Chapter 15: The hidden Serpent
Medea
When I entered the Great Hall Lestrange got up so I would sit next to Tom. I had started to dread and look forward to this every day. I sat down and without looking up from his newspaper, he handed me the strawberries. Egg and Toast already on my plate, just like every morning since we agreed to play the couple. I regretted this decision almost inmediately.
While he was sitting next to me an urge to touch him washed over me. It felt like gravity was pulling me towards him and I hated it. Feeling like I would lose control sooner or later, I tried not to touch him as little as possible. He kept his distance as well, yet every single time we would feel the other ones skin (intentional or not) an unfamiliar sensation came over me.
I had hoped that spending more time with him could cure me, make him just like the others. Unfortunately it had the opposite effect.
The school had accepted it as a fact that we were seemingly a couple and because the girls were afraid of me and the boys of him nobody bothered us. Slughorn would beam as soon as he caught a glimpse of either of us.
Druella Rosier, the reason we even did this, was not in a great shape.
She's had a serious of odd accidents, for instance a nasty encounter with the Giant Squid. Annis told me that Druella was obsessed with her weight, so she miracously gained 20 pounds. This made her thin-skinned and snap at her friends, who tried to get away from her. She was the only one who still dared to glare at me.
Her brother on the other hand could not even look into my eyes, none of them could, except for Mulciber. Sometimes he'd give me a pitying look.
When Tom's arm suddenly brushed mine it sent shivers down my spine.
I need to end this farce, I thought.
Tom
As I was patrolling the third floor, there she stood, leaning against the wall. This was not the first moment I was glad Druella and I had split up.
"You shouldn't be out after curfew," I said with a smirk. She answered only with a sneer.
But then she said: "I need to talk to you, so I figured after curfew was the safest option."
"Now I am curious."
She gestured to the door next to her, a girls bathroom.
I rolled my eyes at her. "You are not serious, are you?"
She only laughed lightly. "It will be our secret, I promise." Opening the door, she waited for me to go first.
Heavily sighing I entered and heard her close the door behind us. I stopped in the middle of the room and she walked slowly towards the row of sinks, leaning against them.
"You have my full attention, Crane." I gave her a measuring look and realised that her face was a porcelain mask, her eyes relentless.
"Druella Rosier has lost her friends, her confidence and her reputation. I think it's enough. Even though I don't believe the official version, that she was put under the Imperius curse or obliviated before the centaurs scared off the intruders, she suffered enough for the love potion."
"If you think so. Was that all?" I understood what she meant and yet I was still confused. She didn't have to sneak out to tell me that, a quick word after class would have sufficed.
"That would of course make our agreement unnecessary, we can end this little act now."
Her words sank in slowly and while I was still processing their meaning, she was pushing past me to the door.
Without thinking first, I held out one arm to stop her.
Anger rose in me and my hand settled on her shoulder, turning her to face me.
I didn't know what to say, so I just looked at her. Her body was so close that I could feel the heat it radiated. Her big green eyes were fixed on me, boldly. There was only one word I wanted to say.
"No."
She raised an eyebrow and my heart stopped for a beat. The last weeks had only proved to me that it was best for us to be a team. Even though it felt strange at first, being so close to her, this odd feeling pulling us towards each other. I knew she felt it, too. She had to.
Before I could stop myself, my lips were on her's, one hand buried deep in her hair.
She put up a fight for a few seconds, before giving in. Her smell and the taste of her lips were intoxicating. The kiss grew more passionate and I could feel her body lean into mine. My lips trailed to her neck and she pulled me even closer. One hand on the side of her face I drank in her soft skin and silky hair. Just for one short moment our eyes met as we were nose to nose, both breathless. They burned with longing, for once they showed what she truly felt.
We clung to each other, unable to let the other go. Her touch left a burning sensation behind and an unknown feeling was building up in my chest, a desire to stay like this for as long as possible. She was breathtakingly beautiful and the force this realisation hit me with was beyond anything I had ever experienced. One arm now around her waist, the fingers of my other hand caressed her cheek. Our kisses were now getting slower, while she sent shivers down my spine through the way her hands felt on my back and in my hair.
Our foreheads were touching, when she whispered: "This is not right." Her words resulted in a heavy weight pressing against my sternum from within.
She was suddenly pulling back from me, going to the row of sinks, laying her hands on either side of one.
"Why?" I followed her with quick steps. Then standing behind her, I grabbed her shoulders and made her look at me in the mirror.
What I saw was familiar, an aversion to trust and relying on anybody.
"Think about what we could achieve together. You and I. This is no coincidence, Crane."
I burried my nose in her hair, inhaling her scent. She smelled of the ocean and something I couldn't quiet identify.
Her head was resting against my shoulder, eyes closed.
She took a deep breath and after a few seconds her eyes fluttered open again.
She was moving slightly, the tone of her voice alarmed me.
"Tom."
She swallowed hard.
"There is something engraved on the tap. Look."
She stepped aside, so I could examine it. A serpent, without a doubt. Why would it be here? Could it be used as a kind of signpost?
"What is your purpose ?" Medea spoke those words in parsel and oddly enough the row of sinks started to move. She turned around, casting several silencing charms on the door and locking it.
We were now standing at what looked like an entrance. Medea's gaze met mine and I grabbed her wrist before she could go first.
"Let me," I said. After all, I was a descendant of Slytherin and who knew what was waiting for us down there.
