Chapter Seven: Fine Line

"This is the best day of my life," I whispered to Lillian, already grinning at the scene that was about to take place in front of us.

Every house had been given a period free to be reminded of 'proper etiquette and dance techniques' for the upcoming ball. We were sitting with boys and girls on opposite sides of the room, and Severus Snape stood in front of us - looking as uncomfortable as I had ever seen him - scowling at us before clapping his hands together sharply to silence the room.

"The Yule Ball," he drawled, sounding even more dull than usual, "Is a tradition that comes with the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and unfortunately, the Headmaster has decided to continue this tradition."

A few giggles erupted at his obvious displeasure, which he silenced with sharp glares. Lillian and I were gripping onto each other as tight as we could to stop ourselves from bursting out into laughter.

"Now let me be clear, I will not have any of you behaving improperly or inappropriately, or I will personally give you detention for the next year if need be." He swept his gaze over all of us, "You will not only be representing our school but also our house, and so do not think for even a moment that I won't be watching you. I will not have you imbeciles besmirching our house's name because you can't behave for even one night."

"Does that mean Crabbe and Goyle can't stand at the food table stuffing their faces all night?" Tracey muttered from my other side, and I ducked my head, covering my hand with my mouth to try and hide my laughter.

"Since you seem to find this so funny, Miss Black…" My eyes widened, and I turned to glare at Tracey accusingly, who shrugged innocently in response. "Perhaps you would like to come up here and demonstrate to your classmates what proper behaviour is supposed to look like."

I looked at him innocently, "Oh no sir, I'm fine."

His eyes narrowed, "That was not a request."

I stared back at him for a moment, silently challenging him, but to no avail. I sighed, shooting one more glare Tracey's way before I begrudgingly stood up and walked to the middle of the room.

"Not the right choice if you want to learn proper behaviour," I heard Malfoy comment to Blaise, both Snape and I turning to glare at him as he did so.

"Mr Malfoy."

My eyes widened, and I turned back to Snape, silently begging him with my eyes not to do what he was about to do. He simply smirked, knowing exactly what I was trying to tell him, and looked back at Malfoy with a sharp look.

"Up."

"Sir, just give me detention. Honestly, this is the cruelest punishment you've ever given me," I said, watching with wide eyes as Malfoy stood, a smug smirk on his face as he walked over to us.

I could hear my friends giggling behind me, and silently promised to sneak canary creams into their dinners later.

"I am well aware that many of you have had previous dancing instruction," Snape continued to address the room, not even acknowledging my comment, "This will not excuse you from paying attention, however. Now, Mr Malfoy, Miss Black, if you will?"

I glared openly at my favourite professor, not missing the slight look of enjoyment in his eyes from what he was making me do. I realised I wasn't getting out of this one and turned to look at Malfoy as the music started.

"Try and keep up, will you?" he muttered, placing one hand expertly on my waist and grabbing my other one.

I glared, putting my other hand on his shoulder, "You do know I know how to dance, right?"

"Sorry, sometimes I forget you weren't actually raised by dogs." I didn't miss the irony of his statement, glaring at him warningly as the music started.

We immediately started expertly twirling around the room, and I tried not to focus on how his hand felt warm on my waist, or how easily we seemed to move together to the music. It was nothing more than both of us being practiced dancers. I heard Blaise let out a loud wolf-whistle and turned to glare at him furiously. I noticed Malfoy trying to hide his own laugh and turned my angry stare back to him.

"Stop enjoying this so much," I hissed.

"Don't act like you haven't always dreamed of being this close to me," he shot back.

I wrinkled my nose up in disgust, "I think you have me confused with Avery or Parkinson. Not all of us are constantly bending over backwards just to be noticed by you."

His smirk grew, "I can bend you over backwards any time you like, Black."

I almost stopped dancing from shock, but he gave a swift little tug that kept me on my feet, ignoring the daggers I was shooting him as he continued to twirl us around with a smug look on his face.

"That will do," Snape finally drawled, and I stepped away from him immediately. I stomped back to my seat without another word, glaring at my friends who seemed to find the whole situation hilarious.

"Shut up!" I hissed angrily.

"The best part of that whole thing," Lillian gasped out between her giggles, "Was the look on Avery's face the entire time."

I looked over my shoulder, seeing Gorgia fuming a few seats down, the Carrow twins on either side of her whispering and shooting me accusing looks every few seconds. I turned back to face the front, rolling my eyes.

"If anyone was delusional enough to think I enjoyed that experience that's their own problem."

Daphne and Madi exchanged a smug look, "You two looked good together, great technique," Daphne commented vaguely, a small smile on her face.

