Hide Away

'Where in bloody days did she go off to?' Malfoy thought frustrated as he stalked through the corridors of the dungeons. It had been two days since he had last seen Autwin that night in the classroom. He had looked around the school in the usual spots where he knew that she took refuge but, alas, no such luck on his part. Eversion was no doubt responsible for Autwin's reason for going into hiding.

After coming back to the Slytherin dorms that night from his undercover mission Blaise had interrogated him about everything trying to get every piece of detail he could out of him. Malfoy himself had been anxious to see what else he could find out about Autwin, which made his task extremely difficult when he couldn't find said girl.

Walking further down into the depths of the school there wasn't a soul in sight in the dimly torch-lit halls. In the maze of corridors nearing a cluster of classrooms Malfoy continued on his route before hearing a faint humming. In the dead silence the sound was just barely audible. Curiosity getting the better of him Malfoy backtracked tracing the source to a closed door. Testing the latch he found it to be locked, but it was nothing a little magic couldn't fix.

Pulling out his wand Malfoy simply pointed it to the lock, "Alohomora." With the success of his simple spell Malfoy slowly opened the door and peered into the room.

'Well, I'll be,' he thought. Sitting in the dreary potions classroom was Krista Autwin. It seemed that he had just discovered her new hiding place. Autwin had stationed herself at one of the rectangular lab tables at the far end of the room near the stone basins that lined the wall. Scattered before her on the table were small tubs of paint, a dozen brushes and paper. Malfoy made his way carefully over to her. With her back turned to him he didn't have to worry about staying out of her line of vision. With his precise movements he made his way around Autwin before seating himself on the empty stool on her right.

When Malfoy had first come into the room he had thought Autwin was completely oblivious to her surroundings until he noticed that she appeared to have some sort of muggle contraption plugged into her ears. Still she continued to hum and bob her head along to whatever it was she was listening to. Autwin for certain was in her own little world at the moment.

Malfoy sat there for who knows how long watching her, but it was an interesting process. He sat stone still and watched silently as she took her brush in hand, mixed it in the palette before applying it to her piece before dipping it in her cup of water and repeating the process again and again. Before his eyes he saw her work take the form of a group of blue mischievous pixies, exactly like the ones from their second year in Defense Against the Dark Arts, surrounded by a shrub of greenery. Patiently, Malfoy continued to observe, as he was curious as to how long it would take the Ravenclaw to notice his presence.

Finally, after a time Autwin put down her brush, picking up the cup of now murky grey water and turned away from him before dancing on her way to the sink. This was getting priceless. Dumping the discoloured water down the drain Autwin continued her little shimmy dance now starting to openly sing out loud.

Turning around with a fresh cup in hand Krista looked back to the table and saw that she was no longer alone in the room. The surprise of it caused her to lose her grip and the ceramic cup fell to the floor shattering into a hundred pieces, the water now a puddle on the ground.

"Bloody hell," she groaned looking down at the mess.

"Hello to you too, Autwin," he smirked though somewhat sad to see the show come to an end.

Autwin focused her attention on him, "Malfoy, how did you get in here?" she asked tiredly rubbing her temples before demanding, "And how long have you been sitting there?"

"The door was locked so I unlocked it. And I have probably been sitting here for probably a good half hour. Thanks for the show, by the way."

She blushed before she rolled her eyes at his comment, "Glad to be of amusement to you. You know most people would leave a locked door alone." Lowering herself to the floor she kneeled as she began to collect the pieces of pottery that littered the ground, careful not to cut herself on any sharp edges.

Without her notice Malfoy rolled his own eyes seeing her gather the fragments when she easily had magic at her disposal. "Yes, well I'm not most people now, am I?"

"Of course, what was I thinking?" she mumbled sarcastically.

Deciding to help the girl out Malfoy pulled out his wand, "Reparo."

The two watched the cup instantly piece itself back together until it was whole once more.

"Thanks," she said clear enough for him to hear as she picked up the piece and returned to the table.

Malfoy propped his elbow on the table before resting his head in his hand, "So what brings down to this part of the castle, Autwin?" he asked already certain that he knew the answer to his question. "I would have assumed that the dungeons wouldn't exactly be your cup of tea."

