The New Girl

Chapter 17

Vivian Longbottom:

"Well you two should probably head to Snape's office now if you don't want to be late for your detentions," Pansy warned, looking at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room.

"Right. Cya guys later." I got up and practically ran out of the common room. I didn't want to walk with Draco. As I walked towards Snape's office, I heard Draco's footsteps following closely behind, but he never tried to catch up to me. I walked down the hall and was met with Fred and George, already waiting in front of Snape's office.

"Ah Viv, there you are. Sorry we couldn't help find your cat last night" Fred gave me an obnoxious wink, nudging a laughing George.

"Shut it you two!" I widened my eyes, subtly throwing a nod towards Draco's direction, who was now approaching behind me. Just then, Snape opened the doors of his office and stepped out into the hall. He gave us a long stare before handing out our punishments.

"Miss. Longbottom and Mr. Malfoy, you two will be organizing the potions cabinets and taking inventory, across the hall." he said in his monotone voice. I stiffened my posture, and crossed my arms over my chest.

Of fucking course. Of all the punishments Snape could hand out, he forces me to work with the last person I wanted to be alone with.

"As for you two," he turns his head to look at the twins, "you will be cleaning the used cauldrons in my classroom. I will be back to check on each of your progress in an hour" he finished. With that, he went back into his office and shut the door behind him.

I waved goodbye to Fred and George, and walked across the hall. I opened the door and was faced with a small room with shelves covering each wall that extended up at least 12 feet high. The shelves were covered with vials containing every ingredient you can think of for any possible potion.There was a sliding ladder that would aid in reaching the higher shelves. The room was dimly lit, and had a funny odor. There were empty vials laying on the floor, as if someone had just raided the stash.

I waited for Draco to begin working on a section so that I could choose my spot as far away from him as possible. I saw him climb onto the ladder and begin to take inventory of some roots.

We worked in silence for what felt like hours. Even though we were on opposite sides of the room, the space was so small I could hear his quiet breathing and I could smell his cologne. I looked at him from the corner of my eye, not moving my head, and saw him reaching above his head. His shirt lifted up with his arm movement and I could see his V-line showing just above the waistline of his pants. I shut my eyes and bit my lip, trying to stop myself from staring.

Trying to focus on the task at hand, I worked my way up a shelf containing several different species of beetles. I was unable to reach the last vial so I stood on my toes, trying to avoid asking Draco for the latter. Bad idea on my part because just as my fingers started to wrap around the vial, I accidentally let it slip.

"Shit!" I gasped, as the glass shattered on the floor. Draco turned to look down at me as I dropped to my knees to clean up the mess.

"Are you okay?" he asked, starting to climb down the ladder.

"I'm fine, the vial just slipped out of my fingers. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out." I said, embarrassed. He crouched down next to me and helped clean up the tiny pieces of glass. His face was only inches away from mine, and I could smell his minty breath.

"Thank you." I said, not looking up off the floor. I could feel his eyes on me, but he said nothing. I went back to work in my corner and he went back to his.

"So what were you really doing last night, running around with the Weasleys? Does your boyfriend know about your after hours adventures? He smirked. I knew he had heard Fred mocking me earlier.