Chapter 2

"So, you think you can trust her?" Terry asked as he turned to look at her curiously.

Pansy Parkinson sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest. She shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably. She knew they were all alone and that everyone was upstairs, for once, minding their own business, but she still felt uneasy. She always felt uneasy. "Yes. I've had visions about them. We can trust them."

"We can, but will you?" Draco asked as he turned to smirk at her. He leaned against the arm of the sofa, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his head to the side. "You tend to not trust anyone."

Pansy scowled at him for a moment, but then shrugged again, knowing he was merely stating the truth. "Trust is earned, Ferret. They have to earn it."

"Did you touch them? Did you get any visions off of them today?" Blaise asked curiously.

"No." Pansy told him. She frowned deeply at the thought. "Since my visions have been getting stronger I've started wearing my gloves all the time. I didn't get any visions. I didn't want any. That's invasion of privacy."

All of the boys fell silent and Riddle nodded his head in understanding. Pansy had been a seer her entire life, which was something she kept a secret for most of it. The only person who had always known was her surrogate big brother Terry. With time she learned to trust others with her burden, but only the people she knew wouldn't tell anyone. If her parents ever found out then they would use her as a tool in this war and she couldn't even bare the thought. Lately, however, her visions and her connection to the spiritual world had been getting stronger, which probably had something to do with her new found physical strength, senses, and reflexes, but she didn't really want to think about that too much.

"We have to patrol." Draco finally spoke up.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "I know and since Dumbledore's a git. Potty's going to be patrolling too."

Draco sighed. "The glorified prefect."

"What?" Miles asked confused.

"Yeah, he was left out last year…boo hoo…boo hoo…but since he went against Umbridge and…you know…" Pansy paused to snicker. "us…the Inquisitional Squad and formed DA…Deficient Arses…he is a glorified prefect. He is needed to help protect the school. He is needed to patrol the halls. He is needed to…get on my ruddy nerves." Pansy hissed as the boys all laughed.

"Can you tell who got paired with him on patrol?" Draco snickered.

Pansy glared. "That's alright. At least I don't have to spend my night with Granger."

"Neither do I. I'm with Patel." Draco snorted.

"I think I prefer Granger." Pansy muttered.

Draco looked thoughtful and then nodded. "Yeah, me too."

"She's not that bad." Goyle spoke up in the girl's defense. "I was paired with her last year in one of my classes. She wasn't that bad." Everyone turned to stare at him and he shifted about uncomfortably. "You know…for a Ravenclaw."

"Used to all I would shag were Ravenclaws." Adrian commented off-handedly.

"When was that…when you were in second year?" Pansy quipped.

Adrian scowled at her. "Shut up and go patrol with Potty." He paused to smile wickedly before he started laughing. "Don't let him lure you into any dark corners. Not sure the git would know what to do."

All the boys were laughing now. Miles stood to his feet and began to advance on Pansy, obviously pretending to be Harry because he was making a mess out of his long black hair as he scrubbed viciously at his forehead. "Oh, Pansy....I've never really done this with anyone but Cho. I'm not sure I know what to do when the bird's not crying."

"Touch me and die, Bletchley!" Pansy hissed as she pointed a stern finger at the boy. "You will be doing push-ups for the rest of your small pathetic little life."

Miles leaped forward, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, and slammed her body roughly against his. "It's so dark. I can hardly see. Your eyes are light enough though. They're…they're just so…and you get so angry. Merlin, but you look angry."

Pansy glared at him, stomping on his foot. "Do I?"

Miles hissed before jumping backwards. He gripped his foot as he cursed loudly. "Bloody hell, Puggy, that hurt!"

"Good. Five hundred push-ups at practice tomorrow morning." Pansy growled before turning on her heel and heading toward the door.

Draco snorted as he followed after her. "I'm just glad I don't have to spend hours with her. She gets so brassed off sometimes."

Pansy didn't even bother to comment as she sped up her pace to try and lose the albino ferret. She had to meet Potty in the Library in ten minutes. "Typical. He's probably in there studying up on how to be a bitty-helping git. Not that he needs to study for that. He was born with the ability."

The walk to the library was done in complete silence. Draco was following her, having to meet Patel on the second floor as well, but knew better than to say anything. She was in a mood and talking did not make it any better. In fact, talking to him, tended to make it worse.

"Well, I guess this is where we part ways." Draco announced as Pansy stumbled toward the double-doors to the library.

Padma sighed as she spotted them. "Good evening."

