(Trigger warning: there is a scene within this chapter that may be sensitive for some readers. Please read at your own discretion.)
Eve
After classes that same day, I went down to the lake to sit with Neville, Luna, and Ginny. I was already feeling nervous about meeting Blaise later tonight, so I needed to be distracted before I could back out of it. Meeting with them helped me stop worrying so much about what Blaise wanted to talk about—to be honest, I still had no idea what it could be.
The four of us laid around by the lake and watched the sunset before heading back inside to eat dinner, and I separated with them to eat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. Not many people were seated around because of the Quidditch practice, so I got to eat in peace for the first time in a while.
By the time I made it back to the common room, it was still pretty early in the evening, so I knew the practice wouldn't be over for a couple more hours. To keep myself busy, I headed up to the girls' dormitory to work on the Divination homework Trelawney had given us for tomorrow.
Unfortunately, Pansy was already working in our dormitory. She was sprawled out across her bed, lying on her stomach as she looked over her notes with an extremely bored expression. I entered the common room a bit uneasily, hoping she wouldn't even look up at me.
But Pansy did glance up when I dropped my bag onto my bed, and I could feel her watching me from across the small room. I pretended not to notice, getting out my Divination textbook and pulling out a piece of parchment.
I was just sitting down when Pansy finally decided to ask nosily, "Where've you been all afternoon?"
"Um...down by the lake," I replied, leaning back against the headboard with the notes on my lap. I flipped through the textbook slowly, asking a bit suspiciously, "Why?"
"Just...wondering," Pansy said coolly, her quill between her teeth as she watched me carefully.
An awkward silence ensued, while I desperately tried to pretend that Pansy wasn't full-out staring at me. After a minute of this I finally slapped my book down and snapped, "What?"
Pansy raised an eyebrow, then asked bluntly, "What's up with you and Zabini?"
I felt my mouth open and close for a moment before I could finally think of a response. "What do you mean?" I stammered. "Nothing. Nothing's up."
I couldn't control the blush that rose to my cheeks, and I knew Pansy had noticed by the look she gave me. She finally looked away, not bothering to hide her smirk.
Letting out an annoyed sigh, I propped my book up against my knees and just tried to pretend Pansy wasn't even there anymore. I dipped my quill into the ink pot to start on the first question, not wanting to know what Pansy had been grinning about.
For the next two hours, Pansy didn't look up at me again and was gracious enough not to ask me any more annoying questions. By the time I finished the Divination homework, it was close to eleven and both Millicent and Pansy were asleep. As quietly as I could, I packed up my work and shoved my bag back under my bed, wanting to get downstairs to see if Blaise was back yet.
My stomach felt twisted with nerves as I descended the stairs down to the common room, yawning only a little bit. I always had trouble sleeping and usually stayed up late, but I hadn't been able to sleep much at all last night. But by the time I turned the corner into the common room, I forgot all about being tired.
Blaise was seated in front of the stone fireplace, and he looked over the back of the couch and gave me a grin. "Hey, I was starting to think you bailed."
"No way," I told him, coming around the side of the couch and seating myself beside him. "I would've come down sooner if I knew you were back already."
"No big deal," Blaise said, spreading his arms wide across the back of the couch. "Practice ended early anyway. Were you sleeping?"
I shook my head, hoping my eyes didn't betray how tired I was. "I was doing work. Did you get that load of Divination homework?"
Blaise shrugged and gave an arrogant smile. "Yeah, but I'm not doing it. Divination is barely even a class, so who cares?"
I laughed at that, and then there was a long moment where I watched the green flames and felt Blaise's eyes on me. I finally turned to look at him and smiled, "What did you want to talk about?"
He shrugged and told me, "I dunno."
It was only then that I looked down and realized he was suddenly just a couple inches from me. I could feel my cheeks growing hot for the second time this evening, wishing I was better at disguising it.
"But I've been wanting to say," Blaise said with a small smirk, "I'm really glad you're in Slytherin, Eve."
"Oh," I said, giving him a small smile in return. I didn't want to say anything else, because I still wasn't sure if I would ever be glad to be in Slytherin.
The green fire was casting dark shadows on Blaise's face, making his pale eyes stand out even in the darkness of the common room. The only sound in the room was our breathing, and I realized Blaise was looking down at my lips.
And then I realized his hand was on my thigh.
I was leaning away slightly before I even knew it, and Blaise was telling me, "It's okay."
But I suddenly wasn't sure if any of this was okay anymore.