I groaned, "Can't we please just pretend that whole thing never happened?"

"Not likely," Tracey snorted, and I sighed in irritation.

"Everyone up, find a partner and practice!" Snape's irritated voice silenced us; it was obvious he was just as done with this as I was.

Everyone started moving quickly, and I looked up and saw Malfoy staring right at me from across the room, a devilish smirk on his face. My eyes widened, and as I glanced to the side, I saw Madi and Blaise had already started dancing together and quickly raced over to Theodore, shooting Daphne a quick apologetic look as I did so. I would not put it past Malfoy to grab me again just to piss me off.

"Real mature," Theo rolled his eyes as we started dancing, and I gave him a slight glare in warning. I glanced over his shoulder and saw Gorgia had managed to accost Malfoy, and she was glaring at me triumphantly like I was supposed to care. Malfoy didn't look too bothered to be dancing with her, just looking a bit bored as they twirled around the room.

"Sorry if you wanted to dance with Greengrass," I said to Theo, who jumped slightly in surprise at my words.

"Why would you think that?" he said quickly, avoiding my eyes.

I snorted quietly, not even surprised at this point of how adamantly the two of them continued to deny their feelings for each other. I sought out Daphne, who I saw was dancing quite well with Graham Montague, our Quidditch captain, not looking too disappointed with her choice. I subtly glanced at Theodore to see if he'd noticed, hiding my smile when I saw he had his jaw clenched and was pointedly staring in the other direction.

"Parkinson is trying to murder you with her eyes," Theo muttered in amusement suddenly, drawing my attention to where he was looking, seeing that Pansy was in fact glaring at me viciously as she danced past with Marcus Flint.

I rolled my eyes, "What's new?" She was probably just as pissed at me for being forced to dance with Malfoy as Gorgia was.

"You have a real talent for pissing people off, you know?" he continued drily.

"It wasn't even my fault this time," I whined, turning to look accusingly at the front where Snape was standing.

He smirked, "Must be your natural personality then."

"Just shut up and dance, Nott."

He laughed again quietly, before we fell into a comfortable silence until the dance lesson was finally over, much to Professor Snape's relief.

"Ugh, I think I need at least ten showers to forget that Goyle ever touched me," Tracey complained as we walked out of the room, brushing at her robes like it would rid them of whatever germs he'd left behind.

"He ran for you so fast; I didn't even know he could move that quickly…" Blaise shook his head in disbelief.

"Who knew Goyle had a secret crush on Davis?" Madi mused, all of us nodding in agreement. I didn't even think Goyle knew what emotions were, let alone had a crush on someone.

"Maybe he confused her for a turkey leg?" Malfoy piped up, smirking at Tracey innocently, who shot him an unimpressed look in return.

"I don't know why we're bothering to discuss Goyle's sudden realisation of human emotion when the best occurrence of that class was Malfoy and Black's demonstration," Blaise grinned, ignoring the menacing look I was giving him.

Everyone collapsed into laughter, the unimpressed looks on mine and Malfoy's faces only making them laugh more.

"You're all-"

"Traitors?" Daphne finished for me, smiling innocently. Before I could retort, the Gryffindors started pouring out of their own dance lesson, and I spotted Harry and Hermione walking out, followed by Ron who was being flanked by Fred and George, the younger Weasley's face bright red.

"Watch out Malfoy," Nott grinned, "Better get out of here before Weasley kicks your ass."

I glared at Theodore as Malfoy rolled his eyes, not looking too worried.

"He can try, I'll have him on his ass before he can even pull out his mangy second-hand wand," he drawled.

"Stop it," I hissed, shoving him lightly before I walked off, ignoring my friend's laughter and jeers as I went.

"Hey!" Fred said, grinning like a mad man when I reached them, "You missed the absolute best thing to ever happen."

"Please don't," Ron moaned, looking like he could be physically ill at any moment.

"Guess who demonstrated for the house with McGonagall?" George winked, and I immediately burst out laughing as well.

"Oh, Ronnikins! Are you going to ask her to be your date to the ball?" I said, batting my eyes at him.

Fred and George howled with laughter, even Harry and Hermione couldn't stop themselves from laughing as Ron glared at all of us.

"Oh, sod off you jerks!"

"So, tell us," George turned to me once we'd calmed down, "Who were Snape's unfortunate victims out of your lot?"

"Uh…" I frowned, my eyes flickering to Fred nervously for a moment, him looking back at me in slight confusion as to why I looked so nervous.

"Funny that," I sighed finally, "He made me and Malfoy do it."

"You danced with Malfoy?!" Harry exclaimed, all of them looking at me in absolute horror. I looked nervously at Fred, who was now gazing down the hallway in the direction I'd come from, and I followed his gaze to see my friends were still there, and he was staring right at Malfoy.

