Blinded by the Walls | Dramione

No

They didn't meet up for their Potions assignment for over a week, and Angelina came to her yesterday morning to set a time for a group meeting today since the deadline was coming up in three weeks.

When she got to their meeting place, Angelina was already there with a stack of books, "Heya," she smiled. Hermione greeted her back and sat across from her.

"I read all your notes," she slid the stack of notes she had given her and grabbed another pile of notes from her satchel, "I rewrote them and added some more information in between and highlighted them so that we don't get confused," Hermione forced a smile on her lips. Angelina was just like her old self. She usually was the one to put this much effort and hand it to her comrades, but now the roles were reversed. She was replaced.

She hadn't done any additional research in the time between their group meetings. She hadn't felt like doing it, if she were honest.

Yes, she had written sixty-two pages, but Angelina had put in more work than she and  Malfoy combined, which wasn't how it was supposed to go.

She was always first, Malfoy second, then the others, including Angelina.

Now she was in the others category, second to Malfoy, and Angelina had taken her spot.

She was entirely to blame for this three-sixty switch of the original lineup, but still, it was crazy how, if she didn't demonstrate her perfectionism and gave it her all  only once,  she immediately fell rows behind.

"That's great—

"What's great?" Theo cut in, walking over to their table with Draco by his side. Those silver eyes bored into her, scanning her features intensely. She didn't look away and kept her eyes on him, "Angelina's research," she clarified, watching Malfoy taking a seat directly across from her.

He hadn't blinked once, and neither did she.

He leaned back in his chair and bent his arm to place it on the top of his chair. She crossed her legs and leaned back as well, making herself comfortable.

"Angelina, you are a lifesaver!" Theo exclaimed, scanning through the stack of notes. She laughed nervously in response, "Thank you," she smiled.

Malfoy cleared his throat, squinting his eyes slightly.

Was he close to giving up? Because she could hold her stare for hours.

Hermione opened her eyes even wider to prove her point. She saw a ghost of a smile appear on the side of his lip. She sneered at him in response, making his smile grow more apparent. As their staring contest continued, she watched his slight smile morph his face from discreetly amused to calculating.

Theo and Angelina hadn't noticed their little game yet. They were occupied with planning how to test their research in their next Potions class.

The longer he kept his gaze on her, the darker his eyes grew. He lifted his hand to his neck to scratch a spot, and her eyes followed the motions of his long, refined fingers.

"Goldy?" Theo addressed her, but she didn't hear him. She was too focused on the blonde across from her.

Her whole body flinched abruptly when Angelina poked her shoulder. She felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart pounding. The sudden movement had led her to blink, making her lose their—out of the blue—contest. Instead of looking at her with a victorious smirk, he stared at her with a worried expression.

The last person she wanted pity from was him. The energy in the room had entirely shifted, and she quickly got up and made her way to the lavatories.

Damn her. She hated how her body reacted whenever someone touched her without her being prepared for it. It felt like she could see all the horrible instances of the war again. All the times she got tortured, the times that she got touched.