Over the next few days, all that anyone else seemed to want to talk about was that article about Harry Potter that Rita Skeeter, gossip columnist for the Daily Prophet, wrote. All that I could think about was the Ancients. I just couldn't forget about them.
There were times in the library when I wanted to speak to Hermione about what we had seen, but apparently people could have heard because I physically couldn't utter a single word. My mouth would open, but no sounds would spill out.
Often times, when we could finally speak about the matter, we would get interrupted mid-speech. Another time, we tried writing it down, but the words would fade soon after, so we would have to be really quick about it.
Most of the time, however, we couldn't speak about it at all as Harry spent a great deal of time with us in the library. He'd still not made up with Ron, so Hermione was sort of his only friend at the moment. Well, I supposed, me too now that we'd been speaking on the daily more.
Unfortunately, the other Slytherins had been giving both Harry and Hermione a bad time ever since that article. The article had described Hermione as a stunningly pretty girl and as Harry's only friend.
"Stunningly pretty? Her?" Pansy Parkinson shrilled the first time she saw Hermione after the article had come out. "What was she judging against — a chipmunk?"
"Hermione is a very pretty girl," I responded indignantly.
"Ignore it," Hermione huffed, pulling me and Harry away from Pansy who gave me a bewildered look of disgust. Harry looked like he was about ready to pull his wand out, so Hermione insisted, "Just ignore it, Harry."
She held her head high, dignified, as she dragged us away from the scene.
We spent yet another lunchtime in the library, where for the nth time Viktor Krum came strolling in, lingering around with his group of fangirls trailing right behind him.
"He's not even good-looking!" she whispered angrily, throwing an irritated glare at Krum. "They only like him because he's famous!"
It wasn't really Krum himself that irked Hermione, it was more the fact that there was always a trail of giggling fangirls spying on him from behind bookshelves.
"It's so distracting!" she'd mutter furiously.
Meanwhile, Harry was often sulking in the corner, probably thinking about Ron, or even worse, about the first upcoming Tri-wizard trial. So one day, to cheer him up, I created some ridiculous moving drawings of Draco getting turned into a ferret. I tossed the paper over to Harry and he grabbed it curiously.
Upon seeing my terrible drawing of Draco transforming into a ferret, a smile formed on his lips. He then grabbed a new piece of parchment along with his quill and started drawing something too.
I went back to reading this history I'd found about the Great War while I waited for him to finish. But oddly enough, I couldn't really focus because I wanted to know what Harry was going to draw.
After having reread the same paragraph four times due to my incessantly getting distracted, a piece of parchment flew and fell atop my open textbook. I beamed at Harry before looking intently at his drawing.
It was a continuation to the one I'd made. In this one, Moody was swaying Ferret Malfoy up and down in the air. I suppressed the urge to laugh and grabbed my quill.
On another piece of parchment, I drew Ferret Malfoy doing front flips and back flips. When I showed it to Harry, he failed to restrain his laughter.
Hermione snapped her eyes up from her book to peer over at us from across the table. I tried to stifle my giggles but failed, and Hermione's eyebrows raised at us curiously.
"What's so funny?" she said trying to get a good glance at the parchment papers on our textbooks.
Snickering, Harry tossed the moving drawings of Ferret Malfoy over to Hermione, and she looked over at all of them with her lips parted slightly.
A faint smile touched her lips, and she shook her head in disbelief, as if she thought it was wrong to laugh, but did in fact, think it was funny.
Later that day, I actually did bumped into Malfoy in potions class. I couldn't surpress a smirk from forming on my face as I recalled those Ferret Malfoy drawings Harry and I had made together.
"Watch yourself, Blackwood," he said because, yes, I had literally bumped into him. Then, he saw a smirk tugging at my lips, and he narrowed his eyes slightly. "What's so funny?"
"Oh, nothing," I said airily. I went on to join Daphne and Tracey, but Malfoy tailed after me.
"You know, you still haven't told me how that thing you're making is turning out," he said. Daphne and Tracey were waving at me to come sit with them, but I turned on my heel to face Malfoy again.
"What thing?" I asked, perplexed. Malfoy glanced at Snape, who was busy scolding Neville for something even though class hadn't even started yet.
"The liquid luck," he said very lowly. Thankfully, Draco still had the good sense not to have Snape discover that I was making this potion. Although, I now knew that he was only doing that because he wanted the potion for himself.
