TRAINING WHEELS
SNEAK

066

"She's late."

Draco glanced around the Great Hall, his silver eyes scanning everywhere for Amora. Her Hufflepuff friend, Katie or whatever her name was, was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, but Amora herself had yet to emerge. Normally she'd be in right after them, or he'd find her sat with one of the others. In addition to her being late, she also hadn't replied to his message last night which had kept him up for a while.

Pansy sighed. "She probably woke up late. She had prefect duties last night, remember?"

"Don't worry, Draco," Blaise cut in, "You'll be able to snog your girlfriend soon enough."

A loud curse slipped out of Blaise's lips when Draco's elbow drove into his stomach. He groaned, holding his ribs as he glared at the blond boy beside him. Draco wasn't even watching him though, his eyes still trained on the entrance of the Great Hall, waiting for Amora to come in.

"Breakfast is over in fifteen minutes," Draco said, "I swear to Merlin if one of those stupid bloody Hufflepuffs has said something to her..."

"Do you not remember how she always used to be late for breakfast when she sat at the Hufflepuff table?" Pansy reminded him. "I didn't take you for the clingy type, Draco."

Draco peeled his eyes from the door to hiss at Pansy, "I am not clingy."

"There she is now." Theo nodded his head in the direction of the doors, his voice muffled from the cereal that was in his mouth.

The blond's head snapped back towards the door at lightning speed and he ignored Pansy and Blaise's low mocking because he immediately knew that something was wrong. Amora walked with her head down, the soft smile erased from her face and her hair a little frizzier than usual. Nevertheless, she still looked beautiful.

Amora always had been beautiful, and Draco would have even reluctantly admitted it back when he 'hated' her. Even when she had those stupid plaits in year one to three that he used to pull to annoy her. He knew the genes ran strong on the Diggory side of her family - the dark hair, dark eyes, thicker brows. Opposite of the Malfoys. Draco knew countless people who had pined after Cedric, and lots of people who'd had crushes on Amora too.

Draco pulled her down into the seat beside him as soon as she approached the Slytherin table.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Amora offered him a weak smile. "Yeah," she said, "Just had a pretty bad night's sleep, 's'all."

Draco could tell that she was lying, just like how he could tell she'd been avoiding the truth yesterday when Pansy and Blaise asked her about Potter's secret club. She knew more than she was letting on and Draco wanted to know desperately what exactly she was keeping from him - and why. Draco thought he knew most things about Amora, but he supposed if Potter really did have a secret club, then obviously she wouldn't have told him about it.

Which hurt, yes, and he wanted to angrily demand what was going on and if she really had been a part of it, but Amora had been a bit fragile for the past two weeks since her friends all turned on her. So he kept it bottled up like he did with most things instead. He was good at doing that.

"Are you sure?"

"Stop pestering the poor girl," Theo huffed, grabbing the honey pot from his end of the table and handing it over to her.

"Oh, I'm not really hungry this morning -"

"Okay, we need to talk," Draco said finally, standing up from his seat.

Amora peered up at him anxiously, her brows furrowing. "Wha -"

"Um, Amora Buckley?" A squeaky voice called and Amora swiftly turned to see Colin Creevy standing there, his eyes looking at Draco nervously instead of her. "I - I have a note for you."

He shoved it into her hands and then took off as fast as he could away from the Slytherin table, eager to leave the Great Hall altogether. Amora stared down at it, her heart sinking as soon as she saw the handwriting on top. It was Harry's.

"You got a note?" Pansy leaned forward in anticipation. "Open it."

Draco sat back down, also wanting to know what was inside it. Amora, however, bit her lip and shook her head quickly, slamming it down onto the table. Her initial and only reaction was that it was going to be some sort of nasty message inside it, a continuation from the fight that she'd had last night with Harry. Even if he had gotten the last word in, which she was still annoyed about.

"It's probably nothing," Amora grimaced.

"I want to read it." Draco reached forward and plucked the folded parchment off of the table before Amora could grab it off of him.

