fade into you || d.m

a returned favour

A song for the chapter: Vienna - Billy Joel

"So, what happened between you two?" Pansy asked with a grin on her lips.

"Yeah, it's been two days, and you haven't told us anything." Astoria rolled her eyes while putting makeup on.

Elwia stayed silent, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She and Draco had made a pact not to tell anyone about what had happened—not because they regretted it, far from it, but to prevent rumours from spreading. Word travelled quickly at Hogwarts, and before they knew it, they'd find themselves on the front page of the Daily Prophet. It was also dangerous if Voldemort ever found out one of his Death Eaters had been involved, especially sexually, with the Chosen One. It had already been risky for Elwia to hang out with Theo, Blaise, and Adrian. They were likely to become Death Eaters soon or maybe they already were, and since they weren't as skilled at Occlumency as Mattheo, they couldn't hide their friendship with Elwia from Voldemort.

Although Elwia had really liked what happened between her and Draco, she knew it could never happen again. They couldn't catch feelings for each other because they were on opposite sides of the war; it was forbidden. It was going to be very hard though– staying away from Draco, especially after what he had made her feel.

"I'm really sorry to disappoint you, but nothing happened. Draco thought that I was in a vulnerable state, having just broken up with Miles, so he didn't want to suggest doing anything." Elwia shrugged her shoulders.

A lie, once again. It was a habit Elwia had really grown used to doing; it didn't sting her heart to do it as much as it did before.

"Well, that's sweet of him, I must admit." Astoria nodded, biting the inside of her lower lip.

Elwia sighed and smiled, "Yes, it is."

"I meant to ask you this yesterday, but I forgot. Are you still going to continue as Slytherin's chaser? I think that being that close to Miles every day at practice won't do you any good, so maybe you shouldn't play anymore." Pansy began saying in a careful tone.

"Oh, shit. I completely forgot about that." Elwia threw her head back. "I will probably stay after the class to talk with Snape about it. I also have some other stuff to discuss with him." She sighed and shook her head as she grabbed her school bag from the floor.

"Class starts in 20 minutes, so should we go? Defence against the dark arts is on the other side of the castle." Pansy glanced at her watch.

"It's that much already? Damn, I really wanted to eat breakfast, but I guess not." Astoria complained and opened the dorm door.

"I mean, we are going to walk past the Great Hall. You could always just say Accio apple or something." Elwia laughed and walked out.

"What a brilliant idea!" Astoria flashed a smile, her eyes beaming with amusement. She soon fell into a conversation, or more like an argument, with Pansy about whether she could fight a giant spider or not.

Elwia tried her best not to blink as she looked at the two stunning girls in front of her. Feeling afraid that if she closed her eyes for even a split second, Astoria and Pansy would disappear into thin air. Elwia wanted to relish every moment she had with them, doing her best to make use of the remaining time she had. Because if Elwia wasn't going to lose Astoria and Pansy to her death, the two girls would probably start to hate her when they found out about everything she had been lying to them about.

At the back of Snape's classroom, Elwia sat quietly. She was focusing all of her attention on the small spider that was resting on her desk, staring up at her with its eight eyes. Spiders were funny creatures, so small yet so attention attracting. Elwia had never been scared of spiders or other insects; how could she? They were of no harm to her, and the ones who were of harm, she kept her distance from. It was their world as well.