Chapter 9:
Draco:
"Zabini." I snapped, finally looking from my essay, "If you spill my ink one more time, I will deck you."
He shrunk away from my glare, focussing on his homework again.
Stupid git.
Glancing back at my Transfiguration essay, I tightened my hold on the quill, but this time my concentration was broken by Daphne Greengrass, skipping her way to us with a ridiculously huge smile on her face. She looked like she had found the cure for Dragon Influenza.
"Daphne?" Blaise called, as she took a seat on the couch in front of us, humming to herself, "Why do you look like that?"
"Like what?" She asked, looking at the things we were working on.
"Like someone just told you you're excused from all the homework these godforsaken professors bestow upon us!" I groaned out in frustration.
She laughed, then started to pull a blank piece of parchment and an extra quill lying on the table towards her, "Oh good, I need to start the Inanimatus essay too!"
"Then get your own things!" I snapped, pulling my extra parchment back. She just snatched it back from me, giving me an angry look.
"If you let me have that I'll tell you why I'm so happy." She reasoned, I rolled my eyes.
"I don't car-"
"Sure!" Zabini cut me off hastily.
And in the split second my head turned to look at him incredulously, Daphne had started on the essay.
"So tell us!" Blaise urged her.
She looked up at us for a long moment, then she turned to me, smiling, "Carina had two servings of scrambled eggs today!"
My eyebrows went up in surprise, and a small smirk formed on my face, until my mind flashed back to last night's conversation and my mouth soured.
"That's all well and good, Daphne." Blaise said, still looking at her with expectation, "Now get on with the news will you?"
She shot him a dark look, "That is the news!"
"You're happy that Hadley had eggs for breakfast?" Zabini asked uncertainly, then shook his head as he continued, "You know people say you both are weird and I usually defend you guys..." He faltered, "But you make it so difficult!"
Daphne responded by rolling her eyes and flashing me a smirk, before she went back to her essay.
Deciding that I didn't care about Carina at the moment, I flipped through my Transfiguration text quietly, but my mind still replayed last night's conversation.
Yesterday was perfect.
For the first time in a long time, we weren't at each other's throats and actually spent time together without fighting.
How did it get so messed up in the end?
Why did I ever tell her what I thought?
It was something that would've been avoided if my sleepy mind hadn't decided to word vomit.
"So where is Carina?" Blaise's voice broke through my thoughts and my mind snapped back to the work at hand.
I looked down at my watch then, it was almost 11:30, "Oh! And how was her detention yesterday?" I asked with fake-concern.
Daphne shrugged, "You know she should be back by now..." She mused, briefly glancing at the door. But it remained firmly shut.
"I wonder what Snape's got her doing..." Zabini mused.
"Probably lines" I replied, absentmindedly.
"Snape was really pissed, I doubt it's something as easy as lines..." Zabini muttered.
Daphne shrugged, "Probably making her write another essay..." She mumbled.
And I laughed, "Well if it's that, then I think I've won the war!" I declared, triumphantly.
Blaise rolled his eyes.
"Well..." Daphne said, "I for one, wish it that that easy."
"You guys..." I started, leaning my arms behind me, "make a big deal out of not-"
"Nothing?" Daphne spat, looking up at me with narrowed eyes, "You guys were in the infirmary for a week last year!"
"After which we agreed to a peace treaty!" I reasoned.
Zabini and Daphne blanched, looking at me with wide eyes. "And that's supposed to make it all ok-"
But Daphne was cut off by a commotion near the door and all of us looked up see Carina shoving her way past a gang of first years, looking disoriented.
Daphne stood up instantly, but Carina didn't even glance around the room to look for any familiar faces like she always did, instead she stumbled her way to the dormitory doors, bumping into various other students lurking around, her face distressed and her hair a mess.
"Carina!" Daphne called just before she reached the doors leading to the dormitory staircase, and she stopped her body going rigid.
In one split second she was hurtling towards Daphne, and her body crashed into Daphne's so fiercely that Daphne stumbled back with their combined weight.
"What's..." Daphne started, but her voice shot down an octave, "What's wrong?"
Blaise and I exchanged looks as we both got up.
Carina shook her head, her eyes shut as she hugged Daphne, but Daphne wasn't hearing any of it.
"Care." Daphne whispered, pulling away to hold Carina's shoulders at arms-length, "What happened? Did Snape do anything?"
Carina face soured, before it went back to its frantic state, "He..." she started, her voice scratchy, "He..."
I walked over to them, coming to stand next to Daphne as she asked anxiously, "What did he make you do?"
Carina shook her head, "He... and mum! My parents!" she whispered frantically, running her hands through her head as if her thoughts were too scattered to make sense of, "The wedding!" She exclaimed, her words rushed, throwing her hand up in the air and then looking at Daphne with a deranged expression, "I'm not...I...I'm not...me." She stuttered, "Mum lied."
