Slytherin sparks

Panic

9:30am dorm room

Iris yawned and peeped her eyes open as the light seeped through the curtains. She could hear Pansy in the shower, she must've got back late last night, and Syd was snoring loudly beside her.
Iris looked closer at Syds gentle rise and fall of her chest and noticed she was clutching a note in her hand.
Iris leaned over and took it, and without thinking began to read though it.

Elledge
I'll meet you at 11 tomorrow.
My friends and I are going into Hogsmeade for the day.
Feel free to bring Iris.
I know you wouldn't want to leave her for less than 2 minutes.
Zabini

Ah, this is what Syd had been talking about when she  mentioned meeting up with Blaise. She couldn't help but a feel a sting of pain as she read though it, she didn't want Sydney to feel like she had to drag her along.

It's not like she wanted to go anyway, I mean spend a day with pug face Pansy and her mates. No Thankyou. And secondly she was almost sure Draco would be there, and she did not think she could face him so soon after last night. He would think she was strange following him around.
And with that, Syds eyes flickered open,
"Snooping are we Iris banks?"
She giggled rubbing at her eyes.

"You up for coming then? I knew if I asked you to come last night you would've said no, Malfoy would be the only thing you'd think of. But come on, It wasn't so bad seeing the group last time after the party. And we said we would do more exciting things this year."
Iris groaned back at her best friend,
"Even if that means hanging out with Parkinson?"
Syd laughed.
"Ok so Parkinson is going to hate us for being there, but I want to see Blaise, spend more time with him, and it would be nice for you to come too Iris. Malfoy's going to be there!"
"Yes but Malfoy won't want me there."
"Well apparently he gave Blaise the go ahead to invite you."
"Really?"
"Really."

After 20 minutes of convincing, Iris agreed to accompany her friend to Hogsmeade.
Pansy scowled as she watched the friends gossip over what they should wear.
"I don't know what Zabini sees in you Sydney. And I certainly don't understand why he feels the need to invite you to this."

"Doesn't he know you two are the most annoying Slytherin girls he could've picked. And Iris, following Sydney round like a lost puppy- kind of sad don't you think." She scowled at the pair peering into Iris' wardrobe.
"If only you knew."
Sydney smirked towards Pansy and winked at Iris.
"If only you fucking knew."
"What?" Pansy breathed.
"Nothing." The girls chimed in synchronised timing, and then proceeded to laugh at each other. Pansy rolled her eyes and Iris couldn't help but think how mad Pansy would be, hearing that her and Malfoy were, well they were, what were they?
She rubbed her head as she banished Malfoy from her mind. Today she would focus on having a nice day, and try to ignore Parkinson, and also probably ignore Malfoy. Probably.

11:10am dorm corridor

Syd and Iris had finished getting ready, they wrapped up in black coats as it had seemed nippy and fresh outside, the sun shining but still cold. A perfect autumn day.
Iris stared down her at laced up boots fiddling with her fingers as she walked.
"You nervous?" Syd questioned.
"A little, I'm not going to lie I don't really feel as if I've been invited. I know Pansy already thinks I'm following you around." She rolled her eyes.

"Iris when have you ever listened to Pansy? Look, I want you to come. And Maybe it will give you a chance to speak to Malfoy."
"No way."
"It might help this confusing situation, you never know." Syd smiled at her friend tucking her jet black locks behind her ear.
"Lets just enjoy the day Iris."
Iris smiled back, Syd always made her feel better about any situation.
The girls continued to walk out of the corridor and outside onto the crunch of the grass beneath their feet. In the distance they could see the group by a tree. A certain blonde Slytherin was sticking out like a sore thumb, leaning against the tree with a cigarette in his hand. Iris gulped as she saw him.
Pansy had made it there before them, and was scowling with her arms crossed as she watched the girls approach. Green-grass was chatting to Goyle and Zabini looked eagerly towards Syd, a smile playing on his lips.

"Hi all." Syd annouced to the group as they edged closer.
"Ah Elledge," Blaise smiled. "Looking as fit as ever." Greengrass made a wretching sound before signalling to the group that she was bored and wanted to go and walk for a butterbeer in Hogsmeade.
Malfoys icy eyes locked onto Iris', and she looked away quickly, before looking back at them, and then slowly melting into his nasty stare.
He smirked slightly at her, and then scowled a little as he looked her up and down.

The Group proceeded to walk towards the small village of Hogsmeade and Iris hung back slightly, letting Syd and Zabini catch up with eachother. Malfoy seemed to hang back beside her also, and was walking next to her, his face a bored expression.
"Malfoy." She stated not looking up to him.
"Banks."
"Follow Elledge around everywhere do you?" 
He snapped with a laugh.
"I thought I told you I didn't want to see you again?"
As he said the words he looked away into the distance, avoiding her eyes. She couldn't help but notice him looking away again, it was like he didn't like saying it.

"I'm not here for you Malfoy. I'm here for Syd."
"Right." He replied sharply.
"Just stay out of my way today."
He snapped again, and with that sped up his pace to walk beside Goyle. Iris trudged behind them, moody and unfulfilled from her recent exchange with Malfoy.

As the group continued walking along the stone path, towards the aching call of a butterbeer, she stopped in her tracks as she looked up.

Theodore nott stood with girl she didn't recognise, leaning up against a wall. He hadn't noticed her.
She heard him nod "Malfoy." To him as he walked past and Malfoy nodded back, seemingly uninterested.
Iris couldn't force her feet to move any closer. She stopped dead. Her breath quickened and her heart rate rose suddenly, she looked across at Nott again and tears began streaming down her cheeks. The group carried on walking, Sydney clearly hadn't noticed Nott and was too engraved in her conversation with Blaise.
The blood roared through Iris' ears as she began to panic. She hadn't seen him since IT had happened. The worse moment of her life, the root of all her fucking problems, the reason she followed Syd around like a lost puppy.

She was breathing fast and the tears kept coming as she looked down at her shoes and leaned against the wall for support. In the distance Nott hadn't even noticed her, but just seeing his face again was too much for her to handle.
She managed to coax up enough strength to turn around and run back to the castle.

Seeing him again had ignited everything she hated about herself inside of her and she turned around and ran, her heart was beating through her chest. She couldn't hear with the blood roaring through her ears.
The rest of the group continued to walk on apart from Malfoy, who had noticed the inconsistency of the crunch from under her boots.
He stood watching her wipe away her tears as she looked at the ground before she turned and ran.
He had to follow her, he had to know why she was crying, where she was going.
He had to help and protect her, it was like an aching feeling in his chest he couldn't ignore.
Was it something he had done? He didn't think he could face her if it was.

Just check she's ok and then go. You can't stay with her Malfoy. You can't follow her and then let her in. It's too dangerous. You can't comfort her. But, you can't leave her.

Taking a second to outweigh the risk of maybe falling for Iris banks, he decided he needed to speak to her, and that something was seriously wrong.
With that he picked up his pace following her panicked strides back down the little stone path.
Now there was no turning back.