Slytherin

I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to get myself into the most awkward and uncomfortable position in my life. No, it’s not anything like THAT, you pervs! It was just that I had Neville Longbottom on my right, holding my hand and Draco Malfoy on my left, with his arm around my waist. I had never been so self-conscious in my entire life.

How did I get myself into this position? Well, it’s a long story...

“Happy Halloween!” Pansy yelled obnoxiously, followed by a long yawn. “And Happy Day-The-Tri-Wizard-Champions-Are-Chosen!”

“Ugh, Pansy, shut up!” one of the other girls in the room moaned, throwing a pillow at her.
She let out a yelp and fell back down into her pillow, and the room burst out into fits of giggles.

“It’s not even seven yet!” I groaned, rubbing my eyes and sitting up.

My costume was hanging in on the bar above my four-poster, swaying slightly because of the black heater in the center of the room. I smiled at it, and felt butterflies fly through my stomach at the thought of dancing with Draco in it. Of course, it was shorter than when I bought it; it originally went down to my ankles, and now only goes barely passed my knees. I kept my promise to him.

“Time to get ready girls,” Sasha Leonard announced from her bed, head still in pillow and eyes still shut. “It’s Saturday, and Halloween. We don’t want to be missing out on all of today’s events.”

We all nodded our heads in agreement, but other than that, nobody moved. Everyone was too tired, until we heard something crash from downstairs in the common room. I shot up and put my robe on and my wand in my pocket, checking in my mirror to make sure I looked somewhat decent, and ran down the stairs to see what the commotion was all about. Everybody followed suit.

When we reached our destination, we didn’t see anything. Only a lamp had crashed to the floor, but that was it.

I sighed, and pulled my wand out and muttered the incantation, “Reparo.” The lamp magically put itself together, piece by piece, and Pansy set it back onto the end table next to the green couch.

“Well that was odd,” she mumbled. “I wonder what made it fall over?”

“Hey ladies,” someone said from the boy’s staircase. “Lookin’ good.”

We all turned around to see the fourth year boys standing in their pajamas (and when I say pajamas, I mean no shirt and boxers or sweatpants. Only two had a shirt on; Crabbe and Goyle. Thank God.). At the top of the stairs, making his way down was Draco. I shivered at his muscular pale body, which was, sadly, being covered up by his green silk robe. He smirked when he saw we were all at the bottom in our skimpy pajamas. Most of us were wearing shorts and a tank top, despite the cold weather and the fact that we were in the dungeons. I was the only one who didn’t “forget” to grab a robe.

“Pajamas party?” Draco asked, raising an eyebrow, causing a couple of the girls (not me) to giggle.

I crossed my arms and leaned casually onto the end table.

“I’m guessing you’re here to investigate the crash?” I asked, and they all nodded their heads.

They took this as an open invitation to join us, and surround the small group of girls that were there.

“Well, what was it?” one of the boys asked.

“Something just knocked over the lamp,” Pansy explained, gesturing towards the newly fixed lamp. “Paige fixed it.”

Suddenly, there was a moan coming from underneath the couch. All the girls squealed and jumped back as a boy came crawling out from underneath it.

“Ugh, my head,” he cried. He looked up at us and blinked. “Hey guys!”

“Jeremiah?” Paul Jolkins asked, making his way over to him. “What the hell Jeremiah? What are you doing down here so early? Was it you who broke the lamp?”

“I, uh, I...” his was a thoughtful as he tried to recall what had happened. “Honestly, I don’t remember. It was a blur, a blur of something. It, it had something to do with you, Paige.”
He looked up at me curiously, resting his hand on his head. Then he blinked and added, “I think.”

We all shrugged off, agreeing that he must’ve drank too much pumpkin juice or had snuck in some liquor, and returned to get dressed. There were more exciting events that were about to happen. Although, the event seemed to cling to me for the rest of the day...

********

I was walking to the Great Hall at about nine o’clock, the time when the three champions were finally going to be chosen, when I had bumped into none other than Harry Potter himself. At first, I didn’t know it was him until I had turned around to confront him about it.

“Oh, geez, excuse me!” he apologized quickly just as I turned around to glare at him or something else that a Slytherin would have done.

I immediately notice the lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead, and my face grew soft; partly because he was one of Neville’s friends, and partly because Draco hated his guts.

“No worries,” I said, sticking my hand out for him to shake. “Paige Hollands. Slytherin.”

“Oh, are you the friend that Neville’s been going on about?” he asked with a cheeky grin as he shook my hand. “And I’m Harry Potter.”

I rolled my eyes and chuckled.

