Secrets and Dirty Deeds

By the Barefoot Pianist

Chapter 10

Immediately after the fight, Daphne could be seen being dragged out of the Slytherin common room by a seventh year, Nott's best friend, Pucey. Daphne didn't stop struggling to get back to the common room to further beat up Pansy until they reached the lake. Pucey sat the angry heap down on the grass and sat down next to her.

"Why the hell did you bring me here for?" Daphne questioned angrily.

"Just taking you away from the public eye so that you can cool down a little, before you did something you'd have regreted," replied Pucey coolly.

Daphne sat silent while she pulled clumps of grass out, rather violently. Pucey just looked on calmly, sometimes quirking a small grin when Daphne would come out in angry murmurs. They sat there quietly for sometime.

At last, Daphne came to a point where she was calm enough to make conversation. "So, Pucey," she started. She searched for something to say, now that she had broken the silence. "So…"

But he was the one who started it. "So, obviously you like Nott, huh?"

Daphne's cheeks tinged. She looked down at the patches of dirt apearing through the grass. "Yeah, I suppose. But what's the point? Stupid Pansy pushover Parkinson got to him first." Daphne added a tone of loathing to the last sentence.

"But a guy who doesn't notice you, isn't worth your effort anyhow," Pucey put in.

Daphne dwelt on the thought. However her thoughts were broken when Pucey suddenly, but softly, lent in and pressed his lips against hers.

……………………………………………..

Unable to concentrate on her homework, Carmen sighed while looking at the form of Malfoy, sitting alone in the furthest corner of the common room. He was reading a book, one of the few in Slytherin who did. But his reading was interrupted when Blaise came to sit next to Malfoy, whose face tensed first, then softened.

She felt that it was such a shame, a shame that he would shut himself like that. He had been antisocial for the last month, sitting at the end of the Slytherin table or choosing to speak to only Blaise. One thing was for sure: he would avoid Pansy incessantly. Once, Carmen caught him running to hide behind a tapestry when Pansy walked through the common room from her dormitory to the hall way. The only time he would be seen in the same room as her would be in class, when he was forced to be in the same room with her, and even then, he would shuffle to the furthest perimeter from her presence.

But tonight was when Carmen made her decision – enough was enough. If he wasn't going to break through his bloody shell, then she was going to crack it bloody open herself.

She put her quill down and walked over to the corner where Malfoy and Blaise sat talking quietly. It seemed that she had interrupted their conversation when she came over. Malfoy immediately put on his cold scowl and growled, "What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you." She said, and looking side ways at Blaise, she added, "Alone."

Malfoy gave a sigh, put his book down and got up, grudgingly, and walked outside the common room door.

"Alright, hear me through," Carmen said first, while Malfoy gave her a distasteful look. "I don't care how you feel or what you think, but I'm going to make you do it, no matter what."

"Make me do what, exactly?" Malfoy quirked an eyebrow.

"You're such an antisocial dumbfuck that I'm going to make you socialise."

"Socialise?"

"Yeah. You know, talking, laughing, making jokes, exchanging personal opinions? For god's sake, at least be in a room with more than half a dozen people."

Malfoy gave a short laugh. "Right, you're going to make me. I'll believe it when I see it."

Carmen looked at him and said, "Well, I'm just warning you." She added a little sneer for added effect.

A/N: R&R please! So sorry this took so long! Another full week, with teachers throwing homework at us like we couldn't get enough of it! Well, there you go –teachers. They're a bit like politicians… they have a totally different thought system and totally different values… come to think of it, they're probably a totally different race! Anyway, more stuff coming up soon – I'll make sure I write a few chappies for good measure this weekend. Ciao.