made Neville jump at the sight of her blood red eyes. "Time to go!" He was holding a lantern, so Ellie assumed they would be going outside.

Reluctantly, she traveled over to the door and pushed it open, stepping outside into the cold night with Harry, Hermione, Neville and so forth following behind.

"You'll be serving detention with Hagrid tonight," croaked Filch when they neared the hut of the half-giant, to which they saw him standing outside of, silhouetted in the light of his own lantern while he clung onto Fang's collar. "He's got a little job for you five, in the Dark Forest."

Hagrid was standing behind a small fire outside, pushing the logs around. The five students lined up beside Filch.

"A sorry lot this is, Hagrid," said the caretaker.

Hagrid did not look to see who they were, for he was sniffing continuously and staring into the flames of the fire. Fang was whimpering beside him. Ellie was deeply saddened by the emotional state he was in, but she had no clue what had happened.

"It'll be okay Hagrid," she said, still oblivious to why he was so sad. "Whatever it is."

Hagrid finally looked up when he heard Ellie's voice, taking in the fact that he at least had Harry, Hermione and Ellie to cheer him up. A small smile appeared behind his beard, though you could barely see it through all the hair.