Yeah! I know, I bet y'all are about to faint, huh? I'm actually posting a new chapter! Can you believe it? Well, of course, I have my beta, A.M. Winters, to thank! Other thank you's are on the bottom...sadly, there aren't many *sniffs* On with the story! Hope you like!
Divinations went by quickly, much to her chagrin. "Drakie" seemed to wilt as the class went on and then bloom again as soon as the bell rang. Too bad this wasn't Herbology. I probably could have done a great project on the sprouting from Duckling to Dragon. Victoria followed Draco out of the...classroom and her feet had just barely touched the floor after climbing down the latter when she saw Draco duck around the corner. A bit hurried to get away from me, isn't he? Maybe I'll get a better reaction out of him now.
Victoria looked down at her schedule to see that her next class was in fact Herbology. Will I get to study this phenomenon again, from up close? she thought with a smirk. Unfortunately, blooming-Dragon was not in this class with her.
The hour went by very slowly indeed. They were working with one of the foulest vegetation she'd never heard of (that's right; she'd never heard of...Professor Sprout had a very unique garden). The Glowssa, which looked like very large, very prickly, green tongues, made rather disgusting sucking noises if left alone for too long and would go limp if handled too long. They had been asked to harvest the spikes on the lower bit of the...plants, but after getting one off, the Glowssa would go limp and detract all of its spikes. They often had to wait several minutes before the creatures would "wake up" again in order to pull another off...at which time the process was repeated.
Victoria was having a devil of a time with her Glowssa. It seemed to sense her presence and every time she reached for a spike, it would detract. After this had happened half a dozen times she called Professor Sprout over. "What exactly are these things for, anyway?" she asked without much patience.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, obviously excited with getting to explain. "I forgot to say, didn't I?" She turned toward the class and raised her voice. "I just realized that I forgot to explain the purpose of this project. Silly me," she giggled. The rest of the class looked at her with blank stares. It seemed Victoria wasn't the only one having difficulties. "The Glowssa buds are used in many advanced potions, usually in those involving speech and other sounds. Why, I hear that those of you in N.E.W.T. level potions will be using these quite a bit this year." She smiled warmly and walked away. The class got back to work. Victoria scowled. Referring to these things as "buds" rather scares me... I hope it means they sprout flowers or the like, and not something else. Victoria shuddered at the thought
In the course of an hour she had only succeeded in procuring a handful of the wretched things and was quite the worse for wear. Not only was she sweaty and covered in dirt and fertilizer, but after each bud was harvested a very thick substance, with the consistency of syrup, would secrete itself from the hole. She had gotten it all over her hands and even a bit on her face. She decided to run to the dormitories for a quick shower before dinner.
When the bell rang she wasn't the only one trying to get out of there as soon as possible. It seemed as though the whole class had gotten the same idea as her, because no one seemed to be heading to the Great Hall as of yet.
She was almost sprinting down the hall when she heard a voice, just inside one of the doors in the hall. The voice continued to swear, a string of profanities, as she slid to a stop and stepped closer. The door, which was just barely opened, led to what appeared to be an old potions classroom. Victoria peeked around to see Professor Snape cursing over a boiling cauldron. She stepped closer to the door to get a better view, when her foot caught something slippery on the floor and she found herself sprawled on her butt in the hall, after making a lot of racket.
She heard footsteps and she knew she was done for, but the position she was in right now – sprawled on the floor as she was – was not one to be gotten out of easily. She had just pushed herself onto her knees when the door opened the rest of the way and a very red-faced Professor Snape glared down at her.
"What was all that noise?" he asked her harshly.
"I...I fell, sir."
"Well, don't do it again." Victoria blinked, thinking how she was to carry out this order.
"Was something...wrong, sir?" Victoria asked as she continued to pick herself up off the cold stone floor.
"No, of course not. Why do you ask?" Victoria shivered.
"I just, er, overheard you swearing at something, that's all, sir." Victoria very much wished she was still on the floor after seeing the look on Professor Snape's face...she'd be farther from his grasp if she was still on the floor.
