AMBIVALENCE - D. M.

5

After Dinner I headed straight to my dorm, took off my robe, and put my prefect pin on my sweater instead. It was 8:30, I didn't have much to do so I just sat on my bed for a while, mind wandering. Eventually it wandered straight to Malfoy, I wondered what he was doing, what he was thinking about. Then I picked up a book and read. At 9:45 I decided to start walking towards his office since it could take a while to get there.

As I made my way into the common room River was sitting there, "Where are you going?" I stopped, "Prefect patrol." "Oh, well have fun," he laughed. That's when Anthony Goldstein ruined everything, "Everly? Did we have patrol tonight?" "Uhm, well," I should've used a secret passage. I was quiet for a while thinking of something trying to put a embarrassed face on, "Ok, I actually have detention because bloody Malfoy blew up our potion today." He looked at me weirdly, "Ok? Why did you lie about that?" "Well.. I was embarrassed I guess? I really have to go." 

Malfoy was leaning against one of the walls, he wasn't wearing his robe, his tie was loose, sleeves rolled up, and his hair ruffled. He seemed agitated or, annoyed? "You're late." I rolled my eyes, "You didn't give me a specific time, It's impossible for me to be late." He scoffed and muttered, "Bloody Ravenclaws." "Come on," I said, guiding him out of the bathroom.

"Do you know the password?" "Bloody men." "What?" I sighed, "Sherbert Lemon?" The griffin didn't move. "Acid Rocks?" The griffin didn't move again. Malfoy smiled, "Bloody women." I rolled my eyes, "Dumbledore?" "Please you can't be that desperate." "I don't see you helping." "Well it can't possibly be his name, and it's usually some sort of candy." "Cockroach clusters?" The ground started rumbling and the griffin started moving. I almost fell over and would have if it weren't for Malfoy. He caught me by grabbing my arm. "Thanks." He nodded and started towards the stairs.

Once we reached his office Malfoy said, "Let's split up and look for it, it's probably concealed somehow." I nodded. I walked towards his desk when the floor started to rumble again. "Malfoy! I think I've found it." He started walking towards me when the pensieve came out of the wall. "Do you want to extract your memory or should I?" "I'll do it," Malfoy stated. He brought his wand to his temple and began to remove the memory.

When the memory was fully in the pensieve we glanced at each other before immersing ourselves into the liquid.

Suddenly we were both back in the potions classroom watching us argue about peppermint. I was reading the text and said,"We should add one then if nothing happens add two."
"We should just add two."
"The book says at most two therefore we should add one first."
"You're unbelievable."
"I'm unbelievable? You have to argue with me about everything."
"You have to argue with me about everything!"

The present Malfoy said, "Look here comes Snape." He checked Pansy and Blaise's potion then walked over to ours. He pulled out a vile from his coat pocket and poured it into our potion. "Merlin's beard." Our surroundings turned dark and we were suddenly brought back into reality. Malfoy ran his fingers through his hair and looked at me with disbelief, "Why? He obviously knew what he was doing, I mean unless he was cursed. He must've known we would blame each other, knew we would have argued." "I love having something to count on." He laughed and so did I. "I don't think he was cursed, you kind of act robotic when you're under the imperius curse, and why would someone want us to argue, get detention, and blow up our poti-."

Dumbledore walked into his office, Malfoy and I became rigid. "Ms. Potter? Mr. Malfoy?" We looked at each other and stumbled over grammerless sounds. He lowered his head and looked at us judgingly, "Next time you want to use the pensieve, all you have to do is ask. Now it's best you two go back to your dorm and go to sleep. You don't want any other teacher to catch you." We walked out of his office with our heads to the ground. We were silent as we walked down the stairs and towards our houses.

I looked at him opening my mouth to say something when we heard footsteps. I must hand it to Malfoy for his quick reflexes as he reacted much quicker than I. He grabbed my arm and dragged me into the nearest classroom. We were in the same exact position we were in earlier except Malfoy wasn't threatening me. He was holding his pointer finger up to his mouth to hear the person walking, Snape, was talking to someone.

"Yes, it worked. They argued enough for me to eventually grant them the study sessions." Malfoy and I were staring into each other's eyes trying to silently figure out who he was talking to or why he was saying what he was saying. Then someone else said something, it sounded like, "Good, hopefully this will cause them to earn each other's respect. We need them."

Dumbledore. Malfoy's face was a mix of shock and confusion, I could guess mine wasn't much different. Malfoy broke the silence, "What the fuck just happened." "This whole day was filled with confusion and madness, I'm not exactly surprised Dumbledore was behind it." He looked at me funny. "What?" "You're not at all wondering why Snape and Dumbldore need us, Why they caused the arguing, the explosion?" "Of course I'm curious, Malfoy, I'm just saying that it's not crazy to think that Dumbledore caused all of today."

He started pacing around the room, running his fingers through his hair again. "Do you always do that?" His eyes met mine, "Do what?" "Run your fingers through your hair when you're thinking. You do it all the time in potions and our other classes, as well as earlier in Dumbledore's office. I'm sure I've seen you do it last year and the years before."

He smirked, "Watching me Potter?" "Noticing," I corrected. He scoffed, walked around still presumably thinking, then he sighed and said, "It's a habit I picked up in, third year I think." We were looking at each other, I think he was expecting me to say something. I think I was expecting me to say something but I didn't. He said, "We should probably get back to our dorms." I nodded. I started fiddling with my hands. We walked in silence for a while until he said,

"Do you always do that?" I looked up at him and he was smiling. "Do what?" "Fiddle with your hands when you're thinking. I'm sure I've seen you do it before," he laughed, mocking me. I laughed quietly, "I think I picked it up, third year coincidentally." When we reached the stairs we separated.

"Bye Everly."