Inferno | Draco Malfoy

064 | The Bake Sale

"Alright, set it up."

Using the help of some magic, I organise a line of tables, all of which now have cakes, cupcakes and more than enough desserts.

It's a Saturday afternoon, our bake sale day, on the first floor. What a wonderful day it is as well, I haven't seen Umbridge once. They say that she left the school for a meeting with the Minister, this means that the bake sale will be an absolute success without a single disruption. Any member of the Inquisitorial Squad who even dares to report this will be personally Obliviated by me.

The cupcakes are worth twenty Knuts and the cakes are worth one Sickle. It's not much, that way everyone can afford one; I can fund some of my own money to buy the textbooks as well. Besides, the house elves kindly made the actual cakes, it wouldn't be fair if we charged full prices for something we didn't do. Although, me, Fred and George had to decorate these by hand. That explains why one of the twins has frosting down the side of their leg. We worked on decoration this morning, before that, I told Daphne and as much as she was excited, she was also worried about what would happen to me if I got caught.

I too am worried about the possible consequences but, I try not to think about them. Let's be optimistic.

Students start to gather around our appetising and palatable stand; I start to get a little nervous. The twins and I are all dealing with business, we all have to help customers and serve them.

"Adria," Camden walks up to the stand, a few students nearby get closer. "Weasleys." He acknowledges the twins and smiles. "You know what my favourite kind of cupcake is." He says to me, before reaching into his trouser pocket as he reads the little parchment of all the prices.

I hold the vanilla cupcake with frosting and sprinkles out to him. "Here you are." He and I swap our goods.

Having Camden as our first customer was a great way to introduce our stand. Students around us become intrigued and start to buy. In no time, we're making a profit (sort of anyway). I know that the news of our bake sale is starting to spread around when I hear people pointing and saying stuff like "Yes, it's over there."

It's probably quite interesting and amusing to see a royal doing this, handing out treats. At least no one is mentioning it.

"Harlow."

Shit. Alright well, this was bound to have happened anyway. Our first annoying member of the Inquisitorial Squad and the bane of my existence.

"Malfoy." I plaster a smile on my face, in hopes that he won't create a scene. I wave at my friends who start to approach. "What do you want?"

"That's not fair customer service." Malfoy folds his arms. "You treated the ones in front of me better."

I roll my eyes, reminding myself to be nice so that I'll have a higher chance of winning him over into not snitching.

"May I get you something? Prices are over there." I point to the notice. "We have all kinds of flavours, toppings, etc."

He stares at me, a smirk starting to form at the corner of his lips but before he could say anything, Theo pats his back and very openly expresses his admiration for what I'm doing.

Malfoy sighs, insouciantly asking for a slice of strawberry cream cake. I serve him, seeing Daphne and Blaise getting served by George, Pansy having a quick chat with Fred as Tracey and Milly get served by him - I know they wouldn't alert Umbridge about this.

As I finish Theo's order, my eyes meet Malfoy's again. For some reason, I couldn't help but to continue looking as he licks a bit of spilt cream from his finger... I'm telling you, everything this man does looks sexual. He chuckles, noticing I'm looking at his lips rather than his eyes. Uh oh.

"Anything else?" I ask the two.

"No." Theo beams. "But Draco would love it if you could add your cream to his slice of cake though."

The blond chokes mid-swallowing as Theo runs away, knowing precisely Malfoy would kick him or punch him if he stood still. I shake my head at the bawdy joke but laugh the moment I see Malfoy's face as it glows a deep red. As anticipated, the blond walks off, too embarrassed to look back at me, and probably on the hunt for his mate now.

I continue to do my 'job' and am most pleased when my favourite younger year and his friends crowd around me. Alden Crowther tells me about how awful Umbridge is (as if that's new news), and how he's so happy to see something fun taking place inside the school. I comfort the him and his friends, and I'm just glad that Umbridge never hurt them because of her House prejudice. Truly, I've never seen her lay a hand on a Slytherin.

After a while, we start to run low on cakes. I'm half-surprised with how popular we've become in such time, it's probably only been an hour or so. Even Professor Trelawney and Babbling had bought from us, though Babbling did ask us to keep it a secret so that no one would know she was here in the first place.

A group of fourth-year Ravenclaws ask for chocolate cake and I realise I've only got one slice left. I hand the remaining to one of the five girls and decide to nick Fred's whole chocolate cake. It doesn't seem like a popular flavour on his behalf.

"Wait a second please." I tell the group as I wipe my hands with a towel, preparing to go to Fred.

I ask him if I could take it, he nods, and I lift the huge triple chocolate cake up by its cake stand. Fred smiles before looking back at me twice, making me confused as I turn around to him, walking backwards. He taps George quite aggressively and both their faces go a bit pale. I turn around, wondering what's going on and why everything falls silent- AHH!

Oh my- What the fuck did I just do?!

I hold my breath, watching the chocolate cake slide down a so last-season pink attire. It makes a splat sound - that echoes amidst the silence - the moment it lands on her equally as pink horseshoes.

She wipes the cake frosting blocking her eyes, swishing it onto the floor and all I want to do is lather it back on. That way, I won't have to see her ugly wide eyes.

"Lady Harlow." She finally opens her mouth, addressing me with a forced smile. "My office tomorrow morning. Weasleys, come with me." She walks, looking compact as her arms tighten against her body. "Now!" Fred and George look at each other, then at me before leaving.

I draw in a deep breath as I feel everyone stare at me, maybe the floor as well. Then, I laugh. I simply laugh, bursting into a fit of laughter.

I mean, Umbridge looked ridiculous! Especially since it's chocolate cake, she looked like she just dipped her head in dung! And since when was I capable of that! I simply turned around and stumbled a bit too far and BAM! The cake flew into her face.

Bloody hell, I thought she was occupied for the whole day, what brought her back here so early? I do hope the twins will be okay. Umbridge already dislikes me enough, now she probably hates my guts. Seriously, is she going to try to poison me tomorrow morning? Ha, please.

I clear my throat, not manically laughing any further as everyone now probably thinks I'm a lunatic. Not threatened and at peace, I use my wand to clean the cake up from the floor. As I continued to pack things up and tidy, everyone started to shuffle away seeing that the bake sale was finished. All but one stayed. 

"I think what you did was lovely." Luna Lovegood's soft voice makes me look at her. Her eyes wonder for a little longer before finding mine. "Everyone needed something to cheer them up, it's been quite sad lately."

"Thank you, I appreciate that."

The girl talks to me in a gentle approach and it is nice. I do understand why people call her loony but, it doesn't excuse her politeness and manners.

"You should have one for yourself." Lovegood points to a leftover cupcake.

I smile, picking one up for me and the girl.

Sometimes, I wish there weren't any house prejudice. I wish for people to get along and unite, as one, instead of isolation within Houses. I think that's the strangest thing about me being a Slytherin, my opinions about houses have changed. I didn't want to make friends outside my own house and now, I've made quite a few acquaintances.

Just because I don't care about Houses, wealth or blood status, doesn't make me any less of a Slytherin. I honour, respect and stay loyal.

That's maturity.