Chapter 11
"How did we get here? I used to know you so well."
Decode – Paramore
Morgan tramped over to the other tree and yelled up into the branches.
"Oi!-" she couldn't think of an insult, "-Emmeline!"
"Yes?" answered Emmeline in a sickly sweet voice. Morgan put on a calm tone, though her hand was still in her pocket.
"Could you come down here for a second, I need to talk to you about something…" she eyed the trio and wondered if they knew…
"Only if you take your hand out of your pocket." teased Emmeline from her perch. Oh, you're so clever… Morgan thought to herself and put her hands in the air in a fake assurance of peace. Emmeline hopped down from the tree.
"Now, what was it you wanted?" Emmeline loomed over Morgan; she had never noticed how tall she was; quite a bit taller than Morgan anyway.
"Can we talk…" Morgan shifted onto her other foot nervously, "In private?" Emmeline smirked at her discomfort.
"Of course." She motioned to a tree a few feet away from their audience. They walked over to it and once they were behind the chunky trunk Morgan launched into battle mode:
"What do you think you're playing at?" she hissed harshly through her teeth.
"Well, it's my own little game called Screw-The-Little-Slytherin-Bitch-Over." she grinned at her own joke.
"It's not funny! I could get expelled! Snape could lose his job!" Emmeline put on a thoughtful face and pouted, her eyes looking up slightly.
"You know… I think that's the idea…" she looked back at Morgan, who glared and reached for her pocket again.
"Hey! That wasn't part of our agreement Luh-Fett!" Emmeline's eyes widened slightly, she couldn't defend herself against magic. Morgan liked that a lot.
"I want those photos gone. Or…" she whispered a word and Emmeline felt an unpleasant stinging sensation in her left hand, Morgan looked at it and then back at Emmeline "Things like that will get a lot worse." She tapped Emmeline's hand with the tip of her wand and strutted off back to her own tree, but Snape was no longer there. She resumed staring into the black water, but with one less weight on her shoulders.
A few days later and Morgan and Draco were still not talking, not properly. They greeted each other stoically at meal times and remained in stony silence for the duration. Nobody knew what was going on; the inseparable pair was suddenly like the… pair-unable-to-be-together. For want of a better term. Draco spent a lot of the mealtimes pretending that he didn't notice Morgan stealing glances at him, pleading internally for him to say something, for them to be friends again. One day, she couldn't take it anymore. She threw her knife and fork down on her plate with a terrible clatter that went unnoticed under the loud chatter in the hall.
"Draco," She said calmly, staring at her dinner, "What is going on?" He sighed.
"You tell me." he answered stubbornly.
"You already know! There is nothing else to know!" she shrieked.
"I don't believe you, Morgan!" he turned to her, "And that is part of the problem! I used to know, all the time, that you were telling me the truth!" Morgan sat with her mouth open, shocked at the harsh look hardening Draco's face.
"I-I" she stuttered, "I'm telling you the truth now, Draco." she said, gently, hesitantly, laying a hand on his tense arm. It relaxed under her palm, "There is nothing else to know." She smiled as he relaxed and his face softened and he spoke.
"But I'm still worried about you." He sighed, playing with the food on his plate, "This is wrong. He's a teacher." Morgan sighed.
"I'm afraid it's one of those 'it's wrong but it feels so right' situations." Draco grimaced.
"I'm so scared of quite how deep that sentiment goes." He looked at her tenderly, "Morgan, you haven't done… anything… stupid, have you?" Morgan smiled at his concern, how he was always so overprotective and then laughed heartily.
"No! Oh my gosh, Draco, how can you be so gross?!" she smiled a huge smile at him and he smiled back, and the two continued eating in silent contentment; friends again. Of course, there was one now totally discontented by the previous twist of fate. You guessed it.
"Damnit." Emmeline mumbled to herself, grinding her teeth and tracing her fork through her food absentmindedly.
"What is it now Emmeline?" said Hermione in a tired voice.
"Nothing. Don't trouble yourself." Emmeline said, glaring in the direction of Morgan. Hermione tutted.
"You need to just leave it alone, Emmeline." whined Hermione, "It's out of your hands!" Emmeline shot her a dark look and resumed eating huffily.
After that dinner, Morgan and Draco became inseparable once again. It was obvious once more that they were friendly, though this time perhaps they were a little friendlier than usual… Emmeline decided once and for all that there was nothing she could do, and simply sat in quiet displeasure and prayed for them to have an argument and slip away from the happiness she was deprived of for the first 15 years of her life. Draco would make up for that. Emmeline wanted to make sure. She just didn't know how; if not messing up his 'love life', then in some other way.
Weeks after the dinner during which they made friends again it was blatant that something was going on and they were the new hot couple for a little while. Morgan's only concern was that Draco didn't know that she was still occasionally seeing the potions master, and she didn't know what Snape would make of her and Draco.
