The interaction in morning potions inhabited my mind all day, filling me with incessant giddiness and rushing thoughts. It wasn't all in my head that he had shown interest in me for the first time ever. He'd even asked for my name.
I'd been pleasantly pleased with myself for playing hard to get and not telling him my name. But I had also freaked him out by going too far with the teasing, which had me wondering if he was more innocent than he let on. The multitude of confused expressions across his face had me giggling in reminiscence almost the whole day.
When I reached my final class of the day, Charms, I could hardly contain my laughing when my eyes locked with his almost immediately. He looked away cringing. The classroom was set up in a semi circle of wooden booths that faced a central podium. Flitwick stood there on a set of tiny stairs that allowed his short form to reach the proper height, and was talking to a rather nervous looking Hufflepuff in the center of the half moon.
I decided it would be best not to press my luck with Malfoy too much that day and sat across from him on the other side of the ring. He was talking to Blaise with an expression of boredom on his face. Blaise glanced once across the ring at me but Draco did not follow his lead. Instead he dropped his blonde head down onto the table, resting it on an outstretched arm. His white hair was fluffy and clean, and fanned out around his skull as he laid there. I could see his pointy nose and nothing more from the angle. His long pale fingers dangled off the edge of the curvilinear table.
Flitwick started to tap his wand rapidly on the teaching stand before looking around the room at the apparent divide in robe colors down the middle of the half moon, "Ah! Yes, excellent. It seems the houses are already divided, today -"
He stopped talking when he noticed my green robes sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the Hufflepuff crowd, "No! No, you've got to come over to this side young lady and sit with your house. On this first day we are going to do a game of sorts, house-to-house! There seems to be lots of space next to er, Mr. Malfoy. Pop pop now!" Flitwick said in his elfish voice, pointing his wand at the back of Malfoy's oblivious resting head. Blaise grimaced on his behalf as I slumped cautiously next to them. Blaise was much less of an animal then the others, who clearly felt enjoyment in chuckling at the situation.
I sighed, and kept my hands to myself. He probably needed the rest if he was really going to try and sleep through a Charms class.
After about ten minutes of speaking, Flitwick stepped down from explaining the wand movements to a charm that would conjure water from the end of the wand, drawing from the atmosphere. It was then that I noticed the gigantic barrels of water around the room. He began walking around the edge of the semi circle showing us microcosmic examples of the charm; little droplets floated from the top of his wand in apathetic orbs.
The idea was to use the water to block water attacks from the opposite team, and simultaneously make attacks. The team that was the wettest at the end would lose, the team that won would get ten house points. As he passed by Draco's stiff, outstretched hand his hat was knocked off of his head as they collided and several of the students began laughing. Draco shifted slightly but did not wake up. Professor Flitwick seemed unconcerned with this and kept walking as he re-straightened his velvety blue hat.
"Ready, set, go!" He said with enthusiasm once he was clear of the war zone perimeter. The water fight began, some students simply spraying mist from their wand tips as they learned the charm. I watched as one girl sprayed herself in the face more than once. Cedrick Diggory circled around the students trying to act a teaching assistant, but mostly was just soaked in the process by untrained wand movements.
Then from across the way a large, unchallenged stream of water snaked towards the Slytherin front row. It was coming directly towards our section and I ducked in horror behind the low wall of the desk. It plunged straight into Malfoy's sleeping face, soaking him to the bone and toppling over the vile of ink he had left out before closing his eyes. The never-ending-replenishing ink sprayed violently with the impact and I felt water and oil drip down onto my head from the counter above. It made its way across my face and clothing, blossoming into ominous black flowers in the absorbent dress cloth. I blinked through the slimy black substance, trying to make sense of the loud yelling around me.
Malfoy was now on his feet, furiously looking down at his ruined white shirt and robes which were dripping in sludge. Blaise was trying to help him wipe the grime from his face and neck, and Malfoy stood there yelling every curse word in the book. A jet stream of water hit him square in the chest and he wobbled, blindly.
I stumbled to stand and realized I miraculously had better vision than he did. The ink had gotten directly into his eyes and Malfoy was struggling not to cry and scream as Blaise attempted to calm him down.
