Viper

October 25, 1991. 11 years old

Our first month at Hogwarts had been spent with the same routine everyday; wake up (Pansy would drag me out of bed), shower, breakfast, classes, taunting the Gryffindors (you know, the usual), comforting whatever mood swing Draco decided to have that day, (also the usual), dinner, and then sleep. 

We had our fair share of laughs and pranks but there's not much excitement in being a first year besides exploring Hogwarts. I had heard rumours from older cousins that Hogwarts gets especially “fun” after fourth year. They refused to explain further than that, but I caught glimpses of them passing each other smirks, and my 9 year old brain was able to distinguish the difference between the word fun, and the word “fun. ” 

Courtesy of Pansy, we had a giant mirror of French design which hung from the wall. It had gold edges that curled and trailed down the sides, and I found myself staring at my reflection. My eyes trailed down to the clothes I was wearing. The weather outside had proved it was quite too cold for the skirt the uniform required, so I found myself in the Slytherin jumper, with black trousers and matching black boots. I reached for my robe that was hanging by the rack and shrugged it on before slipping my wand in the pocket. 

As I walked down the stairs to the common room, I heard a door close and someone racing down the stairs. “Aye! Lexie!” Blaise called out. Trailing behind him with his head down was Theo, who’s eyes looked tired as usual. He nodded his head in silence, as a greeting, and contrary to his silent hello, Blaise threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me in for an awkward side hug. 

He leaned in to kiss my cheek and I brushed him off me and said, “What got you so excited?” 

Blaise threw me a sneaky grin as he raised his eyebrow. “Ohh, nothing, Rosie.” He slid his arm around me again, as we continued walking down the stairs. Whatever Blaise was up to, was no good. He halted before we reached the bottom and twisted his head. Theo kept walking down but Blaise threw his arm out and stopped him. Theo let out a small yelp as Blaise pulled him in, and threw his free arm around his shoulders, pulling Theo closer to his sides, sandwiching himself in the middle of us. 

“You know what class we have today?” Blaise asked with a giant smirk on his face.

Theo looked at Blaise and with his eyebrow raised, face filled with confusion as to why he was asking “Defence Against the Dark Arts and Charms. Why?” 

Blaise met Theo’s gaze and as if possible, his eyes lit up even more. “You know what that means right? Accidentally throwing curses at Quirrell and seeing him lose his marbles.” Blaise broke out into laughter and Theo attempted to hide the laugh that was forming in his throat. 

Professor Quirrell was very strange. He seemed to have some sort of speech impediment, which was the underlying cause of his constant stuttering. I had attempted Legilimency on him when he wasn't paying attention, and was greeted with thoughts. His mind was so cluttered, you couldn't find your way through it. His classroom was a complete mess, not to mention he also had this weird purple turban wrapped around his head, which was definitely not a custom close to wizard folk. I had no idea who this bloke was, and when I got home I was definitely going to consult with my parents about Dumbledore’s poor choice of staff. 

Me and the boys just used his class as a way to goof off and potentially laugh at Crabbe and Goyle, who were lacking in the spell department. 

Blaise had an affinity for causing chaos and he had found his new target of the year. He loved to get on Quirrell’s nerves. At first, Blaise would throw jinxes at us and would manage to do it so sneakily, he would never get caught. He soon decided to attempt his hand at Quirrell, and until now, Professor Quirrell refused to have his back turned to the class. 

We reached the couches and Blaise threw himself on one, sprawling his abnormally long limbs for an 11 year old. He filled up the entire couch, and forced me to share the one across with Theo. I sat down and draped my legs over Theo’s lap. Theo’s eyes met mine and shot me an annoyed look. Although his expression feigned annoyance, he did not remove my legs as he opened his book and started reading.

A coffee table was in the middle of the two couches, and on top was a tiny ball. Blaise wasted no time in grabbing it and throwing it in the air before balancing it with his wand. He made it twirl in the air and would raise it up and down, simultaneously looking bored, but also intrigued. 

The door opened to the Slytherin Common Room and strutted in Pansy Parkinson. She turned her head to see if she could find any familiar faces. Her eyes landed on Daphne Greengrass who sat down on one of the chairs near the fireplace. She started walking toward Daphne, before Blaise threw the floating ball at her. It hit the back of her head and she rapidly turned around. A blush was forming on her freckled cheeks, no doubt from anger and embarrassment. She quickly reached her hands up to her hair and patted down her sleek black locks, before bending down picking up the ball and stomping toward the couch we were seated on. 

