Know-It All

“You’re wrong, Harry,” Maeve crossed her arms with a sigh. She tightened her robe against the biting wind, more annoyed that Harry had dragged her outside to waste her time with a senseless theory. Harry zipped up his jacket against the cold and drew his wand, waving it between the two with the incantation Calidum Vestimenta. Maeve let out a sigh as a comforting warmth started to spread around her body and she relaxed her grip around her robe. She was surprised at Harry’s actions. It was a fairly common spell that was popular during winter Quidditch matches and Maeve thought back to why Draco didn’t offer performing the spell on her but ultimately she wondered why she didn’t perform the spell on herself.

“That’s why I came to you for advice. You know him the best,” Harry protested, slowly closing the space between him and Maeve and increasing the heat from the spell.

“Sure, but we talk about homework and assignments, not ‘hi Draco! Did you do Flitwick’s assignment? Also is your dad a Death Eater on the warpath to destroy Harry Potter?’” Maeve rolled her eyes. Even Harry couldn’t hold back a chuckle at how ridiculous the premise seemed. Harry had pulled Maeve outside past bedtime to see if she knew anything about the Malfoys’ connections to the Dark Lord and frankly, Maeve couldn’t care less. It was an issue that seemed bigger than her mind could wrap around, highlighted by how her parents always whispered about the First Wizarding War and changed the subject when Maeve asked about their involvement. Truthfully, Maeve was too scared to know more about the topic and exercised a luxury she rarely possessed: ignorant bliss.

“I guess I’m just really worried about the first task and the fact that you’re so close to, I don’t know, the enemy?” Harry shrugged, noncommittally. Maeve rested a reassuring hand on Harry’s shoulder, making him relax his tensed posture.

“I can try helping you with your task, if you have any idea what it will entail. As for Draco, it’s nothing,” Maeve confirmed, rubbing Harry’s arm in a friendly manner.

“I’ve got Professor Moody’s help on the task thank you. And I don’t know if the whole Draco thing is ‘nothing.’ I saw the way he looked at you at Honeydukes and who could ignore his swollen lip? I’m already hearing some rumors about what happened,” Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Whatever, Harry,” Maeve waved dismissively. “I’m exhausted. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Good night.”

“Good night, Maeve,” Harry bid her good bye and the second he left, the spell lost its magic and Maeve hurried back into the warm comfort of her room.

—-

The next day Maeve decided to get a head start on her Potions assignments and spend the better part of her morning and afternoon in the library before detention. Maeve rushed to the library to secure her usual study spot but when she started to write her essay on poison antidotes, she actually started a pros and cons list about Draco. After a frustratingly long ten minutes, all she had was a long list of pros and only two cons: “He can be mean to me sometimes” and “Better at me at Transfiguration.” Maeve tried writing out “I like Draco Malfoy as more than a friend” and felt so embarrassed by the proclamation on paper that she scribbled it out ferociously. She tried writing the opposite of the statement down as well, but that didn’t feel right to Maeve either. She hated when problems didn’t have clear solutions and wished that this was as easy to solve as arithmancy. Perhaps she could find a book about the magical properties of romance lazily tucked away in the start of the Restricted Section. She had to return a book anyways. Maeve shook her head, getting ahead of herself.

“You’ve written all of that for Potions already?” Someone snuck up behind her and Maeve quickly crumbled the piece of parchment that she was using. She turned around to face Draco and she felt the blood drain from her face.

“How long have you been standing there?” Maeve’s mouth felt dry from embarrassment. She had written his name in pretty big font on top of the pros and cons list and if he had been lingering there for just a second, he would’ve seen it. Maeve found no confidence in Draco’s smirk, that was a little obscured by the darkening bruise on his lips.

“Long enough to know you weren’t doing your Potions homework,” Draco said cheekily and Maeve immediately pulled out her wand to disintegrate the crumbled piece of paper to ensure that its existence was erased. This made Draco laugh and Maeve was ready to pass away from mortification. Draco pulled up a chair and settled it next to Maeve, taking a seat like he belonged there.

“I was just doodling,” Maeve lied, sheepishly pulling out a fresh piece of parchment and titled it appropriate to the Potions assignment.

“Oh, I know,” Draco hummed, unusually pleased. His words confused Maeve, but if he had any comment on her terrifying pros and cons list, he didn’t make it. He just started on his assignment without another word and Maeve shook her head, starting on hers as well. They worked in silence for the most part and Maeve was surprised that Draco was willing to spend his entire afternoon and evening with her, after previously spending his Friday night with her. She repressed the thought it was because he liked spending time with her because Draco asked her a few questions on what she was writing and corrected some of her verbiage. Maeve finalized that this was a completely normal interaction between the two of them. The two continued working in a comfortable silence. Maeve wanted to ask Draco further about the Theodore situation, but figured it would be best when he wasn’t able to escape during detention. Maeve finished her portion without difficulty and stretched out with a yawn. She noted that Draco was still on his last paragraph, biting at his quill pensively before he dipped it back into ink.

