New Vinyl (A Draco Malfoy Story)

V

Potion fumes polluted the poorly ventilated dungeons. Professor Snape monitored each station and answered questions as students muddled through the instructions written on the chalkboard. I squinted to make out the ingredients from the back of the room.

"Grind up what?" Celine asked, not looking up from stirring.

"Mandrake root? Or is it Mandrake foot? Do Mandrakes have feet?" I asked.

"You'd know if you ever went to Herbology." I ignored her, pushing my quill along the parchment in front of me. Not even a full line of notes graced the page before the line warbled off into incoherent patterns, pictures and lines from songs that when read in sequence formed a new song of its own. "You're about as helpful when you show up to class as you are when you don't, you know that?" Celine huffed, getting up from her seat to get a better look at the board. With a flick of my wand, the same spell I used for winding Emeline set the stirrer back in motion on its own.

"Hill showing up for lessons two days in a row?" Draco appeared in front of the reference bookcase behind the rear work stations. He made a show of pulling out volumes and scanning their contents. "Changed your mind about a ministry position, have you? A bit late for first impressions."

"Hardly," I said, tracing the shadow of a small dog drawn in the far right corner of the page. Little lines on each side of his tail indicated a wagging motion, and his tongue lolled out of his mouth to one side. Draco peered over my shoulder at it. Pointing my wand, a faint whisper escaped my lips. "Animatros." The dog bounded to life, jumping down from the corner of the parchment to stand atop the lyrics. The words wiggled beneath his imaginary weight. They curled up and wrapped around the dog like a blanket come alive. The dog wrestled, pawing at the word blanket and nipping it with its teeth playfully.

Celine came back to her seat, a piece of parchment with scribbled notes from the instructions at the front of the room in hand. She spotted the dog rolling around on the parchment. "Cute." Then she directed her attention to Draco standing beside me. "Do you need something, Draco?"

Draco snapped the book he held closed. I only noticed how cold the Potions classroom was when he moved away, taking his body heat with him. "Nope. Got what I came for," he said, holding the book up for us both as proof.

"Dicing Techniques for Specialty Brews?" Celine raised an eyebrow. "There is not one mention of dicing for any of the ingredients to make Elderant Potion."

Draco scowled, moving past the two of us toward his own work station where Blaise banged at his Mandrake root with a small hammer. "I'm eight assignments ahead of this class. You honestly believe me to be at the same level as the rest of you remedial simpletons?" He rolled his eyes. Celine scoffed, turning back to the cauldron and taking hold of the stirrer again. I pretended to pay attention. Blaise held his wand out to the root now, and Draco shoved him aside at the sight of sparks. He grabbed a small bowl and smothered the spark before it had the chance to erupt into a full-blown fire. I shivered, reaching up and rubbing my arms for warmth with my hands.

"You want to borrow my sweater?" Celine asked. She grabbed the green material draped over the back of her chair and offered it. I took it by the sleeve, but she held onto it tight. She leaned forward, a wicked grin on her face. "Or perhaps Draco's arms would be the more appealing option to curl up in for warmth?"

"Fuck off," I said, dropping the sleeve and turning back to my drawings. The dog settled down, cuddling up with the word blanket for a nap. I envied him. My foot jiggled with impatience against the wooden bar built into the stool I sat on, my knee bouncing up and down. The last two days brought great discomforts, from judgmental stares of professors to extra credit assignments added to the boatload of overdue homework. I claimed to each professor a desire to change. To do better. That alone saved me from detention, which was the whole point of this good girl routine in the first place. But that all ended today. And that itch that came with sitting in a classroom too long would be gone. But for now, I felt the weight of it. The coldness of the classroom settled deep into my bones. My foot jiggled harder.