Hierarchy of Need [t.r]

Chapter Five

  As they made their way to Potions, Delilah had her arm looped with Elio and he had her bag slung over his shoulder. It was nice, having her things carried, but also infuriating. She knew they were just being gentlemen, but she wasn't used to such treatment.

  Delilah eyed Elio as he laughed at some joke Abraxas had told.

  His smile was bright as he threw his head back, the light brown hair swaying as he did so. He was rather good looking. Delilah laughed silently to herself. They were all rather good looking. Elio turned to look down at Delilah, remnants of his laugh still etched on his face. "I take it you've met good ol' Horace?" He asked. She hummed as she bit her lip, pulling at the skin. "He's interesting. And rather loud." She remarked and Elio nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's even worse when he's around Tom. Merlin, his eyes light up as if it's Yuletide." Delilah bit back a smile. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Slughorn would praise Harry whenever he did the remotest thing.

  Delilah eyed Tom and leaned towards Elio to whisper, "is Tom a teachers pet then, a suck up?" Elio blinked at her before laughing, he quickly cut himself off and feigned a cough as Tom looked back at them with an eyebrow raised. Delilah stifled a laugh by burying her face in Elio's shoulder. "Sorry." She coughed and straightened out her features, a laugh still bubbled in her chest however. "I had a similar situation at Beauxbatons. This one student would do the smallest thing correctly and the professor would act like they just created some absurd cure to a poison." Elio hummed and nodded. "That's basically Slughorn with Tom. He's like this beacon at all of the parties Slughorn hosts." Delilah raised a brow at Elio. She knew he meant the Slugclub, but she didn't know Slughorn threw actual parties. She'd been invited to a dinner once and it was beyond awkward.

  Blaise had been asked to go and he didn't want to suffer. So what did he do? Drag Delilah along with him.

  "What parties?" She asked and Elio threw a charming grin at her. "Well, if you're as smart as you seem, Slughorn will surely give you an invite." Delilah nodded, however she made a mental note not to drag too much attention to herself. She wasn't one for parties, and the thought of being stuck at a formal event with none of her friends to back her seemed terrifying. Sure, she was comfortable enough around the boys. And Lolita seemed nice enough. All around, the idea was too intimidating.

  Delilah mentally thanked the heavens she wasn't as determined as Hermione to prove her knowledge. If someone asked that girl a question, there was no restraining her. Hermione's hand would always shoot up and she always perfected what she was doing. If Delilah was like that, there'd be no 'laying low'. Although, if Hermione was in her position instead, she'd probably already know how to get back to 1998 by now.

  They entered into the Potions classroom and there was a surprisingly large amount of students. N.E.W.T level classes when she took them only had about twelve students.

  There were eight Slytherins, including her. Four Gryffindors. Ten Ravenclaws, Delilah smiled at them absentmindedly. And six Hufflepuff's. Of course, they were all sitting with people in their houses. Elio tugged her towards a table in the front and she was about to yell at him for it but Slughorn caught sight of her. She sighed and glared at Elio as she took her seat. In front of her sat Tom, and next to him was Abraxas, while Elio sat next to her.

  The table behind them held Pyrrhus , Cain, Lolita, and Olive. And the rest were students she didn't know. "Ah, Miss Pontmercy my dear! I see you've made good friends?" He patted Tom on the back and stared at the two as if he'd just opened a gift. Delilah and Elio looked at each other and shared a knowing smile. Tom raised his eyebrow slightly at Elio as he caught wind of the silent gesture between them. He appraised him silently, glad he was getting to work on knowing more about her so quickly.