𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐄𝐒.

IX

•

"Then what happened?" Michelle lowered her voice in the dungeon classroom. Everyone was chattering back and forth, so listening to us while posing in the corner would be impossible.

However, Tiana sat across from us with Dixon, giggly and enjoying her time. That also meant I hadn't told her what happened yesterday night – but I didn't want to disturb her; instead, I'd wait it out whenever she wasn't 'busy.'

I found myself staring at Cedric, sitting in the opposite corner with Alberic, pretending everything was normal as he burst into laughter. His friend was laughing as well, which made it obvious they were fooling around; but Cedric didn't as much as look at me the entire day.

"Well.." I paused for a second, meeting her gaze with an untasteful pleasant in my stomach. "Then he kissed me."

Shock crossed her face as her brows arched, mouth wide open while attempting to cover it. "You got to be kidding me! I knew I should've stayed!"

Professor Snape entered the dungeon with his cape vigorously behind him. His eyes travelled over the class and would sneer at the Gryffindors. He reached his desk, and within seconds the class would quiet down.

"Today, you will attempt to make the Pain Soothing Elixir, a difficult potion that will require your complete concentration... I doubt that many of you will manage it." Monitoring the class with a tight facial expression, he continued. "When you finish and bottle your sample, be sure to leave your remaining potion in your kettle so that I can collect any drinkable. Madam Pomfrey has informed me that she is running low on pain potions; apparently, someone has been depleting her supplies." He fixed his cold, black eyes on Alberic.

Alberic cleared his through nervously and sunk into his seat beside Cedric.

Severus glanced around each student before proceeding once again. "We do not have much time now that the second task will arrive in three hours, and I expect you all to do it as quickly as possible, without any mistakes. Chapter seven, paragraphs one through six, will tell you exactly what you need to do. Do not waste the Shaebey hairs." He waited for a second, then sneered, "Well, what are you waiting for?"

As the class prepared their ingredients, Michelle quickly grabbed every potion she could find in the ingredients cabinets. She was faster than usual, but she desired to listen to the story without any interruption from sprinting around.

"Well?" Michelle cocked an eyebrow and slumped back in her chair, flipping each page to find the exact way to do it, except her eyes were still on me like a lunatic. "Continue!"

I chuckled and opened each potion, preparing the rest for us. "That was it."

"You guys didn't talk?"

"Not at all," I swung my head back and forth in denial. "I ran off. He hasn't talked about it either."

Michelle cocked an eyebrow and slid the book beneath me. "Odd. He'll probably say something today."

A frown flickered across my forehead, shaking my head once more. "Hell no, I hope he doesn't."

She chuckled at my gesture and pointed at one of the potions with a lavender liquid. "That one."

We began stirring it all together, following the book's instructions. However, I kept gazing back and forth at Cedric, although he wasn't worried about me. His eyes lingered on the bowl and Alberic, completely unbothered.

Deep down, I wanted to talk to him about it, but there wasn't any way of doing it without sounding like a clown. How do you even do these things? You just go up and say, 'hey, let's talk about the kiss'? Hell no.