I threw one furtive glance at Snape and said, "You know it's none of your business, Malfoy."
I was about to turn back around, but he pulled me back by the arm, "I've got a few ideas on what you can make next."
"What? Am I your little slave, now?" I scoffed, shrugging his hand off me.
"Take a seat, Blackwood, Malfoy," Snape said monotonously, as always.
With one last annoyed look at Malfoy, I went over to sit with my friends, Tracey and Daphne. He went on and sat with his goons, still staring at me.
In fact, he seemed to think that it was very funny to stare at me because for the entirety of class, Malfoy locked his eyes on me from afar. When I'd spare him a glance, he'd mouth some words I couldn't read from far away. Everytime, I'd throw him a befuddled look.
"You two are getting on well," Daphne remarked, a smile forming on her lips.
"I dunno. He's sort of trying to use me for potion-making now," I told her, glancing at Snape to make sure he wasn't nearby. I didn't want to let it slip around him that I was brewing potions again.
"Is he?" Tracey asked, eyes darting between Malfoy and I. Malfoy was mixing his cauldron with his eyes transfixed on me. I widened my eyes at him to tell him to stop, but that only made him smirk.
"Yeah — I'll go get the snake skin," I said before walking off to the shelves on the side of the class.
There was a bit of a line as other students also needed snake skin, apparently, so I waited my turn with my arms crossed.
"How exactly are things between you and Lancaster?" Malfoy drawled. I frowned.
"What?" I said, turning around to face him because he was just creepily standing right behind me.
"Haven't seen you around him in a while. Moved on to Potter, now, haven't you?" he said tauntingly, a classic smirk forming on his lips.
"I'm not even around Harry right now. How are you coming up with the most bizarre of theories?" I said, half-laughing, half-irked. His gaze faltered though only for a second.
"Been seeing you around him and Granger a lot lately. I have to say, you move on fast. I was expecting you to last at least a few more days with Lancaster," he went on smugly.
"What a nice thing to say, Malfoy," I said sarcastically.
"So, it's true? You and Lancaster are broken up?" he said, almost hopeful, eyes scrutinizing my expression. I frowned, as I always seemed to do around him.
"No, we're still together. I don't have to be around him twenty-four-seven, Malfoy. I'm allowed to have other friends."
His smirk melted slightly.
"Won't be long before he realizes that you've moved on," Malfoy finally said, eyebrows jumping at Harry who was seated with Hermione further away. I just rolled my eyes. I was here to pick up some snake skin, I didn't have to humour Malfoy. But he just kept going— "You know, I'm surprised. I didn't take you for a two-timer, Blackwood—"
My elbow just somehow landed on Malfoy's side before I could even begin to control it. It wasn't nearly hard enough to actually hurt him, but he did glare at me as he clutched his side.
"What's wrong with you?" he said furiously. My eyes darted over to Snape who luckily was too busy berating some Gryffindors to notice what I'd done.
"Sorry, I — Look, just stop, alright?" I nearly pleaded, feeling exasperated. Malfoy's eyes narrowed but he didn't say anything.
I just grabbed some snake skin from the shelves and went back to my friends who were looking at me curiously.
"What happened?" Daphne pried.
"Nothing," I said, going back to the potion we were brewing.
On Saturday morning was our first Hogsmeade trip of the school year. I was walking with James, Daphne, and Tracey — because James didn't mind joining me when I was already with my friends — on our way to the village when I saw Hermione talking to herself from afar. I told my friends and James to wait for me for a bit before going towards her.
"Hermione!" I called before scurrying over to where she was. "What are you doing here talking to yourself?"
"Oh. Er, I, you know, just something that I do," she said rather awkwardly, her eyes avoiding mine.
"Where's Harry?" I asked, peering around. Maybe he left momentarily?
"He's — I don't know. That's a good question," Hermione said slowly, sounding like she did in fact know where he was but wasn't supposed to tell anyone.
"That's too bad... I made another drawing of Ferret Malfoy," I said, laughing in my hand.
I thought I heard someone snort next to Hermione, but that must've been my imagination because there was nobody around her except for me.
Hermione's eyes widened before hurriedly saying, "Oh, ha ha. That's quite amusing Maeve."