"We are working in pairs today." drawled Snape at the beginning of one lesson, he paused a second to see Morgan smirking while Draco wasn't looking. She knew it was so, so wrong, but she couldn't help herself. He cleared his throat and continued.
"Miss Le Fet, you will be working with Miss Malfoy. Potter; Weasley. Granger; Malfoy." He continued listing pairs, ignoring the displeasure on Morgan and Draco's faces. Not to mention Hermione's and Emmeline's. Looks of dislike shot around the classroom in all directions. Morgan gathered up her things and slunk across the classroom, sitting next to Emmeline with a huff, mentally preparing herself for the hour ahead. She glared at Hermione as she passed, she knew that there was no way Draco would go for Granger, but she was suddenly very territorial.
This kind of thing happened every lesson after, the pairs changed, but Draco and Morgan were never together in the lessons like they used to be. Morgan was forced to think that Snape did in fact mind what was going on; she couldn't help but wonder why, but a bit of the 'before-Draco' Morgan that still remained quite liked that he was jealous.
A part of the potions lessons which never changed was Emmeline's 'Well Sir' joke that seemed to be all that she did in lessons. She never went anywhere near a cauldron, except for one time… the cauldron's contents then proceeded to explode all over the show. The same applied to every other lesson; verbal contributions were fine, but she never joined in any practical activity. Another thing for Morgan to ponder.
After a while, Potions was only just clinging on to the Morgan's Favourite Lesson title; it was all fine and well that she could still mess with Snape, but the lesson was so much less fun without her friends nearby to chat to. She never confronted Snape on this; still too afraid after the episode a few weeks ago, following the appearance of the now long forgotten love-bite. Morgan was still wondering what to do about Snape now that she had Draco, but she was never brave enough to say anything. He was so much stronger than her; he had proved that, in good ways and bad. Forcing her to stay, forcing her to turn back to him, forcing her to shut up. Thinking about it, Morgan noticed quite how much he forced her to do when he felt like it. She was just thankful that it had never entered his mind to force her to do something else. Lord knows he could, but he was a better man than that. She knew that much about him; he was cold sometimes, but he was a good man.
All too soon it was time for the Christmas holidays. All too soon, but then again, Morgan was excited. She would be staying at Draco's, and the idea of a whole two weeks alone with him was overwhelming. She couldn't help but grin every time she thought of it. She was giddy when she was packing up her things. Draco would like this, I might need this etc was all that was going through her head. In the back of her mind she was vaguely aware of Pansy trying to hold a conversation with her, but she wasn't listening really.
On the last day of school, Morgan was practically dancing she was so high. High on the idea of two whole weeks just with Draco. Well, Draco and his parents, but she didn't think they would be there all of the time. And at Christmas! How romantic. Morgan shook that kind of thought out of her head even though she knew it was exactly what she wanted. She carried her bags down to the entrance of the school and set them down beside Draco's on the floor with everyone else's. She looked up to see Emmeline and Draco together just around a corner turning into a corridor. She frowned at the unusual sight and wandered closer. Her frown deepened as she saw that Emmeline had Draco up against the wall. She was whispering harshly to him. Morgan quickened her pace.
"…they don't know, and I swear if you say a single word to them, I will personally-" Morgan didn't wait to hear the rest.
"Hey!" she roared at Emmeline and raising her wand, she yelled "STUPEFY!" The ball of red light hit Emmeline and knocked her to the floor. Draco was so shocked that he was rooted to the spot. Morgan scurried over to him and kissed him.
"Are you alright?" she breathed.
"Uhhh…" was his reply. Emmeline had risen from the floor and now stood staring furiously at Morgan.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she yelled.
"Well excuse me for coming and stunning someone who has my boyfriend pinned to a wall!" Morgan shrieked back. Behind Emmeline, a hell of a lot of her friends had gathered after seeing what had just happened. Morgan shut her mouth after realising that she had forgotten how popular the bitch had got in such a short time and suddenly found herself running with Draco from several young witches and wizards with wands raised. She woke up in the hospital wing a while later with Draco at her side and a rather odd taste in her mouth.
"You've had about a million different potions." laughed Draco, stroking her forehead. Morgan frowned.
"What was she doing to you?" she asked.
"She was warning me not to tell my parents that she was out." Morgan sighed.
"I thought she was going to beat you up or something." she huffed.
"And you came running to my rescue?" he laughed again, "Gee thanks Morgan. Didn't you think I could take her?"
"I- Of course I did! I just-" Draco's chuckling interrupted her.
"It's fine Morgan," he assured, "I actually find it very sweet that you came. It was stupid, but it was sweet." Just then Madam Pomfrey came bustling in and informed Morgan that she could leave now and catch the train with everyone else.
"So, I'm your boyfriend now?" Draco smiled casually as they left the hospital wing.
"Yup." Morgan said playfully, and smiled right back.