"You've got to be kidding me," I exclaimed, pushing him off. I could barely see him in the dark under the alcove. But I knew it was him. And I knew he was close. "What? You mean to tell me you've been waiting under here this whole time waiting for me to show up."
"I'm not that dramatic. It doesn't take much to pay off the portrait of those scientists in the common room to keep an eye out on the fifth corridor. They told me you were coming. Not before you had a little chat with Potter."
"And what about it?" I hissed. "If we're going to talk about this tonight, let's get it all out now, shall we? Do you want to know what I said to Harry?"
"Not especially. I would have thought you would have at least avoided him for me, but it seems you can't even do that much."
"I won't slight Harry when's he's been such a good teacher."
"But why? Why would you lie to participate in such waste of time? You knew the risks. How it looks-"
"Now I do. And it did little help to have you scare me like that earlier about expulsion." He rolled his eyes and stepped back before regarding me in a measured way.
"I was trying to help you. A simple thank you could have been appreciated."
"A thank you?" I retaliated. "Oh yes, because as you dragged me to the one witch how truly belongs in Azkaban, the one thing I should have had on my mind is to tell you thank you!" I turned my back on him and released a low sigh before adding in an undertone. "And then there was that stupid fear in my chest about getting expelled..."
"But you didn't," Draco pointed out, and I felt him step closer so that I could feel the warmth of his breath on my neck. I turned slowly around saw I was right. "You listened to me, didn't you?"
"Don't flatter yourself," I whispered back. "I know how to name drop as well as any blue blood. It was easy."
"And yet you're still willing to listen to me," He added in a similar edge. I stepped back from him but felt that I was by the wall.
Oh brilliant, not again.
"What more is there to say? It's not like this should be surprising to you," I said in finality. I didn't want to open another can of worms with him. My hand hurt and I was exhausted. I just wanted to go to bed.
"Actually," he said, with a line of tension. " I thought you were beginning to figure it out." He was looking away from me as he said it. It wasn't often to have Draco admit faults like that. "But you're still just naïve."
"Just because I don't share the same views as you does not make me naïve." Those grey eyes of his snapped back on me in an instant and I saw pure anger ranging through.
"You don't know the first thing about what's happening around us, do you?" He snapped. He took a step closer to me. "You just read what's in that French rag to feel clever-"
"I read Le monde because at least it's not blanket cover propaganda of Fudge's ego!"
"But you still don't seem to get what's happening. What our families are doing-- how this world really is? You're just playing in a fantasy. And it's my fault for letting you go on in it for this long. I should have told you earlier..."
"Told me what?" I snapped, pushing myself off the wall and coming at him. "That your daddy hates Dumbledore for kicking him off the Hogwarts's board or was it from past grievances of their past dealings when You-Know-Who was first in power? Or maybe," I lingered, standing up to my fullest so that I felt like I was meeting him eye to eye. "It's about your family's self-prejudice for pure-bloods. Do you want to get into that lovely topic about your Aunt who just escaped Azkaban?"
He automatically grabbed my hands that I had aimed at his chest and pushed me away from him, to the wall with a force that made my arm throb terribly.
"Who told you about my Aunt?"
"Who do you think?" I retorted. "I warned you about Nott as a friend. He's had it out for you behind the scenes since I visited at Beauxbatons. Probably even before that when he saw me that summer. If he had it his way, he'd take everything you have of value just to feel something worthwhile. Why do you think he's been back and forth between me and Pansy?"
He stopped to look at me again for a moment, but it was different than before. He wasn't staring at my face, or me even. His mind had gone off somewhere and his gaze had glazed. But he snapped out of it just as quickly as he had entered it.
"You pretty easily swayed by Nott, aren't you? Always listening to what he says," he started and again, we walked over to me. "Never batting an eye when he flirts around you and goes for your attention-"
"What are you getting at?" I cut him short.
He stopped in front of me and looked down at me in such a way that I had to hold back myself from swallowing.
