Cold Love || Draco Malfoy

3- Brewing Tension

Back in the potions classroom Jessica and Draco stood side by side at their workbench, their cauldron simmering quietly as they prepared ingredients for their assessment. Though they were working together, the silence between them was thick with unspoken tension.

Jessica measured out a handful of dried shrivelfig, carefully slicing it into even pieces, while Draco ground some snake fangs into a fine powder. They had been at this for over an hour, and neither of them had spoken more than a few clipped words. The atmosphere was so charged that even the slightest comment felt like it could spark an argument.

"Are you sure that's the right consistency?" Draco asked, his tone laced with skepticism as he glanced at Jessica's preparation.

"It is," Jessica replied curtly, refusing to meet his gaze. She knew that if she looked up and caught his condescending smirk, it would only irritate her more.

"Could've fooled me," Draco muttered under his breath, though loud enough for her to hear.

Jessica set down her knife with more force than necessary and turned to him, her patience fraying. "If you have a problem with the way I'm doing things, maybe you should take over."

Draco looked at her, a flicker of frustration in his cold gray eyes. "I'm just making sure you don't mess it up. I don't fancy getting a failing grade because of your sloppy work."

"Sloppy?" Jessica repeated, her voice rising. "I've consistently outperformed you in Potions. If anything, you're the one dragging us down."

"Really?" Draco's eyes narrowed, and he leaned closer, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Last time I checked, your biggest achievement was standing up for Longbottom. That was a real Slytherin move, by the way."

Jessica felt her temper flare, but she swallowed back the retort that burned on her tongue. She wasn't going to let Draco get under her skin—not when they still had hours of work ahead of them.

The tension was broken by the sound of shuffling footsteps. Jessica turned to see Tahlia edging closer to their workstation, a sweet yet calculating smile plastered on her face. Her eyes gleamed with false innocence as she pretended to admire their progress.

"Wow, you two look... busy," Tahlia said, her voice laced with barely concealed amusement. "I just thought I'd stop by and see how the dream team is getting along."

Draco ignored her, his focus back on their ingredients, but Jessica could see the way Tahlia's gaze lingered on him.

"Careful with that mixture, Gold," Tahlia added with a smirk, glancing at the cauldron. "One wrong move and you'll be starting all over. We wouldn't want that now would we Draco."

Jessica clenched her jaw, forcing herself to stay composed. Tahlia's words were intended to distract and irritate, but Jessica refused to give her the satisfaction of reacting.

"Is there a reason for your visit, Tahlia? Or are you just here to get on my nerves?" Draco asked, his voice dripping with irritation.

Tahlia blinked, clearly taken aback by his sharp words. Her confidence faltering and her expression softening. "Oh, I'm just trying to help. No need to be so touchy."

"We're fine, thanks, Tahlia. It was nice of you to drop by," Jessica interjected, trying to deflate the situation.

After Tahlia exited the room, Jessica turned to Draco, her eyes narrowing. "Why on earth did you have to be so rude?"

"Because she needs to understand that I don't have time for her games," Draco snapped, his frustration evident.

"That doesn't mean you have to be mean about it or raise your voice," Jessica shot back, crossing her arms.

As their argument escalated, Jessica accidentally nudged the cauldron with her elbow, just enough to upset the delicate balance of the potion. The liquid inside frothed violently for a moment before settling again, but the damage had been done. They both froze, watching the cauldron warily.

Draco sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Great. Now we have even more to fix."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you hadn't been so busy picking a fight, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"Maybe if you hadn't distracted me with your lecturing, we wouldn't be in this situation," Draco retorted, his voice laced with sarcasm.

As they grudgingly restarted the potion, the tension between them only thickened. It was clear that something weighed heavily on Draco's mind, making his irritation more palpable than usual. Each stir of the cauldron seemed to echo with the unspoken frustrations hanging between them.

---

That evening, the library was a sanctuary of quiet compared to the chaos of their earlier potion attempts. Jessica and Draco sat at one of the long tables, surrounded by stacks of books and scattered notes. The soft glow of lanterns illuminated the dusty tomes, casting warm light across their tired faces.

For a while, they worked in silence, exchanging only the bare minimum of words, still too drained from the earlier arguments to risk another confrontation. Jessica focused on ingredient ratios, flipping through old textbooks and scribbling notes in her neat handwriting. Every now and then, her eyes flicked to Draco, catching the tension in his posture—the rigid way he gripped his quill, the distracted tapping of his fingers against the table.

She wasn't sure why she noticed it so much. Perhaps it was because, without the usual sharp remarks and haughty smirks, Draco looked less like the self-assured bully she was used to and more like a tightly wound spring ready to snap.

"Malfoy?" Jessica said softly, more to test the waters than anything else. He didn't look up right away, but the tapping stopped.

"What?" he finally asked, his tone flat, drained of the usual bite.

Jessica hesitated, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of a page. "I'm sorry. Your relationship with Tahlia has nothing to do with me, and I'll stay out of it next time."

Draco's eyes flickered toward her, guarded as always, but there was a moment of hesitation before he answered. "Why do you care?" The question wasn't harsh—just weary, like he couldn't figure out if her concern was genuine or some trick.

She almost backed off, but something in his tone kept her from retreating. "I don't know," she replied, her voice more honest and unguarded than it had been before. "Tahlia may be a bully, but you've made her very distraught lately. It's affecting the whole dorm."

For a long moment, Draco didn't respond. His gaze shifted back to his notes, but it was clear he wasn't really looking at them. Finally, he sighed, his voice quieter than before. "Is she affecting you?"

Jessica studied him, surprised by the admission. "I.. I mean sure, but Tahlia's always trying to one up me."

Draco's lips pressed into a thin line. After a few seconds of tense silence, Draco runs his hands though his hair before standing. He slides the two books across the table before walking away.

He paused at the doorway; his back still turned to her. "You're a lot different than I thought you were, Gold," he mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper. "I'll see you tomorrow." Without waiting for a response, he continued out of the room, leaving Jessica alone.

To her surprise, when she opened one of the books, she found two full pages of meticulously written notes—everything she needed for tomorrow's potion session. Jessica stared at the notes for a moment, feeling a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

As she traced the lines of his handwriting, Jessica couldn't help but wonder what had changed. Maybe there was more to him than she thought. But was that a good  thing?

A/N

Word Count: 1243