TRAINING WHEELS—
APOLOGIES.

022

"Buckley."

Amora heard the familiar drawl of her last name and flinched, purposefully attempting to ignore Draco as she hugged her Charms textbook closer to her chest and carried on past the corridor he lurked down. The Malfoy boy didn't seem to take her ignorance lightly, his lip curling and his eyes darkening as he dove around the corner, his long legs pacing until he was walking beside her.

The brunette cursed herself for having short legs and taking this direction towards her next class. This could have all been avoided. Draco could have been avoided if they had never of been trapped inside that stupid library together.

"I'm talking to you, Amora," Draco hissed, grabbing her wrist and forcing her to stop in the busy hallway.

A couple of second years bumped into them from behind, about to snap something when Draco glanced over his shoulder and gave them his fiercest glare. Their eyes widened and their faces paled as they shrunk away, scattering to go to the left of Draco and Amora. Amora rolled her eyes at Draco's dramatic behaviour.

"What do you want?" She snapped back, tugging her wrist out of his hand with an aggressive pull. "I don't have time for your nasty comments, Draco. I have to get to Charms class."

"Flitwick can wait," Draco huffed, grabbing her arm again and this time tugging her around a corner where there were only a few students, all walking in the opposite direction anyway. "I came to say that I..."

Amora folded her arms across her chest and raised her brows. "That you what?"

"That..." Draco's face scrunched up in a mixture of disgust and agony, the words on the back of his tongue tasting and feeling as bitter as venom.

Amora's smirk fell and she shook her head. "If it's this hard for you to say, then you clearly don't mean it, Draco."

"No, Amora," Draco called before she could leave, much to both of their surprises- Draco never pleaded. "No, I mean it," he lied, "I've just... never said sorry before."

Amora's eyes softened slightly. They'd been brought up in completely different environments, you could tell it simply from looking at them. Draco screamed upper class whilst Amora was middle at best. She spent her childhood learning how to bake from her mother, doing all sorts of chores to earn rewards or money, but Draco had been handed everything to him on a plate and told that he was the best of the best, and never to forget it.

Part of Amora thought that maybe it wasn't too late for her to show him that there were other ways of living. She doubted that he had ever enjoyed swimming in the sea until the sun went down, or trying to see who could collect the strangest-looking shell on the beach. He most likely had his house elves do everything for him too-- he probably had no idea how good it felt to spend hours and hours of independent hard work on something and for it to turn out perfect.

"Listen, I know--" Draco swallowed as he sighed heavily. "I know I can be an arse. I don't like to upset you, Amora. I don't know how to... deal with feelings like that. I suppose I should have just told you what I really thought rather than getting so angry about it to... preserve my own feelings, I guess."

Amora nodded gently. "Well, how did you feel?"

"It made me... Merlin, I cannot believe I'm really admitting this. It made me sad." Draco's face scrunched up. "When you cancelled on our time together to revise with Potter."

The brown-eyed girl nodded along with him. "I didn't mean to upset you either," Amora said, deciding maybe it was best that she led the conversation based around feelings before Draco freaked out and tried to take everything back angrily. "I promise I didn't want to cancel on you. I just... I had other issues going on and it was the only way I felt like I could finally resolve them. If that makes sense?"

Draco breathed through his nose. "Yes. It does."

He didn't admit that it still confused him. How she could ditch him for somebody like Potter. However, Draco kept his mouth shut, not wanting for their talk to end in yet another argument. It was inevitable that they would fight, seeing as they were two completely different people with opposing beliefs and different friends and experiences, but Draco decided it would keep his life a lot less stressful if he just agreed with the Hufflepuff standing in front of him.

"And I also... wanted to make sure you were okay," Draco swallowed as he glanced down at her, watching her brows knit together in confusion. "Last week. Second task."

"Oh!" His words flickered the memories in Amora's brain. "Oh, yes, I'm perfectly fine. Thank you for asking. I saw you hanging around."

Draco nodded. "I know. I wanted to come over, I just... I couldn't."

"I know," Amora hummed, "I'm pretty sure you would have given Harry a heart attack."

"Hmm, maybe I'll consider it next time then--"

"Draco!" Amora smacked his arm teasingly, rolling her eyes with an amused smile. "Okay, new rule. If we're going to pick up from where we left off, then you can't make fun of Harry in front of me anymore. All right?"

He didn't even really need to think about it before he nodded in agreement. "Fine," he said, "Second new rule. Keep Potter chat to a minimum. Just his name makes my skin feel like it's crawli-" Amora shot him a pointed look and he shut up. "Right. I forgot."

"I think you have yourself a deal, Mr Malfoy," Amora teased, extending her hand out in front of her.

