Midnight Rain

Chapter Four

Monday Morning

Athania entered the great hall in her uniform, it still being relatively early so there were very few people there.

However, Lucius had returned after going home for the weekend with his brother and she found him sitting at the Slytherin table, studying. She took a seat in front of him, opening her books as he paid no attention to her.

"Thank you," she finally breaks the silence between the two. 

"For what?" He asks, not moving his eyes from whatever he was working on. 

"Friday night. I have no idea what he would've done if you hadn't stepped in and gotten me to my room," she admits.

"You were drunk, Athania. You have no clue what you're talking about," he says.

"Of course. Why do I even try?" she frustratedly says before getting up and leaving, deciding to just do her studying in the common room instead.

Tears brimmed her eyes as her heels echoed through the halls. She was so incredibly frustrated and over this whole arrangement that she would have to deal with for the rest of her life. She tried to make it work for what it was but Lucius was so stuck up and nasty that this made it impossible for her.

Once she made her way back to the common room, she sat at one of the tables and worked hard to keep her mind off of how angry he made her.

*********

As the afternoon went on, Athania felt better; Ophelia was to thank for that by managing to blow up a potion, giving her a good and hard laugh.

They sat in their last class of the day, divination. She desperately tried to stay awake as she listened to Professor Mitus ramble on about the tea leaves. She personally thought divination was a load of rubbish but she still had to take it to be able to work for the ministry.

"Now you may all begin your reading," her professor says as they all begin looking into their tea cups. Athania looks into the textbook and looks back at her cup, connecting the leaves.

"What did you all get?" He asks as everyone begins telling their answers. 

"And you Ms Fawley?" Professor Mitus asks. 

"Apple, The symbol for good knowledge," Ophelia says, clearly better at this than Athania.

"Ms. Black?" he asks. 

"Looks like I got.... the Grim," Athania says flatly, earning a shocked look from him and a gasp from everyone else.

"What?" she asks. 

"Class is dismissed," Mitus says, cutting it short by 30 minutes.

"What am I missing here?" she asks. 

"Athania. The grim means death," Ophelia tells her friend. 

"Right," Athania chuckles, unbelieving as she stands up and grabs her bag, making her way to the trapdoor to the ladder.

"Ms. Black, I advise you to take this seriously, watch your back, do not take unnecessary risks," Professor Mitus says, truly worried as Ophelia continues to read Athania's cup to make sure.

"Got it. Will do, professor," Athania says, trying to be nice given that Mitus was a good professor but he just taught a useless subject in her eyes.

That night, Athania was the talk of the common room as she sat on the couch, just trying to read through a section in their required reading for Transfiguration.

She heard several whispers from all around as she tried to concentrate on the textbook.

"That's the prefect that got the grim in divination," she heard from several people even over the crackle of the fire.

On top of the whispers that had already agitated her, she looked up to find Lucius eyeing her from a table a few feet away where he sat with his buddies. He met her gaze and looked away like he had wanted to say something to her but decided against it.

Then, once she turned her attention from his staring problem, the whispers could be heard again.

"I wonder how long it will be before the grim seizes her."

After the hell of a day that she had, that was the straw that broke her for the night. Athania slammed the book closed and stood up, red in the face.

"You are all terrible at whispering!" she snaps at the room. "Divination is a load of rubbish! Merlin himself is the only one that chooses life or death, not some stupid tea leaves!" Athania yells.

They all looked at her, wide-eyed, unaware that she could hear them. She huffs at their lack of courage to speak before leaving the common room, frustrated.

She begins walking, not having a destination but needing to get out of there for a while. It wasn't very far that she got before she heard the door open behind her, Lucius coming out.

"Hey!" he called.

He wanted to speak with her tonight and to apologize for this morning but then she decided to act like a fool according to his standards, leaving him frustrated with her stubbornness.

"What?! What could you possibly want from me right now?!" she yells back at him as he catches up with her.

"Anybody that's going to be my wife is not going to speak to people like that! I have a reputation to uphold you know? You will not be the one to tear it down!" he yells at her. 

"Oh that is rich coming from you!" she shoves her finger at him

"First you couldn't give two shits about me and now you care so much about how I act as 'your wife'," she mocks him, her attitude sending him over the edge of how much he could deal with in one day.

He pushes her into one of the stone walls, leaving mere inches between the two, hoping she'd calm down.

Athania strikes him clear across the face, Lucius turning his face to the side and taking a second to clear his glossy eyes from the sting of his cheek.

"Get your hands off of me," she says as she pushes him away. 

"Look, I get it. This forced engagement isn't ideal, I don't like it either. I have tried so hard to make it work with you," she says. "But you can't swallow your pride for two seconds to work with me," she continues.

"Now I have real-world shit to deal with and I just don't have the time anymore to try and mend you, because you obviously won't change, not for me," she slows down her words.

"So, you can continue this whole asshole mantra you've got going on and I'll stay out of your way," she promises him. "We can try and figure something out at the end of the year because I am done trying with you, Malfoy," she says to him before turning on her heels to walk away.

"Athania-"

"Oh, there you are Athania. Why are people saying you're dying?" Sirius turns the corner and asks, cutting off Lucius' call to her.

Athania takes a deep breath in like she was going to say something to Sirius but just sighs and goes back into the common room.

"What did you do?" Sirius asks. 

"Go back to Gryffindor tower, Black," Lucius says as he pinches the bridge of his nose. 

"No, why is she so upset?" he continues to ask.

"Prefects can distribute detentions, did you know that? If you don't want one, go back to the Gryffindor common room," Lucius begins to raise his voice, extremely on edge, feeling bad enough.

"Fuck you, Malfoy," he says before walking back in the direction he came.

"Like sister like brother," Lucius sighs to himself.