Chapter 12 : Sunday Morning
The next morning, Draco was off with a frustrating start. His high hope for a peaceful Sunday morning was instantly ruined when he was rudely interrupted in his sleep by the loud banging on his door. He sighed with exasperation as he dragged himself to open the door before Blaise came bursting into the room. The Italian wizard was screaming on top of his voice while flailing around wildly, constantly looking over his shoulder as if he was currently hunted by a resurrected Voldemort himself. (Okay, Draco really shouldn't had said that for things simply might come true when you said it even literally. Call it magic, it's the wizarding world after all.)
"Bloody hell, do you even know woman is bloody scary when they're mad out of their mind?" Blaise gave a great shudder as he casually sauntered towards the only bed in the room. "I just figured that out now."
With a loud groan, Draco slammed the door shut behind him. He marched towards the unsuspecting bloke before promptly shoving him away, and plopping himself onto the comfortable bed. He laid with his face buried deeply into the pillow, hoping to drown out the other's voice.
Naturally, Blaise won't let that happen. He prodded the blonde harshly from the side. "Wake up, mate. Is this how you treat your best mate because I'm honestly feeling so offended right now, you ungrateful lump of coal. I still have a huge eyebags on my precious face because of the sleepless nights you caused me for the sake of your complex love life."
Draco's reply was muffled by the pillow. Blaise rolled his eyes before pulling the pillow away in one, swift movement. Draco begrudgingly sat up afterwards, reaching out his hand to ruffle his hair with annoyance.
"I should've let Weaslette rammed your bloody head against the wall last night." grumbled Draco moodily. Well, nobody could really blame him either. Even someone as nice as Neville would exploded when you wake them up on a Sunday morning before the approriate time.
Blaise narrowed his eyes in dismay, but said nothing. He stood up, and began rummaging through Draco's trunk instead. He pulled out a random robe from the latter's massive collection before tossing it square in his face.
"Get ready, mate." said Blaise while turning back towards the trunk. He began pulling out more random robes, eyes twinkling with delight. "Oh, this is a new one. Why, the color is just perfect for my eyes!"
"Hands off my robes, you wanker." Draco retorted while changing out of his pajamas. He purposely flung the used garment towards the esctatic Blaise, halting the lad momentarily. "The last time you touched it, I had to buy a whole new wardrobe." He finished putting on his robes, trudging towards the bed to whisk his wand from under the pillow, and cramming it into the sleeve of his robes.
Blaise just waved his hands around dismissively for his eyes just caught yet another prey amidst the sea of colorful robes.
"What's taking you so long?" came Theo's head suddenly peering from behind the door after flinging the door open with a loud bang.
Draco's eyes widened almost immediately. "Why are you here too?"
Theo quickly gestured towards the immersed Blaise on the floor. Draco made a quick mental note to kill the latter in his sleep.
"Can we get going already? Granger is giving me the stink eye." Theo glanced once over his shoulder as he said this, shuddering no second later.
"Is she awake?" asked Draco curiously. He walked out of the room, heading towards the living room. Hermione, who thought it was Theo all over again, didn't drop her stern, and disdainful look until Draco came into full view. She instantly turned scarlet in the face, and hastily fixed her eyes on the book in her lap.
Draco raised an amused brow before chuckling lowly. It was hard not to notice that she had been avoiding him since last night despite her epic failed attempt of being subtle.
"Let's go!" interrupted Blaise, who had an armful of Draco's belongings in his embrace. He skipped towards the door with bouncing steps, ignoring Draco's furrowed brows while Theo trailed after him in a hurry, eager to escape Hermione's scrunitizing eyes. He also pulled Draco along while he was at it.
"Are you even going to inform me where on earth are you taking me?" said Draco with annoyance before looking over his shoulder. "See you later, Granger. Do not miss me too much."
He vaguely heard Hermione muttering 'egoistical, self-centred prat' under her breath. Instead of being offended though, he just grinned as he was being pulled by Theo out of the room. His grin died down when they halted at last, and his first reaction was to glare at the other two.
"You woke me up on a glorious Sunday morning like this just to visit that backstabbing two-faced Crabbe, and his equally traitorous fancée?" He drawled, but Blaise appeared unfazed. He shook his head, and wagged a finger at him with a dramatic look of disappointment.
"Watch."
They began creeping along the hallway, slowly entering the Hospital Wing on tip toes. Draco obviously refused, but the two bashed his head before he even got out a single protest. They kept themselves hidden behind an empty bed near the entrance, and Draco saw that the only occupants of the room was situated way further than the main door.
