FOUR | SUCK IT UP, BUTTERCUP

     THE NEXT TWO DAYS WERE ALL THE SAME TO SELINE. She would wake up, go to breakfast and ignore her peers (excluding her friends, of course) and pretend they weren't making fun of her behind her back. Apparently Malfoy had decided to retell her speech. . . in a very exaggerated and unflattering way. From what she hadn't been able to block out, the general gist is that Seline absolutely hated the noble house of Slytherin—apparently she wants to transfer to Gryffindor with her sister (gross). This apparently why she purposely got detention—to sabotage their house-points. Oh, and furthermore, she's apparently racist against purebloods because they were a dying minority.

What a massive pile of turd.

The rest of Seline's new routine was quite barren: sit at the back of all her classes, head down at lunch and then for the dreaded detentions. During these rendezvous, Draco and Seline had decided to completely ignore each other. Yes, she wanted go off at him about his stupid rumour-spreading but she figured he would just make up more lies again. You know, Seline is actually quite grateful that they don't talk. It meant she didn't have to deal with the stupid things his mouth could concuct. Nor did she have to listen to deepened vibrations of his voice (thank-god he had hit puberty).

Seline couldn't have been more grateful when Thursday rolled around.

"We'll be finished tonight," she told Astoria and Nicolette excitedly as she did her tie up in front of the mirror. Her eyes were more focused on the little crack in the corner and how it distorted her face rather than focusing on how her tie looked. "Then I never want to look at another potion ingredient in my life," she beamed.

Astoria was sitting on the floor at the foot of Nicolette's bed as the latter girl twisted her hair into an intricate braid. Seline had tried to keep track of where the hair went—hoping for tips but she had quickly lost track. If braids didn't accentuate the size of Selines forehead, she would have asked for a braid, too.

Nicolette snorted, trying to keep calm over the fact that some of Artorias dark hair had slipped into the wrong section. "Yeah, have fun passing Potions then," she said, voice fading as her frown deepened and she tried to salvage her work.

In the meantime, Seline had located her makeup bag and was attempting to apply eyeliner. The only problem: Seline was quite bad at doing it. No matter how many lessons her muggle friends had given her, she still always came out looking like a raccoon in the end.

With deep concentration, Seline went in with the dark pencil. It had started out promising, all the lines looked even and straight enough. . . on the first eye. It wasn't until she tried the other that things had started to go south. Her attempt to retcon by drawing more on and then trying to rub that off was not successful.

"I don't understand why you don't just use magic to apply it like the rest of us," said Astoria, wincing at an aggressive tug of the hair by Nicolette.

"Because," Seline said, carefully wiping away the mess up eyeliner with a wipe, "I need to perfect it without magic so I can rock cat eyeliner on the holidays when I'm not allowed to use magic."

Staring at Selines reflection, Nicolette smirked. "You're pulling off the grunge look quite well, at least."

Seline threw the pencil at her.

Eventually, Seline had given in and let a flick of Astoria's wand fix her face. Finally being ready, the girls strolled down to the great hall—no one was particularly keen on getting there quickly. . . Well, actually, Nicolette was. With the smells of breakfast in close range, Nicolette had rushed off. Apparently waiting another minute for food would be a crime.

When Seline and Astoria had finally entered the hall, Nicolette already had a plateful of food in front of her which consisted of an entire English breakfast; eggs, bacon, toast, etc. The smells were intoxicating and Seline's stomach made an aggressively loud gurgling sound in anticipation. Blaise Zabini, who Seline had plopped down beside, cringed away from her at the sound. Seline was quite used to this behaviour from her peers so she didn't bother reacting.

Nicolette excitedly talked about an article from her quidditch magazine with Theodore Nott while Astoria, looked completely lost and nodded along. Seline did not try to understand what half of the words they were saying meant. She wondered if it were a Mudblood thing, her not understanding of Quidditch jargon—or maybe it had something to do with her complete disinterest in the sport. She could hardly picture herself holding up well in a conversation about Muggle Football, something she had grown up around.

Reaching for the cream cheese, Seline's robe lightly brushed against Blaise's knee. The dark-skinned boy let out a loud yell. Goyle, who had been beside him, managed to spill an entire jug of orange juice on Crabbe out of shock.

All eyes were on Seline and Blaise as the latter rushed to get out of his seat. "The Mudblood has touched me! It touched me!" Okay, this was a new one. Blaise continued with his theatrics, snatching a napkin from Goyles hand and began scrubbing down his leg.