“What the hell, Blaise!” Her high pitched voice sounded through the area. She threw the ball at Blaise’s face and he moved his head to the side right on time as he dodged it.

Blaise couldn't help but laugh at the sight of her angry. She pushed his legs off the couch and settled in next to him. Blaise shot her a similar look to the one Theo gave me earlier, before going back to his cheerful self. He studied her from head to toe before speaking with a mask of fake concern. “What's wrong, Pans? Did I hurt you?”

Pansy looked at him like she was about to throw a book at him. Pansy absolutely hated being embarrassed. She was awfully vain and the thought that people could catch her off guard was enough to cause a whole hissy fit. Her pureblood ideals ran deep. They were practically embedded into her skin. And Blaise took notice of this, and would constantly try to exploit her. As much as we would argue with one another, there were no hard feelings. We grew up with each other, all of us were our parents’ only children, and the teasing we did was the closest we got to mimicking a siblings bond.

Pansy let out a low growl. “As if you could hurt me.” She rolled her eyes and summoned a mirror, as she looked at herself, paying close attention to her hair. 

Blaise let out a sigh and shook his head. “Oho, Pans. In all the years I've known you, you've never once faltered from your typical self-infatuated persona.” 

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs got louder. Draco now stood at the bottom, looking for us. His eye caught Theo’s and he walked over with a small, close-lipped smile.  

“Boys” He addressed, clapping Theo on the shoulder before pushing Blaise to the side of the couch to sit next to him and Pansy. 

Pansy rolled her eyes. “Do we look like boys to you?” She waved a hand between me and her.

Draco’s unbothered expression did not falter as he said “Well Pans, with your mustache hairs coming in, I really couldn't tell the difference.” 

Her expression faltered, the worry was evident in her eyes. But she slipped on a mask of coolness. “At least I can grow a mustache. No one likes your baby-face Malfoy.” She sneered.

Draco let out a small scoff and turned his attention to Blaise. “Wanna ditch them and go get breakfast?” 

Blaise stood up and brushed his robes. “You read my mind.” 

Draco looked at Theo, who clearly hadn't heard him. “Nott, you coming?” 

Theo looked up from his book. “Huh? Oh no. I’ll meet you there.” He waved them off and went back to reading.

Blaise turned to leave and shot me a wink as he left the common room. 

Pansy took this as her cue to leave. She treaded back up the stairs to our dorm room, and I knew for a fact it was so she could go see the so called mustache Draco had been talking about. Draco’s crude remarks always had a different effect on Pansy compared to Blaise’s.

With the three of them gone, it just left me and Theo. Theo didn't talk as he continued reading the book, absentmindedly pulling the laces of my boots. I spotted an all too familiar face on the cover of the prophet which was laid out on the table, and I couldn't help reaching for it. “Harry Potter in Hogwarts.” The bold letters in the title flashed brightly at me. I skimmed over the article that Rita Skeeter couldn't help but write, and I cringed. This was embarrassing. But she did seem to boast about him being a Gryffindor seeker, which probably boosted his ego. It talked about his first ever Quidditch match and I continued flipping through the other pages of the article, reading a couple which caught my eye before my stomach let out a loud noise. I ignored it, until it got louder and I felt the hunger creep up on me.

Theo’s bushy eyebrows were furrowed as he took the information on the page, I almost felt bad to disturb him, but I knew I had no other choice. “Theooo.” I whined. He looked up from the book to see that my laces were undone and quickly fixed them. “Can we go get food?” I asked with a shy smile on my face.

He softly nodded his head and got up. We left the common room and walked down to the Great Hall in silence. When we reached the table, I noticed Blaise and Draco in a heated conversation about some 5th year Slytherin girls they found hot. 

“Honestly Blaise, do you not think of anything else?” I asked while reaching to grab toast.

Blaise let out a shrug. “A man has needs.” 

“I wouldn't call you that.” 

“Oh please, you're jealous that I'd never look at you that way.” He teased.