"The dungeons are empty and quiet," she sighed running a hand through her dark locks, "Something that I have desperately been lacking lately."

"Still, I wouldn't have expected a girl to be hiding herself away here of all places."

"Well, I'm not like most girls now, am I?"

'No, you're not' he thought. Yes, Malfoy was very well aware of how different Autwin was from the rest of the female population at Hogwarts.

"But you're hiding," he stated.

"I'm just looking for some solitude," she insisted.

"You sure?" he teased, "You're not trying to stay out of sight from a certain Snugglepuff?"

"Now, why would you care about that, Malfoy?"

"Just simply curious."

"Then no, of course not. Me being here in the dungeons has nothing to do with the fact that a certain Snugglepuff wouldn't have the sense to come looking for me down here," she gave a mischievous smile. Krista knew full well of her ex's opinion on the dungeons. He dreaded them; he absolutely could not stand them. She figured it had something to do with too many bad memories involving a certain Potions Master, Professor Snape. Her ex might be a complete coward, but it worked out in her favour. The idea had just hit her one morning when she was mulling over where she could hid herself for the next few weeks because of Mr. Clingy. The dungeons were really the perfect spot as no one ever came down here unless needed and of course the Slytherins, but most of them were gone for the holidays leaving only a few to remain.

Yep, Malfoy's suspicions were right on the mark, "I figured as much."

Krista studied the blonde Slytherin for a moment noting his posture, his tone, everything. He had only moments ago just witnessed a very embarrassing performance on her behalf, yet he hadn't pestered her to no end about it like she had thought he would have done. She had noticed a subtle change in his behavior this semester, but she had convinced herself that she was imagining it. As weird as it may have seemed Krista went along with it, "So what reason do you have to intrude in on my alone time?"

"Technically, this is Slytherin territory," he so helpfully informed her, "So I really don't need to give a reason as to why I'm here. But since you asked so nicely, I'm bored. I must have been out of my mind to stay here for the holidays." Of course he knew the real reason for him staying at Hogwarts. No way Malfoy was going to tell her about his intentions.

"Then why did you choose to stay here?"

"My parents decided to go to Romania. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Don't you have any other relatives you could have stayed with?"

"None that I would be sane enough to."

Autwin seemed to get a kick out of that, "Sounds like my family."

"Is that why you're not at home?" he inquired.

She shrugged, "My dad was called away for business in Germany and my mother went with him. Normally, I would have stayed with my grandfather, but he is also away for business purposes. I lied to say that I needed to stay here so I wouldn't have to deal with my unbearable relatives." Krista winced at the very thought of it. Her relatives could be a bit overwhelming most of the time.

Malfoy let a small chuckle escape seeing her sour expression, "That bad?"

"You don't know the half of it," she smiled as her eyes drifted to the item that sat beside Malfoy on the table. "Is that your book?" she asked taking the note of the title, "Tale of a Feather?"

"Yes, something that I just picked up at the library to deal with my boredom." In truth after reading along with Autwin that evening in the classroom he found himself wanting to actually read the book. He had signed out the book earlier this morning before coming down to the dungeons.

"That's weird," she began, "I'm in the middle of reading the same book. It's a good read."

"So I've heard. And so far it has nothing to do with feathers."

Funny, she had made the same comment on the book not too long ago. 'Weird coincidence,' she thought in fact this whole conversation had been weird. Weird coming from Draco Malfoy anyway. Looking at her wristwatch Krista was reminded that there was a place she was needed to be at, "I have to go."

No, not when they had just having a decent conversation between each other, "And just when I was starting to have fun," he said in a playful tone. He didn't want her to go not when he was just making some progress. Did she want to leave because of him? Was he making her uncomfortable? A million self-doubts ran through his head hoping that none of them were true.

"I told some first years that I would help them with some homework," she said as she collected her supplies into a wooden case. Now Malfoy might have been imagining things, but he thought that he had hear a hint of regret in her voice.

"Let them figure it out," he said with a touch of irritation that he hoped she didn't pick up on. "Merlin knows we had to. You remember what it was like as a first year."

