Vera - Thank you so much for your kind words, its an absolute joy to hear someone vibing with Nelly (I love that you see her as her personal nickname from Draco too)! It seems like you've got a really good read of her character - I didn't want to make her obviously "good" or "bad" and I think more and more scenarios will come up where we can question her moral compass. I personally love writing those moments! I'm also not ashamed to say that I squealed when I read that you think Blaise, Theodore and Cornelia are the supreme trio and that you love the Draco fluff - it makes me feel like I'm not alone when I'm getting all teary eyed at how cute they are when I'm writing. I hope you continue to enjoy the story (we've got a long way to go haha)! Until next time.
Cornelia's argument with Theodore and Draco lasted for much longer than she would have liked, and she spent the entire week following it in misery. Neither Theodore nor Draco approached her, and she was far too prideful to approach them. Even Blaise kept his distance, although it had been that way since returning from their Christmas together.
What was worse was that Cornelia knew she couldn't vent her hurt feelings through acting out in class, not after her discussion with Snape. Instead, she kept her head down, but nothing the professor's said ever sunk in. She even caught up with all of her homework, and she was secretly startled to find that she quite often had no idea how to complete the task that had been set. She didn't like feeling out of her depth, but weeks of paying very little to no attention had taken its toll – not that it made any difference to her behaviour. If anything, the poor grades she got back on her homework only encouraged her to disassociate further in class.
It wasn't until the weekend rolled around did something happen that forced Cornelia to put aside her ego and approach her friends again. The castle had been growing steadily less terrorized after the attacks before Christmas, and the majority of the school was looking forward to blowing off some steam at a quidditch match that Saturday. Cornelia was amongst the rest of the students that thronged towards the quidditch pitch, although she made sure to remain a good distance away from Blaise, Theodore and Draco. She had felt so lonely that the thought of staying in the empty school made her want to pull her hair out, plus the thrill of screaming alongside the hundreds of other students had a special appeal to her right then.
She had barely taken her seat (well behind the rest of the boys) when Professor Mcgonagall's voice rang loud and fearful across the grounds. "This quidditch match is cancelled, all students will return to their common rooms immediately!"
The swell of voices that followed was extremely disorientating, at first the main sound was of fierce disappointment, but then the murmurs of another attack crept into the loud complaints around her and there was suddenly a huge rush towards the exit. Crushed amongst the stampeding students, Cornelia fought to make her way towards Draco and the others, their previous disagreement completely forgotten in the face of another attack and potential death. She didn't get far before she was met with Draco, who seemed to have had the same thought as her and was struggling against the tide in her direction too.
When their eyes met it was clear all was forgiven and they held onto each other as they were swept along with the other students. Cornelia peered over his shoulder, but she couldn't see the others anywhere.
"Where's Theodore and Blaise?" She shouted above the noise and Draco shook his head.
"I think they already left." He yelled back.
When they burst onto the grounds beneath the podium, Cornelia was incredibly relieved so see Blaise and Theodore stood just apart from the crowd, peering towards the exit they had just come through. She rushed towards them, still pulling Draco by the sleeve, and without a second thought threw her arms around Theodore's small frame. He was much skinnier than she'd have thought, and his bony shoulders and ribs dug into her as she crushed him against her.
"I'm sorry." She gasped, pulling away as her mind caught up with her body and she realised that Theodore had gone rigid and still in her arms.
"It's okay." He muttered, shock plain in his face as he took a step back from her.
"No, I'm really sorry Theodore. I should never have shouted at you like that." She was gushing now, the adrenaline from the race out of the quidditch pitch and the panic of the students around them catching up with her.
A small smile broke through Theodore's flustered expression at being unexpectedly grabbed. "It's okay, I know you've not been yourself since Christmas."
His words jolted something in Cornelia's stomach and her jaw clenched. She gave a small nod and suffocated the annoyance that has risen in her, her eyes shifting to Blaise who stood moodily by Theodore's side. His brow had furrowed at Theodore's words, and he was looking at her thoughtfully; she knew he must have been putting two and two together. When his eyes met hers however, he raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't I going to get a hug?" He teased in a low voice – it was the first time he had attempted light humour with Cornelia since Christmas, and she realised with a rush that she had missed him enormously in that time.
"Definitely not." She replied, but a grin spread mischievously across her face and he returned it eagerly.
Somehow, amidst the chaos surrounding them and the threat of another attack, Cornelia felt like she had found peace for the first time in months.
