Alliance Formed
-:-
"What on Earth happened to you in Binn's class?" Hermione questioned with grave concern, tilting her head upward to glance curiously at her much taller friend.
The two roommates were leisurely walking down the pathway to the Great Hall for lunch, their mates in their own pair just behind them.
Makoto sighed heavily, glancing over her shoulder towards Draco with a dark glare. He was having, from what it appeared to be, a highly interesting conversation with Theodore. Then, the platinum-haired Slytherin released a throaty roar of laughter at something the smirking companion at his side said.
He really looked nice laughing, without that stern brooding expression he always seemed to be bearing. His eyes deepened into a soft powder blue hue, faintly shielded from the world's perusal by the wispy white-blonde bangs brushing his brow. And his smile…!
Then, as if he could feel her stare, the boy-man multi-billionaire glanced up, eyes meeting and locking. He remained indifferent at first, just peering with shielded eyes, unfocused and unseeing. Then he glowered and glared back, eyes icing over with the familiar frosty coldness.
She abruptly scowled herself, snapping her head about to glare frontward while blustering some under her breath.
"THAT happened to me. He ran me late with his griping, not only in Binn's class but McGonagall's too. Which is precisely why I have detention after school." She suddenly replied, grabbing the slight girl at her side by the elbow and gently pulling her to move faster.
Hermione sighed heavily, head shaking some as she began to quicken her steps to keep up with her friend's fast pace.
"You know that even if we run ahead of them, we are still obligated to sit by them." Hermione piped up sensibly at her side, absently slipping a particular bothersome hank of ginger brown hair behind her ear.
"True," Makoto murmured gently, sighing somewhat sulkily before suddenly perking up.
She turned her head to face her friend fully, a rueful grin tugging her lips.
"But if we get there before them, perhaps we can poison their food without notice."
-:-
The rest of the day ran rather smoothly between Makoto and Draco, all things considered. Though seated next to each other in every blasted class, walking down the halls at each other's sides, not a whisper was exchanged between the two.
They concluded best it'd be safer, and much less of a toll on their social lives, that they just not speak at all. Just get to class, get through the said class, and head to the next with no words in between.
And time whizzed by fast without the faintest upset from the two enemies, detention meeting them within a blink of an eye. Both waved good-bye to their respective companions as they departed from potions class, joining together as they exited the door.
They walked silently down the hallways to the Transfiguration classroom, thoughts troubled. Both teens absently waved to a passing-by friend, noting fully that their eyes were not focused on them but on their spouse.
"On time, I see." A sharp voice remarks behind them, causing both teens to glance over there shoulder.
Minerva McGonagall peers back at them with a disdainful stare, apparently still miffed about them being late to her class. The stare lingers for a moment before the owner clears her throat, stepping between the two. Quick hands despite their age ease the door open, the Professor stepping aside in the doorway to allow the youths passage.
Both make a move to enter, shoulders clashing. Heads snap and emerald meets glistening blue yet again, grudging glares piercing imaginary holes into their counterpart's heads.
Draco sneers and pushes past the young girl in a very non-gentleman manner, muttering something foul under his breath.
If McGonagall wasn't here…
The two students entered the room soon enough, sauntering to the back and sitting on opposite sides of the room. Makoto in the back Gryffindor row nearest to the wall, Draco the Slytherin.
Minerva scowls at that, pinning Makoto with a warning glare. She held out pretty strong, but when the old teacher reached over for her wand, the brunette rose to her feet.
Begrudgingly, she pulled the stool out under from the table Draco was seated and tugged it as far away as possible from the fellow. She might have to seat in the same table as Draco but it never meant they had to be close.
The Transfiguration teacher released an exasperated sigh, eyes rolling heavenward for a flickering moment, requesting her kindliest that she receive some guidance.
It was quite obvious that Malfoy had no pleasure having Makoto as his mate, the feeling mutual. Gryffindors and Slytherins never worked and she still didn't exactly know why she had agreed to such a pairing.
But either way, one must deal with the card life has dealt thee. So with another tired sigh, Minerva glanced back up to the students in the far back. They stared, bored, at opposite sides of the room, chins perched onto curled fists.
"This is not going to be an hour and a half of you just staring out into space." She drawled in her annoyingly high-pitched voice, gathering a stack full of un-graded papers off her desk.
"I want you two to play a game of twenty questions, serious questions. Then perhaps we can find a way of remedying your constant habit of falling into arguments. I shall give you two some privacy and entrust that you will fulfill your assignment."
With that said, she spun her heel and strode out of the room with nose-upturned. But just as the door clicked shut it re-opened, her slightly wrinkled pale face popping in.
