Without You

Hogsmeade

Autumn and Draco made plans to leave after breakfast.

It was quite difficult for Autumn to find a way to tell her friends during breakfast in the Great Hall, when Ron couldn't stop talking about his place in the Quidditch team. Autumn smiled, congratulating him before telling her friends about going to Hogsmeade with Draco.

"What about your homework?" Harry asked, "Did you finish it all, already?"

Hermione giggled, "She stayed up all night finishing most of it just for today."

The thought of it made Autumn feel embarrassed to a small degree. Her friends must have been thinking it was strange for her to do so much just to spend a day with a boy, especially if the boy was Draco Malfoy.

"You're not going down to Hogsmeade today?" Autumn asked them. The three shook their heads.

"Homework." Harry and Ron responded.

"I wouldn't want to disrupt your date." Hermione joked.

Autumn smiled at her friends, who still had questioning looks on their faces. Taking one last bite of her slice of toast, she waved goodbye to her friends before finding Draco, who was already waiting outside for her.

* * *

It was snowing as usual in the Hogsmeade village.

Autumn wore a thick jumper along with the purple scarf Hermione gave her on her last birthday. Draco, too, was dressed warmly. The two decided to go in for a drink in The Three Broomsticks Inn, where they served butterbeer. It was warm inside, compared to the freezing outside. Autumn and Draco took a seat at a table close to the window.

Draco seemed to be staring at someone past Autumn's shoulder. Before she could turn her head, he grabbed her hand, pulling her up.

"Come on, let's go somewhere else."

Confused, Autumn trailed behind Draco, who continued to lead her to the outside. They walked into Honeydukes, a sweet shop that sold the best sweets in the wizard world. Other than the bookstore, this place was Autumn's favourite in Hogsmeade. Personally, she loved the movie cinemas in the city of London the most, but she knew she really shouldn't mention it when in Hogwarts.

She remembered the time she first walked into the shop in her third year with Harry, Ron and Hermione. They had bought so many chocolate frogs that day, the chocolate could probably last them to about a year.

There were shelves above shelves, filled with tasty-looking sweets. Autumn took her time, looking around for the sweets that Ron had earlier mentioned. There were jars filled with different coloured candies, mint frogs, and tiny black pepper imps that would make you breathe fire. Autumn remembered Harry telling her about the first time he tried a black pepper imp. It made his ears ache for days.

"What's your favourite one?" Draco asked Autumn, walking past her down the aisle of sweets.

"Chocolate wands." she replied, reading the labels of the boxes in front of her. She finally found the mint frogs Ron and Harry were talking about. She took at least twenty mint frogs, putting it into a paper bag. Since she left them on their own to do their homework, she figured she should at least bring them something back.

After picking out a number of liquorice wands, Draco took a few chocolate wands for Autumn. He advanced towards her, taking the bag of frogs from her hand. After he paid for the sweets, they left Honeydukes, standing by a bench outside the store. Draco passed the bag of sweets to Autumn, who wrapped her arms around him.

"Thank you, Draco. But are you sure? I mean, those mint frogs were for Ron and Harry. Don't you think that's a little weird if you bought it for them?"

Draco, too, realised how strange it was for him to buy sweets for his two rivals. "Don't you dare tell them that I bought it."

Autumn and Draco laughed, Draco's smile fading after a while. When Autumn stopped laughing, turning her head to where Draco had been staring behind her but before she could, Draco was pulling her by the wrist again.

"Let's go back."

The pair boarded the carriage back to Hogwarts, Autumn still curious as to why Draco had been acting this way the entire time. Draco lead Autumn towards the carriages, looking for a carriage far away from the already occupied ones by third years. He looked at them in certain disgust before the carriage took off individually. Taking a seat across the blonde boy, Autumn glanced at him.

"Is something wrong, Draco? You've been acting strange all day."

He looked away in discomfort. Autumn had to ask him again before he finally gave in.

"I saw Thomas Davies. That's what's wrong." he frowned, "The sight of him makes me sick."

