Mischief - Book Two of the RP Saga

37. Soon

Rachel stuttered, frozen in place, her ears and cheeks burning red. Draco hadn't moved, the sketchbook still in his hands. The page that was open was a portrait of a boy. It was Draco. The likeliness was uncanny. Draco pulled the book in front of him and looked at the portrait once more. She had even noted the small mole on the side of his neck.

She snatched the book from his hands and slammed it shut, shoving it into her bag and sped away. Draco stalled for a moment before running after her.

"Wait, Rachel, wait!"

"What?!" Rachel spun around, her face still red.

"You drew me?"

Rachel faltered and looked down at her feet for a second before flicking her eyes up to meet him. "Don't be flattered, Malfoy. I needed practise. Nothing else."

"But... you're really good." Draco complimented, genuinely. "You're really talented."

Rachel's eyes widened slightly before she grimaced. "Here." She hastily ripped the page from the sketchbook and thrusted it into his chest.

She said nothing else and walked away as the paper floated to the floor. Draco dropped down and picked it up before it could blow away, his eyes lingered on it before watching Rachel disappear further away.

Rachel had hurried away as quickly as she could, practically running from Draco. She was so embarrassed. There was a reason she didn't like it when people looked through her sketchbook. The drawings in there were so private to her, it felt like an intrusion when someone would flick through the pages.

She let out a sigh and gripped her bag tighter. She had drew the picture not too long after the Yule Ball. Though Rachel had only meant to learn how to draw people's faces better, she had enjoyed drawing Draco Malfoy's portrait. She had relied solely on memory and had captured his face perfectly. No wonder Draco was so stunned when he saw it.

Rachel just hoped he wouldn't tell anyone. She had put so much time and effort into the drawing that it would look bad without proper context, not that Rachel really had any. She just felt inclined to sketch him. Her eyes wandered to a group of Hufflepuff's chilling in the courtyard nearby, among them was Cedric.

With a small smile, she headed towards them. Once Cedric had spotted her, his face lit up and he gestured for her to sit next to him with his friends. Rachel couldn't help but smile some more, his grin was contagious.

"What you doing out here by yourself?" He asked her, his arm over her shoulder.

"Oh, I was in the quidditch pitch, helping Harry learn spells." Rachel replied, glossing over her run in with Draco.

One of Cedric's friends, a dark haired boy, scoffed. "I'm convinced he's only got this far because everyone's helping him."

Rachel scowled. "Aren't you helping Cedric?" She didn't like Cedric's friends much, they still wore 'Potter sucks' badges.

"Cedric didn't cheat to get into the tournament." A blonde girl said, her lips pursed.

"Neither did Harry." Rachel gritted her teeth. She looked the girl up and down for a moment before turning to Cedric, ignoring his friends.

"Guys..." Cedric tried to diffuse things. "Don't..."

"Oh, come on, Cedric." The dark haired lad spoke up, his face annoyed. "Potter is a fraud, he's only got so far because Dumbledore covers for him. He's obviously cheating."

"That's my brother you're talking about, mate." Rachel's face was cold. "You think he wants all this?"

"You tell me." The girl smirked.

"Oh, do fuck off." Rachel scoffed and stood up.

Cedric jumped up and put an arm around Rachel, leading her away. "Thanks, guys." He said to them, sarcastically. "Real cool of you."

They protested and shouted after the two but Cedric ignored them, keeping his hand on Rachel's back and gently guiding her away from them. He could see she was rather upset.

"I'm sorry." He said after a moment of silence.

"You don't have to apologise." Rachel shook her head. "You didn't say those things."

"I might not have, but they're my friends and they shouldn't be like that." Cedric said sternly. "I've tried to get them to stop wearing those awful badges and... I just can't believe they'd say those things to you."

Rachel sighed. "To be honest, Harry and I are used to getting slander, by now."

"Well you shouldn't have to be used to it." Cedric squeezed her hand. "It's unfair and just downright mean. It makes me mad."

Rachel gave him a sad smile and squeezed his hand back. "Don't work yourself up over it, Cedric. You've got bigger things to worry about. How is your preparation for the Third Task going?"

"Well," Cedric began to say, "I've been practising spells. I suppose that's all we can do at the moment. I feel fairly confident though, how hard can it be?"

Rachel sniggered. "Your blind optimism astounds me."

Cedric shrugged with a smile. "Sometimes you just have to focus only on the positives."

"Perhaps..." Rachel trailed off. "Do you not think that... it's strange?"

"Strange?" Cedric looked at her. "The tournament?"

"Yeah..." Rachel continued. "I mean... Barty Crouch died and... they're still going ahead with the task. Not to mention Moody just follows Harry and I around like a bad smell. Something just doesn't feel right."

"I'm sure it's fine." Cedric nodded. "I heard Crouch had a heart attack. As for Moody, well, he's barmy. I wouldn't read too much into it."

"I guess so." Rachel chewed her lip.

Cedric looked at her and kissed the top of her head. Her frown disappeared and she looked up at him with a smile. He squeezed her hand, reassuringly, to which she responded by doing the same.

"It's only a week till the third task." Cedric said. "It'll all be over soon."

"Soon." Rachel repeated with a smile. 

She stayed quiet for some time, instead enjoying Cedric's peaceful company and his occasional hand squeezing. Every time he did, Rachel could feel a buzz in her stomach. Being around him made her excited and filled her with the same thoughts she'd heard in love stories. Her eyes found his causing her to smile. A true smile.

On their walk, they spotted Viktor Krum, heading towards the library. Rachel smirked. He was on his way to find Hermione, as usual. 

"I wonder how he's doing." Cedric said aloud.

Rachel watched Krum. "I suspect he's doing better than all three of you combined. He's a brilliantly talented wizard... even if his head is filled with sponge."

"Rachel..." Cedric laughed, shaking his head.

"What?" Rachel also laughed. "It's true! All he seems to do is exercise, follow Hermione around and just... grunt."

"Well," Cedric shrugged, "if you say so."

Rachel rolled her eyes with a chuckle before stopping in front of Cedric. "I best follow Krum actually. Go find Hermione."

Cedric nodded. "Of course!" He ducked his head down, pressing a kiss to her lips. "I'll see you later, love."

"See you..." Rachel breathed happily.

She watched Cedric turn and wave before walking away. Rachel stood still and took a deep breath in before letting it out in a sigh, clutching her bag strap. She didn't notice the two teens come up behind her.

"Oi oi." A familiar voice snapped her from her thoughts with a snicker. 

"Is our Rachie in love?" Came another, the words saturated with a playful tease.

"Fred. George. You have five seconds to run before I jinx both of your ass's." 

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