The Farland Files

The Art of Despair

A/N: Merry Holidays and Happy Christmas! ☃🎅🎄🎉🎁🌲🌟❄😊

~~~

"You and Zabini break up? He's flirting with that younger redhead you lot hang out with."

Lena looked up from her book on wizarding history to where the Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team (and the ex of Marietta Edgecombe) was leaning on the table next to her with a cocky smirk on his face. Smiling slightly, she glanced across the hall at where Blaise and Ginny were laughing about something, the boy meeting her eyes questioningly as if he knew she was looking at him. She just looked back up at Rodger Davies with a raised eyebrow. "I wanted quiet and they wanted to hang out. Does it matter if they're flirting?"

The boy shrugged a single shoulder lazily. "It doesn't if you're not dating... and even if you are..."

Closing her book and putting it in her bag, she gave the boy her full attention, slowly taking in his overconfident posture and the smug tilt to his lips as if he'd already won something. "You were sent here as a dare or a joke. I'm curious- what was it?"

"I- uh-" His mask faltered for a long and obvious second before it slammed back up with a grin, but his voice was lower than before- as if telling a secret. "Those guys. In the corner of Ravenclaw. They bet me good money I could get with you... if we do, wanna split it?"

"Do not disappoint me by falling for such cheap slander. This is pathetic."

Or perhaps this could be fun...

Riddle made a noise of outrage. "Fun? Lena!"

"A game... I see." Lena tilted her head just slightly, letting her lips pull up in a mischievous smile. "How about this instead. You tell me who you hate the most out of the whole school and I'll do... a little something for you."

"Lena, you're mad. Batty. Nutty. Whatever '-tty' you want to be, you can't honestly be considering this."

Davies smirked, regaining the pompous tone to his voice. "Terry Boot. He's some know-it-all muggle-born that's worse than even that Granger girl." The boy jerked his thumb to where a boy with slightly long blonde wavy hair was wearing thick glasses and leaning over a book. "Total dweeb. Now, about that 'little something'... you wanna go to the storage closet on the third floor?"

He held out his hand.

Taking it, she stood, pulling him in so her lips were almost against his ear. "What I'll do for you will be this: I am going to let you have this single moment where I will graciously allow you to touch me, then you will leave me alone or I will make sure no one ever finds the remains of your severed genitalia." Feeling him flinch, she pulled back and let go of him, taking her bag and walking past him without a word.

Though she swore he was holding his breath as she did.

Moving to stand at the edge of the Ravenclaw table, she smiled as gently as she could when Terry Boot looked up in surprise. "Mr. Boot... may I sit next to you?"

"Is- is this a joke?"

"I promise it isn't. I just thought that since I was alone reading and you were alone reading that maybe we could read separately but together." Taking his stunned expression as a sign she could sit down, she did so, reaching to pull out her book as well as a small paper bag. "Would you like chocolate? I have peppermint, caramel, and cherry."

Terry blinked owlishly behind his glasses. "Um- uh- caramel please."

Lena nodded, pulling out a single wrapped chocolate in the shape of a 'J' and setting it in front of the boy. "There you go." With one last smile, she opened her book again to the page she'd dog-eared and started to read.