1. The Façade

She had been crying, he could tell it by the look of her puffy eyes and swollen lips. He bet it was that weasel again, it always was that weasel. It was quite obvious she liked him, but he was such a brat. Always being mad at her for the silliest things, yelling at her and bossing her around. Ever ungrateful.

Not that he was much better to her. The façade.
Well, it had become a façade.

When they had first started their education at Hogwarts, his head was filled with prejudices of how muggleborns were beneath him and didn’t deserve their magic. And how people associating with them were considered equally filthy. Of course those prejudices didn’t last, as he saw so many brilliant witches and wizards, including her, here at school.

He could swear his parents started to doubt their old beliefs as well, which was a blessing as much as it was a threat. That’s why no one in his family even muttered a word about it. The façade couldn’t be broken. If the Dark Lord ever found out what he really thought and how he felt about her, his and his parents’ days would be over and hers as well. That was something he couldn’t allow to happen.

But how much he would like for all of this to be over. Then he could tell off that weasel, with his stinking manners, and he could show, or at least try to show his true feelings. No doubt they wouldn’t be mutual. Who would like someone that has harassed you for years?

It hurt him to see her like that. She didn’t deserve this pain, especially when caused by someone like that. Oh, how Weasley would pay for this. He wished he could embrace her, tell her he wasn’t worth her time and most definitely not her love. But most of the time life isn’t the way people want it to be.

He sneered when she passed him.
“Been crying again, Granger? No doubt we’ll have a pool here at Hogwarts by Christmas. Not that I’d want to swim and that filth anyway.”

She stuck her nose up in the air, glared at him and walked away. He wasn’t worth her time.

The façade. Always the façade.