A week passed.
Then two.
The beginning of the third week marked a change in Cyn's life. Draco had appeared in front of her one day, a hopeful smile on his face. For a moment or two he had looked shy and then he spoke, saying he was sorry for hurting her and then he asked for her forgiveness. After his apology he had handed her her favorite food – a chocolate éclair. She had been surprised but had accepted the éclair. Nothing had changed.
Draco was hanging around her a bit more, and Blaise and Verity had started talking to her once more. She was careful though with revealing too much, because they had abandoned her once before. What was to stop them from abandoning her again?
Nothing.
They had done it once they could easily do it again. Cyn sighed, shoving her Ancient Runes textbook across the table and grabbing a book about curses from the pile beside her. Having just finished her Ancient Runes homework, she decided that she should complete Snape's homework. With the opinion that people held of him, Cyn had expected Professor Snape to be this tyrannical teacher who assigned copious amounts of homework. Those assumptions that she had had were quite false, but from everyone's reactions they had been logical.
Honestly, she didn't see why people hated him so much. Yes, he assigned them a lot of homework and he was biased towards the Slytherins (slightly) but if you treated him with respect there was no problem. That was the thing. Many of the students – especially the Gryffindors – didn't treat him with respect of any kind, and they followed the lead of Harry Potter who always wanted to place the blame of something bad on Professor Snape. Draco dropped into the seat beside her, startling her just a little.
Cyn glanced at him and then turned her attention back to her homework.
"Hogsmeade is coming up soon," Draco said casually, "and Verity wanted to ask you to go with us."
"Just Verity?" Cyn asked.
"No, not just Verity. Blaise and I too." Draco admitted, staring at her with an intensity that she couldn't describe. "So will you come with us?"
"I can't. I have plenty of homework but thank you for the kind offer," Cyn answered cordially. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Draco scowl. She set her feather quill down, and turned to Draco. "Don't pout it's unbecoming."
"I'm not pouting," he denied a smirk pulling at his lips. "I'm just frowning." Cyn laughed a little. He stared at her. "We've missed you, you know."
Cyn looked away, tugging at the collar of her school robes. She wanted to believe his words, she really did but she couldn't forget what had happened and how easily it had happened; how easily it could happen again. Draco must have picked up on her hesitation because he stood and with one last parting glance at her, he walked out of the library. Cyn groaned, her head falling to the table.
Why did boys have to be so complicated?
Hours later, Cyn would be found walking towards the Slytherin Common Room. Curfew was approaching and the Prefects would start their patrols soon. Cyn hated the Prefects; many of them found ways to give detentions for the stupidest things – cough Hermione Granger cough – and not only that but they acted so pretentious, like they were better than everyone else. Someone cleared their throat behind her and Cyn whirled around.
Great, she sighed, it's Granger.
Undoubtedly she was the most pretentious of all the Prefects and she took her duties as a Prefect way too seriously. Cyn shifted her Ancient Runes textbook in her arms, arching a brow.
"Yes Granger is there someone you wanted?" She asked, less than friendly.
"It's almost curfew, if you don't head back to the Slytherin Common Room, I'm going to have to give you a detention and dock points." Granger answered primly, her nose in the air.
Cyn rolled her eyes, "And where did you think I was going? The kitchen?"
Granger reeled back, staring at her in surprise. "Well there's no reason to take that tone."
Cyn sighed, shaking her head and walked away from Granger. Supposedly the Gryffindor was supposed to be the "brightest witch of our age" but honestly, there were smarter witches than her like Verity, or Cyn herself. Cyn struggled with Ancient Runes but excelled in every other subject – hence why she got 11 Outstandings at Ilvermorny. Verity was also very smart. No one realized that there were other people who were just as smart if not smarter than Granger, because Granger was a know-it-all and she prided herself on that. She flaunted her intelligence where everyone else didn't.
Cyn spat the password to the door which swung open. She stalked into the Common Room, a scowl etched on her pretty features. It was a scowl which Verity immediately took notice of. She sat up, brushing an errant curl away from her face and stared at Cyn with something akin to concern on her features.
