Glitter Freeze
By ZAFO
A/N: hey FF! It's been a while. School's been hectic and I am currently in the mist of a mad, semi-panicked internship hunt for the summer. Between writing a ridiculous number of cover letters, resumes, research papers, and other academia-related things... I realized, 'damn I haven't written anything fun for MYSELF for a while.' There's only so much I can take! (cries) So, this chapter is a little break from life for me to be silly and relaxed again.
Enjoy the crack guys!
–
33.) Four-Legged Friends –Part 2/3–
Draco didn't like this.
No, scratch that. He hated this.
He had failed to convince Feliks to wait it out, or at least ask Hagrid to search for Princess for them. The Pole had insisted, with crocodile tears, that the longer that time went on, the more heartsick he would become: refusal to help him, therefore, was tantamount to ensuring his eventual death, and as a friend, 'You like, totally wouldn't want that, would you?!'
With choking grief he had replied 'No,' and with choking grief he currently stood behind Feliks as the boy stared down a gargantuan centaur, who looked as if he was one (more) provocation away from eating them both.
In contrast to his own cowering form, Feliks stood as feisty as ever.
"...I'm not like, disrespecting anything! I'm just asking if you've seen my pony around! You centaurs can like, read the stars or whatever, right? Can't you find him?"
Bane snarled.
"Insolent human. You know nothing of our kind, so make no assumptions. We do not exist at your disposal."
"I'm not saying you do!" snapped Feliks, red in the face. "I'm just asking if you can help me!"
"And why would we do that?" rumbled Magorian. "For what benefit would that serve us?"
"Like, I don't know! The satisfaction of helping someone in need? I'm like, just a kid!"
Firenze cocked his head to the side in quiet, amused interest.
Ronan looked doubtful.
"They are just foals..." he echoed.
Bane glared.
"There must be another purpose. It cannot be that simple."
Feliks stomped his foot.
"But it is!"
Draco shut his eyes. They were surrounded by four very large, very menacing-looking man-horse hybrids and this was a horrible place to die. The forest was dark and dank, and he was sure that anything left of him would decompose quickly beyond recognition. His poor mother...! He was an only child! She would never know what had become of him!
"They are scared." Firenze said softly. "Or at least, the male foal is."
The Pole's eyes widened.
"Hey, don't insult me! I'm male too!"
The centaurs grew quiet at this, gazing critically at Felik's long hair and short skirt, before Magorian broke out first into a loud, boisterous laughter. Bane followed, then Ronan, and then Firenze.
"Humans are strange." Ronan chuckled, oblivious to Felik's growing annoyance.
"They are." Firenze agreed. "But these two–do they really look like humans who would harm us? I think not."
Draco found his voice at last.
"So will you help us?" he asked, the question laced with obvious hope and relief. Now that the status of his mortality seemed to have stabilized, he couldn't hide the tell-tale transparency in his tone.
"No." Magorian said flatly.
Feliks bristled.
"You are on your own." said Bane. "But we will not kill you. That will be a favor in itself."
The centaurs began to lumber away, and Draco finally stood up a little straighter.
Feliks, however, would not give up.
"HOLD ON!" he called shrilly, his feminine voice taking on a childish quality. "Wait! Please! I've had Princess forever! I love her! Please!"
The centaurs did not turn, and they gave no reply, save for one. As their backsides trotted farther and farther away into the mist, Firenze, at the back, made a sign at the top of his head.
Squinting, Draco could make out a single finger...
"...UNICORNS!" Feliks shouted gleefully, as the realization hit him. "PRINCESS IS WITH THE UNICORNS!"
"Wait, Łukasiewicz–"
"–Draco, like, come on!"
"I don't wanna 'come on!' This is dangerous! Who knows what we'll run into next?! We might not be so lucky again!"
His roommate rolled his eyes and clasped his hand anyway, tugging impatiently.
"Oh, stop it. Aren't you a man?'"
