Grudges

Chapter 8

Victoria sighed as she watched Skye walking away, shaking her head at her best friends attempt at revenge.

    "You really shouldn't call anyone a blood traitor Draco, especially not in front of them. I'm trying to get all of them not to hate you and you're not really helping your cause." Victoria sighed once again, taking a sip of her pumpkin juice.

    "I don't need them to like me." Draco replied shortly.

    "Well I need for them to like you so they don't shun me for the rest of life."

    "Then don't hang out with me, problem solved." Victoria sighed for what seemed like the millionth time in the last 10 minutes and dropped her head onto the table, thinking about how easy it would be to just walk away from him and go back to her friends like nothing happened. For some unknown reason she couldn't bring herself to do such a thing, not because she wanted to help him or because she wanted to show her friends he was a good person. She knew that, no one else would believe her and she knew that.

    She wanted him to know that someone would be there for him, that they weren't friends with him because of his last name or his money. Even if he didn't need it, he might eventually. And she wanted him to know she would be there for that time.

    "Nope." She lifted her head and looked at Draco, whose eyes were opened slightly in surprise. "Not gonna happen. You're my friend and you are going to stay my friend whether they like it or not."

            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Victoria whistled to herself as she walked the corridor, the tune would be unrecognizable to just about anyone that had a high blood class, but those with a muggle family or those who lived in a muggle neighborhood would recognize the song as Hand In Your Pocket by Alanis Morissette.

    Victoria might have been a pureblood, but living in a neighborhood full of muggles and having a best friend obsessed with muggle everything you pick up a few things. She approached the door to the outside, looking around for any signs of life before continuing out the door. She had many occasions where she snuck out like this, and for a school that was always in so much danger they didn't really enforce the students out of bed rule as much as they should.

    Victoria hugged her jacket closer to her as a cold breeze floated past her, she once again looked around for anyone before she pulled the small box from her pocket. Victoria flicker her wand and whispered "Incendio" and lighting the small object on fire before bringing it to her lips and inhaling.

    She knew it was terrible for her, and she rarely ever smoked. But on occasion she would get this feeling in her stomach, it never really stemmed from anything in particular, but it was this anxious feeling that made her feel sick to her stomach. After the feeling stayed for too long she would sneak out of her dorm at night and smoke, awaiting the feeling of euphoria she got from the inhalation. She blew the smoke from her mouth, basking in the feeling.

    The anxious feeling disappeared from her stomach as the dopamine reached her brain, the lovely feeling of relaxation flooding over her body. Victoria was a smart girl, and during her life she had been warned against smoking, the warning against cancer. At one point she tried to drown out the feeling with alcohol, but the repercussions of that were too big, she woke up the morning after with a huge headache and barely remembering what she did the night before.

    Luckily that night Skye was there to stop her from doing anything stupider than what she already did, though Skye had seen Victoria at her lowest and most desperate points, she had yet to know of her habit. It almost made Victoria feel guilty about the habit, well even more than she already did about the whole situation in general.

    Victoria really had no reason to have this problem, her life was great. She had both of her parents, her mother was amazing, and so was her father. For the 10 years of her life she did amazing in school and sports, though the older she grew the more burnt out she became, and the more pressure on school came from her parents. It seemed small to her but at the same time it was huge.

    Smoking was a relief, it took away everything, she didn't have to think about the stress of life as she sat down next to the Black Lake, watching the water ripple as the fish came to the top of the water, the moon in its various forms shining light on the water. Victoria inhaled again, she exhaled through her nose when a noise sounded behind her. The sound of footsteps.

    "Victoria? Are you...smoking?"