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Holland Roden As Nicole LopesNathaniel Buzolic As Robert MillerMaxwell Caulfield As Michael CornerJames McAvoy As James UrquhartTom Felton As Draco Malfoy

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I was sitting in a train compartment with my best friend Robert having a jellybean fight. I caught one in my mouth and threw one at him, hitting him in the eye. “Let’s stop playing, you’re dangerous.” He pouts.“Sorry, Robert,” I got up to hug him.“Better be.” He pushes me off of him.“Asshole,” I hiss, sitting back down.“Whatever, are you still going out with Malfoy?” He asks.“Yes, in fact, he said he'd come and see me on the train.” I brag, checking my reflection in the window. If I wanted him to spend the whole train ride with me, I would have to look my best.“I still say he's not worth your time.” Robert shook his head. He believes that I should find someone I didn’t have to share. I will admit there are some days when I want more, but most of the time I’m fine having a part-time boyfriend. I enjoyed the alone time and freedom that comes with our relationship.“I know.” I roll my eyes. The door slides open. Draco steps in with Blaise Zabini and James Urquhart.“Hey sexy,” Draco sat down and pulled me on his lap.“Hi Draco,” I kiss his cheek.“You look good today.” He ran one hand up my thigh and the other groped my breast. I was wearing a black tank top that had Slytherin Most Wanted, written in green on it, and a green mini body-con skirt.“Slytherin most wanted?” Urquhart asks, sitting down next to Robert. Blaise sat down next to him.“Like you already didn't know,” I stuck my tongue out at him.“Yeah Urquhart, you know you have masturbated to my girl.” Draco teases.“EWWW! That is too much information.” Robert made a disgusted face. Draco throws a smirk his way. I let out a sigh, whenever these two where together they went at it like cats and dogs. “From what I heard Hufflepuff wants a piece too.” Robert comes back with a smirk of his own. I felt Draco's body tense up against mine.“What boys? I want names.” He snaps. It was ridiculous sometimes how possessive he would get. He wanted me to stay loyal to him, while he flaunts other girls in my face.  “Practically all the boys in Hufflepuff. Cadwallader talks about her a lot.” Robert winks.“Cadwallader,” I gasp, that boy was a dreamboat. He had a body of a Roman God and the jawline and cheekbones of a model.  “Why the hell do you care?” Draco yells in my ear.“Ouch Draco, I'm right here. And, I don't care, I just like knowing my fanboys.” I shrug.“Sure.” He made his grip on my thigh tighter.“I think we're almost there, I should go change.” I push his hands off of me to stand up. I tried to reach for my bag, but Rob put it on the back of the top-shelf.  “Damn you, Robert putting it so high.” I pout.“I'll help you, babe.” Draco stood behind me, reaching over to grab my bag.“Thanks, Draco.” I kiss his lips softly. He drops my bag to grab the back of my head making the kiss deeper than I would have made it in front of others. I nibbled on his bottom lip as his hands started to go south. Soon, they were completely up my skirt playing with the spandex of my panties.“Hello, there are others still in the room,” Robert yells. Draco pulls away and glares at him.“I should go change.” I pick my bag off the floor.“I can help you with that.” Draco licks his lips.“I think she can do it all on her own.” Robert rolls his eyes.“Why don't you mind your own business?” Draco snaps. I slip out of the compartment. I walk to the bathroom and change into my version of the Hogwarts uniform. A tight button-up shirt that had a low collar to show a lot of cleavages, gray skater skirt that stopped right after my bum, a garter belt, and stockings. I finish the outfit off with a pair of black platform heels, a see-through robe with my house seal on it, and a classic Slytherin tie. I fixed my hair and make-up in the mirror that got messed up while I was kissing Draco. One thing I learned in my young life was that good looks came with a lot of benefits. People idolize and envy you. They wanted you to like them. Some people don’t like me, but they still wanted to please me. I have had people do my homework, wash my clothes, and buy me gifts, all without me asking. So, while people call me vain, I call myself powerful.   I step out of the stall, only to run right into Pansy. “Waiting for something, Parkinson,” I ask.“Is Draco with you?” She asks.“Yeah and he’s staying there.” I glare at her. Couldn’t she take a hint, Draco came to me, not her?“Not after he sees how good I look in my uniform and you look like trash in yours.” She looks me up and down in disgust. I looked her over the same way in return. She was wearing the regular school uniform. Skirt pasts her knees, shirt buttoned up all the way, knee-high socks with clunky dress shoes, and that thick rope on. She looks so normal, but I understood she had nothing to show off.“Sure Pansy, we’ll see.” I laugh. I walked back to the compartment and felt eyes on me. I didn't mind, I like being the center of attention. “Ready to be embarrassed,” I giggle, opening the door to the compartment. I was walking over to Draco when Pansy pushed me out of the way. She sat herself down on his lap, smirking at me.I smirk back at her before sitting on Urquhart’s lap. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Draco glaring at me as Pansy made a trail of kisses on his neck and gushes about missing him. My attention was forced away from him when Urquhart pushed me against the wall to attack my neck with kisses and bites. I couldn’t help the moans that left my mouth.“I'm going,” Blaise walks out with a disgusted expression.“Me too,” Robert shot me a look of disapproval, before exiting.  He moves down to my collar bone, most likely leaving hickeys on my neck. His mouth was like a hover. This made me imagine what it would feel like in other places. His hands were in my shirt, fondling my breasts. I looked over at Draco to see that he was staring at me.“I'm better than you are,” I mouthed to him, pointing at Urquhart then Pansy. He turned his body to Pansy but kept his eyes on me. I kept my eyes on him as I kissed Urquhart passionately.I was in my underwear, while Urquhart was in his boxers. I could feel his excitement on my leg. Pansy looks like she was really into it, but Draco’s eyes were on me. He took her shirt off and his pants were around his ankles. 'Poor Pansy, she thinks she got all of Draco’s attention, but it's on me.' I thought, feeling victorious. I pulled away when I felt the train jerked to a stop. I hurry to put my clothes back on.Urquhart pulls me over to him, wrapping his arms around my waist. “We can finish this later.” He whispers in my ear. I felt someone yank me out of his arms and into theirs. I smile feeling the familiar warmth. Draco held my waist tightly, pulling me out of the compartment.“Drakie,” Pansy whines.“Pansy gets your clothes on and rides the rest of the way with Urquhart. I need to talk to Nicole.” He slams the compartment door shut. He helped me get into a carriage and got in after. We sat on opposite sides. “What you did on the train was cute but…” He was saying, but I cut him off.“I won,” I smile.“You didn't win,” He snaps.                                “I did, I turned Urquhart on more than you did Pansy. We were both in our underwear and trust me I could feel how hard he was.” I explain.“That’s not what this is about. You aren’t allowed to be giving other guys any ideas again.” He scolds me.“Why, it's not like you’re loyal to me? Besides, you let the other girls do whatever they want with other guys. Why am I being tied down?” I yell. All of Draco’s girls fool around with other guys. While the others did it to make him jealous, I did it out of spite. Sometimes, I would feel so used when I saw him with other girls that I felt the need to get even.“Because you're different,” He snaps.“How,” I ask. I have been waiting a long time to hear that, but I know Draco Malfoy. So, I knew to never get my hopes up.“Don’t worry about that. What you need to do is start worrying about the future? No one is going to want you as a wife if you have been with everyone.” He lectures me.“Isn’t that a bit hypocritical coming from you?” I gasp, not believing the words that were coming out of his mouth.“There are double standards in life, honey. Don’t you want to be the girl I pick in the end? I can’t do that if you’ve been with other guys. I will not have men knowing what it's like to be with my wife.” He tries to run his hand through my hair, but I move my head.“When does the double standard stop? Will you still have other girls if we are married?” I question him. It was this thought that made me wonder if I even wanted to be the girl he picks in the end. It was one thing for my sort-of boyfriend to have other girlfriends. It was another for my husband to have mistresses. “For your information, I plan to be a good husband, that’s why I’m getting it all out now.” He snaps as if it was so insulting for me to think he would be a cheating husband.“Since when do you care about the future anyway,” I wonder where this was coming from.“Because this is my last year, I’m so glad that I’m never coming back to this stupid place.” He growls, glaring out the window at the castle.“What are you talking about? We have one more year after this.” I narrow my eyes at him.“Just listen, you will not be fooling around with other guys. I will make sure of it.” He hisses.“I did win the game.” I want to change the subject because it didn’t seem like he would be seeing things from my perspective.“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” He rolls his eyes.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I woke up in the morning, groaning as I saw that it was noon. Tomorrow was going to be hell when I had to wake up early for classes because I’ve been sleeping in all summer. I let out another groan when I remember what Draco told me yesterday. I drag myself to the bathroom and did my morning routine. I pull on a lacey black bra and matching boy-shorts. Over that, I put on a black v neck and a pair of jean shorts. I slip on a pair of black sandals before walking down to the common room to see Crabbe stand at the bottom of the stairs. “Waiting for a lucky lady, Crabbe?” I ask.

“I’m waiting for you. I'll be watching you today.” He told me.

“Where is Malfoy?” I grit my teeth.

“Over there.” He points to a group of boys. Draco was sitting in the middle of them. As I walk over, I could hear them talking about quidditch.

“Draco,” I hiss. All the boys turn and leer at me.

“Hey babe,” He pats his lap. I sat down and lay my head on his shoulder. The others started debating who the best professional quidditch team was.

I whisper to him in a stern voice. “What is up with Crabbe?”

“I told you I would make sure. If you don’t want to think about your future then I will.” He whispered back. This future talk was pissing me off, it a cheesy gimmick he was probably using on all the girls.

“I don't want him following me around.” I hiss.

“You are not leaving this room without him.” He slightly nibbles on my ear.

“Bye Draco.” I got up. If he didn’t want to call off Crabbe, I would find another way to get rid of him.

“Bye Nikki.” He smacks my ass. I resist the urge to turn around and backhand him. I walk to the Great Hall with Crabbe following. I lost my appetite watching Crabbe eat. He shoves food in his mouth with his hands. I couldn’t even tell if he was chewing. He finished his breakfast in record time. I got up to meet Robert at the Stone Circle.

“Help me,” I mouth and move my head in the direction of Crabbe. He looks at me confused, but move to stand directly in front of him.

“You have been looking nice these days.” Robert bites his lip, reaching out to rub his arm. Crabbe’s eyes grow wide and he runs away from us. I tilt my head. I never saw him move that fast, even when there was food in front of him. This was the only time homophobia came in handy.

“Why was Crabbe with you and why did I have to chase him away?” He asks. I told him what happens between Draco and me in the carriage and this morning. “Why do you stay with him?” He let out a deep sigh.

“We already have been through this I like that nothing gets deep. I don't want to live my life restricted. I like living independently while still having someone.” I explain.

“You mean no commitment?” He arches an eyebrow.

“Oh, that’s the words I was looking for.” I joked. “Well, commitment is coming from your side at least.” He rolls his eyes.

“It just a phase he goes through every once in a while. He’ll get over when he gets a new girl.” I shrug.

“Do you hear how ridiculous you sound? Why should you have to deal with his possessiveness at all when he's seeing other girls, openly might I add? Why are you staying in an unfair relationship?” He riddles me.
I took a minute to process the questions that he throws at me. “So, you’re saying I should find another main boy toy?”
“Not a boy toy, a boyfriend. You are going to need to face your fears at some point.” He told me.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I narrow my eyes at him, telling him to not bring it up.

“Just because, your mom left doesn't mean your future boyfriend will to.” He completely ignores my look.

“She has nothing to do with anything.” I glare at him. I hate it when he psychoanalyzes me. When she left, so did all her influences and holds over me.

“If there’s no fear then what’s holding you back? You think you don’t want a relationship, because you are only thinking of the negatives. There a lot of positives, it comes with a support system, a best friend, and a lover. If you try it and don’t like it, then I’ll never bring it up again.” He had a smug look on his face, for he knew he had a good argument.

“Okay, I’ll do it. I’ll break up with him and start fresh.” I took the challenge. If it works out then I would have a healthy happy relationship. If it doesn’t, Draco will take me back I’ll just have to put up with a lot of gloating in the beginning.

“Yes,” he cheers. I couldn’t believe I agree with this. I have never been more scared and excited in my entire life.

Draco’s POV

I was looking for a book in the library. When Crabbe came running up to me, looking like he saw a ghost. “Where's Nicole?” I glare at him. I gave him such an easy job, the girl doesn’t do anything besides hanging out with that stuck up Hufflepuff.

“Miller hit on me!” He screams. Madam Pince came around the corner to tell him to be quiet.

“What?” I ask. I knew for a fact he wasn’t the guy’s type. Nicole went on and on about the guys she wanted to set him up with.

“She was hanging out with Miller and he hit on me, so I ran.” He explains between deep breathes.

“You're an idiot,” I hiss.

“Sorry, Draco, why are you in the library anyway, classes haven’t even started?” He mutters.

“I don’t have time for your silly question. I have to go find her.” I walk out, looking back and forth for her. I thought this was going to be the easy part in ensuring my future. I thought that I would be able to play around and swipe her off her feet when the day came. But, it seems that every part of this year was going to be difficult. I finally found her leaning against the wall with a guy hovering over her. She giggles, putting on her charming smile as she got on her tippy toes. She whispered something in his ear. It must have been something sexual because he grabs her hips and pulls her close to kisses her on the lips. “Get your lips off my girl!” I scream.

Nicole’s POV

Robert and I were laughing as we walk through the halls. Cormac McLaggen walks up to us. “Hello Robert, Nicole.” He nods his head towards Robert, before looking me up and down.

“Hi,” I said sweetly. He was attractive, with his strong jawline, pouty lips, and curly blonde hair.

“You were in my potion class last year,” Cormac told me as if I wasn’t there also. Either he thought I didn’t notice him or that I’m stupid.

“I know.” I was happy that it was the former as he seems relief that I knew who he was. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Robert sneak away. I look back at Cormac, giving him my best smile. “We're alone,” I told him.
He looks around, smiling. “Yeah, we are.” He hovers over me.
I giggle a little and got on my tippy toes to whisper in his ear, “Kiss me, already.” He grabs my hips to pull me close to him. He cups my face, laying a passionate kiss on me. I wrap my arms around his neck.

“Get your lips off, my girl!” An icy voice, that I knew all too well, screams. Cormac pulls away and turns his head. I stood there smirking, looking at Cormac glares at the platinum blonde. I was looking forward to seeing how much fight this Gryffindor had in him.

“She isn’t your property. Look at her, she’s a goddess and she deserves to be treated like one.” Cormac snaps. I blush at being called a goddess.

“Cut the crap. Nikki is mine, so back off.” Draco grabs my arm to pull me close to him. Cormac grabs my other arm to pulls me back to him. Draco didn’t let go of his grip, so I was standing in the middle of them. “Let her go,” Draco hiss.

“I'm not going to let you push her around!” Cormac yells.

“Cormac, go. I need to talk to Draco.” I told him. He walks away slowly, keeping his glare on Draco.

“What the hell, Nikki! What did we just talk about?” He yells at me, once Cormac turns the corner.

“Draco, I was thinking and I need more than you.” I got right to the point. I don’t want to hear the ‘I need to be faithful for my future’ lecture again. It didn’t even make any sense.

“More than me,” Draco laughs as if it was the funniest joke he ever heard.

“All you want from a relationship is lust and I want more,” I explain.

“And I don’t, why do you think I’m talking about our future?” He throws his hands in the air.

“Don’t feed me that bullshit, you say that to all the girls. This is something I need to do for me. I deserve to see what a real relationship is like.” I defend myself.

“Did this past year mean nothing to you?” He asks.

“This past year was fun, but no it didn't have any meaning.” I didn’t feel the need to tell pretty lies. I could only hurt his ego, not his heart.

“Fine, it’s done. But, listen here only my girls call me by my first name, it’s Malfoy to you from now on.” He snaps.

“We can still be friends.” I didn’t know if I could cut him out of my life completely.

“I don't know. Can you stand to see me with other women?” He asks.

“I have seen you with other women already.” I roll my eyes. He was making like he was my lifelong boyfriend. “I have no reason to be jealous of them because I will have something better.” I walk away with my head held high.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I was walking to the Great Hall when Robert came up to me with blood all over his left hand. “Oh my god, Robert, what happened to your hand?” I grab him.

“I think I broke a finger when I punched McLaggen in the nose.” He stares down at his hand.

“Oh, it’s not your blood, thank god.” I sigh.

“You're not mad that I hit him?” He asks.

“No, whatever he did, he probably deserved it.” I shook my head.

“He made a bet that he could steal you from Draco. He heard you yesterday breaking up with him. He was bragging about it. I let him know that it wasn‘t his doing and then I punched him.” He explains.

“He deserves it. Now, let’s get that hand fix.” I took my wand out and did a quick healing spell.

“For a slut you’re pretty smart.” Pansy hisses, revealing herself from behind the pillar. I roll my eyes. Parkinson was rude to all of Draco’s other girls. But, she was especially vicious to me, being that I was his favorite.

“You’re dumb with a horrible personality. What do you have going for you?” I tilt my head as if I was innocently confused. She bumps my shoulder hard as she walks past me. “Want to go to breakfast?” I turn back to Robert.

“I got a few muffins and bagels in my bag. I thought we could have breakfast at our spot.” He grabs my hand, dragging me to the Stone Circle.

“Robert, can I ask you something?” We took our seat against our preferred stones.

“You already did.” He laughs.

I roll my eyes. He passes me two muffins and a bagel. “When McLaggen was trying to steal me away, he said I was a goddess and deserves to be treated like one. That’s boyfriend material right if it was real?” I was confused about searching for a relationship. I grew up in a broken home, raised by a single father, so the only healthy relationships I had known of were sappy romance novels. While they were entertaining, they seemed too cheesy and easy to be real.

“If he was your boyfriend for a while, but if a guy you just meet tells you that he is just feeding you a cheesy line to get in your pants.” He explains.

“Do you think I can make a boy feel more than lust?” I took a bite of my muffin.

“Yeah, I do.” He smiles.

“I wish you were straight Robert,” I told him. He laughs. “No, I‘m serious you’re the only guy I trust.” I rip off a piece of my bagel to throw at him, only to miss by a mile.

“That’s the only reason you trust me.” He ate his muffin.

“Maybe,” I shrug, it was probably the truth.

“Who do you find interesting?” He asks.

“I don‘t know.” I shrug. It was a scary thought to put my heart on the line.

“When you know, let me know.” He demands. I nodded. I would have done that anyway. “Do you want to go swimming in the Black Lake after classes?” He asks.

“Hell no, creepy things and bacteria are living in there.” I gag.

“You’re overreacting.” He rolls his eyes.

“When your penis gets infected, don’t cry to me.” I glare at him. I wasn’t about to swim in that water, it was so dark, one wouldn’t know they were being attacked until they lost a leg.

“We can use the Prefect’s bathroom.” He suggests.

“You’re going to sneak me in.” I’ve wanted to see this bathroom since I heard about it as a little girl.

“I am, and it’s as amazing as you heard.” He smiles proudly. With that he got me to agree.

I finished all my classes and was walking to the common room. I saw Malfoy and his followers there. I avoid talking to them by running up the stairs to my dorm. I change into a black strappy halter bikini. I slip on a pair of denim shorts and a black tank top. I throw on some flip flops, before going back to the common room. I was about to walk out when Urquhart stepped in front of me.

“Where are you going?” He asks.

“Come and you‘ll find out.” I wink.

“Lead the way.” He follows me out. Maybe I should have told him where we were going so he could change into his swimsuit. I guess he’ll be fine swimming in his underwear. I giggle internally with excitement. “I heard you and Malfoy broke up.” He broke me out of my perverted thoughts.

“If you can break up with a fuck buddy,” I shrug.

“So, you’re free to do whatever.” He pushes me against the wall.

I roll my eyes like me being with Draco ever stopped him before. “I‘m not that kind of girl,” I push him off. I walk ahead, angry with myself. Maybe the reputation I made in a year would stay with me for the rest of my life.

“That kind of girl?” He ran to catch up to me.

“Oh, you know what kind of girl! Someone you can just throw up against the wall and have your way with! It shouldn’t matter my history, you don’t get to treat me or any girl like we’re whores!” I shout at him. He looks down at his feet in embarrassment. “I want to be in a relationship. I want to know what it’s like to be loved and not just be the one giving it.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.

“Nicole Lopes, will you be my girlfriend?” He asks as if he was asking me to pass the salt at dinner.

“Did you not hear what I said? I want to be wooed. You don’t get me just because you’re good looking and you want me.” I poke him in the chest with each point I made.

“Then will you go on a date with me?” He grabs my hand to stop me.

“Do you know what I mean when I say relationship? You can‘t sleep with other girls. We won’t be having sex right away.” I ranted.

Urquhart covered my mouth with his hand. “I know what it means to be in a relationship. I’m not going to play with you. If you haven’t noticed I’ve been trying to impress you since your first year.” His intense gaze made me flustered.

“You try to impress anything with boobs,” I tested him.

“Was I supposed to wait for you while you were with Malfoy?” He arches an eyebrow.

“Can I get back to you?” I ask. He nods his head, filling my body with relief. I feel like everything was happening so fast. I led him to the Prefect bathroom.

“How are we going to get in there? I’m not a Prefect and neither are you.” He looks at me confused.

“Robert is,” I point towards the teen that was standing in the doorway.

“You took a long time,” Robert said. I stuck my tongue out at him as I stepped inside. It was beautiful. Marble and gold were everywhere you look. There was a tub so big that it was better described as a pool. There were golden faucets of all shapes and sizes surrounding the pool. On the wall was a stained glass window of a mermaid, who was playing with her hair.

“I don‘t have swimming shorts,” Urquhart said.

“There are some extra ones in the stall,” Robert told him. Urquhart went into the stall to change.

I pull Robert off to the side. “What do you think?” I ask.

“Of what,” He asks.

“Of Urquhart as my potential boyfriend, he asked me out on a date,” I explain.

“Does he know you’re looking for the real thing?” He asks.

“Yes and he still said he wants to.” It was crazy to think a teenage boy, I already fool around with, was fine with having my mind before my body.

“He has been chasing after you for a while. Always coming back to be teased and then rejected. It’s a wonder he wants you.” He shrugs. I slap his shoulder. “What, you know I’m right? I wouldn’t want someone who kisses me, rubs their body all over me, and even let me please them orally but doesn’t return the favor half of the time. Can you even count how many times you have given him blue balls?” He smirks. My face turns bright red.

“Shut up. I get it. I’ll let him know my answer later.” I snap. I know it was wrong, but cock teasing gave me a rush.

“God bless Quidditch,” Robert whispers. I turn around to have the same thought as I stare at Urquhart in some white swim shorts.

“Let's go to the bubbles.” Robert and I got into the tub.

“Come on, Urquhart the waters warm.” I pull him in.

We were having a lot of fun until the bubbles ran out. “No bubbles,” I pout, slamming my hand down on the plain water.

“We can always make some more.” Urquhart laughs at my pouting face.

“Nah, it's almost time for dinner. We should get going.” Robert got out.

“Sure thing, Prefect,” I climbed out of the pool and dried myself off.

“I should go change,” Urquhart said after drying off.

“No, I like you like this.” I held onto his arm.

“Last time you said that I got detention from McGonagall for indecent exposure.” He pulls out of my grasp and walks into the stall. I smile thinking about the time, we were fooling around in an empty class. I was able to find a hiding place under the teacher’s desk before the door opened.

“I‘ll leave you two lovebirds alone.” Robert pulls a shirt over his head as he walks out.

“Where’s Robert going?” Urquhart changes back into his school uniform.

“He decided to go on without us,” I slip on my shorts and tank top.

“Let’s go before another Prefect comes.” He walks towards the door.

“Urquhart,” I called him. He turns around, waiting for me to go on. “I would like to go out on that date with you.” I bit my lip, hoping he hadn’t changed his mind.

“Really?” He smiles like a kid at Christmas. I smile back, nodding my head. He picks me up and spins me around. I giggled as he put me down on my feet.

“Let's go before we end up late for dinner,” I told him. He grabs my hand and laces it with his. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as he led me to the Great Hall. I tried to ignore the stares and whispers as we walked to the green table.

“See how pretty you are, no one can keep their eyes off you.” He smiles down at me.

“They’re whispering, because they’re talking about the slut’s latest conquest.” I groaned in disgust as I sat down.

“You're not a slut.” He sat next to me. I gave him a blank stare. “You’re not a slut anymore.” He corrected himself.

“I stopped being a slut not even 24 hours ago, you can‘t change that fast,” I hiss.

“You’re very unsure of yourself, I never realize that.” He said as the food appeared.

“Does it look like I have anything to be unsure about?” I ran my hands up and down my body.

“Maybe not on the outside, but the inside,” He observes.

“Tell me, James, would you even think about dating me if I wasn‘t pretty?” I call him by his first name. He opens his mouth then shuts it. “It's okay James, I don‘t expect you to say yes, you don‘t know me.” I shrug my shoulders as I put food on my plate.

“I don’t know much about you, but I would like to.” He looks down at his lap.

“That's fine with me, but make me a promise.” I got his attention.

“Name your promise.” He challenges me as if whatever I ask he would be able to do.

“If you don’t like my personality, then dump me. Don’t worry about hurting my feelings, just dump me.” I demand.

“I promise if I don’t fall in love with your mind, I’ll end it.” He grabs my hand and looks me in the eyes. “If I can get past the trial dates to be your boyfriend,” He teases. I laugh, knowing it was to lighten the mood and not out of bitterness.

“I would hate to stop this, but I have news for Urquhart.” Malfoy interrupted us.

“Yes Malfoy,” James turned to him but kept his hold on my hand.

“As a favor to the Prefect, I get the pleasure of telling you that you are once again quidditch captain.” Malfoy rolls his eyes. A favor that the Prefect will probably have to pay for with her body, I thought bitterly.

“I think that goes without saying.” He glares at Malfoy.

“So falsely confident Urquhart, you’re just lucky I didn’t want it.” He throws his famous smirk at him.

“I doubt I would ever have to worry about you competing in anything.” James held double meaning in his words.

Malfoy scoffed, before turning his attention towards me. “Lopes look like your boyfriend going to be busy from now on. Who will you spend all your time with?” Malfoy asks.

“I have friends.” I glare, not bothering to correct him on the boyfriend part.

“What happens when the fag gets a boyfriend?” Malfoy laughs, seeing me grit my teeth and clench my fist.

“Don‘t you dare call him names like that, you filthy little git!” I growl.

“Feisty isn’t she and more feisty in bed.” Malfoy winks, before going back to his seat.

“Pervert,” I hiss.

“Don‘t let him get to you,” James told me, even though his face told me he needs to take his own advice.

“Only if you make him do a few extra laps,” I countered.

“That is an amazing idea.” He laughs.

“James Urquhart, the greatest Slytherin quidditch captain. It just rolls off my tongue.” I teased.

“I’m going to like getting to know you.” He smiles.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I walk down to the common room with my version of the uniform on. James and I agreed to meet down here, but he wasn’t here yet. I took a seat on the couch, waiting for him. I felt the couch sink in on the other side. “Urquhart is going to skip breakfast and unpack. He said that you should come with us.” Malfoy points behind him where the rest of his group was. I narrow my eyes at him.

“I told him, you wouldn‘t believe us,” Blaise said.

“You guys can go to breakfast, I‘m going to help James.” I made my way up to the boy’s dorms. I didn’t want to knock on each door looking for him, so I went into a room and pushed a first year off of his bed.

“What the hell?” The boy yells. He froze when he saw me. He looks me up and down. A smirk grew on his face. “How can I help you?” He licks his lips.

“Where is James’s new room?” I ignore his arrogance.

“James? Which one are you talking about?” He tilts his head.

“Urquhart,” I snapped.

“OOHH, that way,” He points up to another case of stairs.

I went up the stairs. I saw that there were two doors. I assume for the Prefect and Quidditch Captain. As I looked between the doors, I thought about James. I’ve been dating him for close to a month now. He asked me to be his girlfriend two weeks ago. I have to say I’ve liked this committed thing. It was nice to not feel like I was consistently competing with someone.

I decided to try my luck and knock on the door to the right. The door opens to reveal James. He smiled when he saw it was me. “I thought you were going to breakfast with Zabini.” He leans against the door frame.

“I rather spend time with you.” I beam up at him. He moves from the doorway, gesturing for me to come inside. “Your own room, I love the privacy.” I sat on his bed.

“All the perks of being the quidditch captain,” He brags.

“This bed is so soft.” I laid down on it. He crawls on top of me, kissing me along the way. “I thought you were going to unpack.” I look up at him.

“I can unpack later, my first period is free. Unless you got a free period too,” He kisses my lips.

“I got Care of Magical Creature with Ravenclaw,” I told him.

“I’ll do it then.” He moves down to my neck. I flipped us over, so I was on top straddling him. I slip my hands up his shirt, running them up and down his chest and stomach. I took his shirt off to leave a trail of kisses from his pelvic bone to his lips. Listening to his moans filled me up with pride.

“Love, you want to come to the quidditch try out, help me decide?” He asks, making me stop to look at him in confusion.

“I don’t know that much about quidditch.” I move off of him to lie down next to him.

“But you know when you see something good, don’t you?” He turns his head to look at me.

“I guess,” I kiss his neck.

“Come then,” He told me. I nod, outlining his six-packs with my fingers. “You should get to your class.” James sat up, looking over at the clock on the wall.

“What time is it?” I ask, not bothering to move.

“8:05,” He kisses me.

“Crap,” I jumped off the bed and ran over to the mirror.

“You’re already five minutes late and you’re fixing your hair.” He laughs.

“Shut up.” I snap at him. I ran out of the room and to Hagrid’s hut.

“You’re late.” Hagrid stops his lecture to tell me.

“Sorry, I didn‘t realize what time it was,” I explain, out of breath.

“Sit down.” He let out a big sigh.

I sat down next to Luna Lovegood. “Hey,” I greet her.

“Hi.” She smiles brightly at me.

“Today, we're learning about unicorns.” Hagrid brought out a white unicorn with wings. “Many of its powers are still a mystery. There known from being the purest creature on earth, so pure that if you killed one you’ll be cursed for life. You all can come up and look at her, pet her if she lets you. Read pages 150-200, I want an essay on the unicorn.” Hagrid demands. I let out a groan, I hate essays. “Who wants to go first?”

“Draco and I will go.” Parkinson drags Malfoy along with her to the front of the class.

“Do you guys want to try and pet her?” Hagrid asks.

“I‘ll pass,” Malfoy sneers.

“Sure, animals love me.” Parkinson brags.

“Because she looks like one,” I whisper, making Luna laugh.

“What are you laughing at freak?” Parkinson snaps at Luna.

“I was just telling her a funny fact,” I smirk.

“What was it, Lopes?” She glares.

“Just that animals love you because you look like one of them,” I repeated.

“A pig mixed with a pug to be exact.” Luna nods. I crack up with the rest of the class. The best part is that Luna wasn’t being mean about it. She wasn’t malicious like that. She was simply stating her honest opinion.

“Why you little….” Parkinson launched at Luna and I. The unicorn caught Parkinson between her teeth by her shirt, holding her in the air. “Make this thing put me down!” She yells.

“I wonder which one of you the unicorn is protecting.” Hagrid ignores her screams.

“Go, Luna.” I nudged her.

“Me?” She points at herself.

“Yes, go.” I push her.

“It could be you just as much as me.” Luna shook her head.

“No, it’s you,” I insist. Luna was pure, something an animal would want to protect. I was far from pure and never been around animals, unlike Luna who goes out looking for strange creatures. I probably would end up doing something wrong and end up on the unicorn’s bad side too.

“Can one of you just try already?” Parkinson screams.

“Let the unicorn have her.” I stuck my tongue out at her.

“I‘ll try.” Luna walks over to the unicorn. She pet it, the animal leans its body into her touch. Luna continued to pet it, but it kept its hold on Parkinson.

“I think it wants Parkinson, let the unicorn have her.” I was too amused by this situation.

“Lopes!” Parkinson yells.

“What is the unicorn name?” I ask Hagrid, ignoring her.

“Krystal.” Hagrid told me.

“I’m doing this for Krystal because you probably don‘t taste well.” I went over to Krystal to pet her. She drops Parkinson on the ground. She ran straight to Malfoy.

“Why didn‘t you do anything?” She slaps him.

“You’re strong to be holding all that weight for so long.” I ran my fingers through her mane.

“Why, you got some nerves?” Parkinson took a step towards me. Krystal took a step towards her making her cower.

“I know all of you didn‘t get to see her, but it's time to go. Remember to write your essay. Miss Lopes and Miss Lovegood come by anytime to see Krystal.” Hagrid told us. We gave him a nod before walking off.

“What‘s your next class?” I ask.

“History of Magic,” She told me.

“I got Herbology,” I said.

“See you later.” She waves goodbye. I blew her a kiss.

“When did you get so close with Lovegood?” Malfoy came up from behind me.

“We were always close.” I roll my eyes.

“Really, in a whole year I didn‘t hear her name once.” He narrows his eyes at me.

“We knew each other and been friends since we were little. Our dads work on the same paper.” I explain.

“Doesn’t explain why for a whole year you didn’t talk to her.” He interrogates me.

“Every party for my dad’s job, that you never wanted to go to, I would hang out with her. Every project with Ravenclaw, it was with her. Every time I was hanging out with my friends, one of them was her.” I explain. This shows how much attention he paid to me.

“One more question for you.” He moved right in front of me, so I had to stop.

“What?” I snap. It was a little too late for him to be curious about me.

“Why are you explaining yourself to me?” He had a huge smirk on his face.

I was a little shocked, not knowing why I explained myself to him with no hesitation. “Cause you asked?” I shrug like it was no big deal.

“No, I know you, if anyone else asks you that, you would have told them to piss off. You still feel connected to me.” He took a step closer to me.

“Keep dreaming.” I sneer, angry with myself more than him.

He steps forward to grab my chin. “What if I told you that I still want to be with you? Don‘t tell me you wouldn‘t want to come up to the dorm with me?” He whispers seductively.

“Get the hell away from me!” I fought to get out of his grip, only for it to get tighter.

“Get away from her, Malfoy!” Someone yells.

“What the hell do you three want?” Malfoy snaps, letting me go.

“She doesn‘t want anything to do with you, so leave her alone.” Granger glares at him. I was confused as to why they were coming to my rescue.

“Do you want their help, love?” Malfoy rubs my arm.

“I don‘t need help, especially not from a mudblood.” I push Malfoy off of me.

“What the bloody hell is wrong with you?” Weasley grabs my wrist making me face him. He looks like steam was going to come out of his ears. “Hermione was the one that wanted to help you! Harry and I could give a shit what happens to you, but Hermione thought that no girl should be at the misery of Malfoy! She made us help you and you are being ungrateful to us!” Ron yells in my face.

“Why don’t you just ask her out already? You’ve done everything but declare your love to her.” I snap. If they were going to be in my business, then I was going to be in theirs. He drops my wrist in shock. I ran off to my dorm. I lay down on my bed. I liked the feeling of being alone so much that I ditch the rest of my classes. I got started on my unicorn essay. By the time I was done, the quidditch tryouts were about to start.

I rushed to the quidditch stands that were filled with all of Malfoy’s girls. “Hey, what are you guys doing here?” I ask, seeing Robert and Luna.

“We knew you’d be here,” Luna said. I took the seat next to her.

At first, it started normally with everyone doing drills. Then they decided to have a scrimmage. In the game, Malfoy and James started to hit blunders at each other. Which was ridiculous because neither of them was beaters.

“He only wants you back, because you were his prizes toy.” Parkinson turns around. I stare at her, wondering why she was speaking to me. “Soon he‘ll learn that I’m just as good as you, no better than you.” She tries to antagonize me.

“I don’t care, I‘m happy without him.” I roll my eyes. She should be fighting with the other girls for the top spot, not bothering me who wasn’t even a part of the harem anymore.

“I don‘t think I could live without him.” One of the idiots whines. It sickens me to think that I was once that clueless. I turn my attention back to the sky as James smack Malfoy off his broom.

“My man beat your man!” I cheered, happy to rub anything into Parkison’s annoying face.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I look through my jewelry box and pick up my favorite necklace. A black heart with green diamonds surrounding the edge and Nicole was engraved across it. I put the necklace on, letting it rest on top of my chest. I walked to Stone Circle where I was supposed to meet Robert and Luna. “Hello, Luna. Where’s Robert?” I ask.

“At the quidditch field,” She looks up from a Quibbler magazine.

“Why?” I ask. He wasn’t into sports.

“He found out somehow that Gryffindor and Slytherin got booked to have the field at the same time.” She tucks the magazine under her arm.

“He’s hoping for a fight.” I thought about going over there myself.

“He’s hoping that they’ll take their shirts off. For some reason, he believes that fighting will involve nudity.” Luna tilts her head.

“I have my reason and he has his.” I laugh. We walk to the quidditch stands, taking a seat next to Robert. “Any action,” I ask.

“No, just yelling.” He let out a disappointed sigh. I nod, watching as they yell at each other. “Come on, take your shirts off!” Robert yells. None of them seem to hear him though.

“Why don‘t we have a game?” Seamus challenges.

“That’s a good idea,” Harry smiles.

“No, we didn‘t even get to practice!” James yells.

“We didn’t either. What are you scared of losing in front of your lady?” Seamus winks at me.

James looks over in the direction he winks, I wave to him. “You're on Potter,” He pushes him.

“Why don‘t you bring your little girlfriend down here to throw the snitch up?” Dean points at me.

“Babe,” James calls. I smile, walking down to the field. “Here, love. We want you to do the honors.” He hands me the snitch.

“It means we want you to throw the snitch up in the air to start the game. Don‘t let it go to your head.” Ron glares.

“Weasley, did you ask out your bushy-haired friend yet?” I gave him a fake smile.

“You finally stop fucking Malfoy.” He snaps.

“Obviously,” I gesture to James, who was now towering over Ron growling. To Ron’s credit, he stood his ground, even if he was shaking a bit.

“Throw it up already. I want to get this game started.” James told me. I threw the snitch up and they took to the air. I went back up to the stands, watching them play.

“They may be excused from class, but we’re not.” Luna walks off to potion. Robert and I went to the history of magic. I sat down next to Robert. Zacharias Smith sat on the other side of me. Robert and I did a spell to make our pens take notes.

A hand rests itself on my thigh. “I heard the rumors.” I push Zach off of me.

“If you’re so into gossip you would know I‘m dating James,” I hiss. He moves to another seat, grumbling. I went back to talking to Robert for the rest of the class.

I walked outside when we were dismissed to see James waiting for me. “Hey sexy, what’s your next class?” He put his arm around me.

“What does it matter? Not like we are going to have the same class.” I shrug.

“I was planning to walk you to the class.” He told me.

“I hate that you’re a year older than me.” I pout.

“Don‘t make it like it’s my fault?” He laughs, squeezing my face.

“Potion,” I gave in.

“Let's go then, princess.” He picks me up bridal style. I wrap my arms around his neck as he carries me to class. “As far as I can take you,” He put me down by the door.

“Thanks,” I kiss him. He wraps his arms around my waist pulling me closer. I ran my fingers through his hair. The kiss was getting heated when I heard someone clear their throat causing us to separate.

“To class, Miss Lopes and Mr. Urquhart,” Snape glares. I quickly slipped into the potion class and took the first seat that I saw.

“Everyone gets up and stands against the walls,” Slughorn orders the class. I let out a sigh as I gathered my things and leaned against the wall beside my desk. “I will be putting you into groups. Listen for your name…” He went on naming people off his list. “Nicole Lopes, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley, and Harry Potter.” I took a seat on the table he points to. Malfoy sat next to me. Weasley sat across from me. Harry sat next to him.

“Look, Harry, it’s the fuck buddies,” Weasley smirks at me.

“I could say the same about you two,” I smirk back at him. Draco snickers.

“We all know we don‘t like each other, but let‘s not argue. We are going to be in a group for a while, we need to figure out how to work together.” Harry rationalizes.

“Potter is always trying to be the good guy,” Malfoy snaps. They continued to argue causing me to zone out. “Nikki, what do you think?” He yells in my ear.

“Think of what?” I didn’t have the energy to be a part of their argument.

“Weren‘t you listening,” Ron narrowed his eyes at me.

“Obviously not,” I roll my eyes.

“Ron and I will do half of the work. Malfoy and you will do the other half. This way we never have to talk to each other.” Harry explains to me.

“Sounds fair,” I shrug, not caring how it got done as long as it got done.

“Where the bloody hell is your head at?” Ron shouts. His ears were starting to blend in with his hair.

“You need to learn how to control your temper.” I scold him. He glares at me. I look at the board, writing the instructions down. The poison made people go to sleep, but if we did it wrong they could go into a coma.

“Who‘s doing the essay and who‘s doing the potion?” Malfoy asks.

“We can do the potion,” I said since I already wrote the instruction down.

“Then we‘ll do the essay, and next time we’ll switch.” Harry nods.

“Go get the stuff, Nikki,” Malfoy orders.

“Why should I? Can‘t you be a gentleman?” I glare at him.

”If I get up, I‘ll never come back. The girls will take me somewhere and have their way with me.” Malfoy gestures toward his body.

“When I come back it would be nice if your head was a little smaller.” I walk away. I got the ingredients and went back to the table. Malfoy and I completed the potion. He flags Slughorn down to check our potion. After getting his approval, I walk out of the class to see James waiting for me again. “Do you even go to class?” I wonder.

“Why would you ask that?” He wraps his arm around me, guiding me to the Great Hall.

“You’re always here right when I'm dismissed.” I point out.

“I leave five minutes early.” He shrugs like it was no big deal. I look at him surprised. How did he convince teachers to let him leave early? I have a hard time getting them to let me go to the bathroom. “How was class?”