"What's taking so long?" Daphne groaned nearby before I could question Hermione's odd behaviour. Daphne, Tracey, and James had now joined us.
"I was just catching up with my friend," I said.
"Oh, please, you're always with her. Spend time with us for a change," Daphne grumbled.
"Hermione, why don't you get a butterbeer with us?" I proposed. She opened her mouth to speak, but Daphne was quicker.
"Absolutely not!" she said adamantly. "Maeve, Tracey and I have to speak to you about something — James, you come with us, for now."
I was slightly taken aback by Daphne's obstinance, and so was James and Tracey apparently, but we heeded her words and left Hermione. I waved goodbye at her as I was getting dragged away.
"James, if you don't mind, Tracey and I have to speak privately with Maeve—"
"I'll wait for you in the Three Broomsticks?" James offered. I nodded at him before he left and then returned my eyes to Daphne who had her hands placed sternly on her hips.
"You are neglecting him!" Daphne exclaimed, pointing at James who was now too far away to hear anything.
"What? What are you talking about?" I said, confused.
"You've just been spending all your days with Granger and Potter, and none with James," Daphne explained. "That's neglect."
"I — but I eat breakfast with him every day, and most suppers too—"
"And what do you do outside of meals? You run off to the library or to those ruddy Gryffindors. It's rather rude, Maeve, to abandon your boyfriend at every opportunity you get."
My first instinct was to defend myself, but I paused. Maybe Daphne was right. Maybe I had been neglecting James in favour of Hermione. I wish I could tell them all why I wanted to spend so much time with her, but I physically couldn't. The only person who would understand was Hermione and Romeo, although I hadn't really ran into the latter since that day we signed that contract with Poseidon.
"And you've also been abandoning us again," Daphne went on, referring to how last year I'd also often be gone with the Gryffindors or the S4 for meals and whatnot.
"I'm sorry. You're right. I've been terrible. I wish I could explain why I've been around Hermione so often, but I can't," I said because it was true. There was literally nothing I could say to Daphne to explain myself. The contract would not allow it.
"Well, I sort of wasn't against the idea of inviting Hermione over to join us," Tracey jumped in quietly. "I do quite enjoy her company."
Tracey, Hermione, and I often worked together on Arithmancy projects. Other times, we also had that Ravenclaw Patil twin join us, although, it had been a while since Professor Vector had assigned our class any group work.
"We are not spending our days with a mud — muggleborn," Daphne corrected, but the hate was just as prominent in the non-prejudiced word.
"Is this really how you feel?" I asked, crestfallen. She nearly clicked her tongue at me in irritation.
"Well, I didn't say the word. I said muggleborn," Daphne said indignantly. I tried to hide my disappointment.
"But if you didn't know how I felt about it, you would have said it," I clarified. Tracey's eyes awkwardly darted between Daphne and I, and her mouth gaped open slightly.
"Saying the word is just a habit. I don't hate them. I just don't want to be friends with them," Daphne said, her top lip curving up just barely in disgust.
"Why not?" I insisted.
"Because they're not the same as us, Maeve! They come from a different world. They don't understand us. They don't even respect our culture and way of life, and they barely make any effort to properly integrate, always just bringing their muggle nonsense into our world!" Daphne nearly exploded. My brow furrowed in outrage. She was just wrong about all of this.
"I don't know, Daphne. Sounds to me like you do hate them, you just don't want me to know," I said, heat rising in my cheeks. My heart started pounding in my throat as I felt anger stirring in my chest.
"Well, that's because of how crazy protective you get over them — You're obsessed with them! It's frankly weird how obsessed you are with them," Daphne said, the heat in her cheeks also rising as they turned pink.
"I'm not obsessed with muggleborns. I'm just nice to them. What's weird is how mean you are!"
"Oh, you are so infuriating! We're supposed to be friends, you and me. And yet, you're still taking their side. I — I don't care anymore. I give up. You can go marry those bloody muggleborns, for all I care. Just leave me out of it, alright? We're done. I don't ever want to speak to you again!" Daphne shouted, all riled up. Her fists were clenched, and her eyes burned with fury.
I didn't know what to say. I wasn't sure I quite understood what had just happened. I wanted to say something, plead for her to stay, plead for her forgiveness, and yet nothing was coming out of my mouth. I just felt a great emptiness inside my chest, all rage replaced by despondency.
