Heiress of Slytherin

chapter 8 - love like ghosts

it takes more than a pulse and 

a pair of working lungs 

to call a life living.

After Mara left Cormac with his friends a few hours later, she headed down to the Slytherin common room to find Draco and Bram. They would need to talk before term started and they all got too busy with schoolwork and activities.

She found the two of them alone in armchairs by a creepy-looking tapestry, talking privately. Mara came up to the two and perched on the arm of Bram's chair.

"Nice of you to finally detach yourself from your new boyfriend, Grimsbane," Bram said with a sneer.

"Please, Pearce, McLaggen's not my boyfriend. Not yet, anyway. We're just, you know..." Mara trailed off, twirling a hair around a finger. She was doing a great job of leaving much to the imagination.

"Sorry, I must have heard wrong. You chose McLaggen?" Draco asked, turning completely in his chair to give Mara a pointed glare.

"As I heard it, the only person I couldn't go after is Potter. Actually, though, I think dating Potter would be a good way to get close to him, you know, learn his secrets. But anyway, Cormac's a good shag," Mara replied with a shrug. Of course, they hadn't actually had sex, but Mara wanted to dig Bram's knife a bit deeper.

"Alright, Grimsbane, we don't need the details. I think it's time we focused on the more important tasks at hand," Draco said, expertly shifting the conversation. He could tell that Bram wouldn't be able to stand much more of Mara's taunting. His knuckles were gripping the arms of his chair and his face was turned up to Mara's, seething. She was staring at Draco with an angelic expression on her tanned face, but Draco knew that she was far from oblivious to the situation she was causing.

"Wait. Do you know of anywhere we can go to talk about things... more privately?" Mara asked as she glanced around the semi-crowded common room quickly.

Bram was still glowering in Mara's direction, unable to figure out what she was playing at. He knew from the moment he looked at her that she was pure evil, pure manipulation, pure Slytherin. So he knew that she needed some sort of motive to be shagging McLaggen, and if she had chosen that git, needing a goody-two-shoes boyfriend definitely wasn't it. And apart from that, an unknown feeling was swelling in his chest that sickened him. His mind drifted back to the night before school started when he had stopped by Mara's room with no other reason but to see her face. It was idiotic, and he had nothing to say, so he bumbled stupidly around an apology. He remembered her closed-off expression, dark green eyes slightly hooded with sleep, her tanned skin made darker by the shadows of the hallway. And her pajamas, or what little there were of them.

But his thoughts were interrupted by Draco saying, "Right, I know a place. Follow me."

Mara jumped up quickly and followed Draco out of the Slytherin common room, Bram following close behind the two of them. He couldn't help but notice that Mara's hair was perfectly disheveled, laying down her back. It looked so soft that Bram almost lifted his hand and ran his fingers through it.

Instead of walking right, to leave the dungeons, Draco led the three deeper into the depths of the castle. This part of Hogwarts was obviously rarely explored. The corridor grew tight and slightly damp, and Bram found himself placing a hand on Mara's shoulder as there was less and less light to see.

Mara jumped at the contact and considered removing his hand, but the simple touch provided a sense of comfort that she had never felt before, not from her home in America and especially not from her parents.