“Arguing with Weasley, insulting Malfoy, and ignoring Potter.” I gave him the details of my class experiences.

“Why were you even by them?” His grips tighten.

“Slughorn put us into groups,” I grunt, not happy to be dealing with them.

“You guys are going to blow up something by the end of the week.” He laughs, relaxing once he sees that I was upset about it too.

“How about we skip lunch and go to your dorm?” I rub his chest as we stop in front of the Great Hall.

“If I didn't just play Quidditch and wasn’t hungry as a dragon, I would take you up to my dorm and have my way with you.” He winks.

“I didn't say anything about sex,” I roll my eyes. He has been throwing a lot of hints lately.

He kisses me, giving a little tongue before pulling away. “That a little taste of what I'll give you later.” He walks into the Great Hall leaving me shocked. I followed and sat next to him putting a sandwich on my plate.

“You're a tease,” I hiss in his ear. He ate with one hand while running the other up and down my thighs. I grab James’s hand from under the table. He smiles at me as I lean on him. The rest of the quidditch team came and sat around us.

“Hi Nikki, how's it going?” Blaise asks.

“Urquhart is a tease,” I pout. James chokes on a chip. I drop his hand to pat his back. He glares at me as he rubs his throat. I kiss his neck. “Sorry,” I nibble on his ear.

“Nice necklace.” Malfoy points at my chest where it was resting.

“Thanks,” I grab it and trace my finger over my name.

“It is nice. Who gave it to you?” James leans in to get a closer look.

“I don’t remember, but it is my favorite necklace.” I shrug.

“Looks good on you,” Malfoy chuckles to himself.

“I agreed,” James kisses my cheek. “Quidditch practice is going to be after class.” He told the guys as he stood up. “Come on.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. I look down at my untouched sandwich then back at him.

“I'm still eating,” I point to my sandwich. “Please stay,” I pout, pulling on his arm.

“I'm going to be making some game plans. I’ll be up in my dorm.” He gave me a soft peck on the lips before leaving. I let out a frustrated sigh taking a bite out of my sandwich. The guys separated to where their friends were sitting, except for Malfoy who sat across from me laughing.

“What the hell so funny?” I glare at him. Did he find it funny that my boyfriend would rather make game plans than spend time with me? I’ll have him know that two of his girlfriends are more into each other than they were him.

“You,” He smirks, giving me a pointed look.

“What about me is so funny?” I snap.

“You haven't gotten' any in a while.” He states as if it was so obvious.

“How the hell would you know that?” I slam my hand down on the table. My sex life was not any of his business.

“You’re being clingy. You only get like that when you haven’t had sex in a while.” He smiles. He was proud that he was able to read me so easily.

“No, I am not. How did you even come up with such a stupid thing?” I was not clingy. If I was clingy I would have gone with him instead of staying here to eat.

“What are we playing 20 questions?” He rolls his eyes.

“I don't play muggle games.” I cross my arms over the chest.

“You’re sure acting like it.” He smiles, amuses that he was annoying me.

“I'm just wondering what would make you say something so stupid.” I snap.

“I know because I tested it out. When we were together I would not have sex with you, just so you would be all over me.” He explains his brilliant experiment.

“James and I have decided to take things slow.” I let him know that someone was willing to give me what he wouldn’t, a real solid relationship that was based on love and not lusts.

“And you're fine with that.” He arches an eyebrow.

“It was my idea,” I glared at him.

“You know there is nothing wrong with liking sex.” He shrugs his shoulders like there was nothing wrong with how he treats women.

“I know that. But, the reason I broke up with you was to have a relationship that wasn't based on sex.” I don’t know why he couldn’t understand that I outgrew him.

“If you ever change your mind, you can come back to me.” He licks his lips.

“Fuck off, Malfoy!” I storm out of the Great Hall. I power walk my way to James’s dorm. I slam open the door. I wish I didn’t eat that sandwich because now I felt like throwing up. He had his pants off on top of a naked girl. “What the fuck, Urquhart!” I yell. He jumps off the girl. I didn’t stay to listen to his excuses, I ran out of the boy dorms.

“NICOLE!” He ran after me as he put on his pants.

“I hate you, Urquhart! Leave me alone!” I screamed back at him as I ran out of the common room. It was a wonder how he didn’t catch me already. Seeing how he was in top shape and I only exercise during the summer because I got restless sitting at home.

“NICOLE!” His voice sounds closer. I look back to see him reaching out for me, only missing me by an inch. I pick up my speed, making a sharp turn. I ran over to Zabini and Malfoy who were standing in the courtyard.

“NICOLE!” He yells again, making them turn around. I throw myself at Zabini, kissing him hard on the lips. He didn’t kiss me back, but he wraps his arms around my waist. I heard screaming as I cling tighter to the point I wouldn’t be surprised if I was hurting him. I broke the kiss once it got silent, both Malfoy and Urquhart were gone. I fell to the floor, panting.

“What happens there?” Blaise sat down next to me.

“I used to have three best friends. What happened there?” I turn my head towards him.

“You got with Draco. He didn't want you hanging out with any other straight guys.” He looks down at me.

“I'm sorry,” I felt ashamed of myself. I threw away a friendship for a guy who never treated me right.

“I forgave you a while ago. I know how much you liked Draco back then.” He shrugs. He was a bigger person then I was because if I was in his position I wouldn’t have forgiven him.

“Still sorry,” I bite my lip.

“You didn’t run down here to kiss me to get me alone and ask about our friendships.” He lay down beside me.

“You could always see right through me.” I gave him a weak smile.

“And you always stall.” He let out a dry laugh.

“Urquhart was messing around with another girl in his dorm.” I let out a sigh. Maybe there was a balance to outside and in bedroom bonding that I needed to figure out. With no sex, it’s a friendship. With no friendship, it can’t even be considered a relationship, that's why they call it boy/girlfriend, right?

“Are you okay?” Blaise gave me a look of concern.

“I'm fine,” I let out a deep sigh.

“Really?” He looks at me shocked.

“It's not like I loved him. I loved his six-packs, but not him.” I laugh. Blaise laughs along with me.

“You kissed me,” He groans.

“I’m not diseased.” I push him.

“He expects you to go crawling back to him after Urquhart. He thinks you’re going through a phase.” He wasn’t afraid of Malfoy, he just hated drama. Merlin knows that Malfoy would make like this was the worst betrayal since Sirius Black. He’ll be telling everyone of this. Malfoy’s rants are one of the things that make him famous around here.

“I'll make a deal with you.” I sat up. He stares up at me to continue. “I'll tell Malfoy the reason I kissed you if you be my best friend again.”

“Deal, best buddy,” He sat up to give me a tight hug.

“I’ll go find Malfoy,” I pull away from the hug to stand up.

“He’s probably in the common room, waiting for someone to come in so he can tell them everything.” He informs me as if I didn’t know the guy. Nonetheless, I nod letting him know that I picked up what he was telling me.

“I'll be taking care of it, best friend.” I wink at him.

“Muggle say BFF. It stands for best friends forever.” Blaise got off the ground. I looked at him like he had three heads. “Sorry forgot about you hating muggles that much." He laughs, dusting himself off.

“It’s okay.” I grit my teeth, knowing he didn’t forget. I walked to the common room to see Malfoy lying on the couch, staring into the fireplace. I sat on the table that was right in front of him. “Malfoy,” I took his attention from the fire.

“What?” He looks at me with those icy blue eyes that sent shivers down my spine.

“Please, don't make drama for Blaise because I kissed him,” I beg, sticking my bottom lip out. He would normally give me my way when I did that.

“Worried I'll make your new boyfriend's life hell?” He sat up, smirking.

“Blaise isn't my boyfriend.” I shook my head.

“You go around kissing random guys. Is your other boyfriend okay with that?” He leans over putting his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He stared at me as he waited for my answer.

“Urquhart isn't my boyfriend,” I bark out bitterly.

“You guys broke up.” His jaw drops. I nod, staring off to the side. I didn’t want to see his smug face. “That was fast.” He laughs. I glare at him. I wanted to kick him in the balls. “Why?" He asks after he came down from his fit of laughter.

“He cheated on me,” I grunt. I didn’t like to reveal this to him, seeing as how happy he was to see me fail at another relationship. There was a long silence. He was staring at me with a blank expression. “Does this mean you won't be rude to Blasie?” I ask, hoping to end this discussion and go to my dorm.

“Why do you care if he isn’t your boyfriend?” He asks.

“He's my best friend,” I state proudly.

“Some best friend, you dropped him when I told you too.” He rolls his eyes.

“I apologize for doing such an idiotic thing and he has forgiven me.” I glare, must he take every opportunity to rub something in my face.

“Do you make out with all your best friends?” He tilts his head to the side. I let out a puff. He needs to learn to let things go.

“I kissed Blaise. We didn't make out.” I corrected him. He rolls his eyes. “My two other best friends are Luna and Robert.” I remind him.

“Only Blaise then, he is also my friend but I’ve never done that with him.” He laughs.

“I'll be going to class now.” I got up. I was sick of dealing with his arrogance.

“Why, you already missed half of the class?” He leans back into the couch. I look up at the clock to see he was right.

“I'll be going to my dorm.” I made my way towards the stairs.

“I’m sleeping with the Prefect. I would sit down before you get written up for skipping.” He threatens.

“I guess I'm staying down here with you.” I sat next to him on the couch.

“What do you think about us being with Potter and Weasley?” He asks. I let out a sigh, did he really make me stay down here with him to talk about our day. We didn’t even do that when we were together. I suppose he wanted the usual, where he talks and I listen, even when he was asking me a question, so I waited for him to tell me what he thought of it. After a minute of silence, I looked at his face to see that he was waiting for my answer.

“That Slughorn is looking for a show.” I snorted.

“I agree, they should have given the class to Snape.” He nods. I stare at him, waiting for him to tell me what he wanted. “Do you plan on getting a new boyfriend?” It seems that he got tired of tippy-toeing around the subject also.

“Is this an interview?” I sneer. This was the reason I didn’t want a boyfriend, to begin with, I didn’t like answering to someone.

“Shut up. I'm trying to get to know you.” He snaps.

“Draco Lucius Malfoy is trying to get to know a girl.” I put my hand up to my chest and gasp.

“Do you plan to answer my question?” He glares.

“No,” I shook my head.

“No, you’re not answering my question.” He turns sideways to hover over me.

“I’m not looking for another boyfriend. I haven’t been by myself in a while.” I think focusing on loving myself was the best thing for me.

He nods his head. “I have one more question for you.” He held one finger.

“Go for it,” I throw hands in the air to show I gave up.

“Can I be another one of your friends?” He asks, with a genuine hopeful look on his face.

“What?” He never attempted to know me in a year while we were fuck buddies. Now that we were no longer involved sexually he wants to know me.

“Don't make me repeat myself. You know I hate that.” He stared me down.

“Why?” I couldn’t understand what was going on.

“Blaise tells me that you’re fun to talk to, so far I think he's a liar.” He teases. Both of them sure know how to push my buttons.

“Blaise is not a liar, shut up.” I playfully push him.

“You sure Blaise isn't your boyfriend?” He was back to being serious.

“Yes, I'm sure.” I roll my eyes.

“If I kiss you, he won't mind?” He leans in to put his face in front of mine.

“You can't kiss me, you’re not my boyfriend.” I shook my head. He looks deep into my eyes. I could feel a familiar tingle go through my body. “Don't do that,” I turn my head away.

“Do what?” He asks with fake innocence.

“Look at me like that.” I glare into the fire.

“Sorry, didn't mean to make you nervous.” He laughs. I turned my glare towards him, for I knew for a fact that he loves to make me nervous.

“Can I call you, Draco?” It did feel funny calling him Malfoy when I knew him by his first name for so long. Despite everything, he wasn’t someone I hated.

“Yes you may, Nicole.” He smiles at me. I smile back, happy to be on his good side and back in his life again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I stood in front of Draco who was surrounded by his fangirls. “Getaway! Draco doesn’t like you anymore.” Parkinson glares at me like I was supposed to be scared. He made the girl next to him move so that I could sit down.

“When did you guys start having sex again?” The blond one asks. I should learn her name, considering she was my roommate. We put up a magic room divider that acted as a wall, so it was like we had our own rooms.

“Draco and I are just friends.” I put my feet on his lap, pushing the girl that was on it off. She shrieks as she lands on the redhead that was sitting on the other side of him. The redhead shoves the girl to the ground, making her let out another high pitch scream. Draco gave her a look that quickly shut her up.

“Right, just friends,” The redhead spat out sarcastically.

“Draco, your loyal girls are going to breakfast, are you coming?” Parkinson stood up.

“No, I’m fine here.” He ran his hand up and down my legs.

“Fine,” She storms out of the common room. The girls shot a glare my way, before following Parkinson out.

“Scaring girls away to get me all to yourself, back to our old ways?” He teases.

“Nah, I just feel better about myself when I'm making other girls jealous.” I pull my feet off of him and swing them over the edge of the couch.

“You’re always honest, even when it makes you look horrible. Why?” He arches an eyebrow.

“I have nothing to hide.” I lied. I had a lot to hide but if you're honest about everything else, people don’t dig because they don’t think anything is there.

“Everyone has something to hide.” He stares a hole into the side of my head.

“I don't. Ask me anything and I'll tell you my honest answer.” I challenge.

“Are you going to Hogsmeade?” Draco sizes me up.

“Nope,” I shook my head.

“Why?” He asks.

“I didn't have anyone to go with. It’s no fun to shop by yourself.” I explain to him. I like to get opinions on the things I was going to buy, especially if it was clothes.

“No one,” He looks shocked. I don’t know why it’s not like I have endless amounts of friends. I only have three, four if I decide to count him, but I wasn’t sure about that yet.

“I was supposed to go with Urquhart.” His name leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I wonder if he was going with his new plaything.

“Then go with one of your best friends.” He speaks as if he solves all my problems. I roll my eyes like I didn’t already think of that.

“Robert has a date and Luna is feeding the thestral,” I explain.

“Blaise,” He suggests.

“Doesn’t he have a date too?” I assume. He either went with a date or the quidditch team. Sometimes, I tag along with the team but today I didn’t feel like listening to them one-up each other with stories of girls and adventures that all sounded ridiculously fake.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re going with me.” He decides for me. When we were sort of together it was a turn on, but as a friend, it was bossy and rude.

“Who said?” I put a hand on my hip. I took it off when I realized it looked silly since I was sitting down.

“I did,” He smirks as if he accomplishes something. Blaise came down the stairs from the boy’s dorms. He looks ready to go to Hogsmeade.

“Hello, Blaise. Do you have a date for Hogsmeade?” I ask.

“No, she got sick. I’m not trying to catch anything.” Blaise pulls a disgusted face at the thought of germs infecting him.

“Want to come with Draco and me?” I offer an invitation. I didn’t know if I completely trusted myself alone with him in place that could easily turn into a date like setting. I was having a hard time believing he wanted to be friends. Draco didn’t make friends. Blaise and he are best friends and they always have their guards up with each other.

“Sure.” He sat down on the armchair next to the couch.

“Why don't you have a date?” I ask Draco. He had five girlfriends to choose from.

“I have a date. I'm going to cancel it.” Draco shrugs like he wasn’t about to let some poor girl down.

“You don't have to cancel your date, I can go with Blaise.” I try to let him off the hook of keeping me company. Draco glares at Blaise, causing both of us to roll our eyes at him.

“I’m going with you. In a year of having a close relationship with you, I realize I know nothing about you. I want to get to know you.” Draco smiles sweetly at me. I stared at him shocked, I’ve seen many different smiles from him, but this one was new. I didn’t even think he was capable of looking so sweet and kind. Blaise looks at him confused. I was confused about Draco’s recent behavior too. While I want to believe Draco’s intentions, I couldn’t help feeling as if I was playing an elaborate game of chess with him.

Blaise cleared this throat to ask, “How are you going to cancel your date?”

“She'll figure it out when I'm not there at our meeting point.” He snickers. My jaw dropped. He was cruel to them.

“DRACO!” I smack his arm.

“What?” He rubs his arm as if I hurt him.

“You are not going to do that, you’re gonna be a man and tell her to her face that you’re canceling your date,” I ordered.

“It’s Pansy.” He told me. I was filled with relief that it was someone who deserves it.

“Never mind then.” I shook my head, disgusted with myself for defending her. The boys laugh at my hatred for her.

“Why do you hate Pansy so much?” Blaise asks.

“She was my biggest competition for Draco's attention,” I explain how my hatred for her started. I never noticed her until I got involved with Draco.

“But, you’re not with Draco anymore.” Blaise looked confused as to why I didn’t let my anger go, causing Draco to glare at him again.

“Hating her is a habit and there’s her personality.” I pull a face to show my distaste for her.

“What are you getting at Hogsmeade?” Draco changes the subject.

“I was thinking of getting a pet, maybe a rat.” I have been thinking about it for a while. It would be nice to have a companion at home and in my dorm.

“What?” Draco and Blaise yell. I glare at them. They thought I wasn’t capable of taking care of another living thing.

“I can take care of a pet.” I defend myself.

“We’ll see,” Draco snickers.

“But why a rat, they’re pests, vermin.” Blaise pretends to gag.

“Everyone has cats and owls. I want to be different.” I answer Blaise, deciding to ignore Draco’s remark.

“Weasley had a rat.” Draco points out.

“That thing is ugly. Mines will be wicked.” I did a lot of research on rats. I knew the exact kind I wanted.

“It’s a rat, they are all ugly.” Blaise laughs.

“I’m going to get a hairless one with big brown eyes.” I smile, picturing the rat in my head. I refuse to let their negativity bring me down.

“Why would you want your pet to look scary?” Draco narrows his eyes at me.

“What are you talking about big brown eyes? That’s cute.” I point at Blaise, who had those types of eyes.

“Do not compare me with a rat.” He snaps. “I am not cute, I am handsome.”

“Of course you are,” I reach over to pinch his cheek, only to have him smack my hand away.

“Breakfast is almost over.” Blaise looks at his watch.

"So,” I wasn’t hungry anyway.

“After breakfast is the Hogsmeade trip,” Blaise look at me as if I was stupid. I did feel stupid for not remembering that. It was my sixth year.

“It's not like we don't know our way there.” Draco rolls his eyes.

“I want to get there without getting into trouble.” Blaise got up and walked out of the room. I stood up to follow him, but Draco grabbed my wrist.

“You’re going to follow him?” He pulls me onto his lap.

“Yes, now come on.” I hop off his lap, grab his hand, and drag him along. “Wait up, Blaise!” I ran to catch up. He stops in his tracks, waiting for us.

“Finally, how slow are you too?” Blaise teases. I drop Draco's hand to link arms with Blaise. Draco growled. “Did you just growl?” He shot him another confused look.

“Something was caught in my throat.” He glares at Blaise.

“He’s moody,” Blaise whispers in my ear, causing me to giggle.

“I can go meet my date if you two are going to ignore me.” Draco threatens. I shrug my shoulders. If he was going to act like a child then he could go.

“Sure, bring Parkinson. We'll have a double date.” Blaise tries to call Draco’s bluff. I knew that he would, he was that pity.

“No, don't bring her along. I hate her!” I look at him in horror.

“Then give me the attention I desire.” He pouts. I link my other arm with his. We walked to where the meeting point to go to Hogsmeade was.

“Back to her whore ways,” Ron sneers as we pass the golden trio. I grit my teeth.

“Let it go.” Blaise pulled me forward with the arm he had linked with mine.

“If he commented on you, you'd hex his ass.” I glare up at him.

“That's me,” Blaise smiles. He unlocks his arm from me, to walk ahead of us and talk to Daphne Greengrass. I roll my eyes.

“Come on, students.” McGonagall leads us towards Hogsmeade.

“We're walking, how muggle.” Draco twists his face in disgust.

“How else are we supposed to get there?” I scoff. We always walk. Why would he expect this year to be any different? “There's no point in flying on your broom for five blocks.”

“Close your eyes,” Draco whispers in my ear.

“Why?” I ask, not trusting him.

“Just do it,” Draco hiss. I close my eyes. I felt a big gust of wind that would have knocked me off my feet if it wasn’t for Draco’s arm now around my waist. “You can open your eyes now.” I opened my eyes to see we were in the middle of Hogsmeade.

“I feel like throwing up.” I groan, bending over.

“That's normal for the first time.” He rubs my back.

“Where did you learn that?” I stood upright, feeling better.

“My father taught me.” He smiles with pride.

“So the rumors are true.” It slips out of my mouth before I could stop it. After seeing his eyes narrow and his eyebrow twitching, I speed-walked down the street.

“There are rumors about me?” He ran in front of me, making me stop. I grit my teeth. I hated it when he did that.

“Not you, just in general. That Deatheater training starts at a young age.” I curse myself for talking without thinking.

“Who said that? Maybe my dad and I were spending quality time together.” He glares at me, anger that I would assume such a thing.

“Draco, you’re a good liar. But, I know your dad. He’s all business even with you.” I walk around him to continue down the street. I don’t know why he was defending him to me of all people.

“Think whatever you want to think.” He follows after me.

“Where's Blaise?” I look around for him.

“Only now you notice.” He smirks.

“Can you just answer my question?” I sigh. He had to make everything difficult.

“He’s back with the rest of them walking like muggles.” Draco looks disgusted.

“I guess we can meet up later with him.” I shrug my shoulders. We had the whole day to find him.

“Let’s get a drink.” We walked into The Three Broomsticks and sat at a table.

“What can I get you, two kids?” Madam Rosmerta greets us.

“Two butterbeers,” Draco orders for us. Madam Rosmerta wrote it down. She looks at Draco then me. She gasps.

“What?” I looked down to see if everything was alright.

“How old are you?” She stares at my chest.

“Sixteen,” I told her.

“If you need a job after Hogwarts, come to me.” She talks to my chest, before walking away. Draco starts to laugh.

“That wasn't funny, that was weird and awkward.” I glare at him.

“She offers you a job that was nice for her.” He wipes the tears of laughter from his eyes.

“They’re not that big.” I look down at my chest.

“On an average size person, but for your size they are. You better hope they don't get any bigger because I heard that you can get some major back problems.” He smirks as he stares at my chest. I was a C cup, but with my petite frame, they look bigger than they are.

“How do you know that?” I wondered.

“I'm forced to sit through many of my mother’s tea parties.” He cringes at the memories that were made at those parties.

“I have the magic, I can fix my back.” I wave my hand, dismissing him.

“No, the only way to get rid of the back problem is making the knockers smaller.” He explains.

“Hell no, I'm not going to do that.” I grab them. I love my body. I was going to keep it looking this way as long as possible.

“Sweetie, we know you have them, no need to brag. You’re going to give your poor boyfriend a stiffy in public.” Madam Rosmerta put the mugs of butterbeers down, before walking away.

“Another weird and awkward moment,” I groan, running my hand through my hair.

“I'm just happy you admitted that you like your big boobs.” Draco stares at them.

“Stop looking at them.” I cross my arms over my chest.

“You’re just making them pop out more.” Madam Rosmerta passes by. I chug down my butterbeer.

“I'm finished, can we go?” I slam the mug down on the table.

“I'm not done yet.” Draco took a slow sip.

“Stop being an ass.” I hissed, leaning over the table to get in his face.

“I thought you would be here.” Blaise made me jump as I didn’t see him coming. Draco groans.

“Hey Blaise,” I greeted him as he sat down.

“What can I get you?” Madam Rosmerta came over to take his order.

“Nothing, I'm just waiting for them to finish,” Blaise told her. She nods before walking to another table.

“Hurry up, people are waiting.” I glare at him.

“It's just you two,” Draco shrugs as he took another tiny sip.

“We are very important people.” I cross my legs.

“Don't keep your girlfriend waiting she might leave you for this other good looking man.” Madam Rosmerta gave the golden trio their drinks.

“Is that lady everywhere?” I look at Draco's half-filled drink. I looked over at the door when I heard the bell ding. The golden trio came in and the only table left was the one next to us. “Can you hurry the bloody hell up?” I yell.

“Bloody hell? You’re beginning to sound like Weasley over there.” Draco nods his head over to the table next to us that they were now occupying.

“Don't compare me to that slut.” Weasley glares at me.

“I may be a slut Weasley, but I never fuck you.” I roll my eyes.

“Like I ever stoop that low to sleep with you.” He moved his chair, so he was facing me.

“Don't make like you're getting any Weasley.” I laugh. Weasley grits his teeth.

“I'm done, we can go.” Draco got up and threw some money on the table to pay for the drinks.

“Oh, just when I was starting to have fun,” I said sarcastically, getting up. Draco and I walk to the door. I look back for Blaise. He was hissing something in Wesley's ear. He knocks his butterbeer all over him. He walks over to us as Weasley glares at his back.

“What was that about?” I gave him a knowing smile.

“Don't worry about it.” He walks out the door. Draco and I look at each other before following him out.

Blaise’s POV

I walk over to Weasley. I leaned in so my mouth was by his ear. “That’s my best friend you called a slut. If you disrespect her again, I'll break bones you didn't know you had. You might not think so, but she’s a lady. I'll be damn if a punk like you makes her feel like anything else.” I nudge his butterbeer, so it would fall on him.

Nicole’s POV

Draco and I ran too caught up to Blaise. “You threaten him didn't you?” I was filled with joy. Blaise looks at me with a blank face. “You did. You threaten him because he was being mean to me.”

“So what,” He shrugs his shoulders as if it was nothing. I stare at Blaise for a few seconds, before throwing my arms around him giving him a big hug.

“I'm happy to have you back in my life,” I whisper in his ear. He finally returns my hug.

“Let's go get your rat.” He pulls away from the hug. Draco wraps his arm around my shoulders as we walk into the pet shop. I went to the rat's section and looked at the hairless ones.

“I like the one with the spots.” Draco points out.

“I don’t care about the looks. They have different personalities and I want to get a nice one.” I scan the cage with my eyes, trying to decide.

“How can you tell by looking at them?” Blaise asks the same question that I was wondering myself.

“I can help with that.” Someone behind us said. We turned around to see a cute guy who looked like he was in his 20's.

“How can you help?” I raise my eyebrow. He points at his name tag, making me feel stupid. “Oh, you work here.” I blush in embarrassment.

“If your friends move out of the way I can help you out,” Bruce said. Blaise moves out of the way and pulls Draco with him. He pulls out a key from his pocket and opens the cage. “Stick your hand in and see which one jumps to you.” He instructed me. I stuck my hand in the cage. All the rats smelt my hand, but only one jump in my hand. I pull my hand out of the cage with the rat in my palm. “I'll take him and put him in a carrier. I’ll meet you at the register after you grab some food and a cage.” Bruce walks behind the counter. I picked a food bag that had pellets with seeds and dried fruit mixed in. I grab a box for a two-tier cage that only needs the mending charm to put it together. After grabbing some accessories and toys for it, we made our way to the register. He smiles when he sees me approaching. The rat was in a cardboard box that had holes on the side and a top handle, next to the register.  “55 pounds,” Bruce told me.

I gave him the money. I put the food and the cage in my purse that had the extension charm. “Is the rat a boy or a girl?” I grab the carrier.

“She’s a girl. I was wondering if you want to hang out sometime.” Bruce gave me a sweet smile.

“You should know she’s still in Hogwarts.” Draco glares.

“Really, you look older?” He looks me up and down.

“It's the knockers right?” Draco asks. I elbow him in the stomach. He dramatically whines holding his stomach.

“I'll see you later.” I smile at him to spite Draco.

“Later?” Bruce perks up. I shot Draco a smug look that he didn’t seem to mind my age.

“When I run out of rat food,” I walk out with Blaise and Draco.

“Drakey, did you forget about our date?” Parkinson ran up to us.

“I'm going to Quality Quidditch Supplies. I need new gloves.” Blaise grabs my elbow.

“You need new gloves, not me. I want to watch this.” I look at the couple with glee.

“You're going to make things worse.” Draco let out a deep sigh.

“As if you care,” I roll my eyes. Blaise dragged me to the store. Urquhart, Weasley, and Potter were also in the store.

“Great place to take me,” I said sarcastically. Blaise ignores me and walks over to the gloves, which was right next to Potter and Weasley. I could feel Urquhart glaring a hole through my back. I throw him a smirk his way as I walk over to Blaise.

“Getting new gloves, Zabini,” Urquhart walks over to us.

“Yeah, you have seen my old one. They are falling apart.” Blaise tried on a glove.

“You won't need it. I decide to move you to the second string and move the new kid to first.” Urquhart smirks.

“What? Dixon’s okay, but compared to me he sucks.” Blaise looks at him in disbelief.

“How do you expect him to get better if he has no playtime?” Urquhart asks.

“That's what practice is for!” Blaise throws his hands in the air.

“What the hell are you smiling about Potter, Weasley?” Urquhart yells. I look over to see them smiling ear to ear.

“They're smiling, because you’re making their chances of winning better.” I stood in front of Blaise, getting in Urquhart’s face.

“What do you know about quidditch?” He points a finger in my face.

“She knows a lot. She watches and plays with me all the time. How do you think she stays in shape?” Blaise pulls me behind him.

“You lied to me.” He looks around Blaise to stare me down.

“I understand the game and can play, but I don’t care for it. I know that Potter is being a better captain than you right now.” I glare. He didn’t have a right to be mad at me.

“Are you complimenting me?” Potter’s jaw drops.

“What's wrong with you taking a Gryffindor’s side?” Urquhart tries to move closer to me, but Blaise blocks him.

“What are you doing?” Blaise whispers to me.

Draco and Parkinson walk in and over to us. “What’s going on?” Parkinson looks between us and them.

“Lopes is taking Gryffindor's side,” Urquhart informs them.

“I'm not taking sides. I'm stating a fact that Potter is being a better captain then Urquhart right now.” I clarified.

“Why's that?” Draco glares at Potter.

“Because Potter doesn't let his personal feelings get in the way of making sure that the best players are in the game.” I stare down Urquhart. I got Blaise in this mess. I had to get him out of it.

“What are you talking about?” Draco looks confused.

“Urquhart is making Blaise second string and putting the new kid in his spot,” I explain.

“Blaise is our best chaser.” Draco snaps at him.

“Fine, Blaise can stay in the first string. But, when he can't play and we lose because the kid has never been in a game before, it's your guy's fault.” Urquhart storms out of the store.

“When he can’t play, is that a threat?” I went to go after him, but Blaise pulls me back and pushes me into Draco. He walks over to the register.

“Let’s get some fresh air.” Parkinson drags him outside.

“Thanks for the compliment,” Potter said. I stare at him. “I mean I know you only did it because you want to save Zabini's spot on the team. But, still, the compliment was nice and I know it wasn't easy for you to say.”

“Like you said it wasn’t for you.” I scoff, walking over to Blaise.

“Here’s your gloves,” The lady hands Blaise the bag.

We walk out of the store. Pansy and Draco were outside waiting for us. “Are we going to have to deal with her all day?” I stare at her in disgust and she snobs me in return.

“No, because we should be going back to Hogwarts.” Blaise looks at his watch. Draco grabs my elbow. I felt the big gust of wind again. This time Draco didn't have a good grip on my arm and I fell on the couch. I looked around to see I was in the common room. I place my rat on the table. Draco sat on the couch next to me. “You stoop to the level of making Potter look good to help out a friend?” Draco looks over at me.

“I'd do almost anything for a friend.” I shrug. I didn’t give my loyalty to many or easily. So, when I did give it I went to the extreme.

“What about your family?” He asks, noticing I never mention them.

“I don't have family,” I stared into the fire.

“What are you talking about, you have a family?” He shook his head.

“My dad pretends I don’t exist and I don’t have siblings.” His clueless expression was annoying me.

“That's just how dads are. Moms are the ones that take care of you.” Draco tries to comfort me.

“Yeah, well, mine is gone.” I hiss not liking where this was going.

“Is she dead?” He hesitated before asking.

“She is to me.” I stood up having enough of this conversation.

“Where are you going?” Draco grabs my arm.

“To my dorm,” I pull my arm from him.

“You don't want to talk about your family, that's fine. What are you naming your rat?” Draco asks.

I grab the carrier. “I'm naming her, Sophia. I'm going up to my dorm to sleep. I'm tired.” I went up the stairs.

“NICOLE!” He yells.

“What?” I yell down from the top of the stairs.

“I may be a good liar, but you are not.” He yells back.

I walk to my room to slam my door shut with my hip. I put the carrier on my bed and pulled the box with the cage out of my purse. I pour all the parts out on the floor, “Reparo.” I step back and watch as the cage was put together before my eyes. I pushed it where I wanted it before locking the wheels. I put all the accessories and toys inside the cage. I open the carrier and put her in. “Happy you like it, Sophia.” I smile at the rat going around smelling and touching everything. I filled up the water bottles and food bowl before closing the cage.

I lay down on my bed and process the realization that hit me. It was more my fault then Draco’s that he didn’t know anything about me. I knew a lot about him, while he knew nothing about me. I was the close off one that avoids sensitive subjects. I was like that with everyone. I stared up at the ceiling feeling broken or twisted.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I was walking down the hall when I saw Robert. “Rob! Roby!” I yell. He kept walking like he couldn’t hear me. “Robert!” I ran up behind him and grab his arm. I turn him around to face me. “Are you deaf or something?” I snap, looking him over. He was wearing a blue long-sleeve button-down shirt with a few buttons undone. He had on a pair of black slacks and black dress shoes. “Are you going on another date with that guy?”“Yes, I am. He’s great.” He looks around, not meeting my eyes.“If he’s so great then why haven't I met him yet?” I was beginning to wonder how deep in the closet this other guy was. He wouldn’t even give me a name.“It's not time yet.” He narrows his eyes at me.“Can I at least know his name?” I whine.“No,” Rob shakes his head.“Robert, I want to know my best friend's boyfriend's name!” I put my hands on my hips.“I want to make sure he is serious before I introduced him to you.” He let out an exhausted sigh.“I meet your other boyfriends right away!” I stoop my feet.“This time it's different!” He yells. I stood there shocked. Robert never yelled at me before, even when I scream and cuss him out. He stood there waiting until I was done and talk calmly to me.“Roby,” I whisper.“I got to go.” He hurries away, not making eye contact with me. I watch him walk away. When he was out of sight, I walk to the Ravenclaw’s doorway.“Two fathers and two sons went duck hunting. Each shot a duck but they shot only three ducks in all, how come?” The portrait asks.“The hunters were a man, his son, and his grandson,” I answer. The door swings open. I walk into the common room where Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe were sitting.“What are you doing here?" Chang stood up from her seat.“Looking for Luna,” I roll my eyes.“How did you get in here?” Edgecombe stands up too.“What you think only you guys know how to solve a riddle?” I let out a bitter laugh.“Didn't think a Slytherin was smart enough?” Edgecombe mocks my laugh.“Slytherins are twice as smart as you Ravenclaws. The difference is we are more than that. We are cunning, ambitious, resourceful, and the list goes on and on.” I count the traits with my fingers.“There’s also arrogant, self-righteous and evil.  NOW GET OUT!” Edgecombe mocks me again by counting with her fingers.“Why don’t you make me?” I took a step closer to her. She reaches into her pocket for her wand, making me do the same.“No Nicole!” Luna yells from the top of the staircase.“Hey Luna, let’s get out of here.” I turn to her. I glare at Edgecombe as we walk out. “Did you know that Rob is going on another date with the mystery boy?” I ask her.“He still didn't tell you who he is yet?" She shook her head as if she was disappointed in him.“You know?” I stop in the middle of the hall.“It's not that big of a deal.” She sighs and kept walking. “Who is he?” I hope she would tell me since he wouldn’t.“Nicole, you know I can't tell you that. It's his news to tell.” She scolds me.“I know, it's just I don't understand why he won't tell me.” I groan.“He thinks you'll disapprove.” She throws me a bone.“Is he a mud...?” I was in the middle of saying when Luna cut me off.“Nikki, do not say it,” Luna warns me.“Is he a mix?” I change my phrasing.“That's not much better, but like I said I'm not going to tell you.” Luna gave me a look to let it go. I nod my head letting her know I would for the time being. “Shouldn’t we be going to class soon?” Luna looks at her watch. “I have charm.”“Merlin’s beard, I have Potion. Great now, I have to deal with Draco, devil ginger, and scar-face.” I sigh out of frustration. Even though, we separate the work to avoid dealing with each other. They argued the whole time.“Nicole, those are my friends.” Luna whines. I try to not talk about them in front of her, but sometime it can’t be helped.“I'll tell them you said hi.” I walk in the direction of the potion classroom.“Try to be nice!” Luna yells. I wave my hand in the air, letting her know I heard her. I walk into class, looking around to see everyone was already in their groups.“Ms. Lopes, how nice of you to finally grace us with your presence,” Slughorn gave me a fake smile. Look like I won’t be making the slug club.“Least I can do.” My words were dripping with sarcasm.“Don't let it happen again. Sit with your group.” He points to my table. I sat down on the chair that was next to Draco’s.“Why are you late?” Draco narrows his eyes at me.“What are we doing?” I ignore his question.“Answer my question, then I'll answer yours.” He kept his eyes on me. I look up at the board to get the answer to my question. I wrote down the obedience potion. “Do we have to do the essay?” Draco looks over at the other two on the table. I look over at them for their answer. I much rather do the potion then the essay.“Yes, we did it last time.” Potter snaps. “That is none of our business.” I pretend to gag.“Oh shut your trap, you have such a sick mind.” Weasley glares at me.“Just hurry up and make the potion.” I sneer, not wanting to deal with him.“I'll get the ingredients.” Potter got up.“Why were you late?” Draco turns to me.“Because I was walking around,” I answer vaguely.“Just walking around?” He pushes the issue.“With Robert then Luna,” I gave him a little more information. He didn’t seem happy with what he got. Did he want a play by play of what I was doing? He was my friend, not my parole officer.“Are you two shagging again?” Weasley made a disgusted face.“We're just friends.” Draco grunts.“Sure,” Weasley said sarcastically.“Why do you care?” I ask. Before Weasley could answer, Potter came back and put the ingredients on the table. I lean back in my chair as they work on the potion.“Did you lose track of time or did you come to class late on purpose?” Draco whispers.“What's with all the questions?” I tilt my head and arch my eyebrow.“Friends deserve to know.” He glares.“Lost track,” I laugh at his lame excuse. I felt hot liquid fall on my thighs. “What the bloody hell, Weasley!” I jump out of my chair.“How come you’re blaming me?” Weasley looks offended.“You are the klutz!” My thighs start to burn. My knees give out. I fell to the floor, groaning.“What the hell did you spill on her?” Draco crouches down to check on me.“What is going on here?” Slughorn ran over to our table.“Weasley spill something on Nikki,” Draco told him but kept his glare on Weasley.“What did you spill on her?” Slughorn turns to him.“The one in the purple bottle,” Weasley points to it. My blood boils that he didn’t even know what he was handling.“That's acromantula venom. Mr. Malfoy takes Ms. Lopes down to the hospital wing right away.” Slughorn demands.“Can you walk?” Draco looks down at my legs in concern.“I can try.” I pull myself up. I limp slowly towards the door.“It's going to be tomorrow night by the time you get there.” Draco picks me up bridal style, making me let out a yelp in surprise. He walks us out of the door.“I thought I had a good speed.” I hiss as the pain increases.“You were wrong.” He walks at a fast pass. We made it to the hospital wing in record time. I let out another groan as he put me down on a cot.“What's wrong?” Madam Pomfrey ran over to us.“Weasley spilled acromantula venom on her,” Malfoy inform her.She looks over my wounds, that look like bloody burn marks. “Here drink this.” She passes me a cup of blue liquid.“What does it do?” I ask not comfortable with drinking just anything.“It will help with your pain and heals the burns faster.” She explains. Satisfied with that answer I pour it down my throat. It had a terrible after taste. “Now, I'm going to wrap your burns and you'll be free to go.” She lifts my legs one by one to wrap them up. When she finished wrapping them, she got up to grabs some things off the shelf. “This is to re-wrap them in the morning and after you take a bath.” She hands me a roll of first aid tape and gauze roll bandages.“How long will it take to heal?” I hope I wouldn’t have to be doing this for long.“Since the burns are bad, I would say two weeks.” She smiles like that wasn’t a long time.“I thought the nasty drink was supposed to make it heal faster.” I snap.“Without the medication, it would take a month. Maybe your burns wouldn't be so bad if you wore your skirt at school code length.” She tugs my skirt down.“Can I leave now?” I push her hands off of me.“Yes, please do.” She walks off, muttering about ungrateful teenagers. I jump off the bed and limp out the door.“Can you make it around?” Draco walks behinds me.“Yeah,” I nod.“Good, cause I got to go do something.” He scratches the back of his neck.“Quidditch?” I ask.“No, I quit the team. I need to focus on my school work. That’s my future, not quidditch.” He explains.“Are you having trouble in your classes?” I found it odd that he quit. He’s been able to maintain good grades and quidditch before.“It’s an unnecessary distraction right now. I got to stay focus on making a solid foundation for my future.” He said it in a way that the words didn’t sound like his own. As if he was reciting it from memory.“Okay, thanks for bringing me here.” I smile gratefully.“You’re welcome.” He takes off in the opposite direction of the library. Because of my burnt thighs, I resisted the urge to follow and spy on him, and instead, I went to my dorm.I walk into the common room to see a bunch of first-year girls there. I was walking up the stairs when a girl with long black hair asks me, “You’re friends with that gay guy, right?”“His name is Robert. Yes, he is my friend. Why do you care?” I turn around on the step I was on.“Just wondering, because I saw him holding hands with some guy,” She shrugs.“His boyfriend, who was it?” I move down the stair as fast as I could.“You don't know?” Her blond friend asks.“If I'm asking, officially not,” I don’t need some little girls rubbing it in my face that I didn’t know who my best friend’s boyfriend was.“He must not want you to know, so why should we tell you?” The brunette smirks evilly at me.“Do you know who you’re talking to, first year? I'm close friends with Draco Malfoy, not one of his sluts or his bodyguards. His best friend, I can make him make your life a living hell!” I scream in her face. I was not going to be pushed around by this girl who was in desperate need to hit purity. I was so upset that I didn’t even care to get information from her.“I have to do my homework,” She shook in fear.“You go do that,” I smile at her. She ran out of the room and the rest follows her. I took a seat on the couch. I guess being Draco’s friend came in use for something.I sat on the couch, glaring into the fire. “What has the fires done to you?” A familiar voice asks. I look up to see Draco and Blaise.“Robert went out with that guy again and he won't tell me who he is.” I cross my arms, throwing myself back onto the couch.“What is that the third, fourth time?” Blaise tries to remember how many times I complain about this.“It's the eighth time!” I kick the coffee table.“Calm down.” Draco takes a seat next to me. Blaise sat on the other side of me.“I will not calm down. Luna knows who he is, but she won't tell me either.” I explain my frustration. “That is strange,” Blaise agrees with me.“Maybe, he's a mudblood.” Draco spat out the last word like a hex. Blaise and I whip our heads in his direction.“No ways.” Blaise shook his head.“It has crossed my mind, but it can’t be.” I agree with Blaise.“Why else would he not let you meet him?” Draco argues his point.“I don't know, but there has to be another reason,” I said, even though I couldn’t think of one.“Whatever, you'll see.” Draco looks happy to be able to have the opportunity to say I told you so soon.“Do you know something we don't?” Blaise looks over at him.“I have common sense.” Draco taps his forehead.“He asked if you know something, not if you have something.” I tease.“I know for sure because it's common sense.” He looks down at me in annoyance. Maybe I’m crazy, but I thought he look the hottest when he was in this state.“Maybe it’s Urquhart,” Blaise said. The image of them together made Draco and I laugh.“Its dinner already,” I stare at the clock in disbelief.“How long have you been sitting here?” Draco asks.“Since class ended,” I shrug.“That was two hours ago.” Blaise looks at me like I had two heads.“I’m pissed about this.” I defend my odd actions.“So, you stare at the fire?” Draco laughs at my logic.“No, I was bullying people but they left,” I whine causing them to laugh. “I'm glad you think my pain is funny.”“We hate to see you hurt.” Blaise gave me a side hug.“Sometimes, I think you guys are my best friends.” I lean into him.“We are your best friends. We don't hide things from you, do we?” Draco pulls me from Blaise’s embrace into his. For the rest of the night, I couldn’t stop thinking about what he said.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Everyone gathers around.” Slughorn waves us all over.