"I didn't choose it, alright?" I snapped, grabbing Fred's arm and pulling his attention back to me before they noticed him looking. "Davis made me laugh so Snape called me out, and then punished me by making me dance with him."

"I'd be careful Fred," Ron said, eyes wide, "She's probably got diseases now…"

"Don't start with me Ronald, let's not forget who you just danced with," I warned, and he immediately turned red again and shut up.

"I can't believe that git touched you," Harry was glaring down the hallway now, and I let out an irritated sigh.

"Can we just drop it? I'm already going to hear enough about it from them," I nodded my head down the hall, before looking between the five Gryffindors pleadingly.

"Come on guys," Hermione, thankfully, came to my rescue, "She's right, it's not like it was her idea."

"Right," Ron agreed, "Like you'd ever let that tosser anywhere near you unless you didn't have a choice,"

I frowned, for some reason Ron's statement bothered me a little. I risked another look at Fred, who was still looking unimpressed, and took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He looked down at me, forcing a smile on his face, but I could tell he still didn't exactly love the idea that I'd just been waltzing with Draco Malfoy.

I hadn't even approached the subject of me and Malfoy possibly not being enemies with my Gryffindor friends yet, mostly because this was exactly how I knew they'd react.

"We've been alright this year," I said carefully, "He's been a little bit less of a git than usual."

"You're joking right?" George asked bluntly, exchanging a wide-eyed look with his twin.

"He's still a git," I said quickly, "He's just definitely been worse…"

My friends still didn't look convinced, looking at me like I'd lost the plot, and maybe I had. I sighed, glancing down the hall again before looking back.

"I better go, they're waiting for me so we can go to History of Magic," I said, smiling up at Fred, who still looked a little put out about the whole situation, "I'll see you guys in magical creatures?" I turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione, who nodded, before I gave Fred a quick kiss on the cheek and headed back towards my Slytherin friends.

"Did you tell him?" Madi asked casually as we all started walking, her and Daphne on either side of me. I stayed silent for a moment, making sure the rest of them in front of us hadn't heard her question. The last thing I wanted was another group discussion.

"Yes."

"And?" Daphne raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"He was thrilled, what do you think?" I snapped.

"Blaise thinks he spoke out on purpose," Madi smiled knowingly, "So he could dance with you."

I snorted, "Well Zabini is delusional, and so are you if you believe that."

Daphne rolled her eyes, "Denial is not your colour, sweetie."

"Well it's not yours either, Greengrass. Acting like dancing with Montague was so amazing when we all know who you really wanted to dance with," I snarled before I could stop myself, Madi's eyes widening a little in shock at my words.

Daphne blinked in surprise, before she straightened up and stuck her nose in the air, "Well, I couldn't very much dance with him anyway, could I?" she snapped, looking at me accusingly before she sped up to walk next to Lillian.

I let out an irritated sigh, ignoring the disappointed glare Madi gave me. It would take a little while to recover with her from that one. But I hadn't been able to help myself, I was starting to get sick of everyone telling me how I should be feeling, or who I should be able to spend my time with. How the hell did they know if I didn't even know myself sometimes?

I got back to the Common Room late that night, I'd managed to get myself detention with McGonagall for trying to hex Marietta Edgecombe for having a go at Harry after magical creatures. Unfortunately, the Transfiguration professor had not found it as funny as me when I dropped a pumpkin on the Ravenclaw's head. I wasn't too bothered; the bitch had deserved it.

I shook my hand out as I stepped through the portrait, it was practically numb from all the lines I'd just written.

"Ah, the pumpkin killer returns," I looked up and saw Blaise grinning at me from where he and Malfoy were sitting on the couch. The Common Room was practically empty apart from the two of them and a couple of seventh years who looked like they were cramming in the corner.

"Hope you're pleased with yourself," Malfoy frowned as I settled in the armchair nearby, "Losing us so many points for no reason."

"I had a reason," I snapped, making sure to glare at him fiercely so he knew I was still pissed off with him from earlier. "Edgecombe is an outspoken prat who needed to be taught a lesson."

"You have to admit she has been quite tame so far this year," Blaise smirked, looking at Malfoy, "Too busy snogging in corridors to cause any mischief."

Malfoy grimaced in disgust, and I rolled my eyes, throwing a pillow from the chair at Blaise who dodged it easily with a laugh.

"Make sure to keep your tongue to yourself at the ball, yeah?" the dark-haired boy continued with a smirk, "I'd like to be able to enjoy my night."