"What?" Daphne cried, holding Carina's hands down to stop her from pulling her own hair out, "Care, you need to breathe okay?"
Carina began to shake her head again, but Daphne shook her shoulders instead, "Carina," She whispered lowly, urgently.
But Carina was already opening her mouth when I decided to intervene, "Carina?" I called out softly, as I leaned close to Daphne, coming into her field of vision.
The effect was instantaneous. Carina stepped back forcefully, causing Daphne's hands to fall limply by their sides and looked up at us with a horrified expression. Her face went through lots of emotions then, from horrified to scared to guilty before it finally settled on dread.
Her hazel eyes shot back and forth between all three of us so fast that it was making me dizzy.
"Care?" Daphne tried again, reaching an arm out to Carina, and keeping her voice soft, "What's wrong?"
Carina gulped, as she fixed Daphne with an unwavering gaze, her eyes growing wider.
"Cari-"
"I vomited." Carina whispered, her guilty eyes fixed on Daphne and me.
Daphne was steering her away from us even before my brain had even begun to process what she said. My bewildered eyes followed their blonde heads as Daphne pulled her to a corner out of earshot and then turned them out of our line of sight too, a cluster of highchairs, tables and lamps obscuring our view.
"She puked?" Blaise exclaimed, making my head turn towards him, his face pale with horror, "What the fuck did Snape make her do?!"
'Mum lied.'
What?
"It's not Snape." I murmured, sighing and settling down on the nearest surface. "Didn't you listen to what she said?"
"I did!" Blaise said in a matter-of-fact tone, taking a seat next to me, both our heads turned towards Daphne and Carina's general direction. "She said she vomited, that's how fucked up whatever Snape made her do was!"
I sighed again in frustration, ready to tell Blaise that his brain is full of shit, when I realised that telling Blaise will be breaking our pact.
Fragments of our many heated arguments flashed through my mind. All the arguments we had had in this very room not so far away from where I'm sitting right now. Arguments in which we made a deal. A deal that was supposed to help Carina.
A deal she broke.
Frustration gnawed at me, my body sitting on edge, wanting nothing more than to get up and go find out what Carina was talking about.
And I almost stood up too, my head briefly glancing at Blaise to see him frowning down at his homework, but then my actions were halted as a thought came unbidden and somewhat unwarranted, If Carina wanted, she could've kept the vomiting part a secret. But she didn't.
And the more it swirled in my head the clearer it became that the only reason why Carina admitted to vomiting was to hide something else.
Something that was bigger than her problems and secrets.
What had she said again?
What the fuck was she babbling?
Something about a wedding...and her not being her?
'I'm not...me'
What did that mean?
'Mum lied.'
"Malfoy." Blaise nudged my shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts as he motioned to two highchairs in the corner. Daphne and Carina sat, Carina talking, while she wrung her hands together again and again, her face scrunched up in confusion.
As if sensing me eyes on her, she turned to me, her eyes going wide for a second before they narrowed and I could almost hear her mind whirring with all the ways she wanted to snap my head in the other direction. That almost made me smirk and I continued staring at her, our eyes locked in what seemed to be a game of who looks away first.
And we both hated losing.
It wasn't until Daphne snapped her fingers in front of Carina's face and made her blink away from me that we stopped, I laughed.
I won.
Carina shot Daphne a few choice words, angrily as she gestured towards Blaise and I staring at them shamelessly.
Daphne urged us to look away and while Blaise did so without hesitation, my eyes wandered to Carina again, her face set in anger as she challenged me to keep staring at her.
We all know I would never back down from a challenge now.
Carina shot me the finger before she turned to Daphne and resumed talking. But this time, unlike the last time, her face remained carefully blank as she kept shooting me glances out of the corner of her eyes.
Blatantly ignoring me.
"Zabini." I muttered, turning to him with an interested expression, "I think it's time we all had a talk."
Blaise raised an eyebrow at me, but I just gestured for him to follow me as I walked purposefully towards the two girls.
Its time Carina found out I'm not just messing around.
And even though she hasn't yet retaliated from the library incident, I know it's only a matter of time.
In our own twisted ways, I guess we did know each other well. It's just that we know each other's worst side a little too well.
"Girls." I pleasantly said, as I took a seat on the couch opposite to them, watching as they both fell silent upon our arrival, looking annoyed.
"I don't have the time for this right now, Malfoy." Carina ground out, her voice tight, "Go annoy someone else."
My eyes narrowed, "You now Zabini," I said, turning to him, "I think it's time Carina found out I'm not just messing around here."
Daphne and Blaise opened their mouths immediately, while Carina's eyes narrowed, her face hardening, but I would be lying if I said that her demeanour didn't change at all. In fact, she looked like she was ready to jump to her own defence at the first call, she was scared.
That just gave me more motivation.
"Draco what are you-"
"Malfoy can you just annoy someone else-"
"Carina here!" I said loudly, cutting through Blaise and Daphne, "Has something to say to you."
