Disclaimer - I do not, in any way, shape or form, own any of these characters, settings or themes. They all belong to the wonder that is J.K. Rowling!

Author's note: So, in a sort of apology for not uploading for so long, I decided to upload chapter four now. :)

Enjoy!

"That will be two galleons, miss." The clerk man at Potage's cauldron shop said with a smile.

I jumped out of my reverie and handed him two galleons from a pouch I kept in my bag. He smiled as he handed me the small copper kettle I had just bought.

As I turned to exit the store, I instantly froze. Walking down the street just past the shop I was in were the two people I had no desire to see together. Ever.

I hid behind a shelf full of different size cauldrons and their price stands, causing a few loud crashes as three slammed against the floor. I winced as the sound echoed through the small building. The shopkeeper gave me an icy glare but said nothing as he picked them up while ushering in new customers. I murmured apologies, holding my hands up in defense, and then turned back to the couple.

They had stopped, per Weasley's pulling of Draco's arm, to look at a window display in the shop across from mine. I watched as Draco slid his hand down the length of her arm and finally claimed her hand in his as they talked animatedly about something.

The desire to hit her was still present and from what I could see, Draco was dressed in all black robes. He looked healthy, and happy. His expression made my chest hurt again.

Ginny looked as beautiful as I could remember. Bloody bint. I thought as the shopkeeper urged me to get out of his store if I wasn't going to buy anything else. I complied, and exited, keeping my back to the storefront, watching Weasley point to something in the store excitedly.

I had a few more errands to run, but I couldn't risk them seeing me. As I crept along the length of the wall of Potage's, I kept an eye on their movement until I was saved by way of an alley to my left.

When I said saved, I meant I fell on my arse. In a dirty alley. This caused me to let out a string of surprised curses as my bum hit the ground. Which, in turn, caused the passersby to whip their heads in my direction.

I wouldn't have ended up with my face rivaling tomatoes if the passersby hadn't been the two people I was adamantly avoiding. Draco's expression was pure amusement. Weasley was nice enough to break her hold on him and rush to help me up.

I pushed away her attempts to touch me and got up, with much pain in backside, and glared at the red head. "I'm fine. Bloody hell." I said, dusting myself off and looking anywhere but at my supposed friend's mocking smirk.

It was silent for a moment as Draco took me in, taking care not to grab Weasley's hand again, I noticed. He ended up planting a smirk on his perfect mouth as I finally decided he deserved a nice glare.

"Shut up." I said, pushing past the two of them and making my way, limping slightly, to the next store on my list.

With his long legs, it took Draco all of ten seconds to catch up with me. I was tempted to send a hex his way that would make him the size of a goblin, but that would have been frowned upon in public. I settled for another glare, and heavy breathing as his smirk stayed still.

"Pansy, dear, what the hell are you doing here?" Draco asked, grimacing at my now dirty muggle clothes.

Weasley caught up with us finally, and pushed Draco away, examining me with her feather light fingers and deep brown eyes. "Are you ok, Pansy? From the looks of it, you fell pretty hard."

I purposely ignored the chuckling coming from an insufferable blonde to my right as I shrugged the red head's helping hands off of me.

"Yes, I'm fine." I said, still pushing her insistent hands off. "Stop touching me!" I finally growled.

A hurt look flashed across Weasley's face, but I ignored it, glanced at Draco momentarily, and then began walking to my destination again.

This time, it was Weasley who caught up with me. I didn't stop for her, until she put a warm, small hand in the crook of my arm. "Pansy," She began, I cut her off.

"Please stop saying my name." I said, finally looking at her. I hadn't noticed we were the same height until now. At least I didn't have to look up at her to look into her annoyingly pretty brown eyes.

I have brown eyes. Why can't mine be annoyingly pretty? I thought as Weasley looked at me with a small smile. "Would you prefer Parkinson?"

I'd prefer you not call me anything at all, bint. "Sure." I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Weasley had about the same body type as mine too. Huh.

My agreement made her smile. Merlin, it should be illegal to do that. "Good." She said, smiling again as Draco came to our sides.

I glared at the blonde, not yet able to forgive him for laughing at my expense. "Malfoy." I spat, taking a step back.

He raised a perfect blonde eyebrow and lifted the corners of his mouth into a smirk. "Hey."

My glare all but fell away as he said our normal greeting. But, it wasn't just us now. Weasley was looking at him expectantly. I still wanted to hit her.

Malfoy followed my look and ended up with his eyes trained on Weasley's face as she looked at her determinately. "Draco," She began, cutting her eyes to me shortly before looking back into his steely gaze.

Both of Draco's eyebrows went up as he got her meaning.

I stared at the two of them as they communicated, seemingly, without words. The dull ache made it's appearance as I clutched the middle of my chest with my left hand absently.

Draco turned to me finally, not with his trademark smirk, but a smile that was completely forced. "Pansy, I'm…" he paused, seeming to struggle.

Weasley rolled her eyes at his expense and nudged him hard with an elbow to the ribs. He winced; forcing his eyes shut, and then opened them again, relaxing his body. The look he gave me could have made anyone fall in love.

