PRETENDING TO LIVE~ {The Lestrange Daughter #2}

𝟔. Champions

"Ah, Miss Lestrange." Moody appraised her as she walked into class with her friends. "Glad to see you managed to arrive on time today."

"I'll have you know I'm usually on time." She rebuked. "Unless I have reason not to be."

"And what exactly was your reason the other day?" He leered at her from his desk, over the large glass bowl sitting on the surface.

"I found a bug that needed squashing." She said, taking a seat near the back, the others following with a nervous gaze.

"I'll take that as not literal?" Said Moody.

"You may take it as you wish." 

Moody just grunted at that and stood as more students flooded into the room.

Valentine still really wasn't sure what to make of him. She certainly didn't like him. He was rather uncouth and unsettling in a general sense but Valentine could look past that. There was something about him. Something that made her watch him in a crowd...but was he worse than Lockhart? That was the real question she was concerned with. He didn't seem incompetent when it came to teaching actual lessons but even Quirrell had managed that while having Voldemort slowly sucking out his soul day after day. The bar for this position really was set that high. 

"Val, please try not to start anything." Draco whispered lowly from the spot beside her. "You don't have to like him but this doesn't have to become a big thing either." 

"I'll do what I want." She shot him a glare that immediately shut him up. 

"You got in trouble." Leah giggled under her breath from the other side of Valentine, beside Millicent Bulstrode. 

Draco sent her a glare that almost rivaled Valentine's.

Moody was scraping words onto the blackboard as the rest of the students sat, chattering among themselves softly.

"I'll only ask for silence once!" Said Moody and they all became so. He turned to them, revealing the words written on the board. "Today we'll be covering the Water-Making Spell. It's simple but useful in many different circumstances." 

This was a spell that Valentine had mastered years ago. Moody was right to say that it was simple and as he was listing off several examples of its uses, Valentine was tuning out and preparing to do so for the whole lesson. 

She let her eyes drift to the back of Harry's head as they so naturally did. His hair was getting long, she thought. She looked at Ron and thought the same. Then she thought about the shaggy locks the twins had been parading around as well.

Did they all collectively decide not to get a haircut or over the summer or...?

Valentine glanced at Draco beside her, he was parting his bangs in the middle with a practiced brush of his fingers and in the desk right beside him across the aisle, Liam had a literal comb in his hands. 

Weirdos.

Blaze caught her eye from Liam's side. He battered his lashes at her, one hand poised as if holding a mirror, the other combing over his head. Then he pretended to lick the underside of his palm and slick back his close-cropped hair.

Valentine made a face and looked away. Blaze had always seemed to think they had some kind of secret running gag together exchanged through glances alone. They didn't and Valentine had no idea where Blaze got said idea but she wasn't about to tell him to stop out loud, that would mean acknowledging these looks at all. 

"Lestrange." Moody was suddenly standing right by her desk, leering down at her. Every eye in the room was on them. "You don't seem to be paying much attention. Is my class boring you?"