mahogany ; d.m

5 - amortentia

As the next few weeks went by, there wasn't much that had happened which had caused any kind of disorder. Everything was actually going rather smoothly for Athena and her friends.

Cedric would smile or wave at Athena whenever he saw her now, which made her feel great. She was glad she wasn't just 'Harry Potter's friend' to Cedric anymore and that they had formed a friendship of their own.

His friends also greeted her whenever they saw her, and if they were all together, sometimes they would call her over and make conversation, especially when Harry was with her. It was like the most popular group in school had taken interest in her. It made her feel special, which she knew was ridiculous.

Malfoy never looked at Athena anymore, not even to throw her a death glare. She thought she would be glad about this but for some odd reason, it didn't sit right with her.

She couldn't stop replaying that night in her head. It all happened so quickly, it was weird. But the one thing that stuck in her mind ever so stubbornly was the sad expression which played across Draco's face for a split second in between his anger.

It made her feel strange. Almost like she felt sorry for him. But she knew this was ridiculous. He had been the one who'd strangled and nearly punched Isaac Shire to death after all.

The boys were preparing for the opening match of the Quidditch tournament, Gryffindor versus Slytherin, which was the upcoming Saturday. Ron had reclaimed his place as Keeper on the team. He was completely chuffed as well as being extremely nervous about it. Harry, being Team Captain, meant he had to prioritise Quidditch over other things and with his busy schedule was hard to balance.

On this particular sunny but rather cold Thursday afternoon, the four friends were sat out in the grounds for lunch, clutching at their robes so as to not feel cold.

After lunch, their next lesson was Potions with Professor Slughorn. Rumours had spread that today they were going to be working with a very interesting potion which had them rather excited, though no one knew what potion it was.

They lined up outside the classroom in the dungeons, waiting for Slughorn to arrive and let them inside.

After about five minutes, Malfoy approached the corridor and stood by his friends. However, he didn't seem to want to engage in their conversation.

Athena looked at him briefly, trying to avoid his eyes going to her, although she knew he wouldn't look at her anyway.

He seemed paler than usual. Draco was always quite pale to the point it looked like he didn't ever go out into the sunlight, but this was worryingly pale. He had dark circles under his eyes and his common frowning expression looked sadder than usual.

Something in Ron's robes pocket began whistling, which drew the attention of mostly everyone in the corridor.

"What an earth is that noise?" Hermione asked, as Ron pulled the subject of the noise out of his pocket. It turned out to be a round, cone like object, which they recognised as a Sneakoscope.

"Its my Sneakoscope," Ron said, shaking it as if he were trying to shut it up.

"Why do you have it with you?"Athena asked.

"I dunno. I just felt like I should have it on me more often, you know. It helps out a lot," he replied.

Before Ron could put it back into his pocket, Malfoy strutted over to the group from the opposite side of the corridor and snatched it out of Ron's hand.

"What have you got here, Weaslebee?" he sniggered, looking at the whistling object. "Ahh, a Sneakoscope I see."

Blaise now marched over and hovered behind Draco.