"Where were you last night?"
Draco, yawning widely looked up into the face of Pansy Parkinson. It was a good thing his mouth was otherwise occupied, because he would have started laughing at her expression.
"What do you mean?" he asked, faking innocence.
"I mean you left early from dinner and I didn't see you for the rest of the evening. Where were you?" Her voice began rising in pitch as she spoke, sounding like she was about to start crying; or just whining, one of the two.
"I was around," he answered her offhandedly as he stood and stretched grabbing his bag and books from the couch behind him.
"You were around? What's that supposed to mean? I asked you to meet me here last night. I waited until after midnight. Why weren't you here?"
Note to self: thank Snape for keeping me out late. "Yeah, I know, I'm sorry," he almost choked on those last words. Sorry? Ha! I'm elated! "I had other things to do though." Draco began feeling that this conversation was going nowhere and was about to leave quickly when he saw his accomplice walk into the common room.
"'Morning Vicky." His tongue burned from using that name, but it had been Victoria's idea. She giggled as she walked over to them.
"I told you not to call me that," she teased as she playfully slapped his arm. "Oh! Good morning Pansy. You look well rested. That's more than I can say for D – I mean, more than I can say for myself." Victoria yawned.
"What is going on here, Draco?" she asked, turning Draco by the shoulder so that he was no longer looking at Victoria.
"Is there something going on?" He adopted a very confused look as he turned back to Victoria. "How did you sleep last night?"
"Appallingly! I've never been so sore in my life! Well, I'm going to go to breakfast. Sit by me?" Victoria asked coyly, laughing inwardly at the look on Pansy's face.
"Of course!" Draco laughed as he watched Victoria leave, Pansy's eyes never leaving her until she was out of site. When she turned back to him he yawned again, hoping that the conversation would finally head in the right direction. This part of the plan was essential.
"You seem very tired," Pansy cooed, masking her obvious rage.
"Yeah. We got detention last night with Snape."
"WE?" growled Pansy.
"Did I say we? I meant that I got detention, of course."
"Of course." She smiled in a way that did nothing to hide her true feelings.
"Well, I really should get to breakfast. Vicky doesn't like being kept waiting." He turned and casually walked toward the exit.
"I don't like waiting either," Pansy whined pouting sulkily from behind him.
Draco gladly ignored her as he whistled to himself and walked smiling into the dungeon corridor.
Victoria was waiting for him right outside the door, an expectant look on her face. "Well? How did it go?" She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet waiting for the whole story.
Looking back at the wall where the door had been, he pulled her down the hall before speaking. "She might come out right behind me, so it's best if we keep moving." They began walking in silence, until Victoria couldn't stand it any longer and asked him to tell her how it had gone. Draco smiled viciously before answering. "Just as you said it would."
Victoria clapped and Draco had to hold her down when she tried to bounce and spin while laughing. "People are going to know something is going on if you don't stop this!" Victoria sobered immediately but her lips twitched with her suppressed mirth if she didn't keep it in check. Draco sighed thinking that Victoria was going to drive him nutters before they ever completed this plan. He looked at her briefly before speaking. "Is it really necessary that we spend this much time together?"
She snorted a laugh trying, and failing, to keep her face straight. "In a couple of days the plot will thicken, and then you will very well be parted from my company for as long as is essential. Trust me. You'll get used to it." She smiled mischievously at him. He groaned, making her giggle again.
"Can you at least try to act sane?"
"Hey, if we actually were dating as, if you remember," she whispered, "we're pretending to be, then," she continued in a normal voice: "one is usual happier. You should try it. You know...being happier. People may suspect if you act towards me the same way you had before."
Draco glared which made Victoria smirk...which made Draco glare harder. "I think I did a pretty good job of that around Pansy." He almost winced. His voice had sounded very sulky.
