reputation - (h.p.)

1.18 . pure, stupid recklessness

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

"LESTRANGE!" 

       Gaia had spent the last several days pretending not to notice the way her classmates' eyes were following her every move. As it turned out, getting your life saved by the Chosen One was kind of a big deal to some people, and they determined it was their right to stalk the pair in every corridor and classroom they shared. It was getting to be quite difficult to even stand next to Harry with all of the whispers that followed them, which was why Gaia decided she needed to take her free afternoon to stroll the castle alone, and finally allow herself to think about the events of the second task. That was, until...

       "Lestrange!" 

       She turned on her heel, just about ready to fling a hex at whoever finally plucked up the courage to say something about Harry to her. But instead, she had to repress her surprise as she found her cousin standing in the alcove of a classroom doorway, concealed mostly by shadows. Gaia swept the corridor, deciding it to be clear before taking unsure footsteps in Draco's direction.

       "Well, isn't this a surprise," she barely got out before he grabbed her arm and pulled her into the empty classroom, shutting the door behind them. "What the hell, Draco?"

       "You think this is some fun little act, Lestrange?" he hissed as he waved his wand over the door — a soundproofing charm, Gaia guessed. "You think you can go on playing Potter's arm candy because it gets you attention?"

       "What in Godric's name are you talking about?" Gaia demanded, finally ripping her arm from his grip and taking a step further back into the empty classroom. 

       "You're even talking like them now," her cousin chasticed, stepping closer to close the space that she put between them. "You're too close to Potter, Lestrange. I thought it was bad when you befriended him and his filthy pack of followers. But now you're parading to the entire school that you are what he'll 'sorely miss.' You're mental if you think Mother and Father haven't found out."

       "I'm not going to do this," Gaia stated firmly, shoving past Draco with her shoulder to leave, but her grabbed her wrist and turned to face her. 

       "You're exactly right. You're not going to do this any more. Any of this. You need to end it with Potter, and Granger and the whole pack of Weasleys too, and you're going to do it soon."

       "The hell I am," she shot back, yanking her wrist free and stepping towards him. "You can't control me, you arse. You stopped being able to do that when you declared me a traitor at the Sorting. And there might have been a time ove these last few years that I would have groveled at the thought of you raising your voice to me, but I'm not going to do that anymore. You don't have the power that you think you do, Draco."

       "Then I suppose you'll just say, 'Fuck all' to Mother and Father, too?" he snipped quickly. "You know I got a letter before the Yule Ball, too? Seems like you listened to them when they told you what your place was. Don't think that just because we didn't see them for Holiday this year means they don't know what's going on with you here. And the second they find out just how out of hands things have gotten with you and Potter—"

       "Why the sudden interest in being the brooding, protective cousin?" Gaia interupted. "Where was all this looking out for me when I was being called the Unforgivable? Or when I spent three years in isolation? You can't just swoop in whenever you want and pretend that you're trying to help me—"

       "I'm not trying to help you," he corrected. "Of course, you'd be helping yourself to follow what I'm saying, rather than galavanting around with bloody Harry Potter. But make no mistake, that the sole reason I am speaking to you is to save my own neck. Because your recklessness is damning us all. You, me, Mother, Father, you are ruining the family!"