A Mockery For Your Delight

Chapter Six—

Point of View: Third Person

Location: Hogwarts

After all these crazy, rather stupid happenings, most normal, not-trapped-in-a-fanfic people would decide that all other people were stupid and commit the rest of their lives to hermit-hood. If that was how the world worked, our problems would be much fewer.

But, things being as they are, Rayne did not learn that all-important The People In This Story Are Really Stupid lesson. If she had, there would be no plot. And the importance of the plot has been reiterated at such great length by this time that it would be foolish to continue to do so. We wouldn't want the plot to get a swelled head.

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Rayne sniffed as she sat down in a far back corner of Professor Binns's classroom. She was pretty much officially withdrawn now. She hadn't seen Malfoy or Cedric for a day or two, and at this point she didn't really care. That night, after running from the dueling wizarding idiots, she had decided to give up on the male species. (This resolution won't last long. If it did, this tale would probably mutate into something girlongirl, and goodness knows who would appreciate that and who wouldn't.)

She had just resigned herself to another long day of being angstily bored when a certain sexybeast blonde sat down in the desk next to hers.

At first, she managed to ignore him quite well. This was because he hadn't done anything that required her attention.

And then he put his hand on her leg, which she really should have seen coming but somehow didn't.

Rayne covered her mouth to stifle a yelp as Malfoy squeezed her thigh. Now, the correct reaction would be to shout "FSCKYOU!" and maybe Avada Kedavra him. Instead, being the sadly stereotypical female she was, she merely squirmed away a little in her seat and remained mostly silent.

"Malfoy!" she whispered at him. "What are you doing?"

Obviously I'm getting us both all hot and bothered, Malfoy thought but did not say. He just smiled innocently.

Then the monkeys typing out the scene on their thousand typewriters got bored with the crap hormonal content and terminated the connection.

"Jinxius randomus," Rayne murmured, pointing her wand at Malfoy.

Much to her delight, Malfoy quickly removed his hand from her thigh as if burned, and for some mysterious reason crossed one leg tightly over the other, squirming a little in his seat.

Rayne faced front again and pretended to pay attention to Binns.

Location: Malfoy Manor

Lucius Malfoy smirked quietly to himself, partly because he enjoyed smirking, partly because he knew smirking made him look hot, and partly because of the letter he was holding in his hands.

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A BRIEF PAUSE.

This is the very same letter Lucius had in his pocket when Rayne was choosing her wand.

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I'm sure Draco is doing his best to seduce that strange girl, Lucius thought confidently. As long as she doesn't learn that they're engaged, everything should go according to plan…

He laughed coldly and tucked the letter back into his pocket.

And then he smirked again.

Location: Hogwarts

"Okay, so, say you think you might like two boys. Hypothetically." Rayne explained to Hermione. "What should you do to, hypothetically, figure out which one you like more?"

So much for giving up on the male species.

Hermione gave her a funny look.

"Well, me being such an incredibly smart, clear-headed person, I would suggest that you, hypothetically, write up a comprehensive and possibly alphabetized list of what you like about each hypothetical boy, and then… go on from there." Hermione turned back to the large, thick book she was reading.

Though Rayne didn't know exactly what 'go on from there' meant, she decided to take Hermione's sort-of advice and make a list.

She made a list, and found that it did not help at all. Rayne ended up burning the list. Easy solutions to boy problems a) are no fun and b) half the time don't exist anyway.

Something bad is going to happen now.

It was one of those Hogsmeade weekend things. Rayne just magically has permission to go because fiction is cool that way.

So.

Hogsmeade.

Rayne broke off from the Trio almost immediately, because they were still being OOC jerks and therefore not really good company. She had resigned herself to a pleasant (yet rather lonely) day of window shopping and wishing she had sickles and those other shiny coins to buy stuff with.

We will (or might) learn more about what happens to her later. Right now, there is going to be a… slight shift in location!

Location: The Hog's Head

Lucius waved his son over to the table he'd staked out in the far corner of the pub. They had a few important things to talk about. And a dim, dusty bar thingy was the perfect place to do so.

"Has she submitted yet?" Lucius asked Draco in a low, confidentially confident voice.

Draco looked uncomfortable.

"Not exactly," he mumbled.

"Failure is not an option," his father reminded him. "She has to be willing to marry you—"

"Before New Year's, I know," Malfoy interrupted. "Father, I don't think she's the type who would just go along with this, even if I could get her to—"

"Stop making sense!" Lucius hissed. "You know that there's no other way to continue the plot and get the special thing unless she marries you! So do it!"