Snape's face cleared quite suddenly as he looked more closely at her. "Aren't you supposed to be eating right now?"
"Yes, sir, but I just had Herbology and..."
"Ah yes. I understand. What did Madame Spout make you handle today?"
Victoria smiled slightly seeing that Snape obviously understood what she had been saying. "Glowssa, sir."
"Ah yes. Filthy little flora, aren't they?"
Victoria almost chocked. It looked as though Professor Snape was going to laugh. How very odd.
"Well, run along. I need to get back to work, and I don't appreciate students spying on me." Victoria blushed, which only proved to make Snape's knowing look more pronounced.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Where did that come from? Are you insane?
Snape sneered, then his face calmed. "Come back to this room after you're finished eating and I'll answer that question."
"I will."
~*~*~*~*~*~
As Victoria walked back to the Great Hall after her shower, she wondered at her own luck. She had talked to Snape outside of class and hadn't gotten detention. She would admit that she didn't know the man well but she knew that was a big deal.
She sat with the Gryffindors during dinner, after she had finished eating at her own table. Once again, Draco had been flanked by people on both sides, so she had sat a bit down the table. She barely looked at him the whole time. However, she felt someone staring at her quite a bit. Probably that wench Parkinson.
She was tempted to tell her Gryffindor friends about what happened with Snape, but for some reason, she wouldn't dare. She was pretty sure they didn't like him...'course, had she been in any other house, would she feel anything other than hatred toward him? Perhaps, but now was not the time to analyze. She did want to share this information with someone. It was like having a new toy but no one to play with. Bad analogy, thought Victoria cryptically as she bade goodbye to her friends and started for the dungeons.
There was really no reason to rush, so Victoria found herself casually strolling down the halls when she heard footsteps behind her; lone footsteps. Not really sure why, Victoria didn't want whoever it was to see her. So she hid in a crevice in the wall, confident that in the dim light, the passerby would not see her.
She waited, barely breathing as the owner of the footsteps drew nearer. As the footsteps got louder, she was also able to hear the walker mumbling to himself. "Damn that Parkinson. If she touches me one more time, I'll hex her. Hell, if she looks at me again I will!" He stopped walking just before reaching Victoria's hiding place and turned around. "Do you hear me, Parkinson? Don't ever look at me again!" he shouted down the hall then resumed his muttering, and his walking. "Of course she doesn't hear you, she's still stuffing her face. She's as bad as Crabbe and Goyle. No one can hear you from down here."
"No one?" Victoria spoke under her breath, a smile forming on her face. Grasped by a fit of inspiration, Victoria let herself solidify into the light. "You're having problems with her too, huh?"
"What the –" Draco spun on the spot and looked like he was about to fall over when he saw who it was. His face went from pasty white – whiter than usual, that is – to crimson: from fear to embarrassment. It wasn't hard to see that he knew she'd heard the whole thing.
"What's it to you?"
"Oh, it's nothing to me. I just figured that, being someone that Pansy annoys the crap out of, I could use the help of someone else that's having problems with her. But, I can see by the look on your face that you'd rather deal with Parkinson than get help from me, so I'll just be going now."
She turned on her heal and continued down the hall. One. Two. Three. Fou –
"Wait!" she heard from behind her. She stopped and turned, as though quite shocked at being stopped. Draco ran up to her, but wouldn't look her in the eye as he scowled down at his own feet.
"Did you have something in mind?" he asked in a voice that belied his interest.
Victoria, knowing that he couldn't see her, smiled cruelly before speaking. "First things first!" He looked up at her now, a question in his eyes. "Truce?"
Draco stared down at her hand for a long time before looking back at her. His face was set and his jaw tense before he reached out his hand and shook hers.
"Truce."
~*~*~*~*~*~
Spaced Out Space Cadet – Thank you, as always! You are my most trustworthy reviewer! It makes me wanna cry *sniffles* Oh, and you may begin to feel even more sorry for Draco after a while. Hehehe
Risika07T – Thanks to you too! I'm glad you like the story, and I'm glad you like Victoria. I sure like her too...she is me...only way more awesome. Lol