Daphne glowered at me for a few more seconds before storming off.
"I'll try talking to her," Tracey said, her voice brimming with worry. And then she went after Daphne, leaving me alone to deal with my conflicting emotions.
Without being able to control it, tears started spilling out of my eyes, and I buried my face in my hands, not wanting to be seen. There were too many people around. I had to find some place to hide —
I just ran into an alleyway without thinking too hard about it, and then I collapsed, my body sliding down against the wall, until I was curled up in a ball, hiding behind a large trashbin.
Daphne had just forsaken me. Daphne had just abandoned me. I had made her feel abandoned. I was a terrible friend. I was a horrible friend. And to top it all off, I now knew how much she actually disliked muggleborns.
I tried not to cry too loudly because I didn't want passerbys to hear me, but it was a bit hard not to. My entire face was wet, my nose was starting to drip with snot, my cheeks were burning, my eyes were stinging—
"What are you doing?" Malfoy asked, coming out of absolutely nowhere. Why did he always come by at the worst possible times?
I buried my face deeper in my arms and tried to will myself to stop crying. I did not want Draco Malfoy to see me crying. He would not let me live it down.
But I couldn't stop. My weeps just spilled out, my breaths shaky, my eyes stinging as they dripped with tears, my throat tight and dried—
"What happened to you?" he went on, sounding genuinely confused. "Did you and Lancaster—?"
"No! Stop it! Just leave me alone, alright?" I bawled, hugging myself tighter. Malfoy leaned in front of me but didn't get too close.
"Just tell me. What is it?" he finally said in a tone that felt too gentle and comforting to be coming from him.
"Why would I tell you! You hate me," I sobbed.
"I don't hate you," he said softly.
"How can you not? I'm horrible," I sniffled.
"You're not horrible," he said.
Why did he have to be nice now? I felt so embarrassed that he was seeing me looking like a blithering idiot right now, and crying too. I hated that he was seeing me cry, and that he was being nice to me about it.
"Blackwood, what happened?" he insisted.
"You're just going to make fun of me for it," I snivelled.
"Not if it's something that makes you cry," he said.
I hesitated. Could I trust Malfoy? Would he even understand? Could he even understand?
"Just tell me, Blackwood," he insisted, imploring me with his eyes.
I took in a very shaky deep breath.
"Daphne hates me," was all I could slip out before I got consumed by uncontrollable sobs again.
Malfoy stuffed something in my face, and before I could ask him what in the Hells he was doing, he said, "It's tissue."
I grabbed the tissue, angled my face away from him and just blew my nose. It felt pretty useless, however, because I was still in the middle of crying, so more tears and snot would be spilling out soon anyway — and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't stop my body from weeping
Malfoy swiftly placed his arms around me, holding my head on his shoulder, his fingers grazing my hair. I felt my heart dropping down to my gut.
The moment felt surreal. Why was he doing this? Why was he bothering to comfort me? Did I really look that pathetic?
But my thoughts about what had just happened with Daphne were stronger, and they took over my mind, causing more tears spill out, right onto Malfoy's shoulder. And he just held me, not saying anything as I let everything out of my system, as I ruined his robes with tears and snot.
After a while, I pried my face away from Malfoy's shoulder because I was starting to calm down and feel embarrassed about everything. But Malfoy just gave me another tissue, and I blew my nose again, looking away from him.
I was expecting the taunts and the name-calling to come in, but Malfoy didn't say anything. He just kept his lips parted slightly as he gazed down at me with concern.
I didn't know what to say. He'd just seen me wailing and only offered his shoulder for me to cry on.
"Thank you," I finally said. I inhaled deeply before explaining. "Daphne just did to me what I did to you at the start of term last year... And I'm sorry."
"You're going to have to be a lot specific than that," Malfoy said, a smirk forming on his lips.
I sniffed out a laugh, though it was hard to because my nose was still clogged with snot, so my laugh just came out as an awkward snort. Again, surprisingly, no taunts or insults coming out from Malfoy's mouth.
"Well, you know, when I just ended our friendship, out of nowhere, in the carriage. You must've felt terrible."
"Well, I didn't go crying in an alleyway if that's what you're thinking," Malfoy teased. Ah. There it was. I knew it was odd that he wasn't making fun of me.
I playfully hit his arm and said, "You tell anyone about this, and you're dead... No liquid luck for you."
