Deception

The first few Potter meetings went well enough. Amara didn’t learn anything knew, really, and probably would have stopped going altogether if there wasn’t the promise of learning how to do the patronus charm. She so desperately wanted to learn it. Potter was, after all, the youngest wizard to conjure it.

So if the possibility to learn it wasn’t just that - a possibility - than Amara would have ditched the meetings. She was getting tired of attacking Vivian in corridors or empty classrooms. Not to mention she was worried about leaving a bald spot on the poor girls head.

The only slightly amusing thing about the whole scam was the fact that most people thought Vivian was an airhead. For whenever one of the members in the group tried to speak to Vivian outside of the meetings the poor girl would simply look at them like they were crazy.

The group decided to call themselves Dumbledore’s Army, or, D.A. for short. Also, Granger had come up with a way to alert D.A. members by giving out Galleons that would heat up and the numbers would change to reflect the dates the D.A. would meet up.

It was clever, of course. But then again, Granger is a clever girl.

So the meets came to a stand still. Quidditch practices were occurring more often with the first match coming up.

Quidditch was something Amara thought she could enjoy, but never had much time to pay attention to it. It simply wasn’t at the top of her list for the past seven years. But now, she could. With Malfoy being on the Slytherin team, she could stop and enjoy it very much.

The day of the first Quidditch match was cold and bright. Amara bundled up in silver and green clothing - though she wasn’t one for house spirit - and headed down to The Great Hall.

Draco had given her a badge last night that was shaped like a crown that said Weasley is our King.

She pinned it to her shirt, but let her scarf fall over it so that it was barely peeking through the green and silver fabric.

“Jane!”

Fran’s voice seemed to echo as she rushed down the stairs two at a time. A large smile was pasted on her face as she rushed up to her friend.

“Morning,” Amara greeted, giving her friend a timid smile.

Fran, being ever so fair, wore neutral black, with not a speck of red-and-gold or green-and-silver any where. Though, Amara had an inkling that Fran would be supporting Gryffindor if it came down to it.

“Look at you,” Fran said, tugging Amara’s scarf. “All decked out.”

Amara pushed her friends hands away just as Gabby and Nicole walked up to them.

Gabby shot an ugly glare at Amara before leaving their group behind and stomping into The Great Hall. Fran furrowed her brows, watching Gabby walk away.

“What is her problem?” Fran asked. She didn't wait for anyone to respond though. She quickly rushed after her.

“That’s a great question." Nicole said, crossing her arms and looking pointedly at Amara.

“Indigestion?” Amara suggested with a shrug.

“That’s rubbish and you know it!” Nicole said, rolling her brown eyes. “For weeks now she’s been giving you dirty looks and you have been giving her the cold shoulder.”

Amara avoided her friends gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play games, Hart.” Nicole sighed and ran her hand through her hair as if exhausted and frustrated with the whole thing. “I know something is going on, and I also know that you aren’t miss innocent.”

Amara narrowed her eyes and glared at Nicole. Suddenly, Amara seemed very dangerous. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that despite how you act around us you are still a Slytherin. I’ve never met a Slytherin that is like you. Which leads me to believe that you aren’t exactly what you seem to be.” Nicole said, all the while studying Amara very closely. “There’s something dark about you. I’m not saying you’re a bad person, Jane. But I know you’re not as good as you pretend to be.”

“That’s a pretty bit a accusation, Nicole.” Amara said, taking a step towards the tall blond. “Saying that I’m lying about who I am.”

“Look, this whole thing with Gabby is none of my business-”

“Exactly, it isn’t.” Amara snapped. “So if you know what’s best for you, you’ll drop this. This whole thing is between Gabriella and myself. Not you.”

Nicole took in a sharp breath, finally taking a step back. “Despite what I think, Jane, you are my friend. I’ve believed that something was wrong with you since our first year. But that never stopped me from being friends with you. You may be hiding something, but that doesn’t matter as long as you never hurt Fran or Gabby.”

