𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐲 | 𝐝.𝐦.

ten

The next few days bind together to form weeks, and soon it has been close to a month since New Year's.

To make matter's worse, Betty's spent a quarter of that doleful month, soaking in the presence of Malfoy. Though she won't repudiate the fact that she seems to relish their talks and bickers, considering how less he has been insulting her when they talk recently

Perhaps he has run out of names and criticisms to depreciate her with - there is only so much imperfection a person can have.

They meet occasionally between free periods, resulting in the both of them neglecting their friends. Betty has been disappearing more often than before, and her friends have found this even more bothersome, though they don't lament about it, assuming something might be affecting Betty's mood and her ability to be around others.

She is grateful for that, but also gravely aware that if they find that she's been spending her time, devising the death of their Head Master with none other than Draco Malfoy, she would be left friendless and ridiculed by the entire school.

That plagues her so.

However, she would cross that bridge when she comes to it - if she comes to it - she terribly hope she wouldn't have to.

Betty thinks she's gone unnecessarily overboard with her regular meetings with Malfoy. Other than between classes, she finds herself switching between the library and the room of requirement during periods before the feast, weekends, weekdays, and sometimes she even skips dinner when she notices Malfoy missing.

And rarely do they actually work on their scheming or come up with new plans that can overthrow the potion one, she's come up with. Which Betty is absolutely grateful for.

They don't schedule their meetings nor set specific timings on when they should meet - despite Betty advocating to, and even ranting an explanation to it.

It was mostly coincidental. One of them would enter what used to be Betty's hideaway and workhouse, conjuring it from the indelibly engraved outline in their memories, and the other would follow at their own will.

Other times, one of them would notice the other missing in the corridors, classes, or the Great Hall, and would scurry to find them in the room of requirements.

Their arrangement worked that way, despite Betty's earlier disapproval. She wasn't fond on having her timings in a disarray, it disturbs her mind when she's trying to concentrate. But after a few weeks of adjusting, she's slowly grown resigned to Malfoy's approach, unbeknownst to even her own self.

It is a Thursday, on this day, and Malfoy lays languidly on an imaginative velvety couch, gangling limbs stretched comfortably on the arms of it, making it appear miniature as compared to his physique.

Betty has been in the room longer than he has - she's settled on doing her homework in here, too, because she couldn't seem to seek any peace and quiet in the library.

Their OWLs were approaching, and everyone has been claiming territory on library seats - some even going to the extreme to carve their names into the wood of it, although it would be easily erased by a flick of a wand.

Betty thought it would be best suitable to do her studies in the room of requirement, where she could wholeheartedly concentrate on the words inscribed on the pages of her books.

Today, she's resolved to pick up on Potion's, since she's been neglecting it a lot, skipping Slughorn's classes even - not that the pot-bellied man cared for her, he has his favourites too, and she wasn't one of them. However, she doesn't mind. Being Slughorn's forsaken student isn't an entirely bad thing, not as terrible as being one of Snape's at least.