"Were you really going to give me any?" he said dubiously.
"No. But I can still dangle it over your head, can't I?" I said brightly.
Malfoy just snickered a bit. "Alright, get up. We're going."
"What? Where? Why?" I blabbered.
"To clear your mind," he said, already up and waiting for me, his hand outstretched for me to take.
"I'm fine. My mind's clear, already," I said still sniffing a little from having cried so much. My face felt moist and sticky as I spoke.
"Right, and I suppose you also feel ready to speak to Greengrass, now," he drawled sarcastically. His hand was still extended out to me, waiting patiently.
I rolled my eyes and just got to my feet by myself. Before I could say anything to Malfoy, another voice beckoned for me at the end of the alleyway.
It was James, and he was approaching me and Malfoy, looking very concerned, and maybe even a little miffed. His brow was furrowed as he approached us, and his scar, slightly hidden under his overgrown bangs. I'd completely forgotten that I was supposed to meet him after talking with Daphne and Tracey privately.
"Maeve, where were you? I just saw your friends at the Three Broomsticks, and you weren't with them, so I came looking for you — What's going on here?" he suddenly asked, noticing Malfoy, and then seeing my tear-stained face.
"Nothing. She's all yours," Malfoy grunted before shouldering past James.
James gave Malfoy a bewildered look, then turned to me, his thumb pointing back at Malfoy, and said in an almost aggravated voice, "Did he make you cry?"
"No, Daphne did that. Er, Malfoy was, well, sort of comforting me, actually," I admitted, glancing over James' shoulder to see that Malfoy had left the alleyway entirely.
"Malfoy was comforting you? Are you sure we're talking about the same person? Why didn't you come see me, Maeve?" James said, taking a couple steps closer to me so that he could gently hold my hands.
"I didn't mean for him to comfort me — I thought I was crying by myself right there, and then Malfoy stumbled in out of nowhere and saw me, so..."
"You cried by yourself?" James repeated, almost heartbroken. His eyes darted around my face quickly, and his brow furrowed sympathetically. "Maeve, you could've come seen me."
"Yeah... I didn't think about that, to be honest," I said, feeling a little pathetic about it. "I was just worried about people seeing me, so I hid."
"It's okay, it's okay. Just — next time, when you're sad, I'd rather you come to me, alright?" James said earnestly. There was something about Malfoy comforting me that really seemed to irk James, but I couldn't figure out what.
I nodded understandingly. James pulled me into a quick embrace before holding me by the shoulders and looking intently at me.
"So, do you want to talk about it? You've been acting kind of weird these past few days too," he said.
"I don't know... I guess some butterbeer could help?" I offered.
"Good idea." James smiled and placed an arm around me to guide me out of the alleyway.
We soon got into the Three Broomsticks. On our way to our seats, I saw Hermione with Professor Moody and Professor Hagrid looking over at her notebook. I didn't really have time to come by and say hello, however, because James and I were too far away.
We each ordered a meal and butterbeer with the flying notebook and quill, but I didn't really start talking about anything until we started eating. I carefully looked around the pub to make sure that there wouldn't be any nosy Slytherins who knew me. None. Thankfully.
"I don't really know how to start this, except that I'm sorry," I began.
James raised a single curious eyebrow at me.
"Well, I haven't really been spending that much time with you as I've been running off with my Gryffindor friends during the day — and you're my boyfriend. I should be spending more time with you," I declared. James looked surprised.
"Maeve, you don't need to be around me all day if that's not something you feel like doing. I'll be fine. Frankly, I was more worried about you. I thought something happened to you," James said earnestly. I nodded slowly.
"Oh, er, no, I'm okay," I said rather awkwardly. I wouldn't be able to tell James about it anyway, so there was no point in bringing up that something did indeed happen.
"So, why were you crying earlier?" James asked sweetly.
"Oh, that — that's, well, Daphne sort of... told me she doesn't want to be friends with me anymore," I managed to say. "Erm... She... Well, she has a problem with me befriending Gryffindors and muggleborns, basically. But it's not just that, it's also that I hurt her because I hadn't been spending enough time with her, and she said I'd been abandoning her in favour of Hermione and, well, yeah..."
"And did you? Abandon her, I mean?" James pried.