"Don't act so high in mighty on placing the blame just on Nott. We all know you like the attention he gives you."
"Why you-" I went to slam my hands again at his chest, not to exactly hurt him but to push him away. However, this time, he managed to catch my left arm squarely in one hand, sending a ripple of pain that made me yelp and tare his hand away.
"What did you do?" He tried to grab my hand but I hit his arm away and side stepped him as he tried again.
"Lumos". His wand lit up the space, showing Draco staring wide eyed at me, over a short distance. He was pale, and his hair had been racked through anxiously probably while waiting for me to come back. And most importantly, I saw how stark those grey eyes of his paled against him.
But he wasn't caring about his appearance now. His eyes were staring at my left hand that I held at the wrist. He shown his light at his own hand and to my horror I saw a line of blood on his palm.
"What happened?" he demanded stepping closer. I moved to hide my hand behind my back like a child, but he saw it coming and grabbed my wrist and flipped my cloak sleeve back revealing the message imbedded in my hand. He stilled at the sight and I watched his expression tighten up in disgust.
"Still going to defend, Umbridge are you?" I asked in deadly quiet whisper. "Because this is what you stand behind." He looked back at me with a loss of words and quickly dropped his gaze as he released my arm.
He made me stop as a thought crossed my mind.
"You knew, didn't you? That she does this—that she was going to do this if I escaped expulsion. That's why you had those portraits monitoring the fifth floor instead of the seventh."
"So what?" Draco inclined in a steady voice, looking up. I could see he was still upset by my hand but I must have hit a nerve. He was angry enough to fight me back after all. "Like you said, you don't need my help, nor would you have listened if I warned you of this-"
"But you could have warned me," I whispered.
"And then what?" He argued. "Would you have tried to escape? She'd just come after you. It's not like you can hide. Most of the Inquisitor Squad is made up of our house. Dumbledore can barely manage now that Fudge is backing Umbridge in all her requests-"
"Dumbledore is no longer at Hogwarts," I stated, feeling my exhaustion at last. My hand did not help, as it throbbed faster than before. I wrapped it back up as I held my breath to cover another wince.
"He's what?"
"You heard me," I mumbled, turning away.
"Ava- you know what this means then..."
"What? By all means, if you think I'm so naïve do me the honors of enlightening me."
"It means she's going to take over as Headmistress," Draco explained, cutting my dramatics short. I stared at him for a moment as the news sunk in. I felt the tip of his fingers cross a whisp of my hair by my ear before lingering by the nap of my neck. He pulled me gently towards him and for a moment I let him. I felt his hair brush my forehead as he bent his head toward me and for a moment it was just us.
Was this how it always going to be between us? One day we're happy and the next we were at each other's necks.
"She'll expel you. But not if you change things. I can help-"
And there it was. Exactly what I needed to hear.
I raised my hand to his chest and slowly pushed him back, never losing his gaze.
"Don't you dare," I began, stepping back from him, "try to play off controlling what I do as an excuse to help me. I won't do it."
I ducked out of the alcove and started for the common room as I heard him call after me. I paused in my step as he quickly disiluminated his wand and followed me out from under the alcove.
"Ava..."
"I don't want any part of this anymore," I started with another wince and I surprised myself by feeling my throat start to chock up. Why now?
"You've made it clear that when loyalties are tested you'll always take their side instead of think about what I may have to say. I'm done."
"Ava, don't," He said, reaching for my hand again. This time, he stopped himself just in time as I wheeled back, hiding it from him again, I took another step toward the common room.
"You know my family in France is worried about me. And my brothers. They think my father is involved in whatever darkness has descended in Britain. And at first, I actually didn't believe them. Because I did trust you. Odd as it was, when my cousin told me of your family's involvement with You-Know-Who my first reaction was to defend you."
I felt a sort of pleasure in how this news hit Draco.
