♣- Fidelius -♣

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After minutes skipping between corridors with your new fake bf, you found yourself stepping on a rusty wooden plat inside a room filled with many shiny trinkets that are beyond your knowledge. Here you are at the DADA class.
Samantha, Tracey, and Daphne are sitting on a row of seats together with the other students. Damn them for leaving you behind and putting up innocent faces like nothing had happened.

"Oh, the couple!"
Someone from the Slytherin's front row called, making the entire class, including Ginny and the others from Gryffindor who happened to have to share the class with your house, turn around and the girls began whispering wildly to each other.
Draco seems to be aware of this more than anyone else. He lets his hand off yours and sweetly smiled, but behind that smile, you completely know what he's actually saying to you.

'Act.'

This is shitty. You implied that comment in your expression, hoping he gets that.
But you faked a smile back anyway the way he commanded you to before you join the others.
Samantha hushed to you upon your loud painful bump of sitting.
"Where did you go?"

You scowled. "No, where did you go?"

"Saw you confronting the Hufflepuff girl on the corridor but we decided to just walk away, afraid that we'll interrupt your business, if you were having it.
After all, you are with Draco.. aren't you?"

"Well, I am, but-"

Sam, Tracey and Daphney stare at you at the same time, impatiently expecting a reply. But so does Draco, who found his seat right behind you. 'I'm telling your parents.' That cunning face says when you throw him sideways glance.

"..is that the teacher?" You immediately throw the attention to a big, old, chubby man who walks in to the classroom. It worked, they moved their eyes to him. At least that saves you for now.

"I am Alastor Moody," the overweight man with face full of rough scars briefly started off, then grabs a chalk to begin writing on the board. His writing pace scares you and so does his what seemed to be a magical eye that keeps scrawling around random directions.

"Ex-Auror, ministry malcontent, and your new Defence Against Dark Arts teacher."

He made you gulp in fright when he turned his head and stared at you deeply - a loud clunk can be heard from one of his legs below the tables, which turned out to be an artificial leg made of wood.
"I am here under Dumbledore's very request. And that's pretty much about it.
Any questions?"

The class keeps the silence firm, somewhat like in a funeral. The teachers here are so scary compared to your former ones it sends shivers down your spine by only having an eye contact with them and see them write on the board.
He then went to explain some things about the three Unforgivable Curses; in which he also chanced to demonstrate the mechanism of it by luridly torturing and killing one of the experimental spiders found inside the room. Poor arachnid. The sense of animal cruelty here is so thick.

"Marvelous, this class. And every other classes after." Draco kvetched sarcastically from behind when the others dropped their jaw open to yawn, remembering Transfigurations and double History will come up next. You rested your chin down the table beside your wand, thinking the same.

But the rest of the classes after turned to be complete sanctuary to you despite the incredible sleeping sensation. Of course you still need to play the drama by staying close to Draco the entire time and do seductive things to each other like you're both real lovers. Which is really inane. You have to force yourself not to slap him in the face everytime he touches you in several weak spots.

"Draco," you stuttered as your counter player strokes your cheek in front of the Slytherins at the dinner feast in the Great Hall. Draco intentionally took a seat next to you so it would look convincing to those who see.
..and you know this is really insignificant.

"Your hair smells so good." He says, sniffing.

You narrowed your eyes to the ceiling and repeated. "Draco."

"..yes?" He looked at you, eyes gleaming amorously.

"Is this really essential? If it is, convince me."

He dropped his tone quite drastically to reply, "I presume you hadn't noticed someone."

And he's right; Pansy sent you a vicious glare from across the other side of the table. She didn't even bother looking the other way when you looked at her. But is this really necessary to do? You don't think so.
You narrowed your eyes down the Gryffindor's table, thinking to call Ginny outside to talk again over the thought she might've heard about you and Draco now, but she's not looking at you. You guess she needs time to be with her friends too.
You slowly removes Draco's hands from you, ignoring his later act to get you back to his grip and say "I think I'm done with dinner," just so you could escape from all of this, at least for a while.

"Wait up, Val," Sam sipped her last drop of orange juice and followed you out of the Great Hall. Draco's not doing the same, but you suppose it's the good thing.

You bit your lip as you're both far enough from the table and opts to talk first, but Sam immediately cuts you with her giggle. "You know, you two really made a good chemistry."

"So you think. It's only an act!"

"A what?"
At this point, you two are already out of the hall so it's safe for you now to let out your quacks.

"That blonde over there?" Your thumb points back to the hall's door grudgingly.
"He's making me do this. We have to act like we're both love birds until Yule Ball because he doesn't want those girls, especially that roommate of ours Pansy, to keep pestering him with flirts and invitations."