Still holding her butter knife, Seline was afraid to move. Her face, now burning bright red, was stuck in a dumb look. At this point, people at the Gryffindor table were staring at them—this included Denika.

At some stage, Nicolette had shot out of her seat and was now squaring up with Zabini. "Why don't you shut your mouth, Zabini?" she growled. Her hand was in her pocket, possibly readying her wand. "If anyone should be upset, it should be Seline. You've gone and touched her, possibly passed on whatever diseases your whore mother gave you."

The pureblood glared at her, his face radiating disgust. "Don't you dare talk about my mother like that, Blood-Traitor. Imagine what your old man would think if he saw you running around with filthy little Mudbloods like her?"

A fifth-year prefect was trying to hold him back as he tried to raise his wand at Nicolette.

"Oh? You wanna fight, do you?" Nicolette growled, pulling out her wand.

"Lottie, no!" Astoria tried to stop her friend from doing this by grabbing onto Nicolette's arm. The shock of being grabbed by Astoria made the brunette freeze in place. There was a short, deafening silence before Blaise managed to free himself and send a bright red attack at Nicolette. However, Zabini had always had shit aim.

Astoria fell to the ground with a loud thud. There were gasps and outraged yelling as people began to crowd around her. Someone was yelling about checking her pulse while someone else wanted to give her mouth-to-mouth. Nicolette, who had finally gained the ability to move again, told them both to fuck off.

Meanwhile, Seline still sat in place. Frozen. The world around her moved at a million miles an hour. She could hardly breathe. She got that feeling she sometimes got, the one where she didn't feel in control of her body. The one where she felt like a stranger looking in, watching as this girl drowned in her own emotions The feeling that she couldn't control nor put into words properly. Her mind screamed, get up. Go help. But she couldn't.

"What is going on here!?" demanded Professor McGonagall, her face bright red with anger as her robes floated behind her. "Miss. Greengrass!" she cried out, noticing the unconscious brunette sprawled out on the floor. It was a scary sight, the pale girl even paler now—barely breathing. She looked between Nicolette and Blaise, "what did you two do?"

"It was an accident, Professor—" Blaise tried to say but McGonagall wasn't having it.

Her hands were on her hips and her thin eyebrows were arched so deeply that it was possible they'd end up stuck like this. "You." She said, pointing at Seline. "And. . . you." She said pointing to whoever was standing closest, "Take Miss. Greengrass up to Madam Pomfrey—immediately!"

"As for you two. . ." McGonagall glared at Blaise and Nicolette. Her first task was to deduct 200 Slytherin house points, each.

Draco already had an arm around Astoria, ready to support her body. His blonde hair was sticking in an odd way, probably got caught in the cross-fire. His piercing eyes stared at Seline impatiently. "Winchester, are you getting off your arse anytime soon to help me?"

And just like that the stranger was back, shuffling over to help. Seline gripped under Astorias armpits, propping the girl against her in a comfortable way that made it easy for her to carry. Technically, Seline knew she was in control, she just didn't feel as though she was. She couldn't feel her consciousness telling her to do the things she was doing—stepping, breathing, talking even—she just knew that it was happening.

Draco had mentioned something about taking a different staircase to get her there more smoothly, she could make out some sounds of his reasoning. It was less busy, maybe? Seline had replied with some form of agreement, though, she did not hear herself.

She only realised this later but, for once, Draco had treated her like an actual, competent human being. It was bizarre to look back on. While there was no small talk, he had seemed to forget about their prior animosity. Here was the house comradery that Seline had been missing out on for the last three years.

Seline felt like she blinked and they were at the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey had instantly gotten to work on Astoria, directing them to an empty bed they could place her in. "Idiots," she had muttered under her breath as she began checking the brunettes vitals.

Looking at them expectantly, she said, "do you know what spells were cast?"

Draco shook his head. "No, it was a non-verbal one."

He was standing on the other side of the bed, arms crossed over his chest. For once in his life, he didn't look completely sure in himself. Seline, who was starting to feel in control again, thought he was waging a mental battle: does he stay or leave? Were they still needed here or was he expected to go to his morning classes now? Is it inappropriate to ask these questions out loud? What would his father do?

