Ozymandias' heart beat a little faster when she rushed at him. For a split second he wondered if she was angry enough to hit him (wouldn't that be the talk of the party?) but she stopped short. She was meeting his eyes and standing on her toes, and there was a delicious intensity to this moment that he wouldn't have traded for anything (except maybe —). Miss Pomfrey may have unexpectedly wounded his pride a moment ago, but at least he'd been able to damage her right back. He took a perverse pleasure in this — he actually smirked, which was the first genuine emotion he'd displayed throughout this conversation.

"I'm flattered," he said, holding her gaze. "You don't even make my top ten." Nevermind that she'd just called him all sorts of nasty words: what she'd really just admitted to was that he was the single most in her eyes. He thought the most wounding response he could deliver would be that he hardly considered her at all — for all that it was untrue.

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