The girls were all eager for their first Hogsmeade visit even though it was a Saturday morning, Candi had been slightly tired after last night's socialising with Snape. Bizarre dreams about her other future kept playing in her head but Draco's future self kept morphing into his father's current being. So naturally she awoke with a bit of a head ache, but this quickly faded as the girls enthusiasm for the trip was overwhelming. Although Emily was coughing and gagging periodically, she wasn't very convincing but everyone was to self absorbed with their own thoughts to really notice. Jane made a glass of water out of thin air and gave it to Emily, who drank it guiltily with thanks.
Since most the girls had their own plans for the day they decided to have breakfast together at the Gryffindor table.
"Going to be my date for the trip today?" Candi asked Sammi with a smirk. It seemed like everyone else had plans. "You as well Jane." Raven had a date with the red headed man, Emily was clearly faking a sicky to be with Victor and Rachael looked completely petrified of her upcoming date with that rather forward man. Nichole didn't have a date, but Candi certainly wasn't going to spend her day with her.
"We can hang around Rachael in case she needs bailing out of her date," Sammi laughed, she had been joking but the look of concern on Rachael's face only intensified.
"What about you Jane? Are you in?" Candi laughed at the look on Rachael's face.
"As long as I don't get a better offer," Jane smiled before reassuring Rachael. Hermione really wasn't helping as she started telling stories she had heard about Shaun, to say that he wasn't reflected in a wholesome light would be an understatement.
"Oh joy, Malfoy is heading this way," Ron announced unenthused.
Candi rolled her eyes, a gesture that was not unnoticed, "what is up with you?" Raven asked, "it was only a few days ago you were all... you know what I mean. What's up?"
"Nothing." Candi lied, there weren't works to explain why she didn't want to see Draco. She missed future Draco too much to deal with present Draco right now, that and all she could do was think about his dad who reminded her so much of older Draco. It was frustrating to say the least.
Draco finally stopped when he stood behind Candi, "Can I talk to you?"
"Draco I am trying to eat my breakfast," Candi tried to explain.
Draco leaned forward and whispered something in her left ear, a familiar guilty look appeared on Candi's face before she left the hall silently with him.
"What is that he is holding?" Nichole asked suspiciously, seeing something in Draco's hand as he walked away. Draco wasn't happy and Nichole wanted to know why.
"The Daily Prophet," Harry informed them raising his copy. Nichole quickly snatched it flipping over the pages she didn't really see anything important. The second time though she looked for anything that was familiar and this time she noticed a photo of Professor Snape. The heading explained that is was an awards presentation held last night from 7pm till late. Nichole read the heading out loud and pointed out the photo of Snape.
"Anybody?" she asked.
"Anybody what?" Emily asked rather confused.
"Candi had detention with Snape last night, she didn't get back till after midnight, I heard her come in," Rachael sighed, she hated when Nichole was right about these sorts of things.
"Candi, Candi, Candi," Nichole muttered as she held the paper close to her face, Draco had seen something here that had annoyed him... She had to find it.
"O... M...G..." Nichole smiled wickedly as she found what she was looking for. "Does he look familiar or what?"
Sammi inspected the photo before groaning, "You have got to be kidding me!"
"OMG?" Hermione questioned, "What is that?"
"A pictures worth a thousand words," Nichole smiled as she passed the paper to Hermione.
"What do you want me to say Draco? Yes I talked to your dad last night and not that it is any of your business but we mostly talked about you. You being the only thing we have in common after all," Candi lied. She couldn't believe it, how had he even seen it. In a photo of Slughorn and some witches... There in the background at the bar was Lucius with his hand slipped between the spilt in the material of her dress.
Draco was confused, he had told his dad about Candi as after all she was a part of his mission from Voldemort, so it would make sense that is dad would talk to her... But it didn't explain why his hand was on her leg. Draco knew his father and mother weren't really together anymore but he also knew that his dad wasn't into the jailbait type. Something wasn't adding up.