"Draco, stop -"

But he'd already opened it. Amora watched as his silver eyes scanned the page, his jaw clenching and his grasp on the paper growing tighter. When he was done, his brows were furrowed and he looked to Amora, slamming it down in between them so she could see it too.

"What the fuck is Potter talking about?"

Amora,

I'd say this in person, however, you're always around your Slytherin friends now. I wanted to apologise for some of the things I said to you last night. And I also wanted you to know I never sent Fred and George after you. They told me what they did and it was uncalled for. Even if we're no longer friends, I don't want to be your enemy, Amora.

Harry.

Amora despised the last sentence. Mainly because she recalled exactly what Harry had said to her the night that Leon had exposed her and Draco. He'd told her that she lost him the moment she fell in love with Draco. Amora would have happily kept Harry around - it was him that had gotten rid of her. He'd been the one to put a divide between them.

"Amora?" Draco called again, "What is he talking about?"

The brunette ran a hand through her hair and released a heavy sigh. "I- Harry and I got into an argument last night. Like, a really big one. And then the twins just pulled some stupid prank on me whilst I was doing my prefect duties, but it's not -"

However, Draco was already bounding up from his seat, his head craning around. "Where the fuck are they?" He hissed.

"Not here, mate." Blaise climbed from his seat too. "Saw those lanky ginger things leave about ten minutes ago, though. Potter too."

"Draco!" Amora reached out and grasped his robe-clad arm before he could start to head towards the exit, but he shrugged her off and continued to storm away in his usual dramatic Draco-way. It was more strutting really, although one look at his face and you could tell that he was pissed.

Amora took off after him, hearing her friends follow. She grasped his arm once more as they made it out into the foyer, at the bottom of the stairs that would eventually take Draco to where the Gryffindors resided.

"Draco, it's really not worth it," Amora promised him, "They're not worth the hassle. Harry's apologised, the twin's had their fun - I'm okay now -"

"Bad night sleep my arse!" Draco scowled as he turned to face her. "You're not okay! You never even replied to my message last night because of those - those -"

"Fucking inbeciles?" Pansy offered from behind Amora.

"Yeah, that," Draco spat, "What prank did they pull on you, Amora?"

The brunette blushed, her cheeks glowing red beneath his gaze. She wished he had never found out, because it was embarrassing. The whole situation had been all kinds of humiliating. She'd been ditched to do prefect rounds by herself, only to have her ex-friends prank her in the corridors whilst she was alone. Maybe what was worse was that she hadn't had the chance to do anything back to them.

"Well." Amora scratched her arm, sighing. "They just... They tripped me up and made birds peck at me for a bit."

Draco's jaw clenched and he grasped her jaw, steering her to look him in the eye. "And you think that's okay?" He demanded.

"No!" Amora cried, "But -"

"Then I'm going to sort it out, Amora," Draco seethed, "If they think they can just fucking embarrass you and get away with it, then they're more than fucking wrong. And Potter can get taught a lesson or two as well. You'd think he has no time for his silly secret club considering the amount of fucking time he spends pining after you."

Before he could take one more step up the stairs, Amora yanked him harder by the sleeve of his robe, giving him yet another desperate look.

"Please, Draco," Amora breathed, "You're just going to make everybody hate me more."

Draco's face faltered a little before it hardened and he jabbed a finger in her shoulder. "Why should you care if you're hated? Wouldn't you rather be respected?"

Amora supposed that was where their ideologies differed. The difference between a Slytherin and a Hufflepuff-  and also the reason the yellow house was often called pushovers. Amora couldn't stand the thought of everybody hating her even more than they already did, whereas Draco would make everyone hate him if it meant they all respected him.

"I'd rather you leave it alone," she pleaded with him. "We're not the same, Draco. We don't think in the same way like that."

"I can't leave this," Draco seethed back. "I can't let them think they can mess you about just because you're with me now."

"Please," she pleaded with him. "I just want to move on and forget about them all. I don't want some stupid war. Please, Draco."

And there was something about the way that she said his name that had the furious look on his face faltering again. He took a step down so he was on the one above Amora's, peering down at her. He grasped her face, his thumb stroking her jaw.