"And if you think I won't know if you did or not, I will. The consequences will be far more harsh then now."
The door clicked shut. Both waited for a moment, to see if she'd pop back in again, and when she didn't, they released a sigh of relief.
Makoto shifted in her seat and began to loosen the tie about her neck, shoulders slouching fro in a lazy manner. She stopped however when she caught Draco staring at her, a slightly confused look on his face.
"What?" she blinked with confusion, taking a glance over herself to make sure nothing was exposed.
He scoffed, turning away completely and settling his head onto crossed arms over the table, muttering somethings under his breath. The auburn-haired girl blinked at that, before scowling and releasing a tired sigh, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Why do you have to act like that?" she questioned with a slight exasperated tone, tilting her head to the side as she pinned him with an irately curious stare.
The Slytherin male straightened in his seat with a faint annoyed growl to himself, turning about slightly to fix the girl with an evil glare.
"Act like what, Kino?" he demanded with a glower, swiveling about fully to face the tall brunette.
Makoto sighed heavily again as she began to shake her head with a disappointed air, turning about slightly to have her back to the table. She leaned back onto the slab of marble, carefully crossing her long legs before glancing back towards Draco with a stern look.
"A complete and utter prat. You snap at anybody and everybody for no apparent reason! It really wouldn't hurt you to be a little nice every now and then." She answered stoutly, absently tugging her hiked up skirt down again.
"Excuse you? I AM nice!" the Malfoy offspring shot back with a slight offended expression, head tilting back in a haughty manner.
"But my niceness is only exposed to the select few, one's who are worthy."
That caused the slender girl to scoff, tilting her head to the side to face the pale fellow just yonder her, fully. She peered at him for quite sometime with a pensive expression, brow deepening with curious wonder.
Then suddenly, she sighed and shook her head, turning away from the male with a slightly disappointed air to her.
She had thought for a moment, that she had gotten some sense into the boy. Perhaps that she could've gotten an actual conversation with him, free of rising blood-pressures and loud shouts.
But then again, it was Malfoy after all, she had been expecting a bit much.
"Why are you friends with Potter?"
Makoto jerked slightly as her musings were broken, slightly dazed eyes blinking up curiously at the male across her. Draco peered back at her with an intense stare, grave severity etching ever corner of his ice-blue pools.
Something that startled her so. She had never seen him serious, not even with 'He-who-shall-not-be-named' lurking the halls. It was a frightening aspect to be seen with him.
"W-what?"
At that the platinum-haired boy rolled his eyes and blustered disbelief to himself just how stupid mudbloods were.
"I said why are you friends with Potter?" he repeated insistently, fixing her with a lazy glare.
Makoto blinked somewhat stupidly, reviewing the question several times in her mind. Why…why was she friends with Harry? Was he pulling her leg or something? Wasn't it sort of OBVIOUS why she was?
Well then again, this was Draco Malfoy, he could be pretty oblivious at times. Dumb turd.
"Well, erm, cause I am. We just clicked ya know? Things just flow really easily and stuff." Was her answer, blinking some with curiosity as she tried to see if what she had said had made any actual sense.
And it just came out, before he could really think.
"Sure it's not just his popularity?" he sneered under his breath as he glanced away, frowning some and glaring off unfocused at the white-board in front of them.
Though said to himself, Makoto caught onto it quite easily, peering questioningly at the boy with a slightly puckered brow.
"What'd you say?" she asked with sheer uncertainty, leaning in slightly closer to get a better hear.
"Nothing, nothing." Was his quick response, sounding a little uncomfortable and looking it too.
"Just forget about it."
His odd words left the auburn-haired girl wondering just what in hell he meant by it, a good majority of herself questioning WHY she even cared so much about his feelings. There was a rift, an extremely LONG, harsh rift of dead silence in the room.
And her natural curiosity grew into a deadly obsession as the slight girl began to sort out the hidden meaning behind his previous statements, word by word. She fully noted the tone and how he had said it, keeping in mind the fact that he hadn't meant it to be heard.
So, in the fifteen minutes or so later (which seemed MUCH longer in Makoto's mind), the Gryffindor female came down to one sole conclusion.
She didn't know what in bloody hell it meant.
And her obstinate nature withheld her from just forgetting about it, the Slytherin's words eating away at her mind and sanity. Finally, she decided to just ask him a question of her own.
"Why don't you like Harry?"
Snap. That's what his head did, it snapped up to her. Blue eyes peered up at her, slightly widened with surprise but quickly recovered a moment later, growing ice-cold and guarded.
