Draco's Charm

7 - Game on

Friday

Pansy and I were walking down the stairs for dinner, discussing what to wear for the Hogsmeade trip.

I haven't told her about Malfoy and I... yet.

I decided that it'd be for the best to just ignore what happened. I acknowledged his presence and cooperated with him during potions. That was it, nothing more, nothing less. He didn't even try to make a conversation with me for the whole week.

It felt like calm before the storm.

''Hi, girls,'' Montague suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

''Hi, Montague,'' I greeted him with a friendly smile. I had a soft spot for Montague. While not the brightest spark, he was genuinely pleasant, and he had earned some brownie points for defending me during quidditch tryouts.

''Are you going tonight?'' he inquired as we continued walking towards the Great Hall.

''Going where?'' I asked, genuinely clueless.

''The Slytherin party, of course,'' he chuckled.

''I mean... I don't think either of us knew it was happening,'' I glanced at Pansy to confirm.

She nodded and added, ''But sure, we'll go.''

As we approached the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, we bid farewell to Adrien.

''Party? Really?'' I turned to Pansy with hands on my hips. We both slid into the seats and began filling our plates with food.

We started loading up our plates while she answered, ''Yes, babe. It's going to be a blast. Slytherin throws the wildest parties,'' Pansy declared enthusiastically, and just as she spoke, Blaise joined us at the table.

''Are you two going?'' he inquired.

''Yup, but why didn't you tell me about the party earlier? It seems like everyone knew about it except for us.''

He put a hand over his heart, ''Dear sister, I'd have told you if I knew about it sooner, Adrien just stopped me to tell me about it like 5 minutes ago.''

I laughed, ''Okay, you're off the hook.''

***

"I don't have anything to wear! Everything's ugly! Ugh!" Daphne dramatically collapsed onto my bed.

Daphne was an incredible cousin, but her time always seemed to be consumed by sneaking around with Thomas. Nonetheless, it didn't bother me much. I had Pansy and Blaise, who felt more like my real family. Hogwarts was beginning to feel like home. I just needed to get closer to my younger cousin, Astoria.

We didn't have the opportunity to really talk except for the small talk while she was hanging in our dorm borrowing Daphne's clothes.

I sat next to Daphne on my bed, ''You can always borrow my clothes, you know that.''

''Really? Oh my Merlin, thank you, cousin! You're the best,'' she kissed my cheek and ran to my closet.

She pulled out a baby blue top, ''Do you think Thomas will like this?''

''I think he'd love everything you wear,'' I winked at her.

''Well, I hope so,'' she blushed.

She's adorable.

''Do you think you could talk to him tonight? About me?'' she asked out of nowhere.

''Yeah, sure...but why?'' I chuckled. ''Seems like he's already obsessed with you enough.''