Autumn wondered why Thomas would have made Draco feel that way. Autumn was aware of Thomas' feelings for her, but it was most likely all gone now. He liked her way before they even started in Hogwartsㅡ was it even possible to like someone for that long? Autumn was positive that he was over her. He seemed to be interested in Isabelle, now. She definitely did like Thomas; he was kind and caring all at the same time. She had to admit she had a little crush on him before she started school.

"You see him everyday, Draco. What difference does today make?"

"He was following us, Autumn. And he was staring at you with those eyes." Draco's ears were reddening, looking like he was going to explode any second.

Autumn smiled. She could tell that Draco was only being protective of her and was feeling slightly jealous. This was the first time she had ever seen Draco act this way. She moved to sit beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder. She was careful not to trip or fall over. She smiled to herself as Draco wrapped an arm around her.

"How long are you going to keep my wand for, Draco? I miss my wand."

"I'll keep it for as long as I want." Draco said, pushing the wand deeper into his pocket.

Autumn laughed softly, looking towards the trees. It It freezing outside, but she had never felt so warm.

* * *

By the time Draco and Autumn returned to the school, it was almost time for dinner. As they walked towards the Great Hall together, Lavender Brown burst out of the hall, her loud sobs filling the silence in the hallway. Autumn and Draco exchanged a look before pushing the doors opened. The hall was silent, and half the students were staring at the two of them. Autumn rushed to take her seat in Gryffindor, and Draco in Slytherin.

Umbridge was at the front, where the staff normal sat, but in Dumbledore's place instead.

"Lateness shall not be tolerated. This is considered misbehaviour," she said, "Miss Rosewood and Mr. Malfoy, I think a detention should be necessary."

Hermione, Ron and Harry turned to face Autumn with concern. They knew she couldn't handle any more detentions. Her hand was finally healing. After the detentions she has already had with Umbridge, she was not ready for more. Her left hand was already bandaged from the other time. Forcing a smile to her friends, she could only stare down at her empty plate. When Umbridge finally stopped making new announcements about 'changes to Hogwarts for the better', Autumn sighed, staring at her left hand.

"She's been appointed High Inquisitor," Harry said, "The Ministry of Magic didn't think Dumbledore was doing a great job as Headmaster. Now, she has the power to remove unsatisfactoryf teachers from Hogwarts and ensure that any Educational Decrees set by the Ministry are followed. "

Autumn looked at Harry in disbelief, "What? How could they let this happen to us?"

Ron shrugged, taking a bite out of a chicken wing, causing Hermione to elbow him on the rib.

"Autumn, I don't think you can handle another week of detentions. Your hand is already so scarred."

"I'll be fine. My hand has already been healing. Besides, I guess I do kind of deserve this detention." she lied, looking away from Hermione. She hated to admit how terrified she was of getting more detentions. The pain in her hand was enough punishment.

"How was Hogsmeade with Draco, anyway?" Hermione asked, poking her food with her fork.

"It was fun, actually. I thought I could finally get my head away from the terrors of school, but I was wrong. Today seemed to get me into deeper trouble."

Autumn remembered the mint frogs Draco bought for Ron and Harry. The two boys looked as if they were receiving presents on Christmas morning. They hid it underneath the table, as if they were hiding it from the world.

"What are you doing?" Autumn asked, puzzled.

"If you haven't heard, Umbridge prohibits particular sweets to be in possession. You might want to be careful with your chocolate wand obsession."

"What other kind of stupid rules did she make on her own?" Autumn asked, groaning. It was worse than her own mother's rules at home about not eating upstairs.

"That's all so far," Hermione says. "She kinda makes it up as she goes."

The night ended terribly for Autumn and her friends. It was five o'clock, signalling that it was time for her second week of detention.

"Be careful, Autumn." Hermione said quietly.

Walking with Draco to the third floor, he looked at her worriedly before knocking on the door. The two of them entered Umbridge's office, the parchments and quills already set up. This detention seemed to be far worse than the first. Umbridge said she had read Rita Skeeter's column about Autumn and Draco the year before. She looked upon at the two of them with a particularly interested expression.

"Please, take a seat."