"Oh! It's okay widdle Duckwing," she paused with a sick look on her face. "Yeah, I'll stop with the baby voice. It was okay until I had to change the 'l' in Duckling to a 'w'. That's just wrong. Anyway, you're right, you did a very good job convincing Pansy, but can you convince the whole school?" She took a couple steps at a skip and turned around until she was facing him bowed over slightly with her fingers laced together behind her back. Draco stopped dead in his tracks. "Think you can do it?" He rolled his eyes and walked by her.
Perfect, Victoria thought seeing him stalk past her. "You can do it!" she growled with her best dumb jock impression as she smacked him, again, squarely on the backside.
He stopped again and rounded on her, his face furious, if a bit red. "Don't do that," he hissed through clenched teeth. Victoria wasn't fazed by his fury, but instead started pouting.
"Why not?"
"Just…don't," he responded as he turned on his heal and continued to walk down the hall.
"But it's so cute!" she added, laughing as his step fumbled and he almost fell. He didn't even bother answering, just walked concentrating very hard on not falling and absolutely not blushing!
"Are you coming?" he growled from several steps ahead of her. She smiled broadly and took her place by his side trying hard not to laugh at the emotions playing across his face.
"Can you believe this?" Harry asked at lunch that day.
"Believe what?" Ron's reply was made between mouthfuls of food.
"That," answered Harry with a vague gesture towards the Slytherin table.
"How can you expect me to believe anything going on at the Slytherin table? I mean, look at them. They – wait a second! What's Victoria doing sitting next to Malfoy?"
"Exactly." The two boys stared bewildered for a few seconds before another voice joined the conversation.
"Who's sitting next to Malfoy?" Hermione asked innocently.
"Just look," answered Harry, unable to say more.
Hermione snorted in a way that almost sounded like a laugh. "More importantly, notice who's shooting visual daggers at her from just down the table?"
"What are you getting at?" Ron's head swiveled from side to side trying to see who she was talking about. From across the table, Ginny, who had up till now stayed out of the conversation, grabbed hold of Ron's head and pointed it in the right direction. "Oh," was all he said.
"What's wrong with Pansy? She looks like she ate something that's not sitting well."
"Or she's just looking at something that's making her feel ill." Harry gave her a confused look, while Ron continued to look back and forth between Victoria and Draco, then Pansy, as though trying hard to figure something out.
Hermione sighed in exasperation, but it was Ginny who answered. "Well, let's look at this logically," she shared a smile with Hermione that spoke volumes about what they thought about Harry and Ron's logic. "Pansy is glaring at Victoria with undisguised hatred in her eyes. Pansy, undoubtedly, likes Malfoy. Malfoy is sitting next to Victoria. You do the math."
Harry had the grace to look abashed seeing how obvious it was, but Ron's face was still serious. "So, you're saying that Pansy appears ill when she looks at Victoria because Victoria is sitting next to Malfoy. So...does that mean that Pansy is jealous of Victoria for sitting next to Malfoy?" he finished with disgust.
"There you have it!" Ginny exclaimed. "The boy can be taught...if you go slow and use very small words." Everyone but Ron laughed at this; Hermione laughed the loudest.
Smiling, Victoria watched her friends over at the Gryffindor table laughing. She wished briefly that she had been able to convince Draco to allow them to participate, but he had been quite adamant. Too bad. Now she'd have to get them involved without his knowledge. She smiled wickedly at the thought, and was only just able to school her features as she felt Draco shift beside her to look her way.
A smile plastered to his face, he whispered through clenched teeth. "Is this supposed to be working this way?"
"What way?" Victoria asked innocently, enjoying the strain on Draco's face at keeping the smile up.
"You do realize that Pansy isn't the only one taking notice of this whole situation, right?" He looked nervously around him while still trying to keep the smile. The result was a kind of sickly sweet scowl that didn't reach his lips. Interesting…
"Of course I realized that. Its part of the plan," Victoria whispered back, having a much easier time of keeping her smile in place; her smile was real, brought on by the almost adorably uncomfortable faces Draco was making. "Pansy isn't going to believe somthing is going on if no one else believes."
He glared at her, losing the smile for a split second before remembering himself and hiding the slip behind a cough. Very satisfactory. "What I don't understand is why half a dozen guys are congratulating me, another half a dozen are no longer speaking to me, and just as many girls are acting just as strange."
