𝒜𝒻𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓂𝒶𝓉𝒽 | 𝒟.𝑀.

44 | ﴾ Misérable ﴿

December had gorgeously sheathed the landscape around the castle with fluffy white snow. Final term examinations were going on prior to the holiday commencing, and the atmosphere was filled to the brim with tension and anticipation.

The icy main hallway stretching from the potions lab to the Slytherin common room, was riotous in the early morning. More than four Slytherin students were now late for Potions, busy hectoring a young girl by hovering a book far above her head that was arguably a lifeline for her to pass her courses.

That year in their seventh term at school, the paired houses were Gryffindor and Slytherin in a tragic rotation of the course scheduling. It was the cause for many debacles and classroom outbursts, making it difficult for the conflicting students to get anything done in each other's presence.

The dungeon corridor was rife with a flurry of red and green robes, none of which bothered to help the young, nearly mute witch who was blatantly in angst as she ran and jumped frantically between the tall Slytherin boys who had gathered in a menacing circle to harass her. She kept helplessly shooting her bony wrist into the air to catch the language translation book that they were abusively tossing over her head.

Graham Montague caught the split pages in his fingers and bounced it just out of her reach, pretending to drop it then catching it just before her finger tips, over and over with guffawing taunts, "Oh, oh, almost had it that time, oops."

He laughed in her face and hurled the book to Theodore Nott who snatched the text from the air and then proceeded to snap his fingers in a show of his unusual skill with metaphysical magic, freezing the book in a hovering block of ice high above his head.

Madeleine stomped her foot and her blond waves bounced around in protest, "Arrêt!"

Harry Potter stepped out onto the final tread of the staircase of the castle's freezing bowels, clutching his satchel with sudden fury. "We should intervene," he said to the red-headed boy next to him, who was narrowing his gaze at the ring of Slytherins with disposition.

"No way mate, let those snakes torture each other," Ronald Weasley dismissed the notion, moving around the scene without a shred of sympathy for the obvious bullying.

Harry's forest-tinted eyes lingered on the breathtaking French girl with peaked inquisition. Her face was a symphony of emotions atypical to Slytherin women, and apart from this her deeply present aura and her unrealistic beauty were mystifying. The world seemed to pause, before the sleeve of his robe was tugged away by his best friend. He gave way to the motion without the desire to be late and attract unwanted attention in an already exceptionally tense year of school.

Theodore slid his eyes clockwise, up to the rotating block of ice above his palm and back down to her, "How about we strike a deal? Give me a kiss like you mean it, and I'll give you your silly book back."

"She can't understand you, look at that daft face," Goyle pointed a thick finger at Madeleine's distressed and livid features.

Theodore lowered the block of ice before her and she crossed her arms with sharp golden eyes, "The key is a kiss - what do you say little miss Pari?"

Cassius Warrington let slip an aggravated moan as he was shoved aside by Draco Malfoy, appearing in his dark green robes with perfectly quaft platinum hair, "What the fuck are you oafs doing out of class? Potions started minutes... ago." His voice dropped off at the end as he noticed what was happening. The small Parisian beauty that he'd been hooking up with in dire secret turned to him with beggary eyes, and he swallowed to maintain his composure.

An awkward silence filled the air for a moment before he cleared his throat, turning his blistering blue eyes on Theo, "Snape will hang you for your tardiness. But he's got nothing on what I will give you if you don't move your arses, now."