"If I leave this, you'll promise to tell me if they do something else?" Draco muttered lowly, "Even if it's one of Weaselbee's snide fucking comments- you tell me, okay? I'm not letting you get bullied by those bloody Gryffindors."

Amora thought it was rather ironic that he was worried about her being bullied, but she nodded anyway. Anything to stop him from marching up those stairs and fighting with Harry and the Weasley twins. She knew that he had the best intentions, that he wanted to protect her and her honour, but she didn't want them to think she had Draco fighting all of her battles for her.

"Come here," Draco huffed, and then she was wrapped into a tight hug.

D.M + A.B

Draco kept his word for the next couple of weeks. He didn't go after Harry and the Weasley twins directly, rather he used his new position as head of the Inquisitorial Squad to strip Gryffindor of points wherever and whenever he could. Their hourglass had been growing emptier and emptier, rubies disappearing from it every single day. Amora pretended not to notice, allowing Draco to go about his business pissing off the Gryffindors.

His final straw was when an article came out early in March. Harry Potter had done an interview with Rita Skeeter herself, the article being printed in 'The Quibbler.' Many didn't read the newspaper, considering the fact that it included far too many conspiracy theories and was often based on belief rather than fact, but when Harry began to get mountains of letters appearing at his table one morning, students were interested.

So, naturally, Professor Umbridge banned The Quibbler from Hogwarts.

So, even more naturally, people were more curious. Amora had caught the gist of what it was about - about what had happened the night Cedric was murdered and about Voldemort. Breakfast at the Slytherin table had been tense, many worried about what the article included, and Draco barely spoke.

For the rest of the week, the newspaper was being snuck around the school. People used charms so that if they were to be caught by Umbridge reading it, it would look like nothing but a blank piece of parchment or school work.

Amora was heading through the library one afternoon, ready to meet up with her friends, when she saw Draco hunched over the table with Blaise and Theo. She snuck up behind them quietly, hearing them hissing about 'bloody Potter' and whatnot. Her eyes landed on the title she'd yet to manage to read.

HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN

Amora peered over Draco's shoulder, narrowing her eyes. "What does it say?"

Draco jumped, slamming the newspaper shut as quickly as possible. All three boys whirled around to face her, the blond sending her a glare.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," he said somewhat angrily, running a hand through his hair.

"Sorry?" Amora raised an eyebrow at him. "I haven't got a chance to read it yet. Susan was reading it yesterday in the dorms, but I didn't want to ask her to see it - obviously."

"It's nothing," Draco scowled, "Nothing but complete bull. Potter really does know how to create a good sob story up."

"Can I read it?"

"No, Amora," Draco snapped, "You don't need to read it."

The brunette's face scrunched up. "Excuse me?"

"Just - Just leave it, okay?" Draco huffed before he stormed from the library, taking the newspaper with him curled in his white-knuckled grip.

Amora frowned worriedly after him before glancing at Blaise and Theo. Theo swallowed harshly before he left too, not saying a word. Blaise sighed heavily.

"What's with those two?" Amora asked him, "Are they okay?"

"Potter wrote down the names of everybody that was at the graveyard the night You-Know-Who returned," Blaise explained to her quietly. "Both of their fathers were mentioned. Quite a few of the Slytherin lots' fathers were written in there, actually. And they're all pissed. Either at Potter or at their families for embarrassing them like this..."

It felt like a bucket of ice water had been poured over Amora. Draco's father had been there when Cedric had been murdered? The thought made her feel physically sick, her skin growing two shades paler. Blaise's hand grabbed her arm gently, a concerned expression written across his face.

"Hey, are you all right?"

"Does he talk about Cedric in there?" Amora asked him weakly, one of her hands moving to fiddle with her prefect badge.

"Yeah, he does," Blaise said, his voice a mixture of both soft and hesitant. "Potter said what happened to your cousin. It's not too graphic... Just everything he remembers, it said."

She shuddered, one of her hands moving to rest on her neck as she frowned. "And Draco doesn't want me to read it because of that?"