“I know,” I said bashfully, feeling embarrassed about the fact that Neville talked about me to his friends. “Speaking of Neville, have you seen him?”

He shook his head and said, “No. He was still in the common room last time I saw him. He was reading a book that Professor Moody gave him today. A book about plants.”

“Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean. Yeah, I know. He hasn’t stopped going on about that book,” I said with a smile. “I suppose that’s two things he goes on about, hm?”

He nodded his head in agreement, and was shoved into me once again by the students that were trying to cram themselves in for a good seat. Harry immediately stepped back off of me.

“Ugh, I hate people,” I said shaking my head as he opened his mouth to apologize. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Paige!” I heard the familiar, cheerful call of my name as Neville’s form emerged from the crowd. “Hey, Paige!”

“Hi Neville,” I said, giving him a quick hug and grabbing his hand. “Harry here’s just been telling me about how much you read that book that Moody gave you. Bookworm.”

The tips of his ears turned pink as I teased him.

“So, are you, um, going to sit by us today?” he asked quickly, trying to get off the subject.

“I don’t know, I think I might-”

I was cut off by the cold words of the prince.

“What the hell are you doing with, POTTER?” Draco spit out his last name dripping with venom. He slithered his hand around my waist and pulled me close to him, as if I was his possession. “Do you need me to take care of him for you? I could always find a boggart and make it change into a dementor.”

“Shove off, Malfoy,” Harry shot back, stepping closer to the slightly shorter blond-haired boy. “What, no cronies today? Did you give them the day off, or did they get lost?”

“I don’t need Crabbe and Goyle to teach you a lesson, Potter,” he threatened, reaching slowly into his pocket to grab his wand, and Harry did likewise.

“Stop it, the two of you!” I yelled out angrily, stepping in between the two of them. I was kind of happy that this had happened, because I had a plan that would drive Draco INSANE.

“Draco, I am going to sit with Harry and Neville today,” I told him, a smirk threatening to form at the corners of my mouth as I saw his nose scrunch up and his eyes widen.

My eyes narrowed when he smirked.

“Fine. Then I’ll sit with them, as well.”

I hadn’t been expecting that. My mouth dropped open slightly and I began gaping like a fish out of water as he led me over to where the rest of the Gryffindors were sitting, with Neville being towed right next of me as I refused to let him go. Neville cautiously took the seat on my right, and Harry next to him. We received numerous glares from both Slytherins and the Gryffindors.

And voila. One of the worst moments of my life was occurring right now, next to the two best guys in my life (apart from my dad, of course).

Then an idea hit me. Was he finally trying to show that he actually...CARED…for me? The idea seemed laughable, but I still hoped.

Draco leaned into my ear and whispered as he pointed towards Viktor Krum. “My family’s invited him over to our mansion during the summer. You should come, too, Paige.”

“I believe the last time you invited me over to your house,” I began coldly, pulling his arm off from around me. “It was only to recommend me to a great plastic surgeon that your mother knew.”

“Ouch, Paige,” he said in mock pain and putting his hand over his heart. “That hurts. Let’s not bring up such gloomy times, k? You’ve changed, and that’s all that matters.”

I looked at him disgusted. I was tired of him only caring about my looks. I was beginning to think that he liked me for...me.

“Really, Draco? Really?” I demanded, pushing his arm off of me. “Is that really all that matters?”

His eyebrows knitted together as he looked down at me curiously.

“Just go away, Draco,” I ordered him, avoiding his gaze. “Go back to your Slytherin posse, and leave me the hell alone.”

He leaned away from me, flabbergasted and speechless. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the Goblet of Fire flaring up and spitting out a half-burnt piece of paper. I had completely oblivious the speech Dumbledore had just given. Dumbledore reached out and grabbed the piece of paper. He read it over real fast then looked up and smiled.

“The champion for Durmstrang,” he read aloud. “Will be Viktor Krum.”

A storm of applause erupted around the Great Hall. Even I smiled and clapped along. I heard Ron Weasley whisper to Harry, “No surprises there!”

The next two pieces of paper shot and the finally two champions were chosen: Fleur Delacour and Cedric Diggory.

As soon as the roar of the students had died down, Dumbledore started up again. I was surprised Draco hadn’t mentioned anything.

“Excellent!” our headmaster exclaimed happily. “Well, we now have our three champions, I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute to a very real-”

But he was cut off by the Goblet flaring up again and shooting out a final piece of paper. The Hall had gone quiet, and everyone was looking at each other nervously. Dumbledore grabbed the paper and read aloud the fourth champion: Harry Potter.