It's been a while since I've laughed as much as I did that evening. "No! Please don't tell me that actually happened!" I yelled, wiping away the tears that had escaped.

They both just frantically nodded their heads, too busy trying to control their laughter to answer with actual words.

I almost managed to calm down, when Alex imitated his little brother's facial expression falling in the lake, and I was back to the full-on belly-laugh.

After a while, the three of us simultaneously let out a content sigh, exhausted from all the laughter. But in the blink of an eye, my facial expression turned serious.

I furrowed my brows as soon as I saw the blonde walking up to us. He was wearing his naturally cold expression; his eyes narrowed as he scanned the three of us.

His eyes lingered on me for a second, and he scrunched his nose before diverting his attention onto Alex. They gave each other a polite nod, and Malfoy extended his hand to shake it.

Instead of doing that, Alex pulled the blonde into a tight hug. I flinched at the sudden and unexpected motion. "It's good to see you again!" He cheered in between laughter.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" That was the first thing I said, as soon as they had let go of each other, and he greeted Vik.

"I could ask you the same thing," He spat back, his face just as confused as mine as the smile disappeared off his face. We were both looking back and forth between Alex and Vik, who seemed rather amused by the situation.

"Play nice, Y/n!" Alex said jokingly as if there was something I didn't understand yet. "Mom and Narcissa are very good friends. I've known Draco for as long as he can remember," He quickly explained, gesturing towards Malfoy as he did so. "She was so upset when you decide against going to Durmstrang."

"Narcissa?" I followed up, my eyebrows still raised.

"My mother," Malfoy said, clarifying who we were talking about. For a second, there was a subtle smile forming on his face at the mention of her, but it disappeared just as quick.

I sighed. She must've been a whole lot nicer than her son was for Alexei's family to be so close to them.

"Good to know that you guys already know each other, at least," Vik butted in, probably too oblivious to notice we weren't exactly on good terms. A quick glance at Malfoy let me know that he was enjoying this as little as I was.

"I thought we could all just hang out together this evening," Alex announced, an apologetic smile on his face. At least he realised.

I pulled myself together, took a deep breath and then nodded with a smile on my face. "Sure."

The things I did for my friends...

✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:*✧

"Didn't know you had a boyfriend." It was a few minutes before curfew and Malfoy, and I were on our way back to the dungeons. Turns out, just ignoring him and focusing on the other two instead made the situation only half as bad.

"What are you? Jealous?" I laughed, turning my head towards him and raising an eyebrow.

He shook his head as we walked into the common room before facing me. "You wish, Potter," He mocked, a challenging smirk on his lips.

"Oh, really? Why are you asking then?"

"Just didn't think someone as sane as Alexei would keep up with you," He shrugged, the smirk still on his lips.

I huffed before rolling my eyes. "He's not my boyfriend," I clarified, amused by the suggestion.

The only reply I got was a mumbled "interesting," while he was nodding to himself. Then, he just rushed to his dorm and almost disappeared in it, when his head popped back out of the door.

"Oh, before I forget," He began, "meet me back here at one tonight." And with that, the door closed behind him.

No way was I going to do that, I thought as I approached my room. Why would I?

I gave Wren a small smile when I walked in and then let myself fall on my bed next to her. "Today was interesting..."

"You must be over the moon!" Wren said, a big smile on her face. "I know how much you've missed your old friends, and now they're here? Isn't that crazy?"

She seemed more excited than I was for a moment. A big smile grew on my face as I remembered I was going to spend a whole year with them, and I nodded. "It is," I said cheerily. "It's absolutely crazy."

We talked about it for a bit longer, and I promised I would introduce them to each other tomorrow. I imagined they would get along quite well. I hoped so, at least.

By the time Wren went to sleep, it was already past 12. So I might as well just stayed up to see what that toad wanted, right? It didn't mean anything if I was still up anyway.

"I'm just gonna read a bit," I lied holding one of the books on my bed night table up, and she nodded. "Sleep well later, then," She smiled before closing her eyes.

Before I left, I turned my lights off and propped my pillow under the blanket to make it seem like I was still there. I sneaked out of the dormitory and silently closed the door behind me.

Malfoy was already sitting on the dark leather couch that was facing me and his head shot in my direction as soon as he heard my footsteps approaching.

"You're early," I said as I sat on the couch opposite of him and he nodded.

"Well, I was up anyway."

"So was I." I brushed a strand of my (y/h/c) hair behind my ear, my eyes glued to the floor.

He cleared his throat. "I thought once I don't have to see your annoying face every day I would just forget about what happened last year," He began slowly, his voice serious.

"Me too," I said, so quietly my voice was equal to a whisper. My attention was now entirely on him. He was focused on the fire, a comfortable silence hanging in the room before he abruptly got up.

My eyes followed him as he approached the couch I was occupying and sat right next to me. "But I don't seem to be able to."

I gulped at his words, realising everything he said resonated with me. Once again, I felt that tension in the room. The tension we both tried to run away from last year.

Just that this time around, neither of us tried.

"I don't wanna start the year off with this just for it to ruin the rest of it again," I sighed and shook my head. I meant that.

Whenever Malfoy was involved in anything, it just became one big mess. I wasn't planning on scheduling my whole year around not accidentally running into him again.

He scoffed. "Ruin it?" He raised an eyebrow, "I know whatever happened; you liked it."

"And how would you know that?" I retorted, my arms crossed in front of my chest. A smile grew on his face, and he shook his head slightly.

"You're here, aren't you?" I sighed, not having anything else to say. "So, what is it then? Scared you'll catch feelings, Potter?" His all too familiar smirk was plastered across his face as the words left his mouth.

"Not in a million years."

And just like that, my lips landed on his once again.