Little Memories

Draco and Charlotte left the Hospital Wing later that evening with enough time to get changed from their practice uniforms and shower before dinner. Whispers followed them as they walked down the hallways, this time because of the erratic behavior of the Bludger. The rumors ranged anywhere from one of the rejected second years taking out his aggressions on Draco to Charlotte making the Bludger attack him out of jealousy that he had been made Quidditch Captain and not her. The last one was thought to be preposterous to anyone who knew Charlotte and her adoration for Draco. Draco was a bit confused at all of it, since he hadn’t been able to see the Bludger. Charlotte, however, had a very good idea who did it and knew it would only be a matter of time before she enacted her revenge.

As the two sat down at the Slytherin table, a quiet pocket of hushed comments surrounded them. It was nothing new for the two of them to be talked about, so they didn’t think anything of it. Draco’s haggard appearance and frequent and public disagreements with Charlotte the previous year had generated a lot of rumors. Charlotte’s not-so-secret trip to Azkaban and mysterious return to Hogwarts had also spun plenty of rumors, many of them probable and true. However, they affected her less and less as the days had passed and she found them to be a minor annoyance. But the whispers that she had been the one to enchant the Bludger, which was not exactly an easy feat, to attack Draco, were causing her short fuse to grow even shorter. Draco could sense this and ate faster in the hopes of getting her out of the Great Hall before she did something rash.

“You’ve heard that rumor, right Draco?” She commented loudly, looking over at him with a forced smile. Draco looked over at her with wide eyes, knowing she had drawn a fair amount of attention to the two of them.

“Which one?” He asked in a low voice, slightly afraid of where she was going to take the conversation with her loud, obvious question.

“The one about me hitting you with the Bludger,” she said simply with a shrug. Draco stared at her hesitantly and she gave him a very poignant stare that told him to just go along with it. “Well obviously it’s true,” she said glancing around at all the sets of eyes that were eagerly trained in their direction. “Because I would clearly forsake paying attention to the game and focus all my energy into enchanting a very stubborn Bludger to attack the back of your head.” She turned back to Draco, who still looked extremely hesitant.

“Oh, of course,” Draco said with a rather unconvincing nod, “and you sitting in the Hospital Wing for a day and a half was just to rouse to appear concerned, right?” By now, a few of the students had looked away guiltily, realizing just how ridiculous the rumor had been.

“Exactly,” Charlotte growled through clenched teeth, sending a rather vicious glare at the rest of the listeners that caused them to quickly look in the opposite direction. When Draco looked back to Charlotte, she was wearing a proud smile. He didn’t return it and almost looked at Charlotte with disdain.

“You know something I don’t. They all know something I don’t,” he said softly as Charlotte’s smile fell slowly. “You need to tell me. Now,” Draco added in a gently commanding tone. Charlotte sent him a sharp look, clearly disapproving of being bossed around by him. She gave an equally sharp sigh and stood, nodding toward the doors of the Great Hall before striding off. Draco quickly stood and followed her, scowling at a few of the younger students that watched him as he left.

Charlotte had stopped and waited for him just past the door. She took his hand in hers and slowly began to walk down to the Slytherin Common Room. There were a few students milling about, but none that were really paying attention to them.

“Look,” Charlotte started in a hushed, soft voice, “I was looking at you before the Bludger hit you and when it actually did.” Draco was watching her closely as they began the long descent down the damp, dark staircases to the Slytherin Dungeons. “Remember in your second year, my first, and you played a game against Gryffindor? Remember how that Bludger followed Potter around no matter what?” Draco gave a hesitant nod, having a good idea of what she was getting at. “Well…I saw the Bludger going in one direction, then veer off course and come after you.” He cut his eyes in though, going quiet as a few students passed by them.

“So, you’re saying that you think a Bludger was tampered with and forced to hit me?” He asked, glanced over at Charlotte who was watching him with wide eyes.

“I don’t think, Draco,” she said strongly and stubbornly, “I know it was tampered with and I have a good idea of who it was.” Draco stopped, staring into Charlotte’s eyes, but he knew his weak Legillimency skills were nothing compared to Charlotte’s Occlumency.

“Who was it?” He asked, but had a good feeling she wouldn’t tell him. She merely let out a sigh as they finally reached the bottom of the staircase.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said in a low voice, “I’ll handle it.” Draco stopped walking and turned to her, giving her a stern look. He knew what she meant and it would only mean more trouble for her if anyone found out her plans. Charlotte, in turn, stopped and turned to him with an expectant expression.

“No, you won’t,” Draco said stubbornly, looking her dead in the eye. Her expression dropped to one completely stoic, void of an emotion. “If anyone’s going to do anything about it, it’ll be me. And believe me, they’re going to get it.” She didn’t say a word and just stared back at him. “Oh…you’ve already decided, have you?” He asked, his lips curling back from his lips in an almost snarl.

“I’ll handle it,” she repeated again in a low, dark voice, not taking her eyes away from his once. Draco took a step toward her and looked down at her, clenching his teeth together.

“I was the one hit by the Bludger, not you,” he hissed as her eyes flashed with anger and she poked a finger at his chest. She looked as emotionless as ever, spare her eyes.

