All the Wrong Things (The Rights and Wrongs series) #2

3

Wednesday, January 19, 1994

There's a handy spell Blaise taught me last year. Oculus Dolus. It's a trick that makes it seem like your eyes are concentrated on one thing to an observer, but really you can be looking anywhere you want.

Blaise likes to use this to nod off in Transfiguration without letting McGonagall know. He also claims he's used it to convince Daphne Greengrass to go skinny-dipping with him in the lake, telling her "I won't look as you disrobe," but I'm still trying to verify this story with Pansy.

I've found all sorts of uses for it over the past year, the most recent of which is figuring out why Hermione Granger is glaring at me.

I surprise myself by admitting that I've done nothing to deserve this. She's been glaring at me all week, starting in the library on Saturday. I assumed she was upset that I arrived first to take her favorite ta– my favorite table.

But then she was glaring in History of Magic two days ago. I pulled out the book I'd checked out of the library, having devoured it over the weekend and now on my second read, and when I saw her icy eyes from across the room, I sent her a sneer. I thought perhaps she was upset that I was ignoring Professor Binns by reading a novel in class – not that it's any of her bloody business – but then yesterday I had it back in the library.

The bint had snatched up our favorite – my favorite table – so it couldn't have been about that. But then she glared at me while I minded my own business, re-reading a few pages of this new book I'm quite enjoying.

When I'd seen her eyeing me yesterday, I'd cast Oculus Dolus. To her eye, I was reading the book, but actually I spent the afternoon examining her, trying to figure out what her issue was with me.

Besides the normal issues, of course.

I'd turn a page every now and then, and she'd huff.

I'm at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall now, and I'm trying to start the book from the beginning. Pansy is next to me, chattering to Tracey Davis, and I can feel her bloody eyes on me again.

Oculus Dolus.

She's glaring across the whole Great Hall, and I'm surprised to see Potter and Weasel aren't with her. Finnigan asks her a question and then she turns back to glare at me.

I try to concentrate on this story again. I re-read the part where the Evil Queen transfigures her stepson into a dog. It makes me laugh again.

"What are you reading, Draco?" Pansy coos. She drapes herself across my arm and I shake her off.

"It's a book. Ever heard of one?"

Pansy frowns at me, and I stand, grabbing my things and heading out into the Entrance Hall. Out of the corner of my eye I see her, standing to follow.

She's on my last nerve and I turn to hide behind a statue as she pops through the doors, looking in the direction of the Slytherin dorms.

I pull my wand and step out. "Why are you watching me, Granger?"

She spins around and her eyes land on the book under my arm.

"Are you done with that book?" She places her hands on her hips in that annoying way.

I look down at the book. "What?"

"You really shouldn't read books that aren't even yours at the dining table. If you spilled even the smallest drop of coffee on the pages, Madam Pince wouldn't let you hear the end of it." She looks away. "Trust me."