Adeleine Potter: The Shifting Shadows, Draco fanfic

Part 25

The boys were in high spirits, and the tension from earlier seemed to dissolve in the haze of Butterbeer and light-hearted banter. 

Theo, as usual, was in his element—cracking jokes that had us all laughing, even through the rising buzz of our drinks. 

"Honestly, Malfoy, if you keep glaring like that, your face might freeze that way. It's not a good look for you," Theo quipped with a grin, taking a long sip of his Butterbeer. 

Draco scowled at him, but even he couldn't keep a smirk from tugging at the corner of his mouth. 

I leaned back in my chair, feeling the warmth of the alcohol seep through me, and relaxed for what felt like the first time in weeks. Mattheo was next to me, close enough that his knee brushed mine under the table, but there was an unspoken agreement to ignore the charged energy that had lingered between us since that morning. 

I was still trying to make sense of it all—what it meant, what it didn't mean—but the Butterbeer made it easier to push those thoughts aside, at least for now. 

Theo, his eyes gleaming with mischief, leaned over and nudged me with his elbow. "Come on, Adeleine, you've been awfully quiet. Got something on your mind? Or are you just overwhelmed by Malfoy's dazzling charm?" 

I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, yes, Theo. Draco's charm is just... overwhelming." 

Pansy snickered beside me, leaning in. "She's just jealous that Draco's taken by Daphne," she said, teasingly. 

At the mention of Daphne, I felt a flicker of irritation. Not at her—Daphne was... well, fine, I supposed—but at Draco, who was sitting across from me, looking entirely too smug. As if he had everything under control, as if he always did. 

It was infuriating how little anything seemed to affect him, how he could sit there so confidently while my mind was a mess of tangled feelings. I shot him a look, unable to help myself. 

"Honestly, Malfoy, what do you expect from me?" My voice came out sharper than I intended, but the Butterbeer had made my thoughts fuzzier, and I couldn't stop now. "You're acting like you've got it all figured out, but you're the one going with Daphne to the ball, aren't you?" 

Draco's grey eyes flickered, narrowing slightly as he leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "And what exactly are you implying, Adeleine?" 

I leaned forward, not backing down, feeling the heat of the room mix with the warmth in my chest. "I'm implying that you can't act like you care about what I do or who I go with, not when you've already chosen someone else. Or did you expect me to sit around waiting for you to change your mind?"

A tension settled over the table, thick and charged. Mattheo, beside me, had gone still, his posture casual but his eyes sharp as he watched Draco. 

The rest of the group had fallen silent, their attention bouncing between the two of us like they were watching a game of wizard's chess with no idea how it would end. Draco's jaw clenched, and for a moment, I thought he was going to snap back. 

But instead, his voice was cold, measured. "I never asked you to wait for anything, did I?" The words stung more than I expected. He said it so easily, as if my confusion—my feelings—were nothing more than a minor inconvenience. As if I were just supposed to shrug it all off. And for some reason, that pushed me over the edge. 

"Well, that's good, because I'm not," I shot back, my tone sharper than I intended. "In fact, I'm going with Mattheo." 

The words left my mouth before I fully realized what I was saying. Immediately, the table went silent, and I felt Mattheo stiffen beside me. My heart raced, and for a split second, I panicked—what had I just done? I braced myself for the fallout, for Mattheo to object or make a joke or—hell, I didn't even know what I expected.