"Because he's scared you're going to see him differently now you know his father was involved," Blaise corrected her. "Merlin, Amora, have you not noticed the looks that Draco's been getting this week?"

Amora shrugged. "I just thought it was at me still."

She went with Blaise to the Slytherin common room. Amora didn't like to go there too much since, although she'd been accepted well enough by the Slytherins as Draco's girlfriend, she didn't want them to think she was constantly intruding. She'd never sat in the common room, only with Pansy when it was empty after she'd seen Draco kiss Daphne three months ago.

He led her up to the boys' dorm and opened it for her. Amora's heart sunk at the sight of Draco lying on his stomach, his head buried in his pillow. It was empty aside from him.

"Crabbe, Goyle - if you two don't get the fuck out, I will hex you all the way to the other side of the fucking world," Draco snapped, voice muffled by his pillow.

Instead of replying, Amora crept as quietly as she could up behind him, kneeling onto his bed and then wrapping her arms around him, sinking down onto his body. Draco flinched, but he must have realised it was her very quickly because he didn't budge her away or say anything.

She was warm on his back, her hands sliding around to hold him. He could feel her breath on him, could faintly smell the perfume that she always wore. Draco felt her fingers graze at his arms in a comforting manner.

"I don't care," she whispered after a few minutes.

"Hm?" Draco frowned.

It was strange talking to his back, but she did so anyway. "I don't care that your father was there that night, Draco. You didn't know and he's not you. The difference between you and your father is that he was there at the graveyard, and you were here with me, holding me and telling me I was going to be okay."

There was more silence. For a moment, Amora was unsure if she had said the wrong thing or not, until she felt his body shift. Amora released a small 'oomph' as Draco rolled over, her body falling onto the mattress. He was lying beside her now, his head resting on his palm as he looked at her, hovering over her a little. His other hand stretched out to tuck some hair that had fallen out of place behind her ear.

"You don't have to lie to me," Draco told her, "If you're angry, just tell me."

"I'm not angry with you," Amora whispered, shaking her head. "Merlin, Draco. It feels like I'm angry at the entire fucking universe right now - angry at everyone and everything, but not you. I'm not angry or upset with you."

Draco's eyes shone with something Amora couldn't detect. "Sounds like my 'I hate everyone but you' speech," he teased quietly.

The corners of Amora's lips tugged upwards as she recalled the time he told her that - when he declared his love for her in the library that night.

"It sounds like we are each other's exceptions, hm?" She murmured, pecking the corner of his lips.

Draco couldn't help but think how true her words really were. How he had despised Hufflepuffs, 'blood traitors', people who smiled too much, clumsy people - everything she was, until he really knew her. How she couldn't stand people like him until she somehow fell for him too. They were each other's exceptions.

"We certainly are."

D.M + A.B 

Harry's article was still being talked about for ages after, a good few weeks even. There was a clear divide between those who were starting to believe that maybe Harry had been telling the truth about Voldemort, and those who still thought he was absolutely insane. Amora avoided Harry and his friends, acting as if she had never known them in the first place, and slowly life was becoming easier.

The Slytherins were surprisingly accepting. She wasn't sure if it was because they feared Draco (or rather the fact that he was a Malfoy) or because they just didn't mind her, but the fact that she felt more accepted down in the Slytherin dungeons than across in the Hufflepuff basement should say something.

Not only that, but Draco and Amora had their first year anniversary together. March 23rd. Amora didn't know if it counted since in that year they had been broken up for two months, but they celebrated a little anyway. They'd spent the day cooped up in his dormitory alone where Amora had forced him to read her favourite book with him.

  He'd also bought her a pair of earrings, which Amora dreaded to know the price of, whilst she had put her entire heart into a letter and a card with their matching Patronuses drawn delicately onto. She felt guilty considering how much more he'd spent than her, but Draco reassured her that he loved it all the same.

Leon came back too, the day after their anniversary. Amora felt her heart clench upon seeing how thin and pale he looked, but as soon as their eyes met and he scowled, every inch of sympathy seemed to evaporate. She glared back, grabbing Draco before he could march over, hissing him the reminder that Leon was suffering in other ways right now.