"I'm more of a man than you." Draco gritted.
Feliks stopped, then abruptly dropped his hand. Draco was too irritated to care at the moment.
"And like, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what it sounds like."
Feliks stared at him hard.
"So what?"
"So it's weird. It's always been weird!"
"You're a dick."
"And you look like you don't have one. Even the centaurs said so."
A hurt expression crossed Feliks's face. For a brief moment, Draco wondered guiltily if perhaps his friend was about to curse him.
Instead, the lithe blonde merely leaned in, eyes smoldering and lips smirking cruelly, before whispering:
"I may look like this, but I'm more of a man than you'll ever be. You don't think I saw Sparkles flocking to you after Arthur chased him away in class?(1) Everyone knows what it means when unicorns love you–that's why you'll be a lot of help to me in finding Princess."
Draco's eyes widened, and he felt his face burning in humiliation. He shoved Feliks away.
"It's not like you're any better!" he shouted defensively. "I saw–I saw..."
Draco's anger caught in his throat. He hadn't seen anything.
That day, as Lovino was being pulled off of Ludwig by a crying Feliciano and Hagrid was busy placating Alfred and Arthur, Draco had been quietly cursing the class unicorn as he skirted around it's curiously sniffing nose. His little personal affair had only lasted a couple minutes (since he had resorted to giving Sparkles a light shove indicating his displeasure) so he hadn't thought that anyone had seen...
He had spent the rest of the hour with Feliks, making fun of the embarrassed distress of what seemed like every other student Sparkles gravitated towards. Not once, however, did the unicorn ever approach the Pole.
So, that meant that Feliks wasn't a virgin.
Draco didn't know why that bothered him so much.
"...who–who was it?!" he demanded.
"Wouldn't you like to know!" Feliks snapped spitefully.
"YOU'RE DISGUSTING!" Draco exploded. He was cold and tired, and at this point, he wasn't sure who had instigated the fight. He wasn't about to drop it though, and it looked like Feliks didn't want to either.
"THEN WHY ASK?!"
"JUST TO ASK!"
"FINE, IT WAS TORIS! YOU HAPPY NOW?!"
"WHAT!" Draco could feel himself reeling. "THAT LOSER?!"
"DON'T YOU DARE CALL HIM A LOSER!" Feliks screeched.
"YOU–" the Malfoy heir was at a loss for words. The next thought that popped into his mind made him want to throw up. "–SO...SO THIS IS WHY YOU WANTED TO GIVE ME HIS HAIRSTYLE WHEN WE FIRST MET!"(2)
Felik's anger seemed to dissipate, and then he just looked confused.
"Wait...what..."
Draco really did gag a bit with his next retort.
"This whole time...you were just trying to replace him with me! Łukasiewicz, you're...you're SICK! I don't even like boys! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Now the Pole looked alarmed. How did it come to this?
"Draco! Like, stop it! You're imagining things!"
But the blonde had already turn tail and started running off. Thankfully, it was in a completely different direction than the centaurs had gone, but still.
"NO, I'M NOT!" yelled Draco, voice quickly disappearing into the night. "DON'T FOLLOW ME!"
Feliks, in his shock, had not reacted quickly enough, and Draco was lost in seconds. Staring at the thick, ominous mist drifting in and out of his vision, Feliks suddenly snarled.
"DRACO MALFOY, YOU'RE SUCH A GIRL!" he screamed, before blindly running after him.
–
34.) Adult Worries –Part 1/2–
"Severus." Yao moaned depressingly, head lolling about on the potion professor's desk. "I'm going to die from this, I can't take much more of it, aru. How do you do it?"
"Do what?" asked Snape, annoyed at the astrology professor's unannounced appearance in his office. "And stop that, you're going to knock over my things."
"Sorry." he offered non-convincingly. "And I mean, handle these kids. How do you do it, aru? That Braginski boy is giving me so much grief..."
"How so?"