I walked by the table that had potions sitting on it. Draco wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on my shoulder. Weasley was glaring at me from across the room. I roll my eyes. “You better not be rolling your eyes at me.” Draco hisses in my ear.

“It's not you.” I glare back at Weasley.

Draco looks around the room. A smirk took over his face, “Weasley.”

“He’s got issues.” I didn’t know if I should be worried about his hatred for me, especially since the potion spill.

“Just sic Blaise on him.” His tone was playful, but his face was serious.

“I can take care of him.” I was a witch, not some helpless damsel in distress.

“I'm sure you can.” He nuzzles his face into my neck.

“What about that one, Professor?” A girl points at the last potion on the table.

“This is a love potion.” He took the lid off. The smell hit me, making my knees weak. If Draco wasn't holding me, I probably would have fallen. “Can anyone explain what it does?” Slughorn asks the class. Hermione starts talking, but I wasn't paying attention. I wanted to get closer to the smell. It smelt like chocolate, cologne, and right after it rains. I push Draco off me, making him groan. I walk slowly towards the potion. Professor Slughorn slams the cover back on, the scent leaving me suddenly made me jump. I walk back to Draco, embarrassed.

“What I have here is called liquid lucky.” Slughorn took out a test tube from his pocket. “With one sip of this, anything you want to do can happen. The first one to finish making this potion will get liquid luck. Now get to work.” He points to the board that told us what page the living dead potion was on. Draco ran to a cauldron. I walked to one, looking through the book to find the page, and started working.

My cauldron hit me in the face with an orange mist. I growl, looking around the room. Draco was furiously chopping something. Everyone looked frustrated except Potter who was happily stirring his potion. I laugh at the other girls. Their hair was a mess, clothes were wrinkled, and their faces were flush. I stopped laughing when I thought, if they look like then what do I look like? I pull out a mirror from my bag. I found that I look the same as them. I sigh, running a hand through my hair.

“Oh, we have a winner. Harry Potter!” Slughorn yells. “Here is liquid luck, just like I promised.” He gave the potion to Potter. Draco got his stuff and stormed out with Parkinson on his heels. I gather my things before walking out.

“Lopes!” Weasley yells. I groan, turning around to see a paler than normal Weasley. For a while, he stares at his feet.

“What?” I snap. What could he possibly want from me, hasn’t he done enough?

“You’re bleeding,” Weasley points down at my legs.

I looked down to see that my left thigh was bleeding through my bandages. “Shit,” I hiss, turning to go find a bathroom.

“No, thank you!” Weasley yells.

My blood boiling over, he wants a thank you. I want a sorry, but I wasn’t going to beg for it. I turn back around and let my emotions pour out of me. “Thank you, Weasley, for spilling that crap on me and ultimately burning me! Thank you, because now I have to keep wrapping my thighs in bandages! But most of all thank you for giving me another reason to hate you!” I left a gasping boy behind as I walked to the bathroom and went into a stall. I unwrap my leg to see that there was blood all over. I let out a frustrated grunt as I clean it up and wrap my leg back up. My jaw drops in shock at what I saw when I walked out. Robert was making out with a guy in a Ravenclaw uniform. I smirk, getting a good look at the guy. I frowned when I couldn't recognize him. I decide to walk away and not ruin the moment.

I walk into the common room to see Parkinson and Draco making out. I made a gagging sound as I walked to my dorm to get my books for class. I took out my potion book from my bag and put my divination book in. I look at Sophia's cage. She was staring at me, begging to come out. I took her out and put her in my pocket. I went back downstairs to see Draco carrying Parkinson up to the boy’s dorm. I glare at his back. Once I realized what I was doing, I shook my head as I walked out of the common room.

I'm not jealous, I can't be. I don't have feelings for Draco. I'm probably bitter because I haven't had sex in a while. I walked into divination class and took a seat next to Luna. Sophia climbs out of my pocket and onto my shoulder. “I saw Rob's man,” I inform her of my sighting.

“You did?” She looks anxious as if she was waiting for me to blow up.

“I saw them snogging, but I don't know who he is.” I let out a sigh.

“Oh.” She looks relieved, much to my annoyances.

“I'll find out.” I glare at her. I understand why she couldn’t tell me, but I couldn’t help feeling as if she was on his side.

“How are you going to do that?” Luna pets Sophia who wandered over to her.

“I know what he looks like and that he is in Ravenclaw,” I recall the symbol that was on his robe.

“Maybe you should just wait for him to introduce you.” She suggests.

“I'm done waiting. I'm his best friend, I shouldn't have to wait. He would do the same if I hid something from him.” I defend myself. I wasn’t going to be made out to be the bad guy, because I deserve the truth.

Professor Trelawney dramatically storms in. “Look into your crystal balls.” She told us. I looked into the ball, all I saw was my reflection staring back at me.

“Luna, do you see anything?” I look over the ball to see her looking anxious again.

“Yes, and it's not good.” She gave me a pointed look.

The class was dismissed. I grab Sophia and put her back in my pocket. As I was walking out, Professor Trelawney grabbed my shoulder. She told me in a stranger's voice, “Just because you get what you want doesn't mean you'll be happy.” She let me go and look at me with a lost expression.

I kept a watchful eye on her as I walked out of the room. “What is that loon talking about? I'm always happy when I get what I want.” I rub my shoulder, she had a tight grip. Luna frowns at the word loon. “You’re not a loon, Luna. She is, but not you.” I try my best to comfort her.

“I'm not that different from her.” She told me in a small voice.

“You guys are different people. She talks about things she has no proof of. You have your Dad's magazine.” I grab the magazine from my bag.

“I do, don’t I.” She smiles fondly at her dad’s work.

“I got to go-to defense against the dark arts.” I bid her goodbye.

“Have fun!” She yells after me.

“No one appreciates your sarcasm!” I yell back. I walk into the class. I had to hold back my sneer when I saw Parkinson clinging onto Draco. I sat down next to Blaise.

“Look, there's the Gryffindor’s playboy.” He points to Ron. Hermione Granger and Lavender Brown were staring at him with heart eyes. Sophia ran out of my pocket and onto my shoulder once again.

“EW, they have such bad taste.” I let out my sneer.

“Gosh, someone is in a nasty mood.” He notices my whole demeanor was darker than normal today.

“Too much love in the room.” I gave a dirty look to all the lovesick people in the room.

“You need a shag.” He laughs, realizing my problem. It was more than that though. I miss being wanted by someone in an intimate sense both physically and mentally. I would be happy if someone just hit on me, but even that hasn’t happened in a while.

“Brown is wasting her time. Mudblood and Weaslbee are meant for each other. They both have bad hair.” I laugh at my lame joke, trying to lighten the mood. Blaise laughs at my failed attempt.

“What’s so funny?” Draco snaps from behind me. I look back to see Draco with Parkinson still clinging to him.

“None of your business,” I stared at his arm that was being held in a death grip. I turn forward as Snape walks into the room.

“Are you jealous?” Blaise whispers in my ear.

“I don't even know the meaning of the word.” I shrug off his ridiculous statement.

“Jealousy means to have resentment toward someone, because of something they have. Now you can know what you’re feeling.” He teases. I punch him in the arm.

“Lopes, there is no need to hit your housemates, that’s what the others are for.” Snape scolds me.

“Class Dismiss,” Snape yells. He must have scared Sophia because she jumps into my pocket. I giggle at her. I walk out with Blaise by my side.

“You know a lot of people from other houses, right?” I loop my arm with his.

“I would say I know my fair share. Why do you ask?” He looks intrigued by what I could need someone’s information for.

“I saw Rob snogging with his boyfriend. I don't know who he is, but I know what he looks like.” I explain what I need his skills for.

“If you see him, I could probably put a name to the face for you.” He shrugs, not making any promises. Nonetheless, I squeal with excitement. “Do you at least know the house he’s in?” He asks.

“Ravenclaw, I saw the symbol on his robe.” I point to my symbol.

“My little detective,” He gave me a peck on the forehead before we turned a corner.

Draco’s POV

“Class Dismiss,” Snape yells. I couldn't feel my left arm due to Pansy’s grip on it. I heard a familiar cheerful giggle, making me lookup. Nikki was walking out of the classroom with Blaise. I shot up from my seat to hurry after them. I had to drag Pansy along due to her clinging. I saw Blaise and her arms loop together as they walked down the hall.

“I think they look good together.” Pansy smiles in hopes they were a couple.

“I don't think so,” I stare at them. I was making progress with her. She wouldn’t go off with him. Blaise kissed her on the forehead as they disappeared around a corner. I looked at Pansy, who had a disgusting smirk on her face. “Big deal a kiss on the forehead it means nothing.” I rip my arm out of her grip.

“Get over it, Draco!” She stomps her feet and throws her hand in the air. She was throwing a tantrum like a child. Nikki does the same thing when she gets mad, but she never does it in public. When Nikki throws them, it gets me excited to tame her. Right now, Pansy was making me want to get as far away from her as possible.

“What!” I turned to her in shock. Since when did this bitch raise her voice to me? The only good thing about her was she was obedient. While I enjoy Nikki being feisty and challenging, sometimes it was nice to get a break.

“I said get over it! She left, why can’t you be happy with what you have! I could leave too, I have options!” She pouts. Once again, I couldn’t help but compare her to Nikki. She likes to pout all the time knowing that I’ll give in to her, so I can suck on her bottom lip. Pansy made me want to refuse her more if simply to show her that it doesn’t work for her.

“I can’t get over it, because what I have isn't as good as what I used to. I'm a Malfoy, I don't settle for anything less than the best.” I hover over her, shaking in rage from the combination of the affection going on between Nikki and Blaise and Pansy not knowing her place.

“I heard James is free. Imagine what that would do to your reputation, losing two girls to James.” She ignores my statement.

“Since, when are you on first name bases with him?” I didn’t even know she knew his first name. Hell, I forgot what it was until Nikki started dating him. She shrugs her shoulder, smiling. “Go ahead then,” I call her bluff.

“I don't understand what's so great about her!” She screeches on the top of her lungs, making people who were passing by stop and look.

“One great thing about her is she’s a lady. She wouldn't screech in the middle of the hall, causing a scene that made both of us look like fools.” I walk away from her.

Nicole’s POV

I lay down on my bed, doing my homework. I look up at the clock. “It's almost time for dinner.” I shot up, excited. “I'm gonna find out who Rob is dating,” I told Sophia, who was lying down on her little bed in her cage. I walk to the mirror and fix myself up. “I'll bring you back some bread,” I told Sophia before exiting my dorm. I walk to the Great Hall and plop down in the seat next to Blaise, smiling brightly at him.

“Someone overly happy,” Parkinson points out, giving Draco a smug look for some reason. If I wasn't in such a good mood, I would have told her to shove it. The food appears in front of us. I ignore the food to begin my search for the mystery man. I sigh, not seeing him.

“Check again, you can't expect to see him the first time.” Blaise whispers. I nod my head and scan the Ravenclaw’s table. I stopped when I saw one guy. I look him up and down, smiling. I nudged Blaise and pointed the guy out when no one was looking. His eyes grow to the size of the plates we were eating off of.

“What's wrong?” The guy looks harmless to me.

“That is Michael Corner.” He whispers.

“So, what makes him so special?” If he was bad, I didn’t want Robert involved with him.

“It's what makes him not so special.” He looks at him, waiting for me to get it.

It wasn’t clicking for me. “What are you saying?”

“He is Ginny's ex.” He whispers.

“I don’t see the problem.” I tilt my head in confusion. Robert was definitely an upgrade.

“He is a half-blood.” He whispers slowly. I glare a hole through Corner’s head. Blaise poke my side, ripping me away from murdering him with my eyes. “Miller is watching you.” He let me know. I looked over at Robert, who was frowning.

He got up and walked out of the Great Hall. I did the same. “So you know.” He glares. I nod my head, not knowing what to say. “Why did you have to snoop, couldn't you have just waited for me to tell you!” He yells at me for the second time.

“When were you going to tell me, huh?” I ask. Rob didn't say anything. “Exactly you weren't going to tell me!” I put my hands on my hips.

“What do you think?” He looks down at his feet.

I let out a dry laugh. “What do I think of the dirty half-blood? It’s nothing worth thinking about.” I sneer. The thought of even letting one of them touch me, makes me want to throw up.

“And you wonder why I didn't want to tell you!" He shook his head.

“Because you’re ashamed, I would be too!” I smirk in bitter amusement.

“I'm not ashamed of him. If anything I'm ashamed of you. How could you be so closed-minded?” He pulls at his hair.

“How could you be so stupid? You think it's going to work out with that filthy thing. It'll betray you, you know that right?” I try to talk sense into him.

“Stop calling my boyfriend, it!” He pokes me in the shoulder with each word.

“Not only will it betray you, but it will make you betray people that you love. Look, what is happening right now.” I smacked his hand away and took a step closer to him. If he wanted to get physical, he’ll learn that I’ve been practicing my hexes.

“Stop, Nicole! Your mom betrayed you all on her own!” He took a step back from me, letting me know he didn’t want it to get that far.

“Shut up, Robert! Shut up! You don't know anything!” I hated how he always used her against me. She is no one to me. She’s dead as far as I’m concerned.

“I was there that day, Nicole. I held you while you cried.” He was trying to pull me back to that day.

“Shut up,” I warn him.

“Your mom was a selfish bitch! Even when she was with you, she never took care of you! The house-elves and your dad did!” Rob reminds me of my isolated childhood.

“This isn't about my mom!” I yell. How dare he try to take the good memories I had of her before she was ruined by that muggle.

“Yes it is, she is the reason you hate mudbloods, half-bloods, and muggle.” He snaps, tired with this argument going nowhere.

“No, she is not. I hate them because they're filthy and below me!” I growl. There was a hierarchy in life, I’m sorry if he didn’t want to live in reality.

“Maybe you’re the reason your mom left!” He points his finger at me.

“WW-What,” I gasped.

“Maybe she left because she was tired of you always being a spoiled little brat. She got sick of the horrible tantrums that you had at least five times a day that you haven’t grown out of. She decided that living with a muggle and giving up her magic was better than living with you.” He stabs me in the heart and soul with each word he spat at me.

I felt tears building up in my eyes. I bite my lip and sucking them back up. “You know what, Miller. I hope you and it are happy together.” I told him in a shaky voice. I turn around not wanting him to see the tears pouring down my face. I walk back to my dorm and throw myself onto my bed.

“Sorry, I forgot your bread, Sophia.” I took her out and put her on my lap. “What a day this turns out to be, Sophia: I lose Robby to a half-blood, and Luna will probably be on his side. Now all I have is Blaise and maybe Draco.” I pet her. She let out a squeak. “And you of course.”

There was a knock on my door. I put Sophia down on the bed to open it. Draco was standing there. “Parkinson is two more doors down,” I point him in the right direction.

“I'm here for you.” He walks into the room. “I got this for you.” He pulls out a plate with two rolls, a big drum stick, and some fruit on it from behind his back. “Figure something was better than nothing.” He shrugs.

“Thanks, Draco.” I took it from him and put it on the bed. I gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “That was sweet of you.” I gave Sophia a roll.

“That's me for you.” He sat down next to me as I ate. “I saw you walk out with Miller. Do you want to talk about what he did?” He asks, knowing that it must have been horrible for me to disappear without eating.

“You were right.” I couldn’t think of any other way to say it.

“I'm right a lot. You have to be more specific.” A smirk was plaster on his face.

“About Robby dating a half-blood, it’s Michael Corner.” I pop a strawberry in my mouth.

“Oh, well not everyone has our excellent taste.” Draco shrugs. I smile at him. That one of the things I like about Draco, he understood my hatred for those filthy creatures.

“I don't think we are going to be friends anymore.” I rip the meat off my drum stick with a fork.

“Because he is dating a half-blood? I mean I would drop him, but that’s not you.” He knew there was more to the story. I didn’t have a problem with bloody traitors. If they wanted to put their heart on the line that was their problem, but I was protective of my close friends. I didn’t want Luna or Robert to know the hurt they could cause when you let them get too close.

“Some hurtful things were said, things that can't be forgotten.” I stare at my untouched roll, debating if I was going to give that to Sophia too.

“What exactly was said?” He needed to know how Robert hurt me.

“I don't want to go into details right now.” I shook my head. It felt like a raw wound, I wasn’t ready to rub salt into it.

“Okay then later?” He backs off.

“Yeah later,” I said, not knowing if I would ever want to talk about it.

“I'll be going. I got something to do.” He got off the bed.

“Good night,” I wave to him. He waves back, before walking out the door. “Definitely Draco,” I smile at Sophia.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It's been a month since I found out about the half-blood being Robert's boyfriend. A month after the fight, were nasty horrible words were said. I miss Robert, but what he said hurt me. I couldn't believe he went there. Sure, I was attacking his boyfriend, but he hit below the belt.

At the moment I was looking at myself in the mirror, double-checking that I looked perfect. The clock shows that there was half an hour before breakfast.

“I shouldn't have woken up so early.” I sat next to Sophia’s cage. I found myself talking to her a lot lately. She nods her head. I smile at her.

“It hurts Sophia,” I confess to her. She turns her head sideways as if asking what hurts. “It hurts seeing Robert with that thing happy. It's like he isn't even affected by us not being friends.” I said, not being able to find the words to explain the pain I was feeling. “Sorry, if I can't explain myself well. I'm a Slytherin, what can I say.” She nods her head in understanding. “Thanks for listening. I need someone to listen to me. Draco and Blaise are boys, so talking to them wouldn't be an option.” I appreciated her company. She squeaks at the door. “What's wrong?” I look to see Draco standing there.

“You could talk to me.” He leans against the door frame.

“How long were you standing there?” I stood up, feeling vulnerable, and violated.

“Not long, I only heard that talking to me was not an option. I want to let you know that it is.” He told me, but I was too in my emotions to care. He needs to learn boundaries, he can’t come up here and spy on me. How long would he have stood there, if Sophia didn’t let me know he was there?

I look at the clock. “Come on, let's go-to breakfast.” I pick up my bag.

“Did you hear what I said?” He was upset that I didn’t jump in his arms and declare him my knight in shining armor. A part of me couldn’t blame him, because I would have in the past. We are still learning what it means to be friends with the other.

“Yes, Draco I heard you and I'll think about it.” I tried to walk out the door, but he moved his body to block my way.

“What? You rather talk to the rat than me?” He hisses in my ear.

“You sound jealous.” I laugh. He went from being a jealous boyfriend to a jealous friend.

“Let's go-to breakfast.” I knew that was his way of admitting that he was being ridiculous. We went down the stairs entering the common room.

“Where’s Blaise?” I look around. We normally meet here to walk to the Great Hall.

“I told him that I would get you. Blaise and Pansy are waiting for us at the Great Hall.” He wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me out of the common room.

“Why is he with Parkinson?” I scrunch up my face. I didn’t want him to catch any diseases from her.

“Maybe he likes her?” He shrugs his shoulders.

“He would never.” I snap not liking the idea of them together. I pulled out of his grip and began speed walking to the Great Hall.

“Who do you like?” He asks, making me stop in front of the door.

“Nobody,” I turn around to face him.

“Really, that’s not what I heard.” He narrows his eyes at me.

“And what exactly did you hear?” I was interested to know what rumors were going around about me.

“That you liked Blaise.” He stares at my face, waiting for a reaction.

“People at this school are so stupid and immature. A girl and a boy can be just friends.” I shook my head. This wasn’t the first time that rumor has gone around.

“No need to get upset, I was just asking.” He put his hands up in defense.

“You got your answer.” I turn back around to open the door.

“Can you afford to lose any more friends?” Draco stood right behind me and whispered into my ear.

Instead of answering, I walk into the Great Hall. Insensitive bastard wants me to talk to him, but then says shit like that. I sat across from Blaise, who was sitting next to Parkinson. Draco took a seat next to me. “How was your guy’s morning?” I put on my best fake smile.

“My morning was good, Lopes thanks for asking. How do you think my hair is because at first, I was thinking...” Parkinson starts babbling, making me wish I never asked. I look over at Blaise, who was trying not to laugh at the face I was making. I looked around the Great Hall and caught Ron glaring at me.

I roll my eyes, he is so aggravating. I look back at Parkinson who was still going on about her hair. “Your hair looks great, Pansy, good choice.” I cut her off, this conversation needs to be done.

“What do you think, Draco?” She turns to him.

“You okay?” Blaise whispers. I didn’t go into details to Blaise about Robert, but he knew that I was heartbroken about it.

“Doing better every day,” I grab a blueberry muffin.

“We got Charms next.” Blaise reminds me. I let out a big sigh, a class with Robert in it.

“Draco and I got transfiguration,” Pansy smirks at me.

“Hey Draco, we can talk later tonight in my dorm.” I lick my lips, looking him over.

“Yeah, I'll be there.” Draco smiled. I smirk at Parkinson’s scowling face.

“Let's go to class.” Blaise drags me out of the Great Hall. "Must you always do that?" He asks as we walk to Charm.

“Do what?” I ask like I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Alright then, what are you going to talk to Draco about?” He gave me a look that let me know he saw right through me.

“Nothing, I just said that to piss off Parkinson.” I drop the act. Blaise let out a dry laugh. I stop in front of the Charm classroom.

“Ready?” He asks. I took a deep breath before walking inside. I went straight to my seat, not daring to look around and see Robert happy without me. I took my seat and looked straight forward. “You’re going to have to look around at some point,” Blaise whispers, after sitting down next to me.

“That is what you think.” I kept my head forward. Professor Flitwick began to teach the class. I took notes on what he was saying. The sound of Robert’s laughter fills the room. My whole body tense up, it sounded like it was coming from right behind me. Curiosity got the best of me and I looked over my shoulder. Robert was laughing at something Susan Bones said. I grit my teeth, facing forward before he noticed me. Blaise grabs my hand and gives it a comforting squeeze. I pick up my pen to go back to taking notes.

Soon the class was done. I quickly gathered up my things and shot out of my chair. I rush to the door, only to end up bumping into someone and falling on my bottom. “Watch where you’re going, Miller.” Blaise got in between us.

“She bumped into me, not the other way around.” He sneers at Blaise. He didn’t even look at me as he walked away. It hurt to hear him talk about me as if I was a stranger.

“What a git,” Blaise helps me up. I open my mouth to defend Robert out of habit, but I close it when I couldn't find a reason to. “Come on.” Blaise led me out of the classroom. “What class do you have next?” He asks.

“Care of Magical Creatures,” I told him.

“You have Draco in that class, right?” He asks. I nod my head. “That’s good. I'll see you later.” He hugged me, before walking off to his next class.

I walk to Hagrid's hut. Draco was sitting on a tree stump with Parkinson on his lap. Goyle and Crabbe were standing behind him. I turn my head to look at Luna. She looked up and made eye contact with me. I gave her a weak smile. She gave me one back, before putting her head down. I let out a sigh as I made my way towards Draco. He pushed Parkinson off his lap when he saw me coming.

“Drackie,” She screams, bringing a smile to my face. I walk right between Draco's legs just to piss her off. He wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me towards him.

“How did class with Miller go?” He rubs my back in comfort.

“Fine I guess, but I did accidentally bump into him and fell on my ass,” I told him, making Parkinson laugh. Draco and I glare at her, making her shut up.

“Do you want me to look at it for you, make sure it's alright?” He let his hands travel down my low back towards my ass. I grabbed his hands before it got there.

“Morning class,” Hagrid joyfully greets the class. I turn around still in his arms. He pulls me back, making me sit on his lap. “Today, we are going to learn about Nifflers.” He held up a small, fluffy, long narrow snot creature. Hagrid went on to explain all about them. I listen to the details since I found the animal to be cute. “So kids, you should take off your jewelry, because if not they will bite you.” Hagrid ends his speech.

“Draco, can you hold my jewelry in your pocket? I don't have any.” I ask.

“Sure.” He held his hand out. I took off my necklace, bracelets, and rings. “I didn't realize you wore so much jewelry.” He put them in his pocket.

“You gave me most of it.” I shrug his shoulder making Parkinson look at me alarmed.

“Everyone will get a niffler. You guys go in the forest to look for gold and whoever finds the most will get a prize.” Hagrid explains the task.

“What’s the prize, one of these ugly looking things?” Parkinson looked revolted.

“It’s a surprise.” He passes them out. Hagrid handed the smallest one to me and the biggest to Draco. I got off his lap to walk towards the forest with him behind me. My niffler jumped out of my hands and began to dig itself into a hole. Its head pops back out of the hole, holding a gold coin in its mouth. Draco's niffler jumps out of his hands to run over to attack my niffler.

“What the hell!” I kick Draco's niffler off of mine. My niffler jumps into my arms.

“Hey! What did you kick mine for?” He stood over it to make sure it was alive.

“Cause yours attacked mine.” I held my niffler closer to my chest.

“He could have bitten you. Next time think about stuff like that.” He scolds me. I blush at his concern. I tried to put my niffler down, but he didn't want to.

“Look, yours scared him so bad that he doesn't want to go down.” I pet him in comfort.

“That's not mine's fault. You shouldn't have babied him.” He snaps, glaring at the animal in my arms.

“Where is yours?” I look around, not seeing him anywhere.

“I don't know. I better look for him seeing how he’s my grade.” He began looking around.

“Malfoy get your niffler!” Cho Chang screams. He was trying to hump Chang's niffler. Draco and I couldn’t control our laughter. “Get it off!”

“Calm down, pothead lover,” Draco grabs his niffler off of hers.

“Come back!” Hagrid calls us back. We walk back over to him. “Line up and give me your gold and niffler,” Hagrid instructed us. Draco and I got in the back of the line. Luna gave him two pockets full of gold. Goyle gave him a few. Cho gave him a hand full.

“That worthless thing didn't find anything. All it did was attack other nifflers.” Draco gives his back to Hagrid.

“Trouble maker this one is.” Hagrid put him back in the box. Draco glares at him, for knowingly giving him a bad niffler.

“He only found one, before Draco's one attack him. He didn't want to find anymore after that.” I gave Hagrid the one coin and held out my niffler. He tried to grab him, but he bit his hand.

“Ouch,” Hagrid cried out. “I was afraid this would happen, one of them getting attached to one of you.” He ran his hand through his beard thinking of a solution. “If I take him, he'll just keep trying to escape. Maybe I could let you have him.” He ponders over his choices.

“No, she already has a lot of pets.” Draco declines the offer as if he was my father.

“I have one rat.” I correct him.

“That is enough,” he hisses.

“It looks like you have one more,” Hagrid said. This made me and my niffler happy.

“He's a boy, right?” I assume since Draco’s niffler attacked and didn’t hump it.

Hagrid nods his head, before turning back to the class. “The winner is Luna and here is your prize.” He hands her a bar of chocolate. “Class dismissed,” He declares.

“Are you coming?” Draco asks when he saw I wasn’t moving.

“No, I'm going to visit Krystal,” I told him. He bid me goodbye.

“Right this away, Miss Lopes.” Hagrid led me to the barn. I went over to her stall. She reaches her head over for me to pet her.

“Hagrid, how would I take care of this niffler?” I pet Krystal with the hand that wasn't holding him.

“I wouldn't keep him in your dorm, he'll destroy everything.” He fills up Krystal’s water.

“Then what do I do?” I ask.

“I would put him by a tree. He’ll make a burrow. You can visit him.” He explains.

“I'll go do that now. Bye Krystal.” I kissed her on the nose. She gave me a neigh in response. I walk out of the barn and to the Black Lake. “I'm going to name you, Nathan,” I told my niffler. He nods his head. “Alright Nathan, I'm going to put you down by this tree, so you can build your new home.” I put him down. He stood there looking up at me. “I promise I'll be back. Don't worry, you'll see me again.” I reassured him. He nodded his head and began digging his hole. I watch him as he finishes making his new home. “Bye Nathan,” I yell down his burrow.

I was making my way to the Great Hall when I was pulled into a dark classroom. The only light was dimly coming through the curtains. I narrow my eyes, trying to adjust to the room. “Weasley?” I sneer, noticing that the person had red hair.

“Do you know how angry you make me?” He pins me up against the wall.

“Like you don't make me angry, always glaring at me likes a creep.” I tried to push him off, but he wouldn’t budge.

“That's because you make me sick. How could you drop your best friend because he is dating a half-blood?” He snarls.

“You should shut your mouth. You don't know the whole story!” I squirm, causing him to push his body more into me. I could feel the muscles through his clothes as he flexes to keep me in place.

“What’s the whole story?” He moves his face closer to mine. Feeling his breath on my lips made me feel uneasy.

“W-Weasley you need to ba-ack it up.” I put my hand on his chest, but couldn’t find the strength to push him away.

“I don't think you mean that.” He smashes his lips against mine. The kiss was filled with hatred, passion, and lust. I don't know why, but I kiss back with the same force. He tangles one of his hands in my hair to pull me close to him. I slowly wrap my arms around his neck. He licks my lips asking for entrance and surprisingly to both of us, I let him in. As our tongues danced together, he let his hands drop to my ass giving it a hard squeeze, before letting them rest there.

'I love grabbing onto your ass while we make out.' I heard Draco’s voice inside my head. I pull away from Ron. I look into his eyes as he looks back into mine. We could both see that it was just a moment of passion, it didn’t mean anything.

“I'm sorry.” He whispers, moving his hands to my hips.

“Do not tell anyone. You'll lose your chances with that bushy hair girl and ruin my reputation.” I remove my arms.

“Her name is Hermione.” He snaps, giving my hips a tight squeeze.

“I don't care.” I scoff, rolling my eyes. Ron let out a growl, pulling me into a rough kiss. “Weasley!” I push him completely off of me.

“Sorry, I can't control myself when I'm alone with you.” He looks at his feet.

“Then make sure we are never alone again.” I rushed out of there. I look down at my watch and curse. “Great, I miss a class and a half,” I said to myself. I’m going to fail this year with how many classes I’ve been missing.

I went to my dorm and lay down on my bed. “I can't believe I let Weasley kiss me.” I look at Sophia. “I can't believe I enjoy it so much.” I play the kiss over in my head as I stare up at the ceiling. I felt my eyes start to get heavy as I drift off to sleep.

I wake up to someone shaking me. I open my eyes to see Draco standing over me. “You missed dinner again.” He passes me a plate of food.

“Thanks,” I sat up and took the plate from him.

“So, let's talk.” He sat down across from me.

“What?” I look at him confused.

“You said we would talk in your dorm.” He reminds me.

“I only said that to piss Parkinson off.” I dig into the chicken pot pie.

“I don't care, I want to talk.” He glares at me.

“What do you want to talk about?” I ask, knowing that I wasn’t going to get out of this.

“Where's your mom? What do you mean she is dead to you?” He let out his first round of questions.

“My mom ran away with a muggle when I was ten years old, which is why she’s dead to me.” I stare at my plate. It made me uncomfortable to talk about my home life. I don’t want people to psychoanalyze or pity me.

“That is disgusting. What did Robert say?” He was coming with a lot of hard questions.

“He said it was my fault my mother left. That she got tired of dealing with me and my tantrums. That she would rather give up her magic and live with a muggle then be with me.” I couldn’t help, but let a few tears drop. Draco puts the plate on the side and pulls me into a comforting hug. “He has always been there, Draco. He’s the only person who has always been there for me. Why doesn't anyone love me enough to stay?” I cry into his chest.

“You have your dad.” He tries to make me feel better.

“Ever since she left, he has buried himself in his work. I don't think he likes to look at me, because I look like her.” I let out a pathetic sounding sob.

“I'll always be there.” He whispers, kissing the top of my head.

“What?” I ask, thinking I heard wrong.

“I'll always be there for you. I'm not like the rest. I'll stay, I promise.” He wipes away my tears. I smile, putting my head on his chest.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Nathan meets Sophia. Sophia meets Nathan.” I sat under the tree by the Black Lake where I put Nathan two weeks ago, the two small animals were sniffing and circling each other. He ran back into his hole.

“I'm sure he'll warm up to you,” I told Sophia. Minutes later, Nathan came out of his hole carrying gold jewelry in his mouth. He laid them out in front of Sophia and me.

“Is this all the gold you collected Nathan?” I ask. He nods his head. He picks up a gold ring and pushes it towards Sophia.

“Oh Sophia, he’s giving you something,” I smile. Sophia slides the ring onto her tail.

“Crap, it's time for breakfast. Come on, Sophia.” I looked at my watch. Sophia climbed into my pocket. “I'll see you later Nate.” I got up. He nodded to me, before gathering his things and goes into his hole. I walked to the Great Hall and took a seat between Blaise and Draco.

“Did you hear about Kate Bell, she got cursed by some necklace?” Blaise announces as I put food on my plate.

“You would think you were a girl with the way you gossip, Zabini?” Draco rolls his eyes.

“Shut up Malfoy. You’re just jealous because I’m well informed.” Blaise glares as I cut my pancake.

“Do they know who did it?” I ask. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Draco tense up but I ignored it.

“No, it wasn’t for her anyway. She was supposed to give it to someone else.” Blaise turned to me, happy to have someone to gossip with

“She was trying to give someone a cursed necklace and end up cursing herself?” I laugh, that would be a beautiful work of karma.

“No, she was the middle man. Someone gave it to her to give to someone else.” Blaise explains.

“And you don’t know who these someones are?” Draco stares at him intently.

“Nope, no one knows that. They won’t know until Bell wakes up.” He said.

Draco grew a little smirk on his face. “Guess you’re not that well informed.” He got up and walked out of the Great Hall.

“He’s always going somewhere lately. I wonder where...” Blaise said more to himself than me as he glared at the doors.

“You should be a detective.” I tease.

“I would if my plans weren’t already made.” Blaise looked down at his plate. We eat our breakfasts in silence after that.

“Come on, we got to get to Defense against the Dark Arts.” Blaise broke the silence. We walk to Snape’s classroom. We took the seats next to Draco. The golden trio enters the room. Weasley made eye contact with me. I look the other way.

“If you three could so kindly take a seat so I can start class.” Snape burns them with his eyes. They took a seat in the middle area of the class. Weasley looks over his shoulder at me with a sad face. I move my eyes down to my desk.

“Today, we are going to learn Locomotor Mortis, otherwise known as the leg locker curse. This spell locks your opponent's legs together. They will be able to hop, but walking will be impossible.” Snape explains. “Get a partner from the other house and line up.” Snape gave an order.

Before I knew it Weasley was standing in front of me. “Need a partner?” He looks at me hopefully.

“No, Longbottom is my partner,” I said the Gryffindor’s name that was in my line of vision.

“I am?” He looks at me surprised.

“Yes, you are. Come on, we got to line up.” I walked to stand on one side as he stood a few feet across from me.

“Want a partner so bad Weasley, I’ll be your partner.” Blaise glares. Blaise stood next to me as Weasley stood next to Longbottom. Draco partnered up with Potter and Granger with Goyle.

“Just wave your wand like this and say Locomotor Mortis.” Snape fires his wand at his desk, but of course, nothing happened since it didn’t have legs to lock. “Don’t just stand there, try it,” Snape yells, causing a few Gryffindors to jump.

“You can go first.” I nod to Longbottom.

“Okay. Locomotor Mortis, right?” He asks, not wanting to get it wrong.

“Yes,” I roll my eyes.

“Lo-comot-or Mo-rtis.” His voice shakes, the light from his wand hit me, but nothing happened.

“Fail Longbottom, you couldn’t even pronounce the word. Should we send you back to grade school so you can learn to pronounce your syllables?” Snape narrows his eyes. Neville stares at his feet with a sad expression on his face. I felt bad for him. Snape gave him a disgusted look, before walking off to watch the other pairs.

“I’m probably going to hate myself for this later,” I mumble to myself as I walk over to him. I put my hands on his shoulders, making him lift his head back up.

“Your problem isn’t pronunciation, it’s the fact that you get nervous easily. You need to be confident in your ability, there’s a reason you made it this far and didn’t fail any year.” I whisper to him, not wanting anyone to hear me being nice. He gave me a bright smile and I gave him a weak one in return.

“Ready to try again,” I ask. He nods his head. “Shake off those nerves and take a deep breath. You got this.” I gave him a pat on his shoulder. I walked back to my place and gave him a nod which he returned.

“Locomotor Mortis!” He shouts. I felt my legs lock together. I almost fell over, but I was able to steady myself by grabbing Blaise’s shoulder. “I can’t believe I got it on the second try. That’s the fastest I ever got a curse.” He wore a big smile on his face.

“Alright, Longbottom ready?” I ask, chuckling.

“Oh, yes.” He stood still.

“Locomotor Mortis,” I waved my wand. I watch as Neville’s legs slam together.

“The first time, that’s even better. Good job.” He smiles at me. I smile back, but in truth, it wasn’t my first time. I practice this spell a hundred times over the summer. Being an only child with my dad always working, I was alone a lot. To entertain myself, I read and practice on the house-elf. Nothing too dangerous though.

After everyone was Leg-Locked, Snape gave us the counter-spell. I mumble it pointing my wand at him. “Oh, thank Merlin. That was painfully awkward.” He rubs his legs.

“Yeah, I know. Now unlock me.” I snap, tired of being in this position.

“Oh, sorry,” He waves his wand for the counter-spell. I smile being able to move my legs again.

“When your legs are unlocked you can leave.” Snape walked to sit behind his desk. I looked to the side to see Draco and Blaise didn’t have their legs locked either.

“Let’s go.” Draco picks up his bag.

“W-Well it was go-good working with y-you.” Longbottom stares at his feet. It was almost painful to see someone this nervous.

“UMMM you too,” I nod my head.

“Stop talking to the loser, we got to get to Herbology. See ya, Blaise.” Draco wraps his arm around my shoulders, leading me out of the classroom. Halfway to the greenhouse, Draco turns around and snaps, “What the bloody hell are you following us for?” I turned around to see who the problem was.

“We have the same class you do, Malfoy.” Potter snaps.

“So, you don’t need to be so damn close. You might as well be standing on top of us.” Draco hisses. Weasley stares at me as I look everywhere, but his face. “And what the bloody hell is your problem, always staring at her.” Draco snaps at him, making him blush.

“We are going to be late for class.” Granger whines. This would normally annoy me, but I was grateful for the change of subject.

“I don’t want to be late.” I tug on Draco’s sleeve. He put his arm back over my shoulders and led me to the greenhouse. I could feel Weasley staring holes into my back.

“What’s up with you and Weasley?” Draco whispers to me, once we were in our seats.

“What are you talking about? He always stares like a stalker?” I play clueless. The look that Draco gave me let me know that he didn’t believe me. He opens his mouth to say something, but thankfully Professor Sprouts interrupts him by starting her lesson.

I put Sophia back in her cage and collapsed on my bed after dinner. Avoiding Weasley had been harder than I thought it seemed like everywhere I turned he was there. “What the hell is going on with you and Weaslbee? Don’t give me any of that I don’t know crap.” Draco slams my door open and shut.

“You may come in.” I gave him a sarcastic wave and smile.

“Answer my question.” He hovers over me.

“You’re imagining things.” I sat up, cracking my back.

“No, I’m not. I see the way he stares at you.” He glares.

“He’s always staring at me!” I ran my fingers through my hair.

