Fatality

Chapter 24

Adria

"Are you sure this is going to help?" I ask. My eyes are lined in dark makeup that makes me eyes look even more intense.

"Of course." Alison snaps a hair tie around my hair. Now it's in a messy ponytail. "I teased it a bit, got rid of the ringlets for today."

I reach back to touch my hair. Alison makes a noise and smacks my hand away. "You want to fit in Adria, hold still."

"Fine." I cross my arms.

"How was the Gryffindor tower last night?" Alison begins to fix her own hair in the mirror. I turn on the sink and run my hand a through the water.

"Awful. Mostly uncomfortable."

"That's expected." Alison shrugs.

"But I can't just put up with it for another year. I can't even put up with it for the remainder of this year." I explain.

Alison looks satisfied at her reflection. "It'll blow over. Didn't the whole Harry Potter thing die down?"

"Um, no."

"It will. And plus, people will probably hate him more. Did you see The Dailey Prophet? The boy is looney!" Alison shuts off my water for me.

"He seems pretty sane to me." I wipe my hands on a towel.

"Looks are deceiving." Alison says simply.

I suck in a large breath before changing the subject. "Alison, this may come off wrong but I think you need to communicate with your brother."

"How are things with Finn?"

"What? We aren't talking about him." I fluster.

"Then don't ask me about my brother, some things can't be brought up." She says finally.

"Sorry."

"Yeah, whatever." Alison circles the sinks. The turns the knobs of each one. Each time water would gush out she would shut it off and turn to the next. She finally finds one that doesn't work. Alison places both her hands around the back of the sink and gets down on the ground.

"What in the world are you doing?" I ask.

"Calm down." She grapples the tiles behind the sink and pulls one out straight from the wall. "Find the sink that doesn't work. I always forget which one. Anyway, then you find the right tile." Alison then sticks her hand in the hole and roots around. "There's tons of stolen potion ingredients back here."

She smiles and pulls out a small sharp looking purple bottle. Alison hands it to me.

"It's a potion, obviously. It will help." She explains.

I sniff it apprehensively. It smells of lavender.

"Don't worry, it's completely temporary. It just takes the edge off. It just makes everything calmer. It will make you fit in and give you what you want." Alison nods her head. "Go on, trust me the room is empty."

What do I have to lose? I raise it to my lips.

"Drink it all." Alison commands. This makes me suddenly insecure but I can already feel the liquid crawling down my throat. I sputter and start to cough.

"It does that. Just a side effect."

I continue to cough and I raise both my hands to my throat in panic. The purple bottle hurtles towards the ground.

"I'll be there when you wake up." Alison promises.

Pansy

There's a sharp outburst from the other side of the common room.

"What in Merlin's name are you screeching about?" I rub my trembles with the tips of my fingers.

"We have Adria Frenzen." Tracey Davis exclaims. "Well actually Alison does." I want to wrap my hands around Alison's throat as she steps from the crowd. Her blue eyes look innocent but her mouth is pulled into a cynical smile.

"I'm assuming you're not the best at potions." Alison says. I lounge back into the green chair.

"Is that so?"

"Have you heard of the Befuddlement Draught?" Alison is now growing more excited. I can tell she is trying to contain herself and is failing.

"And?" But she didn't need to reply to me because it clicked. A Befuddlement Draught makes the user confused and ultimately reckless. If Alison has slipped that to Adria... We have Voldemort's daughter. Adria will break all of her ties with her preppy Gryffindor friends and she's on our side.

"Congratulations." I say with a victorious smile. Like I cat I push myself off the couch. I stare into Alison's bright blue eyes with my own dark ones. "If this works you are in."

Both of our lips curve into a smile. Alison steps backwards to reveal another Slytherin girl levitating Frenzen's crumpled body. I have to give this girl more credit than I thought.

"You've been sorted wrong." I say casually to her blue robes and Ravenclaw crest.

"I've been sorted just right." Alison laughs. "What goes better together than intelligence and ambition?"

"Nothing." I answer.

Adria

My head hurts, but it feels different from a headache. I rub my eyes to startle the sleep from them. Where am I? I sit forward.

"Be careful." A voice warns. I look up, it's Alison.

"What happened? I can't seem to remember anything." I push my hair back from my face.

"You fell asleep." Alison explains. She grabs my hand and helps me get up.

"In the Slytherin common room?" I can't remember what I was doing before I fell asleep.

"Draco brought you here. You fell asleep on the bench studying." Alison is being really helpful. "Are you coming to the Slytherin party?" She looks at me expectantly. She looks almost as if she's studying me and weighing her options.

"There's a party?"

Alison now looks like she's backtracking, or maybe unaware of something. "Yeah, you were invited."

"How fun! I'm coming." The words sound foreign on my lips but something is tugging at me. I have to go. It's fun. I have to. My whole body explodes with excitement and the urge to be daring.

"Good."