Not knowing what else to do Candi decided distraction was the best method, she leaned forward and kissed him unexpectedly. It took a moment for him to realise what was going on and he kissed her back. Pulling apart she whispered in his ear, "don't be ridiculous, I will most likely not even run into your dad ever again, let alone intentionally met him." Draco accepted this and they both returned to their tables.
The seven girls broke away from each other as the exited the Great Hall. One by one, the group got smaller till only Jane, Candi, Sammi, Emily and Nichole were left.
"I'm not feeling so well," Emily lied, nobody for a second really believed that she was sick but they all figured it was probably because it was cold outside and Emily would rather stay in. Emily hung out in the hall till the others were out of sight before going back to her room. It was a few hours till she was meeting Victor near the kitchen, she had a while to shower and find a proper first date outfit.
The hours seemed to pass so quickly, yet so slowly at the same time, she changed her outfit four separate times and repeatedly changed her mind about makeup, washing it off and reapplying.
Emily assumed she and Victor were at the start of a romantic relationship, she knew that the liked each other, but to date they had never done anything more then what was normal amongst friends... A thought crossed her mind quickly, what if they were just friends? Did she need to re-change again? Emily shook these thoughts out of her head; he had asked her to lunch after all, it was quite clearly a date. A secret date, Emily corrected in her head, she hated not being able to tell her friends about Victor, no that there was much to tell. But still, she didn't like lying to them, even though she had to too protect Victor's job.
She met Victor near the great hall, he complemented her outfit before offering his arm, she smiled accepting his arm and letting him lead the way to kitchen. Emily was trying to play it cool as they walked and talked all the way to the kitchen. Unfortunately though, once they entered the kitchen and she saw the small table in the corner with a white table cloth, flowers and candles floating magically a few centimetres off the table, she couldn't help but gasp. Amazement was her first thought, it was so romantic and unexpected. Although the imaginary laughed of Raven, Candi and Sammi made an impression in her head, their jokes were playing already.
Emily couldn't help but thinking it was too much when Victor pulled out her chair and pushed it in again. She knew it was a romantic gesture, but she was more than capable of taking a seat by herself. She wasn't offended she just thought it was a little odd, nobody had ever pulled out a chair for her. Emily keenly spent the next four hours looking for clues as to whether she could classify this as a date or not. Emily saw the clock and realised she had to go soon as her friends would arrive back soon. Victor noticed, standing up and thanking the house elves for the wonderful meal. The pair exited the kitchen, and Victor offered to walk her back to her room, she graciously accepted realising this was going to be her chance to find out if this was a date or not.
With each step Emily grew increasingly nervous, she was about to find out if this was a date or not. "Thank you for lunch, it was really great," Emily smiled as she and Victor stopped outside her door.
"You are very welcome," Victor said quietly, secretly he was very impressed with himself, in a few moments he would make this the most perfect first date ever. The pair stared at each other for a moment, they heard the entrance hall fill with the noise returning students. The entrance hall was a couple of floors below them but the noise travelled freely up the stairs.
Victor's hands casually made their way onto Emily's waist, "I guess I should go."
"Probably," Emily smiled nervously as Victor leaned in closer, "But not just yet I hope."
"No," Victor whispered before gentling pressing his lips against hers. Emily tried not to, but she could help but smile as she kissed him back. Victor pulled away slowly with a smile on his face as he wondered why Emily was smiling like a fool.
"What?" Victor smiled with a chuckle.
"Thanks for the great date," Emily smiled, she quickly kissed him again before sliding into the common room. Once safe on the other side of the door she celebrated the success of the date with a quick victory dance.
Candi was thankful that Nichole had decided to spend the day with Hermione, which left her Sammi, Raven and Jane together. Raven was meeting Fred at the three broomsticks at twelve, it wasn't nearly time but that didn't stop her looking at the door every time it opened.
Rachael had met Shaun inside the castle and he was currently showing her around the small town, the shops thankfully created many topics to discuss. Rachael was overwhelmed by all the amazing products they had for sale in the shops. There were amazing practical jokes, adorable toys and the most delicious and unusual sweets she had ever seen.
