For I Am A Wicked Child
Horseface***CHAPTER SIX***
Affected Apathy
As soon as Draco got back to his dorm, he quietly sneaked into his room. As he shut the door, Elisabet's words were still ringing in his head. There was something about the way she'd mentioned his father and the understated contempt in her voice that irritated him more than it should. Taking off his cloak, he carelessly threw it over the back of his chair and drummed his fingers on top of the dark wooden desk, aggravated. He was annoyed at Elisabet, no doubt about that, but he was also annoyed at himself for taking their conversation so seriously.
He stopped drumming his fingers and began to restlessly play with a small pot of ink, turning it over in his large hands.
"Go ask your father…if you don't know, you don't deserve to…"
Draco's grip on the inkpot tightened. The fact that she had implied that he was completely dependant on his father didn't bother him so much. Draco was fully aware that relying on his father was one of the easiest ways to get what he wanted and he also knew that Elisabet used her family the same way. It was what people like them did. Being hypocritical was another. Draco knew all this and he was still riled up. The only other person who had ever pissed him off this much by simply talking back to him was Harry Potter.
He snarled, before hurling the inkpot against the wall. It smashed to pieces and black ink smeared across the cold grey stone. As the ink slowly ran down to the floor Draco slipped into bed, mentally shoving aside any more thoughts on the matter.
The next day, Draco groggily crawled out of bed not having slept well that night. Although he'd be tossing and turning with irritation in his bed, he'd almost completely forgotten Elisabet's words until he saw the splattered ink on his wall. By then it had already dried, running all the way down to the floor and creating the appearance of a black hole in the middle of his wall. Draco ran a hand through his disheveled hair and reached for his wand that was lying on his bedside table. Casting a cleaning charm, the ink seamlessly flowed off the wall and swirled into the end of his wand. As soon as the last drop of ink had disappeared, Draco twirled the wand between his middle and index finger and then looked back at the wall. Although there was no sign it had ever been there, Draco could still see the black ink marring the grey stone. Draco sneered. He got dressed as quickly as possible and headed down towards the hall for breakfast, slamming the door to his room behind him.
As he entered the hall, the first person he saw was Elisabet. She was completely nonchalant as he joined their table, glancing up at him for a second as he sat down across from her before turning back to her breakfast, acting as though nothing had happened last night. The rest of them didn't seem to share the same view as her however, since they all congratulated Draco about last night in hushed voices. Not only were they ecstatic about winning the game, since technically the 7th years had defaulted by flying away to hide, they found it hilarious that the teachers were furious about students sneaking out late at night. Apparently the 7th year seeker, Radomir was now banned from playing Quidditch, and had detention for the next month. This piece of news also explained why the 7th years that had been at the game were glaring at Draco as soon as he'd stepped into the hall.
"And the season's starting in a month," said Damek, "Jordan has no chance of finding a decent seeker in that time."
The other boys grinned nastily. Draco smirked with them and was about to start eating breakfast, when he saw Elisabet was looking at him, aloof as always.
"What?" asked Draco, keeping his voice completely deadpan.
"Gunnar wants to talk to you," replied Elisabet.
There was a moment's silence between them.
"Where is he?" asked Draco.
Elisabet shrugged. The piercing screech of mail arriving halted any further conversation between the two of them. Draco's owl quickly flew past him, dropping a letter off on the way. The wax seal on the back was pale pink. Pansy again. Carelessly, Draco opened the envelope and began reading.
"Dear Draco,
I'm going out of my mind here. It's miserable at Hogwarts. Things get more boring by the hour. Slytherin's coming last in house points. And if that weren't bad enough, Weasley and that Mudblood, have announced to everyone that they're an 'official couple.' Like anyone actually cares. The two of them and that dickhead Harry Potter are still the model students they were last year. It's disgusting and absolutely pathetic. Writing this letter is the only halfway decent thing that's happened to me all day. Hogwart's isn't the same without you. I'm asking my parents again if I can transfer to Durmstrang. They HAVE to let me go, they just have to.
Write soon Draco, or I will be completely wretched.
Pansy,"
Draco smirked as he finished the letter. Pansy always did have a penchant for the dramatics. As he looked up from the parchment, he found the seat across from his empty. Scanning the hall he saw Elisabet making her way towards the exit, sorting through her mail. He looked down at the letter in his own hand. Placing the parchment back into its envelope, Draco used a returning charm to dismiss it. He already knew he wasn't going to bother with a reply.
Draco didn't see Elisabet again until his last class Illusionary Magic. She sat across from Draco and Nikolas like always, and spent the period lazily scrawling notes in her book while occasionally joining in Nikolas and Draco's conversation. Soon enough, Draco found himself forgetting Elisabet's former remarks and the three of them amused themselves by making fun of other students in the class. In fact, the only person acting out of the ordinary was the teacher, Professor Marconi, who kept looking over at Draco from his desk. As the period ended and Draco was gathering his stuff, Nikolas left without him since he had to go see one of the Professor's about homework. As he picked his quill up from the desk he looked over at Elisabet who was still collecting her things. "You don't have to wait for me," she said, without so much as an upward glance.
