RIVALRY | Co authored with Kirstenenn

O N E

Liliya Jade felt as though she was sinking into her bed, becoming as one as the silent turbulence of the outside winds which sang eerily.

The quilts suffocated her in warmth and she sighed in content, a dull smile curated on the edges of her lips.

Her dorm was balmy; sweat beading at the crown of her head and almost hot to the point where she needed to take off her clothes. However, the knock that enacted from her right brushed that thought aside.

If I ignore it, they should go away. The voice inside her mind clarified. And she wanted to believe them so, yet she knew all too well of her Slytherin fellows.

Their stubbornness was what made their green shine brighter. And they would continue to knock until her teeth were gritted into the wood.

Upon her wondrous thoughts, she realised that it would be strange for any of the Slytherins to be knocking at her door. None of them like her and the hatred is mutual.

The knock came a second time, except it was more like a slam where the door shook in its hinges.

Last time she recalled a punch to the door was when she spent her previous Christmas holiday at home, so to say she was surprised would be undermined.

Her wand was too far away, hidden in the crevice beside her quills and notebooks to the far left of her bedroom. And although Liliya could utter the charm to have it launched toward her, it was too much energy to deplete.

A sigh escaped, realising they wouldn't go away.

The knock echoed again.

Please— just fuck off.

"The incompetence of students nowadays is astounding." The familiar voice she had grown to despise startled her awake; it — slightly muffled from behind the wood.

Why is her head of house at her dorm?

Should professors be lurking around in dormitories of students? Creepo Snape especially.

Maybe this is some weird nightmare. Getting her back for all the backchat she gives him.

Yet, Liliya had a fairly good guess as to why. She had been avoiding him since her vicious outburst yesterday.

Not the first of the many.

It's always that mudblood who throws all the blame at me.

Salazar forbid snitches for they get stitches.

Hesitant, she lifts from her bed and wraps in her blanket before opening the door. Only enough to have her eyes reeled to focus. The scowl, clear in her fury. Snape towered before her.

"What?" Liliya questioned, irritated that her sleep was interrupted.

For a moment his still face gawked at her, heedless in impatience.

"About time, Miss Jade," Snape murmured between clenched teeth, he studied what she was wearing, "you do realise lessons start in twenty minutes?"

"And?"

Snape's mouth tightens. A silent warning.

"Why are you at my dormitory, sir?" Liliya raised a brow.

Again, his blank face glared at her. The silence was as deathly as snow could get in the winters of Scotland.

"I'll give you two minutes to change, then you need to come with me to my office," Snape told her, ignoring her question.