Sorry guys, I've had serious writers block! I hope you like the latest chapter - R&R!
Disclaimer: I only own Andrea, the rest is Jo Rowling's.
"Expecto Patronum!" Andrea said, flicking her wand. A wondrous silver ferret erupted from it and danced around in front of her. She giggled.
"Well done, Andie!" Harry exclaimed as he passed her.
Dumbledore's Army was going well. Andrea had successfully learned numerous different spells and jinxes used for defending oneself.
There was a sudden banging sound and a rumbling, causing the Room of Requirement to shake. Harry and Nigel Creevey went to the far wall to investigate. Harry suddenly yanked Nigel away just a moment before the wall was blown up to reveal a very triumphant Dolores Umbridge. Filch was behind her, and behind him was the Slytherins who made up the Inquisitorial Squad.
Draco Malfoy appeared next to Umbridge, dragging a very guilty looking Cho Chang. Andrea couldn't imagine what Harry was feeling at that moment.
"Get them!" Umbridge hissed, and Andrea saw all the Slytherins gleeful faces. But she was a little puzzled when she noticed that Malfoy's expression seemed a little forced, and he was avoiding looking at her.
The next thing they knew, Umbridge was Headmistress of Hogwarts and every member of the DA ended up in a mass detention in the Great Hall.
Andrea held in a whimper as the pain shot through the back of her hand and caught the eye of George, who sent her a sympathetic look before looking daggers at Umbridge.
After what seemed like hours, they were finally dismissed. They all left the Great Hall, nursing their hands. Cho was waiting outside, but the students either paid no attention to her or wordlessly told her exactly what they thought of her; Zacharias Smith barged into her with his shoulder, a few of them just glared at her, and Harry gave her a look that said "who are you?"
Draco observed Andrea at breakfast the next morning. She wasn't eating anything, and her right hand was bandaged. Her chocolate brown eyes were missing their usual sparkle, and there were dark rings around them.
When he'd seen her in that room, he thought his heart had stopped. He should've known she'd been involved.
"What's up, mate?" Crabbe asked between mouthfuls of toast.
"Nothing," Draco snapped. "Are you going for a world record of how much toast you can fit in your mouth?" Crabbe paused, before shrugging and carrying on eating. When Draco Malfoy was in a bad mood, arguing with him was not a good idea.
Draco sighed, and turned his attention back to the beautiful Gryffindor on the other side of the room. It looked like Finnigan and Thomas were trying to encourage her to eat, but she just shrugged them off. The two lads glanced at each other helplessly, and then Thomas grinned.
Draco watched as he picked up a croissant and broke the end off. He held it in the air and pretended it was flying towards Andrea's mouth. She giggled and opened her mouth for the food. Finnigan and Thomas clapped when she ate it, and she grinned. Draco had no idea what Thomas had just done with the piece of croissant, and his confusion must've shown on his face.
"It's a Muggle thing, they do it for their kids," Blaise's voiced made him jump.
"What do you mean?"
"When Muggle kids are young, like two or three, their parents get a piece of their food and pretend it's flying – like those plane things – and it encourages the kid to eat because it 'flies' into their mouth."
"Seems a bit strange."
"Well, it worked for Martin, didn't it?"
"But she's not a kid."
"It's humorous, and she's apparently not feeling the best since that detention," Blaise said. "So Finnigan and Thomas are trying to cheer her up."
"Well it's apparently working," Draco muttered, watching the three Gryffindor's laugh together. Blaise sighed.
"I don't know how you expect to get her to stop hating you if all you do is watch her from afar and manage to have your pratty moments whenever she's around," he said.
"I can't exactly talk to her, can I?" Draco cried. "And that's always accidental, she's not meant to be there when I insult her stupid friends or whatever."
"Well, just try to be aware of her presence every now and again." Draco sighed.
Andrea was with Neville in the library when she felt something strange in her pocket. She frowned and shoved her hand in, pulling out the fake Galleon they used for the DA meetings.
"What is it?" Neville asked. "Is something wrong?"
"It's heating up, but there are no more meetings," Andrea said.
"Let's go and find Harry," Neville suggested. "We can find out what's going on."
The two left the library and were going to head to the common room, but they bumped into Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Luna at the end of the Defence Against The Dark Arts corridor.
"Harry, what's going on?" Neville asked when they reached the group.
"We need a distraction," Harry said. "We need to get into Umbridge's office to use the Floo Network, but we need you guys to keep the Inquisitorial Squad away. Ron's gone to deal with Umbridge."
"Sure," Andrea said.
