Rise of the Death Eaters [3]

Chapter 71: The Enemy of my Enemy

There was something unnatural about the way that girl looked at Pansy. It was familiar and yet the coldness it issued from those heavily lashed eyes gave Pansy the feeling that she was being examined on a table by a skeptical surgeon.

"I have choir," was all she said before turning her eyes to Nott who was smirking down at his eggs, his eyes momentarily flashing Pansy's way before looking up.

"The quad? At ten?"

"Whatever you wish, Greengrass," Nott replied, before passing a wink toward Pansy's infuriated expression and returned to his breakfast.

"Why the rush?" Pansy questioned, looking to Tracey and Daphne. The girls shrugged it off, as if this change wasn't anything new.

"We've left the table earlier before, Pansy."

"Yeah, when we've all finished eating-"

"Eat while you walk," Tracey advised, stepping around the bench. She slung her bag over her shoulder, only clarifying that she was in fact leaving.

Pansy eyed the table, looking for any friendly faces she could stand having breakfast with, but there was only the likes of Millicent Bulstrode, who was looking our way like a helpless puppy dog. That and Theo Nott who was absolutely out of the question.

So with a knot in her stomach, Pansy stood up with her breakfast and grabbed her bag.

The walk to the choir room on the fifth floor felt continuingly unnatural to Pansy, as her first class was down on the third floor. The idea of wasting going up the stairs just to drop off Astoria felt wrong in so many ways.

But her friends were still walking with Astoria as she turned up the stairs and exited on the fifth landing, leaving Pansy to be the last one to avoid the door smacking her in the face.

She just kept up with the others as Astoria kept a fast pace while Daphne skipped a side-long step around a group of third-year Gryffindors on their way to Transfiguration.

The students didn't even give Pansy a second look as one of them brushed her arm in passing. She would have stopped to call after the tool-for-brains had Astoria not kept her pace.

Muttering a curse, Pansy picked up the pace just in time to see the door to the left side stair case open, revealing two figures that could only make Pansy's blood pressure increase.

Her long blonde hair was curled in easy ringlets that dropped low on her shoulder as she brushed them back to shift her bag on her shoulder. She held the door open for her dark-haired counterpart to follow after her, saying something in passing.

Ava Fountaine.

As if sensing her stare, Ava's dark blue eyes fixated on Pansy and to Pansy's displeasure, a flicker of clarity passed on the girl's face as if she understood why Pansy's shoulders tight. Her eyes shifted momentarily to Astoria, who lead Pansy and her friends with a look of indifference. All it took was Ava's raised brow her way for Pansy to hear roaring in her ears.

"We should put that Fountaine in her place again. Just like before," Pansy remarked, stepping closer to her friends who had halted around all the foot traffic. Tracey gave Pansy a confused look, not sure where the sudden topic had come from while Daphne, who was looking idly at the students, perked up.

Astoria didn't react as Pansy went on, adding "We made a mistake not going after her when she threw those pitchers at us. This time we do it early and we keep at it just so she knows not to step out of line."

"But why?" Tracey asked, her confusion still evident on her sour features. "She's not doing anything. It'd be one thing if she was threatening us or getting in our way but I haven't even noticed her this year, have you?" she asked, turning to Daphne who was blinking back who knows what.