WITH FIRE AND IRON | Draco Malfoy

ix. pests

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Her shoes clicked on the wooden floors of the owlery. Fortunately, it was empty aside from the other owls who cooed curiously at her. She stopped in front of her family's owl and took out some food for him. He nipped at her fingers affectionately, causing the tired girl to crack a smile--something she hasn't done for a few days now ever since her detention in the Forbidden Forest.

"Hello Ivan," she whispered as she softly brushed the back of her hand on his feathers. She brought up the piece of folded parchment in front of him which eagerly took it in his beak. "To Headmaster Dumbledore please my friend."

Diana watched the owl beat his wings and take off, a light gust of wind fanning her face--paler than usual. A tired sigh left her lips as she rubbed away the sleepiness from her eyes and walked out of the room. The halls were buzzing as always with students on every nook and cranny.

For once, she was alone without her usual Slytherin group surrounding her. Without them to converse with her and cover her frame from outside eyes, she was now fully aware of the attention she was getting. She couldn't really tell anymore if it was a good or bad thing. Probably the latter. She was tired to care at his point honestly so she continued her trek to the library where she knew Draco was waiting for her with their little pile of homework.

Her inside humming halted when 3 figures blocked her way. Her purple eyes came face to face to 3 older students she has never seen or spoken before--or she could've but she didn't have a knack for remembering people and their names.

"Can I help you?" She asked when they just stood silently in front of her. She glanced at their robes and noticed the red and gold embroidered on them.

Their ring leader crossed his arms, a tactic of intimidation that she had seen countless people used which stopped working on her. From the unfriendly aura they exuded, she knew she had to get away before she gets caught up in more drama.

"If there's nothing then please excuse me," she made a move to sidestep them but was blocked yet again.

"Who said you can leave?" One of them said.

"I did," Diana deadpanned and made another move to get away but it was proving to be ineffective.

"Acting all high and mighty," dunderhead 3 as she had now named them sneered. "I doubt you're actually related to royalty."

"She's probably just acting," dunderhead 1 scoffed.

Diana sighed, she really wasn't in the mood to fight people who clearly had an inferiority complex. Their level of immaturity could rival Draco's but then again, at least the Slytherin prince was creative and witty when it came to his insults.

"Move," she stated. Her usually soft voice was now stern and her eyes were gleaming in irritation.

The three dunderheads laughed and glanced with one another as if saying 'do you see what I'm seeing?'. Once they calmed down, their leader grabbed Diana's shoulder firmly causing her to seize up. Her heart skipped a beat as panic squeezed her throat.

"Listen here you little brat, you don't have power here. We do, so bugger off to what country you came from," he said harshly. Gone was the laughing expression and a glare replacing its place. To his surprise, she remained impassive which he mistook for boredom and got ticked off more.

"You three listen here, I don't have time for your drama. You lot aren't worth wasting my time on with insults so let's leave it at that."

For one last time, she made another move to leave but they were persistent and kept blocking her. So naturally, she stepped on their leader's feet with her heeled school shoes--hard.