Pansy merely huffed in response as she barreled past the stuck-up Ravenclaw and threw open the huge double-doors. They didn't make a sound as she floated in. Her feet barely even graced the stone floor as she moved across the room.

She walked silently into the library and frowned as she looked around for Potty. That was when the sound of voices finally reached her ears. She must've been so caught up in her own anger that she missed the fight going on inside. She frowned as she stepped back into a corner in front of the door. What the ruddy hell was going on?

"Mione…" Potty said as he moved toward the pouty Bush of Knowledge.

The bush in question, one Hermione Granger, crossed her arms over her rather flat chest and huffed loudly. "I don't want to hear it, Harry."

Potty, otherwise known as Harry Potter or The Boy Who Lived, frowned deeply as he stepped toward her. "Hermione, you know I haven't any…"

"I don't want to hear it!" Hermione screeched loudly.

"I don't have any choice in the matter. If I was to be paired with anyone you know it wouldn't be with that pugfaced Malfoy worshiping Slytherin slag with absolutely no morals or…" Harry began, obviously trying to be reasonable while insulting Pansy at the same time.

Hermione whirled around to face him, away from the one-Slytherin audience she didn't realize she was entertaining. "You could've said something. You could've objected."

"You think she DIDN'T object enough already?" Harry asked with anger lacing his tone.

Pansy fought the urge to roll her eyes and snort. Object? She hadn't objected she had practically started a rebellion earlier in the night when Dumbledore informed her she would be spending the rest of the year patrolling with Pothead.

Hermione glared at him. "We can talk about this later."

At that, the bushy haired Gryffindor girl turned on her heel and headed toward the large double-doors. Without even thinking, Harry grabbed her arm, jerking her around and crashed his mouth to her's in a passionate and yet still slightly awkward kiss. The bush immediately melted against him and began kissing him back.

That was when it happened. That was the exact moment that Pansy Parkinson, the strong-willed, determined, intelligent, controlled Pansy Parkinson, who had spent her entire life suppressing almost all of her emotions, completely and totally snapped.

"WHAT IN THE RUDDY HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING!?!" Pansy roared without even thinking, practically leaping from the shadows and stunning the two Gryffindors. "WHAT THE RUDDY HELL…HAVE YOU LOST YOUR RUDDY MINDS!?!"

The double-doors behind Pansy almost slammed open as Draco Malfoy and Padma Patel came running in to see what had happened. The look on Draco's face when he spotted Potty and Bushy locked in a tight embrace could only be described of that of a child on Christmas morning.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Draco screamed as he pointed his wand at the couple, locking them in place. His bright gray eyes flickered with a joy that Pansy had never seen there before. "I need…I need a camera! Where's Creevey! I have to go get Creevey!"

It didn't take a genius to realize what had Draco Malfoy so ecstatically happy. This was the day he had waited for his entire life. This was the day that Harry Potter had fallen from grace. This was the day that the Gryffindor Trio had gone out with a blaze of glory all because of The Git Who Lived and The Mudblood.

Draco immediately ran from the library like the devil was chasing him. He ran with a speed he had never realized he possessed as he looked for any possible student that might be lurking about. Spotting Dawn Summers and her sister Buffy standing on the first floor, which was where Draco currently found himself, he ran to them with a glee that gave him the urge to dance. "Camera! Do either of you have a camera?"

"On my phone." Dawn commented as she frowned deeply at him. "But my pictures don't move like yours' do."

"It doesn't matter." Draco said, sounding rather teary like he was going to start crying out of sheer joy at any minute. "They aren't going anywhere."

Buffy looked to Dawn and then back to Draco. "Mine has a video camera." She pulled out her phone, pushing a few buttons, before handing it to Draco. "Dumbie did something to it to make it work on Hogwart's grounds."

Draco continued to grin like a mad man. "I don't care as long as it records. Thank you…thank you so much!"

At this, he turned and ran back up the steps. Dawn frowned thoughtfully at her sister. "You know, I didn't think he was that excitable."

"Neither did I." Buffy commented mirroring her sister's expression.

"They swore he wasn't gay, but he acts…" Dawn trailed off.

Buffy shook her head. "Doesn't matter. We need to get you back to your dorm."

Just then, it was like a bomb had gone off somewhere up the stairs. "WHAT THE RUDDY HELL!?! DOES HE KNOW!?! DOES HE EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU TWO HAVE BEEN UP TO!?!"

Dawn frowned at the familiar voice. "That's…"

"Pansy Parkinson." A stranger said from her left.

