Roulette
The very next week, Y/N's precious book was hand delivered to Draco Malfoy's desk right before Arithmancy with Professor Vector. The Slytherin sent a look at Y/N who winked back at him knowingly. Now that she had no worry for the safety of her prized possession, the girl was much more content with her bet.
Granted, the girl could've given Malfoy the book the day after their fateful bet, but the young L/N was still a simple teenage girl with priorities. Like schoolwork, setting the blonde Slytherin girl's robes on fire, tattooing a permanent bite mark onto the unknown quidditch boy's hand, studying with Hermione, convincing Ginny, Caroline, and Hermione to switch where they hung out to the quad where Cedric hung out, reading in the library. The usual.
Let's be completely honest now. The bet had evaded Y/N's mind entirely until the night before her next meeting, and the girl had resorted to breaking into the library to retrieve the book of spells she'd needed days ago. Falling out of her bed and tripping out of the portrait hole on her journey to the library in her old bunny pajamas was certainly nowhere near any of Y/N's proudest moments. Truly, procrastination at it's finest.
"Mister Malfoy. I recommend you put that book away before I confiscate it," Professor Vector's sharp voice echoed.
Curious gazes were thrown at the spotlighted boy who stuffed the text into his bookbag and cursed out at anyone close enough to fall victim to his foul words. Hermione had asked about the smile that her friend attempted to obscure behind her robe sleeves, and Y/N had said nothing of it. After all, how could Y/N tell her bushy-haired companion that she found it cute how quick Malfoy was to jump at the tale of two lovers?
Later that gloomy, cold afternoon, the girl was accompanied to the library by Harry, who had still not quelled his frustration from the Pansy fiasco weeks ago. At the very least, Y/N allowed her ever loyal friend to walk with her.
Then he'd asked how much longer Y/N would have to meet with the Slytherin. The girl bit harshly into her lip out of guilt. Well truthfully, her rendezvous with Draco might never stop that year if-or more accurately, when- she won her bet.
"Two more weeks," she muttered quietly. "Almost done with the project."
The two came to a quiet halt in front of the grand doors of the library, and Y/N agreed to regroup with her friends in the common room. Because really, where else would the Gryffindors regroup? The Slytherin common room?
The library was much darker than usual that day and the following weeks after that. The loss of sight just happened to be one of the many downsides to using torches and lanterns as a source of light around their school. As the girl glanced at the many windows that accompanied her path, she'd come to realize that a storm would be arriving at Hogwarts soon, bringing along shadowy clouds and gloomy weather.
Malfoy was the striking image of how she'd seen him for the first meeting. However, the boy was far more ensnared in the mini Shakespearian universe than he was in what lay outside the dust covered windows of their school.
In fact, the boy had been quite consumed by his dainty little book all day. It hadn't been Y/N's intention to eavesdrop on the Slytherins on their merry way to ancient ruins that afternoon, but she couldn't help but catch the words of a fretting Parkinson. An excitement in being the only student in Hogwarts to know the reason behind Malfoy's sudden infatuation with reading brewed deep within the girl. Though it was extremely plausible that the boy had been a closeted bookworm from the beginning.
"It fits, when such a villain is a guest: I'll not endure him," Malfoy snarked as he lifted his head with a smirk.
'Damn it Malfoy, why must you be so dramatic?' Y/N mused to herself. "He shall be endured," she recited off the top of her head. "Am I the master here? Or you?"
"You skipped a line," he commented as the girl settled across him. She only smiled softly as she sent him yet another knowing look. Without a doubt, the girl was going to win that bet if she had him quoting lines so freely.
"Shall we begin?"
The boy set the book with a gentleness Y/N knew not of from Malfoy. "If we must," he sighed, annoyed.
Consequently, the rest of their little meeting went smoothly without a hitch. To her great surprise, when the girl asked about specific ingredients, the boy would answer with a question about the piece instead. The girl believed it to be quite a fair agreement. She would pick at his silver brain about the ways of potions and in turn, the Slytherin would pick at Y/N's brain about the details of Romeo and Juliet's tragic tale-though mostly questions about the Shakespearean language.
By the end of their quaint little session, the girl had discovered an impossible little secret: Draco Malfoy wasn't so bad.
