Haunted

4 | takes one to know one

Red was attacking her in a bear hug before Hazel could move a muscle, giggling uncontrollably. Gleefully. "Hazel, you're a bloody legend!" Red exclaimed, and when she pulled back from the hug, Hazel spotted a mania in her eyes.

She smiled, or perhaps it was just a nervous twitch, and she shook off the compliment, going rigid in Red's embrace. "I didn't mean to—" she started, but then there was everyone else encircling her, laying down praise and clapping her on the back, and it was impossible to get another word in over the din.

She tried to let their compliments relax her, but that seed of anxiety was still blooming in her stomach. How much more difficult had she just made her life by embarrassing him?

Reason argued that he had told them to show off what they could do, and that's what she'd done. On paper, she'd done nothing wrong. But when it came to the military setting, where he was a man in a commanding position getting beat by a woman who was just a 'nameless soldier', as he put it, things got more complicated.

Her performance had inadvertently taken a shot as his ego, and she'd struck dead-on.

Eventually the celebratory whoops quieted, and everyone deposited their wands back to where Malfoy had retrieved them from at the beginning of the training session. Everyone except for Hazel, whose wand had already been confiscated. Dimly, she wondered if she'd get it back, or if he'd hold it hostage as a punishment.

Was what she'd done really that bad?

She remembered the murderous look in his eyes as he glared at her once she'd ended the tickling jinx, and she knew immediately that yes, what she'd done had really been that bad. Every time she closed her eyes, his stormy glare was there, sending a chill down her spine. As a group, they exited the training room, and Hazel fell into step with Red as they made their way back to their rooms.

Luckily, some of them had been paying attention when Barlow had brought them to the training room earlier, and were capable of leading them back, something that Hazel knew was out of the question for her distracted mind. She couldn't even focus on Red's incessant chatter, the topic of which was a recap of hers and Malfoy's duel.

"Can we not talk about it, actually?" she cut in, interrupting Red. Immediately, she felt guilty over the crestfallen look that captured her new friend's freckled face. She forced a smile, searching for a way to backtrack. "I think it was a mistake, to go that far. Now Malfoy detests me."

Red snorted, throwing her hair over her shoulder. The sound echoed in the marble halls. "So what? If he can't handle being beat by a woman, then maybe he shouldn't be in charge of training a group of soldiers that's majority female."

Hazel glanced at those walking around her and realized that there were, in fact, more women than men in their group. Six women and four men. "I feel like I have to apologize," she admitted, meeting Red's incredulous gaze.

The other girl shook her head adamantly. "If you think you need to, then sure. But if I were you, I'd own it." Hazel considered this as they reached the third floor of the compound where it seemed all of their bedrooms were. "Still want me to show you the bathroom?" Red asked, evidently remembering their conversation from before dinner.

Hazel brightened at the prospect of finally getting some answers. A mirror! "Yes, please," she murmured with a smile, and Red's expression changed to match hers, all traces of judgement at Hazel's anxiety gone.

It turned out that the bathroom was only a couple of doors down from her own room. It was a communal area with three toilet stalls, two shower stalls, and four sinks, each equipped with a small mirror. Once the mirror fell into her line of sight, a sudden burst of trepidation forced her to halt in her path.