Victoria shrugged. "Jealousy."
Draco did a double take. "Who are they jealous of?" he asked in a very calculated tone. Victoria rolled her eyes briefly while still smiling.
"Well, I'm just guessing, but it could be that the guys are not jealous of the same person as the girls are." She quirked an eyebrow, waiting for it to hit him.
He screwed up his face momentarily in disgust. "Well, I understand that the girls are jealous of you for having me, but what are the guys jealous for."
Victoria threw back her head and laugh. "Oh Draco, you really are so witty!" She leaned close as though to whisper in his ear, which was what she intended, not what he expected. "I suppose you're allowed to say things like that for now, but, really…you know you want me."
"I thought that was my line," he smirked.
She leaned her head on his shoulder and laughed coyly. "Don't you know it!" she said in a normal voice, then giggled at his response. Appalled silence is strangely satisfactory from a guy that likes to hear the sound of his own voice.
"Stage two starts in the common room a half hour before 7 tonight. Be sure to do your part. Just reminding you…you know, in case you get otherwise occupied and forget" she teased, glancing down in Pansy's direction. Draco glared at her before nodding mutely and turning suddenly back to his food.
Victoria got up from the table and headed toward the entrance hall, noticing as she did that Harry Ron and Hermione were also leaving the Great Hall. Not only that, but, as expected, Pansy scampered to take Victoria's place when she realized Victoria was leaving. Perfect.
Once out of the great hall Victoria trotted to catch up with the three. "Guys, I have a favor to ask of you.
By the time she finished explaining Ron was nearly rolling on the ground. "This is going to be way better than the raccoons and peanut butter!" Ron interjected halfway through, recalling their conversation on ways to torment Draco.
Victoria shook her head slowly. "No, this is better." Victoria was surprised to see that even Hermione was getting into it.
"Draco doesn't know about us being involved, right?"
"That is correct, sir!"
Hermione smiled in a way that reminded Victoria very much of herself. "If this was only getting back at Pansy I wouldn't be so interested, but I can't wait to see Draco's face when our stage of the plan comes into play." Victoria's eyes widened before grabbing Hermione in a hug and pretending to cry into her shoulder. "Awe, Hermione! I love you; strictly platonically, of course." She cleared her throat, wiped her 'tears' and stepped back sniffling.
With a mischievous grin, Hermione hugged her back giggling. Giggling! Ron and Harry looked just as shocked. "What," Hermione asked when she noticed their looks. "I can afford to be girly every once in a while."
Victoria laughed, but resisted the temptation to try and get Hermione to give her a high five. For some reason, she just didn't see that happening. She'd have to wear Hermione down just a bit more. These British kids were so stiff some times. Great people and fun to hang out with…but compared to most Americans she had hung out with…just a little stiff.
Victoria looked back just in time to see Draco turning the corner towards the common room. "Sorry guys, I have to jet. I have a feeling something interesting is going to happen down in the Lair of the Snake." They looked at her confused. "Well, I hardly think that's a common room. Common rooms are supposed to be comfortable and homey. Anyway, I'll probably see you tomorrow." As she turned to follow Draco, she saw Pansy leaving the Great Hall at a run. "Right on schedule," Victoria murmured happily as she followed Pansy down to the dungeons at a safe distance.
Yay! An update! I am the worst procrastinator in the world! Yay! lol Thanks, as ever, to AM Winters, by beta! Here are my other thank you's:
Sarvashreshth: Thanks! I will continue to write…as long as I can think of more to write…lol
Spaced Out Space Cadet: Lookie! I updated again! Aren't you proud of me? I wasn't in outerspace…I was just in my own little bubble. I'm only back temporarily :) Thanks as always for the review!
PippinsMyHobbit: Of course that isn't the end, silly person! It's only just beginning! I'm glad you found my other stories; don't worry, just because I'm updating this one and I've started another story doesn't mean I won't write more of VSW. Thanks so much for reviewing.