"What are those?" Rachael asked pointing to a shelf full of pink and red bottles.
"Love potions," Shaun smiled, clearly amused by Rachael's complete lack of knowledge about magical goods. "They are quite popular when we have dances or something like that up at the school, all the girls really want good dates."
Shaun's silly smile helped Rachael relax finally, for lunch he took her to Madam Puddifoot's teashop, it was a little cliché, but he thought it was worth the risk. Truth be told he had never taken a date there before. It was a good choice though, Rachael was amazed by their range of baked goods, especially the adorable mini cup cakes. Rachael ordered a delicious baguette for lunch which came with a free mini cupcake.
'This is really sweet, thank you," Rachael said graciously, it really was a great first date. She was especially pleased that she had finally settled from her pre=date nerves! She tried very hard to ignore all the things she had heard about Shaun, it would be unfair to judge him on his past actions. He had only ever been sweet and kind to her and although he was an alleged womaniser she hadn't even seen him glance at another woman.
"It is pretty cool isn't it," Shaun said, flashing a smile. He could not help but feel proud of himself, he was in this quaint cafe with a beautiful woman sitting opposite him.
Rachael quickly wiped away some chutney of her chin, hoping that Shaun didn't notice, he quickly busied himself with his food pretending he didn't see, he didn't want to make her uncomfortable. Rachael was so amazing she even made spilling food cute.
After lunch the pair walked outside onto the main street, Rachael was meeting Candi, Sammi and Jane at the Three Broomsticks for a drink before heading back to the school. Rachael somehow managed to trip when she stepped down the single step outside the cafe. Luckily though Shaun was paying attention and managed to grab her arm just in time and swing her into his chest, holding her he asked, "are you okay?"
"Only one way I could be better," Rachael gasped in surprise of her fall. She couldn't believe she had just said that.
Shaun took the hint and without hesitation leaned in and kissed her, instantly deciding she wasn't like another girl her had ever met. It also helped that she was a great kisser. Shaun's left hand still clung to hers where he had caught her and his other hand was in the middle of her back.
"Perfect?" Shaun asked when they pulled apart.
"Pretty much," Rachael smiled, in truth it had been prefect but she didn't want to inflate his already rather large ego.
Shaun laughed, pulling her even closer, "we will see about that." Then he kissed her again, "how about now?"
"You will have to try again at the end of our next date," Rachael smirked presumptuously.
"I guess I will," Shaun smiled, kissing her on the check he farewelled her, "I will see you then."
Jane, Sammi and Raven were deep in conversation, talking about something Hermione had mentioned early about elfish welfare. Candi was thinking of her plans to defeat Voldemort... Which ended up with her thinking about the other futures Draco she had worked with and Lucius. She was absentmindedly staring at the door when she saw Fred and George Weasley walked in. Candi didn't know the twins very well, she had only dealt with them a few times at Falenokmay but she knew them enough to be able to tell them apart.
Fred was ever so slightly more built then his brother, but more noticeably he was just naturally more dominant and firm. Candi noticed Fred walk to the bathroom, he walked rather proudly, clearly keen for his date. Candi slid out of her seat and approached the bar without her friends paying any attention. "George, how are things?" Candi asked casually as she slipped into the seat next to him.
"Hey, good. How do you like magically life?" George smiled in reply. He didn't know how she knew his name, he guess Fred had mentioned him to her.
"Pretty good, how is business?"
"Ever improving," George smiled. "What can I say, we are good at what we do."
"Hey Candi, what's up?" Raven said attempting to be casual, but secretly quite horrified that Candi always seemed to be talking to Fred.
"Hey Fred," Raven smiled awkwardly.
"Fred darling, don't you want to tell Raven something?" Candi whispered loudly.
George smiled guiltily, "Hey Raven."
"Fred?" Raven questioned, she was now quite concerned.
"I..." George started, but he was cut off when Fred returned, "Raven, I see you've met my brother George."
Raven's jaw almost hit the ground, it had been him the other day... It was Fred's brother she had kissed. It made sense now, she thought he had been acting strangely.
"Are you okay Raven?" Fred asked.