Dawn turned to look at the new voice. It was an extremely tall boy with long mildly curly silky red hair and freckles. He had beautiful ice blue eyes accentuated by his long light colored eyelashes. He was muscular and absolutely drool-worthy. "Yeah, my roommate."

Buffy shook her head. "Oh no…"

"Buffy, she's the only possible friend I have and she's currently losing her mind. We need to go see what's going on." Dawn replied with a determined expression. Buffy sighed as she nodded her head in defeat.

The sisters trudged up the stairs and had absolutely no problem finding the source of the booming voice that had echoed all the way down the Grand Staircase.

The sight before them would've probably been comically if Dawn wasn't concerned about her new friend's mental and emotional stability. Draco Malfoy was holding Buffy's phone tightly in his hand as if he was afraid it was going to try and run away, taping Pansy Parkinson who was now glaring holes through a couple of unfamiliar students. One was a girl with long extremely frizzy hair, plain brown eyes, which were currently wide with shock, and thick brown eyebrows. The other was a decently tall boy with messy black hair, pretty green eyes hidden behind circular glasses, extremely pale skin, and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead

"Why aren't they moving?" Dawn asked confused, to no one in particular.

"Spell." Draco squeaked with the same blissful expression on his face.

Pansy, who was taking deep soothing breaths, finally began to speak. When she did, her voice was no lighter than it had been before. In fact, it was probably louder. She looked at Hermione Granger, really looked at Hermione Granger and scowled. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS HIM? HOW? HE'S LOVED YOU SINCE THE DAY HE MET YOU WHEN YOU INSULTED HIM! HE'S LOVED YOU THROUGH EVERY SINGLE INSULT, ANNOYING CONTRACTDICTION, SHOW OF INFERIORITY, EVERYTHING! HE'S LOVED YOU SINCE DAY ONE! YES, ALRIGHT, HE'S A GIT 99.999999 PERCENT OF THE TIME, BUT HE'S RON WEASLEY! WHAT DO YOU EXPECT!?! HE IS WHAT HE IS, HE DOESN'T CHANGE! HE'S BEEN LIKE THAT HIS ENTIRE LIFE! HE TRUSTED YOU! HE LOVED YOU! YES, HE WAS JEALOUS OF VIKTOR KRUM, BUT HE WAS VIKTOR KRUM AND HE WAS RUNNING AROUND AFTER YOU LIKE A WHIPPED BULGARIAN PUPPY! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS? HE'S…HE'S…RON WEASLEY!" She paused to take a breath.

"Turn a little, Pansy, you're blocking Granger. We need to make sure we can see who you're screaming at." Draco commented. Pansy scowled at him and he threw up his hands. "Fine, I'll move, my precious little peach blossom."

Pansy whirled back around to glare at Hermione again, side stepping a little to give Draco a better view. "HE'S ONE OF THE BEST BLOKES IN THIS SCHOOL! HE'S SMART, VERY SMART, NOT LIKE BOOK SMART, BUT…SMART SMART! HE'S COMMON SENSE SMART, YOU KNOW WHEN IT DOESN'T COME TO ME, SNAPE, OR DRACO! HE'S LOYAL TO A RUDDY FAULT! HE STANDS BY HIS FRIENDS! SURE, OKAY, HE CAN BE A GIT, BUT HE DOES STAND BY HIS FRIENDS! JUST THINK ABOUT LAST YEAR WITH POTTY!" She paused to glare at the girl's companion. "OH, I'M NOT READY FOR YOU YET! BUT I'LL BE THERE IN A MINUTE!" She turned back to Hermione. "HE'S A GOOD PERSON! HE TRIES TO REALLY HELP PEOPLE! HE REALLY CARES ABOUT PEOPLE! HE'S BRAVE, NOBLE, COURAGEOUS…EVERYTHING A GRYFFINDOR SHOULD BE! HE'S ALSO HUMBLE! HE…HE'S A WEASLEY! RUDDY HELL, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?! HE'S A WEASLEY! HE WOULD DO ANYTHING FOR YOU…THE BOTH OF YOU AND YOU DID THIS TO HIM! YOU'VE BEEN SNOGGING HIS BEST MATE BEHIND HIS RUDDY BACK! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS!?! WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU!?! YOU BETTER BE GLAD YOU CAN'T MOVE OR TALK! IF YOU TRIED TO DEFEND YOUR ACTIONS TO ME I'D KILL YOU! YOU CAN'T FIND FRIENDS LIKE RON WEASLEY! THEY DON'T EXIST! PEOPLE WHO YOU CAN TRUST, PEOPLE WHO LOVE YOU NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO…NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE OUT THERE TRYING TO KILL YOU! NO MATTER WHAT'S GOING ON OR WHO'S BEHIND IT! IF EVERYONE TURNED ON YOU AND WALKED AWAY YOU WOULD AT LEAST HAVE ONE SUPPORTER! HE'S ALWAYS THERE! HE'S THERE WHEN IT COUNTS! HE'S THERE WHEN YOU REALLY NEED HIM! THE BULLSHIT FLIES OUT THE WINDOW WHEN YOU NEED HIM! THE BULLSHIT DOESN'T MATTER! NOTHING MATTERS! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!?! DON'T YOU SEE HOW HARD THAT IS TO COME BY!?! REAL FRIENDS!?! HOW COULD YOU…" Pansy trailed off. Her eyes were burning with unshed tears. She fought to try and control her emotions, but knew that she couldn't, not now. Now…it was over. Her carefully laid mask, everything…was gone. She had lost complete control and all she could do now was relish in it.

