“Well, I hope you all had a good weekend,” Professor Slughorn said. “Would anyone like to share what they did?”
I rolled my eyes, and picked up my quill, writing down an idea for a drawing. Potions was the one class that I was able to skip to the third year. My mother spent lots of days teaching me how to make different Potions and Dumbledor thought that year one and year two Potions would be too easy. Apparently, he was right because even this class was boring me.
I felt someone’s eyes on me. Glancing up, towards the direction the gaze was coming from, my eyes connected with Blaise’s. His eyes looked sorry and he mouthed something that I couldn’t decipher.
Blaise spoke up, “I kissed a girl and I liked it. The taste of her black cherry chapstick.” I wiped all emotion from my face, letting it turn to stone. I knew from the three days I’ve been here that Pansy is the only one who wore black cherry chapstick. My gaze flickered to her. Sure enough, she was smirking, applying her black cherry chapstick.
Professor Slughorn began speaking again but I couldn’t concentrate on his words. Everything that Blaise had told me, the people in the hall, it was all either a lie or the truth and for once I didn’t know which one it was. I felt my brother’s presence in my head. He was trying to talk to me. I glanced at Talia, who had also been able to bypass year one Potions when she arrived at Hogwarts, she looked like she was in a trance. I turned to Draco and let him in my head.
Meet me at the tree after lunch. One look in his eyes told me it was important. Like me, he and Talia had no trace of emotion on their faces. Neither of them were paying attention to our professor.
I held my brother’s gaze, sending my own mental message. Don’t trust Pansy or Blaise.
He nodded sharply before his gaze flickered to Talia. I knew that he would tell our sister the same thing. I turned back in and listened to Professor Slughorn.
I could feel Blaise’s gaze on me, trying to get me to turn and look at him but I ignored him and began taking notes. The entire class went by, and I ignored everyone but my siblings and the professor.
After class, I rushed out of class and hurried to find Professor Snape to tell him that I’m not feeling too well and won’t be attending lunch in the great hall. He in response told me to get some fresh air as I looked “extremely pale”. After thanking him for the advice, I hurried up to my room and locked the door behind me. I grabbed my broom and opened the window. Climbing onto my broom, I flew out the window and towards the tree, my brother had been talking about.
Stopping near the base of the tree, I was surprised to see Talia, sitting on one of the branches, with a worried expression on her face. I climbed onto the branch and balanced my broom beside me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Snape sent me to go and make sure you were okay. He said you looked pale and he wasn’t wrong. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Lier,” Talia muttered.
“Just a little bit hungry. But I do NOT want to sit through a meal with Pansy or Blaise.”
“You look way paler than normal. If you don’t eat something, your little white lie will turn into the truth.”
“White lie?”
“You told Snape you were sick. Come on!” She jumped down from the branch, urging me to follow her.
“What about Snape? I told him I'm not going to the great hall. And I do not want to sit with Blaise and Pansy.”
“You’re not going to. And Snape will understand.”
“Why does he care anyway?” I sighed, grabbing my broom and jumping down.
Talia grinned, “That’s a secret story only you, Draco, and I will ever know.”
“Well? Out with it? What is the story?”