𝑆𝐴𝑉𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝐷𝑅𝐴𝐶𝑂 𝑀𝐴𝐿𝐹𝑂𝑌

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕 - 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

╭────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ──────╮

𝐃

"You seriously don't remember me at all, do you?" she asked unexpectedly.

If I had one gift in my life, it was that of controlling my emotions.

When, after our dance, I found out that she was friends with the enemy, one would expect me to misbehave and make an exception. She was a Slytherin after all and maybe she was not as worthless as her companion. But making exceptions was never in my nature, even when the memory of a slow song, some glistening lights, a sparkly dress and bright eyes made it tempting to crush my rules.

No; I saw who she sat next to, I heard her surname next time she raised her hand to speak. And that was it. I would be lying if I said it took long to forget her. It was quick and brutal. I knew all I needed to know about her.

I never tried teasing her, like I did with the Gryffindors she so proudly associated herself with. When you want to totally disregard a person, you are rational and you remind yourself to avoid any contact, even those created to insult the person. It did help that she was a relatively silent girl, a quality that made fights boring.

After all, she was a Slytherin. Friendships aside, you couldn't treat a Slytherin the same way you did a Gryffindor. It was just better to act as if nothing happened – because nothing did in fact.

Almost two years later, I still knew how to control my emotions.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I lied.

I saw her jaw stiffen but her expression would otherwise remain unchanged. She hadn't believed me; I could tell.

"Seriously now..." she muttered to herself, not really interested in this conversation. All she seemed to want was to return to her notebook. She blended in with the museum and, if you were drunk enough, you would swear she was just another serene painting talking to you.

"Are you going to explain what you mean?" I played on. I created the most indifferent face I could muster. I didn't want her to suspect I remembered her.

"Well nothing, I'm just wondering how many brain cells you need to have in total in your head, in order to not remember the name of someone from your own house, with whom you've taken the same classes since you were 11 years old. My guess is three. Maybe two because you only bothered with my last name," she said.

I was as sure as I could get that it wasn't what she'd meant. I suspected she recalled our dance as vividly as I did. But the half chance there was that she was annoyed only because I didn't know my enemy's name, irritated me.

If she was playing me as much as I was playing her, she knew how to play the game damn well; in her insult, she had revoked in my mind the thought that I didn't know her first name and suddenly I had this unreasonable urge to ask.

"Wasting space in my brain so I can store utterly unimportant names is not my forte."

For me, it was refreshing to be having a petty argument with someone. The girl, however, seemed less than amused, which made me even more enthralled.

"Ugh... I don't have the energy for this..."

She seemed troubled; eager to return to her notebook and get over this insignificant fight. I was wondering what was on her mind. She was a mystery. Why wasn't she fighting back?

"What is it, by the way?" I gave every effort I had in me to make the question sound unimportant and trivial to me.

"Huh?"