Although, she did find it strange how two-sided the Slytherin could be at times. Somehow Lady Luck had cast quite the unfortunate spell, allowing Y/N to see both the ugly and not so ugly sides of the Slytherin enigma. One moment, the boy is snapping at Y/N for staring at him, and the next, he is passionately rambling about the faults of Tybalt. She found it funny how much of a Tybalt defender the boy was. Something about being "misunderstood."
And yes, Y/N was staring. The entire time. For two simple reasons: 1. Malfoy was sort of kind of realllyyyy nice to look at. 2. She was attempting to decipher what type of damaged soul the irritable boy possessed.
No, Y/N L/N did not have the slightest bit of a savior complex. She wasn't going to attempt to change the boy, because frankly, how could she? The girl was no psychologist-which the wizarding world exhibited a glaringly non-existent amount of-, but from her perspective, the boy was just a tosser. A tolerable tosser, but a tosser nonetheless.
Malfoy was an uptight, bratty embodiment of a silver spoon. He bullied kids actively and constantly went out of his way to make Y/N's friends miserable. But at the same time, Draco was just a petty teenage boy who clearly liked to dig his nose into a good book, was sort of fun to bicker with, worked hard in school, and was decently smart.
The girl couldn't help but wonder the entire time they were together if the boy was but a product of his childhood. Maybe a spoilt, bratty child with uptight, overbearing parents wasn't the best idea. But who was Y/N to psychoanalyze her soon to be Potions tutor?
Maybe the blonde brat was just naturally a bad person at heart. But some devil hiding in Y/N's mind told her otherwise.
~
Y/N was never wrong. That was simply impossible. Despite others' efforts to prove her incorrect, the girl always found ways to assure herself she was right.
The bet never mentioned a single clause about the use of truth serum. Thus, the next week, the very day before the outcome of Y/N's impulsive bet, she recruited the assistance of two of the worst people she had ever known: the twins.
The walking disaster of a trio would need to slip into Snape's storage closet in broad daylight with not even a hallway full of paintings as witnesses. Naturally, Fred proposed to cover the paintings to shield their crime away from prying adult eyes, but it was George who recommended setting a diversion to attract the attention of all the painted figures to other matters.
Accordingly, that afternoon, the older twin hoisted Y/N up to the grand portrait of Anne Boleyn in the fourth floor corridor, while Y/N proceeded with the honors. Needless to say, a painting waking up to screaming and being vandalized with a nice green mustache was sure to call all the school's paintings to that spot.
The two were quick to hurry over to where George was waiting patiently in front of Snape's personal stores. "Got the key?" Y/N asked.
The younger twin brought up a rusty old key to display. A mischievous grin spread across all three students' faces. "Would you like to do the honors?" George asked, presenting the key to the youngest of the trio with a dramatic hand twirl.
"Thought you'd never ask."
Less dramatically than her ginger counterpart, the girl dug the key into the hole and twisted. The trio quickly shuffled into the room and shut the door behind them. Not a single student in that room was new to its contents. Y/N had snuck into this very storage closet several times to collect polyjuice potion ingredients her second year, and the twins had probably stolen at least half of its contents. throughout the course of their academic career.
As she climbed the little ladder, the girl scanned each individual jar and came to a strange conclusion. "Are you two making polyjuice?" she asked, twisting her torso in an awkward position to meet eyes with the twins.
They both shook their heads, their shaggy red hair reminding Y/N of a wet dog drying itself. She pressed her lips together to suppress a grin and turned back. "Aha! Veritaserum."
Happily, she plucked the small vial from the shelf and produced an even smaller glass vial from her pocket. The thief was, unfortunately, not as well prepared for her heist as she could've been. How many drops did she need to make the truth serum work again? She hadn't the foggiest clue. So the girl poured a decent amount of the potion into her vial and capped it. But just enough so as their greasy-haired devil of a professor wouldn't suspect a thing.
Carefully, Y/N turned around on the step she had been perched on so that her heels kept her steady on the ladder. After pocketing her stolen goods, the thief held tightly onto the sides of the ladder to avoid falling off her perch and shattering her body and or the potions around her.
"Got what you need?" she asked the boys. After all, Y/N wasn't the only troublemaker with a certain potion in mind. Fred and George with their mischievous ways had been concocting a plan to brew up an age potion that would allow them to cheat their way into the Triwizard Tournament- something that had Y/N nervous.
