Double Dare

Winter came early and it had begun snowing mid-November. I was sat with Draco and Tempest in the courtyard watching it Snow. Draco had his arm round Tempest but refused to look at her. There were first years building snowmen in the corner and other kids having snowball fights. Draco had threatened them earlier that if we got hit with them he would hex them all the way to the hospital wing.

“I hate snow” Draco mumbled. I laughed and pushed him playfully.

“How can you hate it? It’s so beautiful!”

“It’s damn cold!”

“So? You get used to it”

“I don’t want to get used to it! Why can’t it be hot all the time?”

“Because it’s horrible when it’s hot! You feel all sticky and you can’t sleep and...Autumns better...Nice and warm but not hot...The weathers grey, just how I like it”

“...Yeah but you’re weird!”

“I love all weather, it’s beautiful” Tempest sighed before getting up and dancing in front of us. I smirked and elbowed Draco. He glared at me.

“I am this close to just calling off the bet”

“But why would you do that? You’d be my slave all holidays!”

“There’s no way it could be worse than this!”

Just grinned at him. He sighed.

“...Maybe it could...”

I laughed and hugged him tightly.

“Don’t worry; I’ll go easy on you”

“...I could carry on because technically you and Snape are having a bit of a rough patch, but still-“

“-Since when did I say we were having a rough patch?”

“Since you haven’t been talking to him, or flirting as much”

“But we’re still sending letters...He said we can’t ‘flirt’ as much because students will get suspicious! So suck on that! AND he’ll be at yours for Christmas!”

“...Shit! No way! Fuck this...I’m so giving up!”

“Officially or are you just preparing?”

“...I’ll let you know tomorrow”

Tempest jumped back down next to Draco and smiled. He forced a smile and looked at me. I grinned and elbowed him.

“I’m getting cold...You guys fancy coming to the kitchens for a hot drink?”

Draco nodded and jumped up. I laughed and got up too.

“You coming Tempest?”

“...Uh...Yeah, I may...”

She slowly pulled herself up and swanned behind Draco and me. We sat by the fireplace drinking our drinks. Tempest never stopped smiling at Draco. Draco tried to avoid any eye contact with her; looking his drink, the floor, glaring at me. Every time I caught him glaring at me I flashed him a smirk and hinted towards Tempest. Draco sighed loudly.

“Why’s there just nothing to do around here?”

I shrugged; “after so many years you’ve just done everything...Luckily, we don’t have too long here left...”

He nodded; “true...But still! What time we have left is slowly killing me! I’m dying here!”

“Oh shut up! You’re so melodramatic!”

He laughed; “I only emphasise the truth!”

“Emphasise? Exaggerate!”

“...Same thing!”

I laughed; “it’s really not”

“Is too”

“Is not”

“Is too!”

“It’s bloody well not!”

“You take the English language way to seriously sometimes!”

I shrugged; “someone needs to take it seriously! No one does anymore”

He shrugged too; “whatever!”

I rolled my eyes and finished my drink. We sat in silence. Tempest was sat in a daydream, grinning to herself. I sighed and looked around.

“I’m bored”

“Join the club”

“...I may go find something to do”

“You can’t leave me!”

I laughed; “you and Tempest will have fun!”

He looked at Tempest, she was still daydreaming.

“Right? Stop bumming off to have sex with Snape!”

I laughed; “I am not! I just want to go on a wander in the snow!”

“I thought you hated the snow”

“...No Draco, YOU hate the snow”

“...Oh yeah”

I laughed and shook my head; “you are such an idiot!”

“Shut up!”

I patted his shoulder; “there there moron. Console your troubles over your drink. I’m gonna go bum off to have sex with Snape”

He laughed as I skipped out of the kitchen. I wandered slowly down to the Great Hall. Celeste and Neville were snuggled up on the steps outside. I smiled and slumped down next to them.

“I’m not interrupting am I?”

They smiled; “No. Not with Draco?”

“I was...I’ve left him to hang out with Tempest”

“Aww, you’re so mean”

“What’s wrong with Tempest?” Neville asked.

“He hates her”

Neville looked confused. Celeste smiled.

“Don’t bother yourself with it. It’s a random thing between her and Malfoy”

“...Why do you hang out with Malfoy? He’s so evil, and you’re so nice?”

I smiled and shrugged; “He’s nice to me...We’ve been best friends as long as I can remember...He’s only mean to you because one, you’re a Gryffindor and two, you’re friends with Potter”

“Harry’s a nice, decent human being!”

