Yes, Professor Malfoy?

t w e n t y

A/N:

Heyy just a quick note that I'm not sure how to make the timeline work in the story lmaoo let's just pretend I know what I'm doing with time skips :p

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For the last two weeks I've busied myself with Quidditch practice - I made the team, thanks to help from both Scorpius and Alicia. Scorpius plays seeker, she plays chaser, I play beater.

Suck on that, McLaggen.

Our first match was coming up in a week and I was more than nervous. It was the first match of the season, the first match of the year, and I had plenty to prove of myself. It was Slytherin against Hufflepuff, who Diggory was captain of. Also a seeker.

The other seekers were Albus Potter's close friend, Lysander Scammander-Lovegood, from Ravenclaw and Rose Weasley from Gryffindor.

Evan had warned me of just how good they were, despite their captain turning up stoned to most of their games and practice sessions.

As for the weed we bought for the lake that night, it never got used. But it was Iris' birthday at the weekend as well as the annual Halloween Feast. Apparently Hogwarts put on quite a fuss around this time every year, which was evident from the decorations being strung and charmed around the castle. Skeletons were spelled to jump out of walls and follow people around between lessons, as well as giant arachnids that scuttled around the grounds.

And for how it was going with Draco, we'd been trying to avoid each other where possible.

Reduce the... temptation.

Of course, class wasn't helpful when I was sat directly in front of the man. On the plus side, I'd now memorized the precise locations of all the decorations in his classroom just to avoid looking at him directly. One look into his eyes as he was demonstrating something or giving a lecture and I was sure to be gone.

I didn't linger after class, I made sure to arrive no earlier than on the dot of the time the lesson started. It was all shitty, to be honest. I missed him like crazy - something that scared me even more: my feelings.

I think it's safe to say it's not just a childish crush I have on him. It's a little more than that.

In the time I would've spent with Draco, I now spent it either with my friends, or in the library, reading up on the dreaded blood curse that was fucking with my mind. Unfortunately, I couldn't find much, which is why right now I was browsing the restricted section of the library.

This is where McGonagall had told me the books of darker magic and legend were. After sweet talking the woman, she sent me a disapproving look before sighing and handing me a permission slip for fully-granted access.

Still, however, I couldn't find anything about said hereditary blood curse. I was using my resources the best I could but without any more information it was proving to be a struggle.

I huffed a sigh of exasperation and slumped down on the windowsill facing the closest line of high bookshelves, looking around absentmindedly while I contemplated what to do. Scorpius didn't know about it, not really, and I sure as Salazar wasn't going to seek out any of Astoria's relatives like some stalker.

I also couldn't go to any of my friends and ask for help - it'd get back to Scorpius and who knows how he would react.

My fingers curled around the edge and under the wood, tapping quickly as I thought, simultaneously kicking my crossed ankles back against the stone. I must've sat like that for a while because soon enough, the Sun was setting, meaning dinner had already started. It was when I stood up and bent over to pick up my bag that the spine of a book piqued my interest.