Of Horn And Halo | Draco Malfoy

Chapter 10 | 1997

"Between Saint Potter and Cedric, I'd much rather have the Hufflepuff win," Theo said, his words followed by an exaggerated sigh, "bloody hell, this is taking way too long."

It had. The other two champions had been removed from the maze for more than thirty minutes already. The Beauxbatons students had let out rather impressive strings of French curses that had been impossible to ignore.

Daphne grunted in agreement, her eyes trained on her nails as she picked at a hangnail, "I don't even care who wins anymore I just want to go work on my potions essay. It's due tomorrow."

"You should've listened to Anthony," Maeve teased with a grin, gesturing her chin at their Ravenclaw companion who was sat with a book in his lap and parchment spread across it, "you could have brought your essay with you, but I suppose cunning doesn't make up for that Ravenclaw brand of intelligence."

Anthony didn't bother to look up as he spoke, "you're just jealous of how smart I am."

Theo scoffed. Pansy snorted. Maeve laughed. Anthony was entirely correct, but they would never admit it; Slytherin pride forbade it.

Suddenly, the music started up again. The four stood up and turned their gaze to the entrance of the maze, trying to see over the flurry of bodies who the winner was.

Then the screams started and the music died.

"Oh," Maeve choked out the words, "fuck."

"I can't believe I didn't pass," Theo whined, "it was one foot. One."

"In my experience feet are generally required," Anthony snorted.

Theo just rapped him on the back of the head.

"Well, I can't believe Daphne didn't come," Maeve said with a shake of her head, "she said she was feeling poorly but it's an apparition test. It took all of five minutes."

"Daphne will be Daphne," Theo said as if he'd found the great answer to an unsolvable puzzle.

Anthony shrugged, "Daphne feels unwell whenever she has divination. She was probably just nervous and decided she'd rather wait."

"Maybe. Either way, I should probably go check on her," Maeve waved to the boys and continued forward towards the dungeons.

The halls were relatively empty, as quite a few students were still at the trials in Hogsmeade and a few of the students in younger years had gone to sneak a peek. When she passed a portrait of a fancily dressed woman with a pinched face she wasn't all that surprised when she spoke, "comb your hair. You look like you've rolled out of a barn."

Maeve knew her hair had a habit of falling all over the place whenever she apparated so she reached up to feel the damage. It felt as though half of her braid had fallen out so she slowed her steps as she tugged at the tie she'd used to secure it that morning.

She was running her hands through her hair in an attempt to smooth it when something grabbed at the back of her sweater and she found herself dragged into an empty alcove. Her spine smarted as it pressed against stone.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, then struggled against the hands pressing her shoulders against the wall, "arrête! Arrête, qu'est - Malfoy?!"

His eyes were wild as he glared down at her, the dark circles under them only adding to the effect.

"Why are you following me, Selwyn? What do you know?" He snarled, shaking her slightly.

"What - What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Maeve forced her arms up and shoved Draco with all her might. He lost his grasp on her and stepped back twice to regain his footing. Rage burned at the edges of her senses as she stalked towards him, "I don't care what kind of Magie Noire you're wrapped up in Malfoy, or if you're one of Les Partisans De La Mort. Just stay away from me."

Draco inched closer and closer, his eyes narrowing, until they stood toe to toe. He sneered down at her as if he could intimidate her into confessing to something she hadn't done, "I've seen you following me, I've seen you around the room — "

"Selwyn, Malfoy," the drawl of Professor Snape's voice was tinged with anger, "fraternizing in the halls is prohibited. Five points from Slytherin."

Maeve hurriedly stepped away from Draco, nearly slamming into the wall, "I'm sorry, what?"

It wouldn't have been the first time Maeve had mistakenly mistranslated English in the halls of Hogwarts but she was shocked either way.

"I trust you heard me correctly. Now, be on your way before I assign you detention," Snape said with eyes boring into Maeve.

Professor Snape was not one she intended on crossing, misunderstanding or not. She scurried away and kept her head down until she reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room.

"Parseltongue."

The events of the day tumbled onto Maeve's shoulders as she slumped into one of the armchairs tucked in the corner of the common room. She hugged her knees to her chest and let her eyes stare out the window into the nothingness of the sky.

Pansy's words played over in her head from a few days previous.

For some, it isn't so easy to stand between and do nothing.

Maeve subconsciously covered her right hand with her left.

And do you swear to never raise your wand against a follower of the Dark Lord?

Pansy was wrong. Maeve had picked a side, but it hadn't been her choice at all. All she'd had to do was something she wasn't supposed to.

She tore her gaze from the window and stood, forcing her turbulent thoughts down. She made it all of three metres towards the girls' dormitories before she heard the footsteps and felt the eyes on her back.

Malfoy stood at the mouth of the common room.

Maeve didn't care about the six or so students scattered about the common room. She met his eyes in a dark glare and made a rude gesture in his direction, before pointedly looking away.