At seven the girls and the guys left the common room to go to the old charms classroom, for Nicole's seven minutes, spin the bottle social experiment. Draco hadn't really wanted to go, and with Pansy and Blaise still not properly talking to eachother, they didn't come. But, Cassie had convinced Draco it would be a bit of fun - she hoped she was right.
'You know Nicole's going to jinx the bottle, don't you?' Draco said to Cassie, as the reached the door to the old classroom.
'Yeah,' Cassie replied, not looking back at him. 'But that's the game, isn't it?' She didn't give him the chance to answer, before she opened the door.
'No. No way.' Draco whispered the her as soon as the door opened. She saw what he meant about a second later. Harry Potter was casually perched on a desk at the back of the room, Stacey next to him with her hand on his tie, and talking closely to him. Cassie grabbed her friend's wrist before he could turn away.
'Seriously, Cassie, I'm not -'
Nicole skipped over to them.
'Hey!' She interupted whatever complaint Draco was about to make. 'Glad you came. And, sorry about that back there,' She nodded her head back to where Stacey sat with Potter and a few of his Gryffindor mates. 'Wasn't my choice.'
'Are they together or something?' Cassie asked her, still watching Stacey.
Nicole shrugged. 'Maybe. I don't actually know, she just told me she'd invited him,' She turned back to look at them and then back at Cassie. 'Personally, I think she's being a bit of a golddigger,' Nicole added. 'But don't quote me on that.'
'Wasn't gonna.' Cassie told her. Nicole grinned back at her.
'I see you brought him with you, then?' Nicole smiled at her, nodding towards Draco, who wasn't even listening anymore. 'Erm… hey, Draco!' She said slightly louder.
'What? Oh, hey,' He answered, managing to look back at her.
Nicole exchanged a glance with Cassie.
'Look, I'm sorry he's here, Draco, but I'm not asking you to kiss him, I'm only asking you to not cause a fuss, okay?' Nicole told him, slightly nervous about his reaction.
'So long as he doesn't talk to me, I won't talk to him,' He told her the deal. She nodded.
'I'll tell him the score.' She flicked her hair and walked off to the Gryffindors.
Cassie turned back around to her friend, the situation was now extraordinarily tense. She smiled weakly, he just looked back at her.
The game started after a while, and Stacey was the first person for the charmed glass bottle to land on. She stared at it a bit intensely when it spun for the second time, and there was no prizes for guessing who she was jinxing it to land on. It landed on Harry Potter. Stacey seemed pleased with herself, as she practically dragged him into the book store-room.
'What's wrong with Stacey?' Draco muttered to Cassie.
She shrugged. 'Maybe he's nice to her.'
'He's still a bastard.' He persisted.
'Maybe so.' Cassie sighed, forced to agree with him.
About, well, seven minutes later, they returned. Stacey was grinning like the chesire cat, and Harry Potter was a violent shade of pink, with his tie looser and slightly lobsided. Nicole rolled her eyes at the pair of them.
She spun the glass bottle again, and it stopped on Cassie. She smiled back at Nicole.
'Okay, Nicole, no prizes for guessing who's up next.' Draco said to her, a smile on his lips.
'Hey, you told me not to jinx it… I'm not going to jinx it,' She grinned back.
'Oh, yeah, okay,' He replied sarcastically.
The bottle spun again, but it didn't land on who Draco thought it would. Maybe Nicole was telling the truth.
Ron Weasley looked up from the bottle. 'You're kidding.' He said quietly, his eyes slightly wide.
'Okay, you even touch her, and I swear-' Draco started.
Harry Potter interupted him. 'It's not as if he was actually going to go through with it!'
'Oh, and he can't talk for himself?' Draco retorted.
'I'm not saying that!' Potter argued, his voice getting louder.
'Well he certainly isn't!' Draco shot back.
Nicole stood up. 'Hey, come on guys, it's a game,'
Draco got up. 'I'm outta here,' he looked back at his friend. 'Cassie?'
'What?' She replied. 'I'm staying if that's what your asking. You know… with my friends,' She glanced back at Nicole and Stacey.
Draco didn't wait around for a reply, he lef the room, the door slamming behind him. Cassie felt a wave of guilt sweep over her.
Stacey and Potter got up as well.
'We've… umm… got better places to be,' She blushed slightly. They too left the room.
'Well… that was successful.' Nicole said flatly.
'Hey, erm, has anyone else noticed that I'm the only guy left… so if the bottle doesn't land on me…' He looked round at the girls.
'No.' They said instantly.
'Okay! Just saying…' He muttered.
There was a voice outside the classroom in the corridor. The three of them fell silent inside the room.
'What's that, Mrs Norris? Are there students out of bed?' Filch.
'Shit,' Nicole muttered. 'Look, I don't mean to abandon ship or anything… but I can get back to my common room 'cause it's only down the corridor. So, I'd advise you two to hide somewhere… store room, maybe? I'll be seeing you.' She said quickly, and left the room.
'And she's not abandoning ship?' Weasley commented. Cassie ignored it and took Nicole's advise and went to hide in the store room. Weasley joined her and shut the door behind him. The room was cramped and dark, with a table on one side. Strangely, there were no books.
'Well this is cosy,' Weasley joked. Cassie turned on him.
'Do I look like I want to talk to you?' She asked him. 'Seriously? See the the badge on the robes? No, that wasn't an invitation. I'm Slytherin, you're Gryffindor. We don't talk.' She told him, in a heated whisper.
He looked taken aback by her outburst.
'I just thought you seemed like a pretty decent person,' He told her honestly.
She paused for a moment. 'Well… maybe… maybe you're not so bad either,'
He smiled back at her. 'Thanks?'
She nodded. 'Yeah.'
Cassie sat herself on the wooden desk, Ron perched himself next to her.
'So,' He said. 'Don't think I'm being nosy or anything. But I couldn't help but notice - you and Malfoy?'
'I… Not like that,' She answered slowly. 'We're friends.' She told him.
'Right,' He replied. 'Sure didn't seem that way when that bottle spun to me.'
Cassie sighed. 'Well, yeah… he's a bit protective. And… well, he doesn't like you very much.'
'Yeah, I know that,' Ron nodded. 'But, erm, I just think it's right to warn you… so don't take this the wrong way,' He paused to think about how to phrase what he was about to say. 'I think he's up to something he shouldn't be.'
'Like what?' Cassie asked, confused.
'I'm not saying he is, I'm just saying he's been acting weirder than usual,'
'He's not weird.'
'It's a matter of opinion,' He continued. 'Anyway, I've seen a few things, and Harry's claimed all sorts of things,'
'Like what?' Cassie repeated.
'Like You-Know-Who,' He answered quietly. Cassie didn't say anything, she was in so much shock. 'We saw him in Diagon Alley, he wouldn't let the robes woman touch his arm, and then he went into Borgin and Burkes-'
'It's a shop. People go there.'
'Where a load of Death Eaters had gathered,' He continued.
Cassie was trying her best not to cry. She couldn't just take this Gryffindor's word for it. Of course he was going to say he thought Draco was a Death Eater, they think all Slytherin's are. But they're not, most of them are absolutely petrified of them.
'Look, I'm sorry, Marsh… Cassie,'
She shook her head. 'It's fine. It's probably just your mate being paranoid, anyway,'
'Yeah… he is like that.'