"Not intentionally, but I suppose I'd been spending an awful lot of time with Hermione and Harry — I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I—" I stopped myself before I could get too emotional and just inhaled deeply. I could feel my throat drying up a little already as today's events replayed in my head on a loop. "I didn't mean for this to happen..."
"It's okay," James said. He grabbed my hand from across the table as he said this. "I'm sure you two will make up on no time."
I pressed my lips together in uncertainty and just drank some more butterbeer, looking mindlessly around the pub. Hermione was sitting with the Weasley brothers, all without Harry. I couldn't help but feel bad for him. Clearly, he still hadn't made up with Ron yet. I wondered where Harry was. Surely, he didn't want to miss a Hogsmeade trip?
"Maeve?" James said for apparently the second or third time.
"Hmmm?" I drew my attention back to him.
"Did you want to go for ice cream?" he asked patiently.
I nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course."
I spent the rest of my Hogsmeade trip with James. After going for ice cream, we browsed around Honeydukes and Zonko's Joke Shop. I somehow managed to focus on him and not drift off again too often, but every once in a while, I'd remember what had just went down with Daphne, and I'd die a little on the inside everytime.
I still hadn't seen a figment of Tracey ever since she ran after Daphne earlier. In fact, I hadn't seen a trace of Daphne either, but I would have thought that Tracey would have come back to look for me and tell me that everything was okay.
Maybe everything was not okay. Maybe Daphne really did not want to ever speak to me again.
Eventually, we ran into the rest of the S4, and they were hanging out with both Amirah and my cousin, Rose-Marie. I thought I saw Elijah holding the latter's hand from afar, but that was probably just my nightmarish imagination because when they got closer, their hands were definitely not touching.
"Well, well, well, look who's here," Wyatt said merrily as they all approached James and I on the main street of Hogsmeade. Wyatt's blonde hair shimmered under the sunlight, while Isaiah's red hair gleamed. Amirah and Rose-Marie both smiled brightly at me while Elijah looked just about ready to stir some trouble.
"Had a fun date?" Elijah asked, surprisingly only semi-teasing.
"Yeah, er — I see that you guys have taken a liking to my cousin," I said, gesturing at Rose-Marie. She vaguely covered her mouth and smiled.
"Someone more than others," Wyatt responded, wiggling his eyebrows at Elijah who simply spread his hands out in innocence.
"Ew," I muttered, not bothering to hide my disgust.
"I'll have you know Blackwood, that your cousin is quite the charming company," Elijah said, smirking at me tauntingly.
"I'll have you know that I knew that already," I sneered half-heartedly. If Elijah genuinely was interested in my cousin and she him, I wouldn't get between them, but I also did not want to know about it. "Anyway, what are we doing next?"
"We're sort of due to hit the road back to Hogwarts right about now," Isaiah said, looking down at his wristwatch. I had never even noticed that he owned one in the first place. But at the same time, most people owned some kind of watch, so I shouldn't have been surprised at all.
"Already? Feels like the day went by so quickly," Wyatt said, utterly puzzled.
"That's because you spent twenty hours in Honeydukes alone," Elijah remarked, shaking his head in disbelief at Wyatt. We all laughed lightly at this before starting to head back to Hogwarts with all the other Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbatons students.
"Didn't you have another cousin, Maeve?" James asked me while we walked. The rest of the S4 were right ahead of James and I, along with Amirah and Rose-Marie. James and I sort of lagged behind, but no one really minded it that much.
"I do. Little Aurélie. She's a second-year. I thought all of Beauxbatons would be coming over when I said you'd meet my cousins, plural," I told him.
"Right, and because of the age-limit set for the Tri-wizard champion selection, only your eldest cousin could come," James said in realization.
"I would have been so disappointed if none of my cousins would have been able to come. Thank Merlin, she's a seventh-year," I said.
"Exactly Elijah's type," James said with an awkward laugh.
"No... You think that he likes my cousin because she's older than him? It's only by a year..."
"Probably more because she's French, but yes, he does have this rule: only go for older women," James said uncomfortably. I shook my head in disbelief at Elijah, but he obviously couldn't see me because he was ahead of us with the others.
"Weirdo," I groaned. "I just don't want him to hurt Rose... I always got the sense that Elijah was a bit of a..."
"Lady's man? Yeah. You wouldn't be wrong, unfortunately," James said, wincing. "But I get the sense that Rose is enjoying the attention, is she not?"
