AN: no slash in this one! ^_^
~Chapter Four~
Oliphia entered the library, looking for Draco. Stupid git said he'd help me with my potions homework and now I can't find him… probably off snogging his little Weasel… She spotted Draco sitting at a table in the corner and indeed there was that bright hair flaming beside him. As she approached she noticed Blaise sitting across from them. Well, this should be interesting, she thought.
She sat down next to Blaise, letting her books drop loudly onto the table. Blaise smirked at her and she threw him a sour fake smile in return.
"Well. Look who it is," she said.
"Hey Liph… I thought I was supposed to meet you in the common room…" said Draco.
"You were. An hour ago."
Draco blinked and looked at his watch. He looked back at her, wincing. "Sorry, I just… Well, Ginny needed help…"
"Oh, so now you'll help her with her homework instead of me?"
"I'm sorry! I lost track of time, I--" He looked at her pleadingly.
She rolled her eyes.
Blaise reached over and opened Oliphia's potions book. "What page?"
"33."
He turned to the proper page and started scanning it. "What do you need help with?"
"Well, it's this part here… I just don't understand…" She leaned towards him and pointed to the paragraph that began halfway down the page.
He leaned closer to her, putting his around the back of her chair. "It's simple really, you just have to understand the basic principle of stewing--you know, how long different kinds of things need and why…"
"Ohh…"
He went on quietly explaining the rest of the page as Oliphia took notes.
Draco sighed and went back to helping Ginny--who looked rather forlorn.
Soon, Harry and Ron entered the Library. Ginny spotted them and waved. They had no choice but to come and sit next to her, no matter how much their mumbling protested. Oliphia and Blaise looked up once, both without expression, then went back to their work. Though both had gone back to their own work, Blaise had not removed his arm.
Oliphia felt the odd sensation of someone watching her. She glanced up to see Ron Weasley glaring at her across the table. He quickly looked away and she rolled her eyes. A moment later she felt it again. She again looked up and there were those same brown eyes glaring at her suspiciously.
"Is there a problem Weasley?" she asked sharply.
He gave her another quick glare and muttered a barely decipherable "no."
She went back to her potions essay. "I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave," she spat out a moment later, again catching Ron's glare.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means, that someone who was actually brave would actually do something instead of just sitting there and glaring."
"Are you saying I'm a coward?"
"I don't have to, you just did." She could feel Draco starring at her, willing her to be civil with Ginny's brother, sense Blaise's smirk, his amusement--perhaps arousal (she hoped--at her passionate anger.
"Well--at least my family doesn't go around in masks killing muggles!" Ron said heatedly.
She froze. She felt Draco's gaze shifting, his eyes widening in disbelief, felt Blaise tense and his eyebrows raise.
"How dare you," she said quietly. "You don't know anything…" Her gray eyes had turned from their sparkling defense to wide, almost frightened and she shook her head, standing. She turned quickly from the table and strode forcefully out of the library.
Draco sighed, frustrated, and shot a glare at Ron as he followed her. Ginny glared at Ron too.
"What did I say…?" He seemed truly perplexed.
Blaise rolled his eyes, barely looking up. "You know, death eater isn't really a phrase you should go throwing around," he said. "Wrong person overhears and someone gets sent to Azkaban. Something to think about, eh?"