Cynical Relations

Lacie was pouring her last cauldron of potion into several vials that Snape had provided for her. She had worked with precision the whole of that morning whilst her professor had worked at his desk. She had thought that potion making would have taken her mind from her relationship with Draco but instead the silence of the room seemed to force her to think about him.

“Miss Horncroft,” Lacie looked up at the sound of Snape’s distinctive voice.

“Yes professor?”

“I think that’ll be enough for today. You should go and have lunch,” Lacie hadn’t noticed the time but nodded her head none the less. She cleaned her things and put them in their designated places before bidding goodbye to one of her favourite professors.

The great hall was filled with chattering teenagers as they talked excitedly about Christmas and upcoming Yule Ball. Whilst Lacie ate, she listened as the fourth years to the right of her boasted about which Slytherins they were being taken to the ball by. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes but then noticed how the girls had suddenly gone silent.

“Lacie,” She heard Draco’s voice behind her and she quickly looked to him surprise, now understanding why the younger girls had stopped talking. “I saved you a seat you know, but you just walked straight past me.”

“I, uh,” Lacie stumbled over her words causing Draco to smile slightly, “I didn’t realise, sorry Draco.”

“Well make sure you sit with me at dinner tonight, okay? I want you to meet some people.”

“Okay,” Lacie simply uttered awkwardly. She could feel people staring at her and her cheeks were burning because of this.

“I’ve got to disappear but promise to spend time with me this evening.”

“I promise,” Lacie quirked a small smile which Draco mirrored before he leaned towards her, kissing her in front of everyone that was watching. He offered her one last smile before walking away and leaving the great hall whilst talking to Blaise. Lacie turned back to her food and could hear the same girls to the right of her whispering to each other - this time she was the topic of their conversation.

The misplaced Slytherin stood as soon as she had finished her food and her eyes met with Snape’s. He had been watching her from the high table with curious eyes after seeing Draco acting so affectionately with her. She lowered her eyes from his and quickly walked from the room, heading back to her dormitory to grab her notebook.

When her eyes had met with her professors, she couldn’t understand why she had suddenly felt so ashamed of herself.

***

Lacie spent her afternoon sitting on the shore of the Black Lake. She was sat cross legged, looking over the water of which the Slytherin common room resided beneath; a pencil was in her hand as she sketched the scene before her. Lacie put the pencil to the side though as an eagle owl swooped down beside her and she immediately recognised it as her parent’s owl, Ganthia.

The square box the owl had only just had managed to carry caught her eye though and she frowned at the bird knowing that it’d be another dress that she would never wear. Lacie petted Ganthia nevertheless and the owl settled beside her whilst the teenager continued to draw. After a while Lacie could that tell the owl was growing restless and so she stood to her feet. She pulled the arm of her jacket down of her hand and held it out so that the owl could perch there whilst she walked. Ganthia’s sharp claws went through the material making Lacie wince but she knew it would only hurt more if she removed the material that was actually protecting her delicate skin.

She held the dress box and her notebook in her other hand as she headed back towards the school, making her way up to the school’s Owlery so that she could find a treat for her parent’s bird. Whilst she was up there we saw her own owl perched amongst many others. She smiled and sent Ganthia back home before heading over to her tawny owl.

“How have you been Tyro?” She questioned softly as she ruffled the small bird’s feathers. The owl nuzzled her hand slightly before she lowered it enough for Tyro to easily move and perch on it instead. Again claws dug into her skin but she didn’t mind as she loved her bird.

The moment between Lacie and her bird was ruined though as a young Ravenclaw boy came rushing into the Owlery with a flushed face. He glanced at Lacie before quickly looking for his own bird. With a sigh, the Slytherin placed Tyro back on his perch and bid farewell to the owl before making her way down to dinner.

***

After six years without any friends Draco was dragging Lacie by the hand towards where Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe were sat at the Slytherin table. She felt like she was being thrown into the deep end what with these people not exactly being the friendliest of students at Hogwarts.

