Title: Show Me Your Colors
Author: Sweet Canadian
Email: sweet_canadian@pigpig.net
Category: Romance
Ships: mainly Draco/Mika with traces of Harry/Ginny and Ron/Hermione
Rating: PG for kissing, mushiness and things younger readers may not understand
Summary: Mika is slowly drifting away from her best friends...and into the arms of the Fab Four's most hated enemy. Is there something more behind the hateful facade that Draco puts on? Is he scum like his father or something else? As the fiery redhead discovers the true Draco, thanks to Professor Snape, she begins to question everything, from her best friends' opinions of the blond to her own confusing feelings. Is Mika, whose hate for the boy was the most passionate and fiery of the Fab Four's, under his spell or is it...true love?
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Basically, I don't claim to own anything in this story!
Author's Note: This story is told from Mika's POV so if seems a little one sided, that's why.
~*~*~^~*~*~^~*~*~
Chapter 1: It All Started In Potions Class...
~*~*~
I woke up early and looked around at the dorm I shared with Hermione Granger, Lavander Brown and Pavarti Patil. The only other bed that was empty was Hermione's, which was no surprise to me because she always went to the library early in the morning on school days. Lavander and Pavarti were still sound asleep so I quietly got out of bed and changed into a fresh set of school robes and left.
I walked into Gryffindor's Common Room and sat by the fire, reading 'Quidditch Through The Ages'.
It was an hour later when two familiar voices interrupted my reading. Hermione was giggling...and she wasn't alone. Not that it bothered me, but besides her, who woke up this early in the morning to go to the library??? I listened carefully.
"Herm...shhh! I have a rep to protect! You know who's gonna laugh if they find out I wake up early to meet my girlfriend in the library!" a familiar male voice said, half-worried, half-laughing.
"Yeah yeah! Fred and George! Who cares?" I recognized Hermione's voice with a hint of defiance in it.
I heard them both giggle and then stop abruptly, and then kissing sounds started up. I realized who it was, it was Ron Weasley. They were in the 'making up' part of their vicious secret relationship cycle that only Harry Potter, our best friend, Ginny, Ron's younger sister and I knew about and they couldn't get their hands off each other. Yesterday, they were at each other's throats again so I figured that's what it was.
I summoned my Thunderbolt 2002, my favorite broom. "Accio Thunderbolt!" I said.
Hermione and Ron entered the Common Room as I grabbed my broom from midair.
Ron stood there, with his arms around Hermione, and his face expressionless.
Hermione's eyes grew wide as she said, "Oh, Mika...good morning! I didn't wake you now, did I?"
I gave them a look and said with a nonchalant voice, "No, you didn't. I just couldn't sleep."
The pair stopped being lovers and became Hermione and Ron, two of my best friends at Hogwarts. They walked over to the fire and sat on either side of me.
"Are you all right?" Hermione asked me.
"Sure," I replied with a distracted tone of voice, dropping my Thunderbolt.
I could tell Ron and Hermione didn't believe me but I didn't care at all. Before they could say anything, people started filling into the Common Room, getting ready for breakfast and the day's classes. I left Ron and Hermione in the Common Room and headed for the Great Hall.
Once I got to my destination, things were pretty quiet. I was the first one in the Great Hall. I sat in my usual seat across from Ron's, next to Harry's. I took out my essay on powerful potions and their use in the wizarding world for Snape's class and reviewed it.
Soon, people started pilling in to have their breakfast. I didn't look up from the parchment I was reading. Harry sat down next to me, Ginny sat next to him, Hermione sat across from him and Ron sat across from me. They gave me looks of concern. Ron and Hermione had obviously filled Harry in. I put my essay away and we all ate our breakfast. Ron and Harry were talking about Quidditch while Ginny asked Hermione about some Herbology she needed help with. I would have joined in on the Quidditch talk but I was distracted somehow.
"Are you all right?" Ron asked me.
I replied, "Sure...I just have to...go!"
I stood up and went off, walking by the Slytherin table, where I could feel Draco Malfoy looking at me icily. I ran off before he could comment on me being a Mudblood.
~*~*~
Later, I walked into Professor Snape's class with less than the usual bounce in my step and my thoughts wandering all over the place. Things had been weird the past week for me. Hermione and Ron had been all over each other, and so had Harry and Ginny. I felt like I was just extra baggage no one really wanted around but obviously felt obliged to take. As I took my seat next to Harry, who wasn't as sickening as Hermione and Ron because his girlfriend was a year younger and wasn't in our class, I sighed and looked far off in the distance. Ron and Hermione just went on, whispering to each other.
I felt a hand touch my shoulder and heard Harry's voice say, "Mika, are you okay?"