Draco glanced down at it, his large, pale hand grabbing hers firmly and shaking it. He took note of how warm her hand was as he finally released it, looking down at her and finding her already looking back up, brown eyes wide and innocent. He found himself unable to resist, hand cupping the back of her head as he leaned down.

Amora's eyes flickered behind him when she sensed movement and she shoved him back. It was so sudden that it had Draco shooting her a look between confusion and anger, especially when he saw the pissed off expression on her own soft face. He thought that they were going to go back to what they had before?

"You're an arse, honestly, Malfoy!" Amora sneered making Draco's brows furrow.

"Oi, Malfoy!" Draco's ears perked up at the sound of Ron Weasley's voice and he turned, realising why Amora had shoved him off of her. Ron approached them closely, a furious look on his face. "What's he saying to you, 'Mora?"

Draco scowled at the nickname, glaring at Ron harshly. "What's it matter to you, Weaselbee?"

Amora grabbed the sleeve of Ron's cloak and tugged him closer towards her, away from Draco. "Come on, Ron. He's not worth the hassle. We're going to be late for Charms, anyway."

The brunette was slightly worried about how good she was getting at lying. She closed her eyes briefly as she watched Ron shoot Draco one last threatening look before grabbing Amora and pulling her along. Amora glanced over her shoulder, expecting Draco to be glaring at her for throwing him under the bus, but instead he smirked and winked.

The butterflies came soaring back, almost like they had never left.

D.M + A.B

Amora slid into her seat beside Leon in Charms class, a glum expression on her face as she grabbed her textbook and slid it onto the oak desk. Despite the way she looked, she was actually over the moon. Making up with Draco had taken three weeks-- three painful weeks of lying in bed and wondering what exactly it was she had lost-- but now it seemed like they were going to go back to how they were before, and this time he seemed like he was willing to be slightly more open.

The sound of Ron slamming his book down on the desk behind Amora made her flinch back to her senses and Harry jumped from next to the redhead. Leon and Amora swiveled in their seats, automatically reading the angry expression on Ron's face. He'd had it ever since he'd caught Amora and Draco in the hallway. It made Amora feel slightly bad, but she couldn't imagine how pissed he would be if he found out what they had really been talking about.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry teased, raising his brows as he grabbed his quill out of his bag.

"Malfoy!" Ron huffed, "the bastard thinks he's all that-- cornering Amora in a hallway."

Oh Merlin. Whilst Amora had previously thought that Ron had only seen her shoving him, she realised that he must have seen how close they were before as well. At least he was interpreting it differently. She knew how suspicious Ron could be-- the last thing she needed was him on her back. She felt guilt pool in her stomach.

"What?" Both Harry and Leon snapped at the same time, heads whirling to the girl for confirmation.

Amora sighed and forced a small smile at Ron. "Ron, it's fine. Seriously. I dealt with him myself. Besides, he was just trying to annoy me about how Krum's gonna win the next task or whatever. Nothing serious."

"Well, I don't believe that for a second," Leon huffed, "Cedric's going to win, obviously." His eyes widened when he remembered Harry and he blushed a little. "Oh-- Oh! Well, I meant, Cedric or you, of course, Harry!"

"I get it," Harry muttered, "Don't worry about it, Leon. Really."

"It's- It's just-- we could do with some Hufflepuff representation in this school, y'know? Gryffindor have won the Inter-House Championship for the past three years in a row! It would be a nice change," Leon rambled.

"For good reason, too," Ron grinned smugly, exchanging a glance with Harry.

"Oh, come on!" Leon scoffed, "Dumbledore is totally biased. I mean, what was that all about in first year? You got fifty points for a bloody chess game, Weasley! Makes no sense."

Amora giggled, remembering the stories that the Golden Trio had told her about their first real adventure together. Ron grimaced slightly at the memory whilst Harry couldn't help but smile in amusement. Before much else could happen, the sound of Professor Flitwick calling for everybody's attention filled Amora's ears and she turned back around in her seat.

D.M + A.B

The Hufflepuff fifth year girls' dormitory was the best place to be on a Friday evening. It was warm and cosy, Zena's soft music playing in the background of chatter and giggles. It was a place where the five girls felt no need to look or be their best, where unbrushed hair and crumpled pyjamas were perfectly acceptable. It was where advice was shared and laughter bounced off the walls. It was home to Amora.

"What do you guys think the next task is going to be?" Hannah asked curiously from where she sat on top of her trunk at the end of her bed, her nimble fingers twisting and pulling her blonde hair behind her head into beautiful french braids.

"I don't know, but it's still four months away," Susan disclaimed, "That's too much time. I want to know who the champion is now."