I pretended to gag as I looked back at him. “I'm not a mudblood for me to wish you'd look my way. I bet Granger over there wets her knickers thinking about you. Besides, I could flash you my tits and you'd come running.”

Blaise’s trademark smirk drew on his face. His smirk was much more different than Draco's. When Blaise would smirk, it would mean trouble. “I could have sworn I heard knocking on my door last night. Was it you who was outside? I swear on Merlin’s beard I could hear you begging.” 

Draco lost his control and burst out laughing. “Zabini, you're too old to be having wet dreams.” I retorted.

“Dreams come true, you know.” Draco said as he winked at me.

“Shut up.” I said and shoveled my food in my mouth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pansy met me in the Great Hall before we made our way down to Quirrell’s classroom. I noticed her upper lip was red and concluded she practiced a hair removal charm. The classroom was quite big compared to the other rooms. There were three isles, on the right and left end of the room were rows of desks made to seat 2 students. In the middle of the room were a couple rows of tables meant to seat three. The room had an archway which connected to the practice room. 

Pansy and I walked toward the table in front of Theo and Blaise and sat down. I noticed Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were in the middle row whispering about something when Professor Quirrell walked in. His shoulders were raised high as his eyes darted around the classroom nervously, making sure the students were all there, (secretly hoping for Blaise to not be.) As his eyes landed on the Slytherins, he let out a sigh and clapped his hands together. “T-t-today we will be working on the Knockback Jinx. The incantation is Flipendo .” I turned my head to face Blaise and could practically see the gleam in his eyes. Professor Quirrell continued in showing the wand movements and instructing us to demonstrate. After a couple minutes of instruction and painful stuttering, he said, “Please p-pair up with the person s-seated next to you and g-g-get to work.” 

There was a muffled choking sound that rang throughout the classroom and I immediately turned my head to see Blaise and Draco red in the face with their hands clasped over their mouths. To my surprise, Theo also sat there with his hand hovering above his brow, keeping his head down. The ghost of a smile tainting his lips. If Quirrell uttered another word, Blaise’s chair was going to be sent backwards with the way he was laughing. Him and Draco kept making eye contact and failing to conceal their muttered laughter.

We left the boys there laughing and went to the practice room. Pansy led the way toward the corner where mats were placed on the wall. She looked up at me and her eyes went soft. “I know you're good at jinxes, but please go easy on me. I just fixed my hair, and I'm having a rough morning.” 

If having a rough morning meant getting a ball thrown at your head then life was certainly tough. But as I felt myself contemplating on the force I'd use to throw her back, I realized I didn't have the heart or patience for that matter to deal with Pansy being mad at me. I looked toward the side and lazily waved my wand as I said the incantation, “Flipendo.” Pansy was thrown back a couple feet but wasn't knocked off her feet. 

I let her have an attempt at me, and she succeeded on the first try, earning an unexpected praise from Professor Quirrell. Pansy smiled and I let her have another go. She succeeded once again and earned 5 points for Slytherin. After getting thrown back a couple times, Pansy seemed to have blown off her steam and stood in front of me. She let her arms out and stood in a defeated stance. “Alright Lexie. Give me your worst.” 

Just as I was about to cast the spell, I was sent toward the wall by Blaise who came running toward us, with Draco and Theo running behind him, cheerful, idiot grins on their faces. Since I was unexpecting the jinx, I hit my head on the wall before sliding down to the floor. “Merlin’s left nutsack, Zabini!” I cursed and got up rubbing my head.

I broke out in a fast-walk to go grab Blaise by his robes and jinx him but he avoided me and quickly ran to stand behind a random table. “Ah ah ah. Don't touch me!” 

Blaise thought he was safe but then I sent the Knockback Jinx his way and he felt himself colliding with the wall behind the table. It wasn't with as much force but he still deserved it. He pushed himself off the wall and gave me a hug. He pulled me close to him and whispered, “Watch what I'm about to do to Quirrell.” 

I pushed away from him and we made our way to the center of the room. Quirrell was currently standing in the archway that led back to the classroom. “Alright. Draco, you know what to do?” Blaise asked.

Draco nodded his head. “I swear to Merlin, Zabini. If you miss and hit me, I will tell our owl to take a shit on your head next time it delivers mail.” Draco's threat went unnoticed as Blaise just clapped a hand on Draco’s shoulder and Draco went to stand a couple feet directly in front of Professor Quirrell. 

