Black and Potter | H. Potter

5 ⋆*⋆･:⋆ darkness within oneself.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾

| DARKNESS WITHIN ONESELF |
song: reflections by the neighbourhood

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ:✧*⋆.*:･ﾟ✧.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ☾

MALFOY DIDN'T REAPPEAR IN CLASSES UNTIL late on Thursday morning when the Slytherins and Gryffindors were halfway through double Potions. He swaggered into the dungeon, his right arm covered in bandages and bound up in a sling, acting, in Ara's opinion, as though he were the heroic survivor of some dreadful battle.

"How is it, Draco?" simpered Pansy Parkinson. "Does it hurt much?"

"Yeah," said Malfoy, putting on a brave sort of grimace. He winked at Crabbe and Goyle when Pansy had looked away, making Ara scowl.

"Settle down, settle down," said Professor Snape idly.

Ara, Harry, and Ron exchanged glares; Snape wouldn't have said 'settle down' if they'd walked in late, he'd have given them detention. But Malfoy had always been able to get away with anything in Snape's classes; Snape was head of Slytherin House and generally favoured his own students above all others.

They were making a new potion today, a Shrinking Solution. Malfoy set up his cauldron right next to Ara, Harry and Ron, so that they were preparing their ingredients on the same table.

"Sir," Malfoy called, "sir, I'll need help cutting up these daisy roots, because of my arm—"

"Black, cut up Malfoy's roots for him," said Snape without looking up.

Ara went brick red and glared at Snape.

"There's nothing wrong with your arm, you useless swine," she hissed at Malfoy.

Malfoy smirked across the table.

"Black, you heard Professor Snape, cut up these roots."

Ara seized his knife, almost cutting off his fingers, pulled Malfoy's roots towards her, and began to chop them roughly, so that they were all different sizes.

"Professor," drawled Malfoy, "Black's mutilating my roots, sir."

Snape approached their table, stared down his hooked nose at the roots, and then gave Ara an unpleasant smile from beneath his long, greasy black hair.

"Change roots with Malfoy, Black."

"He can cut his own damn roots himself—!"

Ara had spent the last quarter of an hour carefully shredding her own roots into exactly equal pieces.

"Now," said Snape in his most dangerous voice.

Ara banged the knife so close to Malfoy's wrist that he actually jumped back in fright, she gave him a sarcastic smile before grabbing her own beautifully cut roots and throwing them to his face, not even staying to see the look on his face as she grabbed the knife once again to fix her now choppy roots.

"And, sir, I'll need this shrivelfig skinned," said Malfoy, his voice full of malicious laughter as he took a small root out of his face.

"Potter, you can skin Malfoy's shrivelfig," said Snape, giving Harry the look of loathing he always reserved for him and Ara.

Harry took Malfoy's shrivelfig as Ara began trying to repair the damage to the roots she now had to use. Harry skinned the shrivelfig as fast as he could and flung it back across the table at Malfoy without speaking. Malfoy was smirking more broadly than ever.