The brunette frowned. "You don't have to be here, you know," she snapped, eyes narrowing at him. Barely speaking to him throughout the whole incident, Draco was taken aback by her outburst. "Why don't you run along and congratulate Blaise for me? Be sure to let him know that he has a promising future following in Voldemort's footsteps."

Draco took a step towards her, his hand moving towards her in slow motion. He wanted to comfort her, for some reason. It was obvious this girl was okay, though, he wants to make it clear he doesn't care. He just. . . felt obligated to comfort her? No, wait, that can't be right.

Seline, who was still half out of it, if she's being honest, was not having this. She recoiled. "Uhm, do not touch me," she hissed, "I would not want to get Mudblood germs on you."

He stood paralysed, hand still outstretched grasping onto the air. His expression was painted with a mix of hurt, shock and anger. After a few moments of processing, he let out a childish huff. "Fine," He growled lowly, the deep tones of his recently broken voice vibrating across her brain. "Be like that." Shoving his hands in his pocket, Draco stomped past her. However, there was still a slight hesitation as he neared her—seemingly ending in him bumping her shoulder with his own. His broadness versus her lack of stamina caused her to be knocked back a bit. She didn't bother to react.

As the sound of his echoing footsteps disappeared, Seline hand't even offered him a second glance. The severity of her friends' current situation was finally hitting her. "Good god, A, this is all my fault," she muttered, brushing some stray hair out of the pale girls face.

"She'll live." Madam Pomfrey told her, "but without knowing what the curse that he hit her with, I don't know how much I can cure," she said regretfully. "She may. . . have some lasting side effects. . ."

Seline bowed her head, shame coursing through her veins. After all, this was her fault. She could see Astoria's chest rise and fall at a steady pace. The consistency was comforting.

When the bell signalling a lesson change went off, Madam Pomfrey had finally had enough of Seline's presence and ordered her to go to class.

"She needs someone here when she wakes up," the fourteen-year-old had argued with the healer.

Madam Pomfrey shot her an indignant glare. "I'll be here!"

"That's not what I—" Seline's frivolous words were cut off by a heavy wooden door being slammed in her face. Still nose-to-nose with the door, Seline let out an annoyed huff. The brunette was stubborn and decided against listening to her elder, rather, she plopped back down at Astoria's bedside.

Hours had passed and Seline barely moved, except for grabbing a History of Magic textbook out of her bag. The girl sat crossed-legged on the uncomfortable chair, history pages spewing out of the book across her lap when Nicolette came barrelling in. "I'm here!" she panted, doubling over herself in the doorway as she tried to catch her breath.

"She's okay," Seline said, not even glancing her way. "Still out cold, though."

"You're mad at me," Nicolette stated. The girl had never been known as someone to beat around the bush when it came to things such as conflict. She liked to be direct and to the point. It was a trait that had always made her stand out amongst her pureblood peers at pompous dinner parties. To say it angered her old-fashioned mother would be an understatement.

Seline let out a sigh and shook her head. "No, I'm not mad at you." She said in defeat, "slightly irked maybe but not mad."

Nicolette studied her. "Mh-hm." She looked down at Astoria sadly, "you're mad at someone though."

"Zabini and Malfoy," Seline admitted, flicking some hair out of her face.

"Okay, Zabini I get but why Malfoy?" Asked Nicolette. "Didn't he help you bring Astoria up here?"

"He did." Seline nodded. Her eyes darted up at the clock and she groaned. "That reminds me, I have detention with the git." She wished she could skip.

Nicolette watched as her friend got up to leave. "That still doesn't explain why you're mad at him, though."

"I'm always mad at him," Seline replied, shrugging as she left the hospital wing.

Sighing theatrically, Nicolette took ahold of Astoria's hand. Her mind felt cluttered; she was worried for Astoria, furious with Blaise and confused.

Meanwhile, the brunette girl slowly made her way back down to the dungeons. She would've given anything not to have detention tonight. Firstly, she just wanted to stay with her friend at the hospital and secondly, she did not want to spend the evening with Draco Malfoy. She didn't care how many girls would kill to be in her places, she knows she'd kill to get out of it.

"You're late. Again." Snape pointed out when she entered. "Draco has already started."

"'M sorry, Professor." Replied Seline, not sounding very sorry. "I was up at the hospital wing with Astoria."

The greasy-haired, long-nosed professor nodded. His expression was hard to read as he studied the girl carefully. "Yes, I thought as much. Has Miss. Greengrass woken up yet?"

