Confined | d. malfoy

Nine | Filch

Three days had passed since Veralee and Draco regained their status of being on speaking terms. Just because they talked every once in a while or when they had no choice but to carry on a conversation in class, that didn't mean that there weren't certain tensions still in the air- and not just conflict tension.

Even their friends were beginning to notice something strange going on between them. Maybe it was just the weird side glances that were exchanged between Draco and Vera- or it was the way they got uncomfortable if they were even a foot too close to each other. Either way, Blaise, Ella, and Theo were all convinced that it wasn't normal.

Of course, there were still the daily arguments between them, but they both secretly enjoyed the fact that they were at least comfortable with talking to each other again- even if all they did was stop to throw an insult at each other...

•••

It was rather late for a school night to still be awake, but Vera didn't mind. After an hourly lying to herself, saying she would go to bed soon, Vera was still sitting the common room. She hadn't even bothered to change out of her uniform.

Her own thoughts were the very thing keeping her awake. Stress about her father's position at the Ministry of Magic was rising quickly among all of her family members. If they found out that Cyrus Blackwell was using his job to slowly aid the Dark Lord in seizing power, then they wouldn't hesitate to do exactly what they did to Lucius Malfoy and lock him away in Azkaban.

The stress Narcissa Malfoy was going through would be ten times worse for the Blackwell family, considering that Genevieve Blackwell would be tasked with raising her son and three daughters on her own- or at least until Voldemort had established power over the wizarding world.

Veralee pushed all of the uneasy thoughts about everything that could go wrong from her head.

Ella and Blaise were still on their date and Theo had retired to his room long before Vera decided to. She hadn't even seen Draco since before supper. He claimed he wasn't hungry and left before any of his friends could convince him to stick around.

She was still on the rough edge with Malfoy, just as he was with her, but they still made time to annoy each other as much as they possibly could.

She was tired- exhausted... was a better word to describe how she felt, but she wasn't in the mood to go back to her room. Instead, she rose from the couch and crept across the living area, making her way toward the doors.

She knew it was past curfew, but she was praying that no teachers or prefects would still be up at this hour to catch her and distribute a detention.

Being as quiet as she could manage, the girl slipped into the hallway and made her way to the back staircase that would allow her to travel to any floor of the castle without being caught- unless she happened to run in to a professor.

Just as she finished using almost all of her energy to climb to the third floor, the loud echo of a door slamming on a floor below her brought her out of her distracted daze. Her eyes widened and she peered down the staircase, only to see the sweep of a brown coat and a lantern's light as whoever had entered the stairwell sped up the stairs, their feet making loud pattering noises that became louder with each step they climbed.

Filch.

Veralee cursed beneath her breath, beginning to regret the choice of leaving the common room after curfew. She mustered up a bit more energy despite her tiredness and hurried up the stair case. Her legs were aching once she reached what she recognized to be the fifth floor, making her regret skipping out on the running portion during quidditch practices that could've aided her in a desperate time like this.