Of course she would support her best friends even if they were ever to be thrown into Azkaban or were absolute idiots at times, but Dumbledore had declared the tournament so dangerous as to provoke the loss of life didn't he? Y/N knew the twins were absolutely brilliant wizards, but she was scared for them and a part of her wished they weren't tempted by the challenge.
"Yeah," George answered.
"And more," Fred added, revealing a small vial of an unknown liquid. Y/N's eyebrow raised at the mysterious potion as she sent the boy a questioning glance.
"We're going to play potions roulette," the two boys announced giddily.
"We are?" she asked.
Fred with his to-die-for athleticism plucked Y/N right off the ladder and set her on the ground. "We are."
"With what potions?" she questioned, tilting her head and squinting at the vial as if it would somehow improve her meek eyesight.
"Sorry Y/N, time's up!" the twins both stated before throwing open the door and stepping out, though not without holding the door open for their dear friend like the gentlemen they were.
Luckily for the trio, the hallway was entirely devoid of all types of life and ghost forms. Quickly, the young girl exited and locked the door behind her before following the twins to Filch's office. Not to be confused with heading INTO the caretaker's cursed office. Y/N was simply going to drop the caretaker's key somewhere near his office and book it.
In no time, Y/N and Fred found themselves wandering the corridors in search of a suitable spot to settle down and initiate their silly little game whilst George made a trip to the kitchens to collect goblets for their game. By the time George had returned, the two had decided that their needs were best fit by the very top floor of the clock tower. Hardly a soul would ever stumble upon the unusual location on accident.
Upon reaching their desired destination, the teens all settled down in a circle, facing each other. "So...Care to explain the game?" Y/N asked again.
Whilst George produced the goblets and filled them with water, Fred brought up the vial of unknown liquid from before. Still, Y/N had no clue what the potion was. It could have been amortentia for all she knew.
"Where's the other potion?" she asked, becoming strikingly nervous as each alarming minute ticked by loudly through the clock right in front of her.
"That, my dear, if where you come in." Fred stated.
"Yeah. Has to be a three person effort you know," George inserted.
Hesitantly, Y/N reached into her pocket and traced the cold curve of the glass vial. "How much do we need?"
"Three drops!" they proclaimed simultaneously as they formed a three with their long fingers.
Well luckily for the twins, Y/N was quite the anxious negative Nancy when it came to her schemes, so she had collected much more than three drops. Finally, the girl freed the truth serum from her pocket and laid it on her lap in wait. "What potion's that?" she questioned, pointing to the substance swirling lucidly in the hands of Fred.
"The exact opposite of that one you have right there," said George.
So this was what those two bumbling baboons wanted to do. Some sort of next level game of two truths and one lie, but with much more truth and much more lies. With her inexorable curiosity, the girl handed her precious serum to Fred who then carefully poured three drops into one of the water-filled goblets and then the lying serum into the other two. 'Interesting'
"To make it fair, I'm going to use a switching spell so none of us know which potion we're taking. Immediately, Y/N knew the boy was bluffing. Never once had she ever witnessed either one of the twins playing fair-except quidditch. In fact, the mere mention of fairness was a red flag when it came to the game. They wanted Y/N to take the truth potion didn't they? "Okay," she muttered.
"Close your eyes, I'm going to switch them now," the boy instructed.
"But doesn't that mean you see which potion is which?" she drilled, suspicious of the game and the boy's intentions.
"I'll have my eyes closed too," he lied. Y/N merely squinted her eyes at the boy before closing her eyes as instructed.
Except, the girl didn't close her eyes. The ever so skeptical girl peered harshly through her lashes, staring at the cups as they magically switched places over and over again. Fred, the twit, had not closed his eyes, thus spurring Y/N's utmost focus and determination to keep sight of the truth bearing goblet.
As quickly as he had begun, the Weasley stopped to send his brother a mischievous look- a habit that Y/N knew all too well. For once, the girl took this to her advantage and sneakily cast her own switching spell on the goblet she knew to hold the Veritaserum.
Not a second later, George (the twit also had his eyes wide open during the switching of goblets) arranged the potions neatly beside each participant of the game. And very much thanks to the young L/N's brilliant plan, she received just the very goblet she wanted. "Cheers," they chimed together before chugging the contents of their little game.
