Bones ⋆ Draco Malfoy (3)

| NINE: A Series of Unfortunate Events, 1/???

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NINE A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, 1/???

     THE FIRST TASK MAKES its arrival pretty quickly, once Livvy accepts and understands the role he's got to hide behind, to keep himself okay. It was easy, for the most part, because he was simply just rocking around like he'd want to, and exploiting all of the confidence and narcissism in his blood. Hiding the mild (fucking massive) self-esteem issues was a little difficult, but it worked out in the end.

     (It didn't. It still hasn't. Livvy's still crying in the shower. And casually hugging his best friend when they were alone.)

     Livvy wakes up extra-early on the day of the task. He wakes up early enough that he's got nothing to do, so he reads some of his autobiographies to feel inspired. He's not flunking this. No one else can do this for him. He's going to give his all and he's going to prove himself.

     He can do this.

     He thinks.

     He hopes.

     The morning before (or, perhaps, the mourning before, considering Livvy's livelihood and his acceptance of his near death) the task, Livvy was a wreck. Well. He was a wreck for about ten minutes, and he went into the nearest boys' toilets to have a meltdown, and Draco happened to be brushing his teeth, and Livvy mildly broke down, and Draco calmed him down, and Livvy got his head in the game. He's going to give his best shot, he's going to prove that the Slytherin traits are as positive as they are perceived to be negative.

     Livvy eats breakfast and lunch with his friends, who keep up the high spirits. The entire Slytherin table's ecstatic. Good wishes are being thrown left and right towards Livvy, and the whole house are behind him. Slytherins don't get this. Livvy owes it to his house. He owes this to himself.

     He sees his sister appear in the hall, and he watches her walk towards his table. Briar passes Harry and Cedric, and grins at them both. As she walks down to sit opposite Livvy, she passes Viktor, and she gives him the same wishes. Fleur's absent. Probably hiding from the well-wishers that don't mean well.

     Briar sits in the space between Daphne and Blaise, whom both scoot along upon her arrival. Livvy knows his sister, and he knows for a fact that when she gave both of them looks to make them move, she didn't mean it. Like, she didn't mean to shush Aster, a possible Death Eater. His sister just doesn't notice her actions at times. Not everyone does, in her defence.

     "Morning, kiddo," Briar grins. Livvy smiles at her, and she swipes one of the apples from the middle of the table. Next to her, Blaise gives Draco a look, and Pansy does the same with Theodore. Livvy tries to ignore his friends, but can't blame them completely, considering she was (unintentionally) acting more arrogant than assertive. "I went up to the Owlery earlier. I'm guessing you're not going to head up there to check up on ol' Sinatra, but you've got a letter from Mum and Dad. I haven't read it. One of them has put some protection thing on it, so I have no clue whether it's good or bad."

     "I'm hoping it's good," Livvy replies. "Hopefully Roman and Harleen haven't risen from the grave or something. That would be a nightmare."

     Briar sniggers. She continues to eat her apple. As she does so, Pansy takes the letter out of Livvy's hands, and states, "You're not ruining Slytherin's chance at glory because your mum's learnt necromancy. We're counting on you, Livvy."

     Livvy rolls his eyes, but agrees. He looks across the table, and sees Briar give Pansy one of the nastiest looks he's seen. Like, if you could imagine someone trying to make someone else die on the spot, that would've been the look Briar gave Pansy. Pansy doesn't notice.