Murder to Malfoy - D.MALFOY

[16]

With three days left until winter break and Christmas, time on her second attempt at taking Draco's life was running out faster than she could handle. And luckily, Snape had mysteriously taken ill on their very last potions lesson - funny that.

Slipping a sickness potion into Snape's drink when it was on his desk, half making her suspicious at how easy it was, was just the thing that Ivy needed to make herself realise that she would stop at nothing. Snape was hardly innocent and she wouldn't have spiked just anyone, but the realisation did get her thinking. Not thinking for too long of course, since she was far too busy with the next step of her plan. Waiting for him to get bored.

She watched out of the corner of her eye, vacantly stirring her and Fin's cauldron with a weirdly long spoon. She chatted to Fin while doing so, trying to make herself look less suspicious as she kept an eye on every single action that Malfoy took. She smirked softly to herself when she noticed him accidentally add the wrong amount of a certain herb into the potion. That smirk only grew when she finally saw the disinterest growing in his eyes, the way he rested his chin in his hand and stared vacantly at the potion while stirring it with his finger. It took nine minutes, just like she had estimated.

She, while still sitting on her stool, flipped the very edge of the bottom of her skirt up so she could slip the tin within the secret pocket into her palm. Then, underneath the desk so no one saw, she took out the tiny piece of charred root in a dissolvable bag out of the tin and hid it in a closed fist. She was careful not to squeeze it too hard, not wanting to accidentally split the bag or activate the melting of the packet with the adrenaline-fueled sweat on her palms.

Her heart thumped within her chest as she stood, so loudly that she could hear her blood sloshing in her mind. "I'll go get the powder," she quickly told Fin, having purposely spilt the vial of powder needed for the next step of the potion beforehand. She had timed it perfectly, knowing they would need that powder for the next step of their potion just when Malfoy began to lose interest in his. Once Fin nodded and took the stirring spoon, she walked towards the ingredients cupboard. On the way, she just happened to trip over an untucked stool where the distraction was enough time for her to slip the root into his cauldron - it made a quiet, ever so satisfying sound.

She smiled smugly as she entered the cupboard, collecting the powder as she waited for the imploding sound. She had initially wanted to watch it happen but thought, due to her undoubted proximity to the cauldron, it would be a little too suspicious. Just in case someone happened to see her dig up the root beforehand, not that it would be traceable in the potion or anything. She had triple checked that.

After a few minutes, the explosion had not turned up yet. She, with a deeply furrowed brow that further wore off the adrenaline and joy that had previously coursed through her veins, looked toward the closed door of the cupboard. Within seconds she slid the door open, popping her head out of the door. She grimaced at the sight, another plan completely foiled. The cover teacher (a random witch that she didn't know or recognise) had noticed the smoke that covered the upper layer of the potion moments before it exploded. She had used a protection spell to enclose the explosion, mere seconds before she got her revenge. Malfoy only ended up with soot all over his face and a disbelieved hairdo.

"What did you put in it?" the ta asked, looking to Malfoy for answers as the rest of the room fell to a stunned silence.

"Only what it said on the book!" he exclaimed partly out of confusion and partly because the sound that the protection spell made had partially and momentarily damaged his eardrums. He looked utterly befuddled, so unsure about what was going on that Ivy couldn't help but laugh to herself. Astoria clutched onto his arm as if her life depended on it. If she cared at all, she would have noticed that he seemed slightly bugged by her presence.

"Well you must have done something to get that reaction," the ta responded, looking awfully confused as well.

"Maybe there was something on the cauldron," Astoria suggested with a shrug, gripping his arm a little tighter as Ivy emerged from the cupboard. 

She couldn't help but snigger to herself as she walked past them, heading back toward Fin. "Something funny Cadieux?" Draco asked, catching her attention. She stopped laughing and turned, quickly noticing his clenched jaw and stern expression - honestly, it only made her want to laugh more.

"Yes," she replied shortly, a little smug grin falling onto her lips.

He raised a brow, "Care to share?"

"Nope, though Fin and I will certainly have a laugh about it," she dismissed before heading back to the desk. She made eye contact with him while she lifted her hand to her mouth, covering herself as she whispered what was so funny to an extremely interested Fin. They looked to Draco then burst out laughing too, struggling to muffle it with their jumper as they nodded in agreement to the hilarity of how he looked at that very moment.

He shrugged Astoria's arm off and stormed over to their table, classroom chatter beginning again once he stopped in front of her. "If you're laughing about something to do with me, then let's hear it."

"What makes you think it's about you?" she asked softly, faking pure innocence in the situation. It only drove him deeper into the vexation that practically leached off of him. She moved slightly closer to him as she muttered, "Contrary to your belief, Malfoy, the world does not revolve around you."

"You said my name, I heard it," he muttered back, jaw still clenched and only accentuating the defined jawline he possessed.

"Well you should add hearing things that don't exist to your resume, that's a talent that not many sane people have," she chuckled softly. The bell rang causing a vague echo in her mind, she gestured to his sooty cheek and her fingers grazed the surface. "You might want to go clean yourself up before next lesson, a sooty face and dishevelled hair does not paint the picture of the perfect Malfoys now does it?"

"Fuck you," he replied through getting teeth, eyes flickering across her face moments before he turned and walked away.

"You've certainly changed your tune since a few weeks ago," she yelled after him, smiling softly to herself. She may have failed to kill him but she hadn't failed to get under his skin, it was a pretty good compromise.

"What happened a few weeks ago?" Fin asked softly as they both watch him walk away. They did begin to wonder why Ivy looked so victorious yet also crestfallen.

"He came to me for advice," she shrugged, beginning to pack all her books away.

"Advice? Really?" they paused, trying to figure out what on earth was going on between Draco and Ivy. Previously, they hadn't talked at all due to the hatred between them. The idea of them having a casual conversation was shocking, to say the least. "Malfoy came to you for advice?"

She nodded, putting her bag over one shoulder. "It was to do with his father, I guess I'm the only person who knows how awful he is or something," she shrugged as they walked out of the classroom. "Anyway, enough of that douchebag, Maman said something about you staying over for Christmas?"

They nodded. "Ced is too, Dad's off on some sort of once in a lifetime trip but we're having a mini Christmas the day before he leaves."

"Good, I miss him," Ivy smiled, finally looking forward to Christmas now. Instead of it just being a longing affair, fully being surrounded in grief and missing Antony, she would have plenty of distractions.