Toxic

Hot and Cold

I'm lovin it...

Draco sat on the stool in his office, staring down at his notes and then over at the empty cauldron. He had made some progress, but had once again hit a roadblock. He was unsure of where to go from here. It had been over two weeks since he had come clean to Blaise and Theo about Olivia.

And she had barely spoken to him during that time. And the more she didn't speak to him or check up on him, the more Draco found himself missing it. Which only added to the conflict already coursing through him.

It got to the point where Draco wondered if Wood had forbidden her from speaking to him, but he quickly dismissed that, feeling Olivia wasn't the sort to let any man dictate who she did or didn't speak too. She had more than proven she could stand on her own two feet.

And speaking of the stupid jock, nearly every other day, Olivia got another bouquet of flowers from him. Or he popped by to take her to lunch or pick her up for dinner. It was clearly nauseating, seeing how hard he was trying. Even if Wood didn't come by the office or send anything, Draco would be forced to see another photograph of the couple in the news, though Olivia always attempted to cover her face and appeared uncomfortable in just about every one.

But outside that, things appeared to be blissfully happy for the two, at least from what Draco could tell, which only left him feeling even more frustrated. Which in turn, kept him thoroughly distracted from his research.

He needed to get over himself and Olivia De Loughrey and fast.

"You going to lunch?" Blaise asked, stepping into his doorway. Draco looked over at him and then down at his notes.

"Go ahead. I think I'm close to something here," Draco said. Blaise sighed and nodded, before turning and leaving him.

Gradually all the noise in the office died out as everyone filed out for their lunch hour. Draco had lied, of course - he wasn't on the cusp of anything - but he knew Blaise would want to talk about his admission and Draco just wasn't in the mood.

"You're not going out?"

Draco's heart nearly stopped as he turned, seeing Olivia standing there, a look of concern on her face.

"Ehm, no. Got some work here," Draco said, pointing at his work table.

"Ah, I see," Olivia said. She didn't move, rather just stood there a few moments.

"Actually, I could use some help," Draco said, surprised at how soft his voice was. Olivia's eyes widened as though the last thing she expected was for Draco to ask her for something. She walked in, her heels clicking against the stone floor as she looked over his notes.

She was so close to him that he could smell her perfume - it was the same thing she had worn that night at the bar and for a moment, it took him back. But once again, he stopped himself from going there.

"She's happily dating Oliver Wood. And she's your boss... it can't happen," he mentally reminded himself.

"How long have you been stuck?" she asked, glancing up at him, her brow furrowed. She then went back to studying his notes.

"Few days," he admitted. Olivia looked up at him. "Two weeks." A faint smile came over her face as she rolled up her sleeves and then reached for a quill. "Still trying to figure out where exactly I went wrong the last time... even though you basically showed me."

"Well... I could see how you could make the wrong calculations. You didn't take into consideration how the amount would react to this... this... and this," she said, circling a few things. "But if you adjust all by... this much, you should... yea, that should work." She wrote a few more things down and then backed away, allowing him to look over her work.