Chapter 8: Assumptions

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Chapter 8: Assumptions

Selene had decided against even attempting to place her name in the Goblet of Fire. It just wasn't worth her while. She'd seen what the Age Line had done to Millicent Fawcett, and she wasn't up for experiencing a similar fate. Cho was too young to enter too, but they'd both been there when Cedric had dropped his name into the fire.

"You should enter," Cho was constantly telling Selene, as if she had no idea that her friend was, A: underage and B: too young to rock a long white beard. "It would be really cool to have a Ravenclaw become Champion!"

Selene was about to answer, but she couldn't help but notice her brother slip out of the Entrance Hall, devoid of Crabbe, Goyle or any other one of his many friends. She quickly excused herself to Cho, leaving her watching the people clustering around of the Goblet, and went to find Draco.

The Slytherin was standing outside in the Courtyard, standing under one of the trees. The autumn red leaves were beginning to fall off the browned branches. He didn't look up from the ground as Selene made her way over to him.

"I saw you with that Weasley yesterday," he spat, still not looking up. Selene said nothing. "What are you doing?"

There was a pause.

"Nothing," Selene stated, after a heated second or two. "Draco, I promise. Nothing. He wanted help with his Defence Against the Dark Arts work, if you must know," she sighed, heavily, trying to convince her mind that George Weasley was nothing more than a filthy Blood Traitor. "You know I'd never fraternise with their sort, anyway."

Draco relaxed somewhat and finally looked up from his shoes. "Good," he said, curtly, an unspoken understanding passing between them. "Just… Be careful."

"I am careful," Selene managed a smile, even through her manufactured distaste. "It's not my fault that I have to talk to him, anyway. Moody made us sit by one another."

With a smirk, Draco smoothed down the cuffs of his robes. "Poor you," he snickered. "Don't catch any diseases from them, now."

Selene managed a - somewhat strained - smile in return, and glanced back towards the Castle. "I won't," she smirked as she turned back to her younger brother. "Trust me, I won't. I don't spend a minute longer in their company than I absolutely have to."

"Glad to know you feel that way, Malfoy," a voice spat from their right. Selene jumped and immediately froze as soon as she saw the incredulous faces of the Weasley twins.

Oh Merlin. She hadn't known that they'd be anywhere close by to her, let alone right next to her. And now she'd basically shat all over them, their blood heritage and their right to function as non-contagious members of society. And Draco was practically beaming right next to her. Of course he was, he thought she hated them both, and their entire family. When she actually thought of George as a friend, even if Fred was less receptive to her.

She needed to say something. Anything. As long as it didn't make Draco think that she'd been lying about everything. Which unfortunately meant that she couldn't go out and say that she hadn't meant any of what she'd just said. That she didn't want to lose more friends because of her family.

Instead, Selene just stood there, her eyes slowly dropping from George's face to the ground, where they rested on their shoes.

Don't cry don't cry don't cry-

"I told you so," Fred drawled out, his mouth arranging into a smirk. "She's just a carbon copy of her mother. Hierarchical, snobbish, willing to open her legs for an-"

Selene grabbed her wand from her pocket, holding it out in front of her, eyes flashing. "Don't you dare say that about my mother!" she snapped, eyes glaring holes into the heads of the twins. "You don't know her. You can't say a damn thing. What makes you two so special, anyway?"

George or Fred - Selene had lost count of who was who - chuckled derisively. "And I thought I could trust you," ah. That would be George, then.

Selene started forward, grabbing George's robe collar and yanking him forward. She risked a sidelong glance at Draco, who was standing next to her, his face impassive, fist clenched in a pocket.

Her lips rested next to his ear. She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry," she whispered, hoping that the two single words conveyed everything they needed to. She didn't have a lot of time before Draco became suspicious, or engaged Fred in armed combat. "Meet me at midnight, on the Astronomy tower."

She let go of George quickly, adding a soft kick to the knees for good measure. To his credit, the twin showed no signs of having even comprehended what Selene had said. "Let's go, George," he scowled, storming off towards the Castle without even a second glance.

It took a moment for the realisation to sink in. She'd told Fred, the twin that despised her on principle, to meet her on the Astronomy tower at midnight. He probably thought she wanted some kind of sexual favour, or tryst. Not a massive apology, coupled with a brief explanation of why she was shitting on their family.

