Struggling to survive at Hogwarts

Draco slumped into his room, slamming the door shut with a loud bang, followed by a loud crash. The loud noise made Narcissa, who was going upstairs, frown.

Draco was now burning with anger, overwhelmed by immense resentment and the fear of being abandoned, which made him kick the edge of the bed in a huff, leaving a noticeable gray footprint on the light green sheets.

Narcissa stood at the door and took a few deep breaths before gently knocking on the door. Then, she patiently waited for a response from inside.

Narcissa counted the time it took for the responses inside to gauge Draco's level of anger.

Not long after, a muffled reply came from the other side.

Narcissa was a little unsure; her son's response was a bit slower than before, which proved that he was genuinely angry this time.

“…Draco.” Narcissa couldn’t see her son, but based on her experience, she called out to the bed with a slight hesitation.

"Mom, I'm here." A muffled voice came from under the covers.

Narcissa chuckled, "Come out now, don't be angry. I sent Thea back to her room."

Draco didn't want to get up, but when he heard his mother's last words and the image of Thea diligently taking notes flashed through his mind, he suddenly threw off the covers and jumped up.

Meeting his mother's teasing gaze, Draco blushed, but he still insisted on asking, "...Mom, did you scold Thea?"

Narcissa noticed Draco's hesitation and tried to tease her son, "Yeah, after all, she made the dragon angry..."

"Mom!" Draco exclaimed, somewhat embarrassed and angry. "Tell me the truth!"

Seeing that her son was serious, Narcissa also put on a serious expression and said earnestly, "Draco, do you really want Thea to leave our family?"

"..." Draco remained silent.

Narcissa wouldn't let him remain silent: "Draco, answer me, do you really not want Thea to live in our house? If you really don't want her, I'll talk to your father tonight about sending Thea to her other aunt's house."

Draco panicked when he heard that his mother was going to send Thea away. He had heard rumors about his aunt before; her family now lived in the Muggle world, while Thea had only returned to the wizarding world from the Muggle world yesterday...

Thinking that Thea might return to that awful Muggle world, Draco quickly said, "Mom! I don't want her to go!... But, with Thea here... none of you care about me anymore..."

Narcissa realized that she and Lucius hadn't considered things carefully enough, and quickly knelt down to apologize to Draco: "Dragon, your father and I really didn't think this through, and we didn't take your feelings into account. If your parents correct their mistakes, will you forgive them?"

Draco immediately stopped crying and started laughing when he heard his mother apologize.

Seeing that her son's emotions had calmed down, Narcissa looked directly at him and said, "Little Dragon, Mommy has already apologized. Shouldn't you apologize to Thea too? It was Little Dragon who yelled at his sister just now."

Draco's face showed reluctance.

Narcissa became serious again and decided to have a thorough discussion with her son about Thea.

"Draco, tell me, didn't Mom and Dad tell you in their letter that a new member would be joining our family?"

Draco hesitated for a moment, then obediently nodded.

Narcissa continued, "Why hasn't Draco replied?"

Draco immediately deflated.

Is Draco throwing a tantrum at his parents?

Draco nodded hesitantly.

Narcissa was so angry at her son that she laughed: "So, Draco, you tell me, your father and I raised you for eight years, and in the end we raised a coward who only knows how to run away from problems and only knows how to vent his emotions on innocent people!"

Draco was stunned by his mother's anger. In his memory, his mother was always gentle, kind, and unhurried. Why was she so angry today?

Seeing that his mother was really angry, Draco's mind immediately started racing. He sobbed, "Mom...it's my fault...I shouldn't have taken my anger out on Thea...I was just angry...I'm your son...why do you care more about Thea?"

Narcissa's anger was instantly extinguished by a bucket of cold water after hearing her son's words. She pinched the bridge of her nose and resumed her previous gentle tone: "Then Draco, can you tell Mommy which of Mommy's actions hurt you?"

"My mom didn't put an egg on my plate for breakfast!"

Narcissa: "..."

"Dad was the same. He was so engrossed in reading the newspaper that he didn't talk to me at all, and he even glared at me!"

Narcissa: "..."

Draco selectively forgot that he didn't like eggs at all, and that Narcissa had given Thea an egg separately; it was also because he hadn't greeted Thea that his father glared at him.

Draco nestled in his mother's arms, rambling on about the "unfairness" he had experienced, sounding utterly aggrieved.

Finally, Narcissa couldn't listen anymore.

I simply assigned Draco the task of copying the family rules, and then hurriedly escaped Draco's magical attack.

The empty room was left with only a bewildered Draco.

Why did Mom make me copy the family rules?

Why did Mom leave me all alone and run away?

"I'm definitely going to tell Dad!!"

These questions kept nagging at Draco as he sat down at the table to copy the family rules.

With a creak, the door was pushed open, and Draco, without even looking up, said, "Dobby, get out! Don't bother me!"

There was no sound of the door closing, but a delicious aroma of food wafted over. Draco looked up in confusion and met a pair of smiling eyes.

The girl was holding a plate of freshly baked flower cakes. The sweet and tempting aroma made Draco's stomach rumble. When he met Thea's teasing gaze, Draco's face turned as red as a sunset.

"...What are you looking at? I'm not hungry!" Draco said, his tone fierce but his words betraying his inner weakness.

Thea didn't expose Draco's stubbornness, but simply pushed the flower cake towards Draco and then magically produced a pot of black tea.

"Alright, alright, I was hungry, so I brought you these flower cakes to apologize. Would you do me the honor of having a few with me?"

Draco was amused by Thea's words and mercifully picked up a flower cake from the plate.

He didn't rush to eat, and instead asked, "What happened to you? You're covered in mud."

Thea was surprised that Draco still remembered this, and she said with a smile, "I wasn't watching where I was going when I went to the garden just now, and I tripped and fell."

After hearing Thea's explanation, Draco said disdainfully, "You're so clumsy, you can even trip on flat ground."

Thea was about to chime in with a self-deprecating remark when she heard Draco's next words: "Remember to follow me from now on, and I'll make sure you never fall."

A gentle warmth spread from her heart, and Thea whispered softly, "Okay."