Alexithymia

15

"Party in the Slytherin room?"

Draco and I were headed to the room of requirements. Again. We had been working on the cabinet non-stop for months with little to no progress. I wasn't sure how he'd been handling it, but I was in dire need to let loose and -I dunno- make a few well needed bad decisions that I could only blame on intoxication.

"We don't have time to party, Ashlynn. We have more important things to do." He ruffled a hand through his hair and loosened his tie.

"Like what- plot to murder Dumbledore?"

Draco pushed me into an alcove, checking the halls for signs of anyone. "That's my task, not yours. I don't want you anywhere near that old bat. And you shouldn't be so careless, what if someone had heard you?"

"Like who? There's no one here."

It was quite cramped in here and he was too close for my liking. I could smell his bloody cologne but instead of being pushed into an alcove for a quick snog, I was getting lectured.

How fun.

"Did you forget that bloody Potter has an invisibility cloak?"

"Maybe I was joking. You'll notice I'm quite funny like that."

"Hilarious." He scoffed, leaning in closer. "Pray tell me, how would you play off a joke about murdering our headmaster?"

"Piss off, Draco."

"No, Ashlynn. You're not taking this seriously." He groaned. "I need you to focus. If we don't pull this off, we die."

"We're all gonna die anyways."

"Merlin, well aren't you just a ball of sunshine."

"Think about it. If he wins-" I shuddered. "If he wins, we die. If he loses, we still die."

"That's not true-"

"You're right, we might not die." I interrupted. "But compared to what might happen, I'd almost rather."

"You don't mean that. You're too much of a coward to stare death in the eyes."

"How dare you-"

"You know I'm right." He glowered, eyes lingering on my arm. "If you weren't so scared of dying, you never would've gotten that mark."

Ah. Touché.

"That's what I thought. C'mon. No partying for you tonight." He sighed, dragging me into the room of requirements.

What we didn't know was that bloody Harry Potter was in fact making use of his invisibility cloak.  

—---

I don't think I'd ever understand why Hogwarts was so determined to have Slytherin and Gryffindor share classes. It was obviously unpleasant for both sides and I had a gut feeling that Dumbledore just did it for laughs.

Slughorn thought he was brilliant when he required each of us to find a partner in the opposing house. Like we haven't had to do that before.

I was on my way up to the library to meet Hermione, pleasantly surprised when she approached me after class. If she had anything to say from my drunken breakdown from the beginning of the term, she gave none of it away.

Only a few partners had been willingly formed. Slughorn had to assign the rest at random, which was why Draco was paired with Weasley.

"Stupid, bloody git." He kept murmuring, but I could tell from the looks of it that Weasley wasn't exactly pleased by the outcome either.