Also, why did Fred think that he could trust her when he'd been so… Arseholey towards her before? Why did he think that? Surely that should have been George's line. But the two were so similar, so identical in everything, that Selene's mind was swimming at the mere prospect of attempting to tell the pair apart.

"Sorry about that, Draco," she managed eventually. "You just can't get rid of the scum, sometimes."

oOo

"Welcome!" Dumbledore called and the hall immediately became silent. "The time has come for the Goblet of Fire to choose its three competitors! If your name is called, I ask you to walk up this hall to the room to the left of this, exiting through the door to the left of the top table."

"Good luck," Selene whispered to Fleur, adding in a small smile of encouragement. The French girl simply nodded in return, squeezing Selene's hand tightly.

The Goblet glowed bright green, before spitting out a few sparks and emitting a small sheet of paper into Dumbledore's outstretched hands. He unfurled it, scanned it for a second before a small smile played at the corners of his mouth.

"The champion for Beauxbatons Academy." He read aloud. "Is Fleur Delacour!"

Selene beamed, grinning at her friend as she climbed to her feet. Fleur, for her part, looked strikingly confident as she walked down the gap between the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables, head held high.

The Goblet glowed bright green again, and many people were shushed by their classmates as Dumbledore began to read out the name on the second sheet of paper. "The champion for Durmstrang is Viktor Krum!"

"It's Krum!" Ron yelled above the great noise that was coming from the Durmstrang students. "It's obvious he would be the champion!"

"The champion for Hogwarts is Cedric Diggory!" Dumbledore said but was barely heard above the ecstatic screams of the Hufflepuffs. Cho cheered loudly, shooting Cedric a winning smile as he walked past them. Selene whistled through her fingers, trying not to be too disappointed that it hadn't been a Ravenclaw champion.

"Imagine if he asks me to dance at the ball!" Cho squealed, grabbing Selene's arm. She winced, and prised the other's fingers off her sleeve, feeling the indentations of Cho's nails with an inaudible sigh. There would be bruises there, come the next day, for sure.

"Of course he will," Selene muttered, rolling her eyes up to the enchanted ceiling. "Like I said, Cho, you've got him eating out of your hand."

"Really?!" Cho beamed, turning to her best friend. "Do you really mean that?"

Selene was too busy dealing with Cho's incessant happiness to notice when the Goblet glowed green for the fourth time. Gradually, the hall emptied of any noise and Selene and Cho returned their attention to Dumbledore, who was staring incredulously at the sheet of parchment in his hand.

"Harry Potter."

oOo

Why was she here?

The night was freezing cold again, and it felt like Selene's nose was going to drop right off her face and onto the floor. She shivered slightly, slumping against a wall and checking her watch.

8 minutes past midnight.

She hadn't expected Fred (or was it George?) to actually come. Especially if it had been the wrong twin, she'd said some pretty horrible things about them and their family, and if she'd been them she wouldn't have forgiven her easily.

Oh, and she'd pointed a wand at their throats. And almost strangled one of them with their collar. There wasn't much in her favour, honestly. Unless Fred/George was actually expecting sex, which would make the whole encounter a little bit awkward. Selene was not going to give out her body just to win back one friend.

Why was she here, again? Neither of them were coming, she'd known that. They were probably both downstairs getting drunk and listening to the Weird Sisters. There was no way that they'd come up here to indulge her fantasy that she hadn't completely wrecked another friendship.

Selene slumped down to the ground, staring at the wall on the opposite side of the room. Life just wasn't fair. Not to her, not to Draco, not to the Weasleys. It was just a complete shitshow.

"...you wanted to see me?"

Selene jolted, eyes glancing up to the face of one of the twins. Fred or George was half dappled in the moonlight, eyebrows raised and eyes wide. It looked like they'd just spent a good few hours toasting to Harry's success, his hair was tousled and messy. Just messy enough to be cute rather than stupid.

The twin cleared his throat, and Selene realised that she'd been caught staring. "Oh," she said dumbly, quickly getting to her feet. "Um… Yes. I just, erm… I just wanted to apologise."