“There normally stares of hatred. Today, they were stares of sadness as if he is asking you for forgiveness.” He snaps.

Since, when was he observant? “Weasley is having issues, big deal. What does that have to do with me?” I pat the spot on the bed next to me. He declined my offer to pace at the foot of my bed.

“You never snapped at him once today. You had a million opportunities to put him in his place, but you never did. Why is that?” He walks around the bed to stand in front of me.

“He kissed me.” I blurted out, breaking under the pressure.

“What!” His jaw drops.

“He pulled me into a dark room, we argued back and forth for a while then he kissed me.” I try to be as brief as possible.

“I’m going to kill him.” He stomps toward the door.

“NO DRACO!” I climb off the bed and throw myself in front of the door.

“Why not, he forces himself on you! He deserves to get hex!” He punches the door next to my head. I let out a little scream, as the wood broke underneath his fist.

“No, he doesn’t. He was just confused. He let his emotions get the best of him, not unlike someone right now.” I try to reason with him.

“Why are you standing up for him? Did you kiss him back?” He narrows his eyes. I look down at my feet. “You kissed him back. What, do you have feelings for him now?”

“No, it didn’t mean anything.” I shook my head, hoping to calm him down.

“Then why the hell did it happen!” He lowered his head so that we were face to face.

“I don’t know, Draco. Why do you have sex with all those girls if they don’t mean anything to you?” I growl.

“That’s lust. You're telling me that you have lust for Weasley?” He glares, unhappy that I tried to turn this against him.

“No, it was just misplaced emotions on both our parts!” I took a deep breath. I was beginning to feel suffocated by this whole situation.

“Emotions! Why the hell are there even emotions between you two?” He scoffs.

“I don’t know about his emotions other than rage.” I shrug, this was hard to explain.

“Screw his emotions! What about you?” He gave my shoulders a harsh squeeze.

“I don’t know. It was confusing. When he first kissed me I was shocked, but it felt nice.” I hate admitting this to anyone.

“It felt nice? I can’t believe what I’m hearing.” He pushes himself off the door to pace again.

“It had been so long that it felt nice to be kissed and held by someone. It was no means a romantic kiss, but it felt nice to be wanted by someone.” I look down at my feet, not wanting to see the look of disgust on his face.

He grabs my jaw gently, making me look at him. “The next time you feel the need to be kissed or held, come to me instead of letting a bloody traitor do it.” He whispers.

“You’re a friend, Draco. It would complicate things if we make it intimate.” I knew that if I went there with him, I would fall back into my old routine.

“Kissing your enemy doesn’t make things complicated?” He let go of my chin.

“Point taken, but I’m still not going to kiss you.” I move around him, trying to make some space between us.

“You say that now, but when you need it you’ll be running to me.” He teases. It felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulder, to know that he wasn’t upset anymore.

“Maybe I’ll run to Blaise instead,” I smirk as his one dropped.

“Funny, funny girl,” He pokes my nose with each word. I smack his hand away.

“Don’t tell anyone I kiss Weasley or I’ll tell everyone he was a better kisser than you.” I threaten.

“He wasn’t though, right?” He asks. I hum, shrugging my shoulder. He picks me up and throws me on the bed. He straddles my waist and tickles my sides. “What were you saying?” He laughs along with my forced ones.

“You’re a better kisser than Weasley,” I said taking deep breaths after each word. He took his hands away from my sides.

“Damn right, I am.” He puffs his chest out in pride.

“You’re so modest.” I push him off of me. He lands on the other side of the bed with a lazy smile on his face.

“I’m all-around amazing, if you’re lucky some of me will rub off on you.” He rubs my arm.

“EEWWW, that’s gross.” I laugh, move my arm out of his reach.

“I wasn’t thinking like that.” He laughs along with me.

Robert’s POV

I was sitting with Michael on the loveseat in the Gryffindor’s common room. Ron, Harry, and Hermione were sitting on the couch across from me. Luna was sitting on one of the armchairs. “I know it was Malfoy, who cursed that necklace and gave it to Katie Bell. I wish I had proof.” Harry rubs his temples.

“If Malfoy knows, then Lopes knows. She's just as evil as him, she…” Ron was saying when Hermione cut him off, which I was thankful for.

“Ron's right. We should find out what she knows.” She told Harry.

“Hermione, I was talking.” Ron groans.

“Ron, you were just going to have another one of your Lopes is the devil rants. I'm tired of hearing them.” She rolls her eyes.

“Well, she is. I told her, she was bleeding through her bandages and she wouldn't even tell me thank you. I mean what is that?” He scoffs.

“You were the one who caused her those burns.” Luna points out.

“It was on accident, she makes like I tried to murder her. She’s so dramatic, pretending she couldn't walk. She had Malfoy carry her.” Ron rolls his eyes.

“From what I heard she was walking. But she wasn’t going fast enough for Malfoy, so he carried her.” I glare. The more he tried to explain why she was evil I believed that he was.

“So what, you’re saying I did it on purpose?” Ron stood up.

“I don't know. The hate you have for her makes me wonder!” I stood up too. I glared down at him, seeing that I was a few inches taller than him. Michael tugs on my wrist, but I smack his hand away.

“I would never hurt someone like that on purpose, no matter how much I hate them.” Ron shook his head.

“Why do you hate her so much? What has she ever done to you besides calling you names like every other Slytherin? Why don't you hate the rest of them with the same passion?” I question him.

“She’s not your friend anymore, Robert. You guys are more like enemies now. What kind of friend was she anyways to leave you, because you're dating someone mixed? Why are you defending her?” He questions me back.

“You don't know her! Don't make like you know her! She’s not some Slytherin prodigy who was brainwashed by her parents!” My body starts to shake.

“So, she's like that all on her own. That makes her so much better.” He mockingly claps his hands.

“No, Nicole's mother..... She…” I wanted to say a lot, but I was conflicted.

“Robert, I don't think you should continue,” Luna warns me.

“No, I'm tired of him always talking about her like he knows her.” I made up my mind.

“What about her mother?” Ron looks interested.

“She left Nikki and her dad when she was 10 for a muggle,” I inform them. Everyone looked shocked except Luna, who was shaking her head at me.

“I knew Nikki since we were babies. We were neighbors. She was always at my house because her mom had 'emergency errands' and couldn't take Nikki. Her mom was a selfish bitch, who didn't know the meaning of motherhood. She only cared about money. All she ever did was shop.” I used air quotes around the words emergency errands.

“She never showed Nikki any love. She treats her more like an annoying little cousin than a daughter. Always pushing her away and insulting her every chance she could. She never did anything for her: never dressed, fed, bathed, played with her, nothing. Her dad, my mom, or the house-elves did that for her.” I shook my head.

I took a big breath before continuing, “Even though she was a terrible mother, Nikki loved her unconditionally. She was always trying to get any kind of praise from her. It's the reason she took an interest and still does in fashion and upper-class status. Everything her mother thought was important, but her mother never cared to notice.” I sat down, no longer feeling the strength or need to stand. Ron sat down soon after.

“But why did her mom leave?” Hermione asks the one thing I left out.

“The magazine wasn't doing well for a few years, because they lost credibility when a writer made up a story.” Luna half explained.

“Since there wasn't enough money to support her shopping, she left. Why a muggle? I don't know.” I explain the rest.

“She blames the muggle for her mom leaving. That’s the reason that she hates them.” Harry asks, trying to see if he understood.

“If not she would have to admit that the mother that she loved dearly never loved her. A fact that I shoved in her face.” I let out a dry chuckle, trying to hold back my tears.

“What?” Luna looks at me with alarm. I never told her that part.

“When we got into that fight, I shove it in her face. I yelled at her that her mother left because she was tired of her always being a spoiled little brat. She decided that living with a muggle and giving up her magic was better than living with her. I even pointed out that she cried over it.” I felt the tears fall from my eyes. Michael put his arm around my shoulders to pull me close to him.

“R-Robert, how could you?” Luna looks at me with disgust.

“I feel bad enough. I saw the tears building up in her eyes.” I put my head in my hands. I look at Michael. “I don't regret our relationship. I just wish I could have done something different, so I could have kept my best friend.” I walk out of the room, ignoring the calls of my name.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I stretch my body like I did every morning after I woke up, but this morning my head collided with something hard. I tried to move, but my waist was being held in place. I open my eyes to see a sleeping Draco. I giggle, hearing his soft snores. I rested my head on his bare chest and ran my fingers up and down his arm. I smile thinking about last night, we stayed up talking and laughing. I was thankful that he was showing this different side to him. I could feel myself falling for him and that made me scared. He was showing that he had a sweet and caring side, but that doesn’t mean that the man whore side wasn’t still there. For that reason, I wanted to push him away, but I couldn’t find the strength to. I felt safe in his arms, it was a security that I crave from someone all my life. That is what made it so hard for me to stay away from him. I felt a peck on the forehead from a pair of soft lips.

“It’s too early for you to be thinking that hard.” Draco laughs.

“So cheerful, when did you become a morning person?” I look up at him in surprise. Normally, it was grunts and glares until he had breakfast.

“Seeing you put me into a good mood.” He hugs me tightly. I laugh like he hadn’t woken up with me before. “What’s so funny?” He looked offended.

“Nothing, I had no idea you were this cheesy.” I giggle.

“You’re such a typical woman,” He sneers.

“Typical woman, what is that supposed to mean?” I sat up. His arms went from being around my waist to being around my legs.

“I’m being honest. That's what women always ask for and when you finally give them it. They criticize or cry. Women are never satisfied.” He rants.

“It's not that I wasn’t satisfied with your honesty. I was just shocked, you've never been cheesy before.” I wanted to add that there was a difference between being honest and cruel, but I didn’t have the strength yet to have such an in-depth argument.

“It won’t happen again seeing how you react so rudely.” He scoffs.

“Let go of my legs,” I ordered, feeling my bladder scream for release.

“Why? I was just playing.” His grip on my legs tightened.

“I know that, but I want to brush my teeth. If that’s okay with you,” I laugh at how clingy he was being. Clingy and cheesy were two words I would have never used to describe Draco, until this morning. He let my legs go, glaring at me. I continue to laugh while grabbing my clothes and toiletry bag. I looked over my shoulder to see Draco was still glaring. “AW, what happened to morning Draco?” I tease.

“My bitchy friend killed him.” He pouts, unhappy with being the butt of my joke.

“I’m going to get ready for school like you should.” I open the bathroom door.

“Can I ask you one thing before I go?” He got off the bed. I turn around, leaning against the door frame. I couldn’t help, but notice his well-sculpted body, seeing that he was only wearing boxer briefs. When my sights reached his face, I saw his trademark smirk laying on it.

I took a deep breath before saying, “Ask me anything?”

“When was the last time you woke up next to Blaise after a night full of snuggling? When was the last time you saw him in his underwear and had your eyes filled up with lust?” He asks smugly. I stood there shocked. “Well?” He tilts his head, waiting for an answer.

I roll my eyes and slam the door. “Ridiculous Man! He says he wants to be friends, but then points out everything in our relationship that’s too intimate.” I undress and step into the shower. I quickly showered before toweling myself off.

I got dressed in my

uniform

that I altered. I glanced in the mirror and found myself staring. My shirt was unbuttoned so low that I could see the top of my bra and the skirt end an inch after my ass. My feet were clad with six-inch hooker heels. My tie hangs low between my breasts. A see-through Slytherin robe lay on top of me.

“This isn’t me.” I was disgusted with myself for how low I sunk for a man. I button up my shirt and fix my tie so it was properly on. I grab my wand and with a wave of my hand: my skirt grows to above my knees, my heels turn into flats, and my robe thickens to provide warmth. The only thing I left alone was my stockings.

“Much better,” I sat down at the vanity to brush my hair. I gave myself smoky eyes, light natural color blush, and clear lip gloss. I got up to grab my black messenger bag filled with school books. “Bye Bye, Sophia.” I wave to her. I walk to the common room to see Blaise and Draco with a clinging Parkinson waiting for me. Their jaws dropped when they saw me.

Blaise was the first to recover, “You look pretty today, Nikki.”

“Thank you, Blaise.” I shot him a smile.

“Draco, what do you think of Lope's new modest look?” Parkinson smirks, looking up at him.

He rips her off his arm to walk over to me. “I can’t see any cleavage. Your thighs finally healed and I can’t even see them.” He whimpers, running his hands along the body parts he spoke of. I smack his hands off me when he slips them up my skirt.

“Draco, behave yourself,” I scolded him. I walk past him to hook arms with Blaise. “Come on, Blaise.” I led him out the door to the Great Hall with Draco and Parkinson following us.

“I do like your new modesty look better than the other one.” Blaise praises.

“New look, I thought I was going back to my old look. I shouldn’t have changed for a boy, you were right.” I lean my head against his shoulder.

“I’m always right.” He opened the Great Hall door for us, it was clear that everyone noticed my new old look. We walk over to the Slytherin table taking our normal spot in the middle. The food was laid out on the table. “Even when you are fully dressed, everyone stares at you. That’s a true beauty.” Blaise smiles sitting across the table.

“She knows she’s beautiful. She doesn’t need you to tell her, Zabini.” Draco sat down next to me and glared at him.

“Oh shush, Drakey. Blaise can tell her, she’s beautiful if he wants to.” Parkinson sat next to him. She put her hand on his thigh. I roll my eyes, putting food on my plate.

“Don’t tell me to shush and no, he can’t.” He slaps her hand off of him. I had to fight the smirk that wanted to grow on my face.

“Why can’t I, Malfoy?” He challenges him.

“I feel that it’s inappropriate. Friends of the opposite sex should know their boundaries.” He spoke in such an almighty tone. I shove a piece of bacon in my mouth to hold back a snort.

“And since when is it appropriate for friends of the opposite sex to spend the night in the same bed. Is that not crossing boundaries?” Blaise let out a mocking laugh. Parkinson shot me a nasty glare.

“Can’t we just eat in peace for once?” I ask, annoyed with them fighting.

“Sorry, love. What class do you have first?” Draco kisses the side of my head. Blaise let out another mocking laugh, but thankfully he was ignored.

“Divination with Ravenclaw,” I told them.

“I got Charm with Gryffindor.” He groans.

“Me too,” Parkinson leans against him.

“I have potion with Hufflepuff,” Blaise shrugs.

I looked at the clock, it was a little less than an hour before class. “I’m going to go to class.” I stood up.

“It’s early. You don’t have to go yet.” Draco grabs my arm.

“I got to talk to Professor Trelawney about something.” I slip out of his grip and walk out of the Great Hall.

I stepped into the class, smiling when I saw Luna in her seat. I sat down next to her, she looked at me nervously. “I know you don’t want to talk to me and I understand… actually no I don’t understand. I know that we have different beliefs about mixed blood, but you knew that when we became friends. So, I don’t see why you have to choose sides now. As petty as it sounds Luna, I was your friend first. I introduce you to Robert. I’m not asking you to choose sides. I just want you to be my friend too.” I cringe at how pathetic I sounded.

“I’m in a tough spot. I want to be there for both you and Robert, but how do I do that without betraying the other?” She asks. I smile in relief to know that she wasn’t mad at me. She was clueless about how to make our friendship work.

“We don’t have to talk about it. We can talk about other things.” I hope she will agree to start talking to me again.

“I never meant to stop talking to you. I didn’t know what to say. I don’t know if you want to talk to me. There was this tension between us and I didn’t know how to deal with it.” She looks down at the table.

“Does that mean we can hang out?” I try not to get my hopes up, but it was hard because I felt like I was so close.

“I have plans with Rob today, but tomorrow we can definitely hang out.” She smiles.

“Tomorrow,” I smile back.

“I’m happy to see that you two are friends again. Your opposite energies mix well with each other.” Professor Trelawney walks out of the back room.

“Me too,” I smiled at her for probably the first time ever. Other people start to fill up the room.

I wore a big smile on my face as I walked down the hall. I was happy to have Luna as a friend again. Someone roughly grabs me from behind and drags me into a dark room. I scream, trying to claw at my attacker. A man cried out and let go of me. I ran to get out of the room, but another pair of hands shoved me into a chair. A woman muttered a spell under her breath making my arms glued to my side and my legs clamped together. Someone opens up a few windows letting some light in.

“I know you guys like to break rules, but isn’t kidnapping going a little too far even for you three?” I look at the golden trio standing in front of me.

“Tell us what Malfoy is planning,” Potter demands.

“What do you mean planning?” I look at him like the lunatic he was. The paranoia of man being out to kill him has finally made him snap.

“I know you know!” He shook the chair that I was in.

“Harry, calm down,” Granger grabs his arm. “You are friends with Malfoy, so we were wondering if you know why he has been acting odd lately. Where has he been disappearing to?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Slip me
veritaserum if you don’t believe me.
” I couldn’t give them information that I didn’t have.

“Why are you lying for him? We know you’re not like him.” Weasley shook his head in disappointment. Did he think I would spill my gut to them, so easily? I wouldn’t do that even if I did have the information.

“What are you talking about, not like him? Don’t you remember Weasley, I’m the devil.” I look at him, confused.

“No, you’re not. You’re not ignorant and brainwashed like them. You’re a confused hurt little girl.” He looks at me, sympathetically. I grit my teeth knowing that look. It’s the look that everyone gave me after they found out about my mother.

“What the hell do you know?” I scream.

Weasley opens his mouth, but Potter’s hand covers it. “Tell us what you know, and then we will tell you what we know.” He negotiates.

“I haven’t noticed any odd behavior lately, other than being oddly sweet to me. But, I don’t necessarily think that means he is up to something evil.” I thought up the only difference that I saw in him.

“Maybe he wants something from you. Do you have anything that he could use?” He took his hand off of Weasley’s mouth.

“Trust me the only thing Draco wanted from me, he took a long time ago.” I shook my head.

“What about the disappearing?” Granger asks.

“I have noticed that. I have asked, but he never goes into detail. He says that he has something to do and not to worry about it. I assume that something was some girl that he didn’t want to tell me about.” I shrug, knowing it wasn’t what they wanted to hear. Potter throws his head back, sighing in frustration. “Now tell me what you know,” I demand.

“Why, you didn't tell us anything!” Potter shook his head.

“I have a right to know because whatever you know seems to be about me.” I glared at him, tired of playing nice when he had an attitude.

“We know about your mother and the muggle, Robert told us.” She told me. At that moment I felt very vulnerable. I didn’t like it when people knew things about me that they could use to their advantage.

“He shouldn’t have told you that,” I growl.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, it wasn’t your fault.” Weasley kneels down to be face to face with me. His expression was serious and he had a stern tone. It felt good hearing that from someone that wasn’t my friend. “It was your mum, not you, not the muggle. The only villain in this was your mum. But nonetheless, you need to let the angry for both of them go. It’s the only way you can live your life to the fullest.” He continues. We stare at him in shock.

“I know, trust me I know. I’m working on it. Now if that’s all, can you guys unbind me?” I look over at Granger for the last part.

“Actually, can you two step out of a moment? I want to apologize privately.” Weasley asks them.

“That’s not necessary,” I told him. I didn’t know if I trusted myself to be alone with him. Seeing as I was able to trigger something in him with every move I made.

“Yes, it is.” He throws me another serious look, letting me know I wasn’t getting out of this.

“Sure.” Potter walks out of the room.

“Do you know the counterspell?” Granger asks.

“Yeah, I do.” Weasley glares at her. She looks between us with a look of sadness, before walking out.

“You shouldn’t be so mean to her.” I snap.

“I hate how she thinks I’m stupid.” He glares at the door she closes.

“She doesn’t mean it like that. She’s extra careful about the people she cares about.” I explain.

“I thought you hate mudblood, so why are you standing up for her?” He intriguingly looks at me in the way I knew she wanted him to look at her. For some reason that made me feel awful.

“And I thought you were going to apologize.” I avoid answering the question.

“I’m going to, but I want to talk first.” He put his hands in his pockets.

“Why?” I spat. I didn’t understand his fascination with me. I was a whole lot of ugly baggage wrapped up in a pretty package. Most people went running when they peeked inside. He wants to tear it open.

“Because I want to know you, have you never seen someone and just wanted to know them.” He looks at his feet.

“Unbind me and I’ll answer your question,” I told him because I did know that feeling. I had it when I saw Luna and Draco, on different levels of course. He hesitated before taking out his wand and muttering the spell. I got up from the chair and stretched, it felt good to be able to do that after having to sit still for so long. “I stood up for her because I know what it’s like to be in love with someone and have them bluntly ignored your emotions. You can deny it all you want, but she loves you, and deep down you love her too. But, like most men, you assume that she is going to wait for you, so you waste your days with foolish things. You shouldn’t do that, because every second you do that you're hurting her.” I told him in the same way he told me the harsh truth.

“You’re very caring for someone who pretends to be cold-hearted.” He let out a little chuckle.

“I’m not joking with you. I’m serious.” I snap, putting my hands on my hips.

“I know you are. I’m sorry for attacking you the way I did, that was horribly wrong of me. I felt like a monster after. I’m sorry for judging you all these years when I didn’t know you.” He looked at me with sadness.

“I’m sorry too. I’ve been terrible to you and your friend.” I admit.

“It wasn’t you, it was Malfoy.” He shook his head.

“I stood there and didn’t stop him, that means I’m as much to blame as he is. I use to go along with whatever he said and I feel dumb for that.” I admit.

He nods his head in respect. “Where do we go from here?” He looks around as if some walkway would appear for us to go down.

“We can be respectful acquaintances. I would say friends, but being who and where we are, it would have too many complications.” I hope he’d be fine with what I could give him for now.

“I can live with that.” He smiles.

I let out a sigh of relief. “Do you know where Robert is?”

“Are you going to yell at him for telling us?” His face told me that my answer would affect his but I decided to be honest anyways.

“Yes, I am,” I nod.

“Why, it turns out okay?” He whines.

“It doesn’t matter, Ron. He doesn’t have the right to tell everyone my life story.” I sneer.

“I don’t know where he is.” Ron shrugs, looking up at the ceiling.

“Weasley!” I yell. For someone who got in trouble a lot, he was a terrible liar.

“He might be by the Stone Circle with Michael.” He pouts.

“Thank you.” I head towards the Stone Circle. “Miller!” I saw them sitting together against one of the stones. They stood up when they saw me. “You have some nerve telling the damn golden trio about my mum.” I push him.

“I was defending you, you don’t hear the way Ron was talking about you.” He didn’t move at all from my shove, which annoyed me farther.

“I don’t care, Miller! It’s my choice to tell my story, not yours!” I scoff. How could he defend me, when he is the one who thinks the lowest of me.

“He didn’t mean any harm by it.” Corner gave Rob’s hand a comforting squeeze.

“You should have seen the way they look at me, all sympathetically. I don’t like it when people feel sorry for me and you know that.” I never took my glare off Robert.

“Don’t ignore me!” He moves to stand in front of Robert.

“This doesn’t concern you, half-blood.” I sneer, letting my gaze fall on him.

“Nicole!” Robert scolds, making me scoff again.

“It concerns me, he is my boyfriend.” Corner glares.

“Oh please, you guys haven’t been going out for that long.” I roll my eyes. He makes it seem like they have been together for years when it’s been three months. “I don’t buy this whole 'defend me’ excuse. The last I heard, I was some spoiled brat that was so horrible not even my mother could love me.” I used air quotes.

“I didn’t mean that.” He looks ashamed.

“You meant every word, you just feel guilty for saying it.” I wasn’t going to be fooled by pity again.

“That’s not true…” He tries to come up with an excuse but I cut him off.

“Is that why you stayed friends with me because you felt sorry for me? The poor misunderstood pureblood, is that how you look at me?” I shook with anger. I felt so betrayed to know that all those years of friendship weren’t real.

“I had a parent leave me too.” He reminds me that he had a similar situation.

“You’re not denying it.” I shrug, our situations were different. His dad left before he was even born because he couldn’t handle the idea of a kid. My mom left after she got to know me because she learned she didn’t want our family.

“I don’t feel sorry for you. Is that why you think Luna and I are your friends?” He tilts his head, shame taking over his face.

“Luna was my friend before she knew about my mom. She was able to respect the fact that we had different beliefs and still be my friend.” I defended her, annoyed that he was bringing her into this.

“Is that what you think about me?” He points to himself.

“It’s what your action says about you.” I shrug.  It came out of his mouth so quickly he had to have thought of it before. “Don’t tell anyone else and make sure the golden trio doesn’t tell anyone else either,” I demand. He nods his head.

I turn around and walk to my dorm. I look at the clock to see that I was still in my free block. “Want to go see Nathan?” I ask Sophia. She squeaks loudly. I laugh, taking Sophia out. I carried her to the Black Lake and sat down under his tree.

“Nathan!” I call for him. He climbs out of his hole. Sophia and he chase each other around. I lean back against the tree, thinking about what Ron said. I’ve been angry for so long that it was tiring. At this moment it felt like I could finally let it go. I wouldn’t let my hate for anyone control me anymore.

“What are you doing?” Draco sat down next to me, scaring the crap out of me.

“When did you get here?” I held my hand over my speeding heart.

“Just now, you were thinking really hard. Thought steam was going to be coming out of your ears.” He laughs.

“I was thinking about what I’m going to be doing after Hogwarts.” I felt like it wasn’t a complete lie, I thought a lot about that too.

“You’ll figure it out. Just focus on your education to keep your option open.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders.

“If I don’t figure it out soon, I will be stuck with nothing when the time comes.” I felt the dread of that now set in.

“You'll be fine, I’ll make sure.” He kisses my forehead.

“Would you still be my friend if I didn’t hate mixed-bloods and blood traitors?” I wait for him to push me away.

“What?” He looks at me curiously.

It was a pleasant surprise that allowed me to explain further in a calm manner. “This thing with Miller got me thinking a lot lately. Who would still be my friend as I grow? Who’s going to stick with me when times get hard?” I lay my head on his chest.

“As long as you didn’t lecture me about them, I wouldn’t care.” He shrugs. I beam up at him, knowing that he was making an exception for me. He would have cut anyone else off, for he didn’t put up with bloody traitors.

“I’m not saying I’m going to hang out with any of them. But, I want to let my anger go, so I can be happy.” I explained my thought process.

“That takes a lot of strength, I’m proud of you.” He gave my shoulder a quick squeeze. I looked up at him in shock. It was one thing to make an exception, it was something else to be proud of me for it. “Stop looking so shocked every time I do or say something kind to you.”

“Sorry, sometimes I forget there’s a sweet side to you.” I realize that I need to cut him some slack. He has been putting in a lot of effort.

“That’s for you. Don’t tell anyone else about this.” He said half-joking.

“Even if I did I don’t think they would believe me.” I failed to keep a serious face.

“They would probably put you into a mental institution.” He laughs. I laugh along with him until I remember Potter asking me if I had anything that Draco wants. When he said it, I thought it was ridiculous. But, now I was wondering if there was some hidden agenda.

“Hey Nikki, are you still with me?” He waves a hand in my face.

“Sorry, I have been thinking too much lately.” I shook my head. I couldn’t let paranoid Potter get to me.

“You a woman thinking, we can’t have that.” He speaks in a caveman manner.

“You’re a real comedian today.” I laugh, enjoying his company.

“How about I help you take your mind off things?” He pulled me on top of him, so I was straddling his waist.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I shook my head.

“It’s an amazing idea.” He pushes his lips against mine. I kept still, not knowing what to do. I want to kiss back, but I didn’t want to go down that road again. “Stop overthinking things, Nikki.” He pulls back enough for him to be able to speak. I brush my lips against him, wanting to escape from everything.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

‘Why hasn't he mentioned anything? How can he be acting so normal?’ I thought. It was frustrating as I watched him plant his seed in a pot. After he kissed me, he guided me to the Great Hall for dinner. Since then, he’s never brought it up, try to do it again, or even flirt with me like he usually does. It was driving me insane. I was a little out of practice but was it that bad for him to lose all interest in me. Ron seems to think I was a great kisser, but then again he didn't have much to compare me to. I wasn't the only one who noticed his platonic approach with me either. Parkinson shot me a smirk every time she saw me.

“Is there something you need help figuring out?” Draco met my stare.

“Why would you ask me that?” I narrow my eyes at him. The bastard was probably doing this on purpose.

“You have been staring at me with a troubled look on your face for a while now.” He arches an eyebrow.

“Can you help me plant this?” I ask, thinking on my feet.

“Anything to avoid ruining your nails,” He laughs, pushing me out of the way to do it for me. I glance down at my French tips. I did hate ruining them for some stupid class.

“Thanks,” I said when I saw he was finished.

“Everyone has a different plant. Your assignment is to figure out what plant you have. You will take your plants with you and write a journal entry every day about the changes you see.” Professor Sprout explains. I grabbed my plant and ran out of the room.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” Draco ran next to me.

“I want to put this plant in my dorm, before my next class.” I lie. I wanted to get away from him.

“You don't have to hurry. You have a free period next.” He tries to move in front of me to stop me, but I move right around him.

“I want to go to the library.” I lie again. I was meeting up with Neville. We had been tutoring each other. I help him with Defense against the Dark Arts and he helps me with Herbology. I enjoy the friendship that has grown between us.

“If we hurry up, I can walk you to the library.” He offers.

“I don't need you to do that, Draco. I'm a big girl.” I glared at him, couldn’t he take a hint.

“What the bloody hell is your problem?” He hisses. I mutter the password to get into the Slytherin common room. I ran to my room as Draco yelled that I was being a brat. I put my plant beside Sophia's cage, before putting my Defense Against the Dark Arts book into my bag. I walked to the common room and let out a sigh of relief when I saw Draco wasn't waiting for me. I made my way to the abandoned classroom where Neville and I met up. I look around once in a while to make sure that no one is following me. We both decided it would be better to meet in secret. I didn’t want to deal with the harassment Slytherin would give me for being friendly with a Gryffindor. He didn't want Blaise and Draco threatening him.

“Hey, Neville.” I sat down across from him.

“Hi Nikki, you know that I like us being friends, right?” He kept his eyes on the ground.

“I like being your friend too.” I smiled at him.

“I would never do anything to harm our friendship like telling someone about our tutoring meetings.” He looks at me with sad eyes.

“I'm not mad, Neville. Who found out, Potter?” I knew this wouldn’t be kept a secret for long. We have nosey people in our lives.

“No, me,” Robert walked out of the storage room that every classroom had.

“Did you talk to them?” I glared, that was the only thing I needed to know from him.

“Can you leave us alone?” Robert asks him. Neville looked at me. I nod to let him know I was okay with it. He gave me a weak smile, before heading out. “I talk to them. They know not to say anything to anyone.” He told me when Neville was out of the room.

“Good, that's the least you owe me.” I sneer.

“The least you owe me is to hear me out.” He snaps.

“Owe you! I don't owe you shit! I heard you out enough!” I throw my bag to the ground. The nerve he had to make like I owe him after the things he said.

“You’re willing to throw 16 years of friendship down the drain so easily?” He walks over to stand directly in front of me.

“You throw it down the drain for a relationship that isn't even close to making a year.” I point a finger in his face.

“No, you throw it away because of my relationship, not me.” He smacks my hand down, to point a finger at me.

“It doesn’t matter the reason we threw our friendship away. The only thing that matters is that we did. If we are willing to do that then what's the point of even trying to get it back.” I shrug. Maybe we were only friends because of the circumstances of being neighbors and going to the same school. We would have lost our friendship anyways, once we graduated and moved out of our parent’s houses.

“We didn't throw our friendship away, we had a bad fight.” He put his hand down.

“I want to believe we can fix this, but there's something you can't change.” I sigh. This conversation was going in circles.

“I hope you're not talking about Michael.” He growls.

“I don't give a damn about Corner and he is changeable! People are changeable, it’s a sad fact of life! Besides this stop being about him a long time ago!” I was tired of him making me out to the villain in this story. I was the terrible prejudice pureblood, while he was the innocent brave man ready to face all obstacles for his lover.

“Then what are you talking about?” He throws his hands in the air.

“You can't take back the things you said.” I gave him a pointed look. He really thinks he’s the only victim in this.

“It was in the heat of the moment.” He sighs.

I scoff at his excuse. People kill others in the heat of the moment, doesn’t make it alright. “Sometimes it takes the heat of the moment for people to say what they really feel.”

“Sometimes in the heat of the moment, people say stupid things to hurt the other person. They regret it right after they say it.” He reaches out to give my hand a squeeze.

“Really, you regret it?” I look up at him.

“Of course I do, don't you?” He nods, hoping that I felt the same.

“Of course, I lost the first person who I love and love me back over some stupid disagreement.” I laugh bitterly.

“That's very romantic for a friendship,” He chuckles.

“Some of the greatest loves are between friends.” I was thinking of examples to prove my point if I need to.

“I miss our banters. They’re light and fun, but still gratifying to win.” He smiles fondly.

“How would you know it’s gratifying to win? I don't remember you ever winning.” I roll my eyes.

“I let you think you always win.” He teases.

“I am a woman I never think, I know.” I stuck my tongue out.

“Moment like this is when I am very thankful for being gay because women are crazy.” He shook his head. I gasp and punch his shoulder. He tackles me to the ground. We wrestle around like we did when we were children. We end up rolling underneath one of the desks when we finally stop. “This means we are good, right?” He sat up, leaning against one of the table legs.

“I believe so. How has life been?” I copied him, leaning against a leg on the opposite side.

“Been continuing my relationship and kicking myself in the ass for what I did to you. How about you?” He ran his fingers through his hair trying to fix it. I found myself doing the same.

“I got reacquainted with Blaise and decided to be friends with Draco.” I gave a mini update.

“Friend with Draco, like platonic friends,” He gasps.

“That was the idea before he kissed me a week ago and hasn’t brought it up since.” I spat out the last part bitterly.

“Interesting, let me know how that plays out. Anything else?” He questions.

“I have decided to let go of my anger for mix-bloods and muggles.” I smiled, knowing that would send him over the moon.

“What? I’ve been trying to get you to do that for years. What made you decide to do that?” He screeches.

“Not the reaction I was expecting, but if you must know it was Weasley.” I laugh at his facial expression.

“Which one: Fred, George, Ron, Ginny?” He asks with incredible curiosity.

“The one that actually talks to me.” I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Ron, I thought he hates you.” His mouth hangs open in shock.

“Apparently after hearing my history, he decided that I wasn't who he thought I was.” I bite the inside of my cheek. It was odd how even though we weren’t on good terms he was still able to make me a better person. That didn’t take away the pain I felt from his betrayal, but our friendship would be able to move past this.

“At least my reasoning for telling your history works out.” He picks his jaw up from the floor. “When did this happen? I thought they were too obsessed with finding out what Malfoy was doing.”

“After they interrogated me about that, he asked for us to have some alone time. He apologizes for how he treated me and for kissing me.” I fill in the blanks.

“Wait, Ron kissed you too? What with everyone kissing you?” He gave me a playful push.

“I like to think it's because I'm insanely attractive.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder.

“How is he?” He whispers, leaning in like we were gossiping in a crowded room.

“Surprisingly good, it was a rough heated kiss. He poured all of his emotions into the kiss, it was very intense. Hermione is a lucky girl.” I told him truthfully.

“Ron Weasley, a good kiss. Who would have guessed?” Rob smiles. We broke into a fit of laughter, which slowly died down into a comfortable silence. “Oh, and people in our lives aren't changeable. True, some died and others abandoned us, but if they truly leave an impact on us then they stay with us always.” He ruins our sweet silence to start another argument. I smile at him, ready to win it.

I whistled happily as I packed up a bag of can foods and water bottles for Nathan. Sophia plays with a ball on the side of me. “What are you doing?” I heard a voice that made me jump, screaming.

“Bloody hell, Draco! How do you keep getting up here? Shouldn't the stairs collapse on you?” I picked up a pillow to throw at him, which he of course caught with ease.

“That's my secret if I tell people this school would be one big orgy.” He smirks. I roll my eyes at him. “Seriously though, what is all this? Are you going camping?” He came over to the bed, looking at all the things in my bag.

“No, I am bringing Nathan some supplies.” I put a small blanket and pillow into the bag, before closing it up.

“Who the hell is Nathan?” He growls, taking the bag away from me to look through.

“My niffler, you were there when Hagrid gave it to me. Why can't boys ever remember anything?” I roll my eyes at his behavior. Did he think I meant some guy who lives in the woods or something?

“I remember the niffler, I just didn't remember the name. I remember Sophia.” He throws the bag over his shoulder.

“I hope you remember her, you see her every day. Why are you taking my bag?” I try to take it back, but he moves out of my reach.

“I'm coming with you. We got to talk.” He told me, shrugs casually.

“Talk? Talk about what?” I was filled with excitement, hoping he was talking about the kiss.

“We should talk there if we want to get there before it's dark.” He walks out of the room. I grab Sophia and follow him. “Which tree is he at?” He asks once we get to the Black Lake.

“I can't believe you remembered where I put him.” I was impressed, most of the time he looks like he was somewhere else when I talk about my animals.

“I can't remember the name or the exact tree, but that doesn't mean that I don't pay attention.” He rolls his eyes.

“It's this one.” I walk over to it. Draco follows and throws the bag roughly on the ground, earning a glare from me. “Nathan!” I sat down next to his burrow, putting Sophia down. My little niffler came crawling out. He froze when he saw Draco was there. “It's alright, Nathan. He doesn't have the mean niffler with him. Show him, Draco.” I picked him up and held him close to my chest in comfort.

“I got nothing, see.” He turns his pockets inside out, before putting his hands in the air. Nathan crawls out of my arms to play with Sophia.

“What do you want to talk about?” I ask, anxious to know where we stood.

“Shouldn't you give the nifflers his stuff first?” He scratches the back of his neck.

“Look what I got for you, Nathan.” I glare at Draco as I open up the bag. Nathan grabs the pillow and takes it in his burrow. He repeats the same actions with the blanket. I turn to Draco waiting for him to start talking. “Draco Lucius Malfoy! You better start talking about the kiss!” I yell at him, losing my patience.

“Who said it was anything about the kiss?” He smirks, happy to know that it affected me. I narrow my eyes. “Alright, it's about the kiss.” He sat down next to me.

“What did it mean to you?” I turn my body towards him while crossing my legs.

“The kiss made me realize that we can't just be friends. I thought we could be because it was only physical attraction between us, but it’s not just that anymore for me.” He grabs my hands off my lap and holds them in his.

“What are you saying, Draco?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

He took a deep breath before asking, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

“Do you realize what you are asking me?” I felt my stomach twist. “A girlfriend is more than just fooling around. It's about commitment, communication, and being compassionate with one another. It means no other girls or mind games.” I searched his face to see if he understood.

“I know what a girlfriend is Nicole. That's why I never had one.” His grips my hands tighten.

“And you are asking me to be your girlfriend?” I ask, still not believing it.

“I did, but you're making me regret it!” He let go of my hands to rub his temples in frustration.

“I want to make sure you know what you are asking me.” I glared but kept my hands in his lap.

“I know what I'm asking you. I'm not an idiot. Will you be my girlfriend?” He growls.

“Yes, I will be.” I snap at him. My anger, not letting me enjoy the moment I have been waiting years for.

A smile grows on his face as he chuckles, “If this isn't the start of a beautiful relationship, I don't know what is.” He pulled me into a tight hug and gave me a tender kiss. I smile, kissing him back with the excitement I was feeling when he said that we need to talk.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I hid behind a pillar as Draco looked over his shoulder in paranoia. Rightfully, so since I've been following him for half an hour while he went in circles. His random disappearing acts have been more frequent and for longer periods of time. I’ve been trying to follow him for weeks, each time I lost him. What was he doing that was so top secret that he would think someone was following him? Why would it matter if someone found out? I was going crazy wondering. All I know was whatever he was doing was driving him crazy too. He was looking more tired and overwork every day. He would jump down people's throats for the littlest things. I was relieved when he finally stopped in front of a wall. A giant door appears in front of him, I had to bite my hand to stop from gasping. He went inside and the door disappeared.

“It's the room of requirements.” I heard a voice making me jump. I turn around to see Harry Potter. “It's a room for people in...” He was informing me before I cut him off.

“I know about the room. Do you know what he’s using the room for?” I ask.

“You really don't know.” He looks shocked.

“Of course, I don't know. Why do you think I'm following him?” I throw my hands in the air.

“I don't know what he is doing. The door disappears before I can get to it.” He told me. I let out a sigh of frustration. “Have you asked him?”

“Only a thousand times, he tells me that I need to trust him. We may be together, but that doesn't mean he can't have his own stuff.” I cross my arms. I felt like an idiot, what girlfriend doesn't know what their boyfriend spends the majority of their time doing.

“If it makes you feel better no one ever goes in with him.” He shoves his hands in his pockets.

“Thanks that does make me feel better,” I admit. “It also makes me feel better that someone else is going crazy over this.” I smile weakly at him.

“I'm not going crazy!” He glares.

“You dragged me into a room and screamed at me.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Sorry about that.” He laughs nervously.

“It's all in a day’s work for a hero.” I shrug.

“Why do you Slytherins think I do the things I do to be a hero? I don't love attention!” He yells the last part.

“You need to learn to take a joke.” I put my hands up in surrender. He has some pretty drastic mood swings.

“Sorry, I've been on edge lately.” He sighs. “Do you want to come with me? A bunch of us are going to make s'mores.”

“You're inviting me to hang out.” I look at him suspiciously.

“I know, you've been dodging meeting Michael. He and Robert will be there.” He informs me.

“I'm not avoiding him, because he's a half-blood. It's just awkward, he knows I hated him. What am I supposed to do, just be nice all of a sudden?” I let out a sigh. “That felt good to get out. I don’t have anyone to talk to about the Michael situation. Luna and Neville want to stay out of it. Draco says that I don’t have to be nice to Michael because Robert isn’t nice to him. But, I want to be nice. I want him to like me.”

