Guess whose updating earlier for once in her life...THIS KID! Chapter 6 was definitely a pain in the ass to write, mostly because I was stuck on how to get it into the more juicy parts of the fifth book. Well, looks like my writers block is over (hopefully) and I shall be busting out chapters quicker than once a month or every other month.
Thank you very much to xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, once again for your review, I appreciate it! :D
And also, thank you to those of you who have added this story on to your alerts, lets me know you guys are reading it, and hopefully enjoying it as well!
I own nothing but the characters I create, everything else belongs to J.K Rowling.
Chapter 7
Adira awoke alone, and slightly cold later in the morning, the silver fleece blanket still wrapped around her snuggly as if she were sleeping on the couch by herself the entire time. She felt confused, and slightly offended that Draco had left, perhaps he was embarrassed to be caught with Adira, all tangled up in the blankets. Or perhaps he would save the teasing and jabs later when she least expects it.
The room was buzzing with excitement as she groggily sat up, rubbing her amber eyes in attempt to get rid of the sleepiness. No one seemed to pay her any attention as girls giggled wearing matching scarves and the boys all hooting and clapping as they watched the Slytherin team walk down the stairs in their matching sweaters.
Today was the first match of the year, and ironically it was against Gryffindor and Adira knew how sore her house would be if they lost, yet again. She silently made her way to her room, nodding her head to those who said good morning to her. She felt a little bit odd, a bit guilty for sleeping with Draco, like she had betrayed herself, like she had given in to everyone else's expectations for her.
It's not like she was deaf to everyone's whispers on how she and Draco would end up together, how their relationship would last a few weeks tops and then he'd drop her like he did every other girl he's been with. She listened for over a month to the girls sneering her name behind her back, but smiling at her and making conversation with her as if they were friends. Or the boys expressing how they wished they were Malfoy, whispering crude things about her as she walked to class or to the Great Hall for a spot of lunch. It was this ever-going cycle of being gossiped about and she didn't know if she had just signed her death warrant or perhaps created a name for herself.
She quickly got dressed, pulling on her dark green Slytherin jumper and a matching house scarf, though she didn't care much for quidditch, especially when all the players on the Slytherin quidditch team were just big oafs with pea sized brains. She was well aware that Draco was seeker, and yes, she was very impressed by his skills at flying at top speeds after a snitch, but it never seemed enough to beat Harry Potter at broom skills. Because of the countless number of times they have lost to Gryffindor, her team spirit seemed to dwindle over the years, but she loved her house with all her heart, just not the ridiculous rivalry and poor sportsmanship.
Clara immediately caught up with her on the way to the Great Hall for breakfast wearing a similar green and silver jumper and matching scarf. Adira could tell Clara was excited by the way she smiled brightly and the slight skip to her walk, she wished she felt the same way. She looked across the room to see Harry Potter and Ron Weasley eating breakfast, or at least trying to. Ron looked like he was about to be sick, and for good reasons; the Slytherin team would not stop pestering him!
Someone handed her a pin and her heart dropped a little bit. Clara attached it to her jumper without hesitation, laughing along with Blaise and Theo, expressing her excitement and pride in her house team. Adira on the other hand frowned contemptuously as she stared down at the little silver pin in the shape of a crown that read, 'Weasley is our King'. Adira tossed it aside onto the floor, ignoring it completely, and continued with her breakfast. She looked up from her scrambled eggs and toast and realized that poor Ron Weasley was probably going to crack under pressure, especially from her aggressive house, she only hoped his nervousness would pass in time for the game.
Adira followed Clara, Blaise, Theodore and Pansy in a small clump up to the quidditch pitch stadium, taking her time to enjoy the crisp air and frosty grass before sitting upon the metal benches high above the ground to get a good view of the game. Pansy squealed with glee as the Slytherin team walked onto the pitch, glaring at the Gryffindor team who looked just as intimidating, despite Ron's fearful expression.
The game wasn't very exciting to Adira, but everyone else around her were screaming with delight as the Slytherin team scored over and over again. Their chants were deafening and made her feel sick to her stomach as she watched the younger Weasley miss quaffle after quaffle into the goals and the song wasn't helping.
'Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King.'
Pansy Parkinson was the chief orchestrator of the vicious song against Ron Weasley, and it wasn't doing him any good. But that didn't stop Harry Potter from catching the snitch as he always did, and with that the game ended. None of the Slytherin goals mattered because Gryffindor won, as always.
All of a sudden a small crowd was forming on the pitch, and of course, Draco was in the middle of it, running his mouth no doubt. Adira quickly followed her friends down to the pitch, worry written all over her face as she noticed the crowd growing with Harry, Eledie, and a couple other Gryffindors who Adira did not know held back Fred and George.
