Bloodlines || A Draco Malfoy Romance Fanfiction

Matchmaking - 76

TW:  brief instance of physical/emotional abuse

Aphry

The next time I caught Viktor looking at Hermione, I said something. 

"She's available, you know," I said with a sly smile as we sat with Dimitri and his other friends eating lunch in the great hall. Hermione had just come in and sat at the Gryffindor table with Harry. Guess Ron was still fighting with him over the whole school champion business. Daphne looked across the table with the same smile.

Viktor looks down at me. "Vat?" his accent much stronger than Dimitri's.

"The girl you keep looking at. Hermione."

He looked back at her. "Herm-oh-nee?"

Oh, his accent was definitely making that more difficult. "Her-my-oh-nee," I said.

"Hert-mee-own-knee." 

Where did the T come from? I put a hand on his wrist reassuringly. "We'll work on the pronunciation... but if you want to talk to her, she's often in the library."

Viktor looked at me with a smile, "Vhat vould I do vithout you, Aphry?"

I laughed, "Survive, but barely." Viktor laughed with me, along with the group of Durmstrang boys.

Once the laughter died down, I saw Daphne look down the hall. She then looked back at me, giving me a pointed look and tilting her head down the table.

Looking, I saw Draco. His elbow on the table and wrist crooked lazily as he held his goblet by the rim. His sneer could probably be seen from the constellation he was named after. As soon as he realized I'd caught his attention, he lifted a brow menacingly. 

Funny, he hadn't been bothering me since our argument over a week ago. I was on the verge of wondering if I had been too harsh on him and was beginning to miss him.

But I changed my mind as I looked at his scowl. I looked at Daphne. "I will not be entertaining his childish behaviour," I said with a deep breath in, then out to curb my anger. "It's almost time for class, maybe we should go."

The entire group gathered their things, and we all made our way out of the great hall.

Dimitri caught my wrist before you separated. "Aphry, can I have a word with you?"

I nodded, and turned to Daphne, telling her to go to Arithmancy ahead of me. She nodded and left.

Pulling me to the side, he said, "I don't like how you're behaving around Viktor."

"Excuse me?" I said, lifting my brow and leaning into him. "What are you talking about?"

"You just grabbed his wrist like you were flirting with him," he said, towering over me.

I scoffed. "Were you not listening to our conversation? I am literally trying to set him up with someone else."

"Well, you don't have to get so touchy with him to do it. Others will see you two and not be privy to those conversations."

"This is ridiculous," I said, hoisting my book bag back to my shoulder. "I'm going to class."

I began to walk off, but Dimitri grabbed my arm in a tight grip. "Should you shame me, I am not afraid to end this agreement and tell everybody why."

Frozen in my place I thought of what Lucius Malfoy said. It is important that you do not give them a reason to end this arrangement. I knew the high society of the Wizarding World. If his family told anybody I was running around on him, truth or not, the witches would eat it up, discussing it over their afternoon teas.

"Do we have an understanding, Aphrodite?" Dimitri said with a low voice.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, then looked up into his darkened eyes. "Yes Dimitri," I said. He let go of me and I headed to class, shaken.

Daphne and I re-arranged our plans after I gave her a brief synopsis of my conversation with Dimitri. She agreed to work on the Viktor side of the project, and I agreed to work on the Hermione side. 

Although, our plan seemed to be pretty much set into motion. I would study with Hermione often in the library and would often spot him. He hadn't yet approached her though. I wondered how long it would take him.

Dimitri seemed to have calmed down a bit by the time Friday came around, which was a good thing. However, a problem was growing with Draco.

Since Monday, my necklace had begun tingling at odd hours. I was ignoring it, but as the days passed, it go stronger and more persistent.

Daphne and I caught up to Harry and Hermione on our way to lunch, so we walked with them the rest of the way to potions. I was silently hoping that Draco and his friends wouldn't give Harry a hard time like they did last week about him becoming a champion, but I knew that was futile, as my necklace tingled worse than ever. When we all approached Snape's classroom, we noticed the corridor crowded with Slytherins.

Wearing very familiar-looking badges. 

But no, these badges were different. They glowed bright red in the dim dungeon lighting, and said "Support Cedric Diggory -- The REAL Hogwarts Champion."

That dashed my hopes for a decent class period completely.

"Like them, Potter?" Draco said loudly, as a smarmy smirk plastered on his face. "And this isn't all they do -- look!" He tapped the badge, changing the message to "POTTER STINKS" glowing green.

The other Slytherin third years howled with laughter, Pansy and the other girls in our year seeming to laugh the loudest.

I glared at Draco as his eyes connected with mine. His smug smile intensified. He then turned to Hermione, who had just mentioned how 'clever' the badges were with as much sarcasm as she could muster. "Want on, Granger?" he said, stretching his arm out and presenting the badge. "I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

In my peripheral vision, I noticed Harry shift. He'd reached for his wand.

"Harry!" Hermione and I both mutter in sync with each other.

"Go on then, Potter," Draco taunted, and the tingling sensation in my necklace, which had subsided slickly, increased.

A moment passed as they stared at each other, and then they simultaneously shouted spells, shooting them at one another. The two spells hit other, going off in different directions. I watched as Harry's spell hit Goyle, and Malfoy's hit Hermione.