Entanglement

7. New Achievements

TW: mental illness

"Hold still, please, or we'll never get the knots out of your back," Andre scolded me as he gently massaged around my shoulder blades. I slouched over my breakfast set in front of me and released a sigh of frustration as he tried, and failed, to ease my aching body from our excruciatingly intense practice this morning. Blaise had been tough on me, as expected, and now I was paying for it. "Stop whining. You knew this was coming." He lifted me off the table and once again, tried to force my body to relax.

"I know you're trying to help but whatever this is, it's clearly not working," Pansy rested her chin in her hand and watched with pity as I suffered through my discomfort. "What she needs is a hot bath with some salt and oils," She pulled Andre's hands off me and started rubbing my back while I tried to breathe without my chest hurting. "It'll help clear up the breathing too." I turned to her and smiled gratefully before looking at my toast and decided that eating was probably a good idea.

As I lazily fed my body, a group of students waltzed into the great hall a bit rowdier than most on a Sunday morning. I perked up when I saw Mirren walking with them and smiling at their remarks. Like most of the other students, she was dressed comfortably. Her typically wild curls were twisted into a sturdy bun on top of her head, with a colourful wrap tightly securing it in place. Her pyjama pants hung low on her hips and her tank top didn't completely cover the grey sports bra she had on underneath. My toast got caught in my throat as I reached for my juice and coughed a little too loudly.

Pansy shot a glance from the door to my face with a mischievous smile. "Y/n, don't say that!" Her voice was way louder than necessary for me to hear her. "You did so well today! I couldn't believe how fast you were during practice!" I looked at her questioningly wondering what shenanigans she was cooking up now. This woman had not graced us with her presence at the pitch for anything less than an official Slytherin game. Her hand went to my shoulder as she leaned towards me while keeping her volume loud enough for just about everyone to hear. "You've honestly already improved SO much since summer. I swear you're gonna be a professional quidditch player in absolutely NO time at all!" Her sugary sweet smile hid some trickery behind it. A quick look at the Gryffindors lit up a light bulb.

Mirren was standing by the table but wasn't engaged in the conversation. Her gaze was fixed on me as Pansy continued to babble some nonsense about what an amazing beater I was. We made eye contact as Pansy's words went in one ear and out the other. She was not shy and didn't look away but held my gaze. Once again, I found myself unable to read her expression when she smirked at me and turned her attention back to the other students talking at their table.

My stupor was broken by Pansy snapping in my face. "Well that definitely worked," She pulled her hand away and discreetly looked towards the other side of the room. "Maybe that party would've been fun." She remarked, almost sarcastically as she continued to eat her breakfast.

Andre threw his hands in the air next to me and shook his head at her comment. "Oh, so now you say the party would've been a good idea?" I turned around and stiffly tried to finish my food before it was cold. My shoulders and lower back were still on fire as my friend continued to lament. "But last night you were all 'Oh thank MERLIN you didn't go! SO DANGEROUS!' Really Pans?" He pushed the food around on his plate, obviously frustrated with her attitude change.

She just giggled at him, which irritated him even more. "Well after the way she just sized up y/n," She looked at us both with a sideways glance and she sipped on her morning tea. "Maybe you should go to the next one, if you're invited again."

I froze in place at the thought. It did sound exciting, duh, but what if Theo and her were right? What if we were only asked to go so they could corner us? Maybe it was a bit of an extreme possibility, but a possibility none-the-less.