"Wh-wait, you mean, you dating him is ..fake??" Both of Sam's eyes widened, her expression whipped up.

"Eeeuyees."

"..you're lying again, aren't you? Stop it."

"I never do!"

"Disappointing. Very. No, I mean it."

"...not."

"It is! You should've gone out with him, Val. You have not got yourself any date yet until now, have you? So has Draco! And you know the reason why he hasn't?"

"Because those girls are not in his list?"

"That, and because you are already on the list. His list is only a tiny post note, see. One name, and no more room for another. Which is kind of stupid as to us keep calling it a list."

"He doesn't like me! Nor is the other way around."

"Well why do you think he's choosing you over thousands of much sexier girls out there who're willing to drown themselves in acid sea for him while you don't even have the will to put your fingertips on his skin? It's because he knows you don't like him and that you are not gonna continuously plead for his love like those sluggish sluts, that's why."

This rude gal is slowly morphing into Kim, you know it.. but at least her words hold more sense than that of Kim's. "Okay, there, he knows I hate him and I won't plead for his love. So why he's asking me still to act as his girlfriend if he really does know I don't even hold any special interest in him?"

"Because he knows even though you hate him, you won't reject him. You're too kind. And how many more times should I and the others gobble this out for you, Valley?
Draco. Likes you."

Those words are always the ones that made you feel really stuck up. The nature of gossips; they could greatly affect even the ones who are closest to the subject in talk who holds the actual truth.
No matter how you look at it, this guy doesn't hold any affection on you. Even though you sometimes have to face it, you're the one who's attracted to him ..but it never last long. He's still the persistent little skank who crashed onto you two years ago, die your dress in yellow, drew unicorns on it and used your wand to clean the toilet manually. Nothing had really changed from him since then except for his facial feature and body, which you have to admit as well, is a good improvement.

"It's not that I don't want to reject him, Sam. I can't." You pouted.

"But in the end, you still accept it, don't you."

"Samantha," you beckoned through deep breath. "..please."

"..you still don't believe me?"

"Of course! You're the one who should've believed me. He doesn't like me, I know it!"

"But he-"
"No, keep it, Sam. Just give me some space to explain!"

Sam shows a slight uncertainty in her face, perhaps a bit surprised by your demanding.

"Since the moment we first met before I arrive here, we despise each other, alright. Okay sure, sometimes he might be not that bad, he's human, but I know he still dislike me. The gossips you heard about him liking me, they're bias. The thing you heard just today about me and him going to the ball, too - we're just acting to rescue him out from his own popularity. He doesn't like those girls kept bugging on him to go with them, and until the ball, I'll just be a shield to him.
So you get it now? Help me out here and get done with the buzz, like, okay?"

..a moment of silence.

And an awkward one. She understands what you just said, doesn't she?
Then finally, a deep exhale of understanding you've been waiting for breezes out from her.

"Fine, sheesh, just because I believe you're a good girl. Don't give me that look."

You immediately wipe off your sad face and put on a perky smile. "That's much better."

"But you said it was an act; how come he could think acting like this could ever fix things up? It only lasts until the ball, right? Surely you won't go with him after. Then everything will return to normal, with him being blockaded again by those girls. What makes him think this'll solve everything?"

"Who knows, really. He got the brain, the law, the confidence. And, you see, he -uh, told me he'll blurt my shenanigans out to my parents if I don't follow his sayings.. Sure I could do the same to him, but he knows he's on the lucky side. His parents spoil him alot and my parents would kill me anytime."

"Wait, you do shenanigans? Way to ruin your impression on me," She laughed impressed. "But that rocks as a Slytherin."

"Bet you'd love this."

You spent your time chatting with Sam then as you figured out you two rarely had the chance to do so. Glad she could understand you and set the rumors aside.
You walk your way to the common room together and opened the front door, but not before you realize something.

"What's the matter?" Sam looked at you.

The Love Potion. It's not in your pocket.
You know correctly this is the same robe as the one you wore yesterday, judging by the not so tidy state and a really faint aroma of the potion itself ( it actually smells like lavender, which fragrance you fancy more than anything ) from around your pocket. You kept the potion there instead of putting it in your bags because you're afraid that Pansy will go out of her mind in the night and look through your belongings to find something worthy to make gossip of. Now you know it's certainly not a smart idea.

"Perhaps it fell somewhere..?"

"What did?"


"Something not really important in one way but important in the others. Did you see a small bottle of liquid that emits a pink.."


Then some other thing brings your sentence into a halt.

Draco Malfoy. Standing there about few feet behind you, staring.


It's either he just caught up, or he's right there all this time following you from the Great Hall without either of you even noticing.

And something is definitely going on with that small vial he tugs out a bit from his pocket to show you.


"..never mind, I think I found it."


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