ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴅʀᴀᴛᴛᴇᴅ ʟɪʟᴀ ʜᴏʟᴍᴇꜱ || ᴅʀᴀᴄᴏ ᴍᴀʟꜰᴏʏ x ᴏᴄ || ʏᴇᴀʀꜱ 1-3

study group

She nodded in Malfoy's general direction, though she'd been talking about both him and Seamus. He looked terribly annoyed by this, but only sighed in exasperation.

"Blaise, you can stay if you behave yourself." He warned. "If not, I won't hesitate to put you in a full Body Bind, and Longbottom can tell you how unpleasant those are firsthand."

Neville swallowed. I'd talked with him personally about the study group away from Dean and Seamus, just to make sure he'd be okay with it. He agreed, as long as I kept Malfoy in check.

"Sorry to bring that up," Malfoy almost seemed to read my mind, because he quickly backpedaled. "Not my finest moment."

It wasn't the greatest apology, but Neville didn't seem entirely ready to forgive either. Instead, he agreed with a wry smile. "You've had better."

The tension eased away, and finally we started to actually get to work. Neville helped Pansy with Herbology. Dean and Malfoy and I worked hard at Arithmancy and consulted Pansy when we needed assistance. Zabini and Seamus were working on some kind of Transfiguration, the nature of which I wasn't sure. Every attempt dissolved into Zabini teasing him and Seamus lighting his wand or his quill on fire.

"I didn't realize you had such a temper," Zabini remarked, casually putting out another flame for him.

"Some people have a real talent for bringing it out," Seamus bit back behind clenched teeth.

Zabini only laughed and told him to try again. Apparently he was really good at Transfiguration, but when I asked, Pansy declared that she refused to ask him for assistance.

"A general cookbook would be more helpful," she muttered to me. Looking back at my parchment, she added, "and check your equation here. Where did this six come from?"

"Up my arse, probably," I said. She snorted at this and let me work it out on my own, returning to studying with Neville. I was relieved at how much she was warming up to me. I'd been starting to like her a lot myself, even before we'd started studying together. Malfoy always spoke very highly of her. I'd thought she'd been his only close friend.

But then again, he had mentioned Zabini a lot this year. Maybe they hadn't been friends before?

"Zabini," I called over, stopping him from aggravating Seamus once more. "How'd you and Malfoy become friends?"

"Oh, easy," he said over Malfoy's resulting groan, "he made a goblet blow up in McGonagall's face last year. I knew I had to befriend him."

Malfoy massaged his temples. "This is why I don't bring you anywhere."

The rest of us were cackling, though, Dean and Seamus especially.

"Damn, Malfoy," Dean snickered. "No wonder she hates you."

"It was an accident!" He protested hotly. "I don't Transfigure well under pressure, and she is by far the scariest Professor we have. Including the literal ghost."

None of us could really argue with that. We sidetracked into McGonagall horror stories before we returned to studying, now switching around subjects. I finally managed to pull Seamus away from Zabini, though the tension didn't dissipate for a while afterward.

"I wonder what their deal is," I said to Malfoy afterward. The two of us sat outside by the Black Lake, trying to enjoy the remnants of day before night arose. "Is Zabini always like this?"

"Believe it or not, he was rather shy in first year," Malfoy recalled, a fond sort of look in his eye. "But he really came out of his shell when Pansy and I started to hang around him. Maybe we gave him confidence, though clearly he doesn't need it anymore." He rolled his eyes. "Now he likes to rile as many people up as possible."