ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ ᵇˡᵒᵒᵈ ; ʳᵉᵍᵘˡᵘˢ ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ

04 - Black Bliss

She stood in Potions, intently minding her own business as she stirred the cauldron before her. Draco, who sat next to her, rested his head within his hands, seemingly intent on being a louse who contributed nothing to their combined potion-making cause, which wasn't particularly unusual for him, and which normally didn't bother her, but, for some reason, caused her a small amount of ire today.

Glancing to their right, she spotted Granger and Longbottom, who had somehow ended up as a pair, and who seemed to be doing an admirable job of imitating our own potion-making efforts, as Longbottom wouldn't even glance at the perfect concoction Granger was no doubt whipping into being.

'She seems quite miserable,' Cass thought to herself, eyeing the bushy-haired brunette's scowl as she vigorously stirred the contents of her cauldron.

The pureblood was unsure how she felt about such a thought. On one hand, she felt satisfied that her words had cut as deeply into the muggleborn as the muggleborn's had cut into her. On the other hand, however, Cass had been brought up to cause no scene of embarrassment unto herself or upon others, something she'd failed fantastically at during the previous evening.

Granger's sour mood, she knew, was her doing, and to follow proper etiquette, given the situation, required another apology, which the girl was not looking forward to in the least.

"Draco, won't you please pay proper attention to the lesson at hand," the girl quietly said, sending her blonde cousin an irate look, transferring her tumultuous thoughts entirely upon him.

"Why? You're doing all the work for both of us," he snidely, near-silently replied, a hint of envy tinging his tone, which caused her a small amount of satisfaction.

"How ever will you know how to make potions if you pay not a Knut of detail to their making?" she mirthfully, quietly queried, sincere in her words concerning his tutelage, but not above digging at his ego whilst hers felt so soundly sundered, something she would never do to anyone other than her favourite cousin.

He snorted, sending her an amused glance with a side-eye, but made no move to remove his head from the comfortable cradle upon his hands.

"If I ever need a potion made, Cass, I'll just pay someone else to make it," he quietly quipped, sending her a sly grin. "Or better yet, I'll have you around to make me one."

Slowly, she smiled, her expression, she knew, was that of someone quite proud of themselves, although she was fully aware of the manipulation her cousin was applying to her, although that, in itself, didn't necessarily displease her. If anything, the fact that he showed such guile made her that much more content to hold her tongue and grow her grin.

After Potions was done, and after receiving perfect marks, shortly after Longbottom and Granger had, of course, she picked up her bag and made for the door that led to the dungeons, intent on cleaning up the mess she'd made the night before.

"Granger, may I have a word in private, please?" she asked of the muggleborn girl, only ten paces behind her undoubtedly cheap trainers.

The bushy-haired brunette turned around, along with her two companions, and sent the pureblooded girl a look of deep loathing, one that her male compatriots seemed to share.

"What do you want, Black?" Weasley asked, his expression showing clear signs of rage, an obvious indicator that the muggleborn had told the two the story of their awful, conversational mishap.

"Nothing from you, Weasley, of that you may be assured," she replied, sending him a cold look, which caused his face to turn such a red hue that it reminded her distinctly of a ripe tomato.

"If you have something to say to me, then you can say it in front of them!" Granger spat, her voice loud enough to cease the dim hum of chatter from the rest of the exiting students, which made Cass endlessly uneasy.