Malfoy Amongst The Chaos

Potions With The Enemy

I hesitated, surveying the dark utensil; I didn't know what metal it was and I'd already taken too long to answer - his silver eyes flicked away from the instructions and he raised an eyebrow in demand. "Whatever." 

I took it from his hands, knowing as soon as my fingers closed around it that it was a mistake; the metal singed my hand and I dropped it, swearing as I tried not to cry out in pain.

His head jerked away from the book again, along with the many other heads that had turned at the noise of it clanging onto the floor, and frowned - his eyes darting between the reddened, trembling fingers of my left hand and the ladle on the floor. 

"It's - I-" I gasped, spreading out the pain in my hand as people went back to their potions, I threw a meaningful glance at Hermione who's hands clapped to her mouth as she realised. "No, I don't want to stir it."

The tall blonde pursed his lips, looking very much like he was trying not to be intrigued by why I'd dropped the ladle, his icy-white eyebrows pulling together.

"Everything okay over here?" Slughorn asked, feigning nonchalance as he meandered by our table. 

I was about to reply when Malfoy suddenly bent down and picked it up, standing up and putting it rapidly into the cauldron - his cheeks flushed. "Yes sir-" he said quickly, speaking again as Slughorn turned to walk off. "I- er- I believe you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?"

Slughorn paused and I glanced at Harry, who rolled his eyes - smirking as Slughorn said, rather dismissively, "Yes, yes - I was sorry to hear he had died - though not surprising really, dragon pox at his age..."

The round-bellied professor trundled off without a backward glance.

As I rejoined Malfoy by the cauldron, he slammed a different ladle on the table - one that was sleek and silver, and snarled, "Stir it."

"Excuse me?" I said, through gritted teeth - half wondering why the hell he'd gotten a new ladle - or really how he knew to - and half boiling with savage anger at the command in his voice. "Do it yourself."

His teeth were chattering as his jaw trembled with rage and his eyes snapped to look at me, his head not moving. I might've been intimidated had I not known that I could blast him across this room in an instant if I needed to.

Eventually, he snatched up the ladle and jammed it into the cauldron, stirring it far more aggressively than required as his face twisted in anger - it was unlike any anger that I'd seen on his face before. His eyes were clouded with a sort of darkness and his cheekbones looked like they might pop straight out of his anger-flushed skin - I knew that if my rings were not on, his thoughts would be hounding me right now.

As a portion of the potion sloshed over the sides, I made a grab for the ladle, making absolutely sure that my skin did not touch the cauldron as I did so. "Stop it, you're going to ruin it!" His ragged breath blew a few strands of hair into my face and I dared to look up at him, his lip was trembling and his eyes were staring with blank rage into my own. "Let go."

His jaw twitched but he did as I said, taking a step back.

I finished the rest of the potion on my own, even if it hadn't turned exactly the right shade of pale lilac that it was supposed to. I frowned at the surface of the rich magenta liquid as Slughorn paced between the tables, giving nods here and there.