A/N: Firstly, I'd like to say that I'm writing this mainly for my own pleasure, and therefore it might not (will not) follow the books exactly. I'm aware of this, so you don't have to point it out if you see it now and then. You should also know that English isn't my first language, so don't judge me, I would appreciate constructive criticism though.

This fanfiction starts during "The order of the phoenix", and is about a character I made up myself. Her name is Cornelia, and she's a Ravenclaw. The main theme in this is obviously a romance with Draco Malfoy, but it will touch other subjects in her life at Hogwarts as well. But once again, this fanfiction is about the love story. So let's start.

Prologue

The hallway was empty aside from me, well, of course it was. That was kind of the reason why I chose to walk this detour to the library. I just loved it, the silence, the feeling of having the entire castle alone. Normally the hallways are crowded, but this part of Hogwarts was quite abandoned, containing no more than doors to classrooms that hadn't been used in the last decades. The only one I had ever met here throughout these years was the grey lady, and since she was a ghost, she didn't make much noise. I didn't know why, but I felt some kind of need to walk in these corridors every now and then. This was basically the time I had alone.

I'd told Cho that I would meet her in the common room when I'd picked up the books I needed in the library, and as my best friend, she knew that I wanted to go alone. I sighed; you definitely had to study hard in your fifth year. As I was walking through the echoing hallway I suddenly heard a sound, and it sent slight shivers down my back. It was I silent sobbing, but I couldn't locate where it came from until I realized where the doors on the opposite sides of the corridor where I now stood led. The door on my left belonged to a boy's bathroom which had, as well as the classrooms, not been used in a long time. Until now, apparently.

I hesitated; I couldn't just walk in, could I? After all it was a boy's bathroom, and I wasn't sure I would want someone to walk in if I was there crying. But on the other hand, this was Hogwarts, someone could be dying inside. Stranger things had happened here, definitely. I decided to check if the person inside was all right, so I sneaked in as noiseless as possible. As I rounded a little corner I saw the back of a blond head, but before I could do something more the boy had turned around and casted a spell that threw me against the wall. In what felt like less than a millisecond he had rushed up to me, and pressed his wand against my neck.

And by Merlin's beard, wasn't it Draco Malfoy who stood in front of me, with his grey eyes darkened and traces of tears on his cheeks. I honestly had to take a moment to recover from the sight of a crying Malfoy, but then I managed to say:

"Hey, calm down."

He just kept on staring at me for a while, his body so tense that he was shaking, while his stormy eyes pierced me. I tried to hide the look of surprise that certainly were painted over my face, and forced myself to meet his gaze. Behind him I saw myself in a dirty mirror, and I realized how exhausted I looked. My hair was up in a messy bun and not that kind of messy that there were plenty of tutorials for in the muggle world, where I came from, but just the messy kind of messy. On top of that you could spot dark circles under my eyes, I usually didn't bother to put on makeup at Hogwarts.

"This is a boy's bathroom," he finally snarled.

"I'm fully aware," I stated.

"Then what the hell are you doing here, you idiot?"

I raised an eyebrow, trying not to get enraged.

"Well," I started, making sure that my voice was calm, "I heard someone crying and I just wanted to see if the person was okay, and, I don't know, alive. So you can back off Malfoy, I won't kill you."

"Oh shut up, Ravenclaw!" So he didn't even know my name? Or did he? I was quite sure he did actually, we had most of the classes together, and it had been like that since first year. He was probably just pretending, to make himself seem more important.

"You don't have to pretend not to know my name."

"Fine, I do know your name Falcon", he spat, making my surname sound ridiculous, "but I prefer not to let it mud my tongue."

I reached for the wand in my pocket, I didn't want to fight, but it felt like I might have to defend myself. Unfortunately Malfoy saw it, and immediately grabbed it before he threw it to the floor, putting his foot on top of it.

"That wasn't very sneaky of you," he sneered. "And I can easily erase your memories from this, and the rest of your life, you know."

His face expression told me he was serious, but I shook my head slowly.

"You wouldn't obliviate me, do you even know the consequences…"

"Of course I do!" he snapped angrily. "And that's why I would use it. But of course you're such a Ravenclaw know-it-all, thinking that none could know anything besides you. So what would it feel like, everything you've learnt in your life, wasted in a second?" He grinned.

"Well, it obviously wouldn't feel like anything at all, since I wouldn't know I'd lost something," I muttered.

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, you are completely in my power. Without your wand you're as helpless as a house elf," he snarled, throwing a gaze at my wand.

"It's a well-known fact that Hermione Granger punched you in the face in third year, I can do the same thing you know."

He snorted, but grabbed my blue and bronze tie in a hard grip.

"You're strangling me," I hissed desperately. Surprisingly his grip loosened a little, and I could breathe normally again.

"Listen carefully now," he whispered with his face uncomfortably close to mine, "one word about this to anyone and you'll be as dead as the Bloody Baron."

"Oh, I'm not interested in telling everyone, I just wanted to… help."

He looked at me scornfully before he took a step back and pushed me carelessly towards the exit.

"I need my wand," I pointed out, and he looked down on the floor, kicking it to me. I picked it up, giving him one last look.

"Get lost, you filthy creep."

But it didn't offend me. Instead I just shook my head a little, and said softly:

"I feel sorry for you."