As soon as they reached them Draco introduced Lacie to everyone and she couldn’t help but find Pansy’s smile unnerving. Draco sat beside Lacie with Goyle on his other side and the other three were sat on the opposite side of the table to them. Immediately Draco had launched into a conversation with Blaise, leaving Lacie to awkwardly busy herself with putting food on her plate.

She picked at her food but soon found that her appetite was lacking. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to escape from the table yet though, Draco wouldn’t let her.

“Who are you going to the Yule Ball with, Lacie?” Lacie looked up from her plate and across the table at Pansy. She wanted to raise her eyebrows at her as the fake sweetness flowed from the pug-faced girl’s mouth.

“I’m not going,” She simply answered

“Oh. You haven’t been asked?” Lacie looked back down at her plate and away from the smug look on Pansy’s face.

“I have. I just don’t want to go,” She spoke softly before taking a bite of one of the small potatoes on her plate and letting the rich creamy flavour flood her senses.

“Then why do you have a dress?” Lacie’s brown eyes immediately shot up to look at Pansy who had finally started to also eat.

“How do you know that I have a dress?” Lacie asked suspiciously, knowing that no one had been in the dormitory when she had taken the box up and quickly shoved it under her bed.

“You have a dress?” She jumped at the sound of Draco’s surprised voice, not knowing that he had been listening to what she and Pansy had been talking about. Lacie faintly wondered how many more times they would use the word ‘dress’ in a sentence before she managed to escape.

“Yes.”

“Then why is it then that you will not go with me to the Yule Ball? You have a dress after all Lacie, surely it would make sense to actually wear it,” She shifted uncomfortably and avoided Draco’s burning eyes.

“I just don’t want to go Draco, would you please drop it?”

“I don’t understand why you don’t want to go though,” Lacie’s short temper came into play as she turned to the blonde beside her sharply.

“I asked you to drop it Draco,” She muttered in annoyance before standing from the bench, “I’ll talk to you when you’ve stopped being such an arse.” Lacie moved from the table and she could hear sniggering as she walked away.

***

Draco was seething with anger as he watched Lacie walk out of the great hall. He turned to a smirking Blaise who was still sniggering to himself and he couldn’t help but snap.

“Shut it Zabini,” He hissed, running his hand through his hair in frustration.

“You’re never going to win this bet, Malfoy, you may as well just give up now. She’s stronger than you thought,”

“I’ve got two days until the ball and you’re going to see us both there,” Draco muttered, sending a glare across at his fellow Slytherin.

“Even if you do get her to agree to go, she won’t last all night.

“Blaise is right Draco. Just forget about her and take me instead,” Pansy reached across the table to touch the his arm but Draco pushed her away harshly.

“I’m not backing out of this,” He hissed.

The bet had come about after Blaise had heard about Draco hitting Justin to help Lacie. Of course the reserved boy had taunted him and when the Slytherin prince had insisted that he wasn’t going soft, Blaise started the bet. Draco had to get Lacie to go to the ball with him and she had to stay with him until midnight. If he won, then Blaise wouldn’t taunt Draco again because of what happened between he and Justin but if he lost, unbeknownst to Pansy, Draco was going to be forced to endure a month in a relationship with her and well, Draco had been there before and Pansy was far from the perfect girlfriend.

“If you hadn’t have stuck up for the loser, you wouldn’t even be in this position,” Pansy hissed, hurt by the rejection of Draco pushing her away from him. Saying that she was sour about the situation would have been an understatement.

“Justin was out of line. Even you know that Pansy,” Draco muttered lowly, “Lacie may not be like us but we all know that you’re not supposed to do anything like that to a fellow Slytherin. Or are you forgetting that?” The pug faced girl lowered her eyes, glaring at her plate.

“She should of just been glad of the attention,” Draco sneered at Pansy’s words and returned to his food, angrily eating. He did feel something for Lacie - maybe it was just lust - but he would never actually admit that to anyone and as soon as the ball ended, he would abandon her quite ruthlessly.