Raven managed to close her mouth and nodded, hundreds of thoughts and scenarios ran through her head. How did this happen? She thought to herself.
"Let's get out of here," Fred smiled as he wrapped his arm over her shoulder, "I am starving."
The grabbed a mix of food from the three broomsticks before leaving, they ate it outside as the wondered around. Raven's date passed without any more drama, she laughed and smiled a lot but couldn't shake the thoughts of George. She didn't know how to feel, she currently was feeling a mix of anger, insult and yet she was still intrigued. She was also surprised that Fred had laughed off George's actions.
For the third time so far this date Raven found herself making out with Fred as they were mid conversation. Somehow every time this happened she managed to start thinking about the other twin. They were similar in so many ways, yet so different. Some differences were more obvious than others, subtle ones like their smiles and speech patterns and the more obvious like their kissing style. Fred was a lot firmer and more domineering, he liked to set the pace, whereas George was less overbearing he let he her set decide the momentum. There were both really good kissers, they were very different; she couldn't help but wondered why she didn't have a preference. She was glad her friends couldn't read her mind, they would have a field day with her confusion. Especially Sammi she thought.
"Today was fun," Raven smiled as she kissed Fred once again.
"It was wasn't it," Fred said quickly before he resumed kissing her. "Will I see you tomorrow?"
"I don't know I might be busy with all my other dates," Raven joked to gauge his reaction.
"How about this... I won't go on any dates without you... if you don't go on dates without me." Fred said smiling as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"That sounds fair, I will think about it." Raven shrugged before once again kissing Fred.
Candi became fidgety, she decided to leave Jane and Sammi and go for a walk to be alone with her thoughts. Well that and she had just spotted Nichole at the bar flirting with Ron Weasley, it made her stomach hurt. She was still a bit puzzled about what to do with Voldemort, she knew that she somehow needed to get close to him. Candi mentally smacked herself, Voldemort was just a mortal man, and surely she was over thinking this... There had to be a simple solution. She was pacing up and down the outskirts of the village out of the view of most of the public, a few people walked near her but everyone was minding their own business.
"Now what is a young lady such as yourself doing outside by herself?"
"Looking for trouble apparently," Candi replied without thinking. Once again she had to mentally smack herself! She quickly tried to think of something to say but unfortunately all she could come up with was, "nice cane."
Lucius lifted his wand cane in front of his chest and looked at it closely before commenting, "What can I say, I love beautiful things."
Candi thought of a smart alec comment in her head but thankfully was able to bite her tongue this time. "Something you and Draco seem to have in common."
"You have no idea," Lucius grinned cunningly.
"Don't I?" Candi questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Lucius stepped close to her, he raised his cane behind her back and grabbed it with his other hand pulling her body into his. The solid wood pressed against her lower back, Candi mostly succeeded in suppressing smile. Although with the look Lucius was giving her she had a feeling that he knew what she was thinking.
Lucius nuzzled her neck, whispering in her ear, "I just figured out, I will need an excuse to produce a sample of your blood to the Dark Lord."
Candi finally snapped out of her trance when he lowered his cane to just under her arse, placing he hands on his chest she whispered, "Wait."
Lucius pulled back, loosening the pressure of the cane behind her also, looking surprised he asked her plainly, "yes?"
"Not here," Candi whispered, and with that they disappeared out of Hogsmeade and apparated into a room which Candi recognised as the study at Malfoy Manor. Although the last time she had been here was when she was talking to Draco about business, Candi loved the house, every time pansy was out of town she would arrange for business meetings to be at Draco's.
"I wonder where Candi is?" Jane asked out of curiosity.
"Probably with Malfoy, he looked pleased with himself after he talked to her this morning. It is weird though, I mean that photo with his dad and all, and I can't help but wonder what that was all about." Sammi pondered.
"I get that Draco is cute and has the whole bad boy thing going for him... But really what does she see in him and why was she talking to his dad in that photo this morning?" Jane asked sincerely.
"You're asking the wrong person," Sammi replied simply as she saw Draco enter the Three Broomsticks. "Speaking of the devil."