"Pansy…" Draco murmured, trying to put her back on track and keep her from having a mental breakdown, although, he was, to be honest, slightly late.

"RIGHT SORRY! AND GINNY! THINK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO LITTLE GINNY! SHE SEES YOU AS A SISTER AND YOU WENT AND SNOGGED THE GIT SHE'S IN LOVE WITH! YOU KNEW HOW MUCH SHE CARED ABOUT HIM! YOU KNEW IT, BUT YOU DIDN'T CARE! YOU WERE SO RUDDY SELFISH! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HER!?! HOW COULD YOU BREAK HER HEART INTO A MILLION PIECES!?!" Pansy screeched. She finally stopped, taking deep gulps of air into her lungs. She put a hand to her chest as she fought to breathe. Tears were burning down her cheeks now, but she didn't care. Without a second thought, she turned her attention to Harry. "NOW FOR YOU!"

"Bloody hell, she's not done yet." Padma Patel mumbled in shock.

"HE'S BEEN YOUR BEST MATE SINCE DAY ONE! HE LOVED YOU AND ACCEPTED YOU INTO HIS FAMILY WITH OPEN ARMS! HE GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! HE GAVE YOU FOOD AND NICE LITTLE KNITTED JUMPERS WITH 'H'S ON THEM! HE GAVE YOU CHRISTMAS PRESENTS! HE GAVE YOU A FAMILY! HE GAVE YOU EVERYTHING! EVERYTHING THAT EVERYONE IN THIS SCHOOL WOULD'VE DIED TO HAVE! WE WOULD'VE DIED, POTTY! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH WE WANTED TO BE LIKE THEM!?! HOW MUCH WE WANTED TO BE WEASLEYS!?! TO HAVE THAT AS OUR FAMILY!?! PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT US AND TAKE CARE OF US! PEOPLE WHO LOVE US NO MATTER WHAT! THEY LOVE US WHEN WE ARE AT ROCK BOTTOM AND DON'T KNOW HOW TO GET BACK UP ONTO OUR FEET! PEOPLE WHO DON'T BEAT US LIKE RUDDY DOGS! YEAH, THAT'S WHAT WE GO HOME TO IN THE SUMMER, POTTER! WE GO HOME TO KICKS, CUTS, PUNCHES, CURSES, HEXES, TORTURE TECHNIQUES, AND YOU! YOU GO HOME TO THE DURSLEYS WHO SHOW YOU JUST HOW MUCH YOU NEED TO APPRECIATE THE WEASLEYS! AND JUST WHEN YOU CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE…THE WEASLEYS COME AND GET YOUR SCRAWNY PALE ARSE! THE WEASLEYS! THE WEASLEYS WHO TAKE CARE OF YOU AND LOVE YOU AND TRUST…YOU! THEY ACCEPTED YOU! THEY MADE YOU ONE OF THEM ALL BECAUSE OF RON! RON! HE STOOD BY YOUR SIDE LAST YEAR! HE FOUGHT EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO STOOD AGAINST YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE HIS BEST MATE AND HE LOVED YOU AND TRUSTED YOU! NOW…NOW YOU'VE GONE AND SNOGGED THE GIRL HE'S IN LOVE WITH! THAT YOU KNOW HE'S IN LOVE! WHO HE'S ALWAYS BEEN IN LOVE WITH! HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY THAT!?! BECAUSE HE GOT IRRATIONALLY MAD AT YOU FOR BEING THE BOY WHO LIVED!?! HE WAS JEALOUS! HE WANTED ATTENTION! HE LIVES IN A FAMILY OF SEVEN! HE WANTS TO BE CENTERED OUT SOMETIMES! HE WANTED TO BE SPECIAL, BUT HE ENDED UP BEING THE BOY WHO LIVES BEST MATE! NOW, HE'S THE BOY WHO LIVES BEST MATE AND DOESN'T REALIZE HE'S BEEN SNOGGING HIS GIRL! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SHOW HIM, POTTY! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO SHOW HIM THAT WHAT THEY THINK DOESN'T MATTER! WHAT THE WIZARDING WORLD THINKS DOESN'T MATTER! THAT HE IS SPECIAL! THAT HE IS…SOMETHING! HE'S RON WEASLEY! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE WOULD KILL TO BE RON WEASLEY!?! AND YOU…YOU GO AND DO THIS! YOU BETRAYED HIM! YOU…YOU…DIDN'T YOU REALIZE HOW BAD THIS WAS!?! YOU DESTROYED IT! YOU DESTROYED THE GRYFFINDOR TRIO!"