"What?" Blaise replied instantly, his face brightening. I swear he spends way too much time with Pansy.
"The reason why Daphne was over the moon about Carina eating two servings at breakfast was-"
"Malfoy shut up." Daphne cut me off instantly, her face draining of all colour.
"And the reason why she freaked out when Carina said she vomited was-"
"MALFOY!" Carina snapped, her eyes blazing, "Blaise! Don't listen to him-"
"She's bulimic." I finished, cutting her off and looking at her pointedly as her face masked with horror.
A beat of silence passed around us.
"I'm sorry what?" Blaise asked his eye wide with disbelief as he looked at Carina. But before I could answer or even repeat it again, Carina shot off her seat, tugged Daphne up with shaky hands and dragged her away to the girl's dormitory.
A slow satisfied smile stretched over my lips.
*
I heard Zabini exhale as he shifted in his seat. "I honestly don't even know what to say-"
"Just don't tell anybody, okay?" I interrupted him, shooting him a warning look. He nodded, looking sad.
I rubbed a hand over my face, slumping back against the cushions. We were seated on the couch facing the fireplace again, this time with our homework complete and our stomachs full with food. The Common Room was thinning out now, it was inching to late night.
My mind whirled back to the stare off Carina and I had at dinner, the amount of hostility her eyes held would have been enough to kill me if Daphne hadn't pulled her away from me and seated them away from the rest of us.
Zabini, surprisingly, covered for them very well.
I don't regret telling him Carina's secret, Blaise was my best friend, if I told him something, I knew I could trust him with it. And him covering for them just went on to prove that I was right.
Of course Carina didn't know that yet, but I was sure Daphne cornered Zabini sometime after lunch and told him to hold off the questions.
It was useless, I had already made Zabini promise not to breathe a word of this out to anybody, especially Pansy.
"You know she's going to kill you for this right?" Zabini said, looking at me seriously. I shot him an annoyed look.
"Can't go around giving out empty threats, Zabini." I said, it was true, I will never oust her secrets to everybody, but she can't know that.
It'll give her something to hold over me.
"Why are you like this?" Zabini abruptly snapped, looking at me with an annoyed expression, "You know very well that Carina and you will be great friends, why do you push her away?"
Now annoyance was shooting through my head, "Push her away?" I asked in disbelief, "That will imply that Carina is trying to come close to me, Zabini. And we both know how much she hates me."
"She hates you because you do stupid shit." He said, sagely, shaking his head," And now she's going to kill you."
I rolled my eyes, "She can try."
"You're damn fucking right I will." A voice hissed in my ear as I turned around to see Carina standing behind the couch, looking furious.
I raised an eyebrow at her, "You don't plan a murder out loud, Hadley." I advised, "It kinds of defeats the purpose..."
Her hand shot up to my face missing mine by inches as I jumped off my seat with an incredulous expression, "What the fuck, Hadley?" I yelled, stepping away from the couch as she stepped around the front of it.
"You!" she hissed, her hand fisting, her hazel eyes almost black with rage, "How dare you?!"
All the frustration and annoyance I had been harbouring with me all day suddenly seemed to have reached its limit, I was bursting with it and I needed to let it out.
Stepping closer to her, I glared at her viscously, "We had a deal." I reminded her lowly, "Do I need to remind you what a deal means?"
The fire in her eyes brightened, "I remember the deal Malfoy." She ground out, crossing her arms across her chest, "You said, I wasn't supposed to skip meals or fool Daphne into thinking I had them."
My eyes narrowed, "You never mentioned anything about vomiting it out." She finished triumphantly, her face glowing with anger and satisfaction at what I'm sure was my slackened expression.
A scene rose to the front of my mind, of Archer looking down at Carina with narrowed eyes, not looking impressed when Carina promised Blair she wouldn't skip meals.
'No vomiting the food out after eating either, Carina.' his voice rang through my head.
I instantly knew why he thought it was needed to be said.
The realization felt like a slap on my face, but Carina was smirking now.
"Always knew you were stupid." Carina scoffed "But I didn't know that you could give Crabbe and Goyle a run for their money."
"You little-"
"NO!" She yelled, smacking my chest and pushing me back, "YOU little piece of shit. I'm going to-"
"Make me regret this?" I asked impatiently, "Haven't you been doing it for a while now?"
Her face turned redder, her palm coming up to push me more, but I wrapped my fingers around her wrist smoothly. Her skin was so warm it was like her anger was steaming off it.
"You know." I whispered lowly, bending down to her ear, "For a minute I actually pitied you."
"I don't need your-"
"But I'm done doing that." I continued, my face so close to her now, I could smell her orange shampoo, "It's time you realised that I'm not playing a game." I straightened up, my eyes meeting her angry ones before I threw her hand back at her and turned around.
Leaving the Common Room as my body burned with anger and with a whiff of orange still in the air.
**