Amanda didn't have another chance to talk to Draco until Friday when the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins had Defense Against the Dark Arts together. She was hoping to catch him before class, but she was the first one there. Professor Lupin came out of his office and seemed slightly startled when he saw her.

"You're early, Amanda," said Lupin. "Class doesn't start for another ten minutes. Did you need to talk about something?" Amanda shook her head.

"I was just hoping to catch a friend before class," she explained. Lupin smiled.

"Forgive me for making assumptions, but were you looking for Draco?"

"Yes," Amanda said quietly, looking down at the floor. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Lupin.

"To be honest, I'm glad that he has a friend outside of Slytherin." Amanda smiled at him.

Draco had been sitting in Professor Lupin's office when he heard Lupin talking to someone. Draco moved toward the closed door of Lupin's office to hear better. He could make out a girl's voice. It sounded like Amanda. Draco felt his heart beat slightly faster just at the thought of her. He silently told himself off. He shouldn't be acting like this. Amanda was a Hufflepuff and he was a Slytherin. Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, didn't like Draco to mingle with the students in other Houses and if his father found out that he had kissed someone who wasn't in Slytherin, Draco could count on being in trouble until he graduated from Hogwarts. It was because of this that Draco had pretty much been avoiding Amanda. He felt bad about avoiding her, but he was scared of what his father would say.

Amanda caught up to Draco at the end of class. She had been kind of shocked when Draco had come out of Lupin's office and sat on the opposite side of the room from her.

"Draco!" called Amanda. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle turned to face her. She saw Crabbe and Goyle clench their fists. "I haven't been able to talk to you all week!" Draco stared at her coolly. Crabbe stepped closer to Amanda.

"He got tired of you," said Crabbe. "You were never worth his time. Besides, you're just a Hufflepuff. You're never worth anyone's time." Amanda looked to Draco for some sort of explanation. He just smirked at her. Amanda felt like her heart had been crushed and she turned and ran. She could hear the laughter of Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco as she fled. Amanda had to keep wiping her eyes to keep the tears from running down her face. She rounded a corner and ran into someone, causing both of them and their books to fall to the floor. Amanda got up quickly and helped the person up.

"Thanks," he said. She recognized his voice. It was the boy from the train station.

"Oh my gosh!" said Amanda. "I'm so sorry!" He waved it off. Amanda noticed two other people with him. One was a girl with shoulder length brown hair and the other was a boy with red hair. All three of them looked at Amanda with concern.

"Are you all right?" asked the girl. Amanda looked at the floor. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. "What's wrong?" the girl asked. Amanda wanted to tell her, but nothing came out.

"Come on," said the boy she met at the train station. "We have some free time before we have to be in our common rooms. Let's go to the library where it's less crowded and noisy." Amanda nodded and followed them to the library.

"I'm Hermione Granger, by the way," said the girl.

"Ron Weasley," said the boy with the red hair.

"Harry Potter," said the boy from the station. Amanda felt shocked that Harry Potter was standing in front of her. She figured he got a lot of reactions since he was the Boy Who Lived, so Amanda just nodded.

"Amanda MacMillian."

"So," said Hermione. "What happened?" Amanda looked at them and noticed the Gryffindor crest on their robes.

"Draco…" Amanda whispered. They all exchanged a glance. Harry looked at Amanda with sympathy.

"Malfoy doesn't care about anyone outside of Slytherin," he said.

"Especially if they're half-blooded or Muggle-born," said Hermione sourly.

"But he told Snape…" Amanda trailed off.

"What'd he tell Snape?" asked Ron.

"He said that he'd be friends with me even if I was… You know…" Amanda looked at Hermione. She had overheard other Slytherins talking about how Hermione was a "Mudblood."

"A Mudblood?" asked Hermione.

"That's a lie if I ever heard one," said Ron. "Wait. Are you a pure-blood?" Amanda nodded.

"Malfoy justー" Hermione was interrupted by Harry shushing her. They all listened and Amanda could make out the voices of Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco. And they were coming closer. Harry pulled a cloak out of his bag and handed it to Amanda.

"Quick!" he said. "Put this on over your head! We don't want Malfoy to know you're here talking to us." Amanda put the cloak on like Harry told her. As soon as Harry had handed it to her, she had known it was an Invisibility Cloak. Amanda nearly held her breath when she saw Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco come into view. The three Slytherins faced the three Gryffindors.

"Potter," said Draco.

"Malfoy," replied Harry.

"And what secret meeting are we having today, Potter?"

"It's called research," said Hermione. "You should try it sometime. Maybe you'd get better grades." Draco glared at her.

"No one wants your opinion, filthy Mudblood!" Harry and Hermione had to hold Ron back so he didn't attack Draco, who was smirking. "See you on the Quidditch pitch, Potter." The Slytherins walked away and Harry waited a good five minutes before he told Amanda she could take the cloak off. As she handed it back to Harry, she stared at where Draco had been standing.

Draco swore that Amanda would've been in the library. After his plan to make her think that he was just using her worked, the way that Amanda had looked before she ran had hurt him more than he thought it would.

He swore that he had heard Amanda talking to Potter, Granger, and Weasley in the library, but when he got there, it had only been the three Gryffindors. Draco wanted so desperately to find Amanda that he got to the doors of the Great Hall early so that he could see every person that entered the Hall. He waited until dinner had started before he gave up.

While he was eating, he thought of something else. He quickly finished, told Crabbe and Goyle that he was heading to bed, and left the Great Hall. He headed toward the kitchens and waited around the corner from the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room. Hufflepuffs started to filter from the Great Hall and eyed Draco warily as they passed him. Again he waited to catch Amanda. The stream of Hufflepuffs was getting thinner every few minutes. He couldn't take it any longer. He sat down on the floor with his back against the wall, took his quill, ink bottle, parchment, and an envelope from his bag, and started writing.

Amanda,

I'm really sorry about what happened after DADA today. To be completely honest, the only reason I set that up was because of my father. You see, he doesn't like me to interact with students outside of Slytherin let alone kiss one. After I kissed you, I got scared that my father would somehow find out. Once I saw how much those words had hurt you, I realized that I should never had planned that. I've been looking all over the castle for you since so I could apologize in person. I hope that this letter reaches you as I'll give it to another Hufflepuff. I really hope you can forgive me. I miss talking to you. I'd like to be friends again. And if you want to, meet me in the library after breakfast tomorrow.

Draco

Draco looked over his letter, folded it, and then put it in the envelope. He wrote Amanda's name on the front and sealed it with a spell so that only she could open it. He put away his quill and ink bottle and waited for a Hufflepuff to come by. When one did, he approached them, handed them the letter, and asked if they could give it to Amanda. They took the letter warily but promised to deliver it to her. Draco grabbed his bag and made his way to the Slytherin common room.