Ariadne's Thread ⭒ h. potter

Going for the Throat

"Of course I know that," Tori placated, albeit a bit too gleefully. "The timing was right, is all." She leaned in closer, though her mood dimmed perceptibly. "You missed it, but Pansy got in trouble during the Christmas ball at Malfoy Manor this year. She-and-Draco-kissed-under-mistletoe." Astoria spat out the last sentence very quickly, as though wanting the words out of her mouth as soon as possible. "It was nothing – nothing! But Prescott saw – so she was already on the rocks anyway. It was a peck, hardly a kiss at all."

"Sounds like it." Ariadne made her tone agreeable, and she managed just barely to keep any sarcasm out of it. Astoria continued at full tilt, as though she couldn't help herself.

"Am I upset that I won't be Draco's first kiss? Sure, of course I am. But that doesn't mean that he can't be mine. I think he'd appreciate it, don't you? Which is why I'll be saving my–"

"Tori..."

"Right," Astoria cut herself off. "Like I was saying, totally innocent. It's not like she was, I don't know, sneaking into his dorm and sharing his bed, right?" Astoria placed her cup down with a smirk.

Ariadne gasped, narrowing her eyes ever so slightly at Astoria before looking away. Astoria batted her own sweetly.

"Now that was innocent, of course. How'd you even hear that?" Ariadne pulled her long hair up with the ribbon she had received for Christmas, busying her hands and pulling several strands to cover her flushed face. Ariadne hoped she didn't look too red, though she knew that it was unlikely she wouldn't stand out against the stark white of Astoria's room.

"So it's true! Pansy's been slandering you all about school. No one believes her, obviously – just looks like she's projecting to save her own skin. But I know you, Ariadne Black, there's got to be a bit of truth in there somewhere. Why else would you have gone for Pansy's throat like that like that?"

"Her throat?" began Ariadne, indignant. But a harsh POP! saved her from having to continue to entertain the conversation. She didn't care about a sullied reputation, or whatever rubbish Draco had been on about. But she didn't care to discuss the circumstances surrounding her reconciliation with Harry, either. It was unfortunate that a moment of vulnerability had become a rumor around school. Ariadne had half a mind to curse Seamus Finnegan, but she knew the fault was really her own.

Taffy appeared in the center of the room, waving her spindly fingers at the two girls in a hurried motion. "The table has been set for dinner, Misses, and Mistress Elora asked that Taffy retrieve the young Misses. No pyjamas, please, says Mistress Elora, for there is a very special guest."

Taffy popped away before either girl could answer, arriving in Daphne's room down the hall by the sounds of it.

Astoria shrugged at Ariadne's questioning look before walking into her closet. Ariadne grabbed a cream sweater dress out of her overnight bag, having changed into a pyjama set Tori threw at her the moment that they entered her room. Astoria had donned a matching one herself, a sunny yellow to Ariadne's pale blue, and Ariadne wondered then if they'd be expected to change for dinner. It never would have been a question at the Manor, lest she face the wrath of Narcissa, and dinners were always the most formal affair of all. Especially when there was a guest. Ariadne didn't expect Elora would require any dress robes, at least.

This assumption was vindicated when Astoria stepped out in a simple but finely tailored skirt and top, pale pink to match the clips in her hair.

"Are you ready?" Tori asked, and Ariadne straightened from buckling the strap on her shoes and nodded. "Fab!"

Astoria moved through her door, chattering away. "I asked Taffy for a bolognese tonight, but mum's got Daphne off carbs. And of course, if Heir Daphne can't eat it then none of us can, because–"