"What in the name of Merlin's most baggy Y-fronts—"
"Oh, look, look!" Blaise pointed out excitedly. He began edging forward ever so slightly, careful enough not to be caught, but clear enough to see everything. Unable to resist his growing curiosity, Draco mirrored the other's action, and finally saw what's the fuss. He finally understood, though not quite fully or accurately, what exactly they were trying to do. On contrary belief, they didn't even give as much as a glance in Crabbe or Millicent's direction, whose fortunately placed next to each other and adjacent to the remaining occupants of the room. That way, they were spared from the irresistible urge of tearing the bloody traitor's heads off at first sight.
"Oh, lovely." said Draco, voice thick with dripping sarcasm. "What a marvelous sight!" He began clapping his hands, maybe unintentionally or maybe not, trying to attract attention on them. He promptly rose to his feets, and made a move to trudge forward.
"Draco!" Blaise hissed, frantically motioning him to stay down. "Mate, stay low! I repeat, stay - low!" The Italian wizard made a huge show of warning the blonde, waving his arms in the air with his voice gradually growing louder when his patience was growing thin. ("This bonehead might as well announce our presence on top of his voice." muttered Theo.)
"Oh, you're here."
"Oh, great." Theo gave up almost immediately. He quickly stood up, and dusted his robes, wise enough to keep a nonchalant look plastered across his face. "Get up, mate. You're making a fool out of yourself."
"Hush, Theo!" Blaise placed a finger on his mouth. "They might hear you!"
Theo rolled his eyes, and left to join Draco, whose already sneering next to a flushed Goyle. Padma was perched on the edge of the bed next to Goyle's legs, pretending to smooth the bed-covers unnecessarily.
"I hate to admit it, but this is kind of worth ditching my sleep." Draco mused with a mildly impressed look.
Right on cue, Blaise shot up from his spot, and rushed to them with an eager look. His right hand was raised high in the air while the other kept on pointing at himself. "It was my brilliant idea, mate! Aren't you just thankful to me?"
"No." said Draco flatly.
Blaise instantly huffed, and frowned. He crossed his arms defiantly, standing a good five metres from Draco. ("Stupid, self-centred, raging prick." Blaise murmured under his breath.)
"So," Draco shared a brief, cynical look with Theo. "You guys are like a thing now? Like, together together? Is that so, Patil?" He raised an amused brow at the dark-haired witch. The sight of the Ravenclaw witch feeding Goyle like a dutiful fiancée just now definitely intrigued him. Needless to say, the look of fondness decorating Goyle's face as of even right now, was just itching for some explanation.
Padma scowled. "It's none of your business, Malfoy." She flipped her long hair from her face before standing up abruptly. "I'll leave you guys for some time alone now. I'll be back later, Greg." She gave one last smile at the grinning bloke before hurrying towards the exit door.
"Oh, she's feisty." Draco clasped Goyle's shoulders, and patted it with mocked sympathy. "You get yourself a tough one, Goyle. Not sure which one of us is even the most unlucky."
"Oi, that would be me!" Blaise shrieked with a look of are-you-freaking-kidding-me. "Fight me if you say otherwise, mate."
Theo snorted in response. "As if you can fool us, Blaise." He pulled a nearby chair, and sat down. He grabbed one of the fruits in the basket brought by Padma earlier this morning, and began munching on the juicy treat.
"Preach."
"Oh, shut it, Draco. As if you're any better."
That shut him right up, but Theo was obviously bombarded with murderous glares from the two afterwards.
"How's it really going for you, Goyle?" Ignoring them, Theo chose to regard the still grinning Goyle. He had a dreamy look on his face, and Theo had to snap his fingers in front of him before he was snapped into reality.
"Good." The lad beamed while grinning brightly. "Padma is such a wonderful person. She takes care of everything for me that Madam Pomfrey had long gave up on trying to help."
"That's.. nice," Theo replied hesitantly. ".. I suppose."
Goyle eagerly nodded in agreement. "How about you? Luna Lovegood, right? Is she treating you right?"
Draco and Blaise perked up at the question. They dropped the murderous glare in an instant, eyeing Theo with eyes twinkling with interest. Theo grew uncomfortable with the sudden turn of the event. He cleared his throat a few times while tossing an apple into the air instead of eating it now.
"Oh, do tell, mate." urged Blaise with a malicious grin. He leaned forward from where he had taken a seat before while clasping his hands together in front of him, and resting his chin on top of it.
"I'm sure she is just as lovely as Goyle's fiancée here. The most wonderful girl in the world, isn't she?" Draco added, a sly grin tugging the corner of his lips.
"The thing is," began Theo, which made them sat at the edge of their chair by now. ".. she actually really is."
Draco and Blaise exchanged a quick, confused look. "Is what?" They questioned in unison.