Amara’s jaw clenched and her hands slowly formed into fists. She unclenched them, as she let Nicole’s words sink in.

“You could be as evil as You-Know-Who and I honestly wouldn’t care as long as you treat us like the friends that we are.” Nicole finished.

Amara pursed her lips and nodded her head.

Students began to trickle out of The Great Hall, having finished their breakfasts and were hurrying to the Quidditch field.

“I’m going to grab breakfast, you coming?” Nicole asked, raising a brow.

“No.” Amara shook her head after she scanned the room. Malfoy was no where in sight. “I think I’m going to head out to the field.”

“Alright, we’ll see you soon, I suppose.” Nicole said before heading into The Great Hall.

Amara scowled and turned on her heel, walking out of the castle and down to the Quidditch field.

She didn’t get very far, however, when she heard someone call for her again. She turned around, expecting to see Nicole or Fran, or perhaps even Malfoy, but was shocked to see who it actually was.

“Didn’t you hear me, Hart?” He said, a smile on his face as he swung his right arm over her shoulders. His was already changed into his Quidditch uniform, ready for the game. “I’ve been calling your name for the last five minutes.”

Amara flushed and rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready, Pucey?”

Adrian flashed her another grin before gesturing to his uniform. “All ready, see?”

“Yes,” Amara replied, eying him wearily. “But shouldn’t you be having some kind of brief. Big game, after all.”

“Montague isn’t big on talking.” Adrian replied, rolling his eyes. “Speaking of Malfoy-”

“We weren’t.” Amara cut him off, but he simply ignored her.

“-I’ve noticed you two have been spending quite a bit of time together.”

“Are you always this observant?” Amara scoffed, crossing her arms. Adrian gave her shoulder a tight squeeze. Pucey was on of the few Slytherin’s she could actually put up with. He wasn’t like most Slytherin’s. He didn’t bully his way into things. He simply outsmarted them.

Plus, he wasn’t exactly hard on the eyes either.

“Pucey!” Malfoy called from where the rest of the Slytherin team stood, broomsticks in hand.

Adrian waved Malfoy off, causing the blond to glare. Adrian seemed unfazed by Malfoy‘s anger as he turned his attention back on Amara. “Cheer for me?”

“Always.” Amara said, shoving him away. Her gaze flew to Malfoy’s red face as he turned his narrowed eyes on Amara.

Adrian laughed and shook his head in disbelief. “Oh, you have it bad for him.”

“I do not!” Amara said, slapping Adrian’s shoulder, which only made the older boy laugh harder.

“You do.” Adrian said, dodging Amara’s second slap. He backed off, still chuckling. “You fancy him.”

Amara shook her head as he ran off to be with his team.

Malfoy passed Adrian his book roughly, muttering something before glancing at Amara one more time before they went to the field.

Amara sighed. Hopefully Malfoy’s anger wouldn’t be a set back.

She made her way up to the top of the benches, sitting amongst the sea of students. It wasn’t long until Fran, Nicole, and surprisingly Gabby joined her.

“I talked to her, told her to lay off.” Nicole eyed into Amara’s ear as the crowd began to cheer loudly as the captains shook hands. “She’s still angry, but she promised to behave herself. Will you do the same?”

Before Amara got the chance to reply, Fran wedge herself between the two and began to cheer loudly. “I love Quidditch!”

Amara rolled her eyes at Fran but couldn’t help but smile at the girls enthusiastic behavior.

The game started off strong for Slytherin. The Slytherin side singing Weasley is Our King. Amara didn’t think she’d join them even if she knew the words. It seemed a bit obnoxious, to say the least.

Pucey was doing well, though that wasn’t surprising. The surprising thing was that Malfoy seemed to be in good spirits as he flew about the field, looking for the Snitch

Suddenly Potter and Malfoy dove, having spotted the Golden Snitch. It felt like everything went in slow motion as Potter stretched out his arm, his fingers closing around the Snitch.

The game was over, and Gryffindor had won.

