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To the Guest reviewer: thank you! Some bite was exactly what I wanted. She's definitely not meant to be fully likeable, even though she isn't exactly a horrific person. I hope you enjoy this chapter too!
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Chapter 12: Unexpected
"How dare she," Theodore Nott fumed, taking up the massive armchair by the green flamed fireplace in the Slytherin Common Room. "How dare she do that to me! She knew she was meant to accept my proposal. Malfoy?" He looked over to his friend, who was leaning back into the luxurious green-covered sofa, apparently more concerned with the position of his tailored trousers than Nott's obvious mental anguish.
"Not now, Nott," Draco drawled, crossing one leg over the other carefully, smoothing out the wrinkles that had formed in his trousers. "Honestly, you know she's just playing hard to get…" at least, he hoped so. He had already experienced his father's wrath in letter form, he had no idea what he was going to do to Selene when they finally returned home.
"Does this mean she isn't going at all?" Nott twiddled his thumbs, wiping his palms on his robes before leaning forwards to get closer to the blonde boy. "You need to keep a better grip of her, Malfoy. The same thing happened with Andromeda Black, you know," he paused, waiting to see if Draco would react, before continuing. "One moment she's doing her own thing, the next she's married a Muggleborn and is living in a cottage with a pond."
"Shut up, Nott," Draco grumbled, Crabbe and Goyle shadowing his mutters with a chorus of 'yeah, shut up, Nott'. "There is one thing my sister is not, and that is a Blood Traitor," he completed, although the face of George Weasley did come to mind. He wasn't sure what Selene was up to, hanging around with the Weasley twins, but for now, he was content to defend his sister against (seemingly) unwarranted attacks
"Are you sure?" Nott sneered, raising one black eyebrow in a well used expression. "She does seem awfully interested in Fred and George Weasley… Have you even spoken to her recently?" he sat back, smirking triumphantly, noting the thinly veiled dismay in Draco's eyes with glee.
Draco leaned back in his sofa again, looking around the Common Room. Thankfully, it was deserted, apart from the quartet on the sofa and armchairs, as most of the students were still attending dinner, or had returned home for the Christmas holidays. "Yes," he replied, after a weighted pause. "I have. And she's assured me, there is nothing between her and the Weasels."
"Sureee," Nott drawled, rolling his eyes and crossing his arms in annoyance. "I have half a mind to find her and speak to her myself. What kind of wife will she make if she is this insolent as a… A girl?"
Crabbe and Goyle, who had been watching this conversation take place with equal measurements of confusion and anticipation, met each other's gaze at this moment, the latter sniggering under his breath. "Goyle, what is it?" Draco sighed, looking sideways at his crony. "If you need the toilet, then go on, you don't need to ask."
Goyle blushed, looking down at the stone tiled floor and muttering something unintelligible under his breath. "Why do you even keep them around?" Nott questioned, ignoring Draco's annoyance at having been interrupted in his presidency as King of the Slytherin Common Room. "It's like having two dumpy Hippogriffs sleeping on the end of your bed. Annoying."
"Is that so?" Draco rolled his eyes, pretty much ignoring Nott's presence, instead choosing to examine the wall tapestry to the right of the fireplace. "Honestly, Nott, if you aren't going to contribute anything interesting to this conversation - please go."
Nott blushed a deeper shade of crimson than Goyle, and picked up his Herbology textbook, muttering something about Gillyweed. He pulled up the textbook in front of his face, effectively separating himself from his fellow Slytherins, with a huff, and another mutter about Selene Malfoy and her apparent insolence.
Draco chewed his lip, smoothing out his trousers yet again, focus turning to the fireplace, and the menacingly glinting flames in the grate. Whether Nott was right or not about Selene's supposed attraction to the twin Weasels (which he very much doubted, because his sister had standards, even if puberty had occasionally got the better of her), he couldn't help but agree with the insolent remark. He knew that Selene and Lucius rarely got on, and Selene had always been a natural born rebel against her father's opinions.
Nott was still hidden behind his Herbology textbook, but Draco got to his feet, bending over to smooth out the newly formed trouser wrinkles. "Leave me," he said, to the pair of boys behind him, who had been tripping over themselves in an attempt to catch up with the Malfoy. A constant shadow (or, more accurately, two constant shadows) wasn't exactly what he needed right now. Nott could occasionally be right, and it was true - Crabbe and Goyle were painful to both look at and talk to.
The Library. Selene would be in there. If not, it would be Ravenclaw Tower, which would present more of an issue for Draco, as he wasn't very good at riddles. Remembering the word 'Blood Traitor' for the Slytherin Common Room was the extent of his knowledge, and probably the reason that his sister was the only Malfoy Ravenclaw.
Not that he was worried about the Weasley twins. Of course not. He knew Selene, and despite her lack of good old-fashioned Slytherin sadism, she knew where her loyalties lay.
