Amelia Merlin and the Game for Okamila

Part 95: The Back of the Library

It was warming up at Hogwarts and sun made the grounds a much more enjoyable place to study. Amelia, Lavender and Parvati were sprawled out on the green fields, their scarves hanging loose around their necks while they half quizzed each other on Herbology.

"Amelia-" Lavender yawned. "Tell me the answer."

"You're supposed to figure it out." she sat against a tree with her eyes closed.

"I can't." she wined. "Tell me."

"No."

"You're a bitch."

Amelia laughed. "So are you."

"You two are horrible at studying." Parvati sighed. "We have to learn this stuff. I'm not failing any courses just because you two get sleepy the moment it warms up."

"Fine." Lavender huffed and they sat up straighter and got down to work. They were leafing through books heavier than bricks when Amelia got distracted. She stood up and waved aside the protests of her two friends. Her hair tossed back and forth as she walked towards the boy she'd spotted across the grounds.

"Hey!" she called out but was easily ignored. "Hey!" she called again. "I'm trying to talk to you!"

"And I'm trying to ignore you but you're fucking persistent, Merlin!" he whipped around and yelled at her. "What do you want?"

She stopped and folded her arms. "I want to talk to you."

"So?"

"So that means, out of respect for me, a lovely young girl," she grinned. "You should be polite and hold a conversation."

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"You look like shit, Draco." she said. It was true. He looked grey and pale with purple bags under his eyes. His body seemed frail and he'd lost all the swagger that usually accompanied his every move. 

"Excuse me?"

"You. Look. Like. Shit." Amelia stuck her chin out in a small defiance. She couldn't help thinking about the way Jeremy used to look, when he was sick, before she cured him.

"That's not very nice." he snapped. "Aren't you supposed to be nice to people?"

"No." she said. "I can be whatever I want and that isn't always nice."

"Okay. Still not sure what you want from me." he raised his eyebrows, still completely unimpressed.

Amelia paused and looked at him hard before answering. A small smile spread across her lips before she said, "We're potions partners, I want to get to know my partner."

"I don't care."

"That's okay. I can care for the both of us." she laughed lightly. "Come on, Draco, you know we're sort of friends."

"Sort of friends?" he questioned.

"Yeah, you know-"

"No, we haven't talked in years. Why the fuck would I think we're sort of friends?"

Amelia smiled and gave another sunny laugh. "Draco. I remember all our special times together, hanging out in Filch's office, making faces over potions-"

"Pushing past each other in halls, rather aggressively in the corridors." he smirked with a hint of the old swagger.

"You see!" she nudged him brightly. "We are sort of friends."

"So you want to hang out then?"

"Well we are potions partners."

"True." the smirk grew. "And potions partners should know each other pretty well, right?"

"Yeah I think so." said Amelia. "But remember, we're the Capulets and Montagues-"

"Without all the romantic shit. Yeah, Merlin, I remember."

"Okay good. I'm glad."

..............

The library was essentially deserted so Amelia and Oliver's conversation was held in complete secret. They were near the back, by all the old books that were full of useless, outdated information so no one would bother them where they were.

"You know you could just force him to like you. Same way you were able to get Slughorn to go for that partners idea." Oliver said. His dark hair fell in front of his blue eyes which cascaded his face in the dark light of the room making it hard to see him grinning.

"Yeah well I didn't want to do that!" she frowned.

"Why?" Oliver looked like he'd smelled something nasty. "It's Malfoy."

"He's not a bad person. He just does bad things."

"No, he pretty much sucks as a person." he disagreed.

"Shut up." she laughed. "You're rude."

"You're delusional." Oliver chuckled. "I have no idea why people want you for their queen. It doesn't make any sense."

"Hey! I'm trying to save a kids life, Al sends me letters every day with important decisions I have to make about the kingdom, not to mention I'm in sixth year and classes are hard-"

"Not for you." he snorted.

"Okay," Amelia smiled. "Maybe not the classes. But I'm a busy lady."

"That's true. But I still don't understand why you didn't just make him."

She cringed and struggled to find the proper words, "I didn't want to. He's a person-"

"And Slughorn isn't?"

"That's different." she shook her head. "I only needed Slughorn to create a project. But forcing someone to like you, it just seems a little twisted. It seems a little too far and I don't want to be the sort of queen who does that. They've had a lot of shit rulers, you know people who were so cruel to them and with Akkedis terrorizing the kingdom for centuries,  I dunno, they-they deserve better than someone who manipulates everyone into doing things they don't want to do."

"I shouldn't have asked you to explain that. I'm sorry, you're completely justified." he leaned back.

"Are you making fun of me?" Amelia said tiredly.

"No," Oliver laughed. "No, I'm not making fun of you Amy."

"Alright good. Because I'd never have you back to the kingdom if you were."

"When are you going back?"

"Right after Easter. I'm going to take some time off school and make sure Silvio gets home safe. I swear if anyone touches that child I'm going to lose my mind." she ran a hand through her mousy blonde hair. They sat in the library for a few more hours, in the sort of silence that was comforting and warm, it was like the peace that came with the first fall of snow, before everyone starts throwing it at each other. Sometimes Amelia would look up at him and laugh about something she just read, and he would ask her about it and she would tell him and they would go back to being quiet. So it was nice, for once she didn't have to answer to anyone and didn't have to fight, she could just exist in this little bubble they created at the back of the library.