Y/N didn't quite feel out of the ordinary after taking her potion aside from the tiniest of a tingle at the tip of her tongue. She looked at each twin to gauge their reactions, and so far neither Weasley knew exactly what had happened.
"Who do you fancy?" Fred immediately inquired, throwing Y/N off guard. So that was his intention.
"Filch," she replied smoothly, barely even understanding the words that slipped out of her lips. With wide eyes, the girl slammed a hand over her mouth.
Like Y/N, the twins held an equally-if not more- horrified expression. "You took the lying potion," they both accused, denying the girl's statement as if it were the plague.
"No, I took the truth serum," she lied. "I'm serious, who doesn't just love his scruffy beard, and those...beady...little eyes!" she joked, slowly devolving into a fit of breathless heaves as she fought off her own laughter. Then she straightened up and stared right at Fred.
"Your turn!" she chirped excitedly. "Who do YOU fancy?" she inquired right back at the boy.
"Yo-" Fred managed to blurt before George slapped a large hand over his mouth. That had to hurt. A slightly panicked look cross both boys' faces as they made eye contact with each other through that telepathic twin communication they seemed to have.
"Not fair George!" Y/N pouted, reaching to pry his hands from his twin's face. "Come onnnnn that's not fair," she whined; her curiosity growing with every second." Why don't you want me to know? I'm like your best friend, even better than George!" she teased, earning herself a shove from the younger twin. She stuck her tongue at the boy and resumed prying his hands off of Fred's mouth.
Fred simply could not let Y/N know at all costs. Well, neither boy could, but George knew that if Fred spilled, the younger twin would be dragged into the mess too. With their magical twin telepathy, the boys made a split second eye contract before getting up and sprinting down the corridor away from sight.
"Wait no! Are you bloody kidding me?!" The girl yelled, scurrying to get off of the floor. But alas, her legs were much shorter than the two giants'. "Ugh! (stan BTS)" she growled as she threw her hands up in frustration.
Y/N L/N was not about to go on a wild goose chase across the entirety of the castle and all its smaller adjacent buildings. With the twins, Y/N could never quite figure out where they would hide. For all she knew, the two boys could stand perfectly still behind two tall trees and she would walk right past them, or they could stake out in one of the hundreds of secret passageways. It could take a whole day just to find them even if they stayed in the same spot the entire time.
Needless to say, the girl was curious, but not curious enough to spend her time doing any sort of physical activity. She was no cat and would NOT be dying in the horrid activity of walking just because of her curiosity.
Rather begrudgingly, the girl collected their abandoned goblets and returned them to the kitchens. Sigh, Y/N hated cleaning up. What to do now? Well, the twins had to return to the common room eventually. Why not wait for her targets to come to her?
Harry and Ron had been in front of the fireplace as they always were. Y/N found it incredibly awkward to ask Harry where the twins' dorm room was. Ron accused the girl of suspicious activity and Harry found it completely mental that Y/N was asking to go into the boys dormitory at all. Though he did not know much of the twins' habits, the boy suspected that their dorm would be just as dirty as the one he slept in every night.
"Are you sure?" he asked for the umpteenth time since bringing his friend into the boys' dormitory area.
"Perfectly," she replied, still feeling the effects of her lying potion. The girl knew she would meet a complete disaster in their room, but she was determined nonetheless.
Once again, Y/N was never wrong. But she wished she was. The boys' dormitory was absolutely ghastly. Clothes littered the floor-presumably from other students, schoolwork was scattered and sloppily organized, and she swore she'd seen a textbook being used as a coaster on one of the boys' nightstands.
Luckily, Y/N had no problem finding Fred and George's beds. Truly, who else would have one of Molly Weasley's iconic initial sweaters thrown on the bed frame? Well aside from Harry or Ron. With a bit of hesitance, the girl sat stiffly on the edge of what she presumed to be Fred's bed. Harry, who had been standing at the doorway and debating what to do, opened his mouth to speak but closed it when he had nothing to say.
"It's okay. You can go," said she. "I won't get in trouble if that's what you're worried about."
Taking her advice, Harry hesitantly left the dorm to rejoin Ron in from of the fireplace.