The rumours had turned out to be true, another attack had certainly taken place in the castle whilst most of the school had been out in the grounds that day. Hermione Granger, Harry Potter's best friend, and Penelope Clearwater had been petrified, and Draco was beside himself with glee when Snape delivered the news emotionlessly to the full common room that afternoon.
Most of the Slytherins were unaffected by the report of another attack. They were mainly irritated that their movements around the castle were being monitored and limited considerably, although there was a handful of them that didn't feel as safe in their half-blood status as the others. It was easy to spot who; Tracey, one of the girls Cornelia shared a dormitory with, was amongst them. Their faces were pale, eyes fearful, and they were withdrawn from the rest of the students, retiring early or lingering in quiet corners of the common room.
It seemed Draco wasn't alone in his pleasure with the Heir of Slytherin's movements. The attack had triggered less of a debate and more discussion of support around 'cleansing' the school of mud-bloods in the other Slytherin students. There were bets being taken on who would be next, or the first to actually be killed by whatever creature was responsible for the attacks. The room was filled with gloating about whose families the Heir of Slytherin was likely to choose as a loyal follower, and Draco was one of the loudest in the room.
As he spouted nonsense to a large group about how his father had been the Dark Lord's favourite supporter, Blaise nudged Cornelia's arm. "Can we talk?"
Cornelia, who was already tense from listening to Draco making a fool of himself (although everyone seemed to be clinging onto his last word), gritted her teeth. "Go ahead."
"Let's go somewhere else." He murmured.
"Where? We're not allowed out of the common room." Cornelia was stalling, she knew exactly what Blaise wanted to talk about and she really, really wished he wouldn't.
Blaise glanced around the room, scouting out for someone or something. "Nobody's in the dorm. Come on."
Sighing, she stood with Blaise, murmuring to Theodore that they would be back in a second, and followed him stiffly from the room. She didn't notice Draco look up from his intense monologue, his eyes following them across the common room, nor did she notice Pansy do the same thing.
When they entered the room, Blaise flicked his wand and muttered a charm. The mess that seemed a permanent occupant of the dormitory smoothly rose into the air and formed a neat pile in the corner of the room.
"Why don't you just do that every day?" Cornelia asked, snappy in her worry. Blaise shrugged.
"Not my mess." He was right, the bed that he lead them to was the only made bed in the room, his bedside table tidy. When he sat himself down on the end of it, Cornelia remained stood awkwardly in front of him, her arms crossed across her chest.
"So what's up?" She asked breezily.
"Mother's been asking after you." He was smirking at her, and she could see his cat like eyes were watching her every reaction carefully, still, she couldn't stop herself from flinching at his words.
"Oh really?" Cornelia attempted to sound nonchalant but she wasn't sure if she was achieving it. Judging by the sly look on Blaise's face she doubted it.
"Apparently you've not been replying to her letters. She's worried something's happened."
"Nothing's happened. It just slipped my mind." Rather it had been forcefully shoved from her mind. Rosalind had sent Cornelia 2 letters in the past month along with gifts, and though Cornelia knew that she should reply as if nothing was wrong to keep up with her plan, she just couldn't bring herself to put quill to parchment.
"That's fine. She wanted me to remind you that she still has a lot to teach you." There was a question in his voice and Cornelia stared stubbornly at the post of his bed just next to his head, not replying. After a moment or two, Blaise shuffled to the side a little. "Sit down will you? You're making me nervous."
The thought of sitting beside Blaise on his bed made Cornelia nervous, but she did it anyway, telling herself not to be ridiculous. As she sat and stared at her hands Blaise sighed and shifted to curl his legs up on the bed and to face her. "What's going on Cornelia? You've barely spoken to me for months and you've not replied to Mother? I thought you loved her."
Rage flashed through Cornelia, hot and red, and she winced with the ferocity of it. "Yeah I did." Her voice was strangled with it.
"Until I told you what she was planning." He concluded for her and she hesitated a moment before nodding stiffly once.
"You do know that it's pretty normal for pure-blood's to arrange their kid's weddings don't you?"
Cornelia couldn't help but let out a sharp and ironic bark of laughter at that. "Oh yeah, it was your mother that made me aware actually." Her voice was dripping with bitterness. Blaise frowned in confusion.
"So she told you that she wanted us to be married?"
Finally Cornelia met his eyes and Blaise blinked in surprise at the fury that sparked in them. "No. She warned me against arranged marriages."