“Alright then, do you want to go?” He looks cautious. He was scared that he would hit another emotional landmine.

“Sure, but what’s a s'more?” I ask. He laughs, throwing an arm around my shoulders. He told me all about s’more while guiding me somewhere. It sounds delicious. We stopped at the Stone Circle. There was a fire in the middle of it with a bunch of people surrounding it.

“Hey guys, look who I found.” He greets them. I wave as most of their jaws drop. Only Robert, Michael, Luna, and Neville look happy to see me.

“I was right, this is awkward,” I whisper to him. He rolls his eyes, dragging me to sit between Michael and Neville.

“Hello Nikki, this is Michael. Michael, this is Nikki.” Robert introduces us.

“Nice to formally meet you, you must have so many embarrassing childhood stories about Robert.” He hugs me.

“Nice to meet you too,” My voice shakes as I pat him on the back.

“Are you nervous? You shouldn’t be. I’m the boyfriend meeting the best friend, I should be nervous.” He pulls away from the hug to smile at me. He was so nice it made me feel like an idiot for hating him.

“She feels awkward because you know she used to hate you because of your blood,” Potter told him.

“Go away, Potter.” I snap. That would be the last time I tell him anything.

“Getting it out in the open help.” He gave me a teasing smile, before going to sit with Weasley and Granger.

“You don’t have to worry about that. The past is in the past. Besides, you’re trying to rise above it.” Robert smiles encouragingly.

“Which, I find very inspirational by the way. Everyone should look inside themselves and see how they can grow.” Michael gave my shoulder a squeeze.

“I never thought about it that way.” I beam at him.

“Did you ever make s'mores before?” Neville asked me. I turn to him, shaking my head.

“Let me teach you. I'm the master.” Michael put a marshmallow on a stick. “You have to keep a careful watch on it. If you cook it for too long it'll melt right off the stick and it'd be a waste of food.”

“In Michael's world that's a sin that should damn people to hell.” Robert teases.

“The food you waste could have saved someone’s life.” He glares at Robert. I laugh. It was cute to see them playfully going back and forth. “Um, my marshmallow is ready. Now you put it between the graham cracker with chocolate on one side and there you go. It's a simple way to make heaven on earth.” He pushes his two crackers together, smashing his now golden marshmallow.

“I think I got it.” I grab a stick putting a marshmallow on it, before sticking it in the fire. I turned to Neville when Robert and Michael began to giggle and whisper to each other. He was staring at Luna, who was happily humming as she routed her stick. I look back at my marshmallow deciding that routing would be a good idea. “You should go talk to her.” I pull him away from his thoughts.

“Who?” He asks. I nudge my head in Luna's direction. “I can't, look how happy she is by herself. You might want to take your marshmallow out.” He told me. I pull my marshmallow out in a panic.

“Aw, it's burnt.” I look at my charcoal looking marshmallow. I grab two crackers and a piece of chocolate, figuring it still might be good. I like my steak a little overcook, maybe it’ll be the same for s'mores. “Luna always welcomes company. How are you supposed to lift this relationship off the ground if you never talk to her?” I took a bite of the s'more. I let out a moan of satisfaction.

“Then you would be the fifth wheel.” He teases.

“If it gets too much for me, I'll drag Draco along.” I laugh.

“Good luck with that.” He gets up and walks over to Luna. She smiles at him as he sits down next to her. I watch them, smiling. Luna deserves someone who was smart, thoughtful, open-minded, and would put her first. Neville Longbottom was that guy.

“Does Malfoy know you're here?” Ron asks, making me jump. I didn't notice that he sat down next to me.

“No, he doesn’t. We are a couple, but that doesn't mean we can't have our own things.” If Draco could have his own things then so could I.

“Wouldn't he have a problem with you hanging out with mix-bloods and bloody traitors?” He looks unconvinced.

“As long as I don't push him to do the same, he doesn't care. We are a couple, but we are separate people.” I searched his face, wondering why he was talking to me.

“Don't you think being with him will bring you down? You are smart with so much potential. Being with someone who isn't on your level will take that all from you.” He shook his head.

“Is that why you're not with Granger?” It felt like he was talking to her about himself and not me about Draco.

“What?” He looks shocked. He thought I was smart, but he didn’t think I would be able to see the obvious.

“She's the smartest in our class. She has the potential to be anything she wants. You think her being with you will derail her from all that.” I figure it out in my head. He stares at me speechless. “Granger is a brilliant girl with an amazing head on her shoulder. Even being with a moron like you, won't take that from her.”

“I think you just like playing matchmaker.” He looks over at Luna and Neville.

“It annoys me when two people clearly like each other, but are too scared to make a move.” I shrug.

“You do it for purely selfish reasons.” He raises an eyebrow.

“Wouldn't be a true Slytherin if I did it for any other reason,” I smirk.

“I don't think you are.” He shook his head.

“You don't deny it. Maybe you should go over there, she is waiting for you. Be a true Gryffindor. Be brave.” I push him out of his seat.

“I'm going. I'm going.” He put his hands up in surrender as he walked away. I grab another marshmallow to put on the stick. I got two guys to do what I wanted. I wonder if I could get a third.

I walked into Draco’s dorm determined to get some answers, but he wasn’t there. I let out a big sigh and threw myself on his bed. I was debating on if I should go look for him or wait for him here. I decided to wait for him. He would have to come to his dorm sooner or later. I pick up his charm book, deciding to do some reading for class.

I felt my shoulder being poke. I open my eyes, seeing a charm book under me. I groan, cracking my neck, before looking up at a tired Draco. “What are you doing here?” He pushes me over to lay down next to me.

“Waiting for you,” I stood up to put away his charm book.

“For what?” He yawns.

“When was the last time you slept?” I sat down on the bed. He put his head on my lap.

“Sacrifices have to be made when you have responsibilities.” He snuggled into my stomach as I ran my fingers through his hair.

“What kind of responsibilities are worth your sleep and sanity?” I massage his scalp.

“The kind that you don't need to worry about.” He hisses as I rub his temples.

“I want to take some of the load off your shoulders.” I rub the body part I spoke of.

“And, how would you do that?” He sits up making my hand fall to my lap.

“I don’t know, but I’m sure there is a way I can,” I said confidently.

“When I think of a way you can help, I will tell you.” He got off the bed.

“Sometimes a second pair of eyes helps.” I crawl to the end of the bed nearest to him.

“Damn it, Nicole! When the dark lord is involved the less you know the better.” He growls.

“The dark lords involved?” I gasp.

“Yes, he is. It’s dangerous and I don’t want you involved in it.” He cups my face.

“If you’re involved then I want to be involved.” I kneel, so I was face to face with him.

He pushes me down, making me fall back onto the bed. He paces around the room, picking things up and throwing them across the room. I let out a scream when a book almost hit my head. “Do you really want to know?” He roars.

“Yes, I do! I’ve been asking for the past month!” I pout.

“You can’t tell anyone, not even Luna or Robert.” He glares. I nod. “I’ve been chosen by the Dark Lord to fix the vanishing cabinet to let my fellow death eaters into Hogwarts.” He told me. I felt my stomach drop. I never thought it would be this. I naïvely held onto the hope that it was something juvenile like planning a prank.

“Why do the death eaters want to come here?” I ask, scared of the answer.

“They will take over Hogwarts and I will kill Dumbledore.” He whispers.

“Draco, why?” I shook my head. I didn’t want him to do this. This would lead to a war that I wasn’t sure either of us would live through.

“I was chosen by the dark lord, it’s an honor.” He glares.

“Taking someone's life is serious.” I was more worried than I was before.

“I know, but it’s something I have to do.” He shot me a desperate look.

“Why do you have to, it's not like you’re a… wait you said, my fellow death eaters.” I rush over to him and pull up both of his sleeves. There it was on his left forearm, the dark mark.

“Oh, Draco,” I hug him. I felt sorrow for him, being forced to do this, to grow up so fast and harshly. I found myself crying into his chest. He wraps his arms around me and places a kiss on my forehead.

“Everything's going to be alright,” He whispers to me. I felt horrible, him having to comfort me when he’s the one that is going through all of it. But, all I could find it in myself to do is hold on to him tighter.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Draco hadn’t let me help with the cabinet like he said he would. I was just a presence in the room. If I said anything, he would yell at me for distracting him. Leaving the room wasn’t an option either. He would throw a fit and say I wasn’t supporting him. I spent my time watching him or looking around the room.

“Ah, I hate this stupid cabinet!” Draco picks up a cup and throws it at a pile of books.

“Alright, it’s time for dinner.” I jumped out of the rocking chair.

“No, I need to get this done.” He slams his hand against the cabinet.

“You’re not going to get it done when you are frustrated. You need a clear mind and to eat.” I grab his hand.

“Fine,” He sighs defeated.

“Really? I also think you would do well with a good night's sleep. You will wake up with a fresh mind and ready to work.” I suggest, excited that he was going to finally take a break. He shot me a harsh glare. “Let’s see how dinner goes.” I pull him to the exit, practically running towards the Great Hall.

“Can we walk like normal people?” He yanks his hand out of mine.

“Sorry, we skip lunch. I’m a little hungry.” I lie.

“No, you’re trying to get me there before I change my mind.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders, forcing me to go at a normal pace.

“There’s no getting anything past you.” I wrap my arm around his waist.

“Remember that.” He drops his hand to my ass, giving it a pinch. I remove my arm from him to smack his stomach. “Despite the unladylike manners, I will still be a gentleman.” He held open the door for me.

“Yes, I heard pinching a girl’s ass is high on the gentleman's list.” I roll my eyes, walking into the Great Hall.

“The first thing a gentleman learns is to give a girl proper attention.” He gave my bum a squeeze.

“I think you have to look up the word proper.” I laugh, sitting down at the table. He sat down next to me and piled food on his plate. I scoop up some shrimp pasta and snatch a piece of garlic bread. My eye wanders around the room and closes in on something at the Gryffindor table.

“What is that on Weasley’s face?” I narrow my eyes to get a better look.

“Not the mudblood that's for sure,” Parkinson smirks.

“Looks like trouble in the golden trio.” Blaise let out a jolly laugh. I ball my fists up, did nothing I say to that dumb boy sink in.

“Look at the poor mudblood, she’s going to cry.” Draco crackles. I search the table to find Granger with tears in her eyes. She was staring down at her plate, visibly shaking. I felt my heartbreak for her. I knew what she was going through. I glance between Draco and Parkinson.

“Hey, love. Don’t look so down, not all your love predictions can come true.” He bumps my shoulder with his.

“I said that they would end up together. This girl won’t last.” I shake myself out of the daze I was in.

“Maybe you got it wrong, maybe the mudblood will end up with scarface.” Pansy points over at Harry comforting Hermione.

“What does it matter? They are all lower life forms that deserve each other.” Blaise rolls his eyes. Like that the subject was dropped. We paid attention to the food on our plate. “Did anyone else get invited to the Slug Club?” Blaise made like he was curiously asking. I saw right through him, he was bragging. He knew that none of us got invited.

“That’s a bunch of people that Slughorn sucks up to, hoping that they’ll be successful later on in their lives, so he can use them.” I cross my arms. It was a disgusting use of power.

“At least he thinks I’ll be successful.” He shrugs.

“The Weasley girl and Granger got invited too, so don’t get too excited being group with them,” Parkinson smirks. Blaise gave her a nasty glare that would have made a grown man shiver, but she giggles. She was smiling like she won some kind of prize. Maybe it was her lack of brain cells, entitlement issues, or combination of both that didn’t make her realize if she said one more wrong thing to Blaise, she would be at the receiving end of a hex.

“I heard that he gets free tickets to all of the Welsh’s games and anything he wants from Honeydukes for free. If he gets that kind of treatment from his former club members, you know he is going to be treating you guys good.” I said, hoping to pick up his spirits. I was annoyed with him bragging about this since he found out three days ago. But, it didn’t feel right to burst his bubble of excitement.

“The first meeting is going to be on Friday.” He went right back to rubbing it in our faces. That’s one thing you had to love about Slytherins, we bounce back fast.

“You have to tell me what the food is like at these Slug Club meetings. I heard amazing things, especially dessert.” I encourage him to continue for his enjoyment and Parkinson’s annoyance.

“Maybe if you’re nice to me, I’ll take you to one of the parties.” He winks. A hand grips my hip tightly.

“If I went with you it would only be for the food.” I squeeze Draco’s thigh letting him know I got the message.

I struggle to keep my eyes open and my body moving to my next class. I stayed up all night with Draco, while he tried to fix the cabinet. I’m spending all this time with him, but I feel like I hardly see him. Weasley was walking ahead of me. I looked around to see it was only the two of us in the hall.

“Weasley!” I yell, causing him to turn around. “What do you think you’re doing?” I push him against the wall.

“Walking to class.” His face twists in confusion.

“What did we talk about twice?” I shove two fingers in his face.

“I’m not sure, but we kissed twice.” He shrugs with a lazy smile on his face.

“Granger, we talk about the feeling she has for you.” I glare.

“Oh, your crazy theory.” He laughs.

“It’s a fact, not a crazy theory. Do you know what you’re doing to her, being with that other girl? You are breaking her heart.” I poke him in the shoulder with each word.

“Even if she does like me, which she doesn’t, that doesn’t mean I have to be with her. I can be with whoever I want to.” He grabs my wrist.

“That would be true if you didn’t like her. But you do, you are just too scared.” I poke him with my other hand, only for him to grab that one too.

“I’m not scared of her. She is my best friend. My girlfriend is Lavender and that is who I have feelings for.” He squeezes my wrists before dropping them.

“Don’t get me wrong, Brown is a beautiful girl but that’s all she is. She is naive and clingy. I know that’s appealing to your male adolescent hormones, but we both know that there are no deep feelings there.” I rub my wrists while holding my glare on him.

“You don’t know her and you don’t know me.” He glares back.

“What if I told you all this was a lie? I don’t care about Granger. I’m jealous of Brown.” I decided to call his bluff with one of my own.

“What?” He gasps.

“I don’t like that I can’t have you, Ron. I hate this stupid school and these stupid houses that separate us. I know that I can’t be in a relationship with you, but can I be with you physically.” I pull him by his shirt collar to me. He closes his eyes and puckers up his lips. “See Weasley, what you feel for Brown and I is lust. Lust isn’t something that can keep someone faithful.” I whisper in his ear. I pull back, smirking at the shocked look on his face. “You have a right to be scared, because if things didn’t work out for some reason then you get your heartbroken. But, if they do work out then you get a happily ever after. It’s about taking the risk.” I fix his collar, before walking away.

I was wandering around the room of requirement looking for items to decorate my dorm with when Draco let out a screaming sob. I ran over to him. He was on his knees holding a bitten apple. I kneel beside him and rub his back. “Don’t worry baby, you’re going to figure it out.” I kiss his shoulder.

“I have been working on this for months and I still haven’t got it. There are no books on this stupid cabinet. I can’t ask anyone for help, because no one is supposed to know about this.” He ran his fingers through his normally perfect hair.

“You could ask Snape,” I suggest in a whisper.

“What?” He stood up quickly, knocking me flat on my bottom.

“He made the unbreakable vow. He needs this cabinet fix as much as you do.” I brought myself to my feet, not that it matter he was still towering over me.

“And what makes you think he knows how to fix this. If he was so capable of fixing it then you-know-who would have chosen him, but he chose me. I! AM! GOING! TO! FIX! IT! ” He put his hands on my shoulders, shaking me.

“I was just suggesting, no need to bite my head off.” I grab his arms to stop him.

“It’s four in the morning, come on let’s go to bed.” He drops his hands to gather his belongings. I follow his actions and let him lead the way back to the dungeon. “Your dorm or mine,” He asks.

“Mine.” I pull him up the stairs and into my dorm. I change into a pair of cotton shorts and a loose camisole. I fed Sophia, before climbing into bed with Draco. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

“Why do you think I wasn’t invited to that stupid club?” I open my eyes to see Draco staring down at me.

“What?” I slur out of tiredness.

“The Slug Club, how did Blaise get invited and not me?” He grunts.

“Because your family has death eaters in them, Slughorn likes to stay away from being associated with them,” I explain. Blaise told me everything he found out about the slug club.

“What? I’m being black ball because of my family. That is ridiculous, I am my own person.” He hisses, sitting up.

“Calm down. Even if you got invited to the Slug Club, you wouldn’t have time for it.” I pull him back to lay down next to me.

“I guess. It’s not like he’s wrong though.” He rubs the dark mark on his arm.

“You did the best thing for yourself and your family. People like to think that we are evil and do the things we do out of enjoyment. But, we do what we have to for our family’s approval and survival. They don’t know what that's like, because they have perfect loving families.” I put my head on his shoulder, wrapping my arms and legs around him.

“I keep telling myself that, but it doesn’t feel that way.” He sounds drained.

“What were you supposed to do, tell you-know-who no? You would have died.” I searched his face, trying to figure out what was going on in his head.

“Sometimes I think that would have been better.” He stares up at the ceiling.

“No, it wouldn’t have. I promise, somehow we are going to live a normal life and have a happy family.” I smiled.

“You like dreaming, huh?” He stares down at me in amusement.

“Trust me, it’s going to happen.” I gave him a goodnight kiss.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“What are you doing?” Draco leans against the cabinet, keeping his eyes on me.

“I’m going to show you how to make s’mores.” I wave my wand to break apart two wooden chairs, so I would be able to make a fire.

“I don’t eat muggle food.” He shook his head.

“We eat a lot of the same food that muggles eat.” I scoff.

“Like what?” He challenges.

“Cheesecake, chicken, apples, almost all our food is the same.” I list his favorite foods.

“There's no need for you to make fire like a muggle.” He took his wand out, “Incendio.” I move out the way in the nick of time.

“You could have at least waited for me to get out the way!” I throw a marshmallow at him.

“Are you on fire?” He asks me slowly as if I was a child.

“No thanks to you.” I glare at him. He didn’t look the least bit sorry for almost setting me on fire. I would set the cabinet on fire if it wouldn’t cost him his life.

“Teach me about these damn smores.” He sneers. I sat down on the floor and pointed to the spot next to me. “I have to sit on the ground. I knew this was a peasant thing.” He groans as if it was painful for him to sit down. I pass him a stick with a marshmallow at the end of it.

“You put it by the fire until it's golden brown.” I show him with my own marshmallow. He copies my actions.

“Now what?” He pulls his now golden marshmallow from the fire.

“Next, smash the marshmallow and chocolate between two graham crackers.” I showed him.

“Is it ready to eat yet?” He asks. Instead of answering, I took a bite out of my s'mores. “Muggles, everything about them is so simple.” He looks at the s'mores in disgust.

“Just eat it.” I roll my eyes. He slowly took a bite, chewed, and swallowed it while keeping a straight face. “So, what do you think?”

“It’s alright.” He shrugs his shoulders.

“Then you don’t want another?” I held out the marshmallow bag to him.

“I didn’t say that.” He took another out of the bag. I laugh, shaking my head at him. We ate s'mores after s’mores until there was only one left in the bag. I look between him and the bag, before leaping to get it. Draco must have had the same idea because I found myself holding one side of the bag while he had the other. “I thought you brought this for me?” He pulls.

“Be a gentleman and give it to me.” I pull back.

“Be a lady, don’t eat like a pig.” He pulls on the bag so hard that the upper half of my body ends up on his lap. My breasts were smashed against his crotch. “I’ll let you have the last one if you stay like this.” He pats my bum.

“How about we share and you let me up?” I counteroffer.

“I guess.” He helps me sit up.

“I’ll make it. You can set up the cracker with the chocolate.” I impale the marshmallow and put it into the fire.

“That’s enough.” He said as the marshmallow turned golden.

“No, I like it a little darker,” I told him.

“Then it’s going to be burnt.” He grabs the stick out of my hand and fixes up a s'more. “Break it in half could get messy, so I will eat my half then give you the other half.” He took a big bite out of it.

“That's more than half.” I reached for it, but he held it out of my reach.

“I’m bigger than you so I need more.” He smirks. I continue to glare at him. “If you’re going to be ungrateful, then I’m just going to finish it.” He pops the rest of it in his mouth. I tackle him to the ground. He rolls us over, pinning me down with his body. He dramatically swallowed the s'more, before planting a kiss on my lips. I kiss him back with hunger. His hands tangle into my hair, lifting my head off the ground. I pull away from the kiss and clench my eyes shut thinking about my desires.

“What wrong? Did I hurt you when I pin you down?” He let go of my hair.

“I was just getting us what we required.” I smile at the pun I made. I nod in the direction of the bed that appeared in the room.

“Good thinking, babe.” He got up to his feet and helped me up. I ran over and jumped on the bed, giggling as I bounced. He shook his head, laughing. He crawls on top of me, attaching our lips together. I slip my hand under his shirt copping a feel of his abs. He moved his lips down to my neck as he began to unbutton my shirt. I let out a moan as he bites my nipple through my bra. I yank my shirt off, before reaching behind me to unhook my bra. He pulls it off me and throws it over his shoulder. I grab his belt buckle, unfastening it with shaking hands as he worships my breasts. I unbutton his pants, pushing them and his boxer down enough to pull out his throbbing penis. I wrap my hand tightly around it. I move my hand up and down. I start off slow but pick up my speed when I felt him start to jerk and twitch.

“Fuck.” He pops my nipple out of his mouth. He pulls away from me, shedding his clothes.

“I love the strip show.” I tease. Instead of answering me, he pulls my skirt and thong off.

“Did you grow your hymen back in your time of abstinence?” He groans as he slips a finger into me, while his thumb rubs my clit.

“It’s been too long, skip the foreplay.” I felt my legs start to tremble.

“It's been so long that you need the foreplay.” He continues to finger me as he kisses his way down my body. I let out a little scream as he took my clit into his mouth. He runs his tongue up and down my vagina making me squirm. He grabs my hips to keep me still as he slips his tongue between my lower lips. I grab the back of his head, pulling him closer to me. I found myself gasping as he twists and twirls his tongue inside me. With my free hand, I grab a handful of the silk bed sheets beneath me as I feel an orgasm spasm through my body.

“I miss the taste of your pussy.” He licks my juices off his lips. The sight made me whimper as he slid back up my body. He presses his lips against mine, letting me taste myself. “Are you still on birth control?” He kneels between my legs, dragging his penis along my vagina.

“Yes,” I wrap my legs around his waist, trying to pull him closer.

“Hey, no rushing.” He gave my thigh a smack. I groan in frustration, as I grind my hips hoping to get some friction. “Okay, my little nympho the wait is over.” He hovers over me as he pushes himself into me in one swift movement. My nails drag across his back making him shiver. “Oh Merlin, I miss this feeling.” He groans, throwing his head back as he slowly moves his hips.

“Faster. Harder.” I beg between moans.

“Be patient, I’m enjoying the feeling of you.” He growls into my ear. I put my ankles above my shoulders, knowing his favorite position. He smirks as he continues his slow pace. He moves my hands making my legs fall.

“I don’t think you get what we are doing, do you?” He arches an eyebrow at me. Before I could reply, he caught my lips with his own. He picks up speed making me gasp. He took that opportunity to add his tongue into the kiss. He ran his hands up and down my sides, softly massaging them. It was at that moment I realize that we weren’t fucking like we usually do, we were making love. I buried my finger in his hair, deepening the kiss. I broke the kiss to let out a moan when he hit my g spot.

“Just when I thought I wouldn’t be able to find it again.” He smiles, thrusting his hips to hit the spot over and over again. I dig my nails into his shoulder as the pleasure reaches new heights.

“You ready to cum again?” He asks. Not being able to say anything, I nod my head. “Good, we’ll be able to cum together.” He picks up his pace as he reaches down to rub my clit. I clench down around him as I orgasm for the second time. I let out a deep satisfied sigh as I felt him shoot his hot cum inside me. He laid himself beside me. I roll into his arms, putting my head on his chest.

“If you were waiting for love to have sex, does this mean you love me?” He pulled me, so I was lying completely on top of him. His question caught me off guard, I had to think. This was different than all the other times we had sex. He was so gentle and sensual. I never thought I could feel loved after sex. This whole relationship was different from the last one we had. Instead of being part of the rotation, I was a part of his world. When I thought of my future it was hard to not picture him being a part of it.

“I thought it was obvious that I love you.” I look up at him.

“Same to you.” He smirks at me.

“Say it properly.” I pinch his nipple.

“I love you, you freak.” He slaps my hand away. I lean over and kiss the nipple I pinch. “Hey, if you get me excited again, there’s going to be another round I don’t care if you’re sore.” He warns.

“Sore? Who said I was sore? You give yourself too much credit.” I tease, rolling my eyes.

“Alright, you ask for it.” He pushes me off of him and climbs on top of me. I laughed as he began to kiss my neck.

I was sitting on the ground writing my essay on the coffee table in the common room. “Who can write a 60-inch essay on anything?” I complain, staring at the parchment. I look over my history textbook to see if I could get more information for my essay. The door slam opened, Draco wearing a suit came storming in. “Why are you wearing a suit?” I ask.

“I gatecrashed Slug’s party.” He sat down on the couch.

“You crash a party without me!” I turn around to face him.

“It was lame.” He pouts. I tilt my head, staring at him with a look of disbelief. “The food was great, but the music was boring and the people were annoying.” He grumbles.

“Sounds like one of your parent’s parties.” I try to lighten the mood.

“No, people were genuinely happy there.” His face was blank from emotions. I got off the floor and placed myself on his lap.

“What is this obsession with the Slug Club anyways?” I didn’t understand why he wanted this man’s approval so badly.

“It’s a group of future successors, I deserve to be there.” He grumbles.

“Just because Slug doesn’t see you being successful doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen. The only thing people see for me in my future is being a trophy wife, but you don’t see me caring.” I shook my head. People will glance at you and think they know everything about you. It doesn’t matter what you say nor do, they will hold on to those beliefs. So, I don’t waste my energy on proving them wrong. I just live my life.

“What do you see in your future?” He asks.

“I know it sounds average, but I want to be a housewife. Not a trophy wife, but a housewife. I want to create a warm loving home. I want to be so great of a mom that my children never have to question my love for them. I want to be the kind of wife that lets her husband know he’s loved and appreciated, even when we’re fighting. What about you?” I look down at my hands as I explain what I wanted for myself. I glanced up at him to see his reactions. He had a look of admiration on his face. I don’t know why it wasn’t like I was trying to save the world.

“I want to be happy and what you just described, I imagine is my kind of happiness.” He leans back into the couch, pulling me along with him. I cuddle into him, deciding my essay could wait another night.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I decide to stay with Draco at Hogwarts for the winter break. We were the only Slytherin who stayed. It was nice to have the whole dungeon to ourselves. At the moment, I was in Hogsmeade looking for a Christmas gift for Draco. Spintwitches Sporting Needs is where I would normally get his gift but, he wasn’t on the quidditch team anymore. I thought about getting him something from there any way to show him that he could still have fun, but I didn’t see that going over well. Nothing at Zonko's or Honeydukes caught my eye for him. I decided to take a break from gift shopping and went into Tomes and Scrolls to see if I could find any new books for me. When I went in I noticed a section I never paid attention to before, The Do It Yourself section. I was scanning through the shelves when I saw one of the book’s spine, Magic Cabinets. I grab it to skim through the book. When I saw the words vanishing cabinet, I almost jumped for joy. I went into the fiction section and got some books for myself. I put the books on the counter by the register to pay for them.

“Getting your father a Christmas gift?” The cashier smiles at me, as she scans Magic Cabinets.

“No, it’s for me.” This is ridiculous, you are a woman, don’t be sexist.

“Really?” She tilts her head to the side.

“Yeah, if you wait for a man you’ll wait forever.” I shrug.

“Well, good luck.” She giggles at me like I was some little girl who still believes in Santa Claus.

“How much is it?” I was done with this conversation.

“10 Galleons, 6 sickles, and 21 Knuts,” She told me. I handed over the money and took my shopping bag. I walk down the street looking at the different shops. I wanted to get Draco something that was not death eater related. I entered Dervish and Banges. They had all types of random items there. I pick up a sneakoscope but quickly put it back down. Considering that Draco was doing something untrustworthy all the time, it would be a horrible gift to give him. I picked up a penknife. I heard these could open any door and untie any knot. I held onto it, while I continued to look around. I looked at a beer mug, what was magically about it. I grabbed it and brought it over to the shopkeeper.

“Is there anything special about the mug?” I held it up to him.

“That mug keeps your beverage cold and the cup always filled.” He told me.

“I’ll take it and this.” I put the mug and the penknife on the counter. I paid for the items and left the store. After going to the pet store to get more supplies for Sophia and Nathan, I head back to Hogwarts. I went up to my dorm to put the things for myself and my pets away. I put the gifts I got for Draco on the bed. I gift wrap them, before putting them under the Christmas tree that was in the common room. I picked up one of the gifts that Draco got for me. I shook it while holding it up to my ear.

“Christmas needs to hurry up,” I grumble. I walk to the Room of Requirement to meet up with him. “Get anywhere while I was gone?” I ask. I quickly wish I didn’t though when I saw him. His hair was all over the place, dark circles were under his eyes, and his pants looked like they were on backward.

“Does it look like I got anywhere?” He screams. I bite my tongue, knowing how hard of a time he was having.

“I’m sure you’ll get it soon.” I force a smile.

“When?” He snaps.

“I got your Christmas gift today.” I decide to change the subject.

“About that, I don’t know if I’m going to have time for Christmas.” He turns back to the cabinet.

“No, Draco. We are having Christmas.” I grab his arm, trying to turn him around. But, he wouldn’t budge, so I moved in between him and the cabinet.

“I don’t think you understand what’s going to happen if I don’t fix this cabinet.” He growls.

“One day off won’t kill you.” I roll my eyes.

“It literally might.” He let out a bitter laugh.

“If you celebrate Christmas with me, I will never try to pull you away from the cabinet again,” If I can't persuade him, I will make a deal with him.

He looks like he was thinking it over. “Deal,” He gave me a peck on the lips.

“Merry Christmas!” I jump up and down on the bed waking Draco up.

“Love, stop,” He blindly tried to swat me away. It was comical to see how much he was missing me.

“No, come on. It is noon already. You slept half of the day away.” I shook him by his shoulders.

“Alright, take me on the ride you call Christmas.” He groans, getting up.

“No, need to leave the bed for the first part.” I push him back.

“Oh really, do I get to be naked too?” He put his thumbs under the elastic band of his underwear, ready to take it off if need be.

“If you want to I guess.” I laugh, picking up the tray that was on the desk beside us. “Brunch in bed,” I cheer, putting it down on the foot of the bed.

“I think my idea was better.” He cuts his pancakes up.

“Mine is more festive: pumpkin spice muffins, peppermint coffee, and gingerbread cookies.” I point out some of the food.

“Cookies at breakfast?” He picks one up, staring at it like it was a foreign concept.

“It’s brunch and it’s the holidays.” I ate a cookie.

“What are our Christmas plans?” He eats his pancakes.

“We are going to go outside, make a snowman, and have a snowball fight. Then we can go to the common room to make gingerbread houses over hot cocoa. After that, we’ll go to the Christmas party in the Great Hall. Finally, we will come back to the common room and open our gifts” I lay out the plans that I had for us.

“It’s going to be a long day.” He let out a deep sigh.

I roll my eyes at his stubbornness as I finish my meal. “Time to change into our snow clothes.” I cheer, walking towards his door. Before I left the room, I turned around and sternly told him, “We’ll meet in the common room in 10 minutes. Be in some winter clothes.” I walk to my room and change into a holiday sweater, a pair of thick jeans, and some snow boots. I put my hair into a high ponytail and put a beanie on. I wrap a scarf around my neck and put mittens in my back pocket. I hum a Christmas carol all the way to the common room. Draco was standing there in a thick black jacket over a black sweater, a pair of jeans, and snow boots. He was wearing a fur snow hat and a grumpy expression. I ignore that and drag him out to a courtyard.

“Do you want to make the face or the butt?” I ask about the snowman.

“Is he not going to have a stomach?” He raises an eyebrow.

“We can make that together.” I laugh.

“I’ll make whatever you don’t want to.” He shrugs. I smile at him. I appreciate him doing all these activities with me, even if he was going to be grumpy the whole time.

“You can make the butt,” I told him. He let out a big sigh as he began to make a big ball of snow. I look around for little rocks to make up his eyes, nose, and mouth. After that, I sat down on the ground and began to create his head. I felt a sense of pride at the perfect sphere until I looked up to see how huge of a snowball his butt was going to be. It was up to Draco’s waist, the small head I made would look ridiculous on him.

“Draco, I think that’s big enough!” I cup my hands around my mouth to project my voice.

He grunts in response, as he walks over to me to see the head I made. “He’s going to look like he got a shrunken head.” He laughs.

“I know that's why I’m going to make it bigger.” I grab more snow.

“No, leave it like that.” He smiles. I agree since it put him in the holiday spirit. I put his eyes, nose, and mouth on as he stood there watching me the whole time laughing.

“Okay, let’s make the middle.” I got up. We roll up some snow to make the middle. I pat it down to make it tight as he piles more snow on top of it.

“Now for the most intense part, putting it together.” I pick it up by one side while he picks it up by the other. We place it on top of the bigger snowball. “You have to put the head on because I can’t reach,” I told him. The snowman was at my height right now. I didn’t want to knock it over, trying to put the head-on.

“Gladly,” He picks up the small head to put on the big body. We broke out in laughter as we looked at our work.

“He needs arms,” I notice.

“I’ll go break some off that tree.” He was going to tear them off, but I stopped him.

“There's no need to do that, just grab it off the ground.” I point at the sticks piled up on the ground.

“You’re brilliant. He can have small arms to go with his head.” He grabs the smallest sticks he could find. He stuck them into the middle part of the snowman.

“Does he remind you of Crabbe?” I took a step back to get a better look at him.

“He does,” He said through laughter. “What next on your Christmas list?” He asks once he catches his breath. I bent down to pick up a ball of snow, only to get hit in the face by snow myself. “Snowball fight!” He runs across the courtyard to hide behind a tree.

My jaw dropped at how enthusiastic he was all of a sudden. I ran over to the other side of the courtyard while getting hit by snowballs. I hide behind a big boulder, shaking the snow off. I created some ammo, before sticking my head out to see Draco had climbed a tree. “Bastard,” I hissed and threw a snowball. I hit his feet, but I also caught a snowball to the face. “Why is his aim so good?” I growl, wiping the snow off. I throw a snowball without sticking my head out.

“You hit the trunk.” He laughs at my sad throw.

“Damn it,” I curse myself. I took a deep breath, before sticking my upper body out from behind the boulder to successfully hit him in the chest. In doing that, I took a hit to the face and the chest. I let out a frustrated scream and grabbed as many snowballs as I could. I ran towards the tree, throwing snowballs at him. Once I got under the tree, he shook a branch making a ton of snowfall on me. I fell down from the impact.

“Nikki, are you okay?” He jumps down.

“I’m fine,” I try to unbury myself. He helps me out and picks me up. I shiver in his arms, the snow had sunk in through my clothes.

“Let's get you warmed up,” He carries me back to the castle.

I let out a deep sigh as the hot water hit my body. “Alright, stop hogging all the hot water.” Draco pushes me out from under the showerhead.

“You’re not the one that got buried in snow.” I try to squeeze my way back.

“I’m the Christmas hostage.” He held me up against the wall by my shoulders.

“You are having fun,” I argue.

“Or am I putting on a show for you?” He tilts his head.

“I’m going to wash myself.” I glare.

He drops his hands to his side. “That is my job.” He grabs the soap before I could.

“No,” I pout like a child. He lathers the soap in his hand before he rubs it all over my body. He took extra time cleaning my private areas. He grabs me by the waist and pulls me under the hot sprays. As the water rinsed the soap off my body, I put a handful of shampoo in my palm to wash my hair. Draco’s hands ran along my body, teasing my clit and nipples. When I finish with my hair, I grab the soap to lather up his body, avoiding his penis.

“Come on, don't tease.” He groans. I lather my hands up before letting it fall to his shaft. I pump him a few times then move my hands to his thighs. He let out a growl at my movement.

“What? You have to wash your legs too.” I looked at him innocently. Instead of responding, he wraps his hand around his penis to jerk himself off. “That is my job,” I slapped his hand away.

“Hey, be careful. You almost hit my dick.” He flicks my ear.

“I’m sorry,” I drop to my knees to give it a kiss. He let out a loud moan as I took his whole shaft into my mouth. I let saliva gather in my mouth before I start to move up and down as my tongue swirls around him. He grabs me by the root of my hair to speed up my movements. I raise one hand to grip his thigh for balance while the other caresses his balls.

“I’m going to cum, where do you want it?” He asks. I hum around him in response, making him grip my hair tighter. I swallowed when his hot seed filled my mouth. I got up when he finished.

“I’ll meet you in the common room.” I got out. I dried myself off. I wrap a towel around my body and another around my hair. I walk to my room and grab my wand off my dresser. I free my hair to do a spell to dry and straighten it. I dropped my towel to cover myself in black bra and boy shorts. I slip on a holiday sweater dress. I pull on some black tights and heel boots. I did a few quick spells to give myself red lips, light blush, and thick eyelashes. I carry a bag that contains two mugs, hot cocoa mix, a bottle of water, two gingerbread boxes, cans of frosting, and several bags of candies to the common room. I set up the mugs and made hot cocoa. Draco walks down from his dorm in a white t-shirt and jeans when I finish setting everything up.

“Well, don’t you look festive?” I eye his regular outfit in disgust.

“I don’t have holiday clothes.” He eyes my outfit in the same manner.

“Do you want to work together or make it a competition?” I ask.

“What would I win?” He hovers over me.

“What makes you think you’re going to win?” I arch an eyebrow

“Well, I built most of the snowman and I definitely won the snowball fight. I’m just better at these holiday activities than you are.” He smirks.

“What would you want if you win?” I ignore the jab he threw at me.

“If I win I want you to give me a massage every day before I go to sleep for the rest of the school year.” He said smugly like he already won.

“When I win I want you to carry my bag around for the rest of the school year.” I thought about how my shoulders were hurting throughout the day.

He grabbed some books and stood them up to divide the table. “This way we won’t be able to see the others work until we are both finished.” He sat down on one side of the table. I rearranged the table so that we had a little bit of everything on each side. I took a seat on the other side of the table. “Ready! Set! Go!” He yells. I began to work on my gingerbread house.

I put down the frosting bag after I finished the detail on the last window. “I’m done!” I smile at my work.

“Me too!” He sounds muffled.

I took down the books to see that he had nothing on his plate. “You didn’t even do anything!” I look from his plate to his full mouth.

“I tried and failed, so I decided to enjoy myself.” He pops a gumdrop in his mouth.

“Start working out, because you’ll be carrying my bag for the rest of the term.” I challenge him.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be able to handle it.” He flexes his muscle.

I reach over to feel his arm, “I’m not impressed.”

“I impress you in the shower.” He teases.

“That’s a different muscle.” I sass, causing him to laugh. “Do you want to go to dinner?”

“No, I’m full of gingerbread and candy.” He rubs his stomach.

“I guess I can have a gingerbread house for dinner too.” I look at my hard work, not sure if I wanted to eat it.

“I’ll help you.” He reaches over to break my house.

“You said you were full.” I slapped his hand away.

“You looked like you were having a hard time.” He reaches over to get another slap.

“I’m fine.” I pick one of the gumdrops off the roof.

“You’ll be here all night.” He rips off the chimney.

My jaw drops at his destruction. “Guess there no point in preserving now.” I took off part of the roof.

“It’s food. You would eat it or the bugs would.” He rolls his eyes.

“Let’s open gifts,” I drag him over to the tree. I handed three to Draco and kept two to myself.

“I should have known better than to put my gifts under the tree.” He glares at me.

“Why? What’s wrong?” I sat down next to him.

“You got me three gifts, knowing that I only got you two.” He grumbles.

“If it bothers you, I can take one back.” I reach for one, only to have him pull it out of my reach.

“You can’t take back a gift.” He looks at me like I lost my mind.

I giggle at his childlike behavior. “We can take turns opening gifts. You go first,” I told him. He opens the smallest one first revealing a penknife. “It can open any door and untie any knot,” I explain.

“I’ll remember to use this the next time you get mad at me and lock your door.” He smirks. I gasp, not believing my own gift backfired on me. I pick up my smallest gift, ripping off the gift wrap like a wild child.

“You are making a mess.” He picks up the piece of wrapping paper that fell on his lap. I open up the box to see a beautiful blue gem turtle necklace. “It’s a locket.” He shows me how to open it. There was a picture of him spinning me around as we danced at the Halloween party from first year. He came up to me with a glass of punch and danced with me all night. He made me feel like I was the only girl in the world. That was the night that my crush on him grew to an infatuation. It was also the start of our cat and mice game.

“I love it, put it on me,” I turn around.

He helped me put in on, before opening his next gift. “A beer mug?” He asks.

“It is supposed to keep your drink cold and your glass always filled,” I told him.

“Thanks, love.” He gave me a peck on the cheek.

I open my last gift in the same manner that I open my first one. I opened up the big box and saw two stuffed animals. They look exactly like Nathan and Sophie. “Aw, your gifts are so much more personal than mine.” I hug both the stuffed animals close to me.

“I try my best.” He shrugs like it was no big deal.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone how sweet you are.” I gave him a kiss.

“And we are even with three gifts each.” He smiles like he redeems himself in some way.

“Time for your last gift.” I gesture to the last gift on his lap. He tears off the wrapping paper and stares at the book in awes. He opens it up to find the section on vanishing cabinets. He pulls me onto his lap and covers my face in kisses.