As soon as the boy had left the room, Y/N wish he hadn't. She was bored out of her mind and in a place she shouldn't have been in the first place. Yes, the girl had most definitely spent at least two weeks of summer lazing around on one of the twins' beds, but she felt extremely intrusive doing this on their bed while they were away. Hiding from her of course.
Deciding she wanted privacy in an already empty room, the girl shut the drapes around Fred's bed and flopped down onto the mattress. In no time, our Snow White had fallen asleep on an unsuspecting not-so-dwarfish Weasley's bed only to wake up nearly an hour later to voices.
"Can't...her..know...fancy..."
"Weren't...closed...I.....left."
Then the sound of the drapes being thrown open assaulted Y/N's ears, snapping the groggy girl back to the realm of consciousness. The girl, in her curled up ball of warmth, squinted at the two blurry, ginger images in front of her. "Ughhhh, go away," she groaned as she curled inwards, the raspiness of a good hour's sleep still lingering at the back of her throat.
"Who would've thought it was this easy to get you in my bed," Fred teased, earning him a nudge from his twin.
"You saucy boy," the girl mumbled as she sat up, feeling sore muscles struggle against her choice to leave her wonderful sleeping position. "So what brings you to my lair?"
"We should be asking you that," George rebutted.
"Who do you fancy?" asked the girl with a smirk. Now fully awake, Y/N was back at her unwavering plan.
Poor Fred looked scared for his life for once. His mouth almost seemed to betray him and reveal all his deep secrets, but he didn't care. Fred Weasley would tell Y/N L/N all his fears and worries and thoughts and secrets without a second thought or even a truth serum. All except one.
Fred Weasley was in love with his best friend.
He didn't know when it happened or how it happened, but the boy somehow had fallen head over heels one day and that was a problem. He couldn't ever let Y/N know. It just couldn't happen. Ever. Never ever in the entirety of the universe. The boy was far too scared of what would happen to their friendship if he ever wanted more, but curiosity killed the cat, and Fred's own curiosity turned right back on him.
Now, George Weasley knew his brother like the back of his hand for they shared identical hands. He knew what he had to do even if it would ruin his twin. "Fred fancies Angelina Johnson."
Y/N didn't know what to expect and she certainly didn't expect this. The girl wasn't expecting the answer to be herself, but somehow she found herself wishing it was. Maybe she was just overprotective of her friends the way they were to her.
Angelina Johnson was a keeper for sure. Well, more accurately, a chaser. They were all on the Quidditch team and in the same year so it made sense. But it didn't. Deep down in the young girl, it didn't make sense. Why was she feeling so dejected? What was she expecting?
"Well well Fred, got yourself a good one. Angelina's cuuuute," she sang, attempting to sound happy for her friend. "You're one lucky boy." Despite her strange emotions, the girl found the words slipping out of her mouth much easier than usual.
Fred grimaced and resisted the urge to tell Y/N that she was cuter. Instead, he nodded and let out a pained "Yeah" because what else could he say? That he had no feelings toward Angelina whatsoever and that they were nothing more than friends?
"No offense guys, but my dorm room's a lot cleaner than yours and I'd much rather not contract your cooties," she jeered playfully as she crawled off the bed. "See you guys at dinner," she chirped as she exited the room.
The girl had much on her mind as she trudged down the stairs to the common room. One: Whether or not she was jealous of Angelina Johnson. Two: Whether or not it was selfish of her to be jealous in the first place. Three: Why would she be jealous in the first place? Four: What was for dinner? Five: Was water wet? But of all the questions to ask herself, the girl had forgotten the most crucial: Had a full hour passed, or was George still under the lying potion?
~
None of the girl's questions were ever answered, except for dinner, but it was alright, for she had forgotten about them by the next morning. With the new school day came a new wave of worries to dote on, and the events of their questionable game was soon shoved to the back of her mind.
Miss L/N carried the truth serum in her pocket throughout the school all day. Truthfully, the girl was a bit hesitant about spiking Draco Malfoy's potion. The girl had no idea what mixing potions would do, but she was sure as hell going to find out. If her Slytherin potions partner passed out on the floor, at least she'd have found out that mixing two potions together was not the best of ideas. At this point, the girl was just being purposefully dumb.