"No, Professor. She was still unconscious when I left." She told him, frowning. Why did Snape care? She didn't think he was physically cable of doing it.

There a was a moment it silence that passed between the pair.

"Why are you still standing there?" Snape said his cold attitude back. Then again, had it ever left?

Muttering a half-hearted apology, Seline scurried over to the cupboard. She saw Draco standing inside, writing labels on jars. "I didn't think you'd come." He said when he noticed her standing there. His tone and expression were unreadable.

"I just want to get this over with." She huffed, picking up one of the already labelled jars and putting it in the correct spot on the shelf.

"Has Astoria woken up yet?" Draco asked after a few moments, catching Seline off guard. She'd expected them to continue their usual routine of ignoring each other.

"Why do you care?" She asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

Draco shrugged. "Blaise wanted to know. He feels awful, you know."

"So he should," Seline grumbled.

Draco didn't respond. He never knew how to talk to Seline—he seemed to say the wrong thing every time he tried. Not that he necessarily tried much when it came to her.

The duo worked in silence, trying their hardest to not even look at each other. It was so very awkward—Draco hated it. He wanted so badly to start a conversation with her—it could be about anything as long as it filled in the awkward, tension-filled silence. He'd been racking his brain for a neutral conversation topic when Seline spoke, her voice low.

"Is there anything else left to go in the B section?" She asked, not even sparing him a glance.

He handed her a box of Beazer's. Their hands brushed as she took the box, the contact sent a shiver up Seline's spine and she looked away awkwardly, twirling her fingers in her hair. Draco felt heat rise to his cheeks as he let out an awkward cough, not really understanding how a small bit of contact from Seline was making him feel some type of way.

Flustered, Seline stepped away from him awkwardly. "Er. . . Thanks." She muttered, placing the box on the shelf.

"Yeah. . ." He muttered, putting some other things away. "It's uh. . . no problem."

If it hadn't already been super awkward, it for sure was now. A sharp machete was all that could be used to cut the tension in the room. It was so quiet that a pin dropping sound would sound as loud as a drum.

Half an hour passed and Seline was placing the final vial on the shelf when Snape entered the storage cupboard. His dark eyebrows shot up in surprise as he inspected their work. Rather than complimenting their work as other teachers might do, he merely said, "make sure I don't have you in here for detention again, got it?"

Both fourth years nodded their heads at him, "we promise, Professor."

Snape waved them off, mumbling something about needing to come up with a punishment for Nicolette and Blaise. Seline picked her bag up and frowned when she saw a sheet of paper fall out.

I, Professor Severus Snape, Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House, give Seline Winchester permission to miss lessons tomorrow and stay in the hospital wing with her sick friend. Any complaints about this arrangement should be sent straight to me.

Seline felt her eyes almost pop out of their sockets when she read the note—she had to reread at least three times. She peaked over her shoulder at the professor who was glaring at her. Okay, maybe he wasn't as horrible as she'd originally thought. He was horrible, don't get her wrong but maybe he wasn't a complete cunt—there were layers.

"What's that?" Asked Malfoy, instantly crushing her improved mood.

Ignoring him, she walked faster to get ahead of him. She really wished they weren't going to the same place because it just made things more awkward. She hears him release a frustrated sigh behind her as she muttered the password for the common room.

"Goodnight." Said Draco before he disappeared down the stairs that lead to the boy's dormitories.

Seline frowned, confused.

She was too emotionally drained and exhausted to overthink that. So, she headed down to bed, nodding at a mermaid that swam past the common room window.

SELINE TRIUMPHANTLY FLOURISHED HER NOTE IN NICOLETTES FACE THAT MORNING. Obviously, the dark-skinned girl had not been granted the same privileges. She had examined the page about a hundred times, convinced that she'd forged. "This is so unfair." She had said for the hundredth time as the school bell rang, signalling it was time for her to attend class. "Who will I even sit with?" She whined, slinging her bag over shoulder and shuffling to the exit.

"Have fun!" Seline cooed and her friend held her middle finger up to her. Seline snorted at the gesture before turning back to Astoria.

Their raven-haired friend had still yet to wake up but Madam Pomfrey had assured them it was only a matter of time. "Dear, I promise she'll be awake before lunch," she'd said for what felt like the billionth time.

