Antidote

Chapter 20 - The Snake Pit

CW// Underage alcohol consumption and technical drug use. Graphic detail of the usage and effects. Please mind your triggers and read with caution.

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As Jolie awoke, she sat up and peered around the dorm.

Her and her dormmates had sprawled out across the massive bed throughout the night, Gemma almost hanging off the edge as Florence snuggled close to her. Ruth had each limb stretched out, taking up at least three bodies worth of space. Daphne clung onto Jolie, the dedicated cuddle bug she was. Surprisingly, all still slept soundly.

Most of the sleeping bags were gone or at least vacated. Only a few younger years still snored softly from their spots on the floor.

Gently extricating herself from Daphne's limp arms, Jolie grabbed her wand from beneath her pillow and slid off the edge of the bed.

The charms that had not been undone the night before were mostly worn off by now; the lights from the sconces back to glowing their usual warm, yellow hue. Waving her wand and whispering a quiet "Finite", Jolie transfigured the disco ball, microphones, loveseat, and various feather boas back to their original state, leaving her with a textbook, severed wooden bed posts, one of their five four posters, and strips of their green bed curtains.

As quietly as possible, so as to not wake the other girls, she reattached the wooden posts back to the ends of their bedframes, then made her way out of the dorm, still in her wrinkled pyjamas.

As expected, Draco sat alone in the common room, reading.

Jolie silently made her way toward the seat next to him, her bare feet stinging against the cold stone of the floor.

He looked up as she sunk down into the loveseat.

"Good morning," he murmured, watching her with a careful expression.

"Morning."

He lowered his head as she pierced him with an expectant stare.

"Listen..." he started. "Yesterday at lunch... I shouldn't have—Look, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have acted so brash."

Jolie nodded, beckoning him to go on. No way she was accepting an apology without a valid explanation.

"You and Daph were talking about the slumber party—you know how I hate it when you two throw that stupid thing..."

Jolie nodded. She figured he was really just jealous he wasn't invited but too proud to admit it.

"And I was... I was already in a shit mood," he continued. "Granger... Granger bested me on the exam in transfiguration. So when Daphne brought up muggles—I just..." he trailed off.

"Hermione Granger isn't a muggle," Jolie told him coolly.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know that. But her parents are. Which makes her a mud—"

"Don't you dare," Jolie hissed.

Draco threw his hands up, suddenly exasperated.

"But she is. How can you not see that? Her blood has been muddied by generations of useless muggles—"

"It has not been 'muddied'," Jolie admonished, scowling at him. "She is a muggle-born. Her blood is magical—just like yours and mine. Just because she did not descend directly from wizards, does not mean that she is inferior—"

"It does mean that, though! We were raised to be here. Raised as magical beings. People like her aren't even aware of this world until they receive that sodding letter—"