I shrugged; “so’s Draco. It all depends on what side you’re on”

“So you’re on the dark side?”

“No, I’m on the side that see’s Draco for who he is, not what he appears to be”

Neville went to say something but Celeste shook her head. I sighed and went outside. I wandered with no particular direction or aim, other than to kill time. I passed Hagrids Hut; Harry, Ron and Hermione were there chatting to Hagrid. They stopped and glared at me as I walked by. Though I’d never bore any ill-will to any of them, they hated me purely for my friendship with Draco. I rolled my eyes and went towards the forest. There was no snow on the ground in the forest. I sat down on a large root and looked through the trees. It was almost silent aside from the chirping of the birds. I sighed happily and decided to go lie on a patch of grass nearby. I stared up at the tree branches thinking to myself. I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I awoke a few hours later, it was dark. I jumped up and jogged back to the castle. When I got in it was eerily quiet. I wandered the corridors to the Ravenclaw common room. No one was in. I figured they were all at dinner. I went down to the Great Hall to get myself some food. I’d just gotten there when Draco wandered out.

“Hey! Where did you bugger off to?”

I laughed to myself; “I fell asleep in the forest”

“Well that was a pretty stupid thing to do”

I shrugged; “I know...I couldn’t help it though”

He rolled his eyes; “you getting some food?”

“Yeah”

“Go to the kitchens, there’s nothing good left...And I need to talk to you”

“...About?”

“I’ll tell you when we get there”

He dragged me up to the kitchens. I asked for a few sandwiches and sat with Draco by the fire.

“So what do you need to tell me?”

“You win the bet”

I grinned; “really?”

“Yeah...I kinda blew up on Tempest. I told her it was all a bet and she needed to get counselling”

“Aww! That’s horrible!”

“I know, I actually feel bad about it. But she was driving me completely insane! She began talking about some creature that Luna made up!”

I nodded; “well, you going to apologise for being inappropriate?”

“I may do...If she doesn’t run away from me every time I go near her”

I nodded and clasped my hand on his shoulder; “it’ll be okay”

“Yeah...So, you not seen Snape?”

I shook my head; “I haven’t seen him all day! I miss him!”

He laughed; “he misses you too. I encountered him earlier at dinner, he said he hadn’t seen you all day and wondered where you were...He then got more worried when I said you ran off on your own”

I laughed too; “I should go see him and calm him down!”

“Yeah...Finish your sandwiches first”

I grinned and waited for Hoppy to bring me my food.

After I’d eaten I wandered down to the dungeons with Draco, hoping to bump into Snape. Eventually he turned up. Draco grabbed my arm and waved it about.

“I found her sir! She fell asleep in the forest”

Snape looked at me; “that’s a bit dangerous isn’t it?”

“Well...I’m fine, and I didn’t mean to!”

He nodded and looked over Draco and I.

“Where are you two going?”

We shrugged; “anywhere...We’ve nothing to do”

“Come with me then”

“...Both of us?”

“Yes”

We nodded and followed Snape to his office. He sat behind his desk and began shuffling some papers. Draco and I stood in front of his desk.

“Well done. You’ve both volunteered to help me out for tomorrow’s lesson”

Draco groaned; I laughed and elbowed him.

“What will we be doing?”

“Lenore, you’ll be helping me ark, Malfoy, you’ll be sorting some ingredients”

“Oh great, SHE get’s the cushy desk job” Draco moaned. I smirked and pushed him before going behind Snapes desk. He had a chair next to his. He smirked at me before getting up to show Draco where his job was. I started marking the papers. Snape returned and sat next to me.

“Unorganised sir? Tut tut, this is unlike you”

He smirked; ”well, I’ve been busy”

“Yeah yeah sir. You can’t use the excuses you forbid from using”

“Yes I can. My things are more important than yours”

“Whatever, hypocrite!”

He smirked; “do as I say, not as I do”

I shook my head; “honestly sir, how’re you supposed to raise children to be good and decent when you’re bringing them up in a society which values exactly what you’re trying to teach out of them”

He rolled his eyes; “everyone knows, no matter what level of evil children are exposed to, when they get to your age they do whatever they want!”

I laughed; “touché”

“Now get marking”

“Why do I volunteer for these things? I should just drop your ass in all the trouble you’ve created for yourself”

“How about I give you a detention for use of bad language and I set you this to do anyway?”

“...How about we don’t speak for a while?”

He smirked and nodded. We carried on marking, listening to Draco’s faint grumblings in the stock cupboard.