"He won't leave me alone! And I shouldn't say this–" Yao shuddered. "–but he gives me the creeps! He's your student, Severus! Tell me, aru, how do you handle him?"
"I've never had to 'handle' him." Snape said flatly. "He is perfectly well-behaved in my class. He earns the highest marks next to that bushy-haired Gryffindor girl, actually."
"But that's just it!" Yao stressed. "He is well-behaved! So well-behaved that I can't fault him for anything! He is the only one who takes every opportunity to show up at my office hours, so we're alone a lot, aru! He used to get too close to me, and say funny things, and when I told him to please stop, he complied!"
"So what's the problem?"
"So now he just stares!" Yao wailed. "It drives me nuts! It scares me, aru!"
"If he hasn't done anything inappropriate, then there is no reason to fear him. In any case, you are the adult."
"Adult..." Yao murmured. "You know," he said suddenly, distressed. "This is my first time teaching."
"Right." said Snape.
"So I'm scared of a lot of things aru, including that Braginski boy, but mostly that I'm not doing something right. The first day I got here, there was already a cross-house spell war I couldn't control in my class, aru. Then there was the whole fiasco with Kiku and Yong Soo. Perhaps–" Yao nearly slumped out of his seat altogether at this. "–perhaps I'm just not meant to handle children."
"If you can't." Snape snorted. "Then how can I?"
Yao shot up in his seat at this.
"What! What do you mean by that, aru?"
Snape shuffled the papers around on his desk briskly, avoiding eye-contact with his (only-slightly) annoying, emotional new co-worker.
"I mean," Snape said smoothly. "Look at me. I don't even like children, and I get by in my teaching career just fine. But I have a passion for my field. You have both the passion and the sympathy for those little snot-nosed brats. You can do it."
Yao sniffled, his deep chocolate-brown eyes becoming comically wide and watery.
"You–you mean it?"
"I will not repeat myself, Yao. Stop your crying. You are an adult."
"Y-yes..." the Chinese man blubbered, dabbing away small droplets of tears with the sleeve of his robe. "...an adult. Thank you, Severus."
"Of course." he said curtly.
–
35.) A Love Square –Part 1/2–
She was in the mist of a light-hearted flying game amongst the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff students, and Hermione could hear the other girls laughing as she fell off her broom.
She was booksmart. She was good at spells. But she was not good at athletics–never had been. It was a common, cliché trade-off.
She stumbled as she mounted her broom again, but the laughter grew stronger. Her own house was laughing at her. Hermione felt her cheeks burn. She was used to this. Back home, back in the 'muggle world,' it was the same.
But she wouldn't let it get to her. She could handle it herself. She could–
"–hey, shut up, you stupid bitches! It's not like any of you are experts either!"
Hermione gasped as she looked back at whoever had stood up for her.
It wasn't Ron or Harry's voice... it was... Lovino's?
She was greeted with a vision of the indignant Hufflepuff raging at the group of girls. He really was a brute! He looked just as angry as he had in the library that day(3)... but, he was also angry this time out of kindness. She felt her judgment softening at that.
"What are you all floating around for anyway? She's on your team, and instead of helping her, you all laugh! Fuck off! Useless catty bitches, no wonder Gryffindor is losing!"
Clearly unused to someone of the opposite gender interrupting, the girls took off, muttering spitefully and shooting sharp glares back at the Italian.
Hermione's eyes drifted up to the ongoing game: red-gold and yellow-black players circled in air, laughing, throwing water balloons at one another... then her eyes drifted down to a nervous hand placed out in front of her, then up again at the face that it belonged to.
Lovino's face was pink, and his bangs had fallen over his eyes.
Instead of taking his hand, however, Hermione, without thinking, reached to brush his hair away.
The look of shock that immediately surfaced on him caused her to drop it as if it were on fire.
"Sorry." she said quickly. "I don't know what I was thinking."