“Oh no. Theo please tell me he's not planning something.” Pansy said, raising an accusatory eyebrow. 

Theo laughed. “Yes he is. Just watch.” Theo went to go stand in one of the corners nearby peeking his head out to survey the coast. 

Pansy stood with her arms crossed waiting to see what sort of plan Blaise concocted. Theo stuck his head out and pointed a thumbs up and tucked himself back in the corner. Draco started to smile and Blaise could barely contain himself. Blaise looked over Draco’s shoulder, and noticed Quirrell was spaced out, watching the other students.

Blaise gave Draco a thumbs up, and then pointed his wand right over Draco’s shoulder. Blaise was quite a skilled wizard, but his aim was incredible. He had near impeccable aim, and always won us during our training, based on the accuracy of his spells. He made eye contact with Draco one more time before “ Flipendo .” His jinx flew right past Draco’s ear and hit Professor Quirrell right in the chest.

Quirrell was sent flying back into one of the desks in the classroom with a wail of pain. “Sorry Professor! Must have not aimed correctly!” Blaise called out with a smug grin.

Theo and Draco fell to the floor in laughter while me and Pansy were holding onto each other to not burst into more fits of giggles. The sound of a desk scraping against the floor was heard as Quirrell walked back limping, and his back arched.

“All good, Zabini.” His eyes darted to Blaise and scowled. 

“Sorry Professor, let me try again.” Blaise stood and aimed his wand at Draco. I turned my head and noticed Quirrell bolted out the way and stood with his arms crossed. The jinx was cast and Draco flew back. Blaise turned to look at Professor Quirrell and said, “Got my aim right. Hope the desk didn't get damaged.” 

Quirrell definitely noticed Blaise’s absolute carelessness towards him. “N-n-no d-damage was done,  Zabini.” Quirrell lowered his head and Blaise shot him a charming smile.

He turned back to us and winked. “And that is how you do it.” He bowed and I rolled my eyes.

“I haven't been able to practice my jinx. Who wants to be my test subject?” I said, and the boys ran around the corner. Crabbe had remained and Goyle was now behind him. I set my hand on his shoulder. “No hard feelings.” I shot him a smile. “Flipendo.” And Crabbe went flying back, barely missing Goyle on the way. 

I put my wand in my robe’s pocket and exited the practice room triumphantly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple days later was Halloween. We had been told there is a special feast in regards to the Holiday. When we walked into the Great Hall that morning we noticed the floating jack-o-lanterns that hadn't been lit yet. 

Blaise took a long sniff, his nostrils flared as he said “Ahhh,  I love the smell of Halloween.” 

Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle, were trying to harass other students in honor of the holiday. The other houses would run the other way when Draco would show up. I found it quite pathetic considering he was all talk. Crabbe and Goyle were the ones who would try to actually inflict bodily harm. But even they were hesitant, and just did it for laughs.

These days I found myself spending more time with Pansy, Theo, and Blaise, since Draco’s escapades were too much to handle, and I felt myself bored in the presence of Crabbe. Even though Goyle lacked basic knowledge and was actually quite thick in the skull, he could keep up a conversation on other topics.

“Why? So you can dress up?” Theo asked innocently.

Pansy looked at Theo. “Blaise doesn't need a mask. His face is ugly enough.” 

Blaise poked Pansy in the arm. “Ouch. You wounded my soul. Can I have a kiss to feel better?” He puckered his lips and leaned in to Pansy who made a disgusted face and Blaise’s lips crashed onto her hand. 

“I wouldn't kiss your slug lips even if you threw galleons at me.” She turned around, her short bob whipped and she made her way to Daphne Greengrass and Milicent Bullstrode. Blaise looked down at his feet for a second before snapping out of it and coming with me and Theo to eat. 

Halloween was mine and Draco’s favorite holiday growing up. It was also the only holiday we could call our own, since New Year was reserved for Narcissa Malfoy’s Annual New Year’s Gala, and Christmas was a formal event with our cousins and other pureblood families. Me and Draco would sneak off into Diagon Alley and have a couple butterbeers before attempting to scare people. 

