Darcie opened her pale blue eyes and stretched her long, limber, tanned arms above her head. 'Owwww,' she moaned, bumping her fist against the wood of her headboard. She winced and stumbled out of bed. It was another morning at Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry.

She grabbed her comb off of her dresser and began running it through her long brown hair. It never seemed to make much of a difference if it was combed or not. It was a total rat's nest either way.

She pursed her lips. 'Drat,' she thought to herself as she glanced in the mirror. 'Need to ask Parvati if she knows that acne-removal spell.' Taking one last look, she ran down the stairs and into the common room. She didn't want to be late for breakfast, and breakfast was when she got to see the hottest guy in all of Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy. Today she secretly hoped that he wouldn't notice her. It would be TOTALLY embarrassing for him to see her with a pimple.

She sat down at the Gryffindor's table, sliding between Parvati and some random first year she had only seen in the common room. 'Has he looked over here?' she asked as she shoveled food in her mouth faster than she could speak. Or talk for that matter.

Parvati looked up from her food. 'Draco you mean?' she asked. 'He hasn't even looked up from his tag team of ruffians since he came in.'

'Yes Draco,' Darcie said, rolling her eyes for emphasis. 'Do I THINK about anything else?'

'Your defense against the dark arts mark would be better if you'd think about anything else,' Hermione said from down the table, butting into the conversation.

'Shut up!' Darcie replied, turning to face her and anger coloring her face. 'I didn't ask what your prissy bum thought anyway.'

'Just saying…' She turned back to her friends and began talking. Darcie thought it was probably about her. It usually was. She was the center of ALL the gossip in Gryffindor house. Well, all the good gossip anyway. Most of the bad gossip revolved around that prissy bum Hermione Granger and her Siamese triplets Ron Weasley and Harry-freakin-Potter. Psh. Who would want to hear about them anyway?

'You think about lots of other things, Darcie,' Parvati said, ignoring the events that had just transpired. 'He'll come around. Just you wait.'

'I sure hope so,' Darcie thought to herself. She wasn't sure what she would do if he ended up with someone else. Die, maybe.

It was later that morning and they were in potions class. Darcie stared at Draco from behind her cauldron, lost in the sea of blonde locks that was Draco's hair. She lost herself to her daydreams and reached out and began feeling the air.

'Ms. Rhoades, stop that. At once,' Snape said, turning around. 'Tell me the properties of the potion.' He pointed to the board.

'Uh…uhh…' she stammered, her face blushing. This was SO not her day. 'I…don't know?'

'Ten points from Gryffindor.'

'Mudblood freak,' she heard Draco say, laughing with his friends.

She turned toward him, her face hot with anger. 'Don't call me that!' she yelled, her voice nearly a squeak. It only caused more laughter.

'Ms. Rhoades if you're going to be a problem, leave my classroom. Now.' She picked up her books with a frown and flounced out of the room. Why did he have to be so mean to everyone who wasn't a perfect little Slytherin? It SO wasn't fair.

She walked through the hallways, trying to avoid any professors. Unluckily, it failed. 'Ms. Rhoades, why aren't you in class?' Professor Dumbledore asked, pulling her aside. 'Shouldn't you be in potions with Professor Snape?'

'He kicked me out. Said I was a problem,' she said, sniffling a little bit to make sure that the headmaster saw her pain.

'Come with me, to my office. Then we can talk about Professor Snape.' He held out his hand and Darcie took a hold of it. Things may just be looking up now.

TO BE CONTINUED