In their shared Transfiguration period, Draco slipped Y/N yet another note. Y/N was starting to see a pattern in his preferred method of communication. Distant and secretive, just like the man himself. When she received said folded up little piece of parchment, the girl sent a glance at the boy across the class only to see him ignoring her existence once again. Though she understood why. Slacking off in Mcgonagall's class was a ballsy move even for a Gryffindor.
As fun as passing notes was, Draco's was nothing more than a heads up that they would be meeting at the abandoned old classroom instead of their usual dusty, small little corner of the library.
That afternoon, after shrugging off Harry from following her to the now-secret meeting place of theirs, Y/N hauled her cauldron and supplies into the empty classroom only to be greeted by a smug Malfoy leaning backward on a chair to the point where Y/N thought he would fall right onto the ground. If gravity wouldn't finish the job, maybe she could. The girl's face contorted into a grimace as she suppressed the urge to smile or to push him off the chair herself.
"Ready to seal the deal?" He began confidently.
"How about we brew this potion first," she suggested, gripping the Veritaserum that clinked lightly against the wand in her robe pocket. "Book says it should take twenty minutes to brew, so might as well get it over with."
"Thirty," Malfoy corrected smartly. "Book doesn't mention prep time."
Not liking being corrected, the girl rolled her eyes and set down her cauldron on the table where she had last made her bet. She'd only begun to take out her ingredients when the thorn at her side opened its foul mouth to speak.
"Not that I want to be anywhere near your sort, but I can't see what you're doing from across the bloody classroom now can I?"
"Gee thanks Malfoy. Brilliant to know you have my back. Why don't YOU move here," she drawled, unimpressed.
"I don't move for anyone," he asserted arrogantly, crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring down at the girl.
"Fine," she scoffed as she packed up her cauldron to be moved to the desk beside Malfoy, though extremely worried about keeping their space. Halfheartedly the girl threw down her ingredients onto the desk and lit up her cauldron.
"What's got your wand in a knot?" he asked, not too concerned about the answer
'oh nothing! Just your stupid annoying face and your stupid annoying pompous arse,' she complained internally. "Nothing."
Shrugging, the boy began to work, ridding himself of the baggy school robe and rolling up his sleeves. Y/N hated to say it with the deepest depth of her soul, but she might've had a thing for Malfoy's forearms. Or maybe it was the hard work and looking like he knew what he was doing?
Either way, the girl robotically attempted to mimic what the boy had been doing but failed quite miserably when her partner pointed his small knife at the girl. The spooked girl jumped back to avoid the deadly weapon and stared at the blade with wide eyes.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you? Start preparing the ingredients you need first. If you start preparing the last ingredients, then they'll shrivel up before they even touch the cauldron."
"Oh, I didn't know..." she said sheepishly.
"No wonder Snape's always going off about you. You're absolutely the worst," he spat.
The girl froze. Wait just a damn second. "Snape talks about me?" she inquired skeptically, raising an eyebrow at the boy.
"Wouldn't you like to know, Gryffindor," he snarked, clearly loving whatever knowledge he held over the girl. Miss L/N in turn, shut her mouth. She didn't want to give the prick any sort of satisfaction.
For the next "tHiRty minUtEs", the two worked quietly alongside each other. Neither quite enjoying the other's presence, but still being somewhat tolerant. Y/N would hold her tongue at every insult for the rude little snake was at least being somewhat helpful in showing her how to brew her potion. If she was lucky enough, he would even stir her pot for her, claiming she was doing it so horribly wrong and that his dead grandmother could stir faster than the girl.
Y/N wondered about the Malfoy family after that comment. She wondered if the nasty blonde's grandmother was like her own when alive. A nice, sweet old lady who waddled around everywhere and gave sweets and cookies away at every chance along with a hailstorm of cheek pinches.
Unwilling to slander any sweet old lady, Y/N pictured Draco's grandmum as a strict lady with a tight grey bun and a permanent scowl, dishing out harsh punishments for things as simple as running around the garden. The girl was quite doubtful though. The Slytherin was spoiled rotten and had probably never received a single punishment in his entire life.
The young girl's mind had almost begun wandering into other thoughts about the blonde when he quite literally snapped her back into reality. Aww, at least the boy was above slapping girls she supposed.
"I'm surprised you have any thoughts in there at all," he commented.