I didn't turn to face him. Instead, I just answered in a distracted tone, "Yeah, whatever!"
Before Harry could say anymore, someone else entered the dungeon.
"Hey, Avalon, feelin' kinda low??? Oh, poor little Mudblood! You know, at least Granger now has a social life outside her studying!!!" another male voice said with its familiar drawl, no doubt referring to Hermione's relationship with Ron.
I looked up at the source of the voice and saw that Draco Malfoy had just entered the classroom with Crabbe and Goyle, his goons and they were sitting at the back. Instead of coming up with a comeback for him, I plopped my head onto my desk and burried it into my arms.
"Don't be daft, Malfoy!" Harry shot back at him.
All I could hear after that is Draco Malfoy and his goons laughing behind me. I felt Harry's hand on my shoulder again.
He whispered, "Shhh! Don't bother with that scum bucket!"
I didn't move until Professor Snape made his entrance into the classroom. As he went down to his desk, picked up a sheet of parchment and looked at it, I sat up and tried not to yawn. He cleared his throat and smirked at all of his students, even the Slytherins, who were known to be his favorite students.
"Miss Avalon, are you feeling all right?" he asked me as I yawned.
I answered innocently, "Yes, sir, Professor Snape..."
"Well, you really should rest up for the year I have in store for you," he replied plainly. He looked around at the rest of the class and announced, "Last week was all review and those who have yet to comprehend those potions, how to make them and how they work," he paused, staring intensely at Neville Longbottom, then continued, "are seriously beyond hope." He looked at his piece of parchment again and said, "This year, I've decided that you will be working in pairs. Each term, you will have a different partner. This term, I have already chosen your partners...every Slytherin will team up with a Gryffindor. As I call out your name, I want you to hand in your essay."
As Snape said the last two sentences, everyone in the class groaned. As he announced who would be partners with whom, I shivered at the thought of working with a Slytherin. I could probably survive most of them but there was one Slytherin I hated with a deep intense passion: Draco Malfoy. For the first four years I've spent at Hogwats, he insulted me about being a Mudblood, he shoved his money in my face and he bragged about his father's power. Talk about a superiority complex! Now, I could handle that...but I couldn't stand that he treated Harry, Ron and Hermione the same way. I can't stand how he made Ron feel when he spoke about being rich, I hate how he makes Hermione feel by insulting the fact that she's Muggle born...I guess it's my strong loyalty to my friends, even if I was just 'extra baggage'. I don't care about me...
Snape's voice interrupted my thoughts and I began to listen to him calling out people. "Finnigan, Bulstrode...Thomson, Scarlett...Brown, Castelli...Patil, Zabani...Parkinson, Longbottom...Goyle, Granger...Sparks, Weasley...Crabbe, Potter...Malfoy, Avalon. There are your partners for this term until the Christmas Break," he said, finally finishing.
I walked up to Professor Snape and handed him my rolled up parchment on which I had written my essay and sat back down on my seat.
"Now, I want you to sit next to your partners all term," he said pointedly. "I don't want you squirmy little pests," he went on, pausing to look at the Gryffindor half of the class, "to think you can get away with not sitting next to your partners."
I sighed as I sat still in my seat. There was no way I was moving out of my own free will to sit next to Draco Malfoy!!! I saw Hermione head towards Goyle, Katia Sparks head for Ron, and Harry went to sit next to Crabbe. I sighed as I saw Malfoy heading in my direction. I put on a cold expression as he sat next to me where Harry had been sitting earlier.
"Hey, partner!" he said smugly, "Looks like you're stuck with me for the term, Avalon!"
"Bore off, you goob!" I muttered back at him as I gave him an angry glare.
I looked around at the mixture of Slytherins and Gryffindors and wondered what point Snape was trying to make by forcing us to work with people we couldn't stand.
Class started and we were working on laughing potions. I tried to focus on the task at hand but I could feel that all-too-familiar cold stare focusing on me when I turned to grab an ingredient. I finished my potion and waited for it to change from green to yellow. As it sat, I turned to watch Malfoy, who was putting the finishing touches on his potion. I bit my lip and thought about how cute he looked when he was hard at work. I sighed, thankful that Malfoy couldn't hear my thoughts.
"What are you staring at, Avalon?" he said with that air of superiority about him.
I replied pointedly, "Nothing much, since I'm looking at you!"
I watched as he hardened his expression and I began to do the same.
"Listen to me, Little Miss Gryffindor Priss, I won't let you ruin the only class I enjoy! I am actually good at Potions and I don't need you! I won't let you mess it up for me, got it???" he hissed at me, "I need good marks in this class to become Head Boy!"
"Got it!" I replied smugly.