Suddenly a Buldger whammed Potter in the back, causing the dark haired boy to fly off his broom. He landed on the ground with a thud. Luckily for him he had been hovering ony a few feet from the ground so that the land wasn’t so bad. Though Amara guessed he probably had the wind knocked out of him.

Madam Hooch’s whistle blew loudly as she few up to Crabbe and scolded him for hitting the Buldger at Potter.

The Slytherin side groaned in despair at having lost.

Amara saw Malfoy taunting the Gryffindor team as they celebrated among themselves for winning. In a matter of minutes George Weasley and Potter were rushing towards Malfoy. Potter’s hand balled into a fist as he drew his hand back before sinking it into Malfoy’s stomach.

The group started to fight.

The crowd was suddenly in an uproar and it seemed like chaos arose. Whistles were blowing, teachers where rushing onto the field, and students were yelling out.

Madam Hooch hit them with a spell, causing the boys to fly back and land on the ground.

From where Amara sat, it looked like Draco had a bloody nose.

Soon the crowd started to leave as Potter and Weasley headed off with Professor McGonagall to, presumably, her office.

Malfoy was lead off the field soon after.

“I’ve got to go.” Amara mumbled to her friends before quickly scurrying down the stands and raced back towards the school. She had to find Malfoy before Pansy did.

She didn’t know where Malfoy was and had a hard time pushing her way through the crowd of kids. By the time she thought of the Hospital Wing, Malfoy had already come and gone and was back in the Slytherin common room.

Amara sighed rather dramatically as she raced across Hogwarts once more and down to the dungeons. There she found Malfoy sitting on the couch, surrounded by a group of Slytherins.

“Does it hurt terribly, Draco?” Pansy asked. She stood in front of him, staring pityingly down at the blond boy.

Amara couldn’t help but scoff as she came over to the small group. Pansy spotted her first and sent her a dirty look.

“I have it under control here.” Parkinson snapped, but Amara rolled her eyes and shoved Pansy away.

Pansy gasped loudly at being pushed, but Amara paid zero attention to the pug faced girl. All her attention was focused on Malfoy as she plopped down next to him.

“Are you okay?” Amara asked him. He hadn’t changed out of his uniform yet. Blood had stained her shirt, and his face was blotchy looking. Amara glanced up at the small group and glared at them until they walked away - including Parkinson.

Draco sighed, leaning back in the couch. Amara pushed back his blond hair.

“What happened, exactly?” She asked.

“Potter,” Malfoy snarled, his brows furrowing in anger. He didn’t say much more, though Amara guess it was probably Malfoy’s fault that Potter punched him in the first place. Though, Amara wasn’t going to say this to Draco.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” She whispered, kissing him on the cheek. “I was so worried.”

He sighed again and closed his eyes. At first, Amara thought he had fallen asleep, but his eyes snapped open once more before turning towards her. “What were you doing with Pucey earlier?”

“Adrian?” Amara furrowed her brow. She shrugged, trying to look innocent about it. “Talking about the game, and you.”

“Me?” His interest seemed to peek at this.

Amara rolled her eyes, her face turning a shade of pink. “Oh, please Malfoy. It’s not exactly a secret that I like you.”

Draco didn’t say anything, much to Amara’s dismay, so she quickly hurried on. It was now or never anyways.

“Also, we were talking about the winter holidays. He was asking me if I wanted to come home with him, seeing as how my father has to work and wont be around much.” Amara lied. She shrugged and looked sadly at Malfoy. "But i think Pucey and I can have fun at his place."

“You’re going home with him?” Malfoy scoffed, rolling his eyes.

Amara shrugged. “Well, where else would I go?”

“You can come home with me,” was Draco’s reply, much to Amara’s happiness.

“Really?” Amara asked, a large smile on her face. Draco nodded his head at Amara’s hopeful look. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him on the lips. “Thank you!”

Draco chuckled as Amara continued to kiss his lips and repeatedly thanked him.

She could always count on his jealousy to win out.

“I can’t wait to meet your parents.” She said, before pulling him towards her once more and kissing him on the lips.

Oh, how Jonathan will be proud of her.