A Rival in Love

"So, how was it?" asked Oleandra, ambushing Daphne and Tracey at the door as they exited the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. "Was it like Potions class?"

"Essentially," said Daphne drily. "Potter got detention."

What else was new? Lock Harry Potter and Professor Snape together in a room for an hour, and sparks were bound to fly!

"You should have seen Daphne," gushed Tracey. "We were practising jinxing each other with nonverbal spells, and Daphne deflected everything without even saying a word! She didn't even need her wand!"

Silent casting was one thing, but wandless casting? That was on an entirely different level! Even Oleandra had to admit she was impressed— unless it just so happened that her sister had cheated with runic magic…

"You didn't use Elhaz, did you?" Oleandra asked her sister innocently.

Oleandra's eyes darted to Daphne— just in time to catch a flicker of unease crossing her sister's face. Her pupils glowed golden for a fraction of a second as she activated her Mystic Eyes of Truth Seeking, but it was all for naught— she couldn't catch Daphne in a lie unless she first opened her mouth.

"She didn't— it was her turn to Jinx me, so I was watching her hands closely," Tracey explained. "It happened like this: one of the rowdier Gryffindors missed his training partner, but before I could even tell her to duck, the spell fizzled out the instant it touched her. Professor Snape awarded Slytherin fifty points for that one…"

"…And docked us fifty," said Ron with a grimace, as he exited the classroom with Harry, Hermione and a gaggle of Gryffindors. "Oi, Oleandra! How come you weren't in class? I—"

It's at that moment that Oleandra caught sight of Professor Snape's permanent scowl through the doorway, signifying that it was time to make herself scarce.

"I'll tell you later in Care of Magical Creatures," said Oleandra hastily, grabbing Daphne and Tracey by the arm and pulling them away. "See you!"

Unfortunately, after spending the first break together, the Slytherin Silver Trio was fated to part ways once again. Daphne headed to her Advanced Arithmancy class, while Tracey accompanied Oleandra to her Divination class, since she had a free period— lucky her. They hurried through the courtyard and through the Central Hall to the silver ladder that led to the Divination classroom, at which point Oleandra turned to Tracey.

"Hopefully, this won't take too long," said Oleandra brightly. "I'll tell Professor Trelawney to take my name off the list, and I'll be right down— okay?"

"Don't keep me waiting," said Tracey, planting a quick kiss on Oleandra's cheek.

Filled with newfound vim and vigour, Oleandra ascended the silver ladder four steps at a time and emerged into the Divination classroom, which was still as stiflingly hot and humid as ever. Her eyes swimming from the sweltering heat, Oleandra cast her gaze across the room. The layout of the classroom hadn't changed from the last time she'd visited it— the ottomans, armchairs and poufs were still arranged in concentric circles around Professor Trelawney's seat in the centre of the room, but said teacher was conspicuously missing.

From what she could see through the colourful clouds of incense floating about the classroom, not many students had elected to take Divination to N.E.W.T. level. Perhaps, the revelation of Voldemort's return had caused most students to take their choice of class less frivolously…

"She's here," Parvati Patil whispered to her twin sister Padma and to her friend Lavender Brown.

"I can see that," replied Lavender in an uncharacteristically short manner.

Lavender glared at Oleandra suspiciously, leading Oleandra to wonder what she'd done to deserve such a cold treatment.

"Hello," Oleandra greeted the three girls. "Is Professor Trelawney in yet?"

Padma shook her head, but Lavender narrowed her eyes…

"What's going on between you and Ron?" Lavender asked pointedly. "He went out of his way to talk to you earlier. I saw it, so don't even try to deny it."

"We're just friends," said Oleandra patiently. "I'm going out with Tracey Davis— I thought everybody in our year already knew, by now."

Oleandra's explanation did not seem to satisfy Lavender in the slightest. Rather, it seemed to incense her even more, for a reason that was becoming increasingly clear to Oleandra. In her fourth year at Hogwarts, Ron had asked her to be his dance partner for the Yule Ball, and apparently, that one night had been living rent-free in Lavender's head all this time…

"You're just playing with her feelings," said Lavender accusingly. "I've seen you stare at that pretty boy Cedric Diggory, so I know you go both ways. It's always the same story with your type— you always end up going for the boy and ditching the girl."

"Seriously?" Oleandra bristled. "Are you really picking a fight with me, of all people?"

Oleandra had half a mind to turn the girl's skin inside out with a nasty Curse of Viviane's invention— but, until further notice, they were still living in a civilised society where such things were frowned upon, so she reluctantly abstained from doing so.

"You know Harry's head over heels for Cho, so you decided to settle for the next best thing," Lavender declared, unphased. "You're just playing with Ron's heart, but it won't work, you two-timing bit—"

Oleandra strode forward and slapped Lavender so hard a few of her front teeth went flying. Taken by surprise, Padma shrieked and fell over, while her twin sister Parvati fumbled in her pockets for her wand. Unwilling to give her a shot at Jinxing her, Oleandra kicked an ottoman, sending it sliding into her legs and sweeping her off her feet.

Even though the effort of taking down three sixth-years hadn't even made her break a sweat, Oleandra found herself breathing hard. Despite her questionable humanity, Oleandra's heart wasn't made of stone— without realising it, the stress of the past few days had caught up to her. Her emotions rarely got the better of her like they did with Harry, but Tracey was Oleandra's weak spot…

Without waiting for Professor Trelawney to show up, Oleandra stalked over to the trap door and kicked it open, before jumping through the opening and sliding down the silver ladder…