Stuck with a Slytherin

23: "You're sitting... here?"

You knew that you were gonna be late for your first class, but changing your shirt was more important right then. Maybe you should invest in bandages to cover the mark...?

You huffed in frustration as you scrubbed the red out of the white undershirt. Why won't it come out!? You sighed and braced your arms on the counter as you paused.

Looking in the mirror, you dropped the pink-stained shirt in the full sink. Your mascara was slightly smudged but almost unnoticeable. Your stomach, however...

Because you had taken off your shirt to clean it, you were left in just a white T-shirt bra and skirt. Your stomach was flat, but that wasn't what you'd noticed. It was painted with blue and purple bruises. There were a few scars from a couple of years ago.

You took in a shaky breath and straightened your left arm so you could examine it. The lines of the Death Mark were slightly bleeding still, little strokes of red where they were green or black on other Death Eaters. After rinsing off any spare blood, you could also see how the whole thing was slightly swollen, the skin around it unusually pink.

A knock sounded on the door. "You good in there? You never came to first period." It was Kylie.

You took a breath to steady your voice before speaking. "Yeah, I'm good. Lost track of time. Could you grab me a clean shirt? I spilled cranberry juice on my sleeve."

Kylie paused. "Yeah. I'll... I'll do that." There was some scuffling, then you cracked the door, careful to maneuver your right arm through to grab the shirt.

You pulled it in and threaded your arms through the sleeves carefully, mindful of the Mark that was stinging like hand sanitizer on a skinned knee.

With another deep breath, you opened the door again, your shirt untucked but fully buttoned, ruined one in hand. You threw it into the trashcan. "I hate it when I ruin my clothes. Like, I'm clumsy, fine, whatever. But when I spill on my clothes? Worst thing ever, am I right?"

Kylie gave a strained smile. "Yeah. Yeah, sure." 

You narrowed your eyebrows. "You good?" 

"Hm? Oh, yeah, I'm good. Are you?" She shrugged you off, ignoring your confusion.

You nodded. "Yeah. I'm good."

"Good."

"Okay."

The silence was heavy, tense, awkward. It was never like that with Kylie, and you wondered what changed. Aside from the death-bringing tattoo that you got. But she doesn't know about that, so it shouldn't change anything, right?

You took in a long breath, then sighed, dropping your head back to look at the ceiling. Sadness rose in your throat, but you swallowed it down. "I'll see you at lunch?" You whispered, still staring at the white popcorn ceiling. 

"Yeah." She responded, then pulled on her cloak. "See you."

What changed?

--

You pushed your way into second period, ignoring the looks that people gave you. Making your way to the back of the class, you sat down in one of three open seats in the room. The other two were in the front row, and there was no way you were going to sit in the front.

"You're sitting... here?" A voice comes from right next to you. You look over to see Pansy staring at you with a slight glare on her face.

"Um... yeah. For today." Your heart rate ticked up.

She looked you up and down, her eyes lingering on your left arm before she looked you back in the eyes. "Okay." She smirked, and you had the distinct impression that you were being played.

You dropped your gaze to the table, subconsciously pulling your sleeves down. You tried to pay attention as Professor Trelawny talked about some project. Something about reading the stars?

"...And the person sitting next to you will be your partner for the rest of this unit." Trelawny finished.

Your head snapped up, then to the right to look and Pansy. She had the most evil smirk you had ever seen on her face, and that's including the Death Eaters you had just met.

The fresh reminder made your arm sting anew, and you winced, grabbing your forearm in hopes of calming the feeling of a fresh papercut. 

"Hey!" Someone whispered. You looked up to see Draco in front of you, to the left one seat. "You okay?" He mouthed, and his table partner jabbed his elbow. Draco turned back to face the front before you could respond.

It's not like you'd have said anything but "yes" anyway.

--

You snuck a roll of bandages from the infirmary on your way back to the dorms after lunch. Lunch was uneventful. Kylie was back to her usual self, no longer acting all weird. 

You flopped onto your bed and rolled up your left sleeve, inspecting the Mark. It was still bleeding. Why was it still bleeding? Maybe you should call Narcissa. She would know what to do.

You wrapped up your arm, pulled your sleeve back down, and stuffed the bandages into your jeans drawer.

With a sigh, you fixed your hair and headed off to your next class. Who needs support anyway?