PRECEDENT : Draco Malfoy II

08

Terry and I don't discuss what happened between us, but we know how to keep things discreet. If he has told anyone, no word gets back to me. There are no whisperings in Ravenclaw tower of what we have done. At meals, I still mostly keep to myself, and he with his friends. By the middle of February, we have snuck away thrice more, once a week, to Professor Binns' classroom.

Binns, a ghost, has no use for doors. He leaves the room unlocked just as frequently as he locks students out of his room, as Terry lets me know. Binns is often unaware of such human things as walls and keys. We have a habit, Terry and me. From just sharing a glance, I know when he wants to meet. Each time he initiates, I reciprocate. He seems to get the idea that, unlike the door to the History of Magic classroom, I am frequently closed.

During these weeks, I keep up appearances with Mandy Brocklehurst. It doesn't vex me so to be seen with her, since I know I have what she wants. I feel no guilt listening to Mandy talk about asking out Terry more formally. Actually, there is a smug satisfaction in it all. I don't need her to know that I have one. It is pleasing enough to know that myself.

The closest I come to spending time with anyone else is when we walk to Hogsmeade together on the weekend. The typical guy crew, spearheaded by Anthony, invites Mandy, who invites me. Anthony chats enough for every Ravenclaw in the tower, so no one seems to mind when I speak very little. We plan to meet up later, while we all divide and conquer the village. Anthony plans to go to a Quill Shop, Michael a music shop, Terry a book shop, and Mandy plans on getting a haircut.

"Perhaps you could join Mandy," I joke to Terry. Since the Yule Ball, his hair has overgrown, sprouting off his head in all sorts of directions.

Terry tries not to smile. Mandy mouths me a thank you. While the rest of them are busy, I find myself standing outside Dervish and Banges, hoping to find something that will help me occupy my time. I'm not certain what I am looking for, but I'm sure I will know when I find it.

The shop is something more similar to a pawn shop than anything I have come across in town. Here, the items all have stories, echoes. Usually, the items are a bit too expensive for me, and I don't have a taste for repairing items. However, there isn't a lot of work in magical innovation unless you are good at it. I need an edge of some kind, wherever I can find it.

My eyes rush over the shelves. The shopkeep doesn't pay me much mind. Most of the items don't have descriptions, so I struggle to know what they do. On one of the shelves in the broken section, there are a pair of omnioculars. With the Triwizard tournament this year, they've been all the rage. I don't have a pair, but Anthony does. He showed me how they work in early September, pausing and replaying moments. He says they are even better at Quidditch matches.

Even though I wasn't keen to spend time with him, I found them fascinating.

When I pick them up, the shopkeep hustles over. There are a few other students in the shop, but none of them have touched anything yet. Perhaps he is afraid I'm going to knick them.

"The lens is intact," I lift them up to my eyes. "The knobs seem to be working fine."

"Time mechanism's broken," he says.

I look at the price tag. It is eight galleons, which would be the rest of the money that I have for the school year, with only a few sickles left. Still, I hold them up.

"I'll take it," I tell him.

He rings me up at the counter. He puts the omnioculars in a bag, and I swing out of the shop.

We are supposed to meet for butterbeer when we are done. I've been in the shop so long, surely half an hour has passed. On the way, part of me hopes that I will see Terry in the window of the bookstore, and I can sneak away with him and avoid his friends altogether.