A/N: Shoutout to 'guest' for the second review. Thank you for your review! No worries, Beca becoming a death eater was never going to happen, and next chapter will be Bechloe filled, so just hold on till then :D
Sat in the dingy dungeon two rooms away from the common room, I couldn't help thinking it was a waste of time. Where in the hell was the professor? We'd already been here for- I checked my watch- 10 minutes! Surveying the classmates, I couldn't see any of the Gryffindors either. Swivelling in my seat, I addressed Lucius.
"Where are the high and mighty brave ones then?" I asked, sarcasm lacing my words. Snickering, he replied.
"We're just here early, cause we live in the dungeons, so we're closer to the great hall and so quicker to the dungeon again, I'm sure they'll be here any mi-"
"Heeeeeeyyy flat butt!" I could feel the amused smile on my face already as I heard a familiar voice from behind me.
"Amyyyyyyy!" I drawled back, turning round "what's going oooon?"
"Oh you know, having all the sex. The usual." Came the reply, as the Australian plonked herself down in the seat next to me. Remembering who was sat in the other seat beside me, I quickly swivelled in my seat and made hasty introductions.
"Amy, this is Lucius. Lucius this is Amy. She will make these lessons gold. Believe me."
"Some people call me Fat Amy, some people call me the sex machine" the blonde to my right said, winking across me. I cringed both internally and out.
"I'll call you whatever you want me to call you" the blonde to my left said, winking right back. Amy studied the boy carefully for a moment, before she burst out laughing.
"Great friend you've got yourself here, shortstack!" she chuckled. "Well played sir" she directed at Malfoy, nodding. Just as he was about to reply however, I heard a… what can only be described as a noise from across the room.
" Be-CAW!"i
After a few repeats of it, I turned around, and my face immediately turned a bright red, as I saw the stupid stupid figure of one Jesse Swanson descending the dungeon not by the steps, but rather by clambering down through the seats, much to the annoyance of the students in his path.
Groaning, I turned around and tried to shrink into my seat, hoping that he would somehow magically forget I was there. Unfortunately, despite being in a magic school this couldn't happen.
"Wassup J-man, why you be turnin' up late?" Amy called as he came within earshot
"I ain't late 'till the teacher be turnin up" he replied, his stupid grin adorning his face as he carried on whatever skit Amy had started. As they shared a secret handshake I turned, mortified, to Lucius, who was simply staring questioningly at me and informed him that that was the Jesse I was talking about earlier. Having heard this information, he looked torn between being outraged about the earlier insult, and amusement at my embarrassment.
"So Be-caw" Jesse said, sitting down next to Amy and ignoring my death glare at the new 'nickname', "How've you been? Seems like forEVER since I last saw you, although I do sometimes see you in the great hall, and I suppose I did speak to you less than a week ago. But it all seems so long ago! Don't you think? Hi I'm Jesse!" he adds, extending his hand to a bewildered Lucius. This time, it's me who looks amused. I suppose I had more time to get used to Jesse than he's had. "So anyway, like I was saying…. oh yeah! Do you have a favourite subject yet? Mine's-" Thankfully, he was cut off my the door opening, and a man walking in behind his rotund belly.
"Alright, simmer down you lot. First years, mmm? Well, excited you should be" he chucked, heading towards the front of the class. I heard Lucius sigh beside me, and knew exactly what was running through his mind: the pompous tone of the professor (who had introduced himself as Slughorn; I snickered at the name) indicated that he was most likely going to be a boring, old fashioned moron who would set us 3 lots of homework per lesson. Groaning, I slouched down in my seat, already giving up on any hope of fun. But I had forgotten who I had sat next to.
"I bet the only thing that stops him getting to McDonalds is the door" came the whisper from my right. Mood immediately lightened, I snorted at Amy and sat up fractionally. Peering round, I saw Jesse turn to me and give me a huge smile and a double thumbs up, which I rolled my eyes at and turned away to face Malfoy, who pulled a face, then flicked his eyes at the Gryffindor. I felt slightly bad for laughing, but that boy really tries too hard.
"...So!" Slughorn's voice permeated our tomfoolery, and I tuned in. "10 points for whoever turns to page 10 first and tells me what potion we are going to be making!" He looked slightly taken aback at the speed at which Jesse's hand hit the air. "Yes m'boy?" He prompted. Jesse looked down to his desk where his book lay open, and read out "The Forgetfulness Potion". I sighed. I supposed I ought to get my textbook out. As Slughorn declared the addition to the Gryffindor hourglass, I scrabbled through my bag, searching for my book.
"What the-" I muttered, straightening again. "Lucius, have you seen-" I looked around to be greeted with the sight of the boy grinning at me, waving my textbook with one hand.
"Hey!" I exclaimed, "Give that back! How did you even- why did you- It was in my bag!"