Of course, if he could read his sister's mind, especially after the altercation with Fred on the Astronomy Tower, Draco would be much more concerned, but unfortunately he was left to his own, slightly misguided, intuition.
Secretly, he was rather glad that his sister had rejected Nott's invitation to the Yule Ball. The Nott family were of short stock, and the Malfoys were naturally tall. With Selene taking after their mother, pale blonde, tall, with the distinctive thick dark black Black family eyebrows, they would be horrendously mismatched. But Draco knew Selene. She would go. Chang, that infuriating half-blood best friend of hers, would make her.
When Draco made it to the library, it appeared that his assumptions had been correct. Selene was there, sitting in the corner, a large book in her lap, paper and quill abandoned on the table to her left. Obviously distracted, noticeably alone.
He moved to walk towards her, before stopping in his tracks as another person entered the library, heading straight for Selene's table. Draco looked around in horror, taking an empty armchair and pulling a book down off the shelf closest to him, opening it to a random page and pretending to be lost in the story.
Gadding with Ghouls. What a great choice.
"Malfoy!" a jovial voice exclaimed. Draco peeked over the top of the book, attempting to look as suave as possible in the process, before his heart sunk to the pit of his stomach. What was Weasley doing in the library?
"What do you want, Weasel?" Selene sighed, closing the book with a slam and a dust of air. "Honestly, if you ask me one more time to do your DADA homework, I will hex you into next week."
"Of course not," the twin replied, seemingly affronted by the suggestion. "No, I just thought I would come in here to make your day a little brighter."
"Well, you're not succeeding," Draco's sister replied. He could sense her eye roll, even from behind the covers of this Gilderoy Lockhart bestseller. "I'm busy, Weasley. Go bother someone who cares."
"Ah, but no," the twin cut in again, as Draco heard the familiar scrapes of a chair against the stone floor. "I've come to collect our little bet, Malfoy."
Selene got to her feet, Draco lowering the book somewhat to get a better look at the pair. "No," she said quickly, packing away her quills and paper into her satchel. "That bet is off, Weasley. It's been off since I decided to bless you with my presence on Christmas."
"Nuh-uh," the Weasley persisted, grabbing Selene's hand in a tight grip. "You're not getting away from us that easily. A bet's a bet, and you're a decent girl. I'm sure you don't mind spending a few hours with your favourite pair of Blood Traitors."
"For your information," Selene wrenched away her hand from the boy, grimacing. "I prefer your sister. Because at least she has a pair of balls, even if they are red haired and freckled."
"Would you like to see for yourself?" the redhead propositioned, a shit-eating grin on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Selene shuddered, shaking her head quickly, but the frown was permanently affixed to Draco's face. Yes, she was being mean to him, but it seemed more like friendly banter than the way she should be reacting to disgusting prepositions from a Weasley.
"Go jinx yourself and jump off Gryffindor Tower, Weasel," Selene pulled a face. "I'm not going to participate in your stupid little schemes."
"Are you not?" the Weasley grinned again, raising an eyebrow. "Then I guess you've lost your date to the Ball then, my dearest."
Draco's eyebrows furrowed, before the truth of the matter hit him. Why had Weasley asked his sister to the Yule Ball? He wasn't sure whether to vomit or to get up right now and intervene in this ridiculous conversation.
"How do you know I've not asked anyone else?" Selene replied snappishly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Honestly, Weasley. You aren't my only option."
"That's not what you were saying last week," the Weasley responded, mimicking Selene's action. "Come on, Malfoy. We won't keep you for more than an hour or two. Then you'll be free to do as much homework as you please."
Okay, Draco was done with this. He couldn't sit back and listen to this altercation a single moment longer. He needed to go, and hear, straight from Selene, exactly what was going on here. He wouldn't believe in a million years that Selene had accepted a proposal from a filthy Weasley, let alone asked one, on what would assumedly be a romantic date.
He slotted Gadding With Ghouls back into place on the shelf, and got to his feet, marching towards the pair with a single purpose in mind. Selene, to her credit, looked mostly relieved to see her brother, but Weasley appeared to have swallowed a lemon.
"What are you doing here, Weasley?" Draco sneered, standing behind his sister, taking full advantage of his Malfoy height and long, thin nose. "Has my sister been speaking to you? A filthy Blood Traitor?"
The Weasley blushed scarlet, and opened his mouth to reply, but Selene cut in before the twin could find the words to respond. "Oh, shut up, Draco," she drawled, rolling her eyes luxuriously. "What matter is it to you who I speak to and when?"
"When I heard you'd be going to the Ball with this Weasel!" Draco snarled, looking at the twin, who was watching with an expression of bewilderment. "When Nott said you'd rejected him, I thought you'd just wanted to annoy father - not do this!"