Our parents would then proceed to scold us for behaving like children, (keep in mind that we in fact were) and then would “forbid” us from doing it again. That never worked, and we managed to continue to do it every year. 

Now, it was our first Halloween at Hogwarts and Draco was nowhere to be found. 

“Where’s Draco?” Theo asked.

I didn't notice I was picking at my food. “According to Blaise, he's out scaring people with Crabbe and Goyle.” 

Blaise looked at me and noticed the hidden annoyed tone in my voice and raised an eyebrow at me. I dismissed his look and continued to eat. For some reason the food felt bland in my mouth and I just couldn't bring myself to finish my plate of scrambled eggs. 

I pushed my plate aside and got up. “I'm going to class. I'll meet you there.” I left before they could say anything.

I walked toward Professor Snape’s classroom alone. I don't know what triggered this response from me. It's not like I was upset about Draco’s behavior or friends but he was acting strange. Potter had done a number on him. And it was only the first year. If it's this bad now, I can't imagine how worse it will get. 

My attention was off somewhere else when I bumped into someone. “Oh shit.” I looked up from the floor and saw the eyes of Harry Potter looking at me. “Sorry.” I mumbled and tried to go around him but he wouldn't budge.

His eyes were filled with his typical judgmental stare and we stood there looking at each other. “Lexie, right?” 

I had to blink a couple times to make sure he was actually talking to me. “It's Rosier to you, Potter.” 

He was taken aback by my boldness and casually took a step back. “Right. Sorry. I'll get out your way.” He moved his body to the side and I brushed past him, making sure my shoulder lightly touched his but hard enough for him to be pushed. 

He had been acting weird since the day I saw him in Madam Malkin’s. He always had a dumb confused expression on his face and it never seemed to falter. His friends were not much different either. Mudblood and Weasley had their own dumb expressions written across their faces. Well, Weasley was actually dumb, his face wasnt any different. The mudblood on the other hand…

Draco couldn't believe his eyes after we found out who she was. He literally was fuming. His blood prejudice ran deeper than mine. “Muggleborn?” His eyebrows raised far into his hairline. “Mudblood? You're telling me they let a Mudblood into Hogwarts?!” Me, being the good friend I am, sat down and listened to his 30 minute lecture. “Surely they can kick her out? Wait until father hears about this. He’ll complain about the filth Dumbledore’s dragged in and they’ll kick her out. And sack him while theyre at it!” I had just rolled my eyes and let him continue, there was no point in telling him his fathers attempts were useless. 

Glancing at the clock above, I realized I had some time to spare. I walked to the washroom near the dungeons. I had to make sure my uniform wasn't tampered with, or my hair for that matter. One could never be too careful around Blaise.

I glanced at myself and saw everything was fine and washed my hands before returning back to class. When I reached the classroom I noticed Professor Snape wasn't in yet, and neither were most of the Slytherins. My eyes darted around the classroom, but found no sight of Blaise, Draco, Theo, or the others. My eyes landed on my usual table, but much to my surprise it was occupied. As I walked in through the doorway I noticed who it was. “You gotta be kidding me.” 

Muttering to myself like a madman, I walked to the table. Before even reaching the table, I started to talk. “Can I know what you're doing here?” 

Potter turned around and a ghost of a smile lingered on his face. “I go to school here.” 

Sarcastic bastard. “You're sitting at my table.” The tone in my voice was definitely higher than usual, and he didn't fail to notice it.

“Technically, it's Snape’s table.” He turned around, his back facing toward me, and continued to write on the paper Snape assigned last week. I walked over to the front of the desk and slammed my hands on his parchment, smearing a couple lines of ink.

“Leave.” I demanded.

His eyes met mine. “You just smeared my ink.” 

“I'm about to rip your essay if you don't move.” My brows raised, attempting the best scary look I could muster. 

But he didn't budge. So, I did the next best thing. I threw his bag to the floor and pushed the parchments aside and sat down in my rightful spot. His eyes looked me up and down. “What are you doing?” 

“I'm sitting at my table. If you have a problem you can leave.” I threw him a fake smile and he gave me back an annoyed look but shifted his attention to his ruined parchment. 

After a few minutes, Draco walked in and his eyes darted to mine. His jaw dropped. “Merlin's beard!” 