A thick silence fell between them and Cornelia could see Blaise struggling to understand what she was saying. Finally he shook his head as if to clear it and met her eyes again. "Why would she do that?"
Cornelia sighed heavily and turned sharply away from Blaise. "It doesn't matter, you don't understand." Her voice was hard.
"Can't you help me to?"
"No. I don't want to talk about it."
Silence again. Now it was Blaise trying to keep control of his temper – luckily he was much more practised at it than Cornelia.
"It doesn't matter anyway, because Mother always gets what she wants someway or another."
"And what about what I want?!" Cornelia's voice was rising now.
"You don't want to marry me." It wasn't a question and it held none of Blaise's usual humour. Cornelia spun to face him again, her eyes wide and wild.
"Do you really want to marry me?"
Blaise held her gaze for what felt like a long time, and then, without warning, his face broke into a wide grin. "Absolutely not."
It was so ridiculous, such a bizarre conversation to be having with one of her best friends at 13 years old, that after a few seconds of gaping at Blaise's face, laughter bubbled up through her throat and burst forth in an uncontrollable torrent. Blaise wasn't far behind her, and his infectious laughter soon joined hers, loud and carefree.
That was until the door of the dormitory slammed, cutting through their laughter like a knife.
"What are you doing in here?" Draco's voice was cold and furious.
Cornelia shot up from the bed like it was on fire and spun to face Draco, Blaise peering mulishly around her.
"Draco! We were just chatting."
"Why can't you chat in the common room like everyone else?" He snarled, his face blotching like it always did when he was particularly upset.
"It was private." Blaise said from behind Cornelia, and Cornelia held her breath. Blaise knew exactly what to say to push Draco's buttons – he liked doing it.
"Private?! What do you two have to talk about that's so private?!"
"Well that's thing about privacy…" Began Blaise but Cornelia quickly cut him off before he could do any more damage.
"Blaise's mother is sick, we were just talking about how serious it is." She could feel Blaise's eyes boring into her back but she ignored them, knowing he would go along with whatever she said.
"…Apparently you tell the first person who asks." Blaise finished his previous sentence, but Cornelia could hear the smirk in his voice.
Draco looked as if he were doing some very quick and serious calculations on whether to believe her excuse or not. After glaring at them for a while his shoulders visibly relaxed and he seemed to deflate like a balloon.
"Oh. Sorry." He said, but he didn't sound very sorry.
"Was something wrong?" Cornelia walked towards him now that she was sure he wasn't going to explode.
"Yeah, you missed it. Dobby just showed up."
"What? In the common room?"
"He gave me this. It's from father." He held out his hand which held a rolled up piece of parchment. Cornelia took it from him and quickly scanned the contents. Her mouth fell open with an audible pop by the time she had reached the end.
"He's got Dumbledore sacked?!" She exclaimed, and Blaise was soon beside her reaching for the letter. Cornelia handed it to him, and Draco watched them with wrinkled nose.
"Finally. Can't believe the old sod has lasted this long with everything going on." Draco said in his nastiest voice.
She couldn't say that she didn't agree with him. She had asked herself multiple times that year just how sane Dumbledore was, and many of the students were wondering why there hadn't been any media backlash on the Headmaster after the attacks from the Heir of Slytherin. Still, the blatantly boastful tone of the letter set Cornelia's teeth on edge. Lucius had gotten exactly what he wanted again.
"Used my influence to ensure the silence of the board – what does that mean?" Blaise asked.
"Meaning he's bribed or blackmailed the school board into agreeing with it probably." Cornelia muttered and Blaise let out a low, impressed whistle as he handed to letter back to a sour Draco.
"I wonder who'll take his place." Blaise said and Draco shrugged, putting the letter back in his robes.
"Who cares? As long as it's not Dumbledore."
Cornelia wasn't even sure if Draco knew why he was so against Dumbledore in the first place – did he have any of his own opinions or were they just echoes of his father's?
Apologies that this chapter is a day late! I've really struggled with feeling connected to it and have had to edit it quite a bit, hopefully it reads well. It's quite a conversation heavy chapter and I have been umming and ahhing about whether to delete it completely and move on with the events of COS a little more, but I think the conversation between Cornelia and Blaise was quite sweet and highlights where they both stand with each other a bit more. I'm planning on the next chapter being the last one of second year at Hogwarts (FINALLY) and I'm so excited to be meeting Lupin and writing a little more about Sirius, so stay tuned for that!
Until next time.