Fred/George slowly lowered his guard, regarding Selene with slightly calmer eyes. "Sure," he said, nodding. "You did whisper that in my ear," the twin winked, taking the Ravenclaw aback somewhat. "No, I was after what you wanted to say."

"Before I even start that," Selene blurted out, crossing her arms over her chest. "Which one are you? Fred or George?"

"Fred," the twin replied, smirking somewhat. "Surprised, Malfoy?"

"Yes," Selene retorted back, without missing a single beat. "You said that you thought you could trust me. What did you mean by that?"

Fred paused as if contemplating his answer. "I don't like you," he disclaimed, quickly. "You're a Malfoy. But George trusts you. Hell, George likes you. So I kind of have to trust you. Of course, you had to go and fuck that all up…"

"That's why I'm here," Selene quickly cut in. "I just… Wanted to explain."

"Explain what?" A raise of an eyebrow. "From what I heard, you made it very clear. You just aren't interested in being friends with my twin at all. In fact, you think we're Blood Traitors."

"I lied, okay?" Selene snapped, taking a step closer to Fred, who finally had the grace to at least look a little taken aback. "I. Lied. Everyone lies at some point in their life. It's not a big deal."

The Astronomy tower fell silent. Fred looked more than a little confused, but as he opened his mouth to speak, Selene cut across him. "Before you say a single thing," she added, eyes flashing. "No. No, I don't care how I made you or George feel. Not right now. I had to."

"You didn't have to," Fred snapped back. "Do you have any idea how shitty George was feeling? He likes you. He. Likes. You. And you went and fucking-"

"I. Lied," Selene repeated, narrowing her gaze. "Merlin, how hard is it for you to grasp that idea? I like George. I was just saying those things to Draco to stop him telling my parents that I'm hanging out with the Weasley family."

Fred crossed his arms and leant back against his wall. "Well," he said coldly. "You still called us blood traitors."

"So what?" Selene rolled her eyes. "It's a name. It means nothing at all. It meant nothing at all. I didn't… Mean it…"

The Gryffindor laughed drily, not meeting Selene's eyes. "I don't even know why I'm here…" he muttered. "George thinks I've gone to Hogsmede to get some more Firewhiskey."

"How would you even get to Hogsmeade at this time of night?" Selene enquired, before noting Fred's expression. "But I digress. Just… Give me a few more minutes. Please."

Fred sighed and finally dragged his eyes back up to Selene's. "Two," he said, holding up his thumb and forefinger. "I can't be arsed to deal with Pureblood Supremacist bullshit today."

Is that who he thought she was? "The Top Box," she said quickly, suddenly aware of the time constraints pushed upon her. "You remember me from there?"

It took a while - too long - for Fred to nod, almost reluctantly. "And did I, at any point, make any impression that I was uncomfortable or angry with you being there?" she continued, raising her blonde eyebrow.

"That's beside the point," Fred groaned. "Honestly, Malfoy, don't you understand? It's not what you did then. You still think that we're all filthy Blood Traitors. And you pretty much broke my twin's heart with it."

The ginger boy turned to leave, not even sparing a second glance behind his back. Selene panicked, grasping at threads of conversation, anything she could say that would stop Fred from just walking away.

"My father's Dark Mark is reappearing," she blurted out. She'd really done it now. She'd admitted that her dad was a Death Eater, and that she knew about it, as well as the secret that her family were trying so hard to conceal. Lucius Malfoy was terrified that the Dark Lord might return someday, especially as he'd defected the moment that Lily Potter had hit the ground. And, now, Fred was turning back around, fury in his gaze.

"What about yours?" he snarled. "Are you going to join the Death Eaters in their sick little games? Face it, your precious Lord is never coming back. The best you can do is dangle helpless Muggles in the air, like some twisted game-"

"Just because I'm a Malfoy doesn't mean I'm a Death Eater," Selene said quietly. "Also, I was three when You Know Who disappeared. That's too young to join their ranks."

If Fred was pacified by this, he didn't show it. He looked Selene up and down, the corner of his mouth twitching in disgust. "I don't know how George could have ever wanted to be friends with you," he said, with no emotion in his tone. "You're no better than them."

Selene didn't protest as he finally walked away, even though she could feel another piece of her heart slowly breaking off.