Five minutes later, we went on to test the potions on our partners. I could hear Ron, Hermione and Harry laughing.
"You know, I didn't poison it, Avalon!" he said to me icily.
He must have noticed I wasn't in a hurry to drink it.
Pointing at my potion, still all there in his hand, I shot back, "Well I didn't either!"
He sighed, exasparated at me, no doubt, and suggested, "On the count of three?"
"All right!" I said, keeping my expression neutral this time.
I could have sworn I saw a faint smile on his face; it wasn't a full smile, it was even less than a half smile...I had spent too much time looking at him; that was the only reason I had noticed. I blinked and sighed.
"One, two, three!" he whispered, "Bottoms up, Avalon!"
I watched for a second as he drank my potion. I quickly drank his before he noticed I had waited for him to drink mine. We had a good laugh. I noticed that Malfoy had a really nice laugh...very different from the laugh he typically used. It was warm...and nice too! Or maybe I was imagining things...
~*~*~
Lunchtime was unbearable for me. Harry, Ron and Hermione were busy telling Ginny about Snape's Potions class and warning her that Snape might do the same in her class after lunch. I just couldn't wait to get to Care of Magical Creatures and get it over it. It was the only other class Gryffindors shared with Slytherins and I was eager to just go and be done with it.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere, my Potions partner slowly drifted into my thoughts. It was different from the way he typically came into my mind...I wasn't thinking angry thoughts...I wasn't feeling bitter at all! I hadn't spent as much time so close to him as I did in Potions class without going all out and lashing out at him. It's funny how different a person can look when you have to restrain your anger. I realized that he looked really cute and his eyes had looked so cute when he was concentrating and when I tested my potion on him, his laugh was like music to my ears, and he smiled at me in the cutest way...Get a grip, Avalon!!! Not the time to go soft, especially with Malfoy!
"Mika...?" Hermione's voice interrupted my thoughts, "What are you thinkin' about?"
I looked up from my food and saw that Hermione and Ron were giving me a questioning look. I also saw Ginny give Harry the same questioning look.
"Uh, I was just thinkin' about how much it bites that I have to work with Malfoy!" I said with a disgusted tone.
Everyone seemed to have bought it. I guess it was still second nature to hate Draco Malfoy, right?
I could feel the all-too-familiar Malfoy cold stare behind me but paid no attention to it. I was used to it by now anyway and I kinda liked being checked out and being watched, even by Draco Malfoy, the scum of the universe!
~*~*~
I walked as fast as I could after lunch. I walked by the Slytherin table, having regained all the bounce in my step. I walked off towards Gryffindor Tower. I had exactly thirty minutes before Care of Magical Creatures started. Now, I could go to Hagrid's hut for class early or I could just hang around and show up late...
Once I arrived in Gryffindor Tower, I retrieved my Thunderbolt and put away in the dorm I shared with the rest of the fifth year Gryffindor girls then I sat by the fire, reading through some notes I had borrowed off Hermione.
I must get a grip on myself right now before Care of Magical Creatures starts. I AM GONNA LOSE MY MIND if I don't! I can't start going soft...it's not me. A little voice in my head said otherwise but I ignored it.
I put Hermione's notes away as people started entering the Common Room. I left Gryffindor Tower and headed for Care of Magical Creatures, deciding that the walk would be good for me.
~*~*~
On my way to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures, I struggled to make sense of what was going on in my mind...and in my heart. Had Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius Malfoy, Mudblood hater, and my worse enemy, actually smiled at me??? Am I losing my sanity? First, thinking that my friends didn't want me around, then thinking that Draco Malfoy was interested in me. Clearly, that's not the case, right? My friends are truly concerned with me and Malfoy's only interest in me is as his Potions partner, to insure that I won't purposely sabotage his mark. The thing is, that would affect my mark too, so I would never do that! Everything's still the same, just like the way it used to be before Snape's announcement! Or is everything not the way it used to be? Things used to so simple. I hate Malfoy, he hates me! Now, I'm going soft on him...but Gryffindors aren't supposed to do that...Slytherins definitely don't do that...but I guess there's a first time for everything, right?
"Hey, how's my favorite Mudblood???" Draco said, his annoyingly smug voice coming from behind me.
Taking it as an insult, I turned around and hissed at him, "Malfoy, don't you dare call me a Mudblood! You don't have a clue about anything! You are a disgusting bastard who should go to hell! Why the hell are you following me anyway?"
"Might I remind you that we are in the same Care of Magical Creatures class?" he simply replied.
In my anger and in my confusion from thinking too hard about my situtation, it had accidentally slipped my mind that we did in fact share Hagrid's class. I walked on for a bit then realized that he was following me. I stopped again and turned towards him.