"Or perhaps you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Potter, and Weasley's pigsty reminds you of it—"
Adira swore as Harry and George ran towards Draco, clearly livid. Once the first punch was drawn all hell broke loose. No one seemed to want to get in the middle of it as they stood around watching the fight. Adira scoffed in disbelief and anger as she observed everyone's attitude towards what was happening. Eledie looked shocked and disappointed, as she stood next to Fred who merely looked pleased with his brother while her friends just stood there, mouths gaping.
"STOP IT!" She screeched, stomping her way towards them, attempting to pull Draco out of the way, only to get a hard shove in the shoulder. She staggered backwards, keeping herself upright; intent on trying again with her wand out until Madam Hooch beat her to it.
"Impedimenta!"
Adira rubbed her left shoulder, backing up next to Clara who squeezed her arm as she linked them with hers. Clara whispered "You alright?"
Adira nodded silently, sighing deeply, "I'm fine." She said quietly, though her shoulder was now throbbing with pain. Clara looked at her pointedly.
"Weasley gave you a right hard shove." She sneered, "You should really get that checked out."
Adira chuckled bitterly, "It's not as bad as Draco." And she was right, Draco, most likely over playing his pain for the attention, was moaning on the grass, blood pouring out of his nose as Madam Hooch reprimanded the Gryffindor boys, sending them off to McGonagall's office for punishment. Clara insisted that Adira go to the hospital wing along with Draco to get her shoulder checked out and to quiet her nagging she agreed with a huff.
Clara escorted her to the hospital wing, making sure she walked in before taking her leave. Adira stood there awkwardly away from Madam Pomfrey who was too busy tending to Draco to notice she was there. After a few moments she peered outside the double doors, making sure Clara was gone before darting out into the hallway. She had no intentions of getting her shoulder checked out; there was nothing the matter with it. Sure, it was sore, but she was certain it would only bruise and there was no need to fuss about a bruised shoulder.
She rolled her shoulder a few times, wincing a bit as she roamed the castle without really thinking about where she was going. She passed countless staircases and numerous portraits without running into anyone until she heard soft whispers coming from around the corner. She noticed she had made her way to the seventh floor, remembering that she was near the Gryffindor common room her heart leapt.
Fred and Eledie were arguing quietly near the portrait of the Fat Lady, both looking angry at one another. Adira cleared her throat and they both froze, until they turned around, breathing a sigh of relief.
"We thought you were Umbridge!" Eledie engulfed Adira in a quick hug. She gasped, her nose scrunching up in repulsion.
"Please don't tell me I sounded like that toad." She laughed, stepping towards them after looking around for any passing students. She hadn't really talked to the Gryffindors out in the open like this; usually they were in small, unused classrooms, not in the middle of the hallway.
"No, but you did clear your throat, and well—" Eledie began, "We panicked."
Adira looked around confused for a moment, "Where's George? You're usually finishing his sentences, not Eledie's."
Fred gave Adira a sour look before softening his glare remembering that it was not her fault, but Draco's. "Got called to McGonagall's office, still not back with Harry."
Adira looked down with guilt, she knew it wasn't on her account that they had gotten into a fight; rather, it was Draco's big mouth that wouldn't keep shut. She finally came to the conclusion that he obviously had some anger issues that needed to be sorted.
"Saw George push you, I know he didn't mean it." Eledie looked at her fingers with guilt written all over her face. Adira knew George hadn't meant for it to hurt, but his anger at Draco must have made him unaware of his strength and how weak Adira was compared to him.
"Eledie, don't worry about it. Seriously, I know he didn't mean to, and besides I'm fine." She was still rather annoyed how Clara made her go to the hospital wing; she didn't need other people telling her what to do.
"So what were you two arguing about?"
Immediately Eledie's pale face turned bright red and Fred, who had previously been leaning against the stone wall straightened up, crossing his arms over his chest.
"We were just—"
"Eledie!" Fred hissed, blatantly hiding something from Adira.
"She should know! We've talked about this, we all agreed that—"
"—Yeah, but I don't think Harry would be too pleased—"
"—Who cares! She's our friend and we trust her—"
Adira who was watching the exchange with bewilderment was now puzzled, cocking her head to one side with a muddled expression on her tan face. "Um…." She breathed, clearly unnoticed by the bickering duo.
"—What if one of her friends finds out?"