“Thank you so much. I can’t believe you found a book on it.” He hugs me tightly. I giggle, happy with the affection that I was getting. “Let's eat the rest of your gingerbread mansion.” He picks me up, walking over to the couch to sit me down on his lap.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I felt like a zombie as I dragged myself to the bathroom. I spoiled myself over the break sleeping in. Now, I was suffering the consequences of having to adjust my sleep cycle to my class schedule. I throw my hair up into a messy bun, not even bothering to brush it. In a sloth-like manner, I change into my uniform. I grab my bag off my bed, before heading to the Great Hall. I sat down next to Draco and poured myself a cup of coffee.

“Don't you look like hell?” Parkinson smirks. With not enough brain cells awake to come up with a witty response, I growl baring my teeth at her. She screams, holding her hands over her heart.

“Did Greyback bite you over winter break?” Blaise laughs. Instead of responding, I drank my coffee. I was going to need the caffeine to get through the day.

“No, but I bite her a few times,” Draco smirks. The boys laugh with him as Parkinson glares at me. I smile at her, knowing she couldn’t do anything to me. When we first got together, she screamed and launched at me. Draco grabs her before she could touch me. She cries at the tightness of his grip. He whispers something in her ear that made her turn white. Since that day she would throw dirty looks and make sly comments, but she never made a move to harm me. Even when I would shoulder check her, she keeps moving as if I did nothing.

“That must be it then, you infected her.” Blaise snickers.

“Injected is a better word for what I did to her.” He winks. Blaise, Goyle, and Crabbe threw their heads back laughing. I gave him a harsh smack on the shoulder. “What, love? You have to admit that was funny.” He throws one of his famous smirks my way.

“It was perverted.” I snap, anger that my hit didn't harm him in any way.

“You would have laughed if you weren't so tired.” He nudges me. I roll my eyes, not wanting to admit that he was right. When I was feeling better, I probably would think back to this moment and have a giggle.

“Her being tired isn't a reason for her to be nasty. Look at you, Dracey. You look exhausted and you're still chipper.” She ran her foot up my leg. I could only assume that gesture was meant for Draco.

“That's my leg, you tart.” I sneer.

“Oops,” She pouts. I let out another growl.

“Hard-working men are used to being tired, while sweet princesses aren't.” He pinches my cheek. I decided to ignore his comment and the rest of their conversion as I ate my oatmeal.

I went through the rest of the day in that drowsy state, until I went to history class. Professor Binns' boring voice was like a lullaby. I found my head hitting the table. I didn't come back into the conscious world until the sound of chairs moving and other people talking filled my ears. I curse myself for not being able to stay awake for the class since I now had a free block. I gather up my blank parchment and dry quill. I exit the room and head towards the bathroom. I was interrupted by an arm pulling me into an abandoned classroom.

“Oh come on, this again!” I yell, seeing the golden trio surround me. At least this time I was standing and not tied down.

“This time we know that you know.” Potter put his finger in my face.

“How can you be so sure that this time is different?” I ask.

“Because I saw you go to the Room of Requirements with him.” He grinds his teeth.

“Could you be any more of a stalker?” I roll my eyes.

“I do what I have too.” He glares.

“We have wild kinky sex.” I wink.

“What!” He cries out, looking appalled.

“That's what we do in the room.” I taunt him.

“You are such a liar!” He hisses.

“I'm going to leave this room now and you aren't going to stop me,” I told him in a stern voice.

“I will stop you.” He let out a bitter laugh.

“You will not. Because, if you do, I'm going to have to let Snape know that I'm being harassed.” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Then I would have to let Dumbledore know what Draco is up to.” He shrugs, smirking at me like he had it all figured out.

“Tell Dumbledore what exactly, that we are having wild kinky sex. I mean that against the rules, but I think harassment is worse. Especially since that harassment includes holding me hostage twice to questioning me about your delusions.” My smirk grew as I watched his disappear. He stood there staring me down. “Are you going to move?” I snap.

“Harry, let her go.” Granger pulls him out of my way. I shot Potter a smug look as I walked past him. My confidence vanishes as I walk out of the room. I needed to tell Draco about this but he was in the Room of Requirement at the moment. I couldn't go there right now with the golden trio following me. I couldn't risk being the reason Draco gets caught. I decided to go to the library to throw them off his trail. There I found Neville. I sat down across from him.

“I thought our friendship had to be a secret.” Neville looked shocked.

“Screw reputation, how much does it matter in the long run?” I shrug. I rather live my life being judged while enjoying myself, then be miserable while being considered a model citizen among the purebloods. Neville seems to beam up after hearing that. He went on to talk about his plants, although I understood nothing. I watch him with interest. There was something fascinating about watching someone talk about their passion. The way their eyes twinkle, excitement fuels their voice, and the wide bright smile that took up their faces. It was something I admire and envy because I haven't found my passion yet.

“Do you want to do something in the Defense against the Dark Arts field? You would be a great teacher.” He looks at me curiously. I smile while shaking my head. “Then what do you want to be?”

“I want to be a wife and mother. I want to create a loving home for my kids to grow up in.” I explain.

“I think you would make a great mother, you are very patient.” He smiles.

“Thanks and you're going to be the best Herbology professor ever.” I compliment him.

“Well, if you ever change your mind, we could both be professors here. Imagine the fun we could have.” He looks so excited about his future.

“If being in school for the rest of your life is your version of fun then you have a very twisted sense of humor, Longbottom.” I tease.

“You better be nice to me, I'm going to teach your children.” He stuck his tongue out.

“Then I truly feel for them.” I wink.

“Potter is suspicious,” I inform him.

“What!” Draco snaps, slamming the cabinet shut.

“The golden trio pulled me into a classroom today, interrogated me,” I explain.

“About what?” He hisses through his teeth.

“What do you think?” I raise my eyebrow.

“What did you say?” He stood over me.

“What do you think?” I repeat myself, not liking what he was accusing me of.

“You better not have said anything.” He grips both my arms tightly.

“I told him something, alright.” I glare at him.

“What did you tell him?” He wraps his hands around my throat. I struggled against him, making him tighten his grip. After a while I stopped moving and focused on my breathing, that's when I felt his hands shaking. I turn my sights on him to see the fear that was in his eyes. At that moment I was no longer angry, I felt sympathetic for him. I knew that was crazy considering the position he had me in.

“I told him that we were having wild kinky sex in here,” I whisper due to the pressure he was putting on my throat. He instantly let go of me. I took a deep breath, trying to refill my lung as fast as I could.

“Oh, thank Merlin.” He let out an exhausted laugh of relief. “Don't scare me like that again.” He scolds me.

“Don't accuse me of being disloyal again.” I glare. Was he going to blame me for what he just did?

“I'm sorry for that, for everything.” He caresses my throat, which I'm sure was bruised.

“It's not you, it's just the situation.” I shook my head.

“Stop! Stop making excuses for me. You sound like my mother and that makes me feel like my father.” He ran his hands over his face.

“I don't know what to do, Draco. I want to support you.” I could feel tears building up in my eyes at the hopelessness in my chest.

“And you are doing a great job of supporting me. I'm just stressed. All this work I'm doing seems to get me nowhere.” He let out a sigh.

“I could do more than support.” I offer.

“No, I told you already. I want your hands clean of this.” He shook his head.

“Then, you tell me what to do because I'm gone guessing. I try to be your cheerleader and end up annoying you. I try to be your relaxation from it and you say I'm wasting your time. I try to be your assistant and you roadblock me. Tell me what you want me to do, Draco.” I cross my arms over my chest.

“Maybe it's better if I do this alone.” He stares at something behind me.

“You are doing this alone.” I move to put myself in his line of vision, only for him to turn his head.

“What I mean is that you shouldn't come along with me anymore.” He let out a sigh, still not look at me.

“Oh... if that's what you want.” I turn around and walk towards the door.

“Nicole, don't be mad!” He yells after me.

“I'm not mad!” I slam the door on my way out. “I'm hurt,” I whisper to myself as I wipe the tears away.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“So, this is your beloved niffler.” Robert watches Sophia and him play together.

“Hagrid gave him to me,” I told him.

“Hey, that's my watch.” He points at Nathan carrying a watch out of his burrow.

“I didn’t know that he travels into the castle.” I shrug my shoulders. I’m used to seeing my fellow student’s things in Nathan’s mouth.

“It must have been when I went swimming in the black lake.” He glares at my niffler.

“You swim with your watch on?” I ask.

“No, I took it off and put it in my bag. When I looked for it the next day, it was gone. I thought it must have dropped out of my bag. Do you think he’ll give it back to me?” He scans Nathan, noticing his claws and teeth.

“You can try, but his teeth are sharp.” I tease.

“Get it for me!” He demands.

“Are you scared of a tiny animal?” I did a dramatic gasp.

“I’m not trying to get bitten by even a mosquito.” He narrows his eyes at me.

I laugh as I call Nathan over. “Give Robert’s watch back,” I demand, knowing how possessive he was over his treasure. I had to throw him a stern look before he gave it back to Robert.

“He cleaned it.” He looks at his watch in amazement.

“Niffler treats their treasures very well,” I explain.

“In that case, he can steal it every once in a while. I normally have to pay a lot of money to get it clean like this.” He slides his watch back onto his wrist. “How are you and Malfoy?” He asks. I bite my lip, not knowing how to answer that because I couldn’t tell him about the vanishing cabinet. “That bad.” He read my facial expression.

“I can tell that something is bothering him lately, but it's so hard to get him to open up,” I explain my situation the best way I could without being too vague.

“The pureblood family is about the illusion of the perfect life. They brag, have angry rants, but never sob about their lives.” He tries to make me feel better.

“Illusions are for outsiders. I’m not an outsider, I’m his girlfriend.” I defend my position, though I was defending it to the wrong person.

“Have you told him that?” He asks.

“I have tried everything to get him open up to me, but he always shuts me out. Now, we are stuck in this weird awkward place, where we are both pretending everything alright. Even though we both know the other knows we are far from alright.” I sigh.

“You knew what you were getting into when you agreed to be the girlfriend of a lost angry soul.” He shrugs his shoulders, deciding to tell me the blunt truth since I didn’t go for his other reasoning. I throw my head back into the tree making a soft thump. My hands subconsciously toying with my scarf, as I let his words sink in. What did I get myself into?

“Where the hell did I put it?” I turned my whole room upside down looking for my astronomy textbook, but I couldn’t find it. I try to think about the last place I had it. I remember that I let Draco borrow mine because he threw his textbook in the Black Lake when he got frustrated. I made my way to his room. I didn’t see it on his bookshelf or on top of his desk. I hesitated before opening the drawers to dig through them. I felt bad for invading his privacy, but I need to get this essay done. I could have gone and asked him where it is, but he was working on the cabinet. I had too much pride to go in there after he banished me. I saw a letter that had my name in it. I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing it.

Dear Draco Malfoy,
         This letter is to inform you about our discussion of you finding a wife to carry on our bloodline. I have thought about what you said and I decided that you can marry Nicole Lopes. Her mother may be the worst kind of bloody traitor, but your mother made a good point. In all the time that you have had her over she has never shown any signs of being one. But, if I see anything that makes me suspicious you will get rid of her permanently.  
Sincerely,

Lucifer Malfoy

I sat down as I read the letter a second time, not believing what I was reading. The letter was short and put so many questions into my head. Who the hell said anything about marriage? Was he only with me, because his parents wanted him to settle down? Is he planning on making me into some brainwash death eater wife? What does he mean by getting rid of me permanently? I didn’t even know that his dad felt this way about me. The long hair weasel always smiles when I go there. I wonder if his son is as good of an actor as he is. I stood up with the letter in hand and made my way to the Room of Requirements. I storm in to find him with a dead bird in his hands, a deep frown on his face, and tears in his eyes. But, I wasn’t going to pity him when I didn’t even know what his intentions with me were.

“What is this?” I throw the letter at his chest. It hit the ground since his hands were full. He put the bird down and picked up the letter.

“What are you doing digging through my things?” He growls, making me want to crawl into a hole.

“Where is my astronomy book?” I felt a bubble rise in my chest as my rage flattened.

“What does that have to do with you invading my privacy?” He took a step towards me. I froze remembering his hands around my neck. My bruises were a fading yellow now that I cover up with a scarf. “Are you going to answer me?” He snaps.

“I was looking for it,” I squeaked out.

“It’s in my bag. I’m sure you can get it yourself since you feel so comfortable to go through my things.” He points to his bag on the ground by the cabinet. I gingerly walk around him and over to his bag. I looked over to see that he was in the same spot as before. I bent down to grab my book from his bag. I made my way over to the door, having lost all courage to confront him. “So what, that’s it? You don’t want to ask me about the letter?” He asks, making me freeze.

“If you want to tell me?” I turn around.

“What if I don’t want to tell you, are you going to accept that?” He raises an eyebrow. I opened my mouth, but quickly shut it when I didn’t know what to say. “I notice that you have been avoiding having any confrontation with me lately.” He took a step closer. I had to fight the instinct inside of me to take a step back. When he saw that I was staying, he walked over to me. “What happened the last time isn’t going to happen again.” He unwrapped the scarf from around my throat. “It makes me sick to see what I did to you.” He rubs the bruise. I wanted to believe him, but I knew rage. It made you do things without thinking, like how I came in here. “If it happens again I will permanently remove myself from your life.” He told me, seeing the doubt in my eyes.

“What do, you Malfoys, mean when you say permanently remove?” I remember the same phrase in the letter.

He let out a dry laugh. “When I say it, it means that I will do everything in my power to make sure you never see my face again. I’ll switch my classes, not go to school functions, and if I see you anywhere I’ll be the one to leave.” He explains.

“And when your dad says it?” I ask, knowing the answer.

“I think you can use your imagination for that.” He looks down at his feet.

“You don’t think you should tell someone when their life is in danger by being with you.” I wrap my arms around myself.

“You’re not a bloody traitor.” He shook his head.

“I don’t have to be, he just has to have a suspicion.” I watched as he let out a deep sigh.

“He is a spineless coward. He is not going to do anything. I won’t let him.” He hugs me tightly and gives me a kiss on the forehead.

“Are you with me, because your parents want you to settle down?” I built up the courage to ask.

“When they told me I had to get married, your face was the one that popped into my mind? I think deep down, I always knew you were the end game for me.” He let me go and look into my eyes.

“So, you want to be with me? I’m not just another mission, am I?” I ask, even though I fear what the answer would be.

“You are the only good thing in this whole complicated situation. Believe me when I say I keep you in the dark because I want to protect you. Look, at how much you’re hurting right now over something that doesn’t matter. Our relationship, my feelings for you are real, I wouldn’t put up with your craziness if it wasn’t.” He gave me a kiss.

I wrap my arms around his neck. This kiss was different from the rest. It was filled with desperation, want, and need. He was convincing me to stay with his kiss and I can easily say that I wasn’t going anywhere. As we pull away for air, a thought pops into my mind. “Who did your parents want you to marry?”

“My mom wanted me to decide. My dad wanted Pansy, he said she’s submissive only to me. Apparently that all it takes to be a good wife.” He snorts.

“You don’t agree.” I tease.

“It’s fun at first, but after a while, it's like going out with yourself. I find that it is more appealing to be with a girl that has her own mind.” He smiles. I couldn’t stop the large goofy smile that was spreading across my face. “So, you got to get over the fear, alright. It was an isolated incident, I swear. There are a lot of scary things in this world, but I’m not one of them.” He rubs my throat. It was easier to fight the instinct to move away from him.

“No, you’re my teddy bear.” I gave him a hug. He groans at the pet name I gave him.

“I will not answer to that name in public.” He told me. I laugh, before pulling him into a kiss.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I dipped my bread into the tomato soup, before taking a bite out of it. The soup was definitely what my body wanted on this cold day.

Blaise sat down across from me grinning ear to ear, letting me know that he had top-notch gossip to tell. “Bell finally woke up. Today suppose to be her first day back.”

“She only woke up now. Didn’t she pass out months ago?” I felt a little guilty for forgetting about the girl, no matter how much I had going on myself.

“Well, she did touch a cursed necklace that was meant to kill someone.” He points out.

“Did she say who did it?” I hope they caught the person responsible. It was scary to think someone was willing to put an innocent life at risk to do such a horrible act.

“She can’t remember anything. Not who gave the necklace or who she was supposed to give it to.” He shook his head.

“How do you know all this?” I ask, even though I knew he wouldn’t tell me. He likes to be mysterious.

“Now, if I reveal my sources I will never get information from them again.” He shrugs his shoulder to say sorry, not sorry.

“Then I’ll just have to stick with my theory that you’re shagging a professor to get this inside information.” I shrug in the same manner.

“Don’t be disgusting, they're all old and gross.” He pulls a face.

“If they were good looking, you would be willing to sleep with them for information.” I arch an eyebrow.

“If they're good looking, I would sleep with them regardless. So, I might as well get the information too.” He smirks mischievously, causing me to giggle. “Look there she is now.” He points across the room at the poor girl.

A few people were coming up to her, asking her how she was. I couldn’t help, but roll my eyes at them. If they actually care about her, they wouldn’t need to ask because they would know already. They would have been checking up on her when she was in the hospital. They would’ve been there helping her through the physical and mental trauma she went through when she woke up. No, they didn’t care, they were just nosey. I suppose I couldn’t judge too much, since I found Blaise humorous for his nosey nature.

I perked up in the seat when I saw Harry Potter go up to her. Before he could even open his mouth she shook her head letting him know that she didn’t remember anything. He was nodding his head when something caught his eye over her shoulder. She looked back to see what he was looking at. I did the same. Draco was standing there as still as a statue. He was staring at Bell like he saw a ghost. In that instant, I realized that he was the one who cursed her. I cringe when I see that Potter came to the same conclusion as me. Draco turns around and runs out the door, with Potter hot on his trail.

I look at Blaise and thank Merlin that he was flirting with Daphne. This way I was able to slip away without anyone questioning me. I walked out of the Great Hall and cursed when I saw they were nowhere in sight. I try to think of where Draco would go. I decided to go to the part of the castle that was less populated right now. I was running down the halls as my anxiety got the best of me. I realize that Draco didn’t know that Potter was following him. When he realized that he was being followed, in his panic state he would no doubt throw a hex at Potter. As confident I was in Draco’s ability, I couldn’t help but feel that Potter would win that matchup. He is the boy that was allergic to failure.

I stopped to catch my breath when I saw Potter run out of a room and right past me like he didn’t see me. Dread filled me, his behavior was as if he was leaving the scene of a crime he committed. I slowly walk into the room, scared to see what I would find. I let out a silent gasp, tears running down my face as I took in the sight of Draco lying in a puddle of his own blood. His once white shirt was completely red, skin as white as snow, and his body looked lifelessly limp. It wasn’t until I noticed his shirt turning back to white and the blood puddle getting smaller that I realized someone else was in the room. Professor Snape was kneeling over him. He was muttering a healing spell. I moved closer to watch him as he healed, but he stayed unconscious.

“Do you know of a place we could take him to sleep this off?” Snape stood up and looked down at me.

“We aren’t going to take him to the hospital wing?” I trust Snape’s work, but it would be nice to have a professional look him over.

“That would lead to too many questions.” He gave me a stern look, letting me know we weren’t going to be doing that. He was right, I wouldn’t be able to say Potter attacked him, because then the question of why he would do that would come up, and then Draco would be in trouble.

“My dorm,” I thought of the place that I loved for the alone time I could get in there.

“Don’t you have a roommate?” He asks.

“We made a wall, so we could have our own rooms,” I told him. It was against the rules, but I didn’t think that would matter at the moment. He must have had the same thought for he went from surprise, annoy, to agreeable.

“We will wait for classes to start and then we’ll move him there.” He instructed. I nod, agreeing with his plan. He moves to the entrance of the bathroom to stop anyone from coming in. I kneel down beside Draco, caressing his face. “Alright, it's time.” Snape moved back over to us, picking Draco up. We move quietly and quickly to my dorm. He put him down on my bed. “I trust that you will be able to take care of him from here.”

“How long will he be asleep for?” I want to know how long I should wait before getting worried that he might not wake up.

“A few hours, he will wake up with a nasty headache and a dry throat.” He informs me.

“I can take care of that.” I plan to fill the mug I got him for Christmas with ice-cold water. Without another word, he left me alone to deal with Draco. I got the mug ready and put it down on my nightstand. I changed him out of his damp clothes and into the pair of flannel pants and shirt he left in my room. To keep busy and I clean my room and Sophia’s cage. Every once in a while I would look over to watch his chest rise and fall to remind myself that he was going to be okay. I was in the bathroom, scrubbing the tub when I heard coughing. I ran to him, giving him the mug. He drank as if he had been lost in the desert for days. I rub his back as he comes up for air.

“What happened?” He passes me the mug and I put it back on the nightstand.

“You and Potter got into some kind of fight. Snape and I found you on the ground in a pool of your own blood.” I cried as the image came back to me. He pulls me into a hug and kisses my forehead. I felt guilty that he had to comfort me again when he was the one going through all the pain. “Snape was able to heal you. We brought you up here to rest. I couldn’t take you to the hospital wing. It would bring up too many questions. I change you out of your wet clothes and clean the dorm.” I gave him a play by play of everything that happened while he was unconscious.

“I’m sorry you had to see me like that.” He gave my hip a squeeze.

“You’re okay now, so it’s all good.” I pat his chest as I lay my head on his shoulder.

“I never meant to hurt her. She was supposed to give it to Dumbledore.” He frowns, sounding so weak. He was filled with grief and guilt that he almost took an innocent person's life, although he would have to do that soon anyway. Hearing him say that reminded me of what I thought hours ago, that I hope the person who hurt Bell would get caught and punished. I guess in a way I got my wish.

“Well, it's even now. You both got attacked and almost died.” I try to ease his conscience. He hums in response. “I love you.” I kiss his jawline.

“Are you only saying that because I almost died?” He teases.

“When I saw you lying there, I thought I would never get to say that to you again.” I drape myself over him.

“I love you too.” He squeezes me tight. Not to the point that it hurt, but enough to pull me flat against his body. “In that split second from being hit with the hex and going into unconsciousness, I had the same thought.” He sways us back and forth. “I want you to know that I have loved you, since that night.” He opens the locket that was around my neck.

“Really?” I look up at him.

“I remember the first time I saw you sitting on the stool with the sorting hat on your head. I thought you were the most beautiful person I had ever seen. I was so happy when I heard you got sorted into Slytherin, for I knew that I would too. I build the courage to approach you at the Halloween dance. We dance, talk, laugh all night. I never felt so carefree in all my life. I knew with you, I can feel that way for the rest of my life. We just have to get over this hurdle.” He ran his fingers through my hair.

“I never had sex with anyone else. The farthest I went was oral.” I confess. In pettiness I always let him use his own imagination. His near-death experiences made me not want to hold anything back. Because the reality of the matter was we didn’t know how much longer either of us had. We were about to be in the middle of a war. He was being forced to help start it.

“Good to know, but that's all the details I need.” He made a face at the thought of me being with someone else. I giggle as I lean forward to connect our lips. He kisses me back, making passion and hunger run through my body. He nibbles on my bottom lip as he pulls back. He gave me a peck on the lips as he cups my face. “I have never given any other girl a gift before, only you. Your favorite necklace, the one that you can’t remember who you got it from, it’s from me.” He plays with the locket around my neck. Although that wasn’t the necklace he was talking about. It was the one I adore for years, the black heart with my name engraved across, and the green diamond surrounding it. I remember the smug look he had when I was wearing it while I was with James. “I gave it to you on the first valentine’s day we shared together.”

“I remember.” I nod. He woke me up in the middle of the night and took me down to the common room. There were candles everywhere, all the furniture was moved. In the middle of the room was a blanket with a picnic basket. After having a nice midnight snack, we end up having sex right there. We lay on the ground in the aftermath with the blanket over us. He handed me the box that had the necklace in it. I remember feeling so special, only for Parkinson to tell me the next day that she got the same kind of necklace from him. “Parkinson said you gave her the same necklace. But when I asked to see it, she caused a scene.” I laugh at the memory.

“That sounds like her.” His laugh turns into a yawn.

“Maybe you should get some more sleep. Let your body heal itself.” I told him.

“Whatever you say, nurse. I want you to be wearing the uniform when I wake up.” He let out a tired laugh as his eyes slowly closed and sleep took over him.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Have you ever read a book or watch a movie/TV show and the characters are in a timed high-risk situation, but they still take the time to have sex? You’re sitting there thinking what is wrong with their priorities. They can’t afford to lose any time. All their attention should be on solving the problem they’re in, seeing as how their lives literally depend on it. I’m here to tell you that they do it because they need to relieve stress. They need a moment of bliss to be able to think clearly about the problem at hand. Or maybe this is all bullshit that I made up in my head to justify why we were having sex when we should be researching and fixing the cabinet.I moan, throwing my head back as I rotate my hips to hit my sweet spot. Using my hips, he pushes me down as he thrusts up into me. My hands went from my breast to his chest to steady myself as an orgasm ran through me. He flips me over and gives me a couple of deep thrusts before he reaches his own climax. I shivered as he shot his hot cum inside me.“That is a great way to start the day.” Draco rolls off of me.“Too bad we don’t normally wake up early enough to start every day like this.” I giggled, as I got out of bed to get ready.“I don’t normally get in early enough to have an early morning.” He yawns, slowly getting up. “I’ll take the bathroom first because I’m faster.” He walks over to the door.“Knock first, I share that bathroom,” I remind him. I didn’t need to have another argument with that girl about how she didn’t want my pervert boyfriend walking in on her again. It happened once while she was popping a zit in the mirror, but the way she talks about it you would think she was getting out of the shower. He pounds on the door and goes in after not hearing anything.  I thought back to his last comment and snorted. We were pretty even with the time he took on his hair. That fact was proven when he came out of the bathroom after I changed into my uniform, brushed, and straightened my hair. I went into the bathroom to use the toilet and brush my teeth. I came out to sit on the vanity desk. I wave my wand to put on some natural color makeup for the day. I smack my lips together and spin around in the chair.“I’ve been waiting forever.” He sighs dramatically.“Just be lucky that I have magic. It would have been ten times longer manually.” I tease.“Those poor muggle men,” He shook his head. I laughed as I got up and picked up my bag. He grabs my bag from me and we walk out to begin our day.I was leaving my last class, happy to be done with them for the day. Blaise came up from behind me and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “I got an opportunity for you.”“What opportunity would that be?” I ask as he guides me somewhere. He stops in front of the quidditch arena. “Why are we here?”  “Draco quit the team. Our second-stringer got seriously hurt and doesn’t want to play anymore. We haven’t been able to find a replacement.” He pulls me into the arena.“Oh no, I’m not doing it.” I tried to pull out of his grip, but he was stronger than me. He was able to drag me into the middle of the quidditch field, where James was waiting for us. “I’ve never even played that position before. I’m normally a keeper or chaser.” I wondered why they thought I would be good for this.“To be a seeker, you just have to be fast and have good vision. You win every broom race we ever had. And, you are able to spot your favorite brand of shoes a mile away.” Blaise tries to persuade me.“Are you really comparing a pair of shoes to a small fast snitch?” I put my hands on my hips.“How about we see if you got what it takes?” James held out a broom.“What am I supposed to do with that?” I raise an eyebrow.“Caught this,” He held out a golden snitch.“I’m wearing a skirt.” I pull on the end of the Slytherin skirt. Blaise grabs a pair of bike shorts out of his bag. “How did you get those?” I snatch my shorts from him.“Does it matter?” He asks. I gawk at him, for it every much matter how he was able to get a personal item of mine. “Just go change and try out. If you have no potential, then I’ll leave you alone.” He sighs. I put on the bike shorts under my skirt and grab the broom. “And you have to put real effort into. I’ll know if you’re not.” He gave me a pointed look. I let out a chuckle because the thought of putting in no effort did cross my mind.“Let’s see what you can do.” James let go of the snitch. In a blink of an eye, it was out of sight. I took off after it. I kept my eyes and ears open as I flew around the arena. I was ready to give up after doing a few laps when I saw the golden ball in the distance. I made a beeline for it. As if snitch could sense me getting close, it took off. I follow it, not wanting to lose sight of it. I took the first opportunity I could to grab it when I was in arms reach. The boys cheered as I brought the snitch back to them.“I would say you got the position.” James took the snitch from me.“The only dilemma is that I don’t want the position.” I roll my eyes at these boys. They didn’t seem to take into consideration that I didn’t want to be a part of their team.“Why not?” James yells.  “Do it for me.” Blaise put his hand on my shoulder.“I’m going to need more than that.” I push his hand off me.“Do it for your house. Do you want to be the reason we have the worst record in history? We’ll be the laughing stocks for years. In the next generations to come, other houses will point to this year to prove that we are inferior. And furthermore…” James screams at the top of his lungs. He was staring at the ground in front of him as he tugs on his hair and paces.  “Fine, but only for the rest of this year. So, continue your search for a seeker.” I cut him off from his meltdown.“Thank you.” Both of them throw themselves at me.“Get off of me.” I slapped them until they did. “I have to meet Draco.” I pick up my bag and walk away from them.“Practice is at three!” James yells after me. I groaned as I looked at my watch to see that it was only half an hour away. I walked as fast as I could to my dorm. Draco was laying on my bed with the cabinet book in his lap.“Hey babe,” I greet him as I dig through my dresser. I change into a pair of black joggers and a white and black sports bra.“Where are you going?” He asks.“Hello, Nikki.” I imitated him while putting my hair in a high ponytail.“Hello, love. Where are you going?” He grabs my arm to pull me to him.“To quidditch practice,” I grab his face.“Since, when were you on the quidditch team?” He glares at me with those icy blue eyes.“Since, half an hour ago. Second-string got hurt and doesn’t want to play anymore.” I explain to him. “I always knew that kid was a weakling.” He rolls his eyes. “I don’t want you on a team with those hormone-filled boys.”“Don’t you trust me?” I drop my hands from his face to meet his glare with one of my own.“Maybe I shouldn’t, considering that the captain is your ex-boyfriend and you made out with three of them. That’s only what I know of.” He snaps, tightening his grip on my arms. I yank myself out of his hold as his words hit me. I wanted to yell at him for holding my past against me. Remind him that I never held his against him, even though he had sex and emotional relationships with those girls. That would only end up in name-calling and screaming over each other. So, I decided to take the high road.  “I don’t have time for this, practice is in five minutes. I’m probably going to be late because of you.” I sat down at the end of the bed and laced up my shoes ignoring Draco who was burning holes into my back with his eyes. I stood up and grabbed my broom. I made my way over to the door, only to have him block me.“You’re not leaving dressed like that.” He eyes my outfit in disgust.“Come on, Draco. It’s going to get hot. I’m not going to wear a long sleeve shirt.” I shook my head. He was being ridiculous. No one is going to be looking at me when bludgers are flying around.“It doesn’t have to be long sleeves, but you’re not going out there in just a bra, especially not in front of your ex-boyfriend.” He hisses.  “What would you like me to wear?” I cross my arms and tilt my head to the side. He stood there for a while thinking, before moving around me to dig through my dresser. He pulled out a green shirt and held it out. I grab it and realize it was his jersey from fourth year. He gave it to me as a birthday gift. I suspect that it was a last-minute thought, but he swore up and down that he thought about it for a long time. It was hard to dispute since I told him I wanted something that didn’t cost anything but was sentimental. And I really wanted to keep his jersey.“Want to piss on me before I go too?” I pull the jersey over my head. “Don’t tempt me.” He let out a chuckle. He held me close as he placed wet kisses all over my face. I pull away from him and wipe his slobber off my face. “Aw, now I’m going to have to cover you in another body fluid.” He undid his belt buckle. I let out a groan of disgust. “Don’t worry. It’s not going to be pee.” He winks.“I’m leaving now.” I open the door. He follows me out and throws his arm over my shoulders. I gave him a questionable look when he walked with me past the point he would have to separate from me to go to the room of requirements.    “I figure I’ll walk you to your first quidditch practice.” He shrugs as if it was nothing. I smile in amusement knowing he wants to let James know of his presence in my life. When we got to the field the only person there was the team captain. “Where’s the rest of the team, Urquhart?” Draco yells in outrage.“Practice starts for everyone else in two hours,” James smirks. Draco glares at him. His mouth was fixed as if he was ready to growl at him, which wasn’t something I would put past him. “Come on Draco, it's nothing personal. She’s new to the team and position, she needs the extra practice. A lot of it actually, considering our next game is in two weeks.” He tried to reason with my boyfriend, so he would get off the field and let us practice.“I’ll be in the stands.” Draco points to the stand, letting him know that he would be watching him.“I thought you quit the quidditch team to focus on your studies. If you’re going to stay for practice then you might as well be on the team.” James rolls his eyes at his possessiveness. I, myself was stuck between being flattered and pissed off by how he was acting. I couldn’t tell if he was behaving this way out of protectiveness or distrust.  “If you think I’m going to let you be alone with my girlfriend, you got another thing coming.” Draco steps closer to get into James' face. I quickly got in between them, so that things wouldn’t escalate.“Let’s just get started.” I push James back and turn to Draco. “Kiss for good luck.” I push my lips out. He gave me a peck on the lips and threw James one last glare, before making his way to the stands.Once Draco was out of sight, James turned towards me. “How about we start with ten laps?” He rubs his hands together, looking eager to start this torture. I got on my broom and flew up into the air. James flew up to the center of the field as I began to fly around it. “Fly through the hoops when you come across them!” He yells as I approach one. I narrowly made it through that one, seeing as I had to make a sharp turn to go through it. “Pick up the pace! You have to fly faster in order to catch a snitch!” He orders. I grit my teeth, I didn’t take into consideration that I would be getting bossed around by my ex when I accepted this position. I pushed that annoyance to the side as I was flying in the air at a fast speed. I wasn’t going to run into one of the poles, because I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.I let out a groan of pleasure as the cold water hit my sore muscles that I didn’t even know I had until today. Draco left to go to the room of requirement when the rest of the team got there. I hadn’t seen him since, which wasn’t surprising seeing as he was normally there until the early hours of the morning. I planned to see him after practice, but I need a full night’s sleep after that. I got out of the shower and dried myself off. I put on a bra and panties. I collapse onto the bed. I didn’t even pull the cover over me before I fell into a deep slumber.I wake up in the middle of the night to someone climbing into the bed with me. “Draco?” I sat up, squinted my eyes as if that would make me see better in the dark.“It’s me, calm down. Get under the blanket, you’re ice cold.” He rubs my arm that was covered in goosebumps.“I was too tired to lift the blanket after that practice.” I pull the blanket over myself.“Maybe you should quit the team if it’s too much for you.” He told me.“It’s not too much for me. It's just the first day, I used a lot of muscles that don’t usually get used.” I defend myself.  “It was just a suggestion. If you want to be, I’m sure you’ll be the best seeker in this school history after me.” He pulls me close.I smile, cuddling with him. “I’m going to be better than that.” He let out a chuckle and nuzzles into my hair. We drift off to sleep in each other's embrace.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I was lying on the ground trying to get as much air into my lungs as possible. “Here have some water.” Blaise hands me a bottle. I sat up, snatching it from him, and gulped it down.

“If you get this drained from practice then you’ll never make it in a game.” James hiss as he hovers over me.

“In a game, I’m not going to need to do 40 laps, push-ups, sit-ups, and all those other dumb drills.” I glare at him as I resist the urge to throw the water bottle at him.

“No, but quidditch games can go on for hours. That’s hours of chasing after the snitch while dodging bludgers. You need stamina, something that you don’t have. Something you need to develop in the next few days. SO GET UP!” He grabs my arm and roughly pulls me to my feet. A broom was shoved into my chest. “Don’t just stand there, get in the air!”

I let out a dramatic sigh as I got on my broom and joined the others in the air. “I told them a girl wouldn’t be able to handle quidditch.” Theodore Nott snorts. He flies circles around me. “I can’t go faster, I might mess up my hair!” He screams in a shrill high pitched voice.

“I caught the snitch every time that it was let out, while you have let the quaffle in the hoop 20 times out of 25.” I remind him. I flinch as he flies right in front of me, hissing in my face. “It’s good to have house pride, but you’re taking it too far.” I gag at the stench of his breath.

“Stop playing around and get ready. I’m going to let out the snitch again and we are going to try out play 12. Nott try not to let the quaffle get in again.” James, who was now up in the air with us, gave out orders. I bark out a laugh as Notts look ready to spit out fire. He sneers at me before flying over to try to defend the hoops.

This time I decided to give the snitch a head start to make it more of a challenge, after counting to ten I took off after it. I went higher than the rest of them, looking around for the golden ball. I went around the quidditch field a few times scanning the area. I curse when I see that it was by the hoops, I speed over there. I will be damn if Notts grab it out of spite. The snitch went through one of the hoops and I followed it. I push my broom up to avoid both the quaffle and Notts bat. I felt the air from the quaffle just missing my back as I dive down for the snitch. I cursed, it was my luck that he would be able to block it when I’m in the dangerous zone. I had to stretch out my whole body to the point that I was laying down on the broom to grab the snitch by the ends of one of its wings. As I pull it closer to me I use my other hand to get a better hold of it. I went back to the ground to put the snitch back in its case.

I let out an amused chuckle when the Gryffindor quidditch team walked on the field. “Get off the field you guys have been out here for four hours already!” Harry cups his hands over his mouth to make his voice louder. In seconds, all the Slytherins were on the ground.

“Are you going to make me?” James got in his face.

“Come on, you've been booking the field for every opening that you can. There are other teams you know.” Harry shook his head in frustration.

“Hey, I have a new seeker.” He waves his hand in my direction. They turn to stare at me in shock.

“I didn’t know you guys allow girls on your team, especially such a prissy one.” Ginny Weasley looked me up and down in distaste.

I swallowed the comment of how her brother couldn’t keep his hands off this prissy girl instead I went for an equal as pity comment. “We figure since you guys had one, we could too.”

“Are you calling me prissy?” She let out a sarcastic laugh. I roll my eyes, I don’t care if she had a billion brothers she still likes dressing up and wearing make-up. In my book that meant she wasn’t some tough tomboy, she was portraying herself to be.

“No, I was talking about your brother,” I smirk as I watch both of them jerk forward to get at me, only to be held back by their teammates.

“Look, I don’t want to have to get a professor.” Harry stepped in between us but kept his stare on James.

“We’re going, don’t worry. Merlin knows you’ll need the practice to even be half as good as us.” He laughs as he leads us off the field. The boys went into the locker room and I was about to go to my dorm when James grabbed my arm.

“Here,” He hands me a black notebook.

“What is this?” I got my answer when I skim through the book. “Why do I need a playbook? I’m a seeker unless the snitch goes along with this. I don’t think any of these plays will help me.” I tried to hand the book back, but he took a step back.

“You need to memorize the play so you don’t get in the way of them like you did today.” He gave me a stern look as he waved his finger in my face.

“Are you talking about me going through the hoop? I was following the snitch and I got it. In a game do you want me to not go for it and let the other team’s seeker get it?” I smack his hand away from me. I couldn’t believe him, most people would be happy with a seeker who is willing to do anything to get the snitch.

“No, I want you to go for it, but next time I want you to be able to do it without almost getting hit by the quaffle. If you know the plays you would be able to do that.” He put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. I roll my eyes, if you care about someone’s safety you would convince them to quit quidditch.

“How often do these plays even work out for you in a real game?” I raise an eyebrow at him. The great thing about quidditch is that it was unpredictable, unlike muggles sport each ball has a mind of its own. It was also the thing that made it dangerous.

“Plenty, they don’t always have to be perfect, they’re good guidelines.” He throws his hands in the air. From going out with him to having him as a captain, I know that dramatic hand motions meant a tantrum was about to happen. I decided to do it, but I wasn’t going to be happy about it.

“Fine, I’ll memorize them, but I still think it’s useless.” I let out a huff as I walked away not wanting to hear anymore from him.

“That’s a good girl!” He yells after me. I stopped in my tracks and took a deep breath before continuing to make my way to my dorm.

I shred my clothes and jump into the shower. I let the cold water cool down my body then turn it hot to relieve my muscles. I wash all the sweat and dirt off of me, before stepping out of the shower to dry myself off. With one towel wrap around my body and another holding my hair, I walk into my room. I put on a pair of black panties, blue pajama shorts with pink roses on them, and a pink tank top. My feet slipped into some pink fuzzy slippers that resembled monster feet. I gather the playbook, transfiguration textbook, parchment, quill, and ink container to drop it all on the bed. I laid down to start my essay for class. Sophia climbs out of her cage and joins me on the bed. My hair kept getting in my face so I put it up into a messy bun, before continuing my homework. I rolled up the parchment paper when I was done with my essay and opened up the playbook. We were the green Xs and the opponents were the red Os. I snorted, he realized that we had opponents other than Gryffindor, right?

“How many are there?” I flipped the pages until it was blank then went one page back. “40! He has lost his mind! Why didn’t he give this to me right away?” I turn to Sophia, who raises her paws in the air. “I don’t know what that means, but I’ll assume it means you agree with me.” I laugh, petting her. I pour myself into the playbook.

“Play 20 is when the beaters hit the quaffles at their keeper freeing up our chasers to score on them.” I look up in the air as I try to recall. I cheered loudly when I saw that I got it correct. I didn’t notice Draco came in.

“Are you kidding me, you missed dinner for this?” He yells, making me jump.

“I also did my transfiguration essay.” I held up the roll of parchment.

“Captain Asshole said that you better stop skipping meals, you need all the nourishment you can get.” He made his voice whiney to mock James.

“One meal,” I threw myself back on the bed.

“For me, it’s more than one meal. It’s hours of practice, quidditch meets, and now studying plays.” He counts them off with his fingers.

“I never complained when you were playing quidditch. I used to give you a massage after practices and games.” I sat up to glare at him.

