Nine: Wizard's Chess

                                    

                                          
A/N: I know the Hunger Games was published in the late 00's, but let's just pretend that it was published in the 90's, yeah? I sort of forgot that little piece of information when writing this haha!
**
Saturday, 20th April, 1996
It felt nice, being able to speak to the Hufflepuff sixth year boys, Patrick, and Luke, as well as Ginny and her three friends. It made being away from all of my fifth years just a little bit more bearable. I had no plans for my Saturday. 
Patrick was off at Quidditch practice, Ginny and her friends were off having to study for a big Herbology test coming up, so for this weekend, I was probably going to be sat in my common room all day, reading something or other. 
As I was making my way out of the library, as I was going to be doing some studying of my own, taking advantage of the alone time. But, I had decided to continue reading a Muggle fiction series called The Hunger Games in front of the fireplace with a nice cup of tea and a blanket. I was now half-way through the first book out of three. Walking down the hallway and in the direction of the Hufflepuff common room, I heard someone clear their throat.
"Parsons," Professor Snape drawled, "Have you seen Mr. Malfoy?"
"No, I haven't sir, not since breakfast this morning," I said to him, my throat tightening,
"Well, could you go find him for me and tell him to come to my office, please?" he said in his usual monotonous tone,
"Um, okay, sure-"
"Try to be quick about it as well, it's important and I'm in a hurry," he groaned as he walked away, his black robes billowed around him.
I rolled my eyes slightly, but as I didn't want to get on the wrong side of Professor Snape, I thought I might as well do as he asked and try to find Draco. Just the thought of being near Draco made me anxious at the moment, however. Ever since out trip into Hogsmeade and the bridge incident, he was crueller to me than he ever was before.
I really did believe that he and I were making some progress. I knew we'd never be friends, but I would have been content with just being friendly towards each other. A short conversation here and there, an amicable acknowledging. Just whilst everyone else was away.
But surely Snape would have been the better one out of us two to find Draco? He was probably in his common room with Riley, kissing... as the image of them kissing popped into my head, my stomach lurched.
**
I had looked around the Quidditch fields, all along the dungeons, around the Great Hall, in and around the castle grounds, up in the Astronomy Tower, and I looked again in the library.
I was giving up on places to look when I bumped into Patrick in his yellow Quidditch uniform. He smiled at me, which made me instantly feel a lot better.
"You okay, Maddie?" he cocked his head at me,
"You haven't by any chance seen Draco Malfoy, have you? Snape has asked me to look for him and ask him to go down to his office, and I can't seem to find him anywhere," I sighed,
"I think I saw him out in the Courtyard with Riley Yates," he said,
"Oh, thank you, Patrick. You're a life saver" I said, gently tapping his arm,
"I could always come with you? Saves you walking by yourself," he said to me, arching his eyebrows,
"Yeah, that would be nice, thank you," I said, nodding my head slightly.