"I'm not having this conversation," Selene replied, in a quieter tone, eyeing Madam Pince with a hesitant glance. She leaned in closer to Draco, ignoring the Weasley. "Look - you are not father, and I am not our mother. I will do what I want. And you are in no position to stop me, now, are you?"
Draco could feel his face heating up, but he shook his head. "Father will hear about this," he hissed. "Watch your back, sister. It would be such a shame if someone found out about your little love affair, hmm?"
Selene pulled away, looking disgusted. "Let's go, Weasley," she said, turning away from Draco without a second glance. "I'm not having this conversation here. Draco, if you want to talk to me, catch me at a decent time, like at breakfast. Or send me a letter." She reached out behind her and patted his shoulder.
"Stay away from her, Weasley," Draco sneered, as the pair left, causing the twin to stop as Selene stormed out of the room. "I don't want my family to be tainted with filthy Mudblood-loving blood. And if you so much as make a move, I will speak to my father," Draco smirked, even as the Weasley turned dark scarlet, a furious expression crossing his face. "And he is very high up in the Ministry, as you well know. He could make life very hard for you and your Muggle-loving family."
"You're scum," the twin replied, at a normal volume, receiving a glare and a 'ssh' from the librarian. "I have no interest in your sister. She's just a friend. She's a damn sight more reasonable than you, Malfoy," he spat, before following the girl out of the library, ignoring Madam Pince's furious glare.
Draco scowled, sitting down on the abandoned chair, and throwing his bag onto the floor. He knew what he was going to do. But he wasn't going to be spoken to like that by anyone, not even his sister. And he knew exactly the person to write to, to bring Selene's fragile world falling down around her, so she would come running back to him, and the safe part of the Wizarding World, away from Blood Traitors and Muggleborns.
oOo
The next day was Christmas Eve, and the preparations for the Ball were in full swing. The Great Hall was already slowly being transformed into a venue suitable for such an event, with a stage being built at the top, where the top table was usually placed. This had forced the Professors into sitting at circular table, meaning that an uncomfortable looking Professor Snape had been squeezed into a small gap between McGonagall and Hagrid.
The usual decorations - the four banners of the four houses - had been replaced with Christmassy-looking streamers, and the enchanted ceiling was in a perpetual state of snow and ice. Indeed, it looked like the Ball would be the event it was expected to be, which left Cho Chang in a shock of excitement.
"Can you imagine just how romantic it will be?" she gushed, wrapping her arm around Cedric, who had joined her and her friends at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast. Selene neglected to mention Harry Potter, who had been dramatically rejected by Cho only a few days earlier. The night would probably be a sight less romantic for him.
"Sure," she replied instead, distantly, more concerned about her breakfast plate, which was piled high with fried bread and bacon. "If you're with a romantic date, that is."
"Come off it, Malfoy," Marietta cut in here, rolling her eyes. "You and George Weasley - now that is a romantic date."
Selene snorted, choking on her food a little. "Hell no," she said, after she regained her speech back. "There is nothing between us, Marietta. Nothing. Nothing at all."
The conversation followed the usual pattern of many before it, with one of the girls insisting that Selene must be having an affair with the aforementioned Weasley twin, and Selene vehemently denying it, time after time. It wasn't shaking her opinion of the boys, however. She was in no way interested in them in any more than a friendly way. That would be a step too far. Blood Traitors or not.
NEWTs came first, and even though she was letting her hair down for the event, she wasn't going to abandon her studies for a whirlwind Triwizard romance. And in that respect, her family could at least be slightly proud of her.
"Leave her to her ignorance, Marietta," Cho mimicked Marietta's gesture, leaning forward over the table. Cedric, who had been released by this movement, risked a sympathetic smile at Selene, who simply shrugged in return. "What I really want to know is— have you finally been asked?"
"Yes," Marietta said, smiling mysteriously. "A Durmstrang boy. Unfortunately it isn't Krum… He's asked the Granger girl."
"WHAT?" Cho spluttered, turning around, searching for Granger, furiously scanning up and down the Gryffindor table for the bushy haired girl. "You have got to be kidding me… Granger? Out of everyone? Hermione-effing-Granger?"
"Sssh!" Marietta responded dramatically, holding a finger to her lips before continuing. "I don't think she knows that I know… But I was round the corner, doing DADA homework… And I overheard them."
"I wonder why she hasn't told anyone," Cho said in confusion. Selene rolled her eyes, swallowing a last bite of bread before climbing to her feet.
"Arithmancy homework," she said, as way of an explanation, when the trio turned to watch her go. "It waits for no one, you know," not even the Yule Ball, she thought ruefully, remembering the uproar that had erupted the moment that Professor Vector announced thirteen hours worth of homework to be completed over the Christmas period.