With one last glare at his son, Lucius stood and strode out of the bar thingy, his long hair and cloak streaming out behind him. He left a distinct scent of expensive shampoo and cologne behind him, but the pub was almost empty, leaving no one to really enjoy it.

Now alone, Draco slumped down over the table and put his head in his hands.

Location: Somewhere on the Streets of Hogsmeade

Though it was only about mid-November, it was absolutely freezing. Rayne's nose was a somehow attractive bright red, and the nice furry coat that she had mysteriously acquired (nobody is quite sure how) was covered with snowflakes.

Then Cedric Diggory fell into step beside her.

"Hey," he said pleasantly. "How's it going?"

Rayne smiled a little, and decided to pretend she was a calm, unruffled kind of person.

"Pretty good." She told him.

"That's good. You look cold."

How sweet of him to be concerned with my health, she thought happily.

"I am," she said, and shivered.

"Look—there's a café, let me get you something," Cedric gestured at a nearby spot that looked warm.

"Umm. Sure," Rayne nodded agreeably, and followed Cedric inside.

Because she is occasionally a stupid, she thought that boys weren't all bad. However, Cedric shall slowly become the less likable love interest—proving Rayne wrong.

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Draco, hands tucked firmly in pockets and a nonchalant oh-I'm-not-looking-for-anybody-named-Rayne look on his face made his way over the cobblestones. Damn, but it was cold, almost unseasonably (and unreasonably) so. How annoying.

Then he saw her.

Them, actually.

He growled out loud when he saw Cedric and Rayne talking and laughing just inside this random café thing that was almost too cutesy for comfort. Rayne had a steaming cup of something and Cedric had a butterbeer, and as Malfoy watched, Cedric offered the bottle to her, and—she took it! That was like—like—an indirect kiss!

Oh, no way in HELL is this happening! Malfoy thought angrily and very Americanly.

Wait, wait. Calm down, he told himself a few seconds later, just as he was about to storm into the café and whisk Rayne away somewhere to do something that might not have been consensual. There's got to be a tactful way to do this that won't piss her off. Or get me arrested.

He didn't give a damn about Cedric's feelings. Screw him.

Then, he had an idea.

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Rayne thought nothing of sharing Cedric's drink, or what it probably looked like to the outside eye—Malfoy's eye, or eyes, specifically—to be seen sitting with a boy in a nauseatingly sweet little café place.

It was perhaps thirty seconds after she had had an indirect kiss with Cedric (that she was unaware of but Cedric really, really was) that Malfoy came into the café. And he didn't look angry or upset at all. Just… normal. And hot. Even though he was cold.

Then, weirdly enough, he slid in next to her at the table.

"Hey," he said cheerfully to Cedric and Rayne at the same time. "How're you two doing?"

"Fine," Rayne said warily, wondering he was going to try and feel her up soon, and, if that was the case, how she should react.

"Better before you got here." Cedric said quietly, in a warning sort of voice.

"Great!" Draco smiled warmly, mostly at Rayne. "Oh, Cedric," he added suddenly, turning to face the Hufflepuff. "Your girlfriend's waiting out in front of the Hog's Head pub. She's not too happy, either—you shouldn't've stood her up like that."

Then he cast a very, very special, silent spell under the table with his concealed wand.

And Cedric's mouth snapped shut, he nodded, and he stood up and left.

Malfoy cast another special silent spell that would prevent him from coming near the café for a long time. Special silent spells are the best kind.

Then he pretended to look very surprised when Rayne suddenly teared up a little. (Malfoys are amazing actors.)

"A girlfriend?" she asked, her voice coming out in a whisper. But hadn't Cedric… well, he'd sort of treated her like… more than a friend, hadn't he? Kind of?

"What?" Draco gasped, all innocent-like. "You didn't know?"

"N… No…" Rayne sniffed a little, completely overlooking Malfoy's suspicious niceness.

"I'm so sorry," the aforementioned suspiciously nice one said gently, reaching over to touch Rayne's cheek.

She was a bit surprised that he could be so sweet—and his skin felt pleasantly warm against hers. So she let him draw her towards him, let him wrap his arms around her, and maybe she leaned against him, maybe she inhaled that unique Draco scent and just relaxed and let him hold her…

And, in the midst of all these maybes, Rayne forgot about Cedric Diggory.

End of Chapter Six.