"Hey guys, how are you going?" Draco said as he slid into the seat next to Jane.
"We were better ten seconds ago," Sammi smirked.
"Don't be like that Sammi," Draco smiled charmingly.
"Dude Candi isn't here so sod off," Sammi said rolling her eyes.
"I'm not looking for Candi," Draco smiled, "I just wanted to come over her and talk to you guys, that is all."
Sammi rolled her eyes again, "go away."
"I just wanted to talk to Jane," Draco said smoothly, throwing Jane a wink.
"She isn't interested," Sammi said dismissively.
"She can speak for herself. Can't you beautiful?" Draco said smoothly.
Jane almost smiled at the compliment, before she remembered who said it. "What she said," Jane replied looking at the floor.
"How about this," Draco proposed, "if Jane spends half an hour with me today, I promise I will not pursue her any further. Unless she wants me too."
"You don't stand a chance," Sammi laughed.
"We'll see."
"Thirty minutes, if in the future you won't talk to any of my friends unless they approach you," Jane negotiated.
Sammi and Draco responded simultaneously with "deal" and "Jane, no."
Draco looked incredibly impressed with himself, "shall we?"
Jane smiled back sarcastically, a smile very rarely seen on Jane's face.
"Jane, what are you doing? Don't be stupid." Sammi said quickly. She didn't have a clue what caused Draco's sudden interest in Jane, just this morning he was keen on Candi. Whatever it was, she did not like it?
"You're down to twenty nine minutes," Jane announced restlessly. Standing up she farewelled Sammi, following Draco to the bar.
"Yeah for me," Sammi said sarcastically as she took a sip of her butterbeer. She had no idea where Candi was, but when she did she was going to get to the bottom of this Draco thing. She didn't like Jane being in the crossfire of whatever was going on.
"Are you okay?" A quiet voice asked from behind her.
Sammi turned around to see the man she had been looking at in the Great hall earlier.
"Hey, I'm fine. Thank you for asking though, I just got ditched." Sammi smiled.
"I'm Oliver by the way, a fellow ditchee, I was going to hang out with Victor today but he isn't feeling so well." Oliver grinned, "you're names Sammi right?"
"Yeah," Sammi replied, "you can take a seat if you like. Then neither of us look so pathetic." Sammi said casually, although when Oliver accepted the seat she was silently thrilled.
"I'll be right back," Oliver said before walking away, he returned moments later with a butterbeer in each hand. "So... where were we?"
"Thanks," Sammi said as she swapped her empty glass for the new full one, "we were about to laugh at the coincidence that both Victor and Emily are sick?" Sammi said making a gagging noise before the word sick.
"Interesting, how could I forget that?" he smiled.
"You wouldn't believe half the stories I know, let alone forget them. This one time in high school Candi was trying to get attention as she was telling a story... Something about a disagreement on a train... Anyways outside near one of the main foot paths she practically yelled, 'we had a mass debate on the train! It was one of the funniest things I have ever heard in my entire life!"
Oliver laughed when picturing the story, he didn't picture it with Candi's face telling the story but watching Sammi whilst Candi talked in the background.
After forty minutes of laughing and storytelling Sammi realised that Jane wasn't back from her thirty minute drinks with Draco. She was about to excuse herself and go look for them before Oliver asked, "Hey, I just realised something, was Emily out on the first night you guys arrived at Hogwarts?"
"Out?"
"Was she in your dorm?" Oliver clarified.
"Yes, all night. Why?"
"I was just wondering, I was going to say that maybe that is who Victor met on his first night here, he stayed in Hogsmeade for one night before coming here for day two. The next morning I talked to him and he mentioned a girl he had met, but then once he had Quidditch practice with you guys, he denied meeting anyone that night. It would make sense if they were involved and he didn't know she was a student," Oliver said, not realising that the clock in Sammi's mind had just ticked over. Candi!
Before Sammi realised she had been with Wood for over an hour and she had no idea where Jane was! She quickly explained the situation to Oliver, hoping he would understand her excusing herself.