Oh, how Krista remembered those days. She remembered the pressure and taxing homework that came with first learning about the wizarding world. "Exactly, and besides they made me promise," snapping the case shut and locking the buckles on the side.

The words came out of his mouth before he could stop them, "Will you be here tomorrow?" Malfoy instantly regretted his words as he saw Autwin freeze her movements, her hand on the handle of the case and clearly surprised at his question.

"Maybe," she replied offering him a small smile that warmed his heart. "See you around, Malfoy," she waved as she headed for the door.

Just as she opened the latch he couldn't help but call out, "Maybe you can give me some dancing lessons." His comment earned him a blush of embarrassment as he saw Autwin turn back to face him.

And just when he thought he let his big mouth ruin his chances again she replied, "Well, then don't miss the afternoon show tomorrow." With that said Autwin slipped out the door leaving behind a stunned Malfoy.

Malfoy felt a wave of relief wash over him after hearing Autwin's playful response. Good to know that she could take his small unintentional jabs with good humor. Perhaps it was time to make another appearance as the ferret.

It was after dinner that Malfoy decided to turn into a ferret once more after overhearing Autwin saying that she was going to be in her room for the rest of the evening. He and Blaise excused themselves from dinner early so they could run up ahead of Autwin before his friend turned him into a ferret. Now he laid in wait for the Ravenclaw to come upstairs. Malfoy didn't have to wait very long before he saw the brunette come into view from down the corridor. Just before she approached the portrait hole Malfoy made himself known.

Krista had just come up the Grand staircase ready to retire for the evening. Today had been an odd, but surprisingly good day. Her study session with the group of first years had gone well and she had once again spent an entire day without having a run-in with her ex, but that wasn't the surprising part. The surprising event of the day and, not to mention the most embarrassing part of the day, was Malfoy discovering her little hideaway. The strangest thing was that he was able to hold a simple conversation with her with very little teasing on his part. And he asked if she was going to be there tomorrow. Did that mean that he was going to make another appearance? If so, then what reason did he have to spending any time around her? What was he up to? These and many other mind-boggling questions raced through Krista's mind before she shook them out of her head. No sense getting her head into a tizzy now.

Now at the end of the corridor Krista was just about to walk up to the portrait hole when a small, sleek, furry creature blocked her path. It was the same silver fur ferret that she had seen a few days ago.

"Well, hello again," she greeted after seeing no one else occupying the corridor, "Taking another stroll again, are we?" she joked before seeing it run up to her House portrait. Perhaps the furry critter belonged to someone in her house.

"You want to come in? Alright, then." Answering the riddle presented to her correctly Krista continued on through to the empty common room and then proceeded up the spiral staircase to her room. She looked behind her to see that the ferret had followed her before it scurried into the room ahead of her.

'Curious little thing,' she thought before closing the door behind her.

Inside Malfoy was wandering all around the circular room seeing how bright and open it was compared to his own room down in Slytherin. Six single beds encircled the room, with deep blue drapes hanging from the canopies, and the sheets carried the same blue but embroidered with dozens of starts and crescent moons in silver threading. The ceiling above mirrored a clear night sky with numerous constellations outlined in the heavens. Overall, it wasn't a bad room, it was just the thought of having to share it with five other students that Malfoy didn't like. He preferred his own room with his own solitary.

"See, this is what I like about the holidays, all my roommates go home and I get the place to myself."

Hearing Autwin's voice Malfoy turned his attention away from the room to see the girl's attention on him; smiling at him. She was sitting at a small, bedside desk next to what he presumed was her own bed.

'Yes, the trunk with the word 'Autwin' at the foot of the bed is kind of a dead giveaway,' Malfoy thought sarcastically to himself as he made his way over to her. With his claws he was able to easily climb up onto the bedspread. In front of the desk was a window with a clear view of the mountains in the distance beyond the Black Lake. He saw her quietly flipping through her mail before tearing a letter open and reading its contents. From the envelope that Autwin had discarded onto the table he saw that the return address was from her friend Becca Odeir. Malfoy wasn't able to see what contents the letter held, but whatever Odeir had written was able to get a humorous smile out of Autwin.

'How am I suppose to get her to talk about me?' he thought, frustrated. The whole point of this was to find out about her opinions and thoughts on himself.

