The Romance Floating in the Air - Part 2/2
Viktor, seeing her close her mouth until her lips formed a thin line, simply let out a sigh while rubbing his temple.
"Whatever. Are you okay?" he asked, lowering his tone a little, as if the crazy things this girl did day after day really didn't surprise him anymore.
"Fine, very fine, yes," Daphne said immediately with a smile. "Perfectly fine. But I still have some things to do, so..."
Viktor raised an eyebrow at Daphne's strange behavior.
Daphne started walking away from him.
"So I'll be going," she said.
"Greengrass."
Viktor stopped her immediately, never taking his eyes off her.
Damn it.
Daphne slowly turned around.
"Yes?"
"Are you avoiding me?"
"No."
The answer came out so quickly that even Daphne knew it had been a mistake.
Viktor didn't respond right away. He simply crossed his arms and studied her in silence, which was considerably worse than if he'd just accused her of lying.
Daphne remained completely serious, or at least that was what she tried to show.
"I'm not avoiding you. I mean, why would I, right?" she said with her most normal smile.
Viktor stared at her in silence for several seconds.
"I see," he finally said.
"Good. Then..."
Daphne looked like she was about to turn around and continue on her way, but before she could, Viktor spoke again.
"Then it must be a coincidence that for the past two weeks, every time you see me, you run away. Even in the Great Hall, you do everything you can to stay as far away from the professors' area as possible, and you avoid looking in that direction or, rather... in my direction," Viktor said seriously. "It's hard not to notice."
For some stupid reason, those words made Daphne feel a small flutter in her stomach.
No, no, no.
She definitely wasn't going to start thinking about that. That was exactly the kind of stupidity Hermione wanted to put into her head.
Daphne went silent again for a few seconds before she managed to say anything.
"I don't do that," she said, trying to keep a neutral expression, although it wasn't working nearly as well as she thought.
And, of course, Viktor noticed, which made him chuckle lightly.
Daphne pressed her lips together.
Annoying.
Definitely annoying.
That was the problem.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that that little smile looked far too good on him.
"Maybe I'm simply not interested in talking to you," Daphne finally said.
Viktor remained silent for a moment.
Daphne thought she noticed his expression change slightly, but it disappeared so quickly that she wasn't sure.
For some reason, she immediately felt that maybe she'd chosen her words poorly.
But it was already too late to take them back.
Viktor slowly nodded and stepped toward Daphne with a serious expression. By the time she thought to react, he was already standing right in front of her.
"Really? Then you don't have anything to say to me?" Viktor suddenly asked.
Daphne tried to keep her composure.
It was much easier when Viktor was several meters away.
Definitely much easier.
Daphne shifted her eyes to the side, but it was impossible to ignore how close Viktor was to her. The heat in her cheeks increased even more, although she tried to pretend that absolutely nothing was happening.
"No. What would I have to say to you?" she replied, although her voice came out considerably lower than she intended.
Viktor narrowed his eyes slightly.
"I don't know. Before, you never needed to have anything to say to come bother me. Or rather, to extort me. What changed?" Viktor asked.
"Well... obviously I matured," Daphne said immediately, looking straight at him, but the moment their eyes met again, she looked away.
At this rate, Viktor didn't even need to do anything. Daphne was doing a perfectly good job of embarrassing herself all on her own.
"You know... I don't believe you at all," Viktor said, leaning down slightly and bringing his face closer to Daphne's, making her feel even hotter as she held her breath.
"I don't..."
"Hic."
Silence.
Daphne's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with both hands.
Viktor blinked.
"Are you okay?"
"Perfectly."
"Hic."
Daphne closed her eyes again and pressed her lips together even tighter, deeply hating herself for this.
Viktor tilted his head slightly.
"You... have the hiccups?"
"No."
"Hic."
"..."
"You... stupid villain! Hic!" Daphne shouted as if she couldn't take the embarrassment anymore.
In one quick movement, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at Viktor's face, making his eyes widen in surprise as he drew his own wand to defend himself.
But before he could say anything, a large cloud of mist burst from Daphne's wand, completely covering him and forcing him to close his eyes.
The only thing he could hear was the sound of hurried footsteps moving away and a hiccup following them.
"Hic."
Viktor stood there for a few seconds in the middle of the mist before waving his wand, causing a gust of wind to clear the air and give him a perfect view of his surroundings again.
Daphne was already gone.
The small smile slowly returned to Viktor's face.
For several seconds, he remained there staring at the corner where Daphne had disappeared.
Now he was even more confused than before.
He had no idea why Greengrass had suddenly started avoiding him, or why she seemed incapable of holding his gaze for more than a few seconds. Much less did he understand why she'd started hiccupping when he got close to her.
Even so, as he thought about all her strange behavior, Viktor came to a rather simple conclusion.
"She really is adorable," he finally murmured before turning around and continuing on his way. However, that smile didn't seem to have any intention of leaving his face.
Meanwhile, on the other side of that same corner...
Hermione was pressed against the wall with her mouth hanging open in surprise, while Draco watched with interest the exchange Daphne and Viktor had shared just moments ago.
The two of them had seen and heard practically everything.
"Aunt Narcissa was right. I don't need to interfere," Hermione finally said, wearing a huge smile.
Draco glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
"Looks like you can stop worrying about her love life, then," Draco said, although the moment the words left his mouth, he realized there was a problem.
And judging by Hermione's smile, she seemed to be thinking exactly the same thing.
"That's true. That means I won't have to worry about two things at the same time, and I'll have more time to figure out what your secret is. Draco, how about you tell me..."
"No," Draco said flatly before turning around and walking away from her.
But Hermione stared at him and quickly followed. Obviously, now she could use all her energy to focus on discovering the young Malfoy heir's secret.
Draco let out a long sigh as Hermione continued following him and firing questions at him.
His mother had definitely created a problem.
Although, as he walked ahead of Hermione, a small amused smile appeared on his lips for just a moment.
He quickly hid it before she could see it.