Redamancy (d.m)

Chapter sixty seven-a pile of leaves

It felt surreal, not waking up alone.

But waking up in his arms, that was vividly definite beyond reason

"Wake up, you sleepy fuck" Draco whispered into the nape of my neck as he brushed my hair out of my drowsy face
"Oh so we're back to the insults, huh?" I muttered, rubbing my heavy eyes open and looking up from his bare chest to his face
"I don't think we ever stopped" he replied with a smirk, sitting up against the headboard and taking my hand in his before pulling me up
"Go away, I'm sleeping through the rest of the week" I groaned as he lifted me up into a sitting position
"We have to see the Dark Lord for another mission tonight" Draco said, demeanour dropping noticeably as he twisted the rings around his fingers
"Both of us?" I questioned, to which he nodded
"And the Mercers too"
"He's testing all four of us at once?" I said, feeling a jolt of nervousness rush through me
"I think this is just his way of getting us to do his dirty work-not that he ever needs a reason" he said, making me chuckle dryly
"What was that..." I finally blurted out softly, "...last night"
"It was sex, (y/n), I though I'd made that obvious" he said with raised brows, making me roll my eyes
"No shit, but sex with you doesn't usually include you spending the night afterwards" I said pointedly
"You wanted me to" he responded stiffly
"Since when have you cared about what I wanted?" I said rhetorically
"Are you saying I should've left?" He responded, irritation in his voice
"No, I'm not" I said, my brows connecting together in confused frustration
"Well then why are being such a whiny bitch?" He snapped, making my eyes widen
"I'm just trying to figure out what the fuck we are, Draco" I said with an uneasy sigh
"We aren't anything" he spat poisonously, "you're just a convenient fuck"

Acid churned in my stomach, bubbling up to my chest as the ache of his words set in. There weren't tears in my eyes, in fact, my entire body was unnervingly drained. My saliva burned the back of my throat as I swallowed it out with difficulty, my sharp nails dug into my thighs sending pulses of prickles down to my ankles.

"Have I hurt your feelings, (y/n)?" He crooned mockingly, "don't tell me you thought it was something more?"

He started laughing, it sounded haunting as it echoed in my eardrums

"Well that's just pathetic"

My already pained smile twitched as I entered the dining room for breakfast to witness some enjoyable additions and some that were rather...not

"Blaise Zucchini!" I yelled out enthusiastically to the tall boy with bacon grease on his fingers
"When are you gonna drop the zucchini thing, (y/n)?" He said with a groan though he hugged me nonetheless
"When penguins fly" i responded, feeling the corners of my plastered smile start to hurt
"But penguins do fly" Blaise said with a confused look, making the other diners break into laughter as he looked around, clueless, "don't they?"
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Blaise isn't in ravenclaw" I remarked, dodging as he threw a piece of toast in my direction, "that was a hate crime"
"They fly" he said, shaking his head stubbornly
"Someone send it back it's malfunctioning" Westeria called, looking around as if expecting a factory worker to appear from the shadows and cart Blaise off in a cardboard box
"We need to ask for a return" Emerson added, amplifying the laughter around the table, "Leave a bad review"

I laughed along, though it felt forced and unnatural, especially with the forceful grey glare piercing through my skull

"If only parents could return their adopted children, Bella would just love that" Astoria simpered sweetly from down towards the end of the table, where she was sitting with Draco's arm draped casually around her shoulders. The sight made my blood run cold.

Myself, Westeria, Emerson, Blaise, Rue, and Aletheo stayed dead silent as Draco's goons, Astoria and Pansy let out loud shrieks. Draco didn't laugh, but he didn't fight off a tight smile either

"(Y/n), you didn't laugh" Astoria said with a bright smile that was so condescending it morphed itself into a sneer, making me look up from my cereal
"Hm, well next time say something funny" I said pleasantly, making Aletheo choke on his water, laughing loudly with the rest of my friends as he came up gasping for air
"Um...I don't...it was funny" Astoria stuttered, stretching her sickly smile unnaturally wide, and when I caught Westeria's eye we shot each other mischievous looks
"You start over there" I directed her towards a cabinet behind her which she rushed to, digging through the expensive China and various books, "I'll look here"

A few moments of silence passed, broken only by my checkups of "have you found it yet?" To which Westeria would call back "not yet, just keep looking", as the entire table observed us, Astoria's half waiting in confused annoyance while my half fought to suppress their grins. Finally, Astoria made a whiny huffing noise

"What in the bloody hell are you two doing?" She demanded in what I'm sure she thought to be a charming voice, I turned around, glad that she asked
"See, we're trying to find the funny" Westeria explained earnestly, making her brother and girlfriend burst into even more laughter while Astoria's eyes narrowed, a strange contrast to her beaming smile
"Only thing is, we seem to be having difficulty locating it" I nodded thoughtfully, "maybe we'll try again some other time, Ria, come, let's finish our breakfast"
"Was that supposed to be a joke?" Pansy sneered
"You know you have this really astounding talent of pointing out the painfully obvious, Parkinson" I said sarcastically, piling a slice of strawberry tart onto my plate
"Oh wow, that's a generous portion, isn't it" Astoria observed, eyelids fluttering towards my breakfast, "I admire how you don't care about how your body looks-couldn't be me, I work really hard to keep in shape"
"Did she just..." Rue said with wide eyes that darted between Astoria and myself
"Mental illness" Blaise commented, picking a cherry of its stem with his teeth
"Babe, you willingly ingest a pile of leaves everyday" I said with a laugh, nodding her head at Astoria's salad "that puts you at the bottom of the food chain"
"Strips you of any and all rights" Aletheo added
"You're not a caterpillar, Greengrass, worry about your identity crisis before trying to comment on my body" I finished with a satisfied smirk, taking a long sip of my juice as my eyes stayed trained on Astoria's beet red face which, impressively, still held a smile
"A caterpillar..." Emerson wheezed, fanning himself with his hand
"Why are you laughing?" Astoria demanded, dropping her false demeanour at last as a string of chuckles emerged from Draco's mouth
"I'm not" Draco said unconvincingly and I made a noise of disbelief
"Shut up, Lestrange, you're just bitter he took me to the ball last night" Astoria snapped, and Draco's head cocked to the side as he watched the scene unfold
"Ohhh, did he take you to the ball? he took you to the ball?" I mocked her pitchy voice with a pout, "did he eat you out afterwards too-"

I dropped my pout and licked my lips as my expression turned cold

"-Or was that just me?"

Westeria let out a strangled yelp of glee as jaws dropped collectively at the table, a mixture of flabbergast and distress shone through every face

"See because what you aren't going to do is forget your place" I said composedly as I stood up, placing a icing covered mouth directly into my mouth, wiping the sugar off onto my tongue as I stared directly at Draco, who's jaw clenched harshly at the sight, "and your place, Greengrass, is far far below me"

"Can we go literally anywhere else?" Westeria said, standing up and throwing her used napkin onto the table
"Please, get me out of here" Aletheo said enthusiastically
"I go where Ria goes" Rue said
"So do I" Emerson echoed
"Blaise what the hell do you think you're doing, mate" Draco said threateningly as Blaise stood up to follow
"Leaving" he responded shortly
"Are you out of your bloody mind?" Draco snarled, "if you leave, then don't come back"
"That's kind of the point, Malfoy" Blaise said, pressing his lips together, "you're my best mate, so get your shit together before I actually have to stop hanging around you for good"