Back at Hogwarts, the duo soon found their hands full between their classes, each with projects and assignment, then Quidditch for Draco and music for Katherina, and their ambition to work through the Jinxes, Hexes, and an introduction to the Dark Arts copy. Although Katherina wanted to stay in a shared bedroom so that she could work on rebuilding her relationship with her former roommates, Draco had convinced her minutes before entering Dumbledore's office to ask for a single room. It would make their studying sessions a lot less complicated.
Her status had been updated in all official documents and her file at Hogwarts reflected that. It left her wonder if there was anything the Malfoys couldn't do, seeing how easily her papers were changed. The news had been on the front page of the Daily Prophet for a week, as the Avery family kept sinking lower and lower. They had two children who had never been exceptional at school, but who managed to find a speck of pride in being charismatic and persuasive in the case of Richard, or athletic and ambitious for Stephanie. Now, they were known as the homicidal duo who got expelled from Hogwarts for attempting to kill two pure-blood wizards. There couldn't be a worse combination of words to associate with the Avery name.
Draco managed to get his hands on the article as his mother had owled it to him, carefully cut to size and folded underneath a box of chocolates imported from Belgium. Since the entire school knew that Ceasarius was their protege, he used this excuse to go into her room whenever he pleased. The new prefect didn't give him any trouble - the mere sight of blond hair sleeked back was enough to send shivers down his spine. He had been a friend of Richard and Draco may or may not have enjoyed terrorizing him into thinking his father could get him expelled at a snap of his fingers.
He knocked on her door, no longer giving a damn about the whole girls/boys separation.
"Who is it?" she asked from her writing desk, cautious about the Dark Arts book.
"Me." Draco opened the door and let himself in.
Katherina threw him a glance over her shoulder. "Why do you even bother to knock if you won't wait for me to invite you in?"
"I can just... slither in if you prefer," he joked as a smirk spread across his face.
"Very funny," she rolled her eyes, but couldn't help a smile. "What put you in that mood? Did Potter fall on his ass?"
"Even better - you're gonna love this! Look!" He handled her the news article.
Katherina set down her quill and took the piece of paper. The faces of Richard and Stephanie Avery were in a moving picture as they glared at the camera and attempted to block it. She read the title twice, her green eyes wide in surprise.
"...Is this a prank?"
He snapped the article from her hands to point out the date. "It's from this morning's paper, the first page."
"I can see that, but I still can't believe Stephan Avery would be such an asshole!"
"Should I remind you that three months ago you were willing to keep that asshole's son for a pet?" Draco mocked her. "Allow me, 'In light of recent events, Stephan Avery has declared that his two progenies will be legally disowned and removed from the prestigious Avery family-' not so sure about the prestige, though '-as a consequence of their behavior. As the leader of the noble pure-blooded wizarding family, Stephan Avery said that he finds their actions, quote, absolutely intolerable, savage, distasteful, and in opposition to every value they had been taught to appreciate and respect, end quote.' Should I go on?"
Katherina heard Draco chuckle every other word and that brought up a smile on her face as well, although she couldn't enjoy the moment completely.
"They will pretend this is our fault and try to take revenge. We should watch out, even outside of Hogwarts."
He raised his eyebrows. "You think? I doubt there's anything they can do anymore."
"It's never a bad idea to be cautious. Does he mention anything about me?"
Draco skimmed the text. "He's apologizing, says he's willing to take you in." His smile faded for a few moments.
"Oh, how nice of him! Surely, this will fix everything!" Katherina mocked the news. "Your father is now the official administrator over my heritage, right?"
Drago hummed for a moment. "I think I heard him say about two weeks ago something about a lawyer. I'm certain he took action, but I'm not sure it's all set yet. Either way, Avery is going down fast."
"Let them go to hell!" she laughed. "How was Quidditch practice?"
The memories were bittersweet to Draco. "Hermione and Harry look at me as if I needed my father's money to buy my way into the team. Can you believe such nonsense?"
It was her time to tease him as she flashed him a smirk. "I could if I didn't know you well enough."
"They probably let me choose the Seeker position because of it, but I got on the team before my father bought the Nimbus 2001! It's been three whole hours until they arrived!"
"Between me and you? He should have probably waited another day or two, just so that the word got out about you being on the team."
Draco sat on her bed. He secretly loved how she made it - crisp white sheets, silver cover, deep green blanket, with three pillows for sleeping, three in deep green, two in pistachio, one round and black for contrast, and a small one shaped like a knot in silver. He took the silver one and threw it from one hand to the other as if it was a ball.
"How far did you get with the book?"
"...There's a small problem. It sounds easy, but it's definitely not. I try to understand and memorize as much as possible while I write, but it's just... I know the incantations and the movements, but..." She sighed in frustration. "Here, let me show you, 'In order to perform the Revulsion Jinx, one must envision the possession of the target over the desired item or person. It is an act of forcefully taking away the possessive rights, violently, with the intent to cause great displeasure, preferably mourning or despair,' - what kind of instructions are those?"
Draco began to laugh. "They're the 'must possess a pure heart' kind of instructions."
"It's compared to taking candy from a crying child, Draco. What's that to do with anything?" She saw him amusing himself and sighed. "I'm serious, Draco. We're not going to be able to finish the book at this rate."