Draco was patrolling the corridors with Blaise, keeping an eye out for any rule-breaking on orders from Umbridge. Everything was quiet, with most inhabitants of the castle in the Great Hall for dinner. There was a sudden bang from around the corner and the Slytherins ran to investigate, wands at the ready.
They rounded the corner and nothing seemed to be wrong.
"Probably Peeves," Draco muttered, his eyes scanning the space. Blaise was quiet, looking for any sign of disturbance. Peeves would make himself known – whoever had caused the bang had apparently fled.
Blaise suddenly glimpsed a flash as someone darted away from them.
"There!" He cried, but before either of them could move there was another bang from the opposite direction.
"You go that way, I'll go this way," Blaise instructed Draco, who nodded and headed in the direction of the second bang. Blaise adjusted his grip on his wand before briskly walking in pursuit of the person he'd seen. He might only have caught a glimpse, but it was enough for him to guess who it was, which was why he'd suggested Draco go the other way.
Andrea waited for the two Slytherins to move further away from her, and a few more moments until she was sure the coast was clear, before she stepped out from behind a suit of armour. She breathed a sigh of relief, but gasped when she felt a wand pointed at her throat.
"Martin," said a deep voice.
"Zabini," Andrea replied, turning to face him.
"What's all the ruckus for?" He asked, the corners of his lips twitching. Andrea knew he was trying to intimidate her into revealing the DA's plans, but she had no intention of telling him anything.
"I got bored." She shrugged.
"Well then, maybe Professor Umbridge has a cure for this case of boredom," Blaise said, and she could hear the amusement in his voice. She could detect something else in his tone, too; regret? Annoyance?
Whatever it was, Andrea could tell that he didn't want to take her to Umbridge.
He pushed her gently and led her through the quiet corridors, through the Defence classroom and into the glaringly pink office.
But it seemed that Andrea had not been caught first: Harry was sat in a chair in the middle of the room, holding the furious gaze of Dolores Umbridge, seventh year Slytherin Cassius Warrington had a hold of Luna Lovegood, Ginny was held tightly by a sixth year Slytherin girl, Goyle had Ron, Crabbe had Hermione and Blaise joined the end of the line with Andrea, although she noticed that his wand wasn't held quite as menacingly close to her as the others held theirs.
A few moments passed, the only sounds filling the room being the strained grunts and gasps of the captured as they tried in vain to get out of the grip of the Slytherins. The door burst open and Neville was shoved into the room by Malfoy.
"Caught this one trying to help the Weasley girl!" Malfoy exclaimed triumphantly. He then caught Blaise's eye and realised who his friend held in front of him, and his smile faltered.
Again, he should've known Andrea would be involved.
He held Neville in front of him and said nothing more. He kept his grip tight on the Gryffindor, but paid no attention to the scene before him.
He really needed to get over this.
Umbridge held her wand to Hermione and Harry as they led her out of the room, leaving the Inquisitorial Squad in charge. Ron tried in vain to get out of Goyle's grip, Ginny tried harder than ever to stamp on her captors foot, Neville struggled to no avail. Andrea half heartedly tried to escape Blaise, but she was too focused on trying to think of a way to escape.
She heard Ron clear his throat and looked up to see if he meant anything by it. He did.
Puking Pastilles? He mouthed. She suppressed a smile.
"Zabini, could you reach into my right pocket and get out a couple of sweets for me to have?" She asked.
Blaise hesitated before slowly pulling a handful of small wrapped sweets from her pocket. There were six altogether, enough to give to each of the Slytherins.
"They can't have those, they're the troublemakers!" Crabbe said, his beady eyes staring hungrily at the sweets in Blaise's hand.
"I agree, we should get those," Warrington said. Andrea felt Blaise shrug behind her and he passed each of his housemates one.
"Sorry Martin," he said.
"Greedy bastards," she muttered, but she caught Ron's eye and winked.
It didn't take long for the vomiting to start, and Ginny finally succeeded in kicking the girl who had been holding her. The Gryffindors and Luna managed to get out of Umbridge's office with their wands without too much trouble.
"We need to find Harry and Hermione!" Ron cried, and Andrea winced at the desperation in his voice.
"What is this all about anyway?" She asked as they ran through the school and out onto the grounds.
"Harry thinks You-Know-Who's got Sirius in the Department of Mysteries," Ron explained, panting slightly.
"So I take it he wants to go there?"
"Yeah," Ron said. "There they are!" He pointed to the bridge and the group met the two halfway. "Where's Umbridge?"
"She got carried away by a herd of centaurs," Harry replied.
"Has You-Know-Who got Sirius?" Ron asked.
"Yes, and I'm sure he's still alive," Harry said, wincing. "But I'm not sure how we're going to get there."