Draco walked to his and Blaise’s table, glaring daggers at me the entire time. He came and took a seat a bit far from me, but would refuse to look at me. His eyebrows were raised, and a scowl made its home on his face. Class had started and he kept whispering things to Blaise. 

After about 10 minutes of Snape talking, I couldn't handle the feeling of Draco attempting to prod in my mind. I turned my head to face his, and looked into his eyes. “ You need to work on your Legilimency skills. I could feel you poking around in my mind.” 

I could have sworn I heard a scoff, but Draco’s voice invaded my mind. “ Maybe you should become a better Occlumens. What the fuck are you doing with him?” 

“Found him seated at my desk. I demanded him to leave but he wouldn't budge, and I wasn't about to compromise.” 

Potter’s friends had been looking toward Harry and mouthing words, trying to understand why I was sitting next to the Gryffindor. Harry just shook his head, which didn't do anything to solve their confusion. Or Draco’s for that matter. 

“Traitor.” Draco snarled.

“Shut up you albino. You ditched me.” 

“That's what this is about?” 

“Miss Rosier and Mr. Malfoy, if you keep staring at each other, you will not learn anything. Detention!” Snape spoke loud and clear and the Gryffindors, including Potter sniggered. 

Snape had definitely figured out what we were doing, he wouldn't have given us detention if it was simply staring. “ I'll talk to you after class.” I told Draco and withdrew from his mind.

Class went by, and I had remained silent the entire period. Harry didn't say anything to me, and I sure as hell wouldn't have said anything to him. I packed my stuff as soon as Snape dismissed us and tried to leave but Snape caught me. “Not so fast. Do you have any idea what you did?” His slow monotone voice questioned me.

I flipped my hair back. “Relax, no one knows.” I brushed it off trying to leave as soon as possible.

Snape raised an eyebrow. “Relax?” He looked down at me. “That's no way to talk to a Professor. If you perform an act like that in front of any other teacher, I guarantee you they will know what you're doing.” His tone dropped an octave as he continued to speak. “We cannot have another issue like that at Hogwarts!” 

I immediately knew who he was talking about. Voldemort. Well, at the time he was Tom Riddle, but nonetheless I knew. I figured it would be a bad time to mention that this wasn't the first time I did something like this and I certainly wasn't going to tell him how I invaded Quirrell’s mind. Along with the minds of other students on multiple occasions. So, I told him “I won't do it again.” and turned to leave. 

Snape interrupted my exit again as he said, “Tell Malfoy he’s expected alongside you on Sunday night. You will be demonstrating The Draught of Living Death, and if you fail to do so properly, I'll make sure your training hours are doubled.” Snape didn't miss a beat in his scolding. I just nodded my head and left, running to catch up to Draco.

After what seemed like hours, I found the familiar blonde head I'd been looking for. He was sitting in the Great Hall, already at the feast, alongside Pansy and the others. I pushed Pansy aside and sat down next to Draco. “You arse!” 

Draco turned to look at me. “Excuse me?” 

“You heard me, Malfoy. Now we have detention with Snape on Sunday and he threatened that if we don't have our potion perfected, he will double our training hours all because you couldn't avoid prodding into my mind!”

“Lexie, shut up, you're loud.” Pansy interrupted and I looked her up and down before flipping her off and turning back to Draco.

Draco crossed his arms. “If you didn't have the urge to become Potter’s bestie, maybe I wouldn't have.”

“You're so quick to jump to conclusions, Malfoy. Too bad you're slow in other departments. Hanging out with Crabbe and Goyle is surely doing a number on you.” 

He let out a huff of annoyance before retorting back, “Didn't take you for the jealous type, Lex.”

Blaise coughed and I felt a blush creep up onto my neck. “Sod off Malfoy. Or I'll actually become besties with your beloved Potter.”

I didn't miss Draco’s obvious eyeroll, and neither did Pansy who looked all too proud. “Be my guest.” He said, and turned his back to me. 

In an attempt to forget about what just happened, I grabbed my plate and filled it with food and angrily started to eat. After taking my first bite I realized that I was completely starved. I began to stuff my mouth as I ate in silence once again. Pansy and Theo were talking about something, and Draco was engaging in conversation with the other Slytherins.