With Nicolette gone, Seline decided to be productive. She pulled out her Divination book from her bag, deciding she needed to start the predictions. "Ugh, this can't be right," she huffed, rereading the prediction she'd made. Divination had never been her strong-suit.

Apparently, she was going to discover a shocking secret kept by the closest to her when the moon is at its fullest. Gazing at Astoria's sleeping figure, she shook her head. There was no way her friends could keep anything from her, especially Astoria, the girl was like an open book.

Giving up on trying, she started to make things up so she could fill up the spaces in her chart. Next Thursday she was going to be met with great sadness due to the way Mars was positioned that afternoon. And on a Friday, she was going to overcome the sadness and follow a life-long ambition.

It was about lunchtime when she'd finished her homework. And just on time as Nicolette came strolling into the infirmary. "Is she up yet?" She asked, handing Seline a bowl of pasta.

Seline shook her head, shovelling in the food happily. But, as if on cue, Astoria began to stir. "Ni. . . Nico—lot." She mumbled in her sleep, a shudder passing through her whole body.

The other girls' eyes seemed to light up at this. Grabbing Astoria's hand, she began trying to coax her to wake up.

"Astoria? Wake up please. . ." She whispered, stroking her hair in the most gentle manner Seline had ever seen. As much as Seline loved her friend, she'd never heard that tone come out of Nicolette's mouth. She was a punch first ask questions later kind of girl.

Seline leans forward eagerly, watching as her friend's eyes fluttered open. "What 'appened?" She croaked, her eyes meeting Nicolette's instantaneously.

"Blaise cursed you," Nicolette softly, her eyes burned with passion as she stroked the girls cheek, "but you're okay now."

For some reason, Seline felt as if she were intruding on a very private moment. "I'll. . . I'll go get Madam Pomfrey, yeah." Her friends didn't even seem to hear her.

Poking her head inside the healer's office, she said, "she's woken up."

They both quickly hurried out of the office to see Astoria. Nicolette was helping her drink some water when they walked over. "How are you feeling, dear?" Asked the healer, a thermometer appearing in her hand.

"My head hurts," Astoria admitted, running a hand through her hair. "Is that normal?"

"Well, it'd be odd if you didn't have a headache." Assured Madam Pomfrey, "but nevertheless, you need to have something to eat and drink and then rest."

"But I've been resting for over a day." Argued the pureblood witch, attempting to sit up.

Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes and made her lie back down. "Being unconscious is not the same as resting." She informed them, sticking a thermometer in Astoria's mouth.

Turning to Nicolette and Seline, she said, "you two can stay while she eats and then go back to class." She said, glaring at Seline for the last part.

"I have a note though," Seline replied, waving the note for Madam Pomfrey to see.

The healer shook her head at her, patience visibly running thin. "Yes, but I don't care." She told Seline and the fourteen-year-old scowled at her.

"Now, dear, what do you fancy to eat?" Madam Pomfrey asked Astoria, her sweet nature back.

"I'd kill for some apple pie," Astoria told them and Madam Pomfrey merely nodded, picking up an enchanted plate and handing it to the frail girl.

"Apple pie." She said to the plate quietly and a delicious looking slice of pie appeared on the plate.

Nicolette filled Astoria in on what had been happening at Hogwarts that day. "He hasn't said a word since professor McGonagall gave us detention for the rest of the term." She huffed, "she's got us doing all sorts of annoying jobs. 'If Hogwarts needs something done, you will do it because as of now, you are Hogwarts' servants.'"

"That's rough," Seline said, putting her empty bowl of pasta on the bedside table.

Astoria finished her pie just as lunch ended, "shoo! Shoo!" Madam Pomfrey said, kicking them out of the hospital wing. "You're not allowed back 'til morning, got it?"

"God, she's a ball of joy." Grumbled Nicolette, adjusting her robes as they walked.

"What lesson do we have?" Asked Seline solemnly, not being bothered to get her timetable out.

"Muggle Studies," Nicolette told her, pulling her own class schedule out.

"Ugh, I don't even need to take that class." Seline sighed, exasperated. "I've been living with muggles my whole life."

Seriously, Seline picked the class as a bludge and it was alright for the first week but a year and a bit in, she was over it. Why hadn't she taken Ancient Runes or Astronomy? At least she'd be learning. Seline could easily not show up all term and still get top marks.

Nicolette shrugged, throwing an arm around her. "Suck it up, buttercup."

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