"We fly of course," Luna said.
"There's no "we", Harry stated irritably. "Plus, Ron's the only one with a broom that hasn't been confiscated –"
"I've got a broom!" Ginny interrupted.
"You're not going!" Ron said angrily.
"You're too–" Harry began.
"Excuse me!" Ginny stopped him. "I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Philosophers Stone."
"We were all in the DA together," Andrea reminded Harry.
"Yeah," Neville said. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real - or was that all just words to you?"
"No, of course it wasn't," Harry said impatiently.
"Then we should come too; we want to help," Neville said.
Andrea saw Ron and Harry exchange a glance.
"It doesn't matter anyway, because we still don't know how to get there–"
"I already told you," Luna said, her tone beginning to show her frustration. "We don't need broomsticks. And Hagrid said that they're usually very good at finding the places they're looking for."
"Of course," Andrea said, grinning. "There!" She pointed at two Thestrals that had just appeared. Harry whirled around.
"Yes!" He exclaimed.
"Is it those horse things?" Asked Ron uncertainly.
"Yeah."
"How many?"
"Two."
"We need three," Hermione said.
"There are actually seven of us," Luna said calmly.
"Look, it's not that I don't appreciate everything you've done, all of you but I've got you into enough trouble as it is," Harry said.
"If we cared about that, we wouldn't be here," Andrea said.
"Maybe you don't have to do this all by yourself mate," Ron said. Harry sighed in defeat.
"And look, more Thestrals are coming to help," Luna said happily.
"I think someone should stay behind to hold off the Inquisitorial Squad and them," Andrea suggested.
"That's a good idea," Hermione agreed.
"Gin–" Ron began.
"Not a chance, Ron," she snapped.
"I'll do it," Andrea said, fed up of the arguments. "Being the twins' apprentice gives me an advantage. You guys go and get this sorted." They all nodded and she stayed for a few moments to help Ginny, Ron and Hermione onto the Thestrals, finding amusement in their unease at sitting on something they couldn't see.
"Good luck!" They all called to her as they took off.
"Likewise!" She yelled before running back up to the school.
She ran through a list of jinxes in her head as she headed in the direction of Umbridge's classroom, although she couldn't be sure that the Squad hadn't already left; the vomiting should have ceased by now.
Dinner in the Great Hall was finished now, so Andrea was able to slip into the swarm of students.
"Andie!" A familiar voice called out, and she spun around to see Seamus and Dean fighting their way towards her. She sighed. They must've noticed a few absences at the Gryffindor table during dinner.
"Hey guys," she said, forcing a smile.
"Where were you during dinner? Where were Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Neville?" Seamus asked. Andrea looked around before pulling them into an empty classroom.
"I can't tell you what's going on because I'm not entirely sure what's going on," she said. "But I need your help to keep the Inquisitorial Squad busy."
"Okay," Seamus said. "Where are they?"
"I'm not sure. We left them in Umbridge's office throwing their guts up."
"So we have to walk around looking for them?" Dean was sceptical.
"It'll be fun. We're just going to play some practical jokes on them," Andie reassured them. "It's for the DA."
"Let's do it!" Seamus said. The two lads took out their wands and followed Andrea out.
"Just make sure you don't get caught like we all did," Andrea told them, giggling.
The three of them slipped back into the thinning crowd of students, their eyes scanning each corner of the corridors they walked through. Eventually, they were the only students still roaming the school.
"We should split up," Andrea suggested when they reached the Defence Against The Dark Arts corridor. "Seamus, you go towards Charms. Dean, you head up to the Astronomy tower, and I'll go down to the dungeons."
"Is that such a good idea?" Dean asked. "Maybe one of us should go to the dungeons."
"I'll be fine," Andrea assured him.
"Send up your Patronus if you need one of us," Seamus suggested. "It's a ferret, isn't it?"
"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll do that if something goes wrong," Andrea said.
"Be careful!" Seamus called as she walked away from them.
"They've just disappeared!" Blaise told Draco as they met up outside of Umbridge's classroom.
"I know, I can't find any of them," Draco replied. "Have the others had any luck?"
"Not as far as I know." The two were silent for a few minutes.
"Can you hear that?" Draco asked Blaise. They listened, and the other Slytherin nodded as he heard the voices that Draco had heard. He held a finger to his lips and led the way to where the voices were coming from.
"Send up your Patronus if you need one of us," someone said. "It's a ferret, isn't it?"
"That's Finnigan, isn't it?" Draco whispered. Blaise nodded.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll do that if something goes wrong." Draco's heart rate increased as he recognised Andrea's voice. Blaise glanced at him.