His Boggart was being alone - Amora remembered it greatly from the third year when Professor Lupin had been teaching them in Defence Against the Dark Arts. She thought that him losing his father was a punishment on its own - hexing him in the corridors or giving him another bloody nose would do nothing, even if Draco argued otherwise.

However, despite Leon's fatigued state, Hufflepuff managed to narrowly defeat Slytherin in a Quidditch game just less than a week after his return. Draco was furious for a good few days after that, cursing out the other Seeker who he swore most likely cheated. Although it had been a victory for her house, Amora found herself disappointed along with her friends. She'd sat beside Pansy during the game, dressed in green, cheering for Draco and the rest of the Slytherin team.

It was a bit embarrassing heading back to her dormitory that night. Leon was the centre of attention as Captain and Seeker, a whole party going on in the common room. Kathy had tried to convince her to celebrate despite who had caught the Snitch for them, but Amora headed straight to bed - falling asleep to the muffled sounds of her old friends laughing and singing. After all, they'd beaten both Gryffindor and Slytherin this year now.

Cedric would have been over the moon.

"You're not still thinking about it, are you?" Amora rubbed her hand up Draco's arm as they sat side by side at the dinner table on the very first day of April. "It was a good few days ago now - nobody's even talking about it anymore. And it was only by twenty points."

That was a lie - it was pretty much all Hufflepuff had going for them. They talked about it a lot.

"No offence, Amora, but do you realise how embarrassing it is to be defeated by Hufflepuff?" Draco retorted and Amora did her best not to take offence. "Especially when their captain's been away for a month and a half."

Amora struggled to believe that it had been a month and a half since Leon had told everybody about her and Draco - since everybody turned on her. It seemed like much longer, but also a lot shorter at the same time. O.W.L.s weren't too far away now - about six weeks away, so most people were cracking down with their revision.

"Well, on the bright side, the weather's meant to be really good next week," Amora replied, smoothing a thumb absentmindedly over his Malfoy ring, causing him to glance down.

"Oh, yay," Draco muttered back sarcastically, earning a small sigh from the girl on his side.

Somebody cleared their throat from behind them, and somehow Amora knew who it was immediately. She watched as Pansy and Theo winced from opposite her, Draco, and Blaise, cringing at the giggle that followed.

"Professor Umbridge," Draco greeted her, an obvious strain in his smile. "How are you?"

"I am doing fine, thank you, Draco," Professor Umbridge replied in her usual sickly-sweet tone and Amora cringed at her boyfriend's first name falling from the witch's thin lips. "However, it is not you that I am after today. Rather, I have come to ask for Miss Buckley here to follow me to my office."

Both Draco and Amora tensed. "What for, professor?" Draco asked.

Umbridge giggled again. "Oh, nothing to worry about, dear. Miss Buckley just needs to answer a few questions for me, that is all."

Amora inwardly began to panic. It had been on the back of her mind since her friends had mentioned it ages ago, yet recently she'd completely forgotten about the random interviews that Umbridge was conducting. She'd come up with so many lies to tell the woman that by now she'd forgotten which ones she'd decided were flawed and which ones she should go with.

"Is that necessary right now, professor?" Draco gave her one of his charming smiles upon seeing Amora's reaction in her eyes. "We've just settled down for dinner."

"Oh, I won't take up too much of Miss Buckley's time - hopefully," she giggled.

Amora sent her friends a worried look as she stood from the bench, the scar on top of her left hand already feeling like it was stinging a little from being in such close proximity of the wretched woman. She followed Umbridge out of the Great Hall, all the way across to where her office was. There was no conversation between, making it very awkward.

"Would you like to take a seat, Miss Buckley?" Professor Umbridge gestured to the seat behind her desk. "I can assure you that there is no reason to look so worried. Would you like some tea to loosen you up?"

Amora kept her hands on her lap, her posture stiff as she forced a smile. "Um, no thank you, professor."

"Oh, I insist," Umbridge said, gesturing to the pink tea set that she had to the side of her desk.