"I'm so sick of talking about this bloody ball," I moaned, letting my head fall back on the chair. It seemed all the girls could talk about lately was whose gown was going to be the nicest, who was going with who, and what drama would go down on the night. I was glad I'd gotten my robes organised quite quickly and that Fred wasn't really making a massive deal out of the whole night. I was excited, but I had far more important things to worry about than who had the most expensive robes in the year. Like how Harry was being completely slack on working out his egg for the next task.

"You're telling me," Malfoy muttered, an irritated frown on his face.

Blaise scoffed, "You only have yourself to blame for your problems. If you'd just hurry up and pick between Parkinson and Avery, they'd leave you alone."

I let out a giggle, watching the two girl's trip over themselves trying to get Malfoy to ask them had been endlessly entertaining the last few days. Parkinson had been cocky at the start, saying her robes would guarantee him taking her, but Gorgia was never one to give up without a fight. It had been refreshing for me; they had both been so busy attacking each other I'd had quite a peaceful week so far.

"Please," I rolled my eyes, "He doesn't want to choose because then they'd stop waiting on him hand and foot."

Malfoy winked, "Don't they always, anyway?"

"You're disgusting."

"To be honest, I don't think Parkinson will be all that bothered if you don't choose her," Blaise stated.

Malfoy and I both looked at him incredulously, "Are you taking the piss?" I asked, I was already picturing Pansy setting the dorm on fire if he didn't pick her.

"I heard a little rumour she's got her eye on someone else," Blaise said nonchalantly, looking over at me with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "Didn't you wonder why she was glaring daggers at you all dance lesson?"

I snorted, "No, that was nothing new. I figured she was pissed off for the same reason Avery was."

Malfoy got it first, his eyes widening in shock and a smirk forming on his lips, "Parkinson has her eye on Nott?"

My mouth dropped open, "Since when?" I demanded.

Blaise shrugged, "She told Moon in Ancient Runes, I guess she's sick of sharing Malfoy with Avery all the time. It's not like Theodore isn't notable in high society, why wouldn't she set her sights on him instead?"

I frowned slightly; he was right, it wasn't like it didn't make sense. But what about Daphne? Surely Theodore would get over himself and just ask her, it was obvious they wanted to go together.

"Huh," Malfoy mused, "Makes my life a hell of a lot easier, I'll take Gorgia and Nott can have Pansy."

"No," I snapped, Malfoy looking at me with raised eyebrows, "What about Daphne?'

He snorted, "What about her? Nott is nowhere near close to ever admitting those feelings. I won't be at all surprised if he decides to go with Parkinson once he hears she's interested just to avoid it."

Blaise nodded in agreement, and I crossed my arms angrily.

"That's stupid," I growled, "He's just taking the safe option to avoid feeling anything remotely real."

Malfoy scoffed, "You would know all about that."

Blaise's eyes widened, and he looked at him warningly while my mouth dropped open in shock.

"What the hell does that mean, Malfoy?" I demanded.

Malfoy stood, rolling his eyes, "Nothing," he drawled, before he headed off towards the dorms without another word.

I turned to Blaise, "What the fuck is his problem?"

Blaise rolled his eyes, "He's just trying to rile you up, ignore him."

I let out a 'hmph' in agreement, glaring over at where the blonde had left.

By the time we'd reached the last week of term all anyone could talk about was the Yule Ball the following week. Malfoy had gone ahead and finally asked Gorgia to be his date, which she threw in everyone's face any chance she could. Unfortunately, ever since she barely left his side which means I saw her way too often for my liking. As soon as Malfoy had chosen her, Parkinson had done what exactly Blaise had predicted and gotten Theodore to ask her. Poor Daphne had been acting like it didn't bother her, but I knew deep down she was disappointed. She had recovered quite quickly however when Montague ended up asking her to be his date, and it had been very satisfying to see Theodore trying to hide his disdain when he'd found out.

Most of our classes at this point were just combined study halls to get our last few assignments out of the way before break. It was strange to think we wouldn't be going home, but I was comforted by the fact that my dad and the others would be attending the ball, which I'd confirmed in a letter home a week ago.

The Christmas decorations this year were on a whole other level too, I presumed to show off as much as possible to the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students. The usual twelve trees in the Great Hall were decked with everything from luminous berries, to hooting owls made of gold, and all the suits of armor sang carols whenever you passed them. It only made everyone that much more excited for Christmas night.

I raced into study hall on Friday afternoon, plonking down next to Fred and trying to catch my breath. I saw Snape looking at me disapprovingly for being late to his study hall and disrupting the quiet, but he didn't push it any further, continuing to patrol up and down the tables.