Theo gave an uncomfortable, pained look as if reluctant to say further. "She really is a wonderful girl." He finally murmured lowly, looking down at his lap. "I say, Potter has the right idea when he was being overprotective over her. She is much too naive, and truthful for her own good."
"Say what now?"
"She confronted me last night." Theo didn't stop even as Draco's and Blaise's face turned from malicious into panic. "She let me know that she is well aware of me being unhappy with our pairing. We may never expect it, but she has an absolutely keen sense which she used to keep an eyes on people around her. She said she's sorry. She apologised for something she never did wrong, and I-I just stood there, looking stunned like a stupid dummy."
Draco gulped, and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. (Is it just him or the temperature really dropped all of a sudden?)
"Theo, I'm sure she understands." Goyle assured hesitantly.
"You should've seen the dejected look on her face last night." Theo let out a heavy sigh. "It was as if— as if I just finished a two-hours lecture of convincing her that Crumple-Horned Snorkack really doesn't exist, and she gave up on trying to argue with me."
"That's such a bizarre expression." Blaise whispered with a judging look. "That Loony Lovegood girl is definitely rubbing off on him pretty badly."
Draco regarded Blaise with a roll of his eyes.
"Hey, maybe—"
"Mister Crabbe! What are you doing out of bed?" All of them whipped their heads around in surprise at the sudden, booming voice of the school's matron. She was standing before the main entrance, both hands on her hips with a fierce look on her face. Despite being slightly taller that the matron, Crabbe had his head hung low in shame, making him looked slightly smaller than usual.
A much less conspicuous Millicent Bulstrode was seated on a bed near them. It still struck as a strange view though once you recovered from the shock, and noticed that she ought to be in her own bed, which was placed a lot more farther than the main entrance. The Slytherins didn't linger for long though. As soon as they recognised the source of the noise, they averted their attention away with annoyed look.
"Serve them right." Blaise mumbled as the loud nagging of Madam Pomfrey carried all the way to their side of the Hospital Wing.
However, Goyle had a thoughtful look on his face with deeply furrowed brows. He tapped his finger against his chin a few times. "I swear this must be what, the umpteenth times, that he tried to sneak out of here." He commented out loud, but just loud enough for the other three to hear.
"Hold on a second," Blaise's ears perked up at the revelation. "What did you just said?"
Goyle quirked his brows. "What? Crabbe sneaking out of here? He's been doing it a lot actually, especially at night whenever he thinks I'm fast asleep. Millicent would usually keep watch of me while Crabbe's off to do whatever the hell he has to do."
"At night?" The three of them exchanged a knowing look with each other.
Goyle nodded in confirmation while shifting his position slightly. "I don't know what exactly are they up to because they are pretty secretive about it. Crabbe rarely talks to me anymore, and they're always constantly in a deep discussion with each other. I thought they were getting along at first, but a few days here is enough to prove me wrong, and give me a splitting headache from their endless bickerings."
"Do you happen to see anybody coming in to visit them ever since they got admitted here?" ventured Draco out of curiosity. There was this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that the answer would indeed served as a clue for them.
"Of course. There's not much of them to begin with so it's pretty easy to keep track." Goyle frowned in concentration. "I only remember seeing Professor Snape, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall on the first day we got admitted here. From the look of it, pretty sure they have detentions already waiting once they're out of here. Oh wait, Professor Rosier also came two days ago."
Theo instantly had an amused look on his face. "That lunatic soon-to-be brother-in-law of yours was not exactly blabbering gibberish then." He nudged Blaise slightly, raising a mocking brow. Blaise scowled, and playfully aimed to punch the other.
"What?" Goyle asked with a confused look.
Draco quickly waved his hands dismissively while sending a warning look at the other two.
"It's nothing." Draco abruptly stood up while gesturing at the other. "We should get going. I haven't even eat my breakfast."
Soon, they were off after much protesting, and grumbling. Goyle was left all alone on his bed, staring at Madam Pomfrey ushering Crabbe back to his bed with great fuss. Then, he suddenly heaved a heavy sigh while removing his eyes to stare into the distance.
~~X~~
"Ginevra, Ginevra! Open the bloody door, woman!" Ginny narrowed her eyes at the door, annoyed with the constant loud banging. "Or so help me, I'm going to blast this blasted door open, and send—"
"Send what?" Ginny snapped as she slammed the door open. "What?"
Blaise gulped while his mind went racing at an incredible speed. In this kind of situation, there was obviously just one solution left to do for him. He abruptly carved an awkward smile while waving his hand around.
"Morning?"
"It's nearly afternoon, you brainless turnip."
"That's not important, cupcake. The important thing is— wait," Blaise halted, and raised a finger. ".. why turnip? Why not carrot or cabbage or something much, much more classy? It has to fit my elegant, and sophisticated image, love."