"She definitely is... I'm still a bit scared that she'll get hurt, though," I said, frowning slightly.
"Elijah may be a Casanova, but he's still a gentleman at heart," James reasoned. "Maybe it'll just be a fling."
"Let's hope so..." I said quietly.
Later that night after eating supper with the S4 (Rose-Marie sat with Amirah at the Ravenclaw table, this time), I went back to the common room feeling very sleepy and tired. When I got to the dorm hallway, I realized that there were a bunch of stuff just laying around in front of our door. It was strange because a lot of the items looked very familiar...
"Wait, what?" I realized.
They were my things. My trunk, my clothes, my books, my cauldrons... All my belongings just left outside the dormitory.
I tried the handle of the door, but it was locked. I tried casting Alohomora but it wouldn't work. I tried knocking but nobody answered.
What in the Hells? Why was this happening to me right now? Did Daphne do this? Wasn't this a bit extreme? Why wasn't Tracey stopping her? What was going on?
"Girls! Just open up! I can't just sleep in the hallway!" I called, continuously knocking on the door.
Still no answer. Just footsteps.
Footsteps?
On my left, a very amused-looking Malfoy was making his way over to me, along with his two daft goons, Crabbe and Goyle. I frowned. Just what I needed...
"Are these all your things, Blackwood?" he asked, delighted at the sight of my suffering, no doubt.
"Did you do this?" I queried, clenching my fists.
"No. Of course not. But you know who did it, don't you?" Malfoy drawled before laughing smugly.
"Yeah, okay, what, are you just going to stand here looking stupid or are you going to help me unlock this damn door?" I said urgently, widening my eyes at him. He narrowed his eyes at me, smirking.
"Help you? No, I don't think so... I might just help myself, though..."
He bent down on his knees and began rummaging through my belongings. Crabbe and Goyle crossed their arms threateningly nearby.
"Hey! Don't! Those are mine!" But he had already managed to get his hands onto something precious. The ingredients book that Isaiah and Amirah had given to me for my birthday last year, the one I'd been using to write down all my notes and findings on potion ingredients.
"What's this?" Malfoy mused, flipping through the pages curiously. "Ah. Interesting book you got there. I think I'll keep this for myself."
"Give it back. That's the one thing I need you to give back to me right now," I demanded, politely extending my hand out to him. His smirk just widened.
"What is this...?" He pulled out his wand and used it to lift something that had been dangling out from my trunk. I gasped.
It was one of my really really old panties that I'd been keeping for some reason. My heart dropped to my knees in embarrassment.
"You wear this, Blackwood?" Malfoy asked mockingly, eyeing the flashy pink fabric with a mix of disgust and fascination. Crabbe and Goyle guffawed like absolute idiots next to us.
When I'd described the undergarment as old, I meant that I'd owned it since even before Hogwarts. For some reason, it had survived all these years, still fitting my grown body to this day. But now, as it dangled, very pink and bright, at the end of Malfoy's wand, I only wished I had thrown it out ages ago. If only it weren't so comfortable to wear!
Before he could taunt me anymore about it, I yanked the panty away, saying, "Give me that."
Malfoy snickered, still holding my precious ingredients book in his other hand.
"Boys, I think we should take Blackwood's belongings back to our dormitory, don't you agree?" Malfoy said, adjusting his robes arrogantly.
Crabbe and Goyle nodded and began making their way over to my trunk, about to lift it up—
"Hey! No! Put that back—" I tried to push Crabbe, but he literally didn't budge.
I reached for my wand, but Malfoy already had his wand out, pointed at me.
"Hands off, Blackwood," he said, stopping me from even drawing my wand out in the first place. "Crabbe, Goyle. Bring everything back in our dorm. Don't let anyone else look through her things. They're mine."
"You can't do this," I pleaded. "Malfoy, come on..."
But he just sniggered, looking very pleased and proud of himself.
I couldn't even do anything about it. All my belongings were just getting stolen from me, all except for my wand, my bag, and the old underwear I was holding in my hand.
"You tell anyone about this, and I'll burn everything," he said, his eyebrows jumping threateningly at me.
"You can't do that! Malfoy!" But the blonde prat had already left to his dorm, following his goons inside.
Now, where was I even supposed to sleep?