"It's okay." said Lovino, clearing his throat. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I... thanks. For earlier, I mean."
"It was no problem. Don't worry. Those girls are just stupid."
There was a small, expectant, almost awkward moment of silence. The game continued boisterously overhead.
"You..." Lovino seemed to be searching hard for something to say. The right words to say. He scratched his head. "...you don't think I'm stupid too, do you?"
Hermione flushed.
"What? No! What gave you that idea?"
He shrugged.
"I dunno. Just got the impression. I'm sorry for last week, you know, in the library. I have a temper problem...sometimes. I hope we can still be friends."
The brunette felt a wave of guilt wash over her. Right. He had had his whole wardrobe taken without permission–Antonio had patiently explained that to her after Madame Pince had dragged Lovino out. His anger had been extreme, but it shouldn't have been unexpected, nor unreasonable. She had been the dumb one in not understanding that.
"No...it's my fault too. I should have stood up for you. I'm sorry, Lovino."
The twin gave a small smile.
"It's okay. Are you going to get back in the game now?"
Hermione looked up just in time to see Zacharias Smith hit Harry square in the face with a water balloon.
"...no. I think I've had enough. Besides, if a water balloon hits me..."
Lovino cocked his head to the side curiously.
"If a water balloon hits you...?"
Hermione coughed hesitantly, embarrassed.
"My hair will go frizzy after it dries. Frizzier, I mean."
"What's wrong with frizzy?"
"Well...it... it just doesn't look nice. That's all. And it takes forever to comb out."
Lovino merely smiled again. He looked much better smiling, Hermione decided.
"Well, I like it that way. But if you don't want to play anymore, come with me. I'm tired of this game too."
"Come with you?"
"Yeah. If you have trouble riding your broom, get on mine. I'll fly for you."
"But..." Hermione didn't know what to say. "...but where?"
"Anywhere you want." waved Lovino. "Or if you have no idea, anywhere I want. How about it?"
Well. Lovino had a charm of his own, Hermione could readily admit that. She didn't exactly like him enough to have a full-brown crush on him, not like Viktor Krum (or a certain red-haired someone) but he was nice.
"Okay." she said, trying not to convey any shyness.
She climbed on the broom behind Lovino and off they went, quietly slipping out of the water fight. Flying in air and tentatively holding onto his waist, Hermione gazed at the Italian boy before her: wind running lightly through his dark auburn hair, he met her eyes and grinned wolfishly.
Hermione couldn't help but beam back.
She tried not to get any closer than necessary, but close contact was naturally unavoidable, though not not unbearable or unpleasant. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Lovino looked good, smelled good, felt good...
She blushed furiously.
...really, where were her thoughts going?
–
Ron and Harry laughed as they descended onto the grass, wiping water off their faces.
"That was great!" exclaimed Ron. "Just the thing for hot weather! But hey–" he took a quick look around the field of meandering students. "–where's Hermione?"
"I don't know." answered Harry, furrowing his brow.
Just that moment, Antonio came running up to them.
"Hey, amigos!" he panted. "Have either of you seen Lovi?"
Poor, lovesick, hopeless Antonio. Nearly everyone in Hogwarts knew about his little crush. Harry felt almost sorry for him.
"No." he said kindly. "I haven't. Have you seen Hermione?"
Antonio shook his head.
"No."
"...well I have." Julie Parkes said sourly as she approached them, shaking water out of her hair. She looked irritated.
"You have?" asked Ron.
"Yeah." she sneered. "She took off with Feliciano's twin. That foul-mouthed Lovino."
Ron, Harry, and Antonio all looked at each other simultaneously.
"Lovino?!"
–
(1) see Glitter Freeze chapter 2, one-shot 6: Purity
(2) see Glitter Freeze chapter 1, one-shot 2: The Unwanted Roommate
(3) see Glitter Freeze chapter 5, one-shot 19: S.P.E.W.–Part II–
A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed this! Leave a little love if you have time ^^