Little did Malfoy know that Becca had written to Krista telling her about the horrid time she was having with her family clan. So far it had led her to hide up in the attic on occasion and to playing cards with her aunt's dog. For the dog was the only pleasant company that she was able to get out of the whole family. Reading this Krista couldn't help but smile despite what her friend was going through. After writing about her tales of woe Becca had then asked about her own time at Hogwarts and how she was coping without the company of her dearest and best of friends.

'Oh, brother,' Krista thought as she rolled her eyes with good humor before taking out a few sheets of parchment from her desk drawer along with a quill and ink. She knew that if she didn't write this now she would most likely forget to write later and then would certainly receive hell from Becca on it. Before she had even written the first word down a fuzzy head blocked her view. "Hey!" she laughed nudging the ferret aside so that she could actually see. The little guy was pretty stealthy to have leapt from the bed to the desk without her noticing.

"So it seems that you're nosy, too. Well, if you really must know, I am writing to my friend Becca. She says she is having a horrible time with her family clan in Ireland and asks how I'm doing on my own. Though, I'm not really on my own since I have Warren."

'Warren? Who's Warren? Where have I heard that name before?' hearing the name had Malfoy scrambling around in his mind trying to figure out where he had heard it before. It was going to drive him insane trying to figure out who this Warren boy was. He dared not think that this Warren was a new boyfriend of hers that he hadn't heard about.

"Let's see…" Autwin began gathering her thoughts on what to write in her letter. Soon Malfoy started to see her quill move swiftly across the page.

'Becca, things have been alright. It is sometimes hard to keep myself occupied here at school without you, Luna, and the rest of our friends since you are all at home. And I would be lying if I said I wasn't lonely, but it's just a little so no need to worry yourself over it. Though it would be nice to have someone to hang around with.

Mr. Creeper, aka Daniel, as I told you before is also here at school so you already know how thrilled I am at that. He is being a really exceptional pain at the moment to the point where I have had to hide down in the dungeons to escape him. Can't find a moments peace with him around.

'Come on, what about me?' Malfoy thought has he read along keeping up with Autwin's fast pace. Surely Autwin would include something about him.

I might as well tell you this since you are bound to find out in your own magical way so here it is. The most peculiar thing that happened to me this week just happened to me today. I was in one of the potion classes all by myself with my mp3 turned on high, singing I might add, when I finally came to notice that none other than Draco Malfoy was sitting not four feet away from me. He had apparently been sitting there for half an hour without my knowing it and caught a good bit of my little self-act, the singing, the dancing, the whole bit. You're laughing right now, aren't you? Yes, go right ahead and laugh at my humiliation since you probably need something to laugh at with you nearly losing your mind being with your relatives. Surprisingly, we had a decent conversation and when I had to leave to tutor Warren he asked if I would be back there again tomorrow. Truthfully, I not sure what to make of the whole confrontation. He wasn't picking on me like he had earlier last year and he seemed to be nice towards me. Like I said, I don't know what to make of it all since, as you know, Malfoy is an unpredictable person. As I'm writing this to you I can already hear what you're going to say about this but I don't want to get my hopes up.

'Hopes? What hopes? Does she have hopes about me?' Malfoy thought looking to and from Autwin and the letter.

However, I think I will go back to the potions room tomorrow with the small wish that he will be there, too. Anyway, hang in there with your family and, hopefully, you'll be back here at school before you know it. And I'll start mentally preparing myself for the wave of questions you will undoubtedly have for me in your next letter.

Can't wait to hear from you,

Krista

Placing her quill down Malfoy heard Autwin let out a sigh, "It sucks how difficult it is to fully explain some things to others through a letter. Too much to write down." With that comment she began the process of folding then sealing the letter in its envelope and scribbling the address on it.

'Come on, talk more. I need to know more.' The small mention of him in the letter wasn't enough to satisfy him; he had to know more. Malfoy chanced to get close to her to get her attention and somehow possibly coax her into talking to him. To his surprise it didn't take much effort.

Seeing the ferret's attention still focused on her, out of habit she asked, "What? You really want to hear my boy trouble?"

'Yes!' Malfoy yelled in his head.