"Well why should I? He doesn't need my admiration, he has everyone else's. He's just so DAMN great isn't he? You all believe he's so damned smart, and WONFERFUL, the best friggen Quidditch player in the whole entire universe. Pfft, right. It's only cause he's famous…famous for some SCAR on his damned head--"
His angry tirade was cut abruptly short at the sound of muffled giggling, visage blanking out for a moment. The platinum-haired male blinked curiously up at Makoto, who currently was rubbing away at the bridge of her nose, trying her best to conceal the wide grin tugging her lips.
Then, all at once, his face twisted with complete anger and slight chagrin.
"What the hell is so funny?" he demanded hotly with a scowl, face growing a flame.
The tall brunette released another muffled laugh, holding up her hand in mercy. She shook her head some, still laughing before peering back up at the Slytherin.
"I'm sorry just," she had to pause as another fit of giggles over took her, clamping a hand over her mouth.
Which only pissed of the male even more so. Here he was explaining something and she was laughing! At what exactly? Sure as hell seemed like at HIM, no one laughs at a Malfoy—
"It's just like it sounds like you're jealous of him." She finally stated as her laugher subsided, a wide smile still spread about her face.
She must've really offended him or something cause he suddenly turned away from her all together, back to her face. Green irises watched as the seventeen-year-old crossed his arms on the table and settled his head atop them, turned to the side with the hind of his head to her.
Makoto could only blink with vast surprise as he did this, utterly dumbfounded. She had…she had hurt his feelings? Apparently so.
Remorse began to twist in her belly, for some odd unknown reason. She chewed her bottom lip for a moment, glancing about herself as she suddenly took aware that they were really ALONE.
"D-Draco?" she called softly, suddenly unable to face him as her gaze fell off to the tiled floor beneath them.
"What?"
The tall seventeen-year-old sighed heavily at his grunting tone, voice rougher and deeper then usual. She gripped the hem of her skirt for some sort of comfort and support, knuckles turning white.
"I-I guess I'm sorry…" she finally mumbled, a pretty pink sprouting about the high-line of her cheeks.
"What I said was pretty mean and petty, a-about you jealous of H-Harry. I shouldn't of ASSUMED--"
"Enough." He barked gruffly, face still partially buried in his entangled arms.
"Just forget about it."
Makoto blinked then beamed, feeling all the bad from before lift up off her shoulders.
The two remained silent for a time, though not as torturous and nerve-wracking as prior. It was almost…almost a companionable hush. Not that either individual would admit it.
Then, Draco broke the silence that he had mainly caused.
"Kino," he suddenly called, slowly straightening up off the table.
The Gryffindor perked up almost instantly, tilting up to glance curiously at the platinum-haired fellow with slightly wide-eyes.
"Yeah?" she breathed softly, uncertainty all but evident in her tone.
She watched as the Slytherin opposite her fidgeted for a moment, pouting slightly as he glared side to side at his surroundings. Then, he turned and faced Makoto fully, lazy powder-blue eyes glaring back at her with hesitance.
"Listen, if we wanna pass this year, we gotta do this project. And if we're gonna do this project, we have to get along or at least not be at each other's throats twenty-four seven. So, how about an alliance?" he released in a fumbling rush, sounding a bit uncomfortable and looking it too.
Makoto could do little more then just sit there with wide-eyed and a gapping jaw, only half-aware of what was happening about her.
Had Draco…Draco MALFOY just been civil? Had he just suggested an ALLIANCE, for the best of them? Not to mention the fact, that he had been fairly humane to her throughout this whole ordeal of detention on the third day back of her seventh year of the grand Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?
So it was official. Hell had frozen over and jolly ole Saint Nick, the Easter Bunny, and Tooth Fairy were meeting up with Lucifer himself every afternoon for a good round of gin rummy and a sip of tea on the side.
"Well?"
The seventeen-year-old Gryffindor was jerked out of her personal mental reevaluation, her hypothesis that perhaps she had just eaten too much cookie dough ice cream on the couch one day back home while watching Growing Pains shot to hell.
Makoto swallowed thickly before nodding, absently raking her fingers through her auburn tresses.
"Y-yeah," she warbled gently, blinking rapidly as she STILL tried to sort this entire…entire THING out in her mind.
"Yeah as in a question? Or yeah as into you agree?" Draco snapped somewhat irritably, patience tried well and gone.
The tall brunette swallowed heavily again, thinking for a moment if she had in fact said yes to the agreement or not. It definitely would be much easier getting through the year with him at her tail. And save her a bunch of tardy detentions…
"Yes…" she trailed, giving one more over-view of it all.
"Yes, yes to the agreement. An alliance."