"Find out what!" Adira broke their argument just as Eledie was about to remark back with something witty. All of a sudden the sound of muffled voices could be heard coming up from one of the many staircases. Adira's heart began to pound in her chest, fearing that it was someone she knew, or worse, Umbridge.
Eledie quickly pulled out a galleon from her jean pocket, grabbing Adira's reluctant hand and placing the cool metal onto her palm. "Eledie, I don't need any money—"
The petite blonde quickly hushed the girl as Fred began to protest, but the determined Gryffindor would not listen, quieting him with a shove. She stared into Adira's amber eyes, piercing it with her pale green orbs with resolve. "Keep this in your pocket at all times," she quickly whispered, "The numbers around the edge of the coin is a date and time, when it grows hot go to the seventh floor and stand in front of the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy."
Fred opened the portrait to the Gryffindor common room, having whispered the Fat Lady the password who merely huffed in aggravation that there was a Slytherin outside the door. Eledie began to step through as well, "Wait for us there, and don't get caught." The portrait hole shut and the Fat Lady glared at Adira, her nose stuck up in the air. Adira shoved the coin into her pocket, rushing back towards her own house common room, her heart still beating quickly.
It wasn't until she was safe inside her room that she looked back at the coin which seemed like an average galleon to her, but clearly wasn't as heavy. She furrowed her brows, sweeping her long hair back with a hair tie, trying her best to figure out what Eledie and the twins were up to. None of it made sense, why the seventh floor tapestry? Why was it such a secret? What could they possibly be up to that it would cause them to discuss whether or not Adira should be in on it?
Adira slept terribly that night, tossing and turning in her bed with her thoughts jumbled up in her head. She quietly snuck out of her warm bed, pulling on a jacket over her t-shirt, tucking the coin into her jacket pocket on the way down the stairs to the common room. She rubbed her eyes, hoping that maybe she would get some sleep here, perhaps curl up in a blanket and mull over what the fake galleon meant.
"Couldn't sleep either?" Adira jumped, clearly surprised that any one was down here at this time of night.
"No," she softly said, sitting next to Draco whose face looked considerably better after been punched by Harry and George, "How long have you been down here?"
" 'Bout an hour or so."
Adira reached for the silver fleece blanket, sharing the couch with Draco who sat on the other side, twiddling his wand in his hands dejectedly. This was the second time she'd seen him not acting like an arrogant prick; perhaps she was right, maybe he wasn't really such a conceited prat, merely a miserable boy.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he laughed bitterly looking up at her with icy eyes.
Adira was taken aback, "Getting in between that pathetic excuse for a fight." His tone was hard and uncaring, his stare never wavering.
"You mean with you wriggling on the floor, crying like a baby?"
Right when she thought he would be nice, he turns into an asshole. Adira was peeved, and she was already tired from no sleep and irked from being unable to decipher what Eledie had meant, she didn't need to deal with this right now.
Draco's eyes grew cold and steely, glaring harshly at Adira; she couldn't help but cringe a little. "Excuse me?" he hissed, sitting up straight, "It was two against one, that's hardly fair."
Adira scoffed, pulling the fleece blanket closer to her, "Yeah, well you deserved it. Insulting them like that. You really don't know when to shut up do you Malfoy?"
"Defending Potty and his weasel friends, Reed?"
"I hardly think you should be calling any one a weasel Malfoy, if I do recall fourth year."
They were both snarling at each other, insulting without care of how much it hurt the other, clearly they were both incredibly aggravated.
"You're so annoying Reed." Malfoy said tiredly after their rapid back and forth jabs at each other.
"And you're a dick. But you don't see me complaining all the time." Draco, who had placed his head into his palms looked up at her with a stoic expression, before breaking his blank stare with a small smirk.
"You know, you've got quite a mouth Adira." The bickering seemed to be over, for the time being, as they both relaxed against the arms of the couch.
"So I've been told." Laughed Adira, smirking back at Draco. Though she didn't understand him, or his split personalities, she knew he didn't need someone fawning over him, asking him what was wrong like every other pitiful girl did in her house. He needed a cold hard slap in the face and Adira was glad to give it to him.
She yawned, "Why is it that we always seem to have the civil conversations when we can't sleep." She asked, stretching her arms over her head.
"Because there are too many witnesses, and we can't have people thinking we actually like each other."
Adira nodded her head with a small smile, bidding Draco goodnight before heading back up to her bed. She pulled the blanket over her shoulders snuggly, falling asleep instantly as her head hit the down-feathered pillow.
Draco wouldn't say a word of them sleeping next to each other. If she wasn't sure before, she was positive now. He seemed to enjoy their late night conversations, and so did she whether she wanted to admit it or not.