Ginny scowled. "Why, my apologise, your royal Highness. I was not aware that cabbage is the epitome of classy."
"Apology accepted." Blaise strutted to the couch, failing to recall his initial reason of leaving the chamber this morning. How he forgot the Gryffindor witch's wrath that forced him to end up of running down the hall at ungodly hours this morning, it will always remain as a mystery. "Come, come." He patted the empty space next to him. "Don't be shy, love. I have such a suprising news to share that you might as well sit while you can before you unceremoniously faint on the floor."
Ginny raised her brows sceptically. She crossed her arms while she slowly trudged forward towards him. It was a wonder to her why he hasn't took flight yet at the sight of her. He couldn't possibly expected for her to forgive him that easily already after just a slight preview of her wrath. Unbeknownst to her, the lad was simply born with the memory span of a goldfish.
"Here." He patted the seat again, eagerly looking up at her with twinkling eyes. Once she was seated, he cleared his throat, and straightened up his clothes a bit. "You see, that lunatic brother of yours is not that daft after all." He smiled with triumph, expecting her to burst into a string of incoherent thankful words.
However, she snorted derisively in response. "So?"
Blaise's face fell, and his smile vanished into thin air. He blinked a few times, unable to comprehend the lack of response from the red-headed witch.
"What do you mean by that?" shrieked Blaise at last, standing up instinctively. He unconsciously flailed his arms around, trying to form a coherent word. "Aren't you suppose to be super-duper protective, and defensive of your brothers? I thought that's a Weasley's thing!"
Ginny let out an amused, short chuckle. "Not necessarily, darling." She leaned back against the couch with crossed legs. "I'm a Gryffindor, not a bloody Hufflepuff. Why do you care anyway?"
Blaise began stuttering out his reply, his words coming out all jumbled up while Ginny stared hard at him. She prompted even further by quirking her brows as she folded her arms across her chest.
"That's beside the point!" He snapped as he hastily regained his composure. He straightened up, and puffed his chest out. "You shall be honor that I even took notice of people frowning at your brother's ridiculous conclusions yesterday, but it turned out that he's quite right all along, and I'm going to great lengths to inform you about it. I'm not usually bother with other people's business, you know!"
"I highly doubt that last part."
"Now, why would you?"
"Just because."
Blaise groaned with frustration. He began ranting out under his breath, firing words in his mother tongue at incredible speed. Meanwhile, Ginny watched with a mix of amusement, and something indescribable in her eyes. She took a mental note on how he had a habit of pacing around when he's in great distress, much like what he was doing right now.
She lowered her gaze, and sniggered to herself. "You would've think I will fall for someone much more better than this." The murmuring was really meant to be a self-pity talk towards herself, but the sudden silence quickly triggered her attention. She gulped as she became aware of the lack of Italian curses flying around the room now, but she was dreadfully hesitant, and reluctant to raise her head.
She took a huge, calming breath before closing her eyes briefly. With a silence prayer, she slowly lifted her head, and opened one eye first. The sight definitely didn't disappoint. Her eyes popped open while she released a sigh, but shrugged coolly afterwards. She cleared her throat, and stood up, inching closer towards the utterly gobsmacked wizard. He was frozen in his spot with hands hanging loosely in the air, jaw literally dropped to the floor with comically widened eyes.
"You heard it?" asked Ginny reluctantly. Despite the thin hope, she was still pretty hopeful.
Blaise blinked profusely.
"You really did." Ginny concluded, almost accusingly. She made a face, and looked up with despair. "Yes, yes, I'll admit it. I have feelings for you, not that much yet I think, but it's there. Don't even ask me since when because I don't even know myself. There's even a high chance it's just the Confundus charm still messing with my head, really—"
"You actually.. fancy me?" Blaise cut off after a long silence. He was staring at her with a mix of disbelief, and shock. There was also a slight faraway look on his face. "You - me - us?"
Ginny promptly narrowed her eyes. "You know what, never mind." She huffed loudly. "Now, I'm 100% sure it's just the charm still messing with my head." Blaise was plainly oblivious, but the long silence combined with the disbelief edge to his tone, and the faraway look definitely had a bad effect as a response in this situation. (The Gryffindor witch definitely saw the faraway look as a sign of amusement.) Ginny hurried to the door with large steps, determined not to look back. Ginny Weasley wasn't your average martyr after all—she didn't need audience to her pain.
Blaise was left to stand all alone in the middle of the chamber, rewinding the scene all over again with great confusion. He eventually slumped into the couch while staring at nothing in particular. He scratched his head a few times, and tried to reason her abrupt leave. He finally came up with the conclusion that she was just simply off to attend some matters.
"Yeah, that must be it."
Oh Merlin, if only he knew how wrong he was.