"Sorry," I breathed, giving Fred a quick kiss as I started pulling all my books out, "I had to go and change after Herbology, because someone," I turned slightly to look accusingly at Blaise's back, where he happened to be sitting behind us, "Decided to explode pus all over me."

Blaise looked over his shoulder with a grin, "Draco dared me."

"Real mature," I muttered, shooting the mentioned a small glare where he was sitting across from Blaise, before turning back to my table.

"You didn't miss much," Fred commented, "Just Ron and Harry realising they're going to die alone."

I looked at them in shock, "Do you two still not have dates?"

"It's not as easy as you'd think," Ron frowned, turning in his seat to look around, "At this rate, we're gonna be the only ones in our year without 'em." I hid my laugh as Snape walked past at that moment and roughly turned his head back to face the work in front of him. I took that as a good enough reason to start work on my own book, still listening to the two boys as I worked on my six inches worth of lines on antidotes as the front page had instructed.

Ron waited until Snape had kept walking before he continued, "Well, us and Neville," he chuckled. I looked between Fred and George subtly, who were looking down at their work but obviously also listening given the amused smiles on their faces.

"Yeah, but he can just take himself," Harry joked back at Ron.

Hermione chose that moment to speak up, leaning over Ron, "Might interest you to know, Neville's already got someone," she said in a hushed tone, before glancing towards where Snape was still walking and looking hurriedly back at her book.

The grins dropped from the two boy's faces, and Ron looked absolutely horrified, "Oh no, now I'm really depressed."

Fred and George exchanged a look, before Fred scrawled on a piece of parchment and shoved it towards his younger brother. I tried to hide my smile, shaking my head.

"Get a move on or all the good ones will be gone," Ron read out quietly, watching Snape warily over his shoulder before he turned back to the twins with a glare, "Bloody easy for you to say, you've got a girlfriend!"

Fred shrugged, exchanging a quick grin with me before smiling back at Ron tauntingly. George was shaking trying to control his laughter, the three of us were very aware of Professor Snape hovering around just waiting for a chance to catch Ron and Harry talking.

"Who are you going with then?" Ron turned to George accusingly, throwing the note back at him angrily. George craned his neck over the top of my head before his face split into a grin, and he tossed the crumpled-up note at Alicia Spinnet, who turned to him with an irritated look on her face.

I had to rest my forehead on Fred's arm to hide my laughter as George dramatically acted out his dance proposal to Alicia, who blushed and gave him a small nod with a smile once he was finished. George turned back to Ron, shooting him an exaggerated wink in triumph.

"I blame you Cass," Harry grumbled, and I raised an eyebrow, "I have to open this bloody ball, and if you hadn't decided to get a boyfriend I could have just taken you!"

I let out a scoff, "Gee, thanks Harry. That's the proposal every girl dreams of," I replied drily.

"Back off Potter," Fred warned teasingly, and Harry rolled his eyes at us, going back to glaring at his book like it would help him find a date.

"Wait… Hermione, you're a girl," Ron said, like he'd only just come to that realisation.

Hermione paused, "Well spotted," she responded icily.

I grinned as the next moment Ron and Harry both received whacks to the back of the head from Snape as he walked past again, the two of them glaring after him until he was out of earshot.

"It's one thing for a bloke to show up alone, but for a girl it's just sad," Ron shook his head, and I saw even Harry's eyes widen at the redhead's words.

"Oi," my attention was drawn away by a piece of paper hitting me in the back of the head, and I turned around to glare at whoever it was, my eyes narrowing when I saw Malfoy smirking at me.

"What?" I hissed.

"The notes on murtlap essence from Tuesday," he replied, raising his eyebrows expectantly. I rolled my eyes, rifling through my book before nudging Blaise's shoulder and handing it to him, who tossed it across the table to the blonde. The three of us had worked on it together last lesson, so it was only fair to hand it over.

"For your eyes only," I whispered harshly to him, looking accusingly at Crabbe and Goyle, who were sitting on his left trying to act like they weren't listening.

He held up his hands in mock surrender, smirking at me. I turned back around, blinking in surprise when as I did so Hermione got up in a huff and promptly handed her book to Snape before storming out.

Fred and George were looking at Ron, shaking their heads incredulously and Ron was looking at Harry like she'd grown an extra head.

"Bloody hell," he muttered, then paused, "She's lying right?"

Ah, Ron hadn't known that Hermione had already been asked to the ball. She'd only told me a few days ago, and still hadn't even told me who it was. I knew she wasn't really going around advertising it, which I thought was fair enough, it was no one else's business but hers and her dates.

"If you say so," Harry rolled his eyes, turning back to his work.

"Look," Ron continued, "We've just got to grit our teeth and do it."