"You listen to me, Malfoy, I am not in the mood for your crap today, you got it?" I told him in my best menacing tone, then I walked off, this time, not looking back.
Malfoy matched my step and with a cute half-smile, he replied, "You look cute when you're mad...but keep your lid on, Mika! I just figured we'd stay civil until the end of the term. Father won't be thrilled about me considering a Mudblood like you as an equal but it's for the sake of my marks. I do want to be a prefect next year and Head Boy the next. I would have made prefect this year but...that's not the point. I think we should be civil, and I think we should be on a first name basis. I'm sure that would be acceptable, unless you're afraid of what your best friends might think."
His words sank in slowly. I was afraid of what Harry, Ron and Hermione might think. Would they doubt my loyalty and push me away? They done that already, although not purposely and it would kill me if they did it because they wanted to. Draco had given me a half-smile and called me by my first name. The sound of him saying my first name was a new experience. I was also his favorite Mudblood...whatever that meant! I considered his offer carefully...and came up with a solution that wouldn't have my three best friends questionning my loyalty. I mean, he did have ulterior motives for being nice to me, so I knew it wasn't sincere at all!
"All right, Malfoy, in Potions class and I mean Potions class only, we're Mika and Draco, equal partners, teammates...we work together, we get each other's backs and get good marks. Otherwise, we're Avalon and Malfoy, sworn enemies, rivals, got it?" I told him in a cold tone voice.
"Yeah," he answered softly, as if something had distracted him.
As we walked, we locked gazes and stared into each other's eyes for a good minute. I looked away and headed for Hagrid's hut, adding extra bounce to my step to get away from Malfoy. I got to class with five minutes to spare.
When class began, Malfoy kept on with our deal. When he made the usual jabs at me and Hermione, calling us Mudbloods and the whole deal, I got fired up about it. Typical stuff. When he insulted Ron for being poor, I defended my redheaded friend. Everything seemed normal...at least my anger was still normal, unlike the rest of my situation. As much as I began to notice that Malfoy was good looking in a shallow and superficial kind of way, I knew that I could still count on what was skin deep, and Malfoy blood still flowed through his veins the way Muggle blood flowed through mine. I knew the deal was just because he wanted to keep his marks up.
~*~*~
I skipped dinner and retreated to Gryffindor Tower yet again. I went straight for my bed in the dimly lit girls' dormitory. Lying on my bed, I looked up at the ceiling, thinking about...my situation. Every time something bothered me, I always thought about my favorite Muggle music. It always made me feel better, especially S Club 7. I remembered the last CD I bought and listened to before heading to Hogwarts. It was S Club 7's third album, 'Sunshine' and it had this one song...
Oh boy, you're single and free
You like to play hard, live dangerously
Oh boy, at the flick of your hand
Anything you ask for you can demand
Oh boy, do you ever get bored
Getting all you want and more
Sounds familiar...well, now that's stuck in my head...like Malfoy...I'm never getting any sleep! It was still early though, and I had time to try. I tried pushing the song and Malfoy away but they both came back and I found myself fantasizing about Draco and me in different situations. I imagined him as a Gryffindor, I imagined me as a Slytherin...I basically played the 'What If...?' game.
"Mika? Are you in here?" I heard Hermione say after half an hour of me burried in my fantasies.
I looked at the doorway where Hermione was standing and waved. She walked over to my bed and sat at my feet, smiling.
"Hey, Herm!" I greeted her, forcing my smile to come out.
She asked me, "Hey! Why weren't you at supper with the rest of us?"
"Wasn't hungry much..." I told her.
She pointed at the half-empty large box of Honeydukes chocolates at my bedside table and said, "Really?"
I shrugged nonchantly.
"I know what's wrong with you!" she said.
"Yeah, and what's that, Hermione?" I shot back with a hint of bitterness.
"You feel like we've been neglecting you ever since we started...falling in love. Is that how you feel?" she asked me, "Honestly, is that what's bothering you?"
"No, it's something else...besides, things are different now..." I said softly, "I don't expect things to be like they were when we were 11."
Hermione looked at me, surprised. She had expected me to lash out at her but I didn't. We were all 15, and things weren't the same anymore. I had to get used to it, right? Besides, love put a different spin in our friendships...and on life in general.
"Well, I'm gonna go down to the Common Room and study," she said to me.
I told her, "And I'll stay here."
"Okay, if you want to," was all she said to me.
She walked out of the dormitory and I was left to my own thoughts once more. I almost wanted to go down to the Common Room and study with Hermione because my thoughts were driving me nuts but I had to figure everything out. I've only been partners with Draco for one day and already, I feel like I'm going over the edge. I have to get a grip...