The Slytherin sighed a little bit before nodding, slouching down back into his seat.
So he had just made a peace agreement of sorts with Kino. He was dancing on a mine-field here, an explosion waiting to happen. If it were to ever get out…this…him and Kino…
Dear Merlin, he'd be strung up and crucified by his peers! He could never live it down, indefinitely. Draco shuddered just at the thought, shaking the idea viciously out of his higher-then-average mind.
Makoto watched with slight worry, and a little fright, as Draco shook himself viciously, muttering something fierce under his breath. Alright…so she was married to a total fruit-loop. Dandy. Just dandy.
"Well," he suddenly piped up, head lifting slowly and narrowed blue irises snagging her green ones.
"That's five, fifteen more questions to go."
His female counterpart blinked at first before beaming wide.
-:-
Professor McGonagall absently adjusted her slipping glasses as she made fast strides down the relatively empty marble hallways. Her sharp dark eyes peeled away from the empty space before her, focusing onto a whizzing by blur of yellow and black.
"Hey! NO RUNNING IN THE HALLS!" She shrieked to a gaggle of dashing by Hufflepuffs, head turning after them to make sure they came to an abrupt stop.
Which they did, of course, definitely not wanting to challenge the Gryffindor headmistress. The old sorceress sighed heavily to herself as she turned herself frontward; mentally noting that she should deduct ten points from Hufflepuff later on.
Her pace quickened as she neared her classroom, suddenly recalling to the fact of the two students holed up in detention in the said room. Slight worry coursed through the witch, silently praying that when she opened the door that her room would still be as she had left it and not imploded.
Her worries quickly dissipated however, as the sound of soft singing wafted out from the door before her. She blinked at that, slightly wrinkled face puckering with perplexed wonder. They were singing? How odd…though somewhat comforting since that meant she wouldn't have to relocate her Transfiguration classes.
So with a deft twist of her wrist, the female teacher slowly and carefully eased her door open, popping her head into the room. The sight before her caused her breath to halt in her throat.
Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Kino – wait, correction Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy – were seated where she had left them, though notably closer and seemingly much more pleased with the accommodations. They were playing a hand game of sort, palms slapping and fingers snapping before repeating the process.
The pace quickened, as did their singing before Makoto gave into gales of laughter, hands dropping. Draco only grinned at that, leaning back with a satisfied sigh, hands clasping behind his head.
"I win."
Despite her loss of victory, the auburn-haired Gryffindor continued to chuckle on, friendlily punching the Slytherin on the shoulder.
"I only let you win," she shot back with a grin of her own, sticking out her tongue in a childish manner.
At that, a fine white eyebrow lifted with surprise.
"Oh REALLY?" he murmurs with a surprised face, lips twisting with a devil-may-care smirk.
And mischievous little Makoto only leans in a bit closer and peers down at Draco under half-closed eyes, assuming a slyer, crafty look.
"Really."
Before the Slytherin powerhouse could take the slight brunette to task, the grumble of a clearing throat sounded the air. Both teens jerked apart almost instantly, heads snapping to the front with stunned faces.
"It appears that you two have sorted your differences." Professor McGonagall remarked as she entered the room, setting her stack of papers down onto her oak wood desk.
She then carelessly plops her very expensive-looking leather satchel onto the desk, peering about her room with great scrutiny. Perhaps she was checking to make sure everything was in place, at least that's what Makoto thought.
Then, suddenly, the slightly grey-haired Professor sighed and took her seat, waving her hand and not bothering to look up.
"Dismissed."
The two teens blinked for a moment from outright stunned perplexity. They had been expecting something more then a simple 'dismissed.' No tirade? No questions asked? Not even a simple warning? Quite odd for Professor Minerva McGonagall, definitely odd.
When neither of them made a move to leave, the sorceress lifted her head up, fixing them with a sharp stare over her glasses.
"Unless you two would like to clean my room, that is."
Almost instantly, the Malfoy's leapt to their feet and darted down the aisle, out the door. But not without Makoto doubling back, poking her head back in, and a
"Thank you, Professor. Good-evening!"
And with that, the tall brunette exited once more, door clicking behind her. Minerva only stared after the two through the small glass window in the door, noting that fact they were standing next to each other as they walked. She continued to stare on until they were clear out of sight, then turning about with a shaking head and a sigh of contentment.
-:-
Heavens, I do not LIKE THIS CHAPTER AT ALL! Fdsjkfshdfjkds. I don't like this one, AT ALL. Overly-detailed AND the details are crapilicious dammit. DAMMIT.
Sigh.
Review?
Perhaps?
Maybe?