eternally mine | pansy parkinson✔

t w e l v e

Dessa sat next to him, hands dangerously close to his. He stared at her while she lost herself in a book. Adeline froze, mind racing. The pieces were falling into place, slowly, but surely.

She tried to focus herself back onto the book and Pansy, but her gaze kept wavering over to the pair. The boy was suspicious. He didn't have a single book in front of him. Adeline watched them for a moment, anxious of what they'd been up to.

Dessa looked up. Their eyes met and for a sliver of a second, both of them panicked. Dessa pulled her hands away from Draco and leaned back in her chair. Her eyes were wide, fear and panic too high to look anywhere but Adeline. She pushed herself up out of the chair and hurried off, her arm brushing against Draco as she did so.

He watched her leave, snapping his eyes to Adeline. She diverted her gaze quickly, not thinking at all. Pansy hadn't budged at all, making Adeline panic more.

Had Dessa seen Pansy?

She gathered her things and Pansy finally looked up.

"Are you alright?" She set her book down and stared at her.

"Malfoy, he's um, he's over there" Adeline stumbled over her words. "We should go."

Pansy nodded and placed books into her bag. "Meet me in the classroom Monday night," she said. Before she left, Adeline could've sworn she had the beginnings of a smile on her lips.

Adeline rushed out of the library, trying to find Dessa. She needed to know everything.

The common room was deserted. She wanted to confront her friend, her mind demanding to know what she'd been hiding. But it ate at her.

They'd been hiding similar things from one another. Adeline's mind was buzzing with questions and worries.

Do you have any right to be mad?

You're doing the same thing.

She burst through the door to the dorm and made immediate eye contact with Dessa. Her body language was unreadable and her eyes were calm now. Adeline took deep breaths, staring into her eyes.

"What were you doing?" The two watched each other closely. "Why were you with him?"

"Why were you with her?"

Shit.

"She's helping me with potions," Adeline defended. "Malfoy didn't have a book." Dessa sighed and dropped onto her bed, laying flat on the mattress.

"I don't know, Ad," she whispered. "I don't know what I'm doing with him."

Something in her voice sounded off. Dessa had never sounded like that before, almost like something inside her was broken, confused. Adeline laid next to her, turning her head to the side.

"Be honest with yourself." She caught herself giving out advice she couldn't take, snapping her eyes to the ceiling. Dessa sat up and combed her fingers through her hair.

"Nina and Issac will be up here soon," she said, "Please don't bring anything up and I won't bring anything up." Adeline patted her arm and pulled herself up.

"I swear."

Nina had convinced the group to meet in her room, bottles of potions she'd brewed lining her desk. Adeline stared cautiously at them as she entered the room, Dessa behind her. "She's gone mad," Dessa mumbled to Adeline. Isaac knocked her in the back of the head as she passed, shooting her a playful eye roll.

Adeline chuckled as she sat in a chair facing Nina's bed. "I realized last night that we never talked about amortentia," Nina said. "I heard some kids talking about it and I've decided we're doing it now." A smile laced her lips as Dessa's eyes widened. Adeline watched her fidget with her fingers to distract herself from the panic rising in her own body.

Nina pulled a small vial from her shelf and sat on the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest. Isaac sat beside her and gave Adeline a look. Dessa stood behind them, rooted in her spot as panic pulsed her body.

She lowered herself onto the floor slowly and leaned against Adeline, taking slow breaths. Nina smirked at Adeline and extended her arm out, the vial in her hand. "I want to know who we're all attracted to," she said.

Adeline held her breath and shakily took the potion, popping it open. She glanced at Dessa quickly as she brought it closer to her face. The familiar scent surrounded her almost instantly and she closed her eyes, taking a performative smell of it.

Who exactly it was she wasn't sure of, all she knew was whoever it was they had met before.

And she prayed to Merlin it wasn't Nott.

She caught her thoughts calming in the peace of citrus, but she felt her senses weaken. She pulled the vial away from her face and opened her eyes, meeting Nina's anxious gaze.

"What was it?"

"Citrus," Adeline said. She decided not to list the other scents, fearing they'd put the pieces together before she did. Isaac stared at her as her shoulders tensed. Dessa knocked into her arm, the look in her eye scaring Adeline.

"Dessa," Isaac said, nodding at her. She inhaled sharply and held her hand out. Adeline gave her a look as they made the exchange. Dessa shook her head slightly with warning before she put it up to her nose.

Silence fell as she studied the smells. Adeline wondered if this would change the way Dessa acted and whether she had some sort of feelings for Malfoy.

She looked up and handed the potion to Nina. "It's mint," she said, "There were other scents but they were too muted." She spoke calmly, her voice not reflecting the way her hands secretly gripped the fabric of her pants.

"Since you're so pushy with us, tell us what you smell," Adeline said. She desperately wanted to shift the focus off of them and onto Nina. Isaac looked at her, watching her as she brought the vial up to her nose. Dessa elbowed Adeline and pointed at him, smirking. Her body language changed quickly and now she acted as if nothing had happened and she had nothing to hide.

"It's kinda like," Nina started, "A forest, chocolate, and a subtle cologne." She looked at Adeline as Dessa's jaw dropped. Isaac stared at her, face turning red instantly.

Nina's eyes widened as she came to the realization and shoved herself off the floor. "I have homework to do," she said, shooing them out. "I'll see you guys later."

She shoved everyone out and slammed her door.

Isaac stood there, stunned. His face was a bright shade of red and his hands tugged at the edge of his shirt. Dessa patted his shoulder with a laugh, winking at him. "I fucking knew it," she said.

"It wasn't me, Dessa," Isaac mumbled. Adeline stared at him, suppressing a grin.

"Sure it wasn't."

"She's just my friend, we're basically siblings," the boy defended. He desperately tried to walk away, Dessa's arm stopping him every time. She had a grip on his arm with a devious smirk on her lips.

Isaac glared at her, her smugness setting him over the edge. "If we're talking about this, who smells like mint, Odessa?" He tried to escape her grasp as the words rolled off his tongue. "I can think of a few people but I'm curious to know who exactly it is," he spat.

Dessa stared at him, the smug look abandoning her face. She looked like she had been caught red handed, her hand falling from Isaac's arm.

"That's what I thought," he said. "I'm going to the common room, see you later."

Dessa zoned out entirely, looking almost as if she'd cry any second. Her eyes met Adeline's in defeat as she extended an arm out to her. Dessa rarely panicked, but when she did, she panicked hard and it was nearly impossible to calm her down. Now she feared someone other than Adeline had seen her talk with the certain Slytherin, her mind screaming at her to leave him alone.

Adeline pulled her into a tight hug, her hands gripping onto the fabric of Dessa's clothes. For a moment, all was calm.