"Alright, this will be interesting, that's for sure," Autwin murmured to herself, but that's what she liked about animals-they always seemed to listen to you no matter what you had to say. "So there is this guy in my year and before he use to pick on me constantly, as for why I'm not entirely sure, but lately he's been… nice. Though he will tease me every now and then, but that's just the way he is. I don't know, maybe it's just all in my head. It's hard to find the right words to describe him… I guess you can say he is a little rough around the edges. Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, I have no idea but it does make him interesting... to put a word to it. He's a piece of work, that's for sure. I don't really know exactly how I feel towards him, but I like him, which makes no sense, even to myself."

Malfoy blinked blankly a few times, 'What?' he asked confused at the wave of words that just flooded out of the girl. What she just said had made very little to no sense at all to him. He knew girls could be confusing, but this was on a whole other level. She liked him, but didn't know how she felt about him? What the hell did that mean?

Autwin sighed heavily, "I guess what I'm trying to say is that with everything that happened with my ex-boyfriend, the lying, the cheating, and with the stupid thought that I might come back lodged into his skull he won't leave me alone. He was my first boyfriend and what he did left some… insecurities about myself."

'He was an idiot who didn't deserve you,' he argued.

"I felt like an idiot," she admitted quietly, "but it felt great to punch the jackass right in the jaw," letting a small smile show through at the end. "I just don't know if I can allow myself to fall for someone else after what happened." Silence overcame her and Autwin didn't say another word on the subject before quietly getting up and leaving the room, but Malfoy wasn't paying attention. He was in his own little world taking in all that Autwin had just told him. No wonder her thoughts were so messed up. Because of what that buffoon Eversion did, it was clear to see that Autwin was scared at the thought of it happening again. He was just going to have to show her just how different he and the Snugglepuff were. In reality there was no comparison really. He was a Malfoy, after all.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by the peck on his head. Looking up he saw that Autwin had returned dressed for bed in blue and green flannel pants and a black long sleeve shirt. She had let her hair down for the night, something that neither he nor anyone else at school had seen Autwin do. She had always kept it done up in a ponytail or the odd time a lose braid that would hang over her shoulder. Tonight her long brown hair cascaded in waves down just past her shoulders. If it weren't for her familiar doe brown eyes he could have almost sworn that she was a completely different girl. To put it simply, she looked cute and he wondered why it was she never let her hair down more often. She smiled down at him as she began to stroke his sleek, silver fur. Her ministrations sent a quiver down his spine.

"Thanks for listening," she whispered and all too soon for Malfoy she stopped her petting before drawing herself under the covers for the night.

"So tell me again, what did she say exactly?" Zabini asked as he lounged on one of the black leather sofas in the Slytherin common room. Malfoy had returned to the dungeons shortly after Autwin had fallen asleep. Now he paced in front of the roaring fire telling his friend what he had learned. This was more of a fragile situation than he had originally thought and Zabini was the only other person he could go to for advice.

"She said she doesn't know her exact feelings towards me, but she does like me."

"Somewhat confusing, but she admitted to liking you, which is good."

"She said that she was a little lonely."

"Again, works in your favour."

Malfoy stopped his pacing, staring into the flames, "She said she had insecurities about herself."

"Well, Eversion did cheat on her with Lavender Brown of all people. That would leave any girl second-guessing herself."

"But, she shouldn't."

"And you need to show her that," Zabini insisted.

"She is just so…" Malfoy paused trying to think of the perfect word to describe Autwin. She was a lot of things that was for certain she was warm, sweet, creative, clever, amazing, fantastic, but it seemed impossible to find one word that could sum her up.

"Yes, yes we all know how amazing you think she is," Zabini broke him off before his friend went into too much detail for his liking. "But," he began as he got off the couch to join Malfoy by the fire, "you made some real progress here tonight. With all her girlfriends gone you, the ferret, have become the confidante," he explained. "So, whatever advancements you make on her, she will be unknowingly confiding in you about it, which gives you the inside edge that you have been wanting."

"Which will give me feedback on how to make my next move."

"Exactly. You will practically know everything that's going through her head. You're lucky that she has this little quirk with talking to critters. So you know what you're going to do next?"

"No, not yet. But I am getting a better idea of what I need to do."