Please Be There If I Remember

Chapter Twenty-Six: Christmas

He got quite lonely in his empty dorm, but late-night walks around the school and filling up his time by working ahead of the assigned readings kept himself busy enough to barely notice it. Still, the emptiness of the common room had started to bother him slightly.

The Great Hall table was filled to the brim with turkey, mashed potatoes, drumsticks, and other foods that Draco wrinkled his nose at quickly before diving into. The teachers had all converged into one long table instead of keeping the very limited amount of students in each house to sit alone, so it was kind of an odd experience to see Dumbledore and Snape sitting across from each other instead of beside and far away, and Draco let the stare-off occupy his time because the way Snape was glaring at the old man was very entertaining.

The greasy-git narrows his eyes at him, and look! Dumbledore doesn't even seem to notice! Where do you think this is going to go next, folks? The Great Christmas Stare-off has only just begun...Oh, and would you look at that, Dumb-Door has started talking to McGonagall, completely ignoring Snape's glare! It appears we have a winner...

Draco sighed at his own antics, disappointed in himself but also hilariously pleased.

He wondered at what point the strange silence had started to get to him.

He looked around the chatting table to see a few Slytherins, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw seventh years who were probably there to study, and a singular Hufflepuff girl who appeared to be in fourth or fifth year that was nibbling sadly on a slice of bread.

Draco sidled up to her, sensing her loneliness and feeling something inside him stir as he realised she probably felt the same as him—except she had her entire house to herself.

She had short, brown hair, hooded eyes, and a slump to her shoulders. Her robes were ruffled but clean with yellow and black tints to them, and she had a braid running down past the normal length of the rest of her hair that went down to her back.

"Food is pretty good, right?" Draco asked.

The girl jumped slightly at his presence and when she saw who he was she narrowed her gaze before looking at him further then shrugging.

"It's alright," she said, grabbing something else off of the table and dipping it into some kind of sauce.

"It's kind of weird seeing everyone sit together, isn't it?"

She continued to stare at him questioningly before deciding it wasn't worth it and jumped straight into the conversation.

"Ya, did you see Snape and Dumbledore staring at each other? I thought one of them was going to turn into a frog just by the other person's glare," she huffed laughingly.

Draco's smile was enough to reach across his face. "I was thinking the same thing!" He leaned in towards her. "Did you see Snape's face when Dumbledore turned around to talk to McGonagall? I thought he was about to burst a blood vessel with the amount of sneering he was doing. I don't even think he was able to open his mouth to eat something."

She laughed this time and Draco calmed at the sound, letting his shoulders relax, realising that she didn't really care that he was supposed to be this mean guy who everyone glared at when he did his prefect and Inquisitorial Squad rotations.

"What's your name?" He asked. "I'm Draco, by the way."

"Pfft, I know who you are." She paused to stare at him. "At least...I think I do."

He tilted his head a little in understanding and she continued on.

"I'm Haisley. Haisley Yun."

Draco smiled and reached out his hand to her. "Nice to meet you. I've been getting pretty lonely here all by myself, as I'm sure you have to. Want to meet in the library sometime? If I don't talk to someone other than myself soon, I think I might just implode."