"But now I feel like the idiot for doing so. I can see now that you're going to turn out just like your ancestors. You and all that pureblood madness. I won't be a part of that."
He didn't call after me this time as I walked off. I threw everything I had in that last sentence and I saw it hit it's mark before I turned. I had rendered him speechless and I saw him falter.
My entrance back to the common room was a silent one, where thankfully I saw only the like of my brother waiting up. When he saw my hand, he too didn't know what to say, but he took it better than Draco.
"We've got to tell Mamen about this. She could put Umbridge in her place and you know it."
"I don't think so, Theo." I cleared my throat as I felt my throat start to let up finally. "Mamen may be tough but even she can't go against the Minister of Magic."
"But this is borderline torture," my brother exclaimed, turning to my hand. "You should go see Madam Pomphrey."
"No."
"Or at least let's see if she can give you something for the pain, it's awful Ava-"
"I'm not going anywhere," I snapped, making my brother go silent. "I'm sorry but I'm tired. I've had it. I just escaped expulsion, I've had to deal with Umbridge and her silent cues for hours not to mention Draco-"
"What about him?" My brother asked, going still. "I saw him leave the common room. Was he waiting for you? Where is he?"
"Enough," I cautioned, seeing my brother's jaw set as he looked to the portal. "I don't need any more drama for the night. Just go to bed. We'll all talk tomorrow. I need to check on Sam." At the mention of my friend, my brother turned back to me solemnly and finally nodded.
"Do that. She's dead stressed about what they did to Alice. I guess Crabbe managed to get to her before Sam was in sight. She was dragged back to her common room by someone in the inquisitor squad. Don't know who yet, but Sam's got vengeance on them."
I didn't need another reason to rush upstairs to the girls dorm. Sam was still up, as were Kennedy, Ebony and Diana. Tati was there too, snuggled in Sam's bed holding Oliver in her arms while Sam sat in bed next to her with a deep frown. The other girls across the room weren't in bed yet either, as if aware that something truly terrible had just happened.
My entrance only seemed to clarify it once Sam shot up out of bed and bear hugged me.
"I thought you got expelled for sure. Thank Merlin you didn't!"
"It's okay," I comforted, as I gratefully accepted the hug.
"You're hand!" Tati said, catching sight of my hand on Sam's back. Sam released me immediately and grabbed both of my hands and turned them back to front until she saw it.
"Don't," I warned, not wanting another scene from another person. "It's done."
"But it's got to hurt, Ava. You should go see Pomphrey."
"No. Not tonight." I didn't need to say his name for her to get it. A look of understand crossed Sam's eyes as she read my face and then turned back to my hand in complex thought.
"You didn't see Alice there, did you?"
"No. Only Harry and Marietta and I got this punishment. What about you two?"
"We were sent straight back to the common room," Tati explained, sitting up from bed. She released Oliver from her grasp, who had been struggling the moment he caught sight of me and bounded across the room until he was right by my legs.
"They have all our names," I confirmed. "So there will be punishment, I'm sure. Umbridge might as well have said as much as I left."
"Then we better prepare," Sam concluded.
"I might be able to help with that."
The pair of us turned to the other end of the room where Diana sat, looking out from her bed, with a book in her hands that she had since given up on pretending to read.
"My brother sent me a potion recipe on how to remedy Umbridge's marks. I can help make it for you if you'd like."
"You'd do that?" Sam questioned unnerved.
"Well, Di isn't exactly the best potion's maker but together we might be able to do something," Kennedy confirmed. Ebony nodded as if this was her idea.
Sam gave me a questionable look at this odd form of charity but I took them up on it. "Thank you."
It was remarkable just how fast the three Slytherins pulled together their potion's ingredients, cauldron, and match set together in the middle of the room before the brewing commenced. All the while, Oliver kept running his head against my leg with frequent meows of protest until I joined the girls by the cauldron and let the cat sit in my lap and purr affectionately at me.
"Oh Olly, of all times to go soft on me," I said as the cat kneed his head into my chest.
