SALEM ᵈ ᵐᵃˡᶠᵒʸ

xvii. Detention

I laughed humorously and glared back. "Like you're such a saint saying that, looking at the type of sort you put up with," I said. "All of you lot have nothing better to do with your lives than to bully other people. It's pathetic!"

Draco gritted his teeth. "Another word, Lovett, and I'll—"

"You'll what?" I shot back, letting my anger control my unstoppable words. "Run up to the Astronomy Tower and hide your tears again?"

Draco staggered back as if something shot him in the chest.

I heaved heavily and glared at his face, feeling the angry wave slowly transform into still waters until it just evaporated.

As I stared up at Draco, the feeling was almost immediately replaced by guilt. It dawned upon me how the weight of my words seemed to affect him.

He looked at me with an unreadable expression. His face was guarded, his jaw clenched tightly, even ticking a few times, and his nostrils flared.

His eyes looked darker than they usually were, despite us standing in an open corridor where the sun poured in. Something else flashed in them, an emotion I recognized as hurt.

I blinked repeatedly as the glare and scowl slipped from my face.

"I. . ." I said weakly.

The corridor grew cold, the air around us felt like it was staring at me icily. I resisted the urge to shiver under my robes in spite of standing right where the sun's rays were hitting my figure.

He regarded disdainfully, looking down at me as if I was nothing but dirt on the soles of his shoe. Maybe I was, because that's how I felt.

"Draco. . .I didn't mean. . ."

He only told me one thing that made chills run down my back. 

"Detention, Lovett. In an hour with Umbridge."

I blanched. "Wait a minute—"

"As a part of the Inquisitorial Squad I have direct orders from the Headmistress herself," he said flatly.

I gulped, remembering just how Umbridge does her detentions. "But—"

Before I could utter another word, Draco gave me one last cold glare and walked away, leaving me in an empty corridor with nothing but a guilty conscience.

I had no other choice. After all, classes just finished which means that I was detention-bound sooner or later.

Breaking away from my trance-like state, it took a few minutes and some breathing exercises to gather my thoughts together. 

Breathe in, breathe out.

The first thing I needed to do was get to Umbridge's office first, then think about my impending doom.

My legs felt like jell-o as I walked down the corridor. I could feel the blood thumping through my ears, my palms clammy with sweat. I hastily wiped them on my robes, clutching the fabric as I willed myself to walk faster.

There was either a fifty-fifty chance that Draco knows about the type of detentions Umbridge puts students through. The only person who I knew who fell victim to her punishments were Harry, but that was it.

Oh, how lucky I am to be the second person this year! Clearly, sarcastically speaking.

At least it wasn't every week, or everyday. But even that didn't make me feel better.