"We'll take it again," he said, full of himself, as he opened the box of imported Belgian chocolates from his mother and placed a piece into his mouth. He then held it towards Katherina.
"No way we're doing that again!" She went to sit next to him and accepted the treat. "I'm not sneaking past your father a second time!"
"I'm the one who did most of the work, though! I'd do it again!"
The girl slipped her shoes off and gathered her legs by her side. "It still feels wrong, Draco. It's not even believable to blame this one on the house-elves once, let alone twice!"
"Relax," he said in a confident voice, "my father doesn't know. If he knew, we would have definitely found out by now."
"Can I tell you something? But don't tell your parents - that includes your mother."
Draco became serious. What could be so grave? Slowly, he nodded. "I won't tell anyone."
"Alright... I found that book from Professor Slughorn in your library-"
"We have that?" he frowned in confusion.
"Yes. It's the book to which Professor Snape had sent us a few times during the first year for more detailed explanations. I learned how to brew a memory potion and I asked Professor Snape to let me use the laboratory on our first day."
He raised his eyebrows in amazement. "Professor Snape let you use his laboratory? How'd you manage that?"
Her face displayed the most obvious expression of pride. "I said my memories of my parents are fading."
"But they aren't," he concluded.
"Obviously. In truth, I wanted to remember the name and address of my father's accountant, the one who supervises all of the businesses."
Now it began to make sense why she didn't want this slipping his lips. Draco was growing a little suspicious.
"...Alright, but why?"
"Well, they've been administrated by Stephan Avery, and I suspect that he has been taking advantage of that position. I sent the accountant a letter this morning, I asked him to send me a global report from the past six months."
Draco took a moment to go over the information again. "I'm sure my father already asked for something like that..."
"Maybe, but there are around thirty reports to read and compare to each other. I remember hearing my father talk about these and I did take economic and financial education since I was seven." She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I will need you to continue with the Dark Arts book, as far as possible."
"We should have three more days left. I'll try to finish it, then. Are you alright?"
Draco stood up, placed another piece of chocolate in his mouth, then went over to the desk, and picked up the quill.
"It tires me," she confessed with her eyes closed. There was a faint pain creeping up in the back of her head, behind her eyes.
Ah, he knew that feeling well. Everyone assumed that because he was a Malfoy, he never had to work one minute in his life. Truthfully, Draco knew the burden of mental fatigue too well for a twelve-year-old. His entire childhood had been filled with classes and courses, tutors and teachers, activities over activities. He jumped on every opportunity to travel with his father because it was an excuse to skip his classes and take a break, if only for a few hours. After a while, he began to see his father as something close to a deity because he got to see first-hand how every obstacle crumbled in his presence and everyone fell on their knees to please him - some literally!
"Do you have anything else you need to do today?"
The girl leaned with her shoulder and head against one of the poles of the bed. "No, not really... Nothing urgent."
That's when he noticed she had been going through the book twice as fast as him. "How did you cover so much already?" he held up the notebook, almost two-thirds filled with her small, tilted handwriting.
"I studied during the night as well." The words left her tongue naturally, as she didn't have the time to consider them.
"That's why you look so awful? Go to sleep," he commanded her, but he couldn't be harsh with her now.
A smile crept upon her face. "What's that? I don't think I heard you right. Do you care about me now?"
Once he realized what he had just said, he turned his attention to the Dark Arts book. "Don't flatter yourself! I have to look at your face several times a day, I'd rather you not looking like a corpse dug up from a grave."
"Oh, what a lovely compliment," she chuckled. Katherina sighed and took her pajamas from the dresser to the bathroom.
"If that's your only comeback, you really need to sleep," he commented as he tried to focus on the next spell. He began to read and copy passages that seemed important. The quality of the writing was already deteriorating, as some words were smudged and the pictures of the wand movements and diagrams were beginning to fade.
A few minutes later, Katherina came back in silk shorts and a matching tank top in burgundy. Her hair was nearly gathered into a bun at the top of her head, secured in a net with a little bow. Draco stopped studying to watch her move the pillows to the bench at the foot of the bed with magic and slip under the covers.
"You wear socks to bed...?"
It was the only thing he managed to say. He was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to see her like that, but bloody hell, who was going to ever find out? Her legs were so lean and toned, her skin looked soft, and her shorts were rather... short. He had never noticed this before, but her thighs were a bit thick and she had nice curves. Draco had heard older Slytherins talking about this, but he wasn't very interested before.
"I've got cold feet... Put out the candles when you're done, alright?"
She was oblivious to the way he looked at her. It would have been the fifth night in a row of sleeping less than recommended - she was exhausted. In the day, it was easier to ignore this aspect - she would be running from one class to the other, meeting with her group, practicing music with Professor Flitwick, studying the Dark Arts later. Draco was her greatest distraction. When he came around, they would always lose about an hour or so just sitting around, talking about irrelevant things, though those moments were rather relaxing. After that, while he continued her work on the Dark Arts book, she would go over her notes from the classes from that day. Tonight though, she got to sleep early and she couldn't argue with the order received. As her head met the pillow, she couldn't help but wonder if Draco really was concerned about her. It kind of sounded like that for a split second, but then again, she was tired and her senses were unreliable.
Author's notes:
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They do seem like a good match, don't they? Oh, it's about to get complicated! Ghostwriter71, let me know if you'd like to know something in particular about the story or the characters.