“Which is exactly why I will take care of it,” she said softly, her lips going tense for a moment. “They should know better than to mess with you. Especially when they made it so obvious.”

“While the sentiment is admirable, Charlotte,” he said in a voice thick with restrained anger, “I can handle it myself. Now, if you please, tell me who did it.” She merely let out a sharp sigh through her nose and backed away from him, the shadows stretching attractively over her calm features as she shook her head.

“You’ll know soon enough,” she murmured in a voice that sent shivers down Draco’s spine before she turned, holding her head high, and briskly walked away from him.

That Sunday went buy as quietly as any other Sunday spent at Hogwarts would. Draco did not find Charlotte at the table at breakfast and he was scared that she had already “handled” things. However, she was there at lunch and looked no different than she had the last time he had seen her. She sat next to him for the entirety of the meal; she had not once looked over to him or said anything to him. ‘At least she’s not griping about that Melody girl and her brother,’ Draco had thought sourly, ‘I’ve heard quite enough of that.’ The moment this thought had drifted through his mind, he could feel the icy stare of one Charlotte Goyle on the side of his face before she abruptly stood from the table and left. He didn’t see her for the rest of the day; a day that he spent worrying about whatever she had in store for the person, or people, who had attacked him.

Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson were completely clueless that anyone had even discovered of their little “punishment” for the Slytherin Quidditch Captain. In fact, they had been the ones to start the rumor that Charlotte had done it, but that had quickly been squelched before the wildfire of rumors they had started grew into a crisis. The blonde girl hadn’t even so much looked in their direction since tryouts and she would be the only one that could possibly have been aware enough to suspect something. So they knew, without a doubt, that they had come off from the whole ordeal clean. No one would suspect them now, since it had been a few days since it had happened.

“I’m telling you, Blaise,” Pansy said as they strode down a dark corridor on the seventh floor, preparing to make their way to the dungeons before the unreasonable early curfew came and passed. Blaise was a prefect, so it wouldn’t be looked down on that much, but Pansy wasn’t. Then again, he could just say he was escorting her back to the dungeons, that would work. “Even Charlotte hasn’t crossed that line before. She has never dated anyone that wasn’t in Slytherin. Goyle is just…ugh, that Iver girl isn’t even that pretty.”

Blaise, who wasn’t even remotely interested in what Pansy was yapping about, merely hummed and nodded. It was how the majority of their conversations went. Pansy talked and Blaise just pretended to listen, humming and nodding when it was appropriate for him to do so. They were dating, yes, but Blaise only used her for one thing and Pansy used him to get out all the bitterness and jealously she had within her in the form of words. There was no chemistry, no love between them, and they certainly didn’t have the other’s best interests in mind. They were, however, united to tear down the ultimate Slytherin couple: Charlotte and Draco. Obviously, so far they had been unsuccessful.

As they passed by a previously empty and nearly forgotten classroom, the door slowly creaked open behind them, silencing whatever spiteful thing was going to come out of Pansy’s mouth next. The couple stopped and turned to look at the door before exchanging confused looks with one another. Just as they were about to continue on, dismissing the noise to a ghost or Peeves, there was a low rattling within the room. They shot each other another look before turning and venturing cautiously into the room, wands drawn and held at arm level.

“Lumos,” they both murmured when they realized just how dark the room was. They stood there for a moment, wondering why they were so strangely drawn to the sounds that had come from the room, and then realizing that there was nothing in the room to begin with. They shot each other looks before turning, making their way toward the door. The door, it seemed, had other plans for them as it slammed before they had even taken a step toward it. Pansy let out a started gasp and at that same moment, their wands flew from their hands and extinguished themselves.

“What the he-” Was all Blaise got out before he was thrown back onto something hard and cold, forced to sit down and unable to move anything but his head. He struggled against whatever was binding him for a few fleeting moments before realizing it was no use. Even if he could break free, the room was pitch black, even the strip of light from the corridor outside the room had gone out. He could vaguely hear Pansy struggling futilely beside him, before she let out a loud scoff and exclaimed,

“Whoever you are, you need to let me go or I will tell Headmaster Snape!” This in turn made Blaise scoff and roll his eyes. ‘Of course,’ he thought, ‘there is no let us go, is there?’ There was a sound within the room, a sound like the high heel of a shoe colliding with the stone floor, followed by another sound just like it. The clacking moved in a circle around Blaise, making him feel very diminutive and frightened.

“Why would you tell him?” A voice whispered in the darkness and both Blaise and Pansy were unable to prescribe an identity to it. All they knew was that it was either a girl or woman’s voice. “We answer to the same master and you have done something far worse than trap students in a classroom.” Blaise’s blood and body when cold when he heard this, knowing that someone had found them out.

“Alright, alright,” Pansy said, “I’m sorry for hitting Draco with the Bludger, honestly, but Blaise was the one who actually did it. Just let me go and deal with him.” There was a small, cheerful chuckle in the room and suddenly everything became clear to at least Blaise what was happening. He could have recognized that laugh anywhere.

“Let’s shed some light on the issue and end this, shall we?” The girl spoke into the darkness and Pansy let out another gasp as there was a sound of a match being stuck. A white-blue orb of light suddenly illuminated the one person neither of them wanted to see and they both knew that nothing good could come from this.