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—ALEXANDRIA, PANSY AND DAPHNE CLIMBED THE STEPS TO THE ENTRANCE HALL. Alexandria was busy idly flipping a dagger in her hands, the warning from her father already ignored, while Pansy and Daphne were talking.
"I think our potion was rather splendid," said Pansy thoughtfully.
"That's because you left it all to me." Daphne pointed out.
"Maybe I should do that more often.." mused Pansy, turning around when she got no answer.
Daphne was gone.
"Where is she?"
Alexandria turned, too.
They were at the top of the steps now, watching the rest of the class pass them, heading for the Great Hall and lunch.
"She was right behind us," said Pansy, frowning.
Draco passed them, walking between Crabbe and Goyle. He smirked at Alexandria and disappeared.
"Arsehole," muttered the Slytherin heiress.
"There she is," said Pansy, mood lifting as she pointed to somebody.
Daphne was panting slightly, hurrying up the stairs; one hand was clutching her bag, the other seemed to be tucking something down the front of her robes.
"How did you do that?" asked Pansy immediately.
"What?" asked Daphne in confusion, joining them.
"One minute you were right behind us, and next moment, you were back at the bottom of the stairs again."
"What?" Daphne looked even more confused. "Oh— I had to go back for something. Oh, no.."
A seam had split on Daphne's bag. Alexandria wasn't surprised; she could see that it was crammed with at least a dozen large and heavy books.
"Why are you carrying all these around with you?" Pansy asked her, helping with picking the books up for her.
"You know how many subjects I'm taking," said Daphne breathlessly. "Couldn't hold these for me, could you?"
"But—" Pansy was turning over the books she had handed him, looking at the covers. "you haven't got any of these subjects today. It's only Defence Against the Dark Arts this afternoon."
"Oh, yes," said Daphne vaguely, but she packed all the books back into her bag just the same. "I hope there's something good for lunch, I'm starving," she added just before marching off towards the Great Hall.
Alexandria, who was quiet through all this, followed her.
