A/N: Welcome to chapter one of Face Down. There will be a few M rated chapters but you will be warned beforehand, otherwise this story is rated T. I hope you enjoy it :) I really like the ideas I have for this story. I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters or places that appear in this fic except my original character. Enjoy!

EXPLANATORY NOTE: This fic does not follow the storyline of HBP and DH. But its still good! I promises!

Victoria Alma knew she was a nobody. She passed all of her classes with excellent marks but she was nowhere near the level of genius of Hermione Granger. She wasn't much of a fighter, that being quite clear considering she was put into Ravenclaw. Before she had attended Hogwarts, Victoria took classes in the muggle martial art of taekwondo but she never used it. She just wanted a way to defend herself and get in shape. When she went home over the breaks she would pick up a few classes here and there, but other than that, she never fought. As for dueling in the magical world, Victoria didn't know how she would fair. She had never dueled before. A few years ago when there was a special class held on dueling in the Great Hall, she had snuck in to watch the process but left before partners were picked. Victoria was invisible and she was well aware of it. There were people she would exchange words with occasionally, one being the aforementioned Hermione, but other than that, Victoria was not very sociable. And she was content that way.

Do I have homework for Double Potions? I guess I'll have to find Hermione and ask her. I can't believe I wasn't paying attention during class.

Of course Victoria knew very well why she wasn't paying attention in class. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's potion had exploded halfway during class and she had spent the rest of class helping the helpless duo finish their potion. One of the upsides of having Hermione as a potions partner was that the two got done rather quickly. Speaking of Ron and Harry, Victoria wasn't quite sure how they made it into a N.E.W.T. level of Potions with Snape but she assumed Hermione had helped them generously throughout the years.

Victoria was suddenly pulled out of her thoughts when she collided with a solid mass and was sent sprawling to the ground.

Surely I wasn't so lost in thought that I ran into a WALL.

"Watch where you're going, girl," a voice snarled above her.

Negative.

Victoria stared up at a picturesque Draco Malfoy, completely dumbstruck and overwhelmed by the anger rolling off of him. The Slytherin Prince was glaring at her, his look darkening the longer she stayed silent.

"Don't sit there gaping at me like an idiot, apologize and get out of my way," the blonde growled, nudging her with her foot.

"Oi Malfoy! What are you doing to her?"

"Potter, stay out of this. She ran into me."

Victoria sighed and stood up, putting a hand on Harry's arm lightly as the Golden Trio came up to the scene.

"Really Harry, it's ok. It was my fault."

Harry looked like he was about to protest but she shook his head and replied, "Don't worry about it, I don't need saving."

Victoria was aware that she was kind of harsh, but she thought Harry got the message so he gave her one more unsure look before continuing on to the Great Hall for lunch with his friends.

Brushing her robes off, she turned to the Syltherin boy, "I apologize Draco; I did not mean to run into you or waste your time. Excuse me."

With that she brushed pass the slightly surprised Draco and disappeared down the hall, presumably to lunch as well.

Victoria sat down at the Ravenclaw table and pulled some parchment out of her bag. She really wanted to finish her Ancient Runes homework before lunch was over. She searched through the books in her bag, stopping briefly to glare at the worn Arithmancy book. Finally finding her Ancient Runes book, she pulled it out and began to work while nibbling on a piece of bread thoughtfully.

Draco watched the girl that ran into him curiously. He had never seen her before and yet it seemed she was at least in her sixth year, probably her seventh with him since she knew his name. Her jade green eyes were scanning a school book quickly, often jumping between it and the parchment she was writing on. At one point her eyes disappeared behind her honey brown locks when she bent close to the book to probably read a tiny caption.

Draco had never met someone so calm…or meek; he couldn't really decide which adjective suited her better. He mentally shrugged to himself. He would probably never see her again so it wasn't a good way to spend his time by thinking about an odd girl.

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts and your final year of Hogwarts. As I am sure you know, the level of this class requires that all of the houses be put together due to the small size. Now if you would please answer role," the new teacher started, his eyes scanning the class briefly before looking down at the class roster.

"Alma, Victoria."

"Here, sir."

"Chang, Cho."

"Here."

"Granger, Hermione."

"Here, sir."

"Malfoy, Draco."

"…here."

"Potter, Harry."

"Here."

"Smith, Elizabeth."

"Here."

"Weasley, Ronald."

"H-here."

"Zambini, Blaise."

"Here."

"Now that's all taken care of," the professor said, "I am Professor Atra Tutamen. In this class you will be learning some of the more complicated defenses like the Patronus Charm, which is the charm we will be starting with. Can someone tell me what the Patronus is?"

Victoria wasn't surprised when Hermione's hand shot into the air, beating out Blaise and Elizabeth.

"Yes Miss Granger?"

"The Patronus Charm is used to cast away Dementors or to perform short tasks like delivering a message for the witch or wizard who summons it. Its cast by thinking happy thoughts and using the encantation: Expecto Patronum. Each person has a different shape that their patronus takes."

"Very good, 5 points to Gryffindor."

Hermione beamed, earning a scowl from the two Slytherins in the room.

After demonstrating the necessary wand movement, Professor Tutamen paired the class up, managing to separate every house from each other except for Hermione and Ron. Victoria looked around the room as everyone moved to an empty space in the room with their partner: Harry and Cho, Blaise and Elizabeth, Ron and Hermione.

"We meet again," a cool voice drawled, pulling her out of her observation.

Victoria inclined her head politely, "Hello Draco, shall we get started?"

"Certainly, Victory."

Victoria raised her eyebrow at the little nickname that Draco had just bestowed upon her but she said nothing of it.

She stood and flicked her wand, muttering the necessary words. A wisp of white smoke emitted from her wand before disappearing.

"Think happier thoughts Miss Alma," Professor Tutamen said in passing.

Victoria shrugged indifferently and nodded to Draco for him to give it a try. The blonde repeated the same process she had gone through, producing an even more pathetic wisp than her own. The Ravenclaw giggle softly, being immediately silenced by the death glare Draco sent her.

Class ended with neither Draco nor Victoria being able to conjure a successful patronus. In fact, only Hermione and Harry had successfully conjured a visible patronus. The silvery otter and stag made a small gesture of respect to their respective masters before disappearing. Victoria raised an eyebrow again but it didn't seem anyone else had noticed.

"We'll work on this next time. Class dismissed."

A/N: Please review! I would love you forever :)