Yay! Thanks to my beta reader A. M. Winters and to my reviewer (notice the word is in it's singular form) Spaced Out Space Cadet. I'm glad to have such a faithful reviewer; thank you so much! I hope you guys (or maybe just the one girl that will read it lol) like this chapter. I'm still not sure if I do or not... I hate putting plot in my stories (which is why I've never finished one!! lol) so I have a feeling that that is why I don't like it...because the plot begins to thicken. I hope you like it though!
The temperature of the room rose greatly as Victoria and Draco worked on the potion. She was not appreciating the condescending looks Draco was giving here and was very tempted to stuff some of his freshly shaven bat eyes down his robe, but knew that the only thing that would get her was detention.
Snape was off in one of the corners muttering at his stewing dragon tongues as though he didn't realize he was making any noise. At one point a very of his jumbled words reached the student's ears and the two of them had to keep themselves from giggling, which was difficult to do, considering that they were in each other's peripheral vision. If Victoria started shaking with trapped laughter, Draco would snort and start all over again, making Victoria laugh harder as well.
Fancy that. The big tough Slytherin king knows how to giggle. Dang he's hot when he smiles. Heck, he's hot when he smirks, and when he scowls...and when he's shocked. Victoria imagined her first day at Hogwarts and wished she'd had a picture of the face Draco had made when she'd spanked him. Priceless!
Draco looked at Victoria when he noticed she'd suddenly stopped giggling. She blushed, he looked confused, and she started giggling yet again.
It began to get late, and they were coming to a stopping point. Professor Snape's tongues had to stew for another thirty hours, and the potion, as it was, needed to sit over night. Snape came over to examine there work, after Victoria had been yawning for a good ten minutes.
His eyebrows rose when he saw their work. "Very well done. I'm surprised you were able to do so well when you never stopped laughing." The two students avoided his eyes, as well as each other's and Victoria had a very hard time keeping herself from laughing again. She knew Snape wouldn't appreciate it, and poor Draco wouldn't be able to keep from laughing himself.
"Can I expect you around the same time tomorrow? Just finish you dinner and come here straight away."
"Yes, sir," they said in unison.
"You may go. But remember to turn the heat down to a simmer. I wouldn't want this potion to boil over in the middle of the night. I lose more good help that way." Victoria and Draco seemed to be thinking the same thing because they both had the same shocked look on their faces. Had Professor Snape just made a joke?
Draco turned down the heat while Victoria cleaned up the left over ingredients, and put away the ones they would be using during the next few days. As they finished, they both walked out without bidding Professor Snape goodbye, but it didn't seem to bother him at all, so they took no notice.
Victoria and Draco walked down the hall toward the dormitory, both yawning and lost in their own thoughts. Victoria was shocked to notice how comfortable it was walking along with Draco beside her. Shocked, and somewhat wary. Draco's attitude toward her proved that he was not the easiest person to get along with, and she did so have a habit of getting involved with guys that didn't treat her well.
What am I thinking? We made a truce and we worked on a potion together. That's all! Pull yourself together, Taliaferro. Her thoughts were cut off by another large yawn that caused her jaw to crack. Draco snorted a short laugh again right before he yawned as well. Victoria only grinned as he glared at her with a look that said he was blaming her for making him yawn.
They reached the dorm without talking, and the common room was empty when they gave the password and walked in. Very peculiar. "How late is it?" Victoria asked.
"Obviously much later than we thought. Good thing Filch didn't catch us, because I have a suspicion that it's way past curfew." Victoria only shrugged and sat down on one of the fluffy green and silver couches.
"So, do you still want to know what I have planned for Parkinson?" At her words, Draco seemed to immediately wake up. He looked as though he was about to take a seat with her at the couch but then thought better of it. He sat instead on one of the chairs facing her. "There's plenty of room on this couch, Duckling," she said teasingly, but realized fairly quickly that she really would have preferred he sit next to her. Augh! Get a grip!
All he did was glare at her. "I thought that truce meant you'd stop calling me those names."
Victoria adopted an innocent look. "You only thought that because I use the name Draco when we are in front of teachers. But now we're alone." Draco looked like he was about the bolt, so Victoria laughed. "Calm down. I'm not going to bite, and it's not like I'm gonna kiss you or anything." The look she gave him, however, said just the opposite. She laughed inwardly, watching him squirm. At length, however, she saw his reaction was a bit different. A little more nervous that usual, if that was possible. "You know I'm just joking, right?"
He mumbled something that she couldn't quite make out. "What was that?"
"I don't need another Parkinson." Victoria suddenly understood.
"Oh! So that's the problem you have with her!" She laughed as she thought of something. "Oh, Duckling, you have just given me the greatest idea! A sweet little revenge that will get her off your back, and give me a few chances to one-up her. My dear Dragon, this has got to be the best idea I've ever had."
Victoria kept Draco up well past midnight to tell him all the details, he even added a few thoughts himself. Victoria was delighted to see how much he was getting into this, and she only hoped it went as well as they had planned. They couldn't believe how many things fell into place with their plan as they talked it through.
At length, when the sky looked as though the sun was about to make an appearance, and the two were about to fall asleep in their respective chairs, they decided to head off to bed. The next morning would be an interesting one indeed but sleep...ah well sleep, in this plan, would be irrelevant.