My silent little bubble burst, as was everyone else's when Professor Quirrell ran in. All eyes darted to the running man as he exclaimed, “Troll! Troll in the Dungeon! I just saw it! It went… It w-went.” And a loud thud filled the Great Hall as Professor Quirrell fainted to the floor.

Within seconds, everyone started to scream and run around frantically. The students were all rushing toward the door to the hallways before Dumbledore loudly yelled “SILENCE!” The hall went so quiet that you could hear a needle drop. The students stopped in their tracks and Dumbledore’s voice shifted back to his calm, dreamy tone as he attempted to get the students to listen. “Do not panic! Prefects escort the students to their dormitories. Teachers, follow me into the dungeons.” 

Draco yanked me up by my arm and dragged me before I could take another bite. We fell into line behind the other Slytherins and made our way to our rooms. 

The Common Room was packed and we pushed our way through the Slytherins. We went to the arm chairs and chaise lounge in front of the fireplace and settled in. I took out some work for Transfigurations and started on it. The others followed in suite and after a couple minutes of working, Blaise had started peering over the chair to look at my parchment. He wasn't even hiding his attempts to cheat. “Eyes on your own parchment, Zabini.” I scolded, and yanked the paper out away from his reach.

He turned to look at Theo who was on the rug next to him. “Hey.” He nudged him. Theo looked up and rolled his eyes, but took the hint and showed him his parchment, and Blaise took no time to start copying it. 

We spent the next couple hours working on our Transfiguration and Potions work before calling it a night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up in the afternoon. It had been really late when I retired to bed last night, and I let exhaustion lull me to sleep. There were no classes today, (thank Merlin.) I moved my pillow to cushion my back and sat up. My eyes darted around the dorm to see Pansy’s bed made, and empty, per usual. 

After shrugging on some warm clothes, I went down the stairs to the Common Room to see Blaise and Marcus Flint in a serious conversation. Blaise’s mouth was dropped to the floor and Flint had his permanent sneer etched onto his face as he told Blaise something.

Blaise and Flint had spent a lot of time growing up together. Their mother’s were close friends, and would often invite each other for tea. Flint would tell Blaise all the gossip, and was a reliable source of information to our group. 

I slowly approached the two boys and sat down on the chair next to Blaise. “Alexandria.” Marcus nodded in my direction.

“Flint.” I said, earning a ugly smile.

He tapped Blaise on the shoulder and told him he’d catch him later, and walked away. Blaise immediately turned back to me, his expression uncertain. “What was that about?” I asked.

“You will not believe who defeated the troll last night.” Blaise had a way of over exaggerating things.

I was about to ask him who it was, before Draco walked toward us. “Let me guess, Harry Potter?

Blaise immediately started to smile and his eyebrows raised. He nodded his head slowly, his grin getting bigger. “Yup.” He pursed his lips as he popped the last letter of the word. Draco’s signature irritated expression made its way home on his face again as he said “Not possible.” 

“No way.” I couldn't help my own smile forming, purely out of shock.

Blaise shrugged his shoulders. “Why would I lie?"

Draco rolled his eyes. “Because you're a liar, Zabini. You flip the truth as often as you get a chance.”

“First of all, no I don't. Second, shut up. You're just jealous you didn't get to be a part of his glory.” Blaise retorted.

“Why would I want to defeat a troll to save a Mudblood, Zabini? Surely you don't think that low of me?” He cocked his head to the side.

“Well mate, I don't know. You seem to be really hung up on that Potter bloke.” Blaise shrugged.

A huff of annoyance and anger left Draco, as he turned to me and said, “There. You're precious Potter defeated a troll. I bet you're practically creaming yourself.” 

I grabbed him by his collar and my hand met his cheek with a sound that echoed through the room. Blaise let out a gasp and I didn't waste any time in speaking. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!” My face had turned red and I could feel my skin heating as I hit him again. “You need to control your fucking self.” I pushed him back.

Draco just stood there with his eyes wide. His cheek had become red from where I slapped him. His hand flew to the red mark in the shape of my hand. “Fuck off, Lexie.” He pushed past me and tried to leave the common room before I ran in front of him.

I crossed my arms across my chest. “I don't know what has gotten into you, Draco,  but you're acting like a real bitch lately.” I spat and shoved his shoulder before bolting out the common room, raging.