~*~
Draco
I was changing in the locker room right after practice ended when I realized I hadn't seen Zabini in a while.
As I tossed my muddy shirt into the locker and tugged out my jacket, I leaned back and called to Flint, "Hey, where's Zabini? Did he skip out again, I told him not to—"
"No, he left early," Flint said, pulled his shirt over his head.
I shrugged my jacket on and paused, asking carefully, "Why? I would've left early too if I knew you'd let me."
"Nice," Flint said dryly as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "I let him off this one time. Said he had to talk to someone."
Despite myself, I tensed up and hesitated in pulling my bag out of the gym locker. "What the hell? Did he say who?"
"Dunno, some girl," Flint replied, not even bothering to look at me. He smirked then, adding cheekily, "I think we both know what he's up to. Better take our time getting back to the common room—"
"Are you kidding?" I asked darkly, my bag completely forgotten halfway out of the locker. Flint glanced up at the tone of my voice, looking across the bench at me.
"What's the big deal? You've been acting pretty weird lately, Malfoy—"
"Is it the Hawkings girl?" I snapped, cutting him off. "Is it?"
Flint glanced away, completely avoiding my hard gaze. Finally he said carefully, "He told me not to say anything—"
But I didn't get to hear the rest of his sentence; I slammed my locker shut and stormed out of the room without pausing to think.
I practically sprinted back up to the castle, stalking through the Entrance Hall and taking the stairs down to the dungeon two at a time. All I could think about was what Zabini was doing right now, knowing what he was doing with Eve—because this had happened too many times for me to think he was doing anything else.
When I finally reached the Slytherin common room, I spat the password and impatiently waited for the portrait to open. I stumbled through and slammed open the door on the other side, looking up and praying I was wrong.
I wasn't.
Zabini was starting to lean over Eve on the couch, one hand on her shoulder and the other on her thigh. He was telling her, "It's okay", but she was trying to lean away and her eyes were glistening under the light from the fire. Even from where I was standing, I could hear her say in a small voice, "Wait—"
And then my vision was dark and I was starting across the room, saying angrily, "Get the fuck off her, Zabini—"
He leaned away immediately and the two of them looked over at me, and I watched as Zabini's face twisted into anger at the sight of me. As I rounded the corner of the couch he snapped, "What the actual fuck—"
My hand was grabbing his shirt collar before I could stop myself, and then I was pulling him off of Eve and doing everything I could not to punch him. I forced out through gritted teeth, "What the hell are you playing at? Did you not hear her say to wait—?"
I could hear Eve starting to cry as Zabini reached up and tried to push me off of him, and I heard her choke out, "Malfoy—"
"Will you fucking let go of me? I wasn't doing shit, Malfoy," Zabini spat, completely ignoring Eve as she cried and shakily stood up from the couch. "Jesus Christ, calm down. We were fine, she was okay with—"
And then my elbow was back and my right hand was tightened into a fist, seconds away from punching him. Zabini flinched and Eve cried out, "Wait, don't—"
"She was not okay with it," I roared, completely forgetting that the entire Slytherin house was just upstairs sleeping. "Are you fucking blind, Zabini? She said wait, for fuck's sake—"
"Malfoy, get the hell off of me—"
Eve was really crying then, and I finally looked over at her to see that she had her arms wrapped around herself as she cried. I tried not to yell as I told her, "Go upstairs. Now."
When she didn't move, I snapped, "Now."
And then she finally turned away, stumbling for the stairs and holding her stomach like she was about to be sick. As soon as she disappeared, Zabini was tearing my hands away from his collar and hissing, "What the fuck is your problem, Malfoy?"
I backed away from him, breathing heavily, and felt my vision slowly beginning to clear now that Eve was out of the room. As Zabini stood up, I said darkly, "You know what, Zabini. I know what you were doing, and you're lucky I got here before—"
"What do you mean, 'I'm lucky'?" Blaise cut me off hotly, looking at me like I'd gone mad. "She was fine. I don't get it, it's not like this is the first time you've known about—"
"She told you to wait," I snapped, clenching both fists at my sides and desperately trying to control myself. "You heard her."
"Actually I didn't," he said, but I knew he was lying. And then he was turning away and stalking towards the boys' dormitories, saying angrily over his shoulder, "You know what? I'm gonna go upstairs and try to forgive you for this. And then I'm gonna wait until I get another chance to be alone with her, and I'm going to—"
I vaulted over the coffee table before he could finish speaking, pulling back my arm for the second time and finally releasing it to let my fist crack across his jaw.