𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐀 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑 | draco malfoy

16. slytherin vs ravenclaw

HOW TO BE A HEARTBREAKER

SLYTHERIN VS RAVENCLAW

( Tuesday 20th January 1998 )

Theo was avoiding Rowan. She had a feeling that it was because of the way she had snapped at him after her fight with Daphne a week ago, but she couldn't bring herself to care too much. The night had ended horribly, with Rowan once again kneeling in front of a toilet in a random bathroom. This time, she wasn't physically sick — but she sure felt like she could be. Daphne's words, the images she had put in her head, how she'd said them in front of nearly their entire year group of Slytherins...

Pansy had found her about half an hour later and stroked her hair and offered comforting words until Rowan felt okay enough to head back to the dungeons. Thankfully Daphne was in bed, her back turned to Rowan when she walked in. Her sleep was rough that night, and for a few after that too.

Every time Rowan saw Daphne, she sizzled with anger. It took everything inside of her not to snap when she saw Daphne's long blonde hair and newly-fixed dainty nose and icy blue eyes. Daphne seemed to avoid them all, sitting away from the seventh years during meal times, keeping her head down, but being sure to talk loudly behind their backs.

She was mostly kept busy by prefect duties, class, homework, revision, and then what may be considered an excessive amount of Quidditch practices. Rowan hoped Draco knew what he was doing, because it almost seemed at times as though some of the members of the team were getting a little burnt out.

When the day finally rolled around where Slytherin would be playing Ravenclaw, Rowan woke early, tied her hair back into French plaits like always, and applied her war paint (or rather, her eyeliner). She slipped on the Slytherin Quidditch uniform and grabbed her broom, heading down to the Great Hall to get in some breakfast before the big event.

All of the forgotten, suppressed anger came bubbling back to the surface as soon as Rowan saw Daphne slide into the seat opposite Draco and start to talk to him with a grin on her face. Rowan's usual seat. Rowan couldn't see Daphne's expression, only Draco's frown, but she felt her fists clench as she stormed over.

"You needn't bother cheering me on in the stands, Greengrass," Draco said, and Rowan paused in her tracks behind Daphne. "I won't be looking in your direction. It would be rather pointless."

Daphne furrowed her eyebrows at him. "Is this about the whole thing with Yaxley? She told me you two weren't dating —"

"And we're not," Rowan spoke up, her voice hard as she moved over with her arms folded against her chest. Daphne looked shocked to see her — as if Rowan didn't go to the school. "Get out of my seat, Greengrass."

Daphne huffed. "There's no name on it that suggests this is your seat."

"Just fucking move, Greengrass," Draco growled, "Yaxley has always sat there — besides, I need to talk to my team. You're not on it — so piss off."

Outrage took over Daphne's face and she leaned forwards, grabbing a glass of pumpkin juice before dashing it straight into Draco's face. There were gasps all around them, Rowan included. It felt strange that her chest whirred with anger, but she pegged it down to Draco being the lesser of two evils right now.

Without much thought, Rowan reached out and grabbed the back of Daphne's collared shirt. She gave a hard yank and the teenage girl was falling backwards off of the bench, lending on her bottom by Rowan's feet. Rowan's hand grabbed her blonde hair and pulled it so Daphne was forced to look her in the eye.

"I told you to get out of my fucking seat," Rowan warned, "Stay away from me in general."

Draco stood angrily on the other side of the table, his wand working over his Quidditch uniform to rid it of the orange liquid. Daphne had no warning before Draco was levitating the entire jug of pumpkin juice, teasing it over Daphne.