“That was before we were in a committed relationship. While you are busy playing childish games, I’m preparing for our future.” He hovers over me. I could see the anger and resentment swirling around in his eyes

“Do you know what your problem is, Draco?” I stood up and poke him in the chest with each word.

“I believe I just said it.” He grabs my wrist.

“No that’s not it, you can’t handle that for once I’m doing something that doesn’t revolve around you.” I pulled myself out of his grip and gave him a shove to put some distance between us. Sophia ran back into her cage.

“You don’t even like playing quidditch, it's just an excuse to get away from me.” He kept the space between us, but his eyes got darker and intense.

“Get away from you? You are the one that kicked me out!” I remind him. He was the one that told me I wasn’t needed, now he's mad because I found something else to fill my time.

“I only kick you out of the room of requirements. You are the one that decided to not be everywhere else. In the Great Hall and classes, we may sit together, but you only talk to the team. Whenever I come up here now you’re passed out, you used to wait up for me and ask me about my day. Now, you don’t care at all. I don’t know why I came up here.” He shook his head, letting out a bitter laugh as if I was the one being ridiculous.

“I don’t know why either if you're just going to be a jerk. I am my own person, Draco. I can have my own things. I don’t have to schedule myself around you. You certainly don’t ever do that for me.” I throw daggers at him with my eyes. I thank Merlin that I knew how to control my magic because if not I might have made his head explode.

“You want to be your own person so bad, then you can do it properly by yourself.” He storms out of my dorm, slamming the door so hard the pictures on the wall move.

I let out a sob as I threw myself on the bed. A part of me wants to run after him because he was right. I didn’t like playing quidditch. But, after all the practice, meetings, and studying I want to play in that game. I need to know that all the work I did wasn’t for nothing. I wish that he would support me, even if it’s not convenient for him. Especially since this is only temporary and I’m making history. I will be the first female on the Slytherin Quidditch team. My name will forever be in the books for that, so for the games that I do play, I want to make a good impression. For that reason I let Draco go, he needs to know that I’m his girlfriend, not his lap dog.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I ran my hands over my tight braids, checking to make sure that it wouldn’t come undone in the game. Thinking of things that could come undone, I bend over to check on my boots. “Stop that!” Blaise grabs my arm and pulls me to stand back up.

“I can’t help it, I’m nervous. Do you leave your robe open or close?” I play with the string on the robe.

“There’s no need to be nervous, you've been practicing more than anyone. You’re going to be great, the best seeker the school has ever seen.” He patted my shoulder.

“What about your robe?” I looked him over, it was open now but maybe he closed it before the game.

“I leave it open.” He let out a big sigh that I didn’t seem to get a word he said.

I drop the robe letting it fall to my sides. He walks away from me shaking his head. “Blaise!” I yell after him. He turns around to glare at me. “Thank you.” I smile sweetly at him. He gave me a small smile back.

“The best seeker the school has ever seen, how far fetch.” Nott laughs as he circles around me. Before I could comment back, James yells at him to get away from me. I stuck my tongue out at him as he retreated. James got up on one of the benches and cleared his throat.

“It’s about that time guys and girl.” He throws a wink my way. “We are about to beat those bookworms into the ground! They have read everything on quidditch, probably took notes on all our games, and memorize every play known to man. But, we are going to show them that quidditch isn’t something to study! Quidditch is something to do and no one does it better than us!” He yells and all the boys roar in agreement. I clapped along with them. I had to admit it was a decent speech. They ran out on the field. I follow behind them, watching them bounce around in amusement. We met the other team in the middle of the field.

“You all know the rules, I want a clean game. Captains shake hands.” Madam Hooch shot a look over at our team when she spoke of a clean game. Roger Davies let out a whine as James crushes his hand. “Mount your brooms and let the game begin.”

We got on our brooms and flew into the air as she let out the balls. In a blink of an eye, the snitch vanished.

It had been two hours and I never saw a glimpse of the snitch. They weren’t kidding when they said that the practice snitch wasn’t the same as the game snitch. The score was 70-85, not in our favor. The snitch was 150 points. So, if I caught it we would win the game and more importantly, it would be over. Without the snitch insight, being a seeker was boring. Now I can see why seekers would catch the snitch to end the game, even when they didn’t have enough points to win. A wave of excitement and adrenaline hit me when I saw the golden ball across the field. I made my way, dodging players and bludgers. Out of the corner of my eye, Cho Chang was coming from the side of me. I smirk, seeing that she was going in the opposite direction of the snitch. I was waiting to cross paths with her to bump her off when she got hit with a bludger. Crabbe cheers as I go up to avoid her crashing into me. Goyle flies beside me as I chase after the snitch, hitting the bludgers away from me. The snitch turns around quickly to try to fly above my head. I wrap my legs tightly around the broom as I stretch as far as I could, grabbing the snitch before it went past me.

“Lopes caught the snitch. Slytherin wins.” Jordan Lee whines into his microphone. I laugh as I speed towards the ground. It felt great to win. It felt amazing to win when everyone didn’t want you to.

“Thank you, boys.” I pull Crabbe and Goyle into a hug. They pushed me up and on their shoulders. The quidditch team and Slytherin students from the stand surround us as they cheer.

“Party in the common room!” James announced, making the crowd get louder. The boys carried me to the dungeon. After being set down, I thank them again before going to my dorm.

I undid my braids, took off my clothes, and jumped into the shower. After stepping out and drying myself off, I put on a black lace bralette top, white skinny jeans, and black wedge sneakers. I wave my wand to dry and straight my hair. Another wave to put on natural makeup and long white square tip nails. I put on black rose studs, a crystal necklace, and a leather wrap bracelet. The mirror smiled back at me as I was party-ready. I walk down to the common room with an extra strut in my step.

“Looking good, Nikki.” James threw an arm over my shoulders. I look around trying to spot a white blonde. We hadn’t talked since our fight, but I still hoped he would be here. “Sorry honey, he isn’t here. I heard he didn’t even go to the game.” His hand dropped to my hip to squeeze it. I pushed him off of me and made my way to the beverage table. “Don’t take it out on me!” He yells after me.

“Hey Blaise, good game,” I watch as he pours fire whiskey into a bunch of shot glasses.

“I should be saying that to you, seeker.” He passes me a glass. I throw it back, letting the whiskey burn my throat.

“I couldn’t have done it without Goyle and Crabbe. That a sentence I never thought I would say.” I laugh, picking up a mug of butterbeer. He laughs along with me as he picks up a shot glass.

“Cheers to today’s win and for many more.” He bumps his shot glass with my mug.

“I’ll drink to that.” I tip my mug back. I put the empty mug down and grab another one.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Blaise told the person behind me. I spun around to see Draco. I was torn between being happy he was here and being upset that he had such a grim look on his face.

“I wouldn’t have missed my girl’s first celebration.” He shrugs, going to grab my hand but I smack him away.

“No one saw you in the stands, so you miss your girl’s first game.” I glare at him.

“I see a lady in need of some company.” Blaise walked off, but I kept my eyes on Draco.

“Just because I wasn’t in the stand, doesn’t mean I wasn’t watching. If I require something I get it.” He looks around as he says the last part. I roll my eyes at his paranoia as I finish my butterbeer.

“Didn’t know I was still your girl, I thought I was by myself.” I put air quotes around your girl.

“You’ll always be my girl, even when you are by yourself.” His eyes grow darker as he verbally and visually claims me. I snorted, drinking three shots before claiming another mug. “How much have you had already?” He reaches to take the cup out of my hand, but I move out of his range.

“If you are here to ruin the celebration for me, you can go back to your cabinet.” I took a swig of butterbeer.

“I came here to apologize and give you an explanation.” He shrugs as if it was no big deal. I narrow my eyes at him, trying to figure out if he was being sincere or not.

“Go on,” I motion with my free hand for him to continue.

“Somewhere private, others do not need to hear certain things.” He nudges his head to the right. I look over to see a group of girls that turn their heads away a little too fast, letting me know that they were indeed listening.

As I walked past him to go to my dorm, he took the drink out of my hand. “Hey,” I turn around and snatch the cup from him only to find it empty. I slam it down on the table.

“Come on, love.” He wraps an arm around me.

“Come on, love.” I mock him, slurring as I let him guide me to our destination. When we got to the room, I pulled away from him and collapsed on my bed. “Give me my apology and explanation!” I glare at him as I slam my hands down on the bed. He chuckled at my childish behavior. He sat down on the bed leaning against the headboard. I let out a scream as he dragged me by my arms so that my head was on his lap.

“I’m sorry for being so rude and unsupportive about quidditch. I let my jealousy get the better of me.” He brushes the strands of hair from my face.

“I told you that James is unattractive to me now that he’s my captain. The guy runs me like a machine. I want to punch him in the face.” I let out an exhausted sigh.

“I’m not jealous of him, I’m jealous of you.” He bops me on the nose.

“What?” I sat up, staring at him with a tilted head and narrow eyes.

“It should be me, I should be the seeker. It would have been me if I wasn’t chosen for this task. I know it’s an honor and a chance to prove myself, but sometimes I can’t help but wonder why me? Why can’t I be on the field with no worries instead of being forced into isolation and paranoia trying to fix a stupid cabinet? It rubs more salt into the wound that it’s you.” He gave me a harsh glare that he has been giving me every time quidditch was involved. Now that I knew it was directed at me and not at James, it wasn’t so easy to shrug off like I did all the other times. I shiver as I took in all the anger and resentment.

“Why because it’s me,” I gasp, pointing at my chest.

“Because you don’t care about quidditch, at least if it was someone else I would know that my spot is being taken by someone who truly appreciates it.” He rubs his face, trying to calm himself down.

“Do you want me to quit?” I would do that for him, now that I knew that it wasn’t about possessiveness, but resentment.

“No, I can’t ask you to do that, I know this is some weird way to prove something to yourself. How can I take that from you when you are sticking it out with me, knowing it puts you in danger? You proved your loyalty to me time and time again, now it is my turn.” He cups my face, running his thumbs along my cheeks. I drunkenly smiled. I turn my head to take his thumb into my mouth. I hollow out my mouth, giving him a long hard suck.

“How about I give you a real apology?” He pushed me, so I was lying flat on the bed. He pulls my top over my head. “No bra?” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“I can’t wear a bra with this top.” I gasped as he took a nipple in his mouth. He massages and pinches the other one.

“You better be wearing panties. If I find out you didn’t wear panties to a party you didn’t think I was going to, I’m going to have to punish you.” He undid the button and zipper. I lift my ass to help him as he tugs them off. He stops when he reveals my white lace panties. “Guess you’re off the hook this time.” He rubs me roughly over the thin fabric. “Fucking tight jeans.” He growls out as he peels them off my legs.

I giggle, playfully kicking my legs earning a slap to my inner thigh. “Do you want your apology or not?” He yanks off my shoes along with my socks and jeans, throwing them off the bed. I slip off my underwear and dangle it in front of his face with my right foot. He laughs, grabbing it and putting it in his pocket. I don’t know why it was so hot that I was naked while he was fully dressed, but I could feel myself getting moist. He drove right between my legs, running his tongue along my lips. I let out a whine at his teasing, causing him to chuckle but never taking his mouth off of me. He stopped to give my clit more attention, while he stuck two fingers inside me. I moaned as he went back and forth between scissoring and curling. He took his fingers out of me, before I had time to complain he shoved his tongue in-betweens my folds. I grab onto the back of his head to pull him in deeper as I grind on his face. Most of the time, he would hold my hips steady or knock my hands off to let me know he was still in control, but tonight he simply took it as he focused on pleasing me. He works me with his tongue and fingers until I throw my head back with my mouth in a silent O.

“I know I did a good job when you don’t even have the energy to scream.” He pulls himself up to kiss me. I smile, as he wraps his arms around me. I snuggle into his chest, happy that this fight brought us closer together.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was the early morning, for the first time in a long time I woke up alone. I was brushing my hair when Draco walked in with his head down and dropped himself on the bed next to me. I stare down at his face with a sinking feeling in my stomach. Not from his appearance, although that would have been enough to make most feel sorry for him. From the stress, he was losing weight causing his skin to stick unhealthy to his bones. The dark bags under his eyes add to his sickly look. If it wasn’t for the tears running down his face, I would think he was a corpse. It wasn’t his appearance, but the timing that gave me the sinking feeling. School was soon coming to an end, if he didn’t get the cabinet to work he could die. “Draco, desperate time calls for desperate measure, maybe you should let Snape help you.” I caress his face, growing more concerned by the low temperature of his body.

“I don’t need his help, I got the cabinet working.” He opened his bloodshot eyes to give me a dead stare.

“Then why aren’t you celebrating, this is great news. You are in the clear.” I bounce up and down shaking the whole bed.

“Celebrating, why would I be celebrating? Have you forgotten the part where I have to kill a man?” He shot up, to give me a cold stare that stopped my movements.

“Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. It’s selfish, but I would sacrifice someone I don’t know that well to have my happiness.” I look down at my lap in shame. The sorting hat definitely got me right. I would go to any means to achieve my ends.

“It's fine, a part of me feels the same way.” He let out a defeated sigh, before lying down again. I lay down next to him. “It’s going to happen tonight.” He whispered so softly I wouldn’t have heard it if I wasn’t an inch away from him.

“What!” I sat up, not believing how fast this was happening. I took deep breaths trying to calm myself down. It made no sense why I was panicking. I knew for a while that this was going to happen. I supported him, got him the book to help him fix the cabinet. I begged him to at least let me keep him company while he fixed it. I was happily helping him get ready to kill a man. I was losing my train of thought as I was finding it hard to breathe and my vision was going fuzzy.

Draco grabs my face and turns it to him. “Look at me, concentrate on me and nothing else. Take a deep breath. In, Out, In, Out.” He took deep breaths with me. “It’s not too late to back out. I didn’t tell my parents about us.” As my vision became clear again, I could see that he was sincere. If I did back out, he wouldn’t hold it against me.

“I want to be with you. It’s just for so long I focus on fixing the cabinet and not the actions that would follow. It hit me all at once that the whole time we were working on killing someone.” I felt stupid explaining this to him. He was always aware of that fact. He wasn’t like me playing a fantasy in his head that once we fix the cabinet we would live happily ever after. I was starting to wonder if I even deserve a happy ending.

“Normally, I would talk this all out with you, but I don’t have time. I still have things I need to do. Are you sure you want to be involved with all of this? It’s only going to get worse and after this, there will be no turning back.” He gave me one last opportunity to keep my hands somewhat clean.

“I love you, Draco Malfoy. I wouldn’t be able to keep my sanity if I wasn’t with you at this time.” I knew that if I did turn him down now, I would later be running to Malfoy Manor for the need would come too great to know that he was safe.

“Alright then, I need you to listen carefully. Tonight after everyone goes to sleep, I’m going to let the death eaters in. We are going to find Dumbledore and I will kill him. We will escape into the dark forest, ending up at my house. You will be waiting for me at the edge of the dark forest.” He keeps eye contact with me the whole time to make sure I was getting every step.

“The dark forest’s edge is long, how will I know what part to meet you at.” I didn’t want to be on the wrong side and miss him.

“After killing Dumbledore the dark mark will be shot up in the sky, you need to go to it.” He pulls up his sleeve to remind me what it looks like.

“Okay, I’ll pack light.” I nodded, part of me wanted to get everything over with and another part wanted the moment to never come.

“No need for that, pack everything up. Some death eaters will come here to take your things for you. Put everything you want to take on the bed. I’ll bring my stuff in here too.” I was relieved that this plan seems to be so well thought out.

“Most of your stuff is in here already.” The only thing he didn’t have in here was his school books, seeing as he normally used mine to do his homework when he was in my room.

“Yeah, I suppose it is. Listening to the next part, it’s the most important for your survival.” He pauses to make sure I was paying attention like I wasn’t already trying to remember what he said word for word. “You need to act normally. No saying goodbye of any kind to Robert, Luna, or even Blaise. Go about your day as mundane as possible.”

“I think I can do that.” I bite my bottom lip, the feeling of panic coming on.

“No thinking or trying. You need to know, you need to do it.” He places his hands on my shoulders to give them a firm squeeze.

“I can do this. I’ll pack everything now. I’ll go to my classes and dinner. Shower, dress all in black with Sophia in my pocket to run away with you.” I got off the bed to start opening drawers.

“That’s good, remember don’t cry when you see Robert in class.” He reminds me of the hardest task of my day. I just got Robert back and now I was going to lose him again.

“Can I cry now?” I picture Robert’s smiling at me while pulling out the chair next to him like he always does. I’ll be the only one to know that it would be the last time. Draco pulls me in and lets me cry on his chest.

“In some ways, this is harder for you than me, because I didn’t make real friends here. I promise you when this is all over I’ll do everything I can to get you back to them.” He rubs my back as he whispers in my ear. Even though I knew it was a promise that he may not be able to keep seeing as a war was about to happen I was still touched. I pull him down by his neck to kiss him. Draco picks me up and drops me back on the bed. “If we had time I would, but we don’t. Start packing.”

I nod my head as he gave me one last kiss before leaving. I picked up my empty trunk that was already enchanted with an undetectable extension charm. I began throwing everything that was Draco’s, Sophia’s, or mines in there. I decided to leave my bathroom supplies to not arouse suspicions of my dorm mate or more like bathroom mate seeing that was all we shared. I went to the bathroom to wash my face and put on a new coat of make-up. When I didn’t look like I had been crying, I made my way to my first class.

My feet felt like lead when I stepped into my last class, History of Magic. It was exactly how I imagined it would be when I stepped into the room. Robert smiles widely as he pulls out the chair next to him. I smiled back as I sat down. “Hello, Nikki, ready to be bored out of your mind?” The corner of his mouth curls upward, making his smile look wicked.

“Between you and Binns I’m sure I’ll get a nice nap this class session.” I was surprised how easy it came to me. I suppose a part of me was happy to pretend, so I could forget about the awful thing that was about to happen in a few hours.

“Just for that, I’m not responding to any notes you pass me.” He held his hand over his heart. I rolled my eyes knowing that he would be happy to write back to me, once Binn started speaking.

I cherish every moment of that class as we pass notes, make faces at each other, and giggle at other kids fighting their sleep. When we got to the Great Hall, I couldn’t help but hug him tighter than usual before we parted ways to go to our tables.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. We got Charm first thing bright and early.” He laughs as I pull a disgusted face.

“I’ll see you,” I said, wishing it was true. That I would be in Charm tomorrow, anger at how much easier he was getting everything than me. But in reality tomorrow, I would be in Malfoy Manor, scared out of my mind of what was going to come next. After one last playful nudge, he walks over to the Hufflepuff’s table. I went to the Slytherin’s table, sitting next to Draco and across from Blaise.

“Mate, you need to go to the hospital wing, you look dead.” Blaise leans back, not wanting to catch whatever illness Draco had. Not that you could catch stress and insomnia.

“You are going to be dead if you keep bugging me,” Draco growls at him as he aggressively takes a bite out of his turkey leg.

“Suit yourself. Why you’re with such a stubborn git, Nicole, I’ll never know.” Blaise turned to talk to me.

“I don’t even know myself.” I laugh as Draco put his turkey leg in front of my face to take another bite out of it. The rest of the dinner went as normal with us poking fun at each other and gossiping about people.

“Nicole Lopes not running to her beloved bed as soon as the feast is over, call the paper it’s a memorial.” Blaise dramatically gasped and made his eyes big in awe.

“I ate too much, and now I don’t want to move.” I rub my stomach.

“You did eat a lot of desserts, like half a pumpkin pie.” He states as if I were part of a freak show.

“Gentlemen don’t talk about how much a woman eats, I only allow gentlemen around me. So, good day, sir,” I got up and marched out of the Great Hall. I heard Blaise’s laughter and Draco’s footsteps. I walked slower as we got closer to the common room.

“It’s okay. I will make sure you will only have minimum involvement. Not just with this mission, but with everything.” He gives me the push I need to walk in the common room and up the stairs to my dorm. We silently moved around each other as we got ready to do what we had to do. I took a bath and dressed in black jeans paired with a black t-shirt. I was hoping the dark color would make it harder to see me. Draco puts on a black on black suit.

“Killing in style,” I look him up and down. I was trying to lighten the mood, in hope that it would stop nerves that were rising in me.

“Go to sleep, I’ll wake you up before I go. You will leave half an hour after me. It would be best to wait in the middle of the edge of the dark forest, that way you’ll have a better chance of catching up to us.” He ignored my comment and got right down to business. It did calm my nerves for once again he was confirming that everything was planned out from his big part to my small one.

“How am I supposed to sleep?” I never felt more wired in my life.

“I don’t know, but try for me.” He sat down on the bed, patting his lap. I lay down with my head resting on his thighs. I closed my eyes and cleared my mind as I took shallow breaths.

I wake from my head jerking down as I lose my pillow. “It's time, I’m leaving now,” Draco whispers.

“I love you.” I got up to pull him into a tight hug.

“Stop it, I’ll see you soon.” He kissed me on the forehead, before pulling out of my embrace to walk out. I stare at the door for a few minutes after he left, hoping he would come back in and say it was all some kind of mean practical joke or test of my loyalty. I shook my head trying to get rid of the wishful thinking. I sat in front of my vanity and parted my hair into two pieces before braiding them.

It only took me ten minutes, but I decided it was better to be a little early than too late. I was grabbing Sophia when the ring on her tail caught my eye. “Nathan, we have to get Nathan.” I couldn’t leave my niffler to defend for himself. I have been bringing him food, water, and other luxuries. I wasn’t sure if he knew how to hunt and gather.  My heart aches at the thought of him weathering away waiting for me to come to take care of him. I grab a coin purse knowing he wouldn’t leave without some of his treasures. I lace up a pair of black shoes and throw on a black jacket with big pockets. I put Sophia in a pocket before running out. I ran to the tree that he dug a hole under. I called his name over and over, hoping he was there and not running around stealing more stuff. I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding when he came crawling out of his hole.

“Take this and put all the stuff you want in, we have to go.” I shove the coin purse at him. He tilts his head. “HURRAY UP… I don’t have time to explain.” I yell in panic but right after I curse myself as I remember I couldn’t get caught. He went back into his hole. I hope that he was doing as told. It was a few agonizing minutes before he popped back out with the coin purse bursting at the seams. I grab him and the coin purse and shove them into my empty pocket.

I was huffing and puffing when I got to the edge of the dark forest. I didn’t have to wait long for the dark mark to appear in the sky. It looks to be coming out of the astronomy tower. I ran over there as fast as my legs would carry me. I had to stop abruptly when a woman with long black wild curls ran in front of me. I gasp as I recognize her as Bellatrix Lestrange. Although she looked every bit as crazy as she did in the paper, she was beautiful in person with her high cheekbones, plump lips, and big brown eyes. “Are you Draco’s or a witness that needs to be taken care of?” The excitement in her eyes said she was hoping it was the latter.

“She’s with me,” I jump as Draco grabs my arm.

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” She ran a hand down the left side of my face. I shook in fear, causing a big smile to spread across her face.

“We don’t have time for your games, Lestrange.” My eyes open wide at the new person to join the group, Professor Snape.

“Always ruining the fun,” She pouts, before running off. Draco grabs my hand and forces me to run alongside him. After we got a safe distance from the castle, Lestrange and Snape used apparition to go to Malfoy Manor.

“Ready?” He looks at me. I put my hands in my pocket to hold on to my pets. He grabs my elbow and the uncomfortable trip begins. I could feel blood dripping from my hands from the animals digging their claws in. I opened my eyes when the odd feeling stopped to see that we were standing in one of the living rooms in Malfoy Manor.

“You disappointed me, Draco.” His father sneered in disgust. Draco kept his head down, not meeting anyone's eyes. It clicked in my head that Snape must be here because Draco wasn’t able to kill Dumbledore.

“The job got done, that is all that matters.” Ms. Malfoy glared at her husband, before hugging her son who was still holding my elbow.

“Is no one going to introduce me?” Lestrange circles around me as she plays with my hair. I try to keep my face blank, but my body naturally grows stiff when she pushes her body up against my back.

“Her name is Nicole Lopes. She is Draco’s long time girlfriend. Lopes, this is Bellatrix Lestrange, I’m sure you have already heard about her insaneness.” Snape spoke in the bored tone that he saves for lectures.

“Lopes, as in one of the writers for the silly newspaper?” She swirls around me and stares at my face, trying to see some similarity between my father and me. She wouldn’t find any, I was the spitting image of my mother.

“The Quibbler,” I corrected her. He neglected me most of my life, but he was my father. He worked hard to make sure I had a roof over my head, clothes on my body, and food in my stomach.

“You didn’t tell me that this would be the one you bring home.” Mr. Malfoy spoke about me as if I was a dog at the pet store.

“It was my decision. I didn’t need to consult you.” He glares at his father.

“It’s been a long day for both of you, why don’t you guys go to bed?” Mrs. Malfoy defuses the argument before it could start. I had a feeling this was something she did a lot.

Draco’s hand went from my elbow to my lower back as he guided me to his room. I took out the animals after he closed and locked the door. “You brought the niffler. Why would you do that? Are you bleeding?” His whispers went from aggressive to concern.

“I had to bring him, he doesn’t know how to hunt and gather.” I cling Nathan closer to my chest.

“If anyone catches him stealing, they will kill him in a way that much more painful than starvation.” He warns.

I stare at the ground trying to think of a solution. “For now I’ll keep him in Sophia’s cage and later we get him a big aquarium where he can dig. I’ll put my jewelry in so he’ll be content.” I put them both down on my trunk that somehow beat us here to grab his hands pleading with him to let my niffler live safely here.

“I believe we have an aquarium, from when mom was looking for company when I first went to Hogwarts. They didn’t bring her any joy.” It saddens me to think that Ms. Malfoy spent all her time lonely while Draco was at school. “I’ll find it tomorrow. You should go clean yourself up. You’re dripping blood on the floor.  I’ll put them in the cage.” He opened the trunk to get the shrunken cage as I hurried to the bathroom.

I wash my hands and open the cabinet to try to find bandages. “Take this.” I jump as Draco grabs a vial out of the cabinet to hand it to me. I swallow it and watch as my cuts heal rapidly. “Let's go to bed.” He wraps his arms around my waist and nuzzles his face into my neck.

“Draco, do you know what is going to happen?” I wouldn’t be able to sleep with some unknown danger lurking so near in the future.

“No, but my mom promised me that there’s a way to keep whatever girl I picked out of all the violence.” He put his chin on my shoulder as he stared at our reflections. I nod my head, wondering what I would have to do to stay out of the war. I felt cowardly that I was going to be hiding in this mansion while people were dying, because of their blood status.

“DRACO!” I scream as he throws me over his shoulder and carries me to bed. I giggle as I bounce from him dropping me on the soft surface. I wiggle out of my jeans and pull my jacket and shirt over my head, before getting under the covers. He strips down to his boxers and joins me. “Can I be the big spoon?” I tried to push him to lie on his side, away from me, but he didn’t move.

“No.” He successfully pushed me over and trapped me in his arms. I pouted for a few seconds pretending to be mad when I heard his quiet snoring. I quit the act and I allow myself to go to sleep.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Draco and I were seated at a round table. We watched Mrs. Malfoy as she went around the room doing silence charms. “Mum, I think that enough.” He told her.

“You can never be too safe.” She did one more before joining us at the table. “All these damn death eaters would be happy to snitch on us to get closer to the Dark Lord.” She sneers, clearly unhappy that her house is being turned into Voldemort’s headquarters.

“What would they have to snitch about? I thought you said you found a risk-free way.” He narrows his eyes at his mother whose mysterious behavior was making me anxious.

“The act alone is risk-free, but intentions are important. If they knew that the intentions weren’t pure then I don’t know if he would allow it.” She leans in to whisper to us.

“Mum, you’re speaking in riddles. What do we have to do to keep Nicole safe?” He let out a sigh, tired of having to wait. I was feeling the same way as I was bouncing my legs to keep myself from exploding.

“You have to get married and get pregnant.” She said so quickly that if I wasn’t waiting in anticipation I wouldn’t have caught it.

“What?” Draco and I yell in shock.

“Purebloods who support the Dark Lord are becoming rare. Families continuing to grow have become important to him. Most families have a few children, but we only have you. If something happens to you then the Malfoy bloodline is gone. He will support Nicole sitting out of the war if she is pregnant.” She broke it down for us.

“Why do we have to get married?” Draco rubs his temples. I glare at him. He was more worried about marriage than a baby. We could get a divorce. A child was a lifetime commitment.

“Like I said intent matters. Marriage will make it look like we are trying to genuinely continue our bloodline. If people thought we were trying to deceive the Dark Lord in any way it could be a death sentence.” She explains the thought process behind her plan.

“We are talking about a baby, not some chess move.” I snap, tired of talking about making a person as if it was all business.

“You two should talk about this. If you decide yes, wear this ring and I’ll start planning the engagement party.” She took a ring box out of her pocket and slid it over to Draco.

“Grandma’s ring?” He opens the box and looks at her in shock.

“This marriage may feel like a chess move, but I believe it’s meant to be.” She smiles at both of us, before leaving the room.

There was a moment of silence. He put the ring box in his pocket. “What are your thoughts?” He turns towards me.

“Marriage is one thing that can be undone. But, a baby can’t. Can you imagine them growing up and finding out they were only born so their mother could avoid a war?” I imagine a teenager wondering if their parents love them and seeing themselves as a casualty of war. I tilt my head back as I close my eyes tightly, not knowing if I could put that burden on my child.

“They don’t have to find that out. If they do, they can know that even before they were born they were a hero. They save their mother’s life.” He took my face in his hands, pull me from my dark thoughts. I stare into his light blue eyes, as I ponder on his words. His statement was truer than mine. My child would be my hero, not a casualty of war. They would be my reason to keep going.

“I want to tell them that. I don’t want them to do the math later on in life and feel like that can’t be true, because if it was it wouldn’t be a secret. No matter what the circumstances are, I want my children to know that they are loved.” I want to keep the promise I made to myself that my child would never have to go through what I went through. They would never torture themselves wondering what was wrong with them because they felt like their parents didn’t love them.

“I want the same things you do. I want us to get out of this alive. I want a family with you. I would like for it to be later too, but life isn’t ideal. So, if I need to make that happen instantly for it to happen at all, I’m willing to.” He got up and went down on one knee. He grabs my hand and stares up into my eyes. My breath got caught in my throat at seeing another side of him. At this moment he looks like a man, not some confused teenager. “I never understood why you put up with all my bullshit for the first year of our relationship. You never deserved to be one of the many and I’m sorry for that. But, you set me straight in a way that I never thought a woman could. Throughout this year, you stood by my side. You prove to me, that there is light at the end of a dark tunnel. Nicole Lopes, will you marry me?” He pulls the small box out of his pocket and opens it up to show me his grandma’s beautiful diamond wedding ring.

“Yes, I’ll marry you.” I smile so widely, it felt like my face was going to split open. He slips the ring on my finger. I drop down to my knees to pull him into a hug.

“My knees are sore, I don’t know how you do that all the time. I’m going to put a pillow down for you from now on when I get blow jobs.” He groans. I pushed him when he was in the process of getting up, causing him to tumble over. I laugh at his shocked face that reminded me of a baby who fell over when they were attempting to take their first steps. While I was in my own world of amusement, he was setting himself up to launch at me. When I came back to reality, all I saw was a mop of white-blonde hair coming at me. He sat down on my legs as he tickled my sides. I smacked him when the laughter became painful.

“What, do you want to stop laughing? I was under the impression that you love laughing, you didn’t seem like you were going to stop when you pushed me down.” He taunts me as he goes to my underarms. “You know this is some people’s kink.” He winks.

“Well, it's not mine.” I push on his chest.

“I know about yours.” He places a hand on the sides of my head to lean down and push his lips against mine.

A loud bang put our childish antics to an end. The door was on the ground and in the doorway was Bellatrix. “Well, well, now I know why the door was locked and a silencing charm was in place.” She walks into the room. Draco quickly stood up and helped me up. “Teenagers are filled with raging hormones.” She ruffles his hair. She moves in front of me to look up and down. “Is that my mother’s ring?” She screams, grabbing my hand to get a better look. Her nails dig into my hand, causing blood to drip.

Draco got in between us and shoved her back, forcing her to let go of my hand. “Yes, it’s your mother’s ring. Nicole is now my fiancée.” He glares at her with his hand in his pocket, no doubt holding his wand.

“Do your parents know?” She hisses at him as if she was impersonating a snake.

“Who do you think gave me the ring?” He let out a frustrated sigh from dealing with the psychotic childish woman.

“She had no right! That is my mother’s ring. It should be on my finger. Not on that redhead whore’s.” She stomps her feet as she screams.

“If grandma wanted you to have it she would have left it to you. But, she left it to mom to give to me for my bride.” He reminds her that there was never a chance she was going to get the ring. She let out a warrior cry as she ran towards me.

Draco moved to stop her but before he could, I pulled out my wand. “Petrificus Totalus.” She became stiff as a board with her legs stuck to each other and her arms attached to her sides.

“I wouldn’t attack her again. She’s going to be carrying the Malfoy heir soon. We know how much the Dark Lord wants the pureblood families to grow. He was probably disappointed that you never had a child.” He smirks as he gets in her face.

“I’m not a redhead, I’m a strawberry blonde. Hope someone finds you soon.” I smile sweetly knowing that it would piss her off. As we walk out of the room my brave face slides off.  “I don’t want to ever leave our room again,” I confess. I want to cuddle up with Sophia and Nathan in bed while pretending that evil wasn’t outside the door.

“You can go back to the room, later. Right now we are going to the healer.” He grabs my arm to pull me downstairs.

“The healer?” I ask. There were cuts on my hand, but I don’t think I need a healer. He didn’t answer me, as we walked past a bunch of death eaters. My eyes went wide when I recognized many of them for working at the ministry. I averted my gaze to look at Draco’s back when they turned to stare at us. He opens the door to lead us into a small hospital room. There were two cots and cabinets lined up against the walls that were filled with vials and containers.

“I need you to take off the birth control spell on her and maybe even put a fertility one on.” He told a small man who was sitting on a stool. He looks scared, so I assume he was here against his will.

“Is she okay with this?” His voice shook.

“Yes, she’s okay with it. What kind of person do you think I am?” He yells, making the smaller man shake even more.

“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll grab my wand.” He stood up and opened a drawer. He turns back to me with a wand in a shaking hand.

“It wasn’t a spell, it was a potion.” I corrected the situation before he could do any damage.

“That’s good, that means all you have to do is drink a fertility potion. I already have some made up in the Dark Lord request.” He grabs a vial from one of the cabinets. He handed it to me. As I move to tip it back into my mouth, Draco grabs my arm.

“I know you here out of fear. I want to make sure that you’re not playing the hero by making a fertility potion that makes women unable to have babies.” He glares down at the man. I stare at the vial in horror.

“No sir, I would never do that. I took an oath as a healer to treat people no matter what my opinion of them is.” He shook his head, his voice firm for the first time. It seems that both men didn’t want to be seen as a monster.

Draco nods his head, letting go of my arm. I drank the potion, smack my lips at the disgusting taste. Healers have no care at all to make anything taste good. “How long does it take to work?” He asks.

“It should take an hour at the most.” The healer informs us.

“Think you can wait that long.” He smirks.

I laugh, smacking him in the shoulder. “Thank you. I do want this child.” I smile warmly at the healer.

“You’re welcome and I wish you the best of luck.” He smiles. Draco and I walked out of the room and back to my safe place to see Mrs. Malfoy was waiting for us.

“So, I heard from my sister that there is going to be a wedding.” She pulled us into a hug.

“Listen, mom, I don’t think there needs to be an engagement party. I’m not even sure I want the wedding to be big, maybe just getting the paperwork done.” He told her. I let out a sigh of relief, the last thing I wanted to do is celebrate with people capable of killing me.

“Draco! I always dream of planning a wedding for you.” She gasps, putting a hand over her heart.

“Let me control this part of my life.” He snaps.

“Alright, you can announce it at the next meeting. It’s in two weeks. Make sure to dress formally.” She gave him a weak smile, before walking out of the room.

“I’m sorry I made that decision without you, but I don’t feel comfortable with you in a room full of them.” He sat down on the edge of the bed with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands.

“Don’t worry about it. I felt the same way you do.” I climb on the bed behind him. I gave his shoulders a massage.

“Has an hour gone by?” He let out a groan when I rub a knot out.

“Sorry champ, it’s only been twenty minutes.” I look up at the clock.

“Fair warning, I will be attacking you in forty minutes.” He turns his head to throw me a wink.

“It’s going to be weird having sex knowing that we are trying to make a kid.” I move to sit next to him.

“Breeding is a kink for some.” He wiggles his eyebrows

“Why do you know of all these kinks?” I know what I’m going to be doing when I have alone time in this room, searching for his porn.

“Guys talk about sex a lot.” He shrugs.

“Who has a tickling kink?” I perk up in excitement in getting to know people's dirty secrets.

“Goyle.” He smirked at the astonished expression I had on.

“Does he like being tickled or doing the tickling?” I hesitate before asking. I didn’t want to know, but I need to know.

“He likes being tickled. He said it the only time he feels like a girl has complete control over him.” He chuckles. I imagine he gave Goyle a good ribbing for admitting his fetish.

“Who has the breeding kink?” I want to move on from Goyle and sex before I get mental images.

“Flint, I have to say he made it sound pretty interesting.” He looks me up and down.

“Flint having sex arouse you?” I giggle at the thought of him getting a boner from Flint’s story.

“I didn’t say arouse, I said interesting. Not him having sex, the kink.” His look of lust went to one of annoyance.

“What about the kink?” If this was something that interests him then I was curious.

“It’s a way of setting a claim on a woman in a way that shows everyone that she’s yours. It can’t be hidden like a hickey or a ring there is no hiding the round stomach that shows other males that she is someone else.” He explains.

“Way to be a caveman.” I playfully roll my eyes.

“Isn’t sex a primal thing?” He winks at me, making me giggle. I stood up from the bed and took my shirt off and threw it on his head. While he was pulling it off, I used my wand to take off the rest of my clothes. After taking in my naked body, he checks the clock. “Come to daddy.”

“You're not a daddy yet.” I walk around to the other side of the bed. I crawled onto the bed intending to tease him by staying out of his reach but failed when I miscalculated the length of his arms. He pushes me down on the bed to straddle my waist. He gave me a nice show as he took off his shirt.

“Take my pants off.” He orders as he flops down on the bed beside me. I move down to take off his shoe and sock slowly, making him grunts at me. I giggle as I undo his belt to slide his pants and underwear off with one pull.

I raised an eyebrow to see that he was already rock hard. “Are you this excitement to fill me with your seed?” I gave him a few pumps before he pulled my hand away.

“I want to fill myself in your pussy, not your hand.” He uses the grip he had to pull me down on the bed. He hovers over me as he pushes his middle and index finger inside of me. “From the way you’re already oozing out, I would say that you’re into this kink a little bit more than you think.” His point was further proven by the wet smacking noises that echo around the room. I arch my back as he rubs my clit with his thumb.

“I need you inside me, Draco,” I beg as tension from the pleasure building inside became unbearable.

“You don’t get to address me by my name right now.” He pulls his fingers out with a pop. He uses his hand to guide the head of his dick along my lower lips. I let out a whimper as I tried to impale myself on him. “No, you will get my seed when you behave.” He held my hips steady with his free hand.

“Please, Daddy put your big dick inside me,” I scream out of frustration. He let out a chuckle as he moved away from me. “Where are you going?” I pathetically cry out from the loss of attention.

“Get on all fours.” He orders. I got into position. I spread my legs wide as I wiggle my butt in hopes that it would motivate him to move faster. I look over my shoulder to see where he was when a moment passes. “Keep your head down.” I let out a huff as I stare down at the black silk bed sheets. I gasp when he plunges his whole length into me with one thrust. His thrusts were faster and harder than they ever were before and that was saying something. My arms gave out on me causing my upper body to fall on the bed. The only thing keeping my lower half up was Draco’s hold onto my hips. The way my nipples were brushing against the silk with each movement adds to the pleasure. Even if I wanted to control myself, I wouldn’t be able to hold back the loud moans and whimpers that were coming out of my mouth. I tighten around him as my pussy pushes out a lot of fluids. It was hard to catch my breath from my orgasm because Draco didn’t let up from his pace.

He removed his hands from my hips and wrapped them around my stomach to hang his body over mine. “Your body wants, no craves my seed. It’s tired of being filled up, but never fully claimed. No worries, because daddy plans to spill himself inside you until your pussy overflows with my seed. I’ll keep doing that until you grow my child.” He whispers in my ear before his hips gave one last snap. He buried himself to the point that his balls smack against my sensitive parts. I groan as his hot seeds burst into my body. He pulls himself out only after he completely softens. He unwrapped his arms, allowing me to lay flat on the bed.

“Look at that I overflow you on my first try.” He laughs, smacking my thigh. He collapsed on the side of me. We lay there in blissful silence as we came down from our exotic highs.

I was finishing off my makeup with some red lipsticks. I gave myself a look over in the mirror making sure everything was perfect. I straightened my hair, had on red blush and eyeshadow. I look down to see my long red square manicure nails.

“If this meeting wasn’t important, I would take you right here.” Draco walks into the bathroom, wearing black slacks, a turtleneck, and a dress coat. He eyes me as I was only clad in a black thong and a strapless bra. I held back a whimper that was in my throat as my body reacted to him, even though I was sore between the legs. It was a delicious type of sore, but sore nonetheless. We had been having sex every chance we could in the last two weeks. Seeing as I only had the responsibility of taking care of the animals and him practicing his dueling, we had a lot of free time on our hands.

“You know there are other colors.” I slip on a black and red dress. The dress was black on the back and sides. The red was in the front covered with black lace. The lace goes along the bottom and above the chest. “Zip me up.” I turn my back to him.