Draco was surprised to find that he'd been thinking of doing just that. He shook his head and smirked as he began to walk away.
"I wasn't going to."
As he exited the class, he found Gunnar waiting outside in the corridor, casually leaning back against the wall. Gunnar's eyes widened in surprise and he greeted Draco with a friendly, "Hey!"
Draco replied with a quick tilt of his head, and walked over to where he was. "You wanted to talk to me?"
"Yeah I did…" he stopped in mid sentence as he glanced behind Draco's shoulder. "Hey."
Draco looked back to see Elisabet walking out, carrying her books across her chest. Her eyes met Draco's, before she looked over at her boyfriend and gave him a small smile. Gunnar wrapped his arm around her like he usually did, and gently took her books off her, before placing them in the crook of his arm. Draco rolled his eyes, "You were saying Gunnar?"
Gunnar turned his attention back to Draco, while Elisabet looked off in a different direction.
"I just wanted to let you know you're officially the new seeker on my team. Practice starts at 4:00 today," said Gunnar, gesturing with his arm that held Elisabet's books. Draco nodded slowly. Although he was gratified about the choice, that genetic Malfoy arrogance had arisen in him and in a sardonic tone of voice he said, " Don't I get a say in this?"
Gunnar shrugged. "You could say thanks."
He grinned and with that, he turned around and began to head down the hallway with Elisabet beside him. Draco watched them go. Although Draco wasn't the type of person to get into serious relationships, he could still discern that something was off with Elisabet and Gunnar. Theoretically, it made sense that the two would date.
Both came from very rich pureblood families and complimented each other perfectly on an aesthetic level, but watching them go there was something about them that didn't fit. Something was missing. Or in the way.
Draco pushed the thought aside, and as he started to make his way towards the link connected to the dorms, he happened to look over his shoulder and see Professor Dimitar at the other end of the corridor. He was hovering several metres away from the last classroom, the one beside Draco's IM class. Dimitar stopped at a niche in the wall and glanced around nervously. Thinking it was best to stay out of view, Draco moved behind a large gargoyle statue lined up on one side of the corridor. Dimitar didn't notice him and he mumbled something under his breath and Draco suddenly heard the sound of a heavy stone door sliding open. As Dimitar walked further inside the niche, Draco caught a glimpse of something in his hand, hidden by his large sleeves. It looked to be some sort of book, quite large and very old. It was black and had patches of red on the cover. Before Draco could get a proper look at it, Dimitar had completely disappeared inside the wall. Coming out from behind the statue, Draco turned and began to make his way towards the boys' dormitories again, but couldn't help taking one final look behind him.
The wind was starting to pick up again as Draco made his way to the Quidditch pitch, clutching his Nimbus 2001 in one gloved hand. As Draco drew closer to the watery oval, he spotted Gunnar standing on the metal strip that acted as the halfway line for the pitch, talking to Professor Marconi, his illusionary magic teacher. They were speaking in hushed voices and were so immersed in their conversation, they didn't notice Draco approaching them.
"Are you sure you want him on the team?" questioned Marconi.
"He's good," replied Gunnar.
"Is he good enough though?" shot back Marconi.
Draco cleared his throat firmly, choosing this opportunity to make his presence known.
The two of them turned their heads simultaneously towards him. Marconi gave him the once over, while Gunnar smiled and said, "Draco. Right on time."
He moved his head towards Marconi, "This is Professor Marconi. He's the manager of our team, Cronus."
So this explained why the Professor had been watching Draco during class.
"Afternoon Professor," said Draco, somewhat curt yet still maintaining a polite manner. Marconi didn't respond.
"I'll leave you to practice," he told Gunnar, before quickly walking past Draco and back to the school. Draco looked at Gunnar, who waved his hand dismissively.
"He's very competitive. Winning's important to him. I guess he doesn't like the idea that our new seeker is someone who's never played a game at this school," explained Gunnar, before smirking and adding, "Or at least not in daylight anyway."
Gunnar reached into his pocket and fumbled around for something. Draco looked around the empty field before smirking.
"Obviously punctuality's not one of this team's strengths," he remarked.
"I wanted to see you on your own," replied Gunnar as he pulled a snitch out of his pocket. Draco recognised it as the same one from last night, the one he'd given back to Elisabet. Gunnar held it out in front of him.
"Now I have it on good word that you can catch a snitch," he said, obviously referring to Elisabet, "But what matters to me is how fast you can catch it."
He drew his hand back before opening his clenched fist, leaving the snitch to lie exposed in his hand. A second later, the snitch shot up into the air. Draco rolled his eyes, before effortlessly mounting his broom and chasing after it. It wasn't long before Draco was holding the snitch in the palm of his hand. The snitch's fluttering wings were still brushing the inside of his hand as Gunnar flew up beside him.