"Hah hah Malfoy, very funny. Hilarious."
"Potion's done," he stated simply.
Ahhh, so now was the chance. Sneakily, when her unsuspecting partner was looking away, the girl slipped the last of her Veritaserum into their freshly brewed potion. The swirly white potion fizzed for a second and turned a slightly off shade of eggshell, scaring the girl beyond belief.
Maybe it wasn't a good idea after all... Maybe Y/N could live without a potions tutor and with an owed favor looming above her head for the rest of her life. It certainly beats rotting in a cell in Azkaban for poisoning a Malfoy.
With a bit of disappointment at what her favor holding future would bring, the girl moved to bring her wand out to vanish the spiked drink. Damn her moral conscience!!
"What's taking so long? Are you daft?" Malfoy sneered, snatching the contaminated potion from the girl's hand. A complete look of horror crossed the girl's face as she witnessed the boy down the drink with one gulp. "What's with that stupid look?"
"Does...anything feel weird?" she asked hurriedly.
"What do you mean weird? That's not the question to be asking. You should be taking notes," he responded, pointing to the empty notepad beside Y/N's cauldron.
"Do you like Romeo and Juliet?" Y/N asked.
"Are you serious? You should be taking notes right now you oaf." He cried angrily, clearly unhappy about the avoidance of completing their project. But then, as if being hit by a splash of cold water, the boy froze.
"What did you do?!" he roared, charging up to the girl with his wand held out in a threatening manner. The little lion found herself cornered by the snake by her own mistake. What a brilliant idea to slip a truth serum into the drink of the most volatile kid in school (Aside from Harry on occasions).
Y/N, with her chin up under the threat of the Slytherin's wand, gave the boy her sternest look possible despite the fear for her life. Malfoy wouldn't kill her. Malfoy wouldn't pull a Tom Riddle, kill a student, and pass it off on someone else. Right? He was a prick but no murderer. He'd get over this eventually.
"Do you like Romeo and Juliet," she repeated through her gritted teeth. Malfoy's iron tight grip on his wand loosened for a split second, which the girl caught onto. With lightning-quick speed, she snatched the weapon from the Slytherin's hand and shoved him away. "Don't be surprised. I can play dirty too. Did you think I wouldn't have insurance?"
The boy glared at Y/N angrily, ready to strike again. "Answer the question," she pressed.
"Yes," he growled before his devilishly sharp jaw tensed in annoyance.
"Yes what?"
"Yes I like Romeo and Juliet," he muttered.
"See that wasn't so hard," the girl teased, holding out the wizard's wand for him to take. The boy snatched his wand up before sulking to the other side of the class and letting out a stream of profanities Y/N was sure his grandmum would not be pleased to hear.
"You free on Wednesdays?" the girl asked carelessly, happy to be freed of the suffocating atmosphere and near death. "Four o clock. Same place in the library."
The girl's words went quite unnoticed by the boy who was so furious, she'd sworn there was smoke blowing out of his ears. Maybe Fred and George would like an idea like that if they hadn't already come up with it in that brilliant mind of theirs.
"Fucking...bloody cunt," Y/N heard come out of Malfoy's filthy word bearing mouth.
The girl nearly let out an ill-timed chortle and had to slap a hand over her own lips to refrain from angering the boy further. What would little first year Malfoy say? Probably 'yOu tHinK thIs is fUNny dO yoU.'
With an amused grin plastered across her face, the girl leaned back on the dust-covered window sill. "Careful Malfoy, wasn't it just Friar Laurence who said to love moderately? Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow? Or something like that, I believe," she taunted, tapping her finger against her lips.
"Shut your mouth. This isn't about love, you idiot! My father will hear about this!"
"Ohhh what'd daddy going to hear about? Your being partners with, I recall you saying a 'half breed'," she snapped, creating two air quotes to emphasize. "Or mayyybe, that you like to read muggle books. I'm pretty sure you knew just what you were reading. And you liked it didn't you?"
The boy remained quiet. Y/N wasn't exactly sure of her victory, but she took it as a yes. "Wednesdays, four o clock," she repeated before wandering over to her desk and picking up the empty notebook from her desk. "Now. I'll be taking notes, and you can answer. What a win-win situation! Now you can't even lie about the symptoms of our potion. All in the name of research right?"