the valerian in your thoughts

chapter four

Appearances are deceiving and that's what she proved to be. Draco knew, they had to be quite alike, both with similar family histories, the same noble positions, but they differentiated in one way he never believed in. Showing affection towards the ones mankind valued.

It wasn't really noticeable at first.

September was the time no one really got sight of her, the Slytherins neither, even though she was part of their house. She was spotted at breakfast, where she had eggs most days, drinking from her own little glass bottle that she brought with her each day. Then, she was seen during some classes, sometimes participating, but mainly writing down the teachers' every word, and afterwards disappearing in her dorm. Draco didn't mind being far away from her, however, it was unsettling to never see a girl that shared a common room with him. Switching from needing her alliance to needing her distance had happened unexpectedly fast.

At the end of the month, she was more frequently spotted at Hogwarts' library, hundreds of books lying and floating around her. Soon, Zabini joined her. The two of them started talking quite a bit. She only showed some affection towards the ones she valued, and apparently, Zabini had quickly become one of those few people, or rather the only one. It must have been because of their history together. Draco realized that a while after he had observed her during periods and outside the classroom just like the rest, when he was still having a different picture from her first entrance. It was the way she acted around Zabini, an old friend, or Pucey, whose assigned job it was now to make her feel welcome and show around the rest of the castle. Albus Dumbledore's words. She gave them rare approving nods, however, didn't let them come close, god beware touch her. No one ever touched her.

Yet, every time Zabini would call her by her first name, she'd just calmly remind him not to do that without her consent. Michon pretended to be twice as tough as she really was. There was no doubt in her dark character, but she still had a liking for some. It was to Draco's advantage that he had always known how to turn that off.

She wasn't cruel like others; he had seen the bruise on the first year a few days ago. She didn't harm him really; it was just a small blue bruise. Draco, he had his mates, but would take no harm for them, for why would he? One day, they'd all pass on. He wondered if Michon would have Zabini's back if it ever came to it. He was unsure whether she had loyalty for a Slytherin colleague.

He could neither understand nor see through her.

'Not one clue, she didn't give me the tiniest of information about that bloody mark.'

Zabini flopped onto the armchair in his and Draco's dorm, ruffing his hair and tracing the outline of his lips as he was lost in his thoughts.

Draco almost woke up from his daydreaming with a jolt, not having expected to have Zabini appear next to him in such a quick, yet quiet manner that had made him remain unseen.

'Pardon you?', Draco asked, his book seated on his upper legs as he placed them on the table he was sitting at.

'I'm talking about the dragon thing, of course. Callie didn't have it the last time I saw her.'

'Well, she was bloody twelve, no? Who'd achieve that at such a young age?', Draco scoffed, reading the same line for the third time until he clapped his book shut, since his interest for the dragon mark was sparked now as well.

'She left for France the summer before I turned thirteen.', Zabini pondered, 'She might have gotten it then.'

'Something like that? Again, with thirteen?', Draco doubted.

Zabini lowered his head.

'You don't know.', he said quietly, sighing, and moving his hands over his eyes once more, 'But I did see that it wasn't just a mark. There's something wrong with it, it radiates lots of magic.'

'Dark magic?'

'Certainly nothing Dumbledore would cast.', he joked, leaned back, and faced the ceiling.

Draco nodded slowly.

'You are so far the closest to her. If someone can bother her with it, it's you, mate. If you are so eager to know, find a way to achieve what you want and for Christs Sake, let me read in peace.'

It didn't matter what Zabini answered. Draco had already lost his focus on his friends, opened his book, and read the same page once again. Zabini finally left to meet up with Pucey and Nott, leaving him to peaceful solitude. Draco traced over the fine ink lines and wondered how he was supposed to survive another year at this school without losing it completely. Everyone seemed to be in a bit of trouble, certainly caused by the frequent appurtenance of Sirius Black in the news. Or the appearance of Michon, it didn't matter.

He leaned back on his chair.

Well, at least there was some change now, something that might bring Hogwarts out of balance, he thought. Deep in his thoughts, he found himself smirking at what he had read in the Prophet about the expulsion at Beauxbatons. And indeed, at that moment Draco was delighted for the Michon girl to have arrived, because with her, he was certain this school would get less boring at some point.

☙❧

Oh, but how his hopes were crumbled into pieces. During the whole of her first two months, Callie Michon was spotless, showing best manners, often participating in classes, and being watched studying almost the whole day or reading her own books she had brought with her.

He would have expected her to change at least after a month, because no normal witch was capable of showing her best at all times, but Michon did. Draco assumed it to be because of her last expulsion. Her parents wouldn't accept another one, and he could imagine she experienced the same pressure and high standards all of them did every day. Other than him, though, she left all trouble aside and acted like one would expect from a student. And still, some other students would not leave her alone. Parkinson still tried to involve her in every conversation she shared with Greengrass at the table, however, without success. In almost every class, Zabini would sit next to her if his seat wasn't already taken by Pucey.

Whole Hogwarts talked about Callie Michon, even outside of his common room and Draco began to despise the girl for it. All his beginning curiosity was replaced by high disdain. It was his greed for attention and a feared reputation that led him to see Michon in that way, though he should have befriended her since it was the same with their parents.

And it seemed like Michon felt similar about him.

Maybe I should too, she had said. Nonsense.

Whenever she caught Draco seeing her giving Zabini a slightest hint of a smile, it dropped in a second and she would stare at him with deathly glares and a stone-cold face that turned his blood cold. She never talked to him, almost ignored his whole existence, as if he wasn't the one sitting with her in the Great Hall every day. Draco could not see them ever going on well with each other, yet he still didn't manage to completely ignore her, at which she seemed to be excellent at. Wherever he went, no matter which class or what corridor, she would somehow be around. It was the opposite from the start of September; she didn't hide no more. She liked to be seen, to be looked at. Michon liked to be admired.

Zabini, who had seldom been focused on Draco – which he'd normally appreciate - failed to notice. He was one of her biggest admirers and Draco soon started to see him switching sides.

He wouldn't let anyone see his mistrust, not even with Michon.

She was unreachable, no matter what he said or how he looked at her. Draco couldn't hex her; no curse wouldn't lead him to harsh consequences, both by the school and her, if not worse, by her parents too. Even he refrained from taking that risk and it bugged him the most to know that it was all because of Callie Michon. She was the girl who was never supposed to cross him.