"That was quicker than I expected," he said.
Draco snickered.
"Better is what you mean," he retorted.
Gunnar smirked and extracted a long mahogany wand from a pocket in his robes.
"Here," he said, reaching his hand out towards Draco, who tossed the snitch back to him. Gunnar gently tapped his wand on the spot between the snitch's wings, "Regiminis."
Withdrawing his wand, he released the snitch, which hovered gently in the air. Draco watched as Gunnar moved his wand from side to side, and the snitch mimicked the same movements.
"Feint practice," explained Gunnar, who had noticed Draco's wariness, "I have complete control of whatever the snitch does."
"Is that supposed to be reassuring?" snapped Draco. Gunnar grinned. Draco was suddenly aware of how Gunnar's smiles were all identical and mentally scoffed. He could just imagine him spending hours in front of his mirror, practising to make sure they seemed genuine and not plastered on.
"Ready?" asked Gunnar.
Draco bit back a malicious grin at the thought of Gunnar's "grinning techniques" and nodded to show he was all set.
"Go," said Gunnar, flicking his wand downwards with the snitch following suit
Without hesitation, Draco dived down after it. The snitch was diving faster and faster, and Draco had to urge his broom to keep up. He was getting closer and closer to the lake surface now, but the snitch was just an arms length away from him. Only meters away from the water, he reached out, his hand almost completely over the golden snitch. Just as he was about to grab it, the snitch increased its speed, flying out of his grasp. It was only when the snitch disappeared underneath the lake that Draco realised he was going to hit the water as well. He didn't even have time to think about pulling up as he crashed through the icy surface.
It took a few seconds before the cold hit him. It was so dark underneath the lake. Draco couldn't breathe. It was like his lungs had frozen over. His fur robes floated around him like black gossamer wings. He saw the snitch swim past him and break the lakes surface. As the cold started to seep into his skin, the pain hit Draco like a hailstorm and his brain started working again. Clumsily, he swam, breaking the surface, gasping for breath. Gunnar was hovering a few metres above him swishing his wand from side to side, with the snitch doing the same thing.
"One thing I think I forgot to mention Draco," said Gunnar, as Draco tried to tread water and stop from being pulled under again due to the weight of his completely saturated robes, "The snitch is still in play under water."
Draco would have said something but he was too cold.
"Again," said Gunnar, shooting Draco his rehearsed smile before flying up towards the sky. Draco glanced around and saw his broom floating beside him. Angrily, he snatched his broom and hauled himself out of the water.
By the time practice had ended, Draco was convinced he had hypothermia. Gunnar had made him dive in the lake about 16 times and the water hadn't gotten any warmer. His sopping wet robes clung to his ice-cold skin and left a trail of water behind him as he made his way to the dorms. Comforting thoughts of fire and Gunnar frozen under the lake were interrupted when Draco heard someone say his name.
"Draco?"
Draco glanced over his shoulder with his disheveled, wet hair sticking to the side of his face. That girl, Monika, was staring at him curiously. She offered a timid wave.
"Hi."
Draco didn't say anything. Monika looked at his robes and gave him a small grin.
"Let me guess… Quidditch practise?"
Draco nodded condescendingly.
Monika bobbed her head up and down as she tried to keep the conversation flowing.
"Oh, cool. Yeah… so what team are you in?"
"Cronus," replied Draco. He didn't bother disguising the edge of annoyance in his voice. Normally he would've made some cutting remark to get rid of her, but at the moment he was too tired. However if he walked off, he had a feeling that she would just follow him. She was already beaming because he said one word.
"REALLY? Wow, they've been this school's Quidditch champions for years! You know the seeker for the Bulgarian team, Viktor Krum used to be play for them! You must be really good. Not saying that I didn't think you wouldn't be anyway…."
Monika was really starting to get on Draco's nerves now and he began thinking of the quickest possible way to shake her off.
"I hear the captain, Gunnar Eszes always pushes everyone on that team really hard. But I suppose that's what it takes to win. So, you know, the work does pay off. You don't have to worry," she told him, smiling reassuringly.
"I won't," said Draco. The smile faded from Monika's face and she bit her lip nervously.
Draco glared at her.
"Are you finished?"
The question implied that the conversation was over whether she was done or not. Monika blushed. Relieved that he finally got her to shut up, Draco spun on his heel, his wet robes swishing as he turned. A spray of water caught Monika as Draco walked away and left her by herself out in the cold.
N.B ARGH!!! How long did this one take to get out? Major slackage on my part. In case anyone's noticed the other chapters have been revised and AGAIN I'm not happy with this chapter. I tried to make it long because I don't know when the next one's coming out either. Sorry.
Many many thanks to all those who gave reviews. If only they could help get rid of my procrastination. *sigh*