𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗰𝗸, harry potter

˗ˋ 128

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
AND TWENTY EIGHT
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-: fifth year :-

── IN WHICH DRACO 
ANNOYS ONCE MORE

. . .

Aviana had disappeared the very moment they had reached the great oak doors at the front of the castle, her trunk taken away by one of her own house-elves as soon as she passed into the castle, leaving Harry and the Weasleys behind without another word, through the Entrance Hall and down the stairs and into the corridor outside the Slytherin common room.

This was what she had been particularly dreading since she was told she would be staying at Grimmauld Place over the holidays as opposed to simply staying at the castle. And to return back by the Knight Bus as opposed to the train with every other student? She didn't know why Dumbledore didn't drown them all in neon paint and start flying banners airing all their business to the castle and by proxy, the entire wizarding world. 

It might have been alright for Harry, whose friends were Ron and Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys, all of which were Gryffindors, all of which knew about the Order and what was going on behind the scenes of the modern wizarding war. But she was a Slytherin, her friends and family consisted only of people that the Order was against, an Order that she had joined.

And all of a sudden she felt ill again, even more ill than she had been on the Knight Bus. It shouldn't be all that difficult for her to act as though nothing happened. She had been doing that all year, but there was a new element of betrayal joining that now, and it would be a little different. Especially if Malfoy was going to be more annoying now.

When she entered the common room, her eyes landed on the group sat in the usual position, on the sofa before the fireplace, all in uniform, all perfect, without a hair on their head out of place. Pansy saw her first.

"Avi!" She all but squealed, scrambling to her feet and coming to hug her friend. "We didn't think you were coming back!" Pansy continued, as Blaise, Theo and Draco all turned in their seats to look at her.

"Wishful thinking, I suppose." Aviana replied, shredding her coat as she joined them around the fire, taking a seat besides Pansy and folding her scarf neatly on her lap. "Good Christmas, everybody?" She asked. 

Crabbe and Goyle mumbled something that she nodded at as though she had understood any of it, before turning her attention to the rest of them.

"It was fine." Draco said, plainly. "Why are you so happy?" 

Her eyes passed over him, onto Theo. "Nott? Good Christmas?" 

"Not too bad, decent presents from my dad." Theo replied hurriedly, eager to get onto the next topic. "I thought you were staying here all Christmas?" 

"No, no." Aviana shook her head. "Well, I did for about a day, and then decided I best go back to the manor to make sure everything was alright." She lied, easily. "It's good that I did as well, house-elves can apparently only do their job when they have someone watching their every move. Besides, I would most likely have ended up hexing that utter cow if I stayed here, so..." She trailed off, shrugging. "Panse, what about you?" 

"Oh, it was lovely. Mother had a wonderful dinner planned, and we went to France for a couple of days, and-"

"Why are you so happy?" Draco asked, yet again. 

"Because I'd been miles away from you, dickface and for once in my life I was... well I wouldn't say excited, so we'll settle for not upset, about seeing you." Aviana replied. "I had two weeks free of the utter annoyance that you call just existing and I felt refreshed, maybe even ready to lift the ban, but here you are. Just can't keep your mouth shut, can you?" 

"Well, I-" Draco spluttered. Aviana pointed her wand at him and he fell silent. 

"Blaise, a word." Aviana asked, and the Zabini didn't question it, rising from his chair and following her out into the corridor. "Muffliato." She said. 

"Salazar, what are you going to tell me, Rosier?" Blaise said, looking taken-aback. 

"Do you remember, oh-so kindly, how you blindly accepted that I had written to you multiple times over the summer holiday?" Aviana asked, crossing her arms. Blaise nodded. "Mind keeping that lie up?" 

"If you went to go and see your little Gryffindor boyfriend, then I have no problem with it." Blaise shook his head. "Honestly. Are you seriously going to not speak to Draco again?" 

"Why should I? He can't suck up his own self-importance for more than a minute, it's piss-annoying." 

"Tell me about it." Blaise rolled his eyes. "Fine, you wrote to me several times over the holidays. Want me to tell Draco that you went to go and see Potter? Really piss him off?" 

Aviana smiled. "That would be wonderful, thank you." And as Blaise made his way back into the common room she was left alone for a moment once more, heaving deep breaths of air back into her lungs, unaware of when she had become just so irritable. 

Her nails tugged at the sleeves of her cardigan, itching at the skin of her wrists, and she could only hope that she had made the right decision.

Perhaps she needed to sleep on it, because she couldn't remember the last time she was so uncertain about something. 

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