Pansy turned her eyes to Hermione. "HE MAY NOT BE SMART ENOUGH TO REALIZE IT, BUT YOU SURE AS HELL ARE! YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE! HE'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO FORGIVE YOU! HELL, HE COULD BARELY FORGIVE POTTER FOR BEING THE BOY WHO LIVED AND ALMOST GETTING HIMSELF KILLED IN THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT! HE'LL NEVER FORGET THIS! HE'LL NEVER LET THIS GO! IT'S OVER! WHAT YOU, YOU LITTLE WORTHLESS MEANINGLESS INSIGNIFICANT MUDBLOOD BECAME APART OF WHEN YOU WERE ELEVEN…THAT HUGE THING…YOU DESTROYED…AND FOR WHAT!?! FOR A SLOPPY SNOG WITH HARRY POTTER!?! FOR NOTHING!" She took deep breaths, trying to get back to the point. Her voice was starting to give out, but her rage had yet to die.

"Potty, destroyed the Gryffindor trio." Draco reminded.

Pansy's eyes shot back to Harry. "YOU DID! YOU DESTROYED IT! YOU DESTROYED HIM! THINK OF HOW THIS GOING TO HURT HIM! THINK OF HOW THIS IS GOING TO BREAK HIS HEART! THINK OF RON WEASLEY, YOUR BEST MATE, AND JUST HOW MUCH HE'S GOING TO SUFFER WHEN HE FINDS OUT! THINK OF WHAT THIS IS GOING TO…" She suddenly froze, everything falling quickly into place. The anger she could feel consuming her shifted to something else…panic…fear. She turned to face Draco with wide burning red eyes. He looked confused and yet, he understood. "Draco…we can't. Turn the video off. We can't do this. Draco…think…think what this'll do to Ron. He can't know." She knew she sounded hysterical because her voice, which was extremely hoarse now, cracked as tears poured down her cheeks. She held her arms tightly over her chest as she moved toward the shocked blonde male. Her mind was frantically searching for a way to cover this up, not even bothering to ward off the hysteria of thoughts. "We have to delete it and obliviate and…he can't know."

"Let's not do anything drastic. Weasel deserves to know. We have to tell him." Draco said with desperate gray eyes as he clutched the phone in his hands, obviously ready to fight his best friend for the video.

"Little late." A soft broken voice sounded from the small crowd.

Pansy turned panicked wild eyes on all of the students. Draco stood at the front with Padma Patel on his left, Dawn and Buffy Summers on the right, and somewhere off to the left away from all of them was Ron Weasley. Her golden eyes locked with his blue and she could feel the tears starting again. He didn't look angry, he didn't look upset, he looked devastated. He stared at her with resignation clear in his stance, obviously not strong enough to cover up his emotions. His arms were crossed over his chest and his mouth was drawn into a deep frown. He looked like he wanted to cry too, but the action would cause too much effort. Among all of the emotions she could see on his face more than anything he looked exhausted.

Without a word, Pansy stepped past Draco, Padma, Dawn, and Buffy to reach Ron. She stood directly in front of him, gazing up into his beautiful heart broken blue eyes. She didn't know what to do or say. She was supposed to be his enemy. How was she supposed to know what to say?

"It…" Pansy began. She glanced back at Potty and Bushy. They were clinging desperately to each other with a quite comical expression of shock frozen onto their faces. "It was us." She turned back to face Ron.