"How is Cedric feeling?" Zena questioned the cousin of the boy who was sprawled out on her stomach on her bed, her brown eyes concentrated on the Charms homework they'd been set yesterday.

Amora shrugged lightly. "He's been quite wrapped up in his own things this year, if I'm being honest. Haven't had much time to speak to him. I think he's fine, though. I know my cousin well enough to know when he's scared, and I can tell you that he's not. In fact, I think he's loving all of the attention, to be honest."

Zena giggled in response. "It's too bad he's after Cho, I would totally--"

"Zena!" Amora shrieked, grabbing her pillow and throwing it at the girl as hard as she possibly could.

The dark-skinned girl laughed as Amora's golden pillow smacked into her face, pulling it off of her and throwing it back. Amora grabbed it before it hit her, shaking her head and rolling her eyes in amusement before placing it back in its natural spot.

"Don't worry about it," Zena hummed once they had calmed down again. "Too old for me anyway."

"Good," Amora retorted.

"I think we should play a game," said Kathy, sitting up in her bed and rubbing her hands together. "Like we used to back in first year."

Susan huffed. "Like what?"

"Truth or dare."

The three-worded suggestion from Hannah had multiple people groaning or rolling their eyes, but an excited clap from Kathy who eagerly agreed. Amora kept her mouth shut but stared wearily between all of her friends, hoping maybe they would pick a different one. Otherwise, she might be picking a whole lot of dares tonight.

Despite the stereotype that Hufflepuffs are so loving and caring and would never hurt anyone, they were all teenage girls above that-- and every teenage girl loved to find out something juicy about their friends. It was like second nature. Even Amora couldn't deny it, no matter how much she said she liked to stay out of drama.

"Merlin! What are we, twelve?" Susan retorted.

"It could be fun," Kathy disclaimed, "Besides, it's not like there's much else to do."

"Let's play 'would you rather' instead," Zena suggested, "Back home, my Muggle friends have this card game with the questions on it, but we could easily make up our own."

"Okay," Amora chirped and was the first to climb from her bed, taking her duvet covers with her.

She plonked herself down onto the rug-clad floor in the centre of the dormitory, her legs crossed as her roommates quickly followed her lead. Sat between Kathy and Hannah, Amora looked to Zena and waited for the curly-haired girl to start with a question.

"Okay. It might not be that fun, but it's funny when you start asking the right questions..." Zena said as she thought for a moment. "Like... Okay, would you rather: spend a whole day with Flich or Professor Snape?"

All of the girls made noises of disapproval, a few small laughs following as they all gave their answers. The general consensus was that, even though he truly was quite terrifying and only really tolerant of the Slytherins, they would rather spend the day with Professor Snape than Filch.

As they began to get the gist of the game, more and more questions went around and their voices grew louder alongside their laughs. Fifteen minutes in, Amora's face was red as she leaned against Kathy's shoulder, shaking her head and giggling.

"I have one," Hannah laughed, "Would you rather: go on a date with Leon, sorry Kathy, or go on a date with Draco Malfoy?"

Amora's eyes widened a little as she listened to Kathy's whine when people automatically started to blurt her boyfriend's name. Everybody in their year loved Leon-- the Hufflepuff was the next Cedric, everybody said. He was attractive and funny, not to mention on the Quidditch team. Amora had just never seen him like that.

Draco was also deemed popular, more through fear than likeability, however. Nobody could deny that he was attractive, but he had a cold aura and stern eyes that kept people away. He was also attractive in a different way to Leon. He was more handsome whilst Leon screamed "pretty boy/could be in a boy band of some sort".

"Amora hasn't answered," Susan smirked.

Amora narrowed her eyes slightly. "Well, I think I would go with... Malfoy, I suppose."

Her heart fluttered at the idea of him taking her on a proper date. She wondered if he would ever do something like that for her.

"Malfoy?" Everybody repeated, grimacing.

"Leon's my best friend!" Amora excused her choice. "That would be totally weird if I went on a date with him. Besides, Draco's a Malfoy-- he'll have those Galleons if you know what I mean."

She made money signs with her hands and the girls all laughed with her, the mood instantly lifting from where they had been judging her. Amora barely had a chance to even think about it before they were already moving onto the next question, something about either Herbology or Astronomy class.

The game lasted maybe another twenty or so minutes before the girls decided to call it a night. It was fun to pretend that they didn't have the responsibilities of homework and lessons for that single Friday night. Amora lay tucked up in her duvet, her body relaxed against the mattress and her eyes growing heavier and heavier.

This week had brought her many great things.

..

this was sort of a filler other than draco's apology, but that's because the next most significant plot is the third task and that's four months away. certain things need to happen before the task sooo :))

thanks for reading <333

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