“I’m going to take a nap before detention,” Maeve announced, laying her head down on the table, staring up at Draco. He was still focused on his paper and waved his quill to let her know that he didn’t mind.

“Oh, right here?” Draco finally looked up, or rather down at Maeve’s rested head. She realized that he was probably looking at the butterfly pin he had gifted her since he avoided eye contact.

“I’ve set a timer on my watch,” Maeve closed her eyes, letting the rhythm of Draco’s breathing and etching quill lull her to sleep. Her subconscious betrayed her with a wild dream of Draco running his fingers through her hair while she kept her eyes closed and this time he was singing softly. Maeve’s watch beeped rapidly and she felt like she barely got any sleep when she shot her eyes open, touching her hair to see if it was still in its twist. To her surprise, Draco was still across from her, reading some fantasy book with a golden dragon on the cover. As he turned the next page, he glanced up over his book, turning red at the fact Maeve was already looking at him. Maeve switched off the alarm on her watch and stretched out, accidentally kicking Draco in the foot.

“What?” Draco stuck a bookmark into the page he was reading and Maeve realized he was half way through with the book already. She didn’t think she was asleep for that long.

“Did you just start that book?” Maeve asked curiously, fumbling around in her bookbag for her water bottle.

“Yeah, I saw it in the stack behind you. I figured I’d read it while you slept,” Draco shrugged, slipping the book into his bag. Maeve chewed on her bottom lip, intimidated by his reading speed.

“You wanted to watch me sleep?” Maeve teased, gathering up her belongings and gestured towards the door. Draco’s ears turned red as he stammered a reply.

“You wish,” Draco finally said, opening the door for the two of them to head towards the dungeons. Maeve chuckled. She wondered if she really wished for that. It seemed far too intimate since physical touch wasn’t all that scandalous to her. Maeve didn’t even like watching animals sleep since she felt like she was invading in a private and safe moment for the creature. She didn’t feel odd that Draco was reading next to while she slept. She actually felt it to be safe.

When the pair arrived to the Potions classroom, Professor Snape was finishing up writing two blackboards full of ingredients for them to count.

“I’m glad that the two of you appreciate the essence of time. Your task is to count the number of each of these ingredients to ensure a sufficient supply. They will be checked against my own inventory. I will be in my office grading the incomprehensible garbage your generation calls ‘assignments’ in my office. Do not bother me until your task is finished,” Snape instructed sharply. The two nodded in unison and begun a system to tally each of the ingredients.

The first half hour was conducted in silence, but Maeve started getting dizzy at recounting the bottles of newt eyes. Or was she to count each individual eye? She assumed there was a fixed number of eyes in each phial, but she made a note to check later. She stole glances over to Draco, who was engrossed in the repetitive task, ignoring that the product that usually held his blonde hair back was starting to wear off. His hair fell around his face, giving him a more relaxed look, but Maeve was focused on the dark spot on his lip.

“So, Pansy told me what happened between you and Theodore,” Maeve cleared her throat, looking back over at Draco.

“Probably inaccurate, whatever she said,” Draco said dismissively, turning his face so that Maeve couldn’t see his lip. He continued marking his sheet with tally marks.

“That he punched you because you said I was too good for him?” Maeve pressed, probably feeling bold because she was curiously inspecting a bottle of Felix Felicis mix and the placebo effect was getting to her. She thought the bottle wasn’t tightened properly and made sure to recork the phial tightly. She didn’t even know that pre-mixes could be made for potions, since most were highly volatile, but alas, one of the tasks was to document pre-mixtures.

Draco didn’t reply to Maeve, instead choked on his spit and coughed harshly. He pulled at his shirt collar and loosened his tie, still refusing to look at Maeve.

“Normally, I don’t care, but since I was the topic of the conversation-“

“Nott was just being weird, alright? And I guess he couldn’t handle the truth,” Draco finally stopped looking at his paper and stared Maeve dead in the eye. She bit her bottom lip nervously, unable to read the boy’s expression.

“You don’t have to put yourself in front of injury to defend me,” Maeve suggested gently, marking off another row of counted phials.

“That’s what friends do,” Draco said so casually Maeve almost missed it. She couldn’t hide the curling of her lips and Draco looked up with an eye roll. “Don’t look too much into that statement. I have to consider you a friend because I got punched because of you.”

“I’ll take what I can get,” Maeve grinned, earning a small chuckle from Draco.

“Whatever. Get back to your work so we can leave,” Draco chided, turning his back on Maeve. She returned to her shelf, still smiling to herself. However, her lips turned into a frown when she realized how much his words complicated things. Maeve hated turning over every one of Draco’s words in her mind looking for another meaning. She decided that she was going to ask him once and for all in the upcoming week.