Get Out Alive // Draco Malfoy

>>29<<

The first days of fourth year passed by quickly and I spent a lot of time with my brother and the boys from Durmstrang. I introduced them to Lia and David as promised and when David saw Viktor, he almost had a heart attack. I knew he was a fan of his but not that he almost loved him more than Lia.

I didn't spend any time with the girls from Beauxbautons. My suspicion that no one really liked me except Fleur was confirmed after I tried to talk to some of them.

"I'm so looking forward to finally seeing Snape again," I said wryly to Lia as we walked into the dungeons.

"I thought you'd gotten better. It's not going to be that bad after all," she tried to improve my mood. "Besides, we're on earlier than last year, so I'm sure you won't have to sit next to Malfoy and we can work together."

When she mentioned Malfoy I got all nervous again and had to concentrate on not blushing. The kiss had been haunting my mind for the past few days and I didn't know what to do about it other than distract myself.

We entered the Potions classroom and looked around. "This can't be happening now, can it?" Flustered, I looked at Lia, who mirrored my expression.

"It can't be that we're last again. We're on much earlier today than last time, aren't we?" she said, annoyed, as we walked to the only Slytherin table with two seats left. The exact same ones as the year before, of course.

"Shall I sit with Malfoy this time?", Lia whispered to me quickly while she was already on her way to Zabini. She asked more out of politeness than really meaning it, but I didn't hold that against her.

"I'll survive," I sighed and sat down next to the blond boy.

Snape began his lesson shortly after. With a wave of his wand, the entire blackboard was labeled and he texted us with reams of information about the potion we would be brewing.

"Today, we will be brewing the potent poison, Weedosoros. Take great care to keep this concoction away from your hands and mouth. If you do swallow some of this poison, immediately proceed to the Hospital Wing. The rest of us shouldn't have to be bothered with your convulsing."

I had already completely shut down and my mind was elsewhere when Lia slipped me a note.

'Maybe it'll be better this year, at least Malfoy hasn't insulted you or done anything stupid the last few days,' it said and I gave Lia a look that said something like 'Are you serious?' to which she just shrugged.

I took my quill and tore off a piece of parchment to write a reply to Lia. 'The only positive thing about it is that he looks a lot hotter than last year'.

With a wink I slid the note across the table to Lia and when she read it she had to giggle. She formed an 'Oh my God' with her mouth and shook her head smiling.

"Miss Johnson, Miss Moore. I will not tolerate such nonsense in my classroom. Hand me your note right now. Perhaps we can enrich the class with your notes."

Snape suddenly stood behind Lia and took the note from her hand, causing our laughter to disappear immediately.

"The only positive thing about it is that he looks a lot hotter than last year," Snape read aloud, causing a few students to giggle. "You'd better concentrate on your lessons and copy the blackboard inscription. No one cares about your personal life."

"If no one cared, you didn't have to read the note," I muttered, red-faced, but Snape understood every word.

"For that impertinence, I expect an essay on every single ingredient needed for the potion Weedosoros. Hand it in in the next lesson," Snape said in an oily voice. I groaned loudly, but decided it would be better if I don't say anything more about it before it gets any worse than it already was.

"At least it didn't have a name on it," Lia whispered to me with a sympathetic smile but her attempt at encouragement didn't help either. I knew it wouldn't be long before the whole school knew about the note and what was written on it. Especially because of Zabini, he was the biggest gossip girl ever and Malfoy would probably tease me about it forever. And just thinking about what my brother would say about it made me want to jump off the astronomy tower.

Snape continued with his lesson and when he wasn't looking, Malfoy leaned closer to me. "So you think I'm hot...even more than last year." He whispered in my ear and I could feel his breath on my skin.

"Who said I was talking about you?" I replied confidently, leaning closer to him now too. "Dream on, Malfoy." I whispered in his ear in a seductive voice, just like he did. I could see the muscles in his jaw tighten and realised he was holding his breath as I spoke.

Satisfied, I sat back again and followed the lesson. After all, I really should pay more attention now that I had to write an extra essay.

After Potions was over, I went straight to the library to do my extra assignment. Since the others decided to do nothing but sit by the lake, even though we already had an enormous amount of homework to do, I was alone there. I roamed the corridors of the library and picked up some promising books before looking for a place to write. Time flew by but without the distraction of my friends I made quick progress, so I finished my essay on the ingredients for Weedosoros just before dinner. However, I had to admit that I wouldn't have been so fast if Malfoy hadn't tutored me last year. Because of that I knew exactly where to look and could estimate what Snape was expecting of us.

I packed up my things, put the books back on the shelves and walked to the Great Hall. Once there, I kept an eye out for my friends and as the hall was quite full, it took me a while to spot them. As I walked towards them, however, I noticed some students staring at me - some even whispering - and it was clear that everyone already knew about the incident in Potions, because the other students were acting exactly like they had the year before when the rumour of me and Malfoy was going around.

"Apparently you're totally into Malfoy, Anna," Zabini joked as I sat down, "I'm a little bummed that no one suspects I'm the person who got hotter but whatever."

"Why don't you leave her alone, Zabini?", Lia defended me but couldn't help laughing.

"Lia's right. After all, not everyone thinks it's about Malfoy. I've also heard Anna refers to the Weasley twins," David agreed with his girlfriend.

"Exactly, and others think you're talking about someone from Durmstrang," Lia added.

"How is it even possible that this is spreading so quickly? It's only been two hours," I said exasperatedly, pushing my food back and forth on my plate while the others said "I don't know" or "It's logical, Hogwarts is small" or just shrugged their shoulders. What surprised me most, however, was that Malfoy didn't say a word about it and just sat there grinning.

"What were you two thinking, sitting down like you did last year? You might have guessed we'd still be here," I snorted, annoyed, waiting for an explanation, looking back and forth between Zabini and Malfoy.

"I didn't want to be constantly nagged at by Malfoy for doing everything wrong. I can work better with Lia. She's not a control freak like that idiot over there," Zabini said, pointing at Malfoy.

The latter looked at him grimly. "It's not my fault you're such a moron either. No one is so stupid that they can't remember which way is clockwise... except Moore, maybe."

Zabini and I both rolled our eyes in annoyance. "That happened once, Malfoy... See. That's why I don't want to work with him," he repeated angrily.

"But now let's get back to you. Who were you talking about on your note?" Zabini was now grinning again, looking at me expectantly. I only gave him the middle finger and ignored his question.

The rest of the time he kept trying to get out of Lia and me who I actually was talking about but I wouldn't even think about telling him in my dreams because if he knew, he would at least tell Malfoy and I couldn't take that at all. Besides, almost everyone thought I meant Malfoy anyway, which I'm sure he'll hold against me for weeks.