"Well," Cho followed Selene to her feet, looking her friend up and down. "You aren't getting away from us tomorrow. So make the most of your freedom!" the Scottish girl grinned, causing the other to roll her eyes, yet again.
"Of course," she sighed, shouldering her bag. "Coming, Cedric?"
The boy shook his head quickly, glancing sideways at his girlfriend, who was already absorbed in another conversation with Marietta. "Haven't finished eating," he justified, copying Selene's earlier shrug. "Want to buddy up?"
"I'll be fine," Selene brushed off, trying not to let the disappointment show on her face. She was often pretty lonely in the library, but she wasn't going to let anyone know that. Or they'd suggest that she pal up with Granger or something. Yes, Granger had helped her that one time, but she was still… Well, Muggleborn.
Her S.P.E.W. badge was lying, abandoned, at the bottom of her sock drawer. She had never thought about wearing it. For one thing, orange really wasn't her colour. And she didn't want to ruin her street cred too much (the damage was already done with her status as 'the Ravenclaw Ice Queen').
"Oh my Rowena, you two never stop following me around!" Selene exclaimed, as soon as a flash of red hair appeared in her peripheral vision. "Honestly, it's like having a perpetual stormcloud hovering over my shoulder… For the last time, George, I will not dye my hair red to match yours for tomorrow."
She turned on her heel, mustering her fullest height, straightening her back and arching her shoulders. She wasn't best pleased with the Weasley twins after the whole forcing her to let them test their joke products on her. Having emerged from that particular meeting with a spectacular set of boils, and a raging fever, Selene had attempted to avoid the pair of them. However, they always seemed to find her, and at the most inopportune moments as well.
But Selene found herself looking up at the Weasley, eyebrow raising when she recognised the redhead as a Weasley other than one of the twins. "Ron, was it?" she said, attempting to not sound too hostile. The look on Ron's face told her that she had failed miserably.
"Yes," the boy said shortly, holding out a quill pen in the palm of one hand. "You dropped this, Malfoy."
"Wow," Selene muttered, reaching out to take the feathered quill from the boy. "Any colder and you'll give me pneumonia, Weasley."
The boy's ears were tinged pink, which made Selene smirk in satisfaction. "W-well, uh," the boy stammered, before he squared his own shoulders, trying to stand his ground. "What's this about my brother and the Ball?"
Selene looked over to the Gryffindor table, noting George's slightly panicked expression with a smirk. "Oh, he didn't tell you?" she said, holding a hand to heart in mock shock. "Oh, what a tragedy!" Leaning forward, she placed her pale hand on the boy's shoulder, sniggering inwardly at his furious blush. "George and I… Well…"
She moved even closer, placing her lips next to the redhead's ear. "We're together," she whispered meaningfully, before moving away again. Ron's face was noticeably scarlet. "Oh! Ron, what's wrong?"
"I don't believe this," Ron replied furiously, wiping the side of his face with the sleeve of his robe. "My own brother, dating Malfoy's sister?"
Selene just shrugged, opting to remain silent, laughing inwardly at the boy's infuriation. Although she wished she could remain in the Great Hall for the fallout of her small lie, she felt that it might be best if she left before any of the sparks could hit her. "Thank you for picking up my quill, Ron," she whispered again, holding a finger to her lips. "Keep this a secret for me, alright?"
"No!" Ron exclaimed hotly, turning away and storming over to the Gryffindor table, leaving behind a very amused Selene in his wake. As she swiftly moved away from the scene, Ron's furious yells echoed after her. "George, what the hell do you think you're doing? Shagging Malfoy's sister…"
oOo
Selene was hardly surprised with the letter she received that evening, but the lack of a red envelope and smoking corners did. She lifted the letter up in her hands, delicately sniffing it, smelling the familiar scent of her mother's perfume.
Maybe Narcissa had managed to quell Lucius's temper. It certainly seemed that way, because as the letter was opened, Selene could only see the curly green cursive of her mother's handwriting - hardly the angry scribbles she had been expecting.
My dearest Selene,
Selene raised an eyebrow. A friendly greeting. A surprise in the circumstances. It seemed that her little plan hadn't fully paid off. Yet, in any case.
Your father and I are simply thrilled that you accepted Theodore Nott's proposal on Thursday-
Wait, what? Selene paused, trying to process the words, before slowly reading the line again. No, it definitely said that. Right there, in green ink. The assertion that she had done something she had no memory of hearing, let alone accepting.
The rest of the letter covered another three pages of parchment, but they remained on Selene's bed, unread, as she saw red. She was going to kill that brother of hers. How dare he do this to her? He knew her feelings on her technical betrothal to the Nott boy. Godric, he had even supported her opposition to it!
She ground her teeth, perching on the side of her bed, reading the line over and over again, just to check that there had been no mistake. But no, it was still there. The cold, hard truth, of the person her brother was.
A little, bloody bastard.