"Draco Malfoy? He went here when I did, he is a prat. We should look for your friend." Oliver offered kindly and at this moment Sammi wasn't in a position to say no.
Without a word the pair searched the Three Broomsticks for Jane and Draco, but they were nowhere to be found.
After a further ten minutes of searching the streets outside Oliver and Sammi came across Jane hanging with Draco and some of his cronnies.
"Wood mate, how are you doing?" Draco asked in an amused tone when he saw his old fellow student approach.
"Just making sure everything is okay here, in my new teaching capacity, so that will be Professor Wood to you Malfoy." Wood said firmly.
Sammi quickly moved to Jane's side, do you know how long I have been looking for you?" Sammi questioned.
"Has it been half an hour? Sorry I lost track of time," Jane apologised sincerely, although to be honest she didn't know what the big deal was.
"Let's get out of here," Sammi suggested.
"Sure. Bye Draco," Jane said quietly. She had enjoyed her time with Draco, but she knew better and did not plan on seeing him again.
Draco didn't know if he had succeeded in getting Jane's attention or not, he could just hope she would want to spend more time with him. Although he had a feeling if her friends have anything to say about it that that would not be happening. Draco grinned to himself, her friends disapproval may be just the thing he needed. He fully intended on keeping his promise, he wasn't going to pursue her, he was going to wait for her to come to him.
Once out of ear shot Sammi asked, "are you okay?" Oliver too looked concerned.
"Sammi I'm fine, he didn't try anything, we just talked." Jane said honestly trying to reassure her friend and Oliver.
"Are you sure?" Oliver asked to clarify before offering, "I can give him detention if you like."
"Positive and you don't need to worry, I don't plan on shadowing him around anytime soon," Jane said. She almost made a comment about the reasons behind Candi's affections towards Draco but bit her tongue, She didn't want her friend to know that she could see him, no matter how ever so slightly, in that way. Although truth be told, she kind of did understand why Candi liked him. It was pathetic but she did kind of like how everyone knew him and seemed to on some level respect him, it seemed that Hermione, Ron and Harry were the only ones who would stand up to him, even the older kids took flack from him. If Harry wasn't here Draco would have no competition or rivalry with the social hierarchy.
Sammi couldn't help but stare at Jane, something was missing, something was not right. How on earth did Jane end up losing track of time with Malfoy, it was only last week she had expressed her dislike of his closeness with Candi... What on earth had he said to her?
"I wonder if Emily is feeling any better?" Jane asked naively.
"I'm sure she is feeling something great," Oliver joked, before realising who he was with.
Sammi playfully back handed Oliver in the stomach, he chuckled out an apology. Preoccupied with thoughts of Draco and his sudden switch in interests Jane didn't even notice the looks being exchanged between Oliver and Sammi.
Jane ran into Rachael and started talking to her, secretly glad to be rid of Sammi momentarily, she would much rather listen to Rachael about Shaun then Sammi question her about Draco. People started walking back towards the gates of Hogwarts, Sammi and Oliver were last in line. Oliver was in charge of making sure everyone made it back safe.
"It must be hard for them," Oliver said thinking out loud. "Emliy and Victor I mean."
"What do you mean?" Sammi asked.
"Really liking each other and keeping it a secret, not being able to tell their friends. I mean when do they ever get time alone?"
"If you want it enough you can find the time," Sammi said softly. Wood had to lean in to hear her.
"Do you think it will work out?"
"You will only know if you try," Sammi smiled, then without thinking she took this opportunity to kiss him. She knew she had surprised him and in that moment when he didn't move she thought she had read the signals wrong. Was he going to give her detention? Why had she been so stupid? This is all Candi's fault! Emily contemplation instantaneously, but these fears were alleviated a second late when Oliver kissed her back
What a happy chapter =) All I can say is Raven, Emily and Rachael, you guys cracked me up soooo much!
I was going to write the 'showdown' this chapter but don't have time... But I promise it will be awesome. Girls, you should know better than to fight about a boy! (Not over a boy.. just about one... I am sure you can all guess)!
