Grudges

Chapter 15

By the time Victoria left the room of requirement it was dark, she had missed all days classes. She held her robes in her hands, showing her stockings and skirt with her button up white top and her Slytherin necktie. She was walking slowly, looking down as she watched her skirt swish with every step.

She continued walking until she heard the familiar clicking of high heels down the corridor. "Shit it's Umbridge!" She whispered and quickly turned the other way and ran down the hallway. Victoria turned the corner and ran into something, hard. She looked up and saw Draco staring down at her, a hard look in his eyes as he glared down at her. He reached down and yanked her up by the arm, dragging her forcefully towards the sound of Umbridge's footsteps. She whimpered at the pain of his grip on her, trying to yank herself away from him and run the other way.

"Please Draco-"

"Don't." He turned the corner, his grip tightening on her as he did so. Victoria could see the pink toad down the hallway as they walked towards her. Before she could see them Draco yanked Victoria to the side and into a classroom, he pushed her forward before shutting the door behind them. He was hiding her.

"You scared me."

"Don't talk to me, blood traitor." He sneered at her, his cold eyes fixed in an icy glare. For a quick second he looked he up and down before looking away, Victoria was sure she looked terrible. Her clothes must've been all wrinkled and she hadn't bothered to shower or even put on makeup this morning. Her hair was greasy so she had thrown it up into a messy bun, and she could practically feel the bags under her eyes. She took a deep breath and sat on one of the desks, swinging her feet as she tapped the wood.

"Stop making that noise." Draco glared at her once again and she stopped tapping. Victoria flinched at the glare and stopped tapping, Draco moved swiftly towards the door, peeking his head and and looking both ways. "She's gone. Now go before she comes back, i'm not saving you again." He left the room and Victoria chased after him.

"Why did you save me?" Draco looked back at her, he just stared for a bit, before turning back around and disappearing from the corridor.

Victoria sighed sadly before turning around and walking towards her common room, a little faster than before as she did not want to be caught by Umbridge.

"Vicki?" Skye's voice came from behind her.

"Heeeyyy Skye." Victoria said sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with the ravenette.

"Where the hell have you been?! You missed classes! You never miss classes! I totally failed that charms paper!" Skye shouted.

"Oh you know...around." Skye could see how disheveled the blonde was and sighed.

"C'mon. I know just what'll cheer you up." Skye grabbed Victoria and started walking, after taking many twists and turns they arrived at a painting. Skye tickled the pear and a door appeared, they entered. Waving at the house elves they had known for years.

"Hey Dobby! Anyway you can whip us up some hot chocolates and some brownies?" Victoria giggled at the request, for years they had come here to get the exact same thing, and it became the one thing they always did together. They would talk forever over a hot chocolate and some brownies, Skye could obviously tell something was wrong, and maybe she knew Victoria wasn't ready to tell her, but this room right here. It was peace.

Skye and Victoria ventured over to some stools and sat down, a small table sat next to them to rest their arms on.

"Everything okay?" Skye asked as she grabbed a cup from one of the house elves. Skye had noticed something was off put with how disheveled Victoria looked she wasn't going to push it.

Victoria thought about lying, she really did, but she couldn't lie to Skye anymore. "No. Not really at all actually." She sipped from the red mug that was given to her, it had a little Santa face on it.

"What wrong? Or do you not want to tell me yet?" Skye sat there patiently waiting for Victoria to answer.

"I...I want to tell you. I really do. But I just....can't yet. I'm not ready for the backlash i'm going to get with this one." Victoria sighed, at least Skye knew the truth, or at least some of it. A house elf set a tray of hot brownies on the table, warning them about the temperature before scurrying off.

"Backlash? I already told you what I thought about you and Harry. Plus I totally ship it. So you can tell me." Skye smiled brightly as she took another sip of hot chocolate. Victoria groaned loudly before dropping her head onto the table. Mumbling something incoherent. "I'm sorry what?" Victoria lifted her head and spoke again.

"I don't like Harry. I lied."

"Lied....you lied? Why though! I've never lied to you Vicki! If it's not Harry then..." Skye stopped talking and gave Victoria a look that said 'you can't be serious.'

Victoria gave Skye a shy smile before stuffing a brownie into her mouth, which all but confirmed Skye's suspicions.

"You can't be serious! You know how rude he is to me and everyone that doesn't meet his standards! He may be attractive but you can't be serious about liking him! I won't allow it!" Skye said trying to keep her voice down as it started raising with every sentence.

"Well, here's that backlash. You wouldn't understand Skye." Victoria sighed, not making eye contact with Skye as she tried not to let her see how upset she was.

"Couldn't you find someone else! Someone who isn't a complete ass to your friends?" Skye sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm really not trying to be rude here but he's the problem." Skye checked the time then looked back at Victoria. "I have to go. Fred is waiting on me."

Victoria nodded, not looking up at Skye as she walked away. Victoria looked down at her swirling hot chocolate, her eyes blurring as tears dropped.