Deception

Rain poured down hard outside, much to Amara’s dismay. With the gloomy weather and the crowded corridors and classrooms, Amara was just itching to go outside and just be free from the loud noises and sharp elbows always jabbing her in the stomach as she tried to get through the sea of students.

The majority of students were worried about the new decree. It banned any organizations, teams, groups, clubs, or societies and the only way to get these re-formed was through Professor Umbridge herself.

Obviously the old toad got a whiff up Potters little group. But whether Umbridge knew all the details or not was another question entirely.

Amara made her way down the corridor, heading towards The Great Hall for lunch. Peeves floated overhead, peashooter at the ready. Amara scowled, holding her potions book over her head as Peeves went to shoot her.

“Shove off,” Amara called up to the spirit.

Peeves cackled loudly with laughter at Amara’s angry scowl before shooting at her again.

“Can’t you go harass Umbridge or something?” Amara asked, her eyes narrowed. Part of her wanted him to cause the Professor as much trouble as possible because she was starting to get on Amara’s nerves. The other part of her just wanted him to go away.

Peeves seemed to ponder over this before a mischievous grin appeared. “Okay,” he said, but shot at Amara again, hitting her potions book once more before disappearing.

“Finally,” Amara huffed before hurrying down the corridor, spotting a certain Slytherin boy up ahead.

“Malfoy!” She called as she reach him. She linked her arm with his and smiled brightly up at him. “Why do I have a feeling you’re avoiding me?”

Malfoy fidgeted, but finally let out a breath of annoyance. “I’m not avoiding you.”

Amara raised a brow, that smile never slipping away. “Good,” she said, before shoving her potion and charms book into his hands. “Carry these for me.”

Surprisingly he obliged and led her into The Great Hall. It was crowded with students ready for a short break from lessons and to fuel up on food.

“So, when are we going on our date?” Amara asked, smiling brightly up at him.

“I was thinking our next Hogsmeade trip.” He replied with a small shrug of his shoulders, not seemingly caring about the date in general.

“Sounds good,” Amara nodded her head. It sounded like a good idea. There wasn’t much of a way to have a date at Hogwarts, after all. “What are we going to do on this date? Where are we going to go?”

“I don’t know,” was his reply, much to Amara’s disappointment. “I haven’t really thought about it.”

“That sounds romantic.” Amara replied in a slightly bitter tone.

Draco smirked at this and Amara couldn’t help but grin back.

The two Slytherins parted to opposite sides of the table so that Amara could sit across from Draco. But much to her despair, he sat down next to Parkinson.

Pansy gave Draco a flirty smile and a quick flutter of her lashes. Amara groaned inside with distaste as Pansy began to chat up Malfoy.

Though Amara knew she should be thankful that Parkinson had no idea about the date. Amara had a feeling that Pansy wouldn’t take the news very well.

For the rest of the lunch hour Amara stabbed her food with her fork as she watched Parkinson flirt with Malfoy. A few times Goyle tried to engage her in conversation, but Amara was unresponsive for the most part.

She had feared that Pansy would become a hindrance and had written to Jonathan a few days prior. He simply replied: take her out.

And Amara was pretty sure he didn’t mean on a date.

When she noticed Draco finish his lunch, Amara shot up in her seat and blurted out her words quickly before Pansy could say one more thing. “Draco, walk with me to our next lesson.”

Parkinson shot her an angry glare but didn’t try to stop Mafoy.

As soon as the pair left The Great Hall, Amara shoved her books into his hands once more and looped her arm with his. A bit of satisfaction was washing over Amara at the realization that she could steal Draco away from Parkinson so easily. Though, he did seem to enjoy talking to Pansy more.

Probably because she’s constantly complimenting him and puffing him up to be something better than he really is. Amara struggled with that. She wasn’t that great at flattering people.

As they walked together to their next lesson Amara pondered over how she was going to get rid of Pansy. Sure, there’s hundreds of spells she could use to get the little pug-faced pest away. But Amara wanted to do something a little different.

She wanted to prove that she didn’t have to rely on magic to get her way. She had to show herself that she could use her wit to overtake a situation.

“I’m surprised you were sitting with Pansy,” Amara said, making sure her words didn’t come out in a rush. “After everything she’s said.”

“What do you mean?” Draco asked. He furrowed his brows and focused his gaze on her.

“Oh,” Amara bit her lip and tried to look guity. “I thought you knew. . .”

“Knew what?” He growled out, not liking being in the dark about something. Even more so when it involved him.

“Well, I really shouldn’t say. . .” She started, but when Draco started to glare at her she quickly continued. “Just that, last night Pansy was saying that she was using you to get Zabini’s attention. That and she was bad mouthing you all last night. Saying how annoying you are and how she wished you staid a ferret last year.”

“I don’t know,” Draco said, his hands clenching and unclenching. “That doesn’t sound like something she’d say.”

“Oh, it’s true!” Amara said with a nod of her head. “She went on to say that the only reason she spends so much time with you - aside for the whole getting Zabini’s attention thing - was because everyone in Sytherin kind of looks at you as some kind of king or something. She was talking about it all last night in our dorm.”

Amara hid her smirk as Mafoy’s face started to turn red with anger.

“You coud ask her friends, but I doubt they’ll tell you, them being loyal to her and all.” Amara said, resting her head on his should as they continued to walk. “I tried to defend you, really I did, but Parkinson told me to shove off and threw a pillow at me. It started a big fight, of course. I’m surprise that I don’t have a mark on my face after how hard she slapped me.”

It was quite shocking, even to her, that she was able to lie so easily.

Draco seemed to be letting her words sink in. “It’s just strange.”

“It’s why I dislike her so much.” Amara snarled, biting down hard on her bottom lip. “Haven’t you noticed me glaring at her?”

“Yes, but I thought. . .” He trailed off not, wanting to say it.

“That I’m jealous?” Amara finished for him, raising a brow. “I mean, of course I am. But it’s also because I’m so angry with her. And then, there she was fawning over you in front of me. And on purpose, I’m sure.”

“She’s going to pay.” Draco snapped, his face blotchy. He clenched his jaw as he stared ahead.

“Don’t do anything drastic.” Amara hurried curling her fingers into the sleeve of his school robe. “She’ll just outright deny it. You have to think of something a bit less dramatic.”

“Like what?” He snapped, though Amara knew it wasn’t directed at her in particular.

“Well, we know she wont own up to anything she’s said. In the worse case she would say you’ve snapped or something and turn everything around to make it seem like you’ve lost it and she’s just a helpless victim.” Amara muttered and shook her head. “No, the best idea is to just give her the cold shoulder. It’ll drive her insane trying to figure out why your angry and what you know. People will take notice of you not talking to her or spending time with her and they’ll think something is wrong with her. Like I said, Slytherin’s tend to look up to you.”

“Right, okay.” Draco said, obviously still fuming but taking Amara’s words into consideration.

“I can’t believe her. Just using you to get somewhere.” Amara said, her words dripping with distaste. “I would never use you, Malfoy.”

They came to a stop in front of their charms classroom. Draco was still angry and probably would be for a while now. But it just proved that Amara’s plan was working. If Amara had it her way, he’d eventually come to despise Pansy Parkinson.

Amara placed her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to face her. “Don’t worry Draco, I’ll always be here to look out for you.”

She pulled him to her and planted a soft kiss on his lips before pulling away. He gave her a very brief smile before turning around and walking into their classroom.

It took everything inside Amara to stop herself from cackling out loud.