I covered my mouth with my hand as I made eye contact with our potions professor as he came to a stop behind the two of them once more, making a show of rolling up his sleeves with a look of pure annoyance on his face.

"Tonight, when we get back to the Common Room, we'll both have partners!"

"Agreed," Harry nodded.

I collapsed into giggles as they both let out loud grunts of pain as Snape shoved their heads as roughly as he could down into their books.

"I love study hall," I remarked to Fred, who was watching with an amused smile.

"Oi!"

I let out another irritated sigh as yet another piece of paper hit the back of my head, and turned to glare at Malfoy once again. Fred had apparently also had enough of the blonde because he turned to glare at him viciously as well.

"She has a name, you know?" he hissed, his eyes flashing.

Malfoy looked a little surprised, but covered it quickly with a sneer, "I don't remember asking for your input, Weasley."

I shushed Fred, who clenched his jaw but stopped himself from firing back. I glared at Malfoy, warning him not to start anything. He stared back at me for a moment, before rolling his eyes and flicking the notes I'd given him before back across the table, where I grabbed them from an irritated Blaise.

Malfoy looked between me and Fred for a moment, before smirking, "Be sure to save me a dance next week, Black."

Fred let out a low growl, and I felt George tense up on my other side, my eyes widening as Malfoy's smirk only grew more smug at their reaction.

"Don't," I hissed out, pulling Fred back around before he could ark up, "He wants a reaction out of you, don't give him one."

"I don't know how you stand living with that git," George said lowly, glaring slightly over his shoulder.

"It's always easier to just ignore him," I sighed, giving them both reassuring smiles to try and calm them down.

"Why do you keep defending him all the time?" Fred muttered in irritation, and I looked at him in confusion.

"I don't."

He rolled his eyes, "Every time we say something bad about him this year you find some excuse for him."

"It just isn't worth it to stoop to his level," I defended, "That's what he wants, and you're better than him," I said softly, pushing some hair back off his face.

Fred sighed, before smiling softly, "You're right."

I shrugged, "As usual."

He rolled his eyes with a grin, before he closed his book, "Do you want us to wait?" he asked, gesturing to him and George.

I shook my head, "No, I've got these two miserable idiots to keep me company," I looked towards Harry and Ron, who glared at me in response.

Fred nodded, kissing my cheek before he and George headed out of the Hall. I continued with my work in silence, neither Harry nor Ron seemed to be daring to talk after Snape's last discipline. It wasn't long before I finished, not even surprised that I'd beaten the other two, they probably had no idea what they were even writing about.

I handed my work into Snape and then headed out of the Hall back towards the Common Room. I was lost in thought, trying to brainstorm good present ideas for all my friends for Christmas when I suddenly heard my name being whispered angrily from somewhere. I stopped, stepping back a little so I was shielded behind a pillar and peaked around it, my eyebrows raising when I saw Malfoy and Gorgia just down the corridor in the middle of what looked like an argument.

"You're being absolutely delusional," Malfoy was saying, rolling his eyes.

"Am I?" Gorgia hissed in response, her eyes blazing. I was a little surprised, it wasn't often you'd see Gorgia going off at Malfoy, she was too worried about pissing him off too much and having him drop her. But ever since he'd asked her to the Yule Ball, she had become a lot more possessive, probably also because she'd managed to get rid of Pansy and now felt like she finally had him all to herself.

"Yes," he snapped, "I only ever associate with Black when I need to, you know that."

My eyes widened, oh my god…were they arguing about me?

"Bullshit," she spat back, "I don't know why you ever have to talk to her at all, and yet somehow you always manage to find a reason to!"

"Your jealousy of her is starting to become boring."

"I am not jealous of that little blood-traitor skank!"

Malfoy stepped towards her, his eyes narrowed, "She is not a skank, Avery."

My heart was pounding in my chest, so many different thoughts all racing through my head. Why was Malfoy defending me so much?

Gorgia scoffed, "There you go again, protecting her. I think you'd do well to remember who you are, and who she is."

"You do not have any right to lecture me about anything, do you understand?" he said, his voice dangerously low. I could practically feel the anger radiating off him from here, there weren't many people who got away with trying to control Malfoy.

"And you're wrong, about all of it," he continued, "So stop being crazy before I change my mind about taking you to this bloody ball."

I watched in quiet shock as he stormed off to the Common Room, Gorgia staring after him furiously. I was just about to walk away, when she happened to turn in my direction, her eyes flashing when she spotted me.

"Enjoy the show?" she hissed out, storming towards me angrily.

I stepped out from around the pillar, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Didn't mean to look in on your little lovers spat, Avery. Sorry."

