lumos/ h.p.

46

saige black had successfully avoided harry potter for a week- but today was not her day. although it hurt to avoid ron and hermione, she tried her best to keep herself from cracking- even if it meant extra effort to do it. she snuck through different corridors in order to avoid their usual path to classes, waited until after dusk to enter the common room, and, most notably, spent a horrific amount of time with draco malfoy. 

but, much to her surprise, malfoy wasn't horrible company. 

they spent most of their time together in the library or on the quidditch pitch, chatting wildly about things that, for some reason, didn't have to do with harry james potter. the pair had both connected under the guise of hating their now-common enemy, but since the first day they had both spilled about their hatred, there hadn't been another serious word since. saige was learning a lot about malfoy, and he, in turn, was learning about her. they had developed a bond that they were inconsequentially sure would never die. and even though, when they walked down the halls, a cloud of disgusted looks and dirty glares followed them, they were happy to be in each other's company. 

and now, as she sat in one of the barrel chairs in the slytherin common room (which, somehow, she was able to enter even without draco's presence) reading, it was clear that they had become- as horrid as it felt to say- friends. 

"what book even is that, black? the picture of dorian gray? i've never seen that in blotts' before." draco's voice broke the growing silence between them, which had settled rather nicely in after they had opened their books. 

saige scoffed, not bothering to look up from the page. "it's a muggle book, you idiot. my dad sent it to me." 

he raised his head from his book- he was currently trying to cram in the entirety of a history of magic by the end of the hour for an exam coming up- and curled his lip. "you've got to stop reading that scum. i'm sure father would send me some of my books from home if you want to read something of actual use." 

she raised her gaze, meeting his eyes. "i'm good, thanks. rather not stuff my head with propaganda, if you don't mind," she grinned, watching as he cracked a small smile and turned back to his book. her eyes drifted to the grandfather clock, tinged blue by the hue of the lake's glow. "merlin, i've got to go," she said, hopping up from the chair and snatching her wand up from where it was stuffed next to the cushion. 

"what? is it that late?" the boy's eyes went wide, meeting the clock's hands, which were currently pointing at a time far past dusk. "oh no," he groaned, the large chunk of pages left in his textbook seeming to leer at him. 

"i'll see you in potions tomorrow morning," she said hurriedly, throwing on the dark cloak she wore to sneak through the nearly pitch black halls without getting a detention slip. 

"yeah, alright," he muttered, throwing her a quick wave before she scuttled out of the common room. 

the trips back to gryffindor tower were always agonizingly long, but tonight's had seemed extra tedious. she narrowly avoided professor snape's sour face twice- it almost felt like she was being followed. 

once she finally reached the fat lady, waiting with a frown for her to return (she knew of saige's retreats outside the tower, and it was far too much of an annoyance to be awoken in the dead of night), the exhaustion began to overtake her. if there was one thing about trying to avoid her friends, it was the unavoidable tiredness that formed from staying out half the night to dodge them. she had taken to sleeping on the slytherin couch after classes in order to try and salvage her sanity. 

she muttered the password, almost forgetting the day's new code word since they kept changing in order to keep her father out. the portrait swung open with a sickening creak, and as she slipped through the door with a gentle whispering of "thank you" to the fat lady, her breath caught in her throat.