Chapter 113: Looking Pretty!

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"Is he always this difficult?"

"Yes," Hermione says, "in fact he used much the same speech on us once."

"It didn't work, though...she told him to get lost," Harry says with a smirk, jerking his thumb at her.

Daphne's eyebrows jump in surprise and Astoria and Tracey actually gasp, making Hermione flush with embarrassment. "I-I already admitted I made a mistake."

I shrug. "Debatable. Either way it doesn't mean it will be a mistake for her. We both know I need her more than she needs me. Of course she can change her mind later, just as you did. They do say absence makes the heart grow fonder." The last bit I add with a little smirk, trying to lighten the mood.

"What do you mean you need her more than she needs you?" Astoria asks.

"He wants to—" Hermione begins.

"No!" Daphne cuts in loudly, whipping out her wand and pointing it at me with a dangerous glitter in her ice-blue eyes. "You promised!"

"Daphne, everybody knows the relationship between Slytherin and other Houses is bad," I say, looking into her eyes meaningfully. "It won't hurt if Astoria knows that I'm trying to improve that. I'm not going to recruit her or put her in danger or anything."

Her eyes widen slightly a few moments later as understanding hits her, and her wand slowly falls to her side.

"I'd say you're more than trying," Tracey says, "the entire school saw the three of us dancing with you and Harry on multiple occasions, not to mention when you walked in with Stori just before the Champions."

I grimace slightly. "Are you guys catching a lot of flak for that?"

Tracey shrugs. "Like Daph said, the Fourth Years have been quiet, and if Malfoy doesn't raise a stink about it, nobody will make a move. Nobody else has the influence to go up against a Greengrass."

"Nott and Parkinson do, together," Daphne says, "but since Pansy practically worships Draco, Theo wants nothing to do with her. He would be afraid to bring it up anyway, in case this is part of Draco's plan. He's not exactly a conversationalist."

Astoria looks back and forth with wide eyes. Clearly this game is not something she plays with her fellow Second Years.

"I get the sense Mr. Zabini could as well," I say, glancing back at the stoic boy.

"I can not," he says simply.

"He could," Daphne corrects, "but he wouldn't."

"I will not break my oath."

Daphne rolls her eyes. "You were eleven, I doubt either of our fathers even remember that."

His eyes remain steadily on hers. "I do."

I glance at Harry and Hermione, and they appear to be looking at Blaise as if they're seeing him in a new light. "I suppose we finally convinced you that being friends with us isn't going against your oath?"

Blaise snorts but says nothing. We're coming up on the Slytherin common room, and I can't help but grin when the portrait comes into view.

"Should I be frightened at what that look means, William?" Hermione asks.

"What ever do you mean?" I ask innocently.

"Oh no, the portrait," Tracey says in mock horror.

"Who's there?" the lady asks in her sultry voice.

"Hello again, milady," I say, stepping into view with a smile. "I must say you look positively ravishing today."

Harry and Astoria snicker at the joke from last night, and even Daphne cracks a small smile.

"You! You have no business here; begone from my sight at once!"

"I should really know better by now than to doubt your stories just because they are ridiculous," Hermione says, shaking her head.

"What's this?" She demands, eyes narrowed.

"Simple, milady, I told my friends Harry and Hermione here what a waste it is that the most beautiful portrait in the castle is relegated to the dungeons, where only a quarter of the students have the privilege of gazing upon you. They quite forcefully insisted upon experiencing it for themselves." I turn to them. 

"You can see I was telling the truth about her being quite attractive."

"Uh..." Harry says.

"Elegant, shapely, not to mention experienced...I bet a woman like her knows all kinds of tricks in—"

"William!" Daphne and Hermione shout in unison, at the same time the woman starts shrieking at me. My privacy charm cuts her off.

"Oops, sorry about that, I got a little carried away," I say, turning back to them. Hermione and Daphne shoot embarrassed glances at each other and I can't help but grin at that.

Suddenly I flush in embarrassment myself when I realize Astoria is staring at me wide-eyed. "Uh, sorry, Astoria, I kinda forgot you were with us," I say sheepishly.

"You're embarrassed to talk like that in front of her, but not us?" Hermione asks, eyebrow raised.

"Um," I say loquaciously.

Suddenly Tracey bursts out laughing, and Daphne shoots her a glare. "Sorry, Daph, I don't mean to laugh. It's just that I asked William yesterday why he wasn't with either you or Hermione, and he said he didn't want to talk about it. But clearly he likes much, much older women!"

I bark out a laugh, though for some reason only she, Harry, and I find that so amusing. Blaise coughs and turns his head away to try and cover his reaction.

"If you three are quite finished?" Daphne says with a sniff.

"Quite! Daphne still hasn't decided whether she wants to still be friends, after all," Hermione says.

The elder of the two raven-haired Slytherins goes rigid, and all traces of mirth fade off my face as I look at her solemnly.

She presses her lips together and holds my gaze for a moment, then glances at Astoria, then over to Tracey and Blaise, then to Harry and Hermione, then back to me. Then her head droops and she sighs heavily. "Damn you, William..."

I bite my bottom lip to stop from smiling. "Can we hug it out now?"

She snorts. "Sweet Circe, you really know how to push it, don't you? Fine."

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