I knew it probably wasn't wise to provoke her when she was already furious, but I wasn't going to let her think I was scared of her either.

"I warned you," she said, eyes blazing with anger, "To watch yourself or you could find yourself in trouble,"

I rolled my eyes, "I fail to see what I've done here,"

"Oh, stop it with your bullshit innocent act," Gorgia snapped, stepping closer to me, "I do not let people get away with trying to take what's mine."

My eyes widened, "You really are delusional, Avery. I want nothing to do with Malfoy, you can have him!"

"Well obviously he wants something to do with you," she seethed.

I let out an irritated sigh, over this whole conversation, "Look Avery, you not being smart enough to realise he doesn't give a shit about you unless it benefits him is not my problem." I shoved past her, "So don't try and make it, deal with your own shit."

"Ugh!" she let out a frustrated scream, grabbing hold of my arm and whirling me back around to face her, "Listen to me, blood-traitor," my eyes narrowed at the insult, staring her down, "This is your last warning. Stay away from Draco and stay out of my way."

I yanked my arm away roughly, "Aren't you getting a little bored of constantly trying to scare me and failing?" I hissed.

"I am so sick of everyone thinking you're so brilliant, do you think if they knew who you really were they'd be so quick to defend you?" she mocked, and my eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You have no idea who I am Avery. And did you ever wonder if maybe everyone likes me so much because I am exactly who I say I am? Unlike you, who has so many different faces we should study you in Care of Magical Creatures."

I stepped closer, getting right in her face and plastering a sweet smile on my face, "I've told you before you don't scare me, and you never will." She was practically shaking with anger, glowering at me furiously as I stepped back, a satisfied smirk on my face.

"And because of that, you will never beat me."

Her face twisted into the angriest I'd ever seen her, and I took another small step back as she whipped out her wand.

"You should be scared of me, Black,"

"Don't do something stupid," I sneered, trying to ignore my heart pounding loudly in my chest.

She didn't move, her wand hovering in her hand as she stared me down. But I could see her eyes flickering in doubt and couldn't help the bitter laugh that escaped my lips.

"Maybe this is why Malfoy likes me and not you, at least I'm not too weak to follow through on my threats."

Her bottom lip curled into a snarl and she snapped, leaping for me viciously. A surprised gasp fell from my lips and before I knew what was happening, she had grabbed the silver chain on my neck and yanked.

All the air felt like it was leaving my lungs as I watched her step back, a cruel smile on her face as she held my necklace in her hand.

"Okay," I breathed out, my eyes wide, trying my best not to show her how terrified I was that she was holding the last thing I had left of my mother in her hand. "You made your point, Avery. You know how to follow through."

She didn't move, her eyes moving from her hand back to me, a cruelly satisfied smirk on her face. I slowly held out my hand, not breaking eye contact with her.

"Give it back."

My blood ran cold as her smirk only grew, watching as she held the necklace up and pointed her wand to it.

"No!" I scrambled to get my own wand out of my robes, but she was too quick.

"Expelliarmus!" It wasn't strong, but it was enough to make me stumble backwards and drop my wand in the process.

"Incendio!"

"NO!"

I launched myself forward, tears forming in my eyes as I watched my necklace get hit by the flame that shot out of her wand. She threw it to the ground, and I fell to my knees, staring in horror at the charred mess where my necklace should be. I felt like I was dying, my breaths were coming short and sharp and my vision was blurring as more tears came, starting to pour down my cheeks. But I couldn't look away, I just kept staring at it like the longer I looked the less real it would be.

Gorgia bent down in front of me, "I warned you," she hissed, before she turned and stalked away.

The first sob wrecked my body, and my hand came up over my mouth as I sat there in shock. I pulled my knees up to my chest and let my head fall onto them, just letting the tears come. I didn't care that I was in the middle of the halls and anyone could find me like this, I didn't care about anything other than the fact my necklace was gone.

I had nothing left of my mother.

I don't know how long it was before I moved from the corridor. Somehow, I managed to gather up all the ashes of my necklace and make my way to the dorms, where I'd gotten into bed and hadn't moved since. I felt like I was in a dream, like it couldn't possibly be real.

I knew Gorgia wouldn't be able to resist bragging about what she'd done, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole house knew what had happened by now. I wondered how long it will take for my friends to come looking for me.

It was dark when I finally heard the door to the dorm open, and then a relieved gasp.

"Guys! She's in here!" Madi yelled out, before she raced over, and I felt the bed dip as she sat down next to me.

"Holy shit Cass," she breathed out, her eyes searching my face worriedly, "We've been looking for you since dinner…"

I heard more footsteps, and then the bed dip again as Tracey sat next to Madi, Daphne and Lillian crouching on the floor in front of me. I barely even registered any of them were there, I just continued to stare straight ahead.