"Swift fingers, Mitchell" he said with a glint in his eye. "Very useful skill to have". Sighing, I rolled my eyes at him before snatching the book out of his grasp.
"Haha very funny" I said exasperatedly. Turning to the right page, I studied the potion. Didn't look too hard to make. At Slughorn's announcement, we were allowed to start making the potion. I gathered all the necessary ingredients, and headed back to my table. As I approached it, I saw Jesse talking animatedly (I knew he didn't seem to have a different setting but this was especially energetic) to the teacher, whose eyes were lit up as he listened. Teacher's pet I thought, before reprimanding myself for being unnecessarily harsh.
"Hey shorty" I heard the whisper from my side
"I'm not small" I commented second-handedly, as I turned towards her too see her pointing to her own book.
"What does this say?" She inquired, peering through squinted eyes at the text. Confused, I looked over her shoulder for the indicated word. There weren't any marks in the book that made it difficult to read which seemed a bit bizarre, but brushing this off, I replied that it said 'mistletoe berries'. After this, I turned back to my desk, only to have to demand my knife back off Lucius, as he had forgotten his own.
"I'll pay you back for it, I promise", he said winking. I was taken aback by this, before I saw a hint of a smirk through his expression. Right I thought, Two can play this game.
"Oh yeah, and how are you gonna do that?" I replied, stepping closer, my front almost in contact with his. I couldn't hold my gaze for long however, because I needed to laugh at the panic that had flitted across his face.
"I- I- I didn't think you'd actually you know- flirt back…" he stammered.
"Yes, well." I said crisply, "I am extremely competitive, and it's a fun game. You should have seen your-"
"MISS Mitchell! I hope you're working over there!" Slughorn's call reached me across the table, and I looked around to see that his conversation with Jesse had finished.
"Lucius was talking too!" I protested, not about to let him get away with not being told off.
"Frankly my dear, I don't really care" Slughorn declared, waving his hand. "Good work, m'boy" he said to Jesse as he walked away, patting the boy's shoulder. Peering into his cauldron, I indignantly saw that he was about three steps behind me in making the potion.
I huffed, and turned toward Amy to complain about favouritism, only to see her peering once more at the book with her nose about 2cm from the page. Suddenly, it dawned on me;
"Amy… do you need glasses?". The Aussie's head snapped immediately up, and she hastily shushed me.
"Of course not, this is just how we Australians read…" she laughed, not altogether convincingly, but I let it drop. From that point on in the class, she was careful to keep her head well away from the desk.
At the end of the lesson, the four of us went to walked out together, and said goodbye to Amy at the bottom of the grand staircase, for she had to go a separate way to her next lesson.
"So anyways, I've been invited to some sort of club he runs" Jesse hadn't seemed to realise that the person who had inquired as to his conversation with the teacher had departed. "Oh, and he asked me to invite you, Lucius" he called across me as we traipsed up the stairs to the entrance hall "He apparently knew your father, and is impressed with your heritage. I'm not really sure why he's let me in to be honest, my dad's a milkman; nothing special, but he insisted on me coming. You know, my mum works at…" I zoned out to his voice.
Lucius smirked before turning to me, our steps slowing as we reached our parting point, both of us ignoring the Gryffindor chattering on about something to do with his family. "Hear that? I've been invited to a special club. And you haven't. Although I'm sure that I could take you as a plus one. You know, if you can resist all this" he gestured to himself. Challenge accepted, I looked down at the floor.
"I'm not sure Lucius…. you know, I think if we spend any more time together..." I slowly dragged my gaze up his body to rest on his lips "I won't be able to control my feelings for you..." I bit my own lips, meeting his eyes. This time, instead of a scared look, one of amusement took over the blonde's face. He opened his mouth to respond, but the voice I heard wasn't his.
"Uhm guys... What's going on here?" Jesse tentatively voiced. We both jumped, and turned guiltily around to face the forgotten companion who was shifting nervously from foot to foot.
'Nothing!" I answered quickly before Lucius could put any sort of rubbish in the naïve child's head. "Just joking around. I have to go, and you should too or you'll be late for your lessons. Bye Jesse. Have a good lesson guys." Swivelling on my heel, I marched away, towards the huge doors that led outside.
"Bye baby!" Lucius called after me.
"Don't call me that" I called back without turning round, but raised a hand in place of a good bye.
A moment's silence.
"Bye... sugar lips?" I chuckled but continued walking
"Sweetheart?" He continued to shout "Darling? Cuddle bear? Light of my life?"
"GoodBYE Lucius"
In spite of myself, a smile creeped onto my face. Of course, it was entirely down to the banter between Lucius and myself. Nothing at all to do with the redhead I could already spot down at the area where we would be having our next lesson.