Ron frowned at her. "I beg your pardon?"

"It was us. We set up the entire thing. We planned it. We forced them into a compromising position so that we could lure you here and make you see them." Pansy told him, trying to sound convincing. She could handle his anger, just not the pain. "It was us. It was our plan to destroy the Gryffindor Trio."

Ron simply stared at her, his blue eyes boring into her golden ones. She wanted to shrink away from him. She wanted to close her eyes so that she didn't have to see his pain. Just seeing it made her chest ache. "Do you actually expect me to believe that?"

Pansy glared at him, trying to sound honest. "It was! It was our plan!" Her voice was extremely hoarse, but she wanted to literally beat the lie into him. She wanted to chase away all of the pain and the betrayal. It wasn't supposed to be like this! He wasn't supposed to be like this! This wasn't supposed to happen to him! He was a good person! He was one of the Gryffindor Trio! He was supposed to get his happily ever after! He was supposed to ride off into the sunset on a beautiful white stallion with his Bushy clinging to his waist and then have beautiful perfect little redheaded brats! Not this…not…not this. "It was our plan. We wanted to destroy everything. We wanted to hurt you and humiliate them. We wanted them to…"

"Stop." Ron said, his voice broken and laced with pain. He moved his face toward her's, bringing his heartbroken eyes even closer. "Is it not humiliating enough that my best mate and the girl I'm love with have been snogging behind my back? Is it not humiliating enough that I didn't know? Is it not humiliating enough that someone who was supposed to be my sworn enemy caught them and has spent the last fifteen minutes yelling in my defense? Is it not humiliating enough that Draco Malfoy got it all on tape?" Draco immediately frowned, pulling the phone closer. "Now my 'supposed enemy' is trying to cover it up to keep me from getting my feelings hurt?" He leaned even closer and she literally wanted to die. She would do anything to escape those broken eyes. She would even obliviate him. "Just. Stop."

Pansy opened her mouth to say something and he frowned even more. He had tears burning in his eyes and she fought the urge to scream. She didn't know what to do. Pansy Parkinson could deal with many things, but tears were not among them. In fact, up until tonight, the last time she had cried was when she was five years old. That was when she realized the sick pleasure her father got out of seeing her in pain. That was when she learned how to control herself and all of her emotions. It was because of her emotional deficiency that she didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to do to help him or what to say. Taking a deep breath, Pansy frowned at him. She continued to stare into his eyes. "I'm going to bed. I'm…I'm going to bed."

Forcing herself to step around the heartbroken Gryffindor, Pansy began to walk toward the double-doors she had entered about twenty or thirty minutes before. "I refuse to patrol with him. Good night."

Draco looked at Harry and Hermione before turning to Ron. "I'm sorry, mate." He murmured truthfully before walking toward the exit. He paused to glance at Buffy. "I'll get this back to you when I figure out how to duplicate the video." Without a second look, he turned and walked out.

There was silence once the doors swung shut again. Ron stood with his arms still crossed over his chest, staring at his friends. He didn't move or talk. He just stood there. Everything seemed too hard and painful for him to do. He just wanted…well, he didn't know what he wanted.

"Ron?" Padma Patel asked softly. She didn't make any move toward him. She knew better.

The sound of his name snapped him from his thoughts. He looked up at the dark skinned Ravenclaw and sighed. "I'm going to bed." He turned toward the double-doors intent on leaving.

"What do you want to do about them? Do you want me to unfreeze them?" Padma asked suddenly.

Ron stopped, turning back to look at Harry and Hermione, the two people who he had trusted with anything and everything in his life. "Just leave them there." At that, he turned and walked out.

Padma glanced from Harry and Hermione to Buffy and Dawn. Finally, after a long thoughtful moment, she shrugged. "Well, goodnight." She turned to the exit and Dawn thought she heard the girl mutter 'serves them right' before she left.

"I'm a teacher." Buffy said once they were alone. "I'm supposed to be a teacher. I can't rationally leave them there in good conscience."

Dawn frowned as she looked at the frozen pair. "Um…Buffy? I don't know what spell that is so…I don't know how to fix it."

Buffy looked at the pair as well. "Yeah, yeah…me neither."

"So…uh…" Dawn frowned. "How bout you show me back to the dorms…cause I don't remember the way."

Buffy nodded as she grabbed her sister's arm and turned them toward the door. "Good idea."

Okay, so I LOVE both Harry and Hermione. Don't kill me! Just keep reading…it'll get better! That's about it for now!

Domlover89