There's Something About Potter

Chapter 16

Aria stood in front of the huge doors leading outside the castle.

She reached into the pocket of her robes, pulling out the small piece of parchment that Blaise handed her when she entered the Slytherin Common Room that morning. After confirming that she was supposed to meet Zach in front of Hagrid's Hut for their chores that afternoon, she made her way down the stone steps leading out to the school's grounds.

A few meters further down the path leading to Hagrid's, Aria caught a glimpse of a very familiar shade of platinum blond hair. When she slowed her footsteps and crept a bit closer, finally realizing that it was Draco who was waiting for her and not Zach,  Aria immediately froze up and felt herself go into a mini panic attack.

What the fuck?! Zabini said I'd be paired with Smith today!

She fumed silently in her head, remembering the innocent smile on Blaise's face when he had given her the chore list for that day.

I'm going to castrate him.

Fortunately, Draco was facing the other direction and hadn't seen her approach yet and Aria debated briefly with herself whether turning around and fleeing back towards the castle was a viable option.

She immediately scowled and shook her head; a little embarrassed for even considering the thought of running away. She was once a Gryffindor, after all, and despite the fact that she wasn't ready to confront Draco about what happened between them in the quidditch pitch last week, that certainly didn't justify her tucking her tail and scurrying away from him like some kind of coward.

Sighing in defeat, Aria slowly trudged towards the blond, stopping just a few steps behind him and waiting until Draco turned around and met her gaze. To her annoyance, Draco didn't look at all surprised when he saw her there; alerting Aria to the possibility that Blaise's switch of their chore lists that afternoon may have been a little one-sided on her part.

"Potter." Draco greeted, his eyes sweeping quickly over her form.

"Nice to see our beloved golden princess finally up and about. You certainly took your sweet time procrastinating in the hospital wing, did you?" He drawled.

"I wasn't procrastinating, Malfoy. I was recuperating." Aria snapped irritably at him, rolling her eyes. "And not that it's any of your business, but it's not like I was on vacation or something. I studied during all those times that I wasn't in class." She told him.

"Harriah Potter actually studying. Well, that's a first."

"Just shut up, will you?" Aria managed another weary sigh at his antics and reached up to massage her temples in exasperation. "Anyway, what are you doing here and why are you bothering me? I thought I was supposed to be paired with Zach today."

"You were." Draco reached into the pocket of his robes, pulling out his chore list and waving it in front of her face. "But I bribed Blaise and made him switch some of the schedules around." He chuckled.

"Why?" Aria blinked at him, annoyed.

"I was assigned to clean classrooms with Abbott." Draco shrugged and lowered his gaze, examining his fingernails. "Not only do I hate cleaning, but that bloody girl is still terrified of me; I figured I'd be doing her a favor." He answered.

"So instead you decided to grace me with the pleasure of your company?" She retorted sarcastically.

"The other people assigned to do chores this afternoon were Morag or Pansy. You're probably the lesser of three evils." Draco looked amused when he saw the stony expression on her face. "Now enough with all this useless chit-chat already, Potter. Let's get going."