"You too, huh?" Blaise smirked at me sideways, but not in a friendly way, "Are you just going to stand there or help me with him?"
Through his now one clean eye Malfoy snarled, "Not that one." The menacing blue iris had zeroed in on me and looked especially daunting against the contrast of his slimy black face.
"Oh dear," we heard Flitwick exclaim as he waddled over to us with a protective shield charmed around himself, increasing the spraying of the streams hitting him.
"Who is that under all that ink?" He enquired to Blaise who was still trying to mop Draco's face clear with the hem of his robes.
"Malfoy - and you had better expect my father will know about this cursed idea of a game." Draco roared. A girl behind him was spraying mist near the back of his head and his hand shot backwards seamlessly ripping her wand out of her hands and chucking it across the room. It shot like an arrow at the Hufflepuff stands, sending a pack of girls running to the sides.
"Oh okay now, let's see," Flitwick adjusted his spectacles and his wrinkled eyes roved over the crime scene that was me and Draco, "You two look a mess. Maybe you both head off to Pomfrey so she can ensure there's no damage to your eyes with all that ink."
"I can go too..." Blaise began but he was waved away dismissively by Flitwick. Blaise shot his eyes to me with displeasure, as though I had planned to corner Malfoy into private time.
"No reason to send extra students out of class. You two, get going! And don't lose each other, Mr. Malfoy can barely see." Flitwick's nonchalance towards the threat that Malfoy had issued was affirmed as he waddled off back to his desk.
Draco struggled to latch his satchel across his chest as I waited for him.
When he was clearly ready to leave he took one uncertain step forward and sighed loudly, realizing that he'd have to depend on my help to get to Pomfrey.
"Leaving the wet t-shirt contest so early, Malfoy?" Goyle mocked from the higher stands.
Once we'd made it to the doorway and out into the shockingly silent hallway in comparison to the charms classroom, Draco had fully resigned to holding onto my arm for guidance. We slumbered along the hallway, Draco making dramatic whining noises and me trying to wipe my once blonde, now blackened hair out of my face.
"Your grip is, uh, excessively tight," I cried in protest as my fingers began feeling numb, "Can you please stop squeezing like so?"
He ignored my plea while wiping at his neck and collar, "Fucking zoo in there. How is this education? Disgusting." Draco replied, to no one in particular with no effort to even digest what I had said. Small drops of oil and water mixtures were dripping from his robes and leaving a nice little trail of evidence down the hallways. The ink kept replenishing and spreading all over him. The elves would surely be aghast later while cleaning it.
I just looked at him sideways and laughed. He was unrecognizable, with dark hair, one eye, and filthy clothes he could've easily passed off as a small troll.
"Oh yeah, real rich. They send me out here with the girl who can't even speak English," He said as he used the back of his other hand to try to clear his bad eye, "Bet now you'd love to still get in my pants with me looking like a filthy homeless squib. Hilarious."
I laughed even harder as we dragged forward. Malfoy just hissed under his breath and struggled not to slip on the oil several times as his shoes drifted around recklessly below him.
When we had almost reached the infirmary, a voice rebounded off of the stone hallways we were headed towards and suddenly Harry Potter had rounded the corner with Ron Weasley. They were chatting loudly about something when Ron clapped a hand over his mouth at the horror of Draco and myself. We must've looked like one big slimy creature because Ron initially screamed.
"Fuck!" Malfoy snarled with revulsion when he recognized their faces. Harry struggled to figure out where to look while rubbing the back of his neck, but Ron was already approaching us astonished.
"Bloody hell, are you people okay?" He gingerly inquired.
I nodded before Malfoy could say anything rude, "I - we are going to de 'ospital now and will be fine. Et is just ink."
"Don't stop moving," Malfoy snapped coldly, ripping my arm forward "I'm not going blind on account of these two."
"Ohh.." Ron said knowingly as he realized it was Malfoy whom he was talking to, then he glanced at Harry and brightened into a loud giggle, "Wicked. You look as much a true git now on the outside as you are on the inside."
Harry barked out laughing at the comment before they disappeared behind us. I heard Ron yelp as he slipped on some of the ink that had dripped from our robes.