~Chapter 3~

At approximately 7 o'clock, Ryan and I met Filtch in the Great Hall to serve our detentions.

"Finally got caught, eh?" he said to us happily.

I groaned inwardly. Filtch has had it out for us ever since we let a niffler into his office during our first year.

Neither of us said a word.

"You'll be cleaning up in the potions room tonight." He started, "Without magic. You may leave at 9."

Ryan sighed loudly as we made our way down to the dungeons.

"Now what's this I hear about you and Seamus O'Riley?" he asked me after Filtch had left.

I blushed. "What about him?"

"You know what I mean."

"Ugh. Fine. Yes. He did ask me out."

"Scorpius was talking to me about him after potions earlier. He seemed kind of… Put out."

I smirked. Scorpius could have any girl he wanted.

"And he thinks Seamus is a prick."

"What do you think?"

He put on a serious face. "I agree with Scorpius. But I know you won't listen to me. Just be careful."

I grinned at him. He knew me so well. The smile was quickly wiped off my face as I saw a man running toward us, wand out, looking straight at me.

Suddenly a stream of green light whizzed by me, missing me by a centimeter as Ryan pulled me down behind a corner. I wrapped my fingers around my wand handle and peeked out around the corner. Another ray of light flew by my right ear.

"Stay back you idiot!" Ryan yelled, pulling me against the wall. "Are you trying to get yourself killed!?"

"Just go and get McGonagall or Cassidy or someone!" I yelled, pushing him towards the stairs.

He looked at me and opened his mouth as if he was about to argue back but then decided against it. "Don't do anything stupid!" he bellowed as he headed up to the main floor.

"Come out, come out and play, little Alison…" A low, scratchy voice called to me tauntingly.

I froze. How did he know who I was? My heart was pounding in my ears and my head hurt. I peaked around the corner, hoping to get a good look at him.

He had sunken eyes and a hollow-looking face. His torn, dirty clothes hung on his skeletal figure that was covered in tattoos. His long, unwashed hair hung in his face, making his eyes even more shadowed.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He yelled, taking a step forward.

"PROTEGO!" I yelled back on instinct, letting his curse bounce off of the shield I had just cast, causing me to be pushed backwards several feet. I stumbled, close to losing my balance.

"CRUCIO!" He hissed.

He caught me off guard. There was nothing I could do to move out of the way or block the incoming curse.

I felt my body shake as the worst pain I had ever encountered moved through my body. It hurt so badly that I could hardly see straight. I felt myself drift in and out of consciousness, until the pain stopped and everything went black.

"His name was Marcus Dolohov- escaped from Azkaban last month. How he got into the castle- we still don't know. Orcutt is investigating possibilities as we speak." It sounded like McGonagall.

"Very well." Came the voice of Cassidy to my right. "Do we know where he is now?"

"He disappeared. But we have contacted the Auror office and they are looking into it."

Cassidy was quiet for a moment and then spoke again. "Why is he after Miss Southwick?"

"Nathan and Dolohov had a violent past at Hogwarts."

They were talking about dad and him.

"I taught them both." McGonagall said quietly. "Couldn't keep them out of detention. One was always cursing the other. As soon as they graduated, Nathan became an Auror and Dolohov followed in his father's footsteps and became a Death Eater."

Cassidy remained silent.

"Some say that Dolohov had a crush on Isabelle, Miss Southwick's mother. They were always together. She was a lovely girl. She ignored what her classmates were saying about him and until their 6th year, they were fine. He started keeping to himself and ended up hurting Isabelle accidentally."

"I would like to speak with Miss Southwick alone, thank you Minerva."

"Good day headmaster." She replied, as I heard her footsteps get quieter and quieter.

"How much of that did you hear, Miss Southwick?" Cassidy said to me as I opened my eyes.

I smiled sheepishly. "All of it. Sorry professor."

"Curiosity is not a sin, but you should exercise caution- especially with Dolohov after you."

I nodded.

"Your friends have been very worried. Mr Owen stopped by earlier. Shall I send Mr Malfoy and Mr Parker in?"

"Sure. Thank you professor."

"Be careful." He said warningly as he left the infirmary.

Cor blimey. A Death Eater was after me.

"Allie!" Ryan yelled, running towards me. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I hit my head pretty hard though. And Madame Pomfrey won't let me out of bed."