"Be careful!" Finnigan called as Andrea's footsteps faded. "I still don't like the idea of her going down to the dungeons on her own," the Slytherins heard him mutter to someone else, and then their footsteps faded, too.
"I'm going down to the dungeons," Draco said as soon as they were alone.
"Is that really such a good idea?" Blaise asked.
"Warrington's looking in the dungeons," Draco snapped. "I am not going to let him get a hold of her."
"I'll go after Finnigan," Blaise said. "Just be careful. Make sure no suspicions arise with Warrington about Martin."
"I know." Draco headed down to the dungeons, keeping an eye out for Andrea.
Andrea held her wand out in front of her as she crept through the dungeons. She shivered as the air grew colder but didn't stop.
Finally, she heard mumbling, and froze when she recognised the voice as belonging to Cassius Warrington. She took a deep breath as she fished around in her pocket and pulled out a few Muggle poppers that the Weasley twins had modified to create loud bangs a few seconds after they hit the floor.
She threw the handful of poppers in the direction of Warrington's voice and ran back the way she had come. She heard a series of bangs and Warrington's anger echo through the space, and she made an effort to suppress a triumphant laugh.
That was before an arm reached out and pulled her into a broomcloset. The door was slammed behind her and she spun around, coming face to face with Malfoy. She pointed her wand at him.
"Evening Malfoy," she said.
"Martin." Being in such a confined space with each other reminded them both of the end of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament.
"I can't believe I missed dinner for this," she said, shaking her head.
"You made the choice to break the rules." She shrugged.
"I needed to do something to cure my boredom." Malfoy seemed to be struggling with himself.
"Warrington's not a guy you prank," he finally said.
"Why do you care who I prank?" Andrea asked, frowning. Malfoy froze. "Warrington will be gone by the end of the year, so I may as well have some fun."
"He won't forgive just because he left school–"
"I'll ask again, Malfoy, why the hell do–"
He didn't let her finish.
He stepped forward, pushed her back against the wall of the broomcloset, and kissed her.
Seamus and Dean ran towards Andrea as she emerged from the entrance to the dungeons.
"Andie, we heard the bangs," Seamus said.
"It was just the poppers, it's fine," Andrea said. She sounded distant, and her friends questioned her wellbeing, but she wouldn't tell them. She couldn't tell them.
The three of them went back to the common room after creating some more disruption and Andrea ran straight up to the girls dormitories. She dived straight onto her bed and closed the curtains, ignoring Lavender and Pavarti. She cast a Silencing Charm and buried her face in her pillow, going over and over again in her mind what had happened in that broomcloset.
She was pressed up against the wall, his body pressed against hers. She didn't know what was going through his mind, why he thought this was acceptable.
All she knew was that the feeling that had overcome her body when Draco Malfoy had held her when she was in emotional turmoil at the end of last year was very much still present.
She remained frozen for a few seconds before she responded to him, unable to control what she was doing. He kissed her with a passion she didn't know he possessed, and she kissed him back with a matching passion that surprised her. How could she feel this way about Draco Malfoy, of all people?
His hands were on his waist, her arms around his neck, and slowly his lips moved down to her neck and gave her room to breathe. As she took deep breaths, she realised what she was doing, who she was with. She had to force herself to ignore the realisations she'd just had about how she felt about Draco Malfoy.
Andrea adjusted the grip she had on her wand and used everything she had to push Malfoy away. She didn't look at his face; she couldn't look at his face, as she pushed past him and opened the door of the broomcloset. She ran to the entrance of the dungeons, not looking behind her, not caring if any Slytherins were about.
When she met up with Seamus and Dean, she was still trying to make sense of what had just happened.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and Luna were returned to the school in good physical health, but Ginny tearfully revealed to Andrea that Sirius was dead.
Andrea didn't know what to do. There was so much going on but she could turn to no one. Not about Malfoy, anyway.
She saw him everywhere over the last few days of term, caught him looking at her all the time. His grey eyes bore into hers, and her emotions wrestled with each other. She burst into tears a few times, but was unable to tell anyone why. She felt incredibly guilty to be driving herself insane because of this when Harry had just lost the only family he had.
But where he had support and had people everywhere trying to help him, she had no one, nothing.
Draco was silent on the train ride home.
"Draco, what's wrong?" Pansy asked, clinging to his arm.
"Nothing, Pansy." Blaise scoffed at the lie, but covered it up with a cough when Draco glared at him.
"Nothing," he repeated. Blaise broke eye contact, and Pansy left the matter alone, leaving Draco to dwell in his thoughts.
She'd kissed him back.
