Choice's Curse {d.m.}

Confusion and Jealousy

Though it had been a terrible two days, I found myself wanting to accept his offer, so I did, a bit excited about maybe having some fun, letting some stress out. "I'd love to."

Dean's face brightened as I answered. "Wicked! It's in an empty classroom on the third floor, y'know the big one by the painting of that creepy troll?"

I nodded, recalling that that was sometimes a hang-out spot of some of the other students in my year.

"It's there at nine, and you have to do this weird knock so that the door will let you in," Dean explained, and demonstrated the knock. "It's actually a rather brilliant bit of magic, in my opinion. Pretty sure it was the work of one of the Weasley twins."

That made me let out a light giggle. That definitely did not surprise me at all, knowing Fred and George. As wild as they may have been, the two of them were wicked smart when it came to a lot of magic. Mrs. Weasley continuously nagged them about how they needed to apply themselves in school, but after their grand exit last year, I was confident that, as they claimed, their talents did indeed lie elsewhere.

"And just show up in whatever you'd like," Dean added. "It's nothing formal, just a bit of fun."

"Sounds wonderful, and thank you for everything, Dean. I'll see you later!" I told him, and he waved goodbye as we went our separate ways, the school day having just finished.

Joining the rushing crowd of students heading to their dorms after a long week, I made my way to the Ravenclaw tower, the amount of students thinning out as I neared closer. I figured I had about four or so hours before I even needed to start getting ready, but I had no clue what to do with all my extra time until then. As I rounded a corner, I felt a hand grab the strap of my bag and yank me back, making me gasp in surprise. My stomach sunk as soon as his cologne hit me; I don't think, for the rest of my life, that I'd be able to get that particular scent out of my head.

Malfoy's statuesque face whirled into view as he turned me around, the hallway around us vacant. My heart pounded dangerously fast in my chest, and it felt hard to swallow as I looked up at him. Subconsciously, I tucked my injured hand behind my back, not wanting him to see how him leaving had affected me the night before.

"Where the fuck were you?" Malfoy demanded, his grip still tight on the strap of my bookbag, as if he were afraid I was going to run away, which did sound rather appealing right now. My back was to the empty hallway behind me, making me feel incredibly exposed even though it was just the two of us there.

I swallowed. "When?" I asked, sounding stupid even to my own ears.

"During Potions, you damn idiot," Malfoy clarified, and I kicked myself mentally, though it rather surprised me that he had noticed my absence.

"None of your business," I told him, because it wasn't, and I didn't want to go into the fact that I had been too scared to show up.

Malfoy's face tightened, and he blew air out of his nose, clearly aggravated. "Yes it is, Adler. Where were you?"

"No, it isn't, Malfoy," I replied, trying to free my bag from his grasp by tugging the strap gently.. "I don't see why you care, anyways."

Malfoy wouldn't let go, and I felt exasperation rise in my chest. His face was blank, entirely unreadable, but his eyes were scanning mine as though they held some sort of hidden truth that he desperately wanted to know.

"Just tell me," Malfoy demanded, his voice low, yet still full of insistence. "You never skip classes. You're too much of a teacher's pet for that."

"I am not a teacher's pet," I argued back, giving up on prying his hand from my bag. "And I've skipped before, but your head was probably just too far up your own ass to notice, you prick." It wasn't entirely a lie; I had skipped before, but only once, and I found that it really wasn't fun enough to risk doing it again.