"No, really, I -"

"Not a big tea drinker, my dear?" Professor Umbridge raised her brows.

"No, I'm not really a fan," Amora excused herself - praying that Umbridge would just get to the point and tell her why she was there.

"Water, then," Umbridge chirped, turning around to pour some into a glass for Amora.

Amora kept her mouth shut, not sure how many times she could decline a drink before she came across as rude. She didn't really want to piss off Umbridge. So when the glass came her way, Amora thanked her quietly and lifted it to her lips, taking a few tiny sips before putting it back down.

Professor Umbridge smiled brightly. "Don't you look so much like your mother?"

"Thank you?" Amora replied awkwardly.

"Have you had your careers meeting yet, Miss Buckley?"

"No, not yet," Amora answered.

"Do you know what you would like to do after Hogwarts?"

"No," she admitted, blushing at how she had nothing to offer. She scrambled to make herself seem less stupid in front of one of her professors. "Something to do with helping people, maybe. Something rewarding."

"Ah," Professor Umbridge gave a forced smile, peering down at her. "Very Hufflepuff of you, indeed. A healer, perhaps? Quite good pay, very valuable to our society."

"Maybe."

Amora cracked a small smile herself, but she could barely force it for more than three seconds in the presence of Umbridge. Her hands were uncomfortably sweaty as she played with them on her lap, her heart a little quicker than usual as she waited for Umbridge to ask her the question.

Umbridge's smile suddenly dropped too. "What do you know about Potter's secret club, Miss Buckley?"

She'd been expecting it, but her heart still dropped.

Nothing. Secret club? Potter? I'm not even friends with him anymore-

"What about it?" She blurted.

Amora's eyes widened - she had not meant to say that.

Umbridge smirked. She looked victorious - delighted, even. "Does Harry Potter have a secret club?"

No!

"Yes," Amora answered truthfully before clamping her hands over her mouth.

Her eyes narrowed down at the glass of water in front of her and then shot back up to Umbridge who was smiling. It was Veritaserum. Amora felt completely violated and sick, wishing she could pull out her wand and hex the woman into next week.

No, no, no, no, no! She was not about to give away the DA. No matter how furious she was with them.

  "And what do you know about this club of Potter's?"

Somehow, as she gripped the arms of her chair, Amora managed to only release minimal information. She knew it was possible to lie with Veritaserum, but Amora didn't know how or if she was strong enough to do it. She gave it her best shot, though.

"Called Dumbledore's Army," Amora clamped her hand over her mouth, but Umbridge shot a spark out of her wand that caused her to pull them away. "Meetings every week. Room of Requirement."

Umbridge gasped. "The Room of Requirement?" She repeated, "How - What -"

"Please," Amora pleaded with her, tears beginning to sting her eyes. "I'm not with them anymore, but I -"

Umbridge mistook her sadness and statement for something else. "Oh, no need to worry, Miss Buckley. You have provided me with some very valuable information. You will not be in trouble for your - Oh my!"

Written across Amora's forehead, bold and bright red, was the word "SNEAK". Amora panicked upon seeing her reflection in the glass cup in front of her, touching her forehead which felt slightly warm. Her cheeks felt the same, but from shame.

"And when is Potter's next meeting, Miss Buckley?" She acted as if Amora wasn't softly crying in front of her, embarrassed and feeling like a complete traitor and idiot.

And, unfortunately, Amora had heard the girls whispering about it this morning.

"Tonight."

Umbridge grinned widely before glancing over Amora's shoulder. "Filch!" She called, the door opening behind Amora. "Bring me the Inquisitorial Squad immediately."

...

i know in the books marietta had 'sneak' written across her forehead in huge pimples that were like bursting and stuff, but that's gross and i didn't want it to last for ages like it did with her bc she still had them in the half blood prince lol

ALSO i started a youtube channel for playlists. i made a couple surrounding draco. here they are if you want to check it out, it would be greatly appreciated:

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

[There should be a GIF or video here. Update the app now to see it.]

word count: 4.9k

thanks for reading <33

dyiansobrien.