"I thought your cat hated you," Diana admitted, glancing at my cat curiously. Ebony was chopping at a thyme thread while Kennedy got the fire going under the cauldron.
"He only acts that way to get attention," Sam explained, joining us around the cauldron. Tati walked over and sat down next to me and took my hand in both of hers to get a better look.
"That woman is a monster," she said in a restrained voice that made the rest of us stay silent for a beat.
"What happened exactly?" It was Kennedy who asked and it sent Ebony and Diana to turn on their friend as if she had broached the topic against their plans. "What?" She responded to them. "It's not like we don't already have an idea." She turned to me. "Umbridge caught you and your friends at something bad. Bad enough to risk expulsion and gain you this instead in the middle of the night. Somethings going on."
"We don't have to tell you-" Sam began but I had already made up my mind to respond truthfully.
"It's not like they won't hear it all over school tomorrow." Sam stopped as I went on. "Umbridge caught us in a group that practiced spells like a normal D.A. class. She didn't like it."
"Wait, like, using your wand?" Ebony clarified. I nodded.
"It was really cool actually," Tati added with a flare of gushing. "We learned all sorts of defense spells and I even managed to produce a patronus."
"A patronus?" Diana repeated with a line of jealousy. "That's impossible."
"Are you calling my sister a liar?" Sam questioned in a low voice. I gave her a look to cool down but Diana backed down.
"Here," She said, pointing to a portion of the parchment her friends were reading over. "Add the spleen slowly while turning clockwise. Otherwise it's turns to toffee and then it's no good."
"You sound oddly educated in this potion," Sam said after a moment. "How did your brother get this exactly?"
"He got detention once for protecting a second year who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Ever since the Inquisitor Squad took power, a lot of us have started to get in trouble. Maybe less so us in Slytherin, but Henry has been in trouble a few times now."
"I was wondering why you weren't part of the cult," Sam responded bluntly and to Diana's credit she released a hint of a smile.
"Yeah I gave up on Pansy a while ago. She didn't take too well to my showing up to the Yule Ball," she added leisurely.
"You were at the Ball?" Tati questioned, sounding impressed. Sam seemed to deflate at the news, remembering well enough of her roommate blabbing about being asked.
"Yeah, well, Pansy didn't want anyone younger to show up but I did anyway and she wasn't too kind about it. Granted, if I remember correctly she had a pretty lousy night too. So she was taking that out on me as well."
"It wasn't fair of her to do that," Kennedy said back kindly. "You've been so much happier since ditching her."
"Good for you Diana," I complemented the girl, as she turned to watch the contents of the cauldron come together. She pushed back a wave of her hair with that same ostentatious air I had remembered from back on the train during my first year. I guess not all things change.
When the salve was ready, Ebony brought it over to me and had me dip my hand straight into the pot.
"It'll be hot but I think you'll be pleased enough with it," Diana explained as she watched me do just that.
It was a miracle salve. I immediately relaxed as the throbbing stopped and the ache dissolved. My skin was still red but it looked healthier already.
"Best to keep your hand in their as long as you can," Diana explained as the others watched my hand in the potion. "My brother said that the moment you take your hand out, it'll hurt though usually not as bad as before."
"Thank you Diana."
She nodded again before standing up to help her friends who were beginning to clear the ingredients away. Tati was gently petting Oliver on my lap as Sam gave me another look.
"Later," I whispered as she mouthed Malfoy to me. "I'm too tired to talk about it now." She nodded and that was that. We spent the next hour sitting there together and watching the dark water out the window swirl slowly and release bubbles up to the surface below.
It was a calming way to end such a chaotic day.
-
Hello there,
I hope your week has been going well. And for those in the US, happy super bowl sunday!
I chose this morning between study breaks to proof-read the chapter and honestly, all it did was want me to stop studying and start writing. But I can't and that hurts!!
I'll see you on Wednesday :)
-WG-