The Mudblood

Chapter 116 : Year 6

This fanart of Astoria was made by https://www.quotev.com/MsDorkAZork and I love it!

And the couples' competition for this month was inspired by https://www.quotev.com/cheshiregirl :)

Draco Malfoy and I didn't speak or pass notes or even so much as look at each other for the remainder of September. Searching for that golden box of Snitches with him wasn't even something I considered, though I did often ponder where Snape had moved the damned thing. As the first month of school wore on, rumors spread around Slytherin House that Snape had found out that we were all searching for the Snitches—probably before the night Malfoy and I had ventured to his office—and had moved them to a more remote location. Ashley was furious, mostly with herself, when the last day of September passed and no one had retrieved the Snitches, though she took the brunt of her anger out on the rest of us on the morning of October 1st.

"Despicablebleble!" she exclaimed, causing Anderson, Harper, and I to exchange amused glances across the Slytherin common room. I stood near the couches with my partner, Malfoy, as commanded by Ashley, while she stood at the center of the gathered crowd and the rest of the Slytherin Six lingered on the other side of the circle. Though Malfoy stood next to me, there was a relatively large gap between us that could have easily fit Pansy, and from where she stood with Goyle, Sal perched on her shoulder, she seemed to be eyeing that space with the desire to fill it.

"Not one of you could find those bloody Snitches! Ugh!" Ashley fumed, drawing my attention away from the pug. "Negative one points for every couple!"

"If it's only one point per couple, it wouldn't be plural," Travis Anderson pointed out, causing Ashley to scream, "Shut up!"

"Does that negative one point extend to you and Crabbe, or are you still at zero?" I asked, and Ashley's fists were clenched when she whipped toward me.

"Yes, Crabbey and I have negative one points too! We all do, because we're all pathetic! This has messed up all of my plans! We were going to have a Quidditch match this month!"

"Thank God we're all pathetic," Melody droned, her eyes fixed solely on the large book in her arms. Though she'd claimed she wanted nothing but to be away from Hogwarts, she'd transitioned back into the school life like she always did: hexing random students, making snide comments, and reading at every available opportunity. As Snape had promised, the Carrows hadn't tried to punish or capture Melody for the fact that she'd arrived at school late and also happened to be one of the Gaudiums that Voldemort sought out. I presumed they had no idea what the Flemming sisters were, otherwise I didn't think that even Snape could have stopped them from servilely handing the girls over to their Dark Lord.

Ashley was seething now as she snatched her clipboard from Crabbe's meaty hands and glanced down at her own illegible handwriting. "Since none of you dumbos could find the Snitches, I've been forced to pick a different competition for this month. Lainey gave me the idea."

"I...did?" I piped up, unaware that I'd done so.

"Yes, you did, with all of your tattoos. I am going to place a magical tattoo on each of you that will alert you if your partner is being disloyal—"

"Disloyal how?" Astoria interrupted from where she stood beside Anderson. He shifted with the sharpness of her question.

"Must I bring out a dictionarary?" Ashley retorted impatiently. "Being disloyal to your partner means that you're flirting with other people, snogging with other people, doing things that betray your partner's trust—"