"Speak of the devil…" Scorpius whispered as she bustled over to us with a scowl on her face. "Mr Malfoy, Mr Parker, please leave. She needs her rest. She'll be leaving tonight. I'm sure you'll be seeing her at the feast."

"I'll talk to you guys later, okay?"

"Alright, cool." Ryan said, hugging me.

"Yeah. See you soon." Scorpius said, wrapping his arms around me gently and then leading Ryan out of the Hospital Wing behind him.

For the next half hour, I tried to convince Madame Pomfrey to let me out earlier. She finally gave in. I'd be out by noon.

"Allie!" Scorpius's eyes lit up when he saw me walking towards him and Ryan in the Great Hall.

"She let you out?" Ryan asked me after I sat down at the Slytherin table between them.

"Yeah. I'm fine though. She made me promise to stay with one of you for the rest of the day in case I keel over or something."

"Cassidy talked to us earlier about keeping an eye on you."

I snorted into my pumpkin juice. "What!?"

"He thought you'd try and sneak out of the Hospital Wing or something…." He paused, "Again."

"He knows me so well." I grinned.

"But seriously-" Ryan said, "Be careful."

I felt someone tap my shoulder. "Hey Allie-"

I turned around. It was Seamus O'Riley.

"Oh. Hi." I said, putting down my goblet.

"Are you alright? I heard about what happened."

"Yeah. It's all fine now."

"Okay, good. See you in potions."

He leaned down and kissed me lightly on the cheek and walked away.

When I turned back around, Ryan and Scorpius were making retching noises and mimicking his motions on each other.

"Oi! Shut it!" I said, punching Ryan.

"Leave me alone, you lunatic!"

"It's just one date!" I exclaimed.

"That's all it takes for someone like him though…"

"What are you implying?"

"Jus-just be careful." He stuttered.

"I can take care of myself you know."

"Al-" Scorpius said, turning towards me, "We know. But you also have a Death Eater after you."

"Yeah. Thanks for pointing out the obvious, mate."

"Hi Scorpius." Came two obnoxious girl voices.

All three of us turned around. It was Natalie and Nina Russell. They were twins in Hufflepuff- AND part of the Scorpius Malfoy fan club.

"Erm.. hi?" he replied uncertainly, giving me and Ryan a terrified look.

"We were just wondering who you were taking to the Ball."

"I… uhhh…" He blushed, "I have no idea. Its too early yet."

"Oh." One of them said, "Well…"

"When you decide-" the other one cut in.

"-Let us know." One of them finished.

"Bye Scorpius." They said together, strutting off towards their house table.

Once they were out of hearing distance, I couldn't help it. I started laughing. Scorpius gave me a funny look and then joined in too. Ryan shook his head and burst out laughing, turning the heads of many of the students around us.

Even though I was laughing about it, I couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit jealous. Sure, Scorpius had dated tons of girls and went through with them faster than socks. He'd date them for a week, then toss 'em. I'm pretty sure he had dated 75% of our class and the classes above and below us. I had never had a problem with it until now.

But… I still had my date with Seamus to look forward to!

"So Ry- Who are you going to ask?" I said to Ryan once we had calmed down a bit.

He blushed.

"How's Cozette?" Scorpius grinned.

"F-f-fine. We're just potions partners."

"You should ask her to Hogsmeade."

"She is pretty." I added.

They looked at me like I was insane.

"What?" I cried, "I can think a girl is good-looking, can't I?"

Scorpius laughed and looked at Ryan. 'She is."

"Alright, alright. Fine. I like her."

'Do you want to shag her?" Scorpius asked.

Ryan blushed.

"Oi! That's my cousin you're talking about!" I said, elbowing him sharply.

"He can want to get off with her though, yeah?"

"How would you feel if it was me and Scorpius?" I asked Ryan.

"You guys wouldn't do that- would you?" Ryan asked frantically, looking at Scorpius and then looking at me.

Scorpius blushed, which was something he never did, and looked at me. I blushed as well.

Scorpius Malfoy was a handsome guy. He was tall and strong, all the girls had crushes on him. He wasn't body-builder fit, just regular-guy fit. He was normal. He had messy white-blonde hair and his eyes were gorgeous. He was very good looking.

As we walked to class, I couldn't help but think of Scorpius's blue eyes looking back at my own and about how nice it would be to shag him.