A Badger and a Snake: Draco Malfoy x Hufflepuff

7. Fred's Lesson

My lesson with Draco went really well. Turns out I knew pretty much all of the spells that he wanted to work on. I just needed a little practice on a few of them. He told me that when I'm ready, we can do a faux duel with set spells. It might take me a little while, but I do think that this lesson will help me stop being so passive.

At lunch, Fred calls me over to eat with them again. I guess I've kind of forgiven them. I don't want to be left out of whatever they are doing but I also need friends and hopefully they will tell me at some point.

"Hey," I say as I sit down and throw my bag to the side.

"Guess what?" Fred asks.

"What?"

"Cole and Naomi broke up. I just heard from Neville who was told by Luna," he tells me.

"Okay," I respond. I honestly haven't thought about them since the train ride. I could care less about Cole. My crush on him was ill advised and barely there.

"Okay? This is great news!" says George. "He was basically cheating on you with her or vice versa."

"I'm 100% over him," I admit. Fred gives a small smile at that.

"Oh, well I'm glad," Gen says and gives my hand a pat. "Speaking of breakups, why did Draco want to meet you last night?"

"Ooh I'm glad you asked! He's giving me lessons to get some of my aggression out. Apparently I'm really bad at fighting my own battles because I don't want to hurt anyone so he is helping me get over that," I explain.

"It's not a bad thing that you're nice, Alyssa," Gen points out.

"No, I know! I still want to be nice," I agree. "I just think that it's dumb that I don't even say anything when someone hexes me, when something bad happens, or when I want to argue. I just pretend like it didn't happen."

We finish eating and then leave the Great Hall and Fred throws his arm around my shoulder.

I see a certain blond turning around and noticing us.

Draco walks straight up to Fred with an amused look on his face. "Did your little girlfriend tell you about our plan?"

"He's not my-" I start, but Fred cuts me off.

"Yes," he responds and removes his arm from my shoulder to cross his arms. "And I have one of my own."

Draco smirks. "Oh really?" he asks. I'm thinking the same thing.

"Yes," Fred answers decidedly. "I am going to make her the most powerful witch in the world. My lessons will be much more valuable than yours."

Draco raises his eyebrows. "Okay," he says and then shrugs. "I guess after a few weeks we'll just have to let Alyssa decide who's lessons were better."

"I never agreed-" I start.

"Great," Fred says.

"Great," Draco answers and turns and walks away.

"What were you thinking?" I whisper yell to Fred.

Gen looks very concerned and angry. "Yes, what were you thinking?" she asks and gives him a look.

"It'll be fine," he tells her. "It's time for this."
---
It was not fine.

"Alyssa, focus!" Fred snaps at me. "It shouldn't be that hard."

"Sorry," I say sarcastically. "How about you try to control vines with no spell and no wand! I don't think this is even possible." We're in the herbology classroom and Fred has me trying to do super weird spells. Apparently he found an old spellbook in the library and wants me to practice on those. It doesn't really make sense though; we aren't taught to do anything like this in school and I don't see how it will help me be more aggressive. Besides, he keeps losing his patience at me and it's making me really angry.

"Just focus," says Fred.

"If you tell me to focus one more time, I will find a spell to strangle you with these vines," I threaten. "Seriously, I'm done. This lesson has been of no use to me whatsoever." I grab my bags and push past him.

"Alyssa, wait!" he calls but I'm already gone.
---
I can't quite figure it out, but I'm trying to connect everyone's strange behavior together. Like Gen and the twins sneaking around, Gen and Fred lying to me about it, Fred with Draco, and Fred's lesson. I just feel like I'm missing something and it is making me angry that I don't know what it is.

I'm back in my room again. I decided to get out my potions book and study a little. We have an exam the day after tomorrow and it's always good to be prepared.

Gen comes into the room and sits next to me on the bed. "I heard about the lesson," she tells me.

"It was a train wreck," I respond.

"I know, I heard," she grimaces. "I told Fred not to, but he wouldn't listen."

"Do you know why he was wanting me to use those crazy spells?" I ask her.

She shakes her head. "No," she says, but I'm not sure it's the truth. "Anyway," she continues. "I just want to let you know that the twins and I aren't going to Hogsmeade tomorrow because of our potions test. I figured that you'd want to study too and Fred and George didn't really want to go without us."

"Sounds good," I say and smile.