"What's wrong?" Verity asked, as Cyn sat on the couch, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Granger irks me." Cyn growled. "She's such a pretentious little bitch."
"Ouch. Harsh," Verity said. "But true. She's such a know-it-all."
Cyn nodded in agreement. It was safe to say that none of the Slytherins had a high opinion of Granger; not only was she a Muggle-born but she thought that she was better than everyone else. At least that's how it appeared. Ordinarily Cyn tried to be indifferent on the topic of Muggle-borns; she liked to treat them like they weren't outsiders and she was nice to them. But it was absolutely impossible for her to be nice to Granger; the Muggle-born witch just rubbed her the wrong way.
"It's not even curfew yet, and she cornered me as I was heading here to the Common Room. She was like, 'You know that it's almost curfew right? You better get to the Slytherin Common Room or I'll have to deduct points and give you a detention'." Cyn rolled her eyes. "I was heading towards the dungeons, where the frick did she think I was going? Outside?"
"Breathe," Verity told Cyn resting her hands on the elder girl's shoulders. "I know she's annoying, but there's no point in letting her get you worked up. You're a pureblood, and yeah she ruffles your feathers but she's insignificant. She doesn't matter."
Cyn considered Verity's words. She supposed that in the grand scheme of things, that once she left Hogwarts that she'd never see Granger again and Granger would be of no importance to her. Verity was right, Granger is insignificant,Cyn thought. Granger's just a stupid Muggle-born.
"Better?" Verity checked.
Cyn nodded, "Better."
Verity smiled. "Good."
Cyn relaxed against the couch. Maybe she could start to rebuild her relationship with Verity, Blaise, and Draco. When Granger ruffled her feathers, Verity knew what just to say to calm her down, Blaise was funny, and even though sometimes Draco was an annoying git he had been one of her first friends. Cyn fiddled with the sleeve of her robe. Yes, she decided, I'd give them another chance. But this is the last one.
It was weird, trying to get back into a set routine with Verity, Blaise, and Draco. The four of them had been estranged for quite some time and settling back into a familiar rhythm was difficult. Cyn was trying to get used to the fact that they were surrounding her again, and they were trying to get used to Cyn being the fourth member of their group, once more. But, they were slowly settling into a routine. Every morning they would gather in the Great Hall for breakfast where Draco would glower at Potter and his friends, as per usual, and Verity would tease him, while Cyn would either work on her homework or rant about that insufferable know-it-all Hermione Granger. Honestly, Cyn couldn't even see why Granger had friends. As she had stated before, Hermione Granger was a pretentious little bitch.
"Let it go," Verity counselled Cyn, as they sat at the table in the Great Hall, a few weeks after the four of them had more or less "made up".
Blaise was sitting beside Verity, while Draco had taken up residency at Cyn's side. Draco arched a brow, glancing at Cyn. "Granger is still getting under your skin?"
"How can she not," Cyn grumbled, sipping at her goblet of orange juice. "I just can't stand her. She acts like she's better than me all the time, and I hate it. Why does she not realize that there are people out there smarter than her and the world doesn't possibly revolve around her?"
"Mm, because she's a filthy Mudblood, I'd guess," Verity answered. "They aren't known for being the smartest of the bunch, despite what Granger thinks."
"Yes, well I think someone should teach her a lesson in humility."
"Someone like you?" Verity raised her brows.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Draco asked, sounding interested. "A prank?"
"I was thinking something worse than that," Cyn murmured, a devious smile curling her lips. "Pranks are a good touch, but not quite." She nudged Draco in the side at his skeptical look. "Just think of this as your way of making it up to me, after you all ditched me."
He softened, a small smile curling his lips as he nodded, "Fine." He leaned closer, his minty breath washing over her face, "What did you have in mind?"
"Listen closely," Cyn whispered. Oh Granger, you have no idea what's coming to you, she thought viciously.
