Ecdysis

Chapter 15 - Fourth Year: Relinquish

I weighed a fistful of empty snail shells on the brass scale, adding a small one here, removing a large one there, until the needle hit an acceptable eight. The entire time gritting my teeth and trying to ignore them. What I would do for a pair of headphones and a loud, angry mixtape.

This was all Daphne's fault.

"Lavender looks pretty on you," simpered Pansy at the next table over as she tucked a sprig of dried lavender behind Draco's ear. "You should grow out your hair and let me braid it through with flowers. There must be a Hair Growth serum in here somewhere. Maybe in the supply closet."

"You're not braiding my hair." Draco captured her around the waist before she could wander off and reeled her into his chest, slotting his mouth over hers. She surrendered zealously.

This had been going on for over an hour now. An. Hour.

Why couldn't Snape have assigned them some other form of punishment for frolicking in the back of his classroom? Dusting the common room, perhaps. It was looking greyer than usual and I wondered which snake had insulted one of the house-elves so badly that they were giving us the cold shoulder.

Making no effort to be quiet, I dumped the snail shells into a small burlap sack and picked up a mallet. And then I went to town.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Someone's set a rat loose in the lab. A filthy, bushy one," projected Pansy, spitting the words in my direction. "What are you even doing here?"

I ignored her, putting the mallet aside and flattening the bag with my hands to ensure all the shells were crushed. Then I dumped them into a large mortar.

"She's gone deaf," Pansy grumbled. "Serves the grubby thief right."

"The only grubby one here is you," I replied. Picking up the pestle, I crushed the jagged shells into powder, twisting my wrist and adding force to really get the job done right. Envisioning Pansy's piggish nose in the curved base while I did it. "Choosing petty revenge over your self-worth? And she doesn't even care."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Pansy mumbled, turning an incriminating shade of red.

I gave her a pointed look, flicking my eyes in Draco's direction, who was watching us silently, before continuing on with my business. Smirking because I knew it would only piss her off more.

"You're just jealous," added Pansy, "that my boyfriend is taller, handsomer, and richer than yours." Her voice went all sugary. "Just look at this face." She clutched Draco's jaw, giving him doe eyes. "Gods, you're delicious."

And then they were snogging again.

I feigned a gagging noise, summoning an empty vial from the shelf on the dungeon wall and watching it land above my mortar.

"Still a prude?" taunted Draco. I deliberately kept my gaze averted, carefully penning a label with my quill and ink. "Suppose Krum isn't all that interested."

"Go to hell," I was about to say, but bit my tongue. He wanted attention. He wasn't going to receive it.

I levelled my gaze at Pansy instead. "Funny. You didn't seem to think Viktor was inferior when you begged him to take you to the Yule Ball."

Pansy's hair swooshed like a shampoo ad as she turned back to Draco, dismissing me with her special brand of dramatic flair. She looped her arms around his neck, standing on tiptoes because he'd become so bloody tall. "She's just a slimy little snake. Not even worth our time—ow!" Pansy leaped backwards as if electrocuted.

"Parkinson." Snape stood in the doorway, watching the spectacle with cold disgust. "Come here."

Fixing her robes, Pansy ambled off after Snape, clasping her hands in front of her innocently. "Yes, Professor."