"Why didn't you come to us? We had no idea what had happened until Gorgia started bragging at dinner," Daphne said in a hushed tone, looking horrified.

"What would have been the point?" I mumbled, "There was nothing you could have done."

I heard heavier footsteps, and then Theodore and Blaise appeared over Lillian and Daphne's shoulders.

"What the hell happened?" Blaise asked lowly, the anger clear in his tone.

"Didn't Avery tell you?" I muttered, "I thought she'd be bragging to everyone."

"Yeah, like she's going to tell the full story," Tracey scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"She was just going on about finally teaching you a lesson, she only told us how after I asked her straight up," Daphne explained quietly.

"Why did she do it?" Madi asked hesitantly.

"It doesn't matter," I said hoarsely, not keen on reliving what had happened, "I pushed her too far, like you all always said I would. And she retaliated."

"I could kill her," Blaise hissed out, and Madi looked over at him, her hazel eyes blazing in warning.

"I swear Black," Lillian said as well, her tone icy, "I will get her for this, you just say the word."

I let out a frustrated cry, sitting up and looking at all of them in exasperation, "Don't you understand!?" I cried, feeling the tears starting to prick at my eyes again, "It doesn't matter if you want to get revenge, or make her pay. There's no point, it won't fix it."

They all fell silent, looking at me in slight shock from my sudden outburst.

"Nothing will bring it back," I said, a tear rolling down my cheek, "That was all I had left of her, and now it's gone. And there is nothing anyone can do to change that, so what's the point?"

I flopped back down onto my pillow, silently willing my tears to stop. I didn't want my friends to think I was weak.

"You have to at least report it to Snape-" Daphne tried to reason.

"No," I snapped firmly, cutting her off, "That's what she wants. And I will not give her the satisfaction."

"So what?" Theo scoffed angrily, "She just gets away with it?"

"No," I said dangerously, "No… I'll get her back. But not until I figure out how to give her what she deserves,"

I saw some of them exchange worried looks, and Madi tried to put a comforting hand on my arm but I pulled away.

"If you guys don't mind," I said lowly, "I'd really just rather be alone right now."

"Of course," Daphne whispered, leaning forward to press a soft kiss to my forehead before they all left the room quietly, the door shutting behind them and bathing me in darkness once again.

I lay there for what felt like hours, I couldn't bring myself to move, but I also couldn't fall asleep. I just laid there, wondering how I was ever going to tell my dad what had happened. I hadn't been wrong in what I told my friends, it was my own fault. I had been naïve to think I could keep pushing her without her retaliating, maybe this had been what I'd deserved.

At some point I heard the door open again; I didn't even look up, just expecting it to be the girls coming back to the dorm.

"Miss Black."

I sat up, eyes wide as I turned to see Professor Snape standing in the doorway, staring at me a little warily.

"Sir?" I questioned, blinking in surprise, before narrowing my eyes suspiciously, "Did Greengrass send you?"

He sighed, waving his hand so the lights in the dorm flickered on, and I squinted as my eyes adjusted to the light.

"No, she did not."

I frowned in confusion, "Then what are you doing here, professor?"

He studied me for a moment silently, and I tried to read his expression as best I could but as usual it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

"There is a lot of talk this evening, of a piece of your property being destroyed," he said finally.

I looked away, rubbing my arm, "It's not a big deal."

"Not from what I've heard," Snape responded with a frown, "Miss Black, if there is someone who needs to be punished then you need to tell me-"

"No!" I cut him off, my eyes wide, and he looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"I won't play into her hands like that," I said quietly, seeing his eyebrow quirk when I said 'her'. "I promise sir, I'm fine."

Snape still looked unconvinced, his eyes sweeping up and down me briefly, "Are you certain?"

I nodded, silently pleading with him to let me handle this one on my own. He continued to frown at me, a look of almost concern on his face before he finally nodded, "Very well."

I let out a sigh of relief, giving him a small, grateful smile. He gave me one more curt nod before he headed for the door, before pausing and looking back at me.

"Don't do anything too drastic, Miss Black," he warned, "I would hate to have to punish you."

I gave him a slight nod, understanding what he was saying before watching as he finally exited the dorm. I was slightly confused, had he really come all the way down here just to check about a rumour? One of my friends must have gone to him, otherwise I'm certain he wouldn't have come. I let out a shaky breath, my hand instinctively moving to my chest and my heart lurching when I felt that it was bare.

If there was one thing I did know for sure, it was that whatever had happened between me and Gorgia Avery was nowhere near over.

A/N: :(