“Says the girl who only has two colors on. One of them is black.” He rolls his eyes as he does what I ask.

“Three.” I slip on a few diamond bangles and Draco’s grandma ring, now my ring. I put on some black heels with red bottoms.

“There is no need to be nervous. I will do all the talking.” He says.

“What if he asks me a question?” I ask, wanting to know if he’ll answer for me or if I would have to answer myself.

“Then you’ll have to answer him, it helps to look at his forehead. He assumes that you’re looking into his eyes and that’ll get you some respect from him.” He told me. I nod my head. He wraps his arm around my waist to guide me out of my safe zone and into the dining room. I try not to look at anyone as we sit down in the middle of a long table.

“Welcome Draco and Nicole, I heard you have an announcement.” An unnatural voice sent chills down my spine. I look to the right to see Voldemort sitting at the head of the table. I heard descriptions and saw pictures, but nothing could prepare me for seeing him in person. It took everything in me to control my facial expression as I took him in. He looks like a skeleton that was tightly wrapped in grayish-white skin. He had some human features, but he also had animal features like the two slits for a nose and claw-like nails.

“Yes my Lord, I do. Nicole and I are engaged and are trying for a baby.” He told the table. I looked around to see that most people had expressionless faces letting me know that they didn’t care, including Mr. Malfoy. Mrs. Malfoy and Bellatrix look upset for different reasons.

“Making the next generation that is good.” A predatory smile stretched across Voldemort’s face. At that moment I felt a combination of emotions I never felt together before, relief and uneasiness.

“They don’t want a wedding, just paperwork.” Mrs. Malfoy sneers. I glared at her, she was the one who said we had to make this look like it wasn’t a tactically move. Now, she is putting it in motion to make it seem like one. The room was filled with silence as everyone was giving us calculated stares.

“I believe that we don’t need to draw any unnecessary attention on us right now. Besides everyone should be concentrated on your work, my Lord.” I looked at his forehead, but my stare dropped to his eyes when I had to know how my message was being received.

“I like your way of thinking, it is tactical and selfless. When we win the war your wedding ceremony will be part of the celebration.” He nods his head in approval.

“It would be an honor for it to be considered that.” Draco squeezes my hand under the table. I wasn’t sure if it was a way of comforting me or letting me know I did a good job.

“As purebloods, we rightfully belong on top, one part of securing that is to get rid of the mudblood for they are a disgrace to magic.” He spoke, making everyone at the table cheer. Draco pinches my leg letting me know that I was supposed to join in. “A big part in securing that is making sure we keep the pureblood lines going. To make sure that the Malfoy baby makes it, there needs to be a stress-free environment for Nicole. No one is to bother her with issues that don’t concern her. She needs to only worry about taking care of the pureblood life inside her.” He looks at everyone to make sure they understand. Like the announcement of trying, most didn’t seem to care to concern themselves with me in the first place. I resist the urge to stick my tongue out at Bellatrix.

The rest of the meeting was filled with information that I didn’t understand with dates, people, and events that had no meaning to me. After a couple of hours, Voldemort ends the meeting with a warning to everyone of what would happen if they fail him. They form a line to bow to him and thank him. I rock on the balls of my feet as I wait for my turn. Draco was behind me rubbing my back. I swallowed a lump in my throat as the person in front of me moved to put me face to face with the Dark Lord. I went to bow when a voice stopped me. “There’s no need for that child, come stand in front of me.” His chilling voice orders.

With shaking legs, I walk over to him. He leaned over and put his hands on top of my stomach. I stood as still as possible as he kept his hands there for a few seconds before removing them. “Congratulations, it seems you are no longer trying to have a baby. You are having a baby.” I gasp, as I put my hands over my stomach in amazement.

“Thank you, my Lord, for letting us serve you and for the fantastic news.” Draco came up next to me to bow. He wraps his arm around my shoulders as he guides my awestruck frame out of the room and to our own. When the door closes behind us, I jump into his arms with a huge grin on my face. He laughs as he spins us around.

He set me down on my feet to put his hands on my stomach, “My two bright lights through all the darkness.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The morning after the Death Eaters meeting we visited the healer who confirmed that I was pregnant. It had been four months since then, it was filled with constant changes. Draco was gone more doing Merlin knows what, leaving me in the room by myself. This mansion had no novels. All they had were Dark Art textbooks. I was so bored that I read all of them. I taught Nathan and Sophia all the tricks I could think of. To say that I had cabin fever would be an understatement.

My body was preparing itself for the baby from my breast getting fuller, to my hips getting wider, to my feet swelling up to help carry the extra weight. The most worrisome was my stomach. It shouldn’t be as big as it was. That’s why my plans for today were to go to the healer before going with Draco to get our marriage certificate.

“After getting married, we should go to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade,” I told him as he came out of the bathroom in a pair of slacks and a black button-down shirt.

“We can’t.” He busies himself with fixing his collar.

“Why can’t we go shopping? I need new clothes and a few novels.” I pull on the old fashion dress that I was wearing. It used to be Mrs. Malfoys when she was pregnant. I outgrow all my clothes, so now I mostly wore Draco’s.

“The Dark Lord has control over the Ministry now. He’s having muggle-borns, mixed-bloods, and bloody traitors arrested. At the moment there isn’t a Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade.” He let out an exhausted sigh. I felt bad that he and everyone else had to carry that weight around while I stayed in this room ignorant.

“I suppose wearing your clothes is comfy and no one is going to see me anyways. I could take notes this time around when I read the Dark Art books, which would help you.” I gave him the biggest smile I could. I knew it was a sad attempt to make him feel better, but he showed me that he appreciated it by giving me a big smile of his own.

“Come on, let check on why my baby is growing so fast.” He gave my forehead a peck. We walk out of the room and to the doctor’s office. I took a seat on the cot and the doctor sat on a stool in front of me.

“Good Morning. You’re here because you believe your stomach is too big?” He looks up at me after reading the clipboard.

“You don’t think I’m too big?” I rub my stomach.

“It’s hard to say some women carry bigger than others, but since you’re here let’s check.” He gets up and pulls out a blackboard. A bright light came out from his wand to surround my big stomach and then he projected it to the blackboard.

“There are two of them now.” Draco squinted his eyes. My jaw drops.

“There were always two. One of them must have been hiding behind the other every check-up.” The doctor explains. “They’re both boys.” He informs us as he examines the picture. Draco pumps his fist in the air.

“Does it hurt more to have twins?” I ask.

“It won’t hurt any more than having one.” He smiles. I scoff, that didn’t sound believable.

“Thanks for the good news. We got to go get married.” Draco shook his hand before grabbing mine.

“Congratulations on the twins and the marriage.” The small man whose name was never brought up smiles at us. Before I could ask, Draco pulled me away.

“Are you up for apparition?” He looks down at me. I nod my head. He grabs my arm to pull me through a tube and appears in front of the ministry since we couldn’t appear in the building. We walked in to see a big statue of a witch and wizard that were dressed in fancy clothes. They were sitting on a throne made of naked people who were weak-looking with twisted faces of pain from having to support the weight of the royals. On the bottom, Magic is Mighty was carved in. I swallow the lump in my throat. The sinking feeling in my stomach told me how much this year changed me. If I saw this at the beginning of the school year, I would wholeheartedly agree. I would have fantasized about my mother and her muggle lover struggling to carry my weight. Now, it had a completely different effect on me.

As we walk down the halls to find the office that does marriage certificates, we pass a wall that has pictures of witches and wizards. On the top, hang a banner that said, Wanted Bloody Traitors. I let out a sigh of relief to not see their faces amongst them. I cringe as I see all the Weasleys up there. They had high prices on all their heads. I didn't realize I froze in front of it until Draco pulled on my arm.

“Come on, we don’t want anyone noticing you staring with that sad look on your face.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders to guide me down the hall and into a big office with multiple desks, but there was only one lady there. The worker’s head shot up when we came in. “Hello, are you looking to get married?”

“Yes, we are,” Draco told her.

“Well, come on up. It’s nice to see young love, especially during these times.” Her face fell flat when she noticed my stomach when we got closer.

“Can you get the papers?” Draco growls.

“I’ll need your names first. I have to make sure you’re not on the mix blood list.” She shamefully admitted.

“Draco Malfoy and Nicole Lopes.” He points to himself and then me. She went into a back room. “What dumb mix-bloods would come here to get married?”

“Does it feel wrong to be getting married when others can’t?” All of a sudden it felt dirty to enjoy the bliss of marriage when others couldn’t.

“Don’t feel guilty. Right now, we are protecting our children.” He rubs my stomach. I didn’t get to respond, because the lady came back.

“Here’s the paperwork.” She hands the paper to us. We fill out the form and sign it before handing it back to her. “When’s the wedding?” She tries to fill the silences.

“Undecided at the moment,” I wanted to add it might be a part of the Voldemort is the new world leader celebration just to see the look of horror on her face, but I stop myself. She gave me a sad smile, glancing down at my stomach.

Draco clears his throat. “Can you run it through the system, so we can get our certificate?” He gave her a death stare. She waves her wand and the paper turns from forms into a beautiful certificate that declares me, Mrs. Draco Malfoy. I grab it from her, smiling down at it.

“Have a nice day.” I turn and walk out of the office. Draco follows me after shooting her one last nasty look.

“Rude hag, I should get her picture up on that wall as a bloody traitor, especially during these times.” He mimics her voice.

“Who cares about her? I’m Nicole Malfoy. Mrs. Draco Malfoy.” I cheer as I dance around waving the paper in the air.

“Better bask in that glory, love. Many beautiful women want to be in your place.” He chuckles at me while wraps his arms around my waist.

“You better appreciate me, because if I played my cards differently I could have been Nicole Weasley.” I pull out of his arms.

“What?” He yelled. I giggled as I ran out of that miserable building with him chasing after me. Once I got down the steps, he pulled me back and laid a heated kiss on me.

Draco was looking over the notes I made on the unforgivable curses. “For the imperius curse, I wave my wand like this.” He moves his wand according to my instructions. “I need to practice this for real.” He turns to me.

I raise my eyebrows at him from my spot on the bed. “Don’t look at me.”

“I wouldn’t think of it. I’ll find a bug.” He looks around the room as if a roach was going to come out and volunteer.

There was a loud pounding on the door. “Come out, we might have Harry Potter.” The shrill voice of Bellatrix Lestrange calls out. We share a look of shock before Draco answers the door. “Come on, you both went to school with him. See if you recognize him.” She pulls him out of the room. I got off the bed to follow them. She leads us to the living room. I gasped as I saw Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger being held by two dirty men. I stare in shock from them being here, while they stare at my stomach in the same manner. Another filthy man had a boy kneeling on the ground.

“Why is Nicole here? You know she can’t be put under any stress.” Mrs. Malfoy glares at her sister.

“How is this stressful? She just has to look at him.” She had been getting more frustrated by the day at how I was being babied under the orders of Voldemort. “Now take a good look we have to be sure before we call the Dark Lord.” She pulls Draco and me in front of the kneeling boy.

We bend over to get a closer look. His face was swollen to the point he could have been anyone. While I was sure this was Harry Potter simply by the company he was with, I wasn’t about to kill the only hope the world had. “I can’t be sure at the moment he looks more like a puffer fish than human.” I poke his face making him whine.

“What's wrong with his face?” Draco asks his auntie.

“What is wrong with his face?” She looks at the man standing behind Harry.

“I don’t know I found him like that. Now, who’s going to pay me, you or the Dark Lord?” The man rolls his eyes. Clearly, he didn’t know the type of crazy he was dealing with.

“Money? People who work for money aren’t loyal. They will turn the second it benefits them. People like that ruined us the first time.” She pulls out her wand turning it into a whip. The man turned to run, but he didn’t get far. He gasps for air as the whip wraps around his neck. “Girl, get their wands from his pocket.” She giggles with glee as she tightens the whip, turning the man’s face different colors. I stepped forward knowing she was talking to me because she always calls girl. I dip my hands in his pockets and I pull out three wands from his right back pocket.

“Put it with the others.” Mr. Malfoy points to the table that had a long chest on it. I heard the men’s footsteps as they ran out. I walked over to the table.

“Now let’s search them,” Bellatrix growls. I didn’t turn to watch her. I open the chest. I had to use my wandless hand to cover my mouth to hide the gasp at what I saw. My eyes tear up as I stare at Luna’s wand. I drop the three wands in. I look over my shoulder to see everyone paying attention to Bellatrix pulling things out of Hermione's bag. It looks like a muggle magic show. I took Luna’s wand and slipped it into Draco’s sweatpants.

I turned around quickly when Bellatrix let out a scream. “How do you have this, it was in my vault?” She waves a sword around. “Throw this one into the dungeon. We’ll see who he is when the jinx wears off.” She points at Harry. Two Death Eaters carried him off. “You and I are going to have a chat.” She grabs Hermione's face.

“Nicole, go back to our room,” Draco told me but kept his eyes on his Auntie.

I nod my head and walk out, but instead of going to our room, I follow the men carrying Harry. I stop to hide behind a corner. I peek around to see them opening a door and carrying Harry inside. They came out a few minutes later. I thank Merlin that they walk in a different direction instead of coming back my way. I waited a minute before making my move. I opened the door and walked down a flight of stairs to find the basement was turned into a large prison cell. Inside were a goblin, Garrick Ollivander, Harry, and Luna. She ran to the bars when she saw me.

“You’re pregnant.” She reached between the bars to put her hands on my stomach.

“I didn’t know you were here.” I let out a sob.

She gave me her famous dazed smile as a realization came to her eyes. “You're the girl that can’t be bothered. They complain about having to avoid you and how you do nothing. Be careful some are bitter about it.” I reach into my pocket and pull out her wand. She pulls her hands back inside the cell. “I can’t get you hurt.”

“I’m not leaving until you take it.” I reach into the cell, holding her wand out. “You can either take it, so I can get back to my room and no one will be the wiser. Or, I can stand here all day and be caught for sure.”

“Be quick.” She took her wand from me.

“I love you, Luna. Will you be my children’s godmother?” I wipe the tears from my eyes.

“Yes, I will and I love you too. NOW GO!” She points to the door.

I cracked the door open to see that no one was there. I slipped out the door and made my way to my room. I close the door to jump as Hermione screams fill the mansion. I curl up on my bed and sob with guilt and grief. The scariest thing about being stuck in this room was I knew nothing that was happening in the world or even this house. I was in a time capsule, who knew what the future would be when I was released. Would it be filled with peace and harmony or darkness and chaos? Would my children get to know their godmother? Would I even get to ask Robert to be the Godfather? I cry so hard that I gave myself a splitting headache as I wonder what I was sacrificing by playing it safe.

Draco came in, his hair and clothes were a mess. He sat down on the bed and rubbed my back. “They all got away.” He told me.

“Oh,” I said with no emotion. While I was glad they were gone, they still weren’t safe.

“Look at me.” He grabs my face to turn to him. “It’s okay to be happy about it, I am.”

“Really,” I sat up, searching his face. I worry every time he walks out the door, he would come back brainwashed.

“Yes, I am. Hopefully, the idiots learn not to say the Dark Lord’s name again.” He stood back up. “I have to do some damage control.”

“Be safe.” I got up to give him a kiss.

“Don’t feel guilt, we are doing what we can in our situation.” He ran a hand through my hair.

“Tell me you’ll be safe and I won’t feel guilty.” I made him a deal.

“I’ll be safe.” He gave me one last peck before going.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Do you have everything?” I look him over. All I could see was that he owns another black suit.

“I’m going to a magic war, what more do I need?” He waves his wand around.

“Your broom or a dung bomb.” I thought of useful things.

“I’ll be fine.” He gave me a reassuring hug.

“You sure you don’t want me to walk you to the door?” I wanted to, but he was against it.

“No, they are all out there.” He shook his head.

“Tell me you’ll be safe,” I demand.

“I’ll be safe. When I come back it’ll be a better world for our children.” He bends over to kiss my stomach which was now bigger since I was right at nine months. “Try and wait for me.” He rubs my stomach.

“I’ll try.” I want him to be there, but I also want them out already. “Good luck,” I held back the tears, he didn’t need to worry about me.

“I love you all.” He stood up straight to kiss me.

“We love you too,” I told him when the kiss was broken. He gave me an intense kiss that made me pull him closer as tears rolled down my cheeks for it felt like he was telling me goodbye. He pulled away and said he loved me one last time, before walking out the door. It took everything in me not to run after him. Instead, I picked up the children’s book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and read it out loud to my twins.

I woke up gasping for air as the pain in my lower stomach woke me up. I rub my stomach trying to ease the pain. As my grogginess left I became aware of the fact that my privates and legs were wet.

“Shit, my water broke. I got to get the midwife.” I try to get up when a contraction rocks through me. In the mansion right now were only the house elves, a midwife, and I. The doctor went with them to the war. I let out a scream when I had another contraction.

A house-elf ran into my room. “Should I get the midwife, Mrs. Malfoy?” She asked in a quiet voice.

“Yes, please.” I plead. She ran out the door. I took deep breaths as I waited. “Sorry Draco,” I tear up from the pain. He wouldn’t get to see the birth of his twins. In such great pain, I didn’t know if I would ever want to do this again.

The door opened, the midwife named Michelle, and a few house elves came in. “Let see how much you’re dilated, Mrs. Malfoy.” She lifts the blanket and pulls down my panties since I was only wearing one of Draco’s shirts. “You are there. I’m going to need you to move down to the edge of the bed as I showed you before.” She looks up from between my legs. I nod, letting her know I understood. With her help, I move to the foot of the bed. My butt was right on the edge. I was balancing myself with my knees bent and feet on a black wooden bench that was at the end of the bed. She put a few towels down between my legs on the bench.

“I want you to go to the bathroom and get warm water ready to wash the baby.” She orders a house-elf who hurries to the bathroom. “We are all set, now you need to push.” She gave my knee a squeeze of encouragement. I grind my teeth as I bear through the pain, push after push. With a warrior scream, my first boy came out. She hands him over to a house-elf who took him to the bathroom.

“I don’t want to do that again,” I whine. It felt like I was being ripped wide open.

“You are going to have to. With you being stretched out it won’t hurt as much.” She explains. I didn’t know if it was because she was a woman, or if it was her reasoning behind it but I believe her.

I let out a grunt as I started to push again. It was like she said, it didn’t hurt as much. It still felt like a watermelon was coming out of me, but it wasn’t ripping me open. While the second baby was going into the bathroom, the first one was coming out. The house-elf put him in my arms. A smile spread across my face as I saw Draco’s eyes looking up at me. “Hello, Scorpius.” I coo, calling him by the name that we agree upon. I kissed him on the nose. The first of many kisses I would give him until he would reach his preteens and would demand I stop.

I shifted to hold him in one arm as I saw my other son coming out. “Hello, Leo.” I greeted him the moment I had him in my grasp. I gave him his first kiss too.

“Are you ready to breastfeed?” Michelle asks.

“Yes. Can you hold them while I take my shirt off?” I ask.

“Of course,” She took the babies from my arms.

I cover my lower half with the blanket before taking off my shirt. It felt like I had some dignity being half-naked instead of completely. She hands me Scorpius. After I got him latched on and situated, she handed me, Leo. I had a little trouble getting him to latch on. He kept missing the nipple without a third hand, I wasn’t able to help him. Michelle saw my problem, she gently moved my breast for Leo to get it.

“I need Draco. If I can’t feed them by myself how am I going to do anything?” I sob as panic builds inside me. I need him. What am I going to do if he doesn’t make it?

“You could always feed them one at a time.” A house-elf suggests. With Michelle and mine’s harsh glare on her, she realized she said something wrong. She slams her head against one of the bedposts.

Michelle ran over to stop her from giving herself a concussion. “Thank you all for your help, but it’s time for you guys to go back to your daily duties.” She dismisses them. They walk out of the room. “Listen to me, Draco is going to come back. He has been putting his all in preparing for the war so that he can come back to you.” She sat down in front of me.

“How do you know that, you just got here?” I scoff. I want to believe her like I did before, but there was no logic behind her words.

“You’re right I don’t know that. But, I do know he tracked me down when he found out the doctor was going with them. I can’t remember what he said exactly, because I wasn’t persuaded by his words, but by his passion. I remember the look in his eyes and the emotion in his voice. I thought I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to this man’s babies. A man that goes through all that for a possible threat, I imagine would do so much more for a guaranteed threat.” She smiles as if Draco going to her was a fond memory. “I also know that you’re going to be an amazing mother.” She pats my thigh.

“Are you a seer?” I tease.

“No, I know you will be because you already are. Even with your freak out, you never stop feeding them.” She nods her head in the direction of my chest. I look down in amazement that she was right. “Motherhood isn’t about being perfect. It’s about loving them and giving them what they need no matter what.” I smiled as I thought about her words. I could never be perfect, but I would always love them.

The daily prophet was dropped on the doorstep. On the front page was the headline Harry Potter Won the War. I snatched it up and walked back into the house. I read as I walked back to the front living room, where the babies were sleeping in their bassinets. I picked that room to set up in because it was the closest to the door. I wanted to be in hearing distance when Draco came back. I threw myself down on the couch as I read that the Malfoys were among the Death Eaters that got taken into custody. I reread the line a few times before throwing the paper across the room. I rub my temples. I was so worried about him making it out alive, I didn’t think about him paying for the consequences of his actions. I stood up to get ready to go to the ministry when I realized I couldn’t take the babies. That was too many germs for my newborn babies to be around. I huff as I sit down. It was so frustrating that all I could do was wait. Either Draco would walk through the door and we could start our new life or an Auror would come to take everything away.

I stressfully wait all day long, until the door opens around dinner time. At the moment I had Leo in my arms, while Scorpius was playing with his pacifier in his bassinet. “Draco!” I called out to see if it was him.

“What are you doing out of the room?” He yells back. I squealed in excitement as I got up with Leo to meet him halfway. We met in the hallway that led to the living room. He rushed over to me when he saw the bundle in my arms. “Who is this?” He asks as I hand the baby over.

“This is Leo. Scorpius is in the living room.” I told him. He walks ahead of me to get to his other son as fast as possible. I observe as he plays with his day-old sons. He bounces Leo as he lets Scorpius play with his fingers.

I took the time to look him over. His hair was grayish from all the ash that was in it. He had dirt, blood, and ash marks all over him. Despite the dark circles around his eyes, you wouldn’t be able to tell he was tired from his smile and eyes. They were bright and lively as he entertained the babies. “Why do you have so much ash all over you?” I ask.

“I had to fly out of a burning Room of Requirements.” He put down Leo and stood up. “I should shower.”

“Can you carry Leo to the room, he should change clothes?” I ask after seeing that he had dirt and ash marks on him. He grabs him while I pick up Scorpius.

Draco noticed the bedsheets were changed the second he stepped into the room. “Where did you give birth?”

“My water broke in my sleep, so I gave birth in the bed. I had the house elves throw the whole thing out. This mattress is from a guest room.” I explain.

“What’s done is done, where do you want this guy?” He kissed Leo on the cheek.

“The bed,” He put him down in the middle of the bed, before going to the bathroom.

I put Scorpius down next to his brother and use pillows to make a barrier around them. I got wipes and a change of clothes. I took off Leo’s onesie and used the wipes to clean him up before putting on a clean onesie. I fix the anklets I put on them to tell them apart. Leo had on a green anklet while Scorpius had on a silver anklet.

Draco came out of the bathroom, using a towel to dry his hair with another towel wrap around his waist. “That was fast.” I look him up and down, appreciating his almost naked body.

“I’m excited to be with my wife and twins.” He drops the towel and puts on a pair of boxers.

“Tell me about the burning room.” I sat down on one side of the twins, while he sat on the other. He told me everything from entering Hogwarts to leaving the ministry.

“Potter saved you from being imprisoned?” I ask in amazement. The boy nearly killed him last year, now he was saving him.

“He told them about how I lied about not being able to identify him to Bellatrix. That my mom lied that he died to Voldemort. He made it sound like he wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for us.” Draco hangs his head in shame.

“He wouldn’t be. If you turn him in then, Voldemort would have killed him right there. He didn’t have the sorcerer’s stone yet, so there wouldn’t be any coming back. If your mom didn’t lie, then Voldemort would have finished the job.” I reassure him that he did help save humanity. “Your father got locked up?” I noticed that Harry didn’t say anything to save him. His face tense up. He must have been feeling a mixer of emotions. He idolizes his dad growing up, but in recent years he lost all respect for him.

“It might be wrong, but I don’t feel bad. I feel relieved. I don’t have to worry about him trying to poison them like he did me.” He leans over to give them both a peck on the forehead.

“How is your mom taking it?” I ask.

“Hard, she went straight to her room. She may have been upset with him, but he was all she ever knew. They’ve been together since Hogwarts.” As he spoke he didn’t stop bonding with the boys, from playing with their tiny fingers to rubbing their bald heads. They would smile and grab his hand when it was in their reach.

“I’m sure she’ll cheer up soon. She just has to find herself. I know two bundles of joy that could cheer her up.” I gently poke their cheeks.

“Tomorrow, for now, I want it to be only us.” He put his arm on the pillow above their heads. “You know, they look a lot like me. They have my eyes, lips, and nose. No one would know they were yours.” He smirks.

“They could have my hair.” I glared.

“I hope not. I don’t want them to be mistaken for Weasleys.” He teases as he reaches over to tug at the ends of my hair. I throw a spare pillow at him. “What if it landed on one of the babies?” He tosses the pillow behind him.

“I’m practically a pro quidditch player, I don’t miss.” I puff out my chest.

“You were a seeker and you played in three games.” He rolls his eyes.

“I hope one of them follows in my glorious quidditch footsteps.” I ignore him.

“I hope they do better than that.” He laughs. I couldn’t help but laugh with him, for I hope for the same thing. He suddenly stops laughing and puts on a serious face. He gets off the bed and goes down on one knee.

“What are you doing?” I stare at him.

“I want you to know that nothing changes between us. When I look at you I truly see an angel that guided me through the darkest time of my life. You gave me love, stability, and loyalty. Now, you have literally given me life, twice. I want to know if you will do me the honor of marrying me again. This time not just legally, but spiritually as well.” He grabs my hand and twirls around my wedding ring.

“I would have to check with my legal husband, but I think he’ll be okay with it.” I lean down to kiss him.

“If he’s not, I’ll beat him up.” He chuckles between kisses.

I was fixing the bow tie on Leo, who was being held by Narcissa Malfoy. “He is so precious. They both remind me of Draco so much.” She fixes his blonde hair that he grew in his six months of living.

“Draco likes to tease me that no one would know they were mine.” I kissed him. I laughed when I saw that I left a pink lipstick stain. “Sorry, love.” I got a wipe and cleaned his face.

“I never thank you.” She whispers.

“Thank me?” I stare at her in confusion. What would she have to thank me for?

“My son isn’t perfect, but you stand by him and show him, love, even when you’re upset with him.” She smiles at me fondly.

“You don’t have to thank me for that.” I shook my head.

“No, but I do have to thank you for being patient with me. I know Draco is frustrated that I grieved for a man who put us in such a horrible situation. He used to look at me like he wanted to shake me. But, you made him be patient with me. You let me get comfortable in my new position in life. I’m enjoying it greatly.” She bounces Leo who laughs at the motion. “I have noticed the books you have been leaving around the house to try and help me find a new hobby. I’m thinking about trying to garden. Maybe I can grow some narcissus.” She laughs as I smile innocently at her. I thought I had been sneakier than that.

“I’ll take care of him. You finish getting ready. It’s your wedding day. All you have to think about is yourself.” She carries Leo out. I wish I could see if Scorpius was ready, but he was with Draco.

Luna came bouncing in. “Let’s get you ready.” She shoves me into a chair. She did my hair half up half down, curling the loose hair. She made my makeup light and natural. I slip off my robe to reveal a white strapless bra, lace panties, and garter. Luna helps me step into my wedding dress. After she zips me up, I turn to the mirror to see the white strapless dress that had a long train. There was bead detail that forms flowers with a ribbon below my bust. I put on the finishing touch with flower stud earrings and a thick diamond-encrusted round bangle.

“You look beautiful.” Luna smiles as tears appear in her eyes.

“Don’t you cry, then I’ll cry.” I scold her.

She giggles, shaking her head as she holds back the tears. “I’ll help you put on your heels.” She bends over to slip on the heels. “Ready?” She popped back up when she was done.

“I have been ready for everyone to call me Mrs. Malfoy since first year.” I giggle as I remember how I rushed to her after the Halloween dance to tell her I was going to marry him. She laughs, letting me know she was thinking of that moment also.

“Let’s go.” She links arms with me and we walk out of my room. “I never thought I would ever want to be back at this place. It’s quite beautiful when you’re not being held captive.” She looks around the Malfoy Manor.

“Sorry about that.” If I didn’t agree to be ignorant I could have got her out of here faster.

“Nothing for you to be sorry about, you didn’t do it. It’s kind of therapeutic to come back here, to see that it is not that dark place anymore.” She smiles as she continues to look around. I grew a smile of my own, glad that today wasn’t a PTSD event for her.

We stood outside the door that led to the garden, where the wedding was being held, to see that everyone was lined up and ready to go. Narcissa was holding Leo and a basket of flowers. Robert was holding Scorpius and a pillow with two rings on it. Luna moves to stand next to Blaise. I gasped when I saw my dad standing there waiting for me. “You came?” I walk slowly over to him.

“You think I would miss my little girl’s wedding?” He smiles like I was some silly little girl asking about the monster under her bed.

“You did miss a lot of birthdays and holidays. Did you even look for me during the war?” I snapped. He wasn’t about to make like he was the perfect father.

“I deserve that, I have been a horrible father. This war taught me that. I wanted to look for you but I couldn’t because I didn’t know where you could be. I don’t know you. It pains me to think that I let my grief destroy your childhood. I want to make things right with you. I want to be part of your life. I was hoping that coming here today would be a step in that direction, but I understand if you feel like I don’t deserve to walk you down the aisle.” He put the flower bouquet in my hands before turning to walk away.

“Stay. Walk me down the aisle.” I grab his hand. He turns back to me with a look of shock that quickly turns into a huge smile. The first smile of his that I ever saw in person. I heard about the joyful man he was before and I saw pictures, but I never got to witness it firsthand.

“Smile, we are about to walk out,” Narcissa calls back to us as the door swings open. She walked out, Leo threw the flower petals on the ground as she went along. Robert walks out with Scorpius who was chewing on the pillow. Luna and Blaise turn back to smile at me before they walk down the aisle.

“Come on.” I pull my dad along. My jaw dropped to see that Draco was wearing a white and black suit instead of his signature black and black. He looks amazing in every suit he wears, but something about today’s suit being different made it more special. I let go of my father’s hand to stand in front of Draco.

I didn’t realize I got lost looking at him until he started his vows. “Nicole Malfoy, a woman so close to being a goddess that I propose twice. It still amazes me that you’re still with me. I gave you a million reasons to leave. You made a billion reasons to stay. The trust you place in me is like nothing I've ever seen before. That trust gives me the motivation to do whatever I need to for you and the boys. I promise that I’m never going to misuse that trust. I’m going to be such a good husband that you won’t even think of looking anywhere else. I’m going to be the best dad that makes all their friend’s dads look like rubbish.” He had on his devilish smile towards the end. I giggle for I knew those were his real goals.

“Draco Malfoy, a man that resembles a Greek god so much that I agree to marry him twice.” I gave him an exaggerated wink. “From the very beginning, you made my life a grand adventure. Sometimes, it was scary and dangerous, but you always had a plan. You made sure that I was a top priority in all of them. I appreciate you for being selfless, kind, and sturdy, both physically and emotionally. All jokes aside, every adventure you take me on gives me a new purpose that I wouldn’t have without you, from the Halloween dance to the twins. It was better than any daydream I ever had. I’m not going to take anything for granted. I’m going to be the best wife to you and mother to our children that I can be.” I couldn’t help put a few jokes in my speech, for I didn’t want it to be completely cheesy. His cocky smirk let me know he enjoys how it strokes his ego.

“May I have the rings?” The priest turns to Blaise, who hands him the objects he asks for. “
Do you Draco Malfoy take Nicole Lopes, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?
” The priest asks him.

“I do.” He grabs my hand to slip on my ring. He stares at me in that intense way that made my whole body tingle.

“
Do you Nicole Lopes take Draco Malfoy, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?
” The priest asks me.

“I do.” I bite my bottom lip, looking up at him through my lash in that faux innocent schoolgirl manner that I knew drove him crazy as I put on his ring.

“I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” The priest announced to the garden.

“Come here, you tease.” Draco grabs my arms, pulling me close to put his lips on mine.

“Only for my husband,” I pull back just enough to giggle against his lips.

“That better be the only time.” He growled playfully. The crowd’s cheers and applauses sound like static as we continue to kiss.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Robes,” I look up from the list.“Yes.” The twins nod.“Books,” I read the next thing on the checklist.“Yes.” They repeated.“Your new shoes,” I gave Leo a pointed look.“Come on, Mum. This is our second year packing our stuff.” Leo whines.“Did you forget your fourth year so fast? Both of you forgot half your school supplies. I’m not going to send your new pair of shoes this year, Leo. You will have to wear last year's shoes, I don’t care if they're too small.” I glared at my Gryffindor son, who was a lot like his father. Sometimes I love that fact and other times it frustrated me, like right now. He had to argue his point.“Give us the checklist, mum. We’ll go over it ourselves.” Scorpius suggests. My Slytherin son was like me in the way that he knew how to use logic and reason to calm a situation.“Love, you’re not ready yet. Are you planning on going in your pajamas?” Draco walks into the living room, where I found the boys with their trunks. I look down to see that I was still in a pair of fuzzy shorts and a tank top.“No mum, don’t go in that. I don’t want my first impression to be ruined. People are going to talk about my insane mother.” My dramatic 11 years old daughter, Cassiopeia, whines from behind her father.“I’m going to get ready, now. So you can finish the show drama queen.” I roll my eyes. “I’m not sending anything if you forget something. I don’t mean school supplies or clothes. I’m talking about sweets and money.” I gave my checklist over to Scorpius. They stare down at it making sure they had everything.I hurried to my room to change into a pair of jeans, a long-sleeve red shirt, and some white sneakers. I slip on a few gold bangles. I always made sure to have some type of jewelry on in case I needed to wrangle my beloved pet. A scream came from downstairs. “Nicole, you’re crazy niffler is at it again.” Draco voices boom through the mansion.I ran to see Nathan on top of Cassiopeia’s head trying to get the golden hair clip. “Nathan!” I scream. He stops pulling on her hair to turn and hiss at me. I raise my arm in the air to make the golden bracelets shine in the light. He jumps off her to launch himself at me. He happily lay in my arms, playing with the bracelets.“My hair,” She tries running a hand through it only to run into knots.“It improves your looks.” Leo jokes, making her hit him in the arm repeatedly.“Enough.” Draco grabs her. I wave my wand to fix her hair. “Now that’s fixed, let’s get going.” He let go of his daughter to levitate their trunks to the car. I put down Nathan and gave him a bracelet to play with. He ran off to wherever his new hiding place was.We got into the fancy muggle car that Draco brought. He drove towards the train station. “Dad, do you think next summer you could teach Leo and me how to drive?” Scorpius leans between the two front seats to ask.“How come no one is asking me to teach them?” I turn back to look at them. They smirked at me. “I’m not that bad!” “I’ll teach you, boys. Nikki, you can’t teach anyone when you still don’t have your license.” He laughs at my pouting face.“I’m a witch. I don’t need to drive a stupid muggle car.” I glare at the automobile I was sitting in.“What house are you hoping for?” Scorpius asks his sister.“I was thinking of Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.” She answers.“I hope Ravenclaw. I don’t need you cramping my style.” Leo teases, laughing when he got the reaction of her red face.“I hope no one will find out you’re my brother.” She spat.“I hope for the same thing every day, but unfortunately he has my face.” Scorpius laughs. Cassiopeia beams at her brother for taking her side. Leo gasps, clutching his heart like he was in pain. I smile as I watch them from the rearview mirror. Draco reaches over to squeeze my thigh. “We’re doing right with them.” He smiles.“I think so.” I smile back. We listen to the children go back and forth, until we turn into the train station.After getting every kid their carts, we walk to the wall that would lead to platform 9 ¾. “Mum, when can I get a pet?” She stares at Leo’s owl and Scorpius’s cat.“Next year. I want you to focus on your studies and making friends for your first year.” I promise her for the millionth time since the boys got their animals in their second year.“Watch the boys. You’re going to have to do it on your own.” Draco told her.She did as she was told, watching Leo and then Scorpius run through the wall. “I don’t have to say any kind of spell.” She looks nervous to have to do this alone. I almost told her that I would do it with her, but she was going to have to get used to doing things without us. “There is no need for spells, the wall is magic, it knows that you are too.” He explains. She took a deep breath, before running through the wall. I smile as I imagine she was jumping up and down in excitement on the other side.“Come on, we have to see our last child off.” I grab his hand. We ran through the wall. Nostalgia hit me as I looked at the Hogwarts Express. The excitement that used to fill me as a child for the new school year still fills me, except now it’s for my children. “Took you guys long enough.” Scorpius rocks on the heels of his feet. He was anxious to get to his friends.“Was someone scared?” Leo shot his sister a smug look.“No more than you were in your first year.” I gave him a look letting him know to lay off.“Look, the Potters are over there.” Scorpius points out to Leo. They look over at us, asking silently if they could go.“Go ahead. We’ll be over in a bit.” I told them. The boys rush over to their friends. “Those people,” Draco sighs. “Play nice.” I smack him in the shoulder. The boys somehow manage to make friends with the Weasley and Potter children. Leo was best friends with Fred Weasley and James Potter. I’m constantly getting letters from the school about their pranks. Scorpius became best friends with Albus Potter despite being a couple of years older than him. They were quiet manners boys who enjoyed the other company.Almost all the adults in both families put their differences aside when we realize how much the friendship meant to our kids. The only lingering tension was between Ron and me. Scorpius had an obvious crush on Rose Weasley, while the girl seems to dislike him from the start. I knew that dislike came from her father telling her about Draco and me insulting their family. I didn’t appreciate my son paying for my sins.“Cass, do not make friends with them. We are already tangled up with them enough as it is.” Draco looks down at our daughter. I smack him in the shoulder.“Don’t listen to your father. You can be friends with whoever you want.” I pat her shoulder. “Let’s go over, so we can see all of you off at the same time.” I grabbed her hand. We made our way over to them.“Hello Nicole, Draco.” Hermione greets us. I smile at her. I appreciated the extra effort she put in, especially since her husband didn’t put any in at all. We went through the polite greetings.“Who is this?” Ginny asks, seeing my daughter.“This is Cassiopeia, it’s her first year.” I pull her to stand next to me.“It’s Lily and Hugo's first year too.” Harry points at the two youngest redheads in their family.“I like your hair clip.” Lily stares at the butterfly clip that flutters its wings once in a while.“Thank you. I’m lucky to still have it, my niffler tried to steal it this morning.” She touches the accessory they were talking about. “You have a niffler.” Hugo’s eyes fill with excitement. Three of them began talking about the magical creatures they admire.“Just great,” Draco scoffed under his breath.“I don’t want so many letters this year,” Angelina told her son, Fred.“Don’t worry. They’ll never beat my record.” George puffs out his chest. He leans over to brag to his son, James, and Leo, “350 letters in one year.”“That sounds like a challenge, dad,” Fred smirks. “The things I have to put up with.” Angelina throws her hands in the air.“We have a lot to live up to since the best prank last year was from Mrs. Malfoy.” Fred smiles at me. All the adults look over at me curiously.“I made toothpaste cream puffs for Leo after he told me I was getting too old for shorts.” I glared at my son, who was glaring back at me.“Toothpaste cream puffs, that’s good. What else can you put in cream puffs? Nicole, you should come over so we can brainstorm.” George had that mischief glint in his eye.“Sure, I’ll have to do something now that I have a temporary empty nest.” I pout.“I think you look amazing in shorts, Mrs. Malfoy. You could take up modeling now that your nest is empty.” James winks. I laugh as my sons and husband glare at the boy.“James!” His mother scolds him.The whistles on the train blow letting us know to say our goodbye and get the children on the train. I hugged Scorpius, who was the closest to me. “Have fun this year. I want you to come home with stories like your brother.” I whisper.“You sure about that, mum?” He laughs.“Not exactly like your brother, but I want to hear something other than I read a good book.” I pull back to let his father tell him goodbye.“Come here, you punk.” I open my arms for Leo. He looks back to see that his friends were saying goodbye to their parents too, before hugging me. “Don’t worry mum, I’ll defend your honor and get James back.” He hugs me tightly.“Just don’t get caught.” I laugh, letting him go.I kneel to be face to face with my youngest. “I know your first year can seem daunting, but you’re about to start some of the best years of your life.” “What if people don’t like me?” She whispers, staring down at her feet.“I’m not going to lie to you, not everyone is going to like you but you don’t pay attention to them. You pay attention to your friends and brothers.” I gave her advice I wish I had as a child. If I focus on the positives I wouldn’t have been such an angry teen.“If someone bothers you, let me know I’ll take care of it.” Draco kneels beside me.“Yeah, because that’s what you want to say, my father will hear about this.” I mock him.“If I remember correctly, you use my name to scare those first years into leaving you alone.” He gloats, making me regret telling him that.“I’m going to miss you both.” She pulls us into a hug. The train let out another whistle, hurrying us along. We stood up after she let us go. “Take care of your sister,” I told my twins, who promise they would. All the children climb onto the train. We waved to them from the compartments they were in until the train was out of sight.“What are we going to do now?” I look over at Draco.“I can think of a few things I want to do with no kids in the house.” He grabs me by my waist to kiss me. “Let’s go home,” I whisper in his ear. He grabbed my hand and we ran to the car.