He was beautiful.

"Pansy." He said, looking me in the eyes.

I stared back, melting into his silver gaze. Draco's eyes were the best part about him, in my opinion. They were the only part that actually showed emotion. It was these molten metal eyes that I fell in love with while at Hogwarts.

He wasn't the most tolerable when we were younger, but one look at his eyes, and I'd melt. Like ice under a heat lamp. He knew he had me with his looks. It was inevitable.

He cleared his throat, throwing me out of my loss of coherent thought, and glanced at Ginny briefly. When he returned his eyes to me they were swirling, melted masses of silver. "Pansy, I'm sorry."

Wait…what?

Did Draco Malfoy just…apologize? I shook my head, wondering if I was dreaming one of my vivid dreams again. Dropping my left hand from it's constant clutching, I raised my right hand to check the heat of my forehead, making sure I wasn't in the middle of a fever. They have been known to cause delusions.

After checking all of my vitals, making sure my heart was still beating, I stared at him. Bewildered would have been an understatement.

There was no possible way, in all of merlin's realm that Ginny Weasley of all witches, could make Draco feel enough remorse to actually apologize. No bleeding way.

I must have had quite the expression on my face, because Draco was pushed aside again so that Weasley could start her light touches and brown eyed-examinations. I stopped breathing for a bit.

What was it about the youngest Weasley that had changed Draco so significantly?

He loves her.

This thought was like a bucket of water on the head. I looked up, first at Draco, and then to Weasley. I felt drenched from head to toe, but I was completely dry. This didn't make sense. I must have mused this out loud, because Weasley formed a small 'v' between her barely there ginger eyebrows, as she looked me over.

"Parkinson?" Weasley said quietly. She was concerned. "You're completely dry, dear. Are you ok? Should we take you home?"

Finally, I snapped out of my daze, and shook my head. "No, no. I'm fine." I murmured, looking at Draco. He looked the same.

Except for the laughing he was engaged in currently. "Draco. Stop laughing now." Weasley said through gritted teeth.

And he did. He instantly froze. I had found a new respect for this Weasley. She knew how to control the smarmy git I called my friend. I smirked at his shocked expression. "Pansy, I think you should eat something. Can we take you to lunch?" Weasley said, looking me over with her brown eyes again.

I hated my brown eyes when she looked at me. Mine weren't like hers at all. I might as well have dug them out and thrown them in the rubbish bin. They couldn't begin to compare to hers. At that thought, I found myself shaking my head. "No, I'm fine." I heard myself say.

Weasley looked from me to Draco and back. "Pansy, we're taking you to lunch." Draco said. He wasn't asking like Weasley had.

I frowned at him, and shook my head. Panic was beginning to spread it's sharp fingers down my arms. "I have errands to run. Things to buy." I said, waving my arms around in emphasis.

This didn't stop Weasley from taking my arm in hers and dragging me towards the Leaky Cauldron. I struggled against her, but she was surprisingly strong for her small build. This annoyed me further. I couldn't stop losing in the comparisons with her.

When we entered the pub, Weasley dragged me to an empty table that seated four in a well-lit corner of the small building. She gave Draco a look, and with a smirk my way, he went to order food for us.

An awkward silence passed between us as we both watched Draco walk away. I couldn't bring myself to look at her; afraid she'd be giving me another brown eyed-Weasley look.

I took the time to observe our surroundings. Not many witches or wizards were at the pub, weirdly. It was normally bustling with people, being the entrance to Diagon Alley from muggle London.

I looked for Tom, the friendly owner, but couldn't seem to find him. He always gave me an extra butter beer whenever I came. Tom had always had a liking for me.

The silence at our table was so resolute; I flinched when, finally, Weasley decided to begin a conversation. "I know how this must feel for you." She said.

I turned to her, about to make sure she definitely did not know how I felt, but paused when I saw her expression. Her large brown eyes were even larger than normal. Her creamy skin was slightly pale as she took in my expression.

She looked like an owl. A beautiful owl. On fire. I rolled my eyes at her beauty. It was beginning to annoy me. "I'm not sure what you're on about, Weasley." I said, raising an indignant eyebrow to make my point.

She laughed a small, barely there laugh, putting her head in her hands and sighing. "Merlin," she exclaimed, looking up at me. "You and Draco really grew up together, didn't you?" She asked, amused, and curious.

I scrunched my eyebrows together, confused at her meaning. "We did." I said, attempting to decipher her mood. "I'm not sure what you're getting at."

She smiled again, a sad tinge to her expression. "Draco gets these far off looks sometimes. Like he's thinking deeply." She said, looking down at her hands on the table. "I ask him what's wrong and he raises that one eyes brow, just like you did, and says I'm not sure what you're on about." She said in a surprisingly good, pompous Draco voice.

I nodded absently, trying to picture Draco thinking deeply in her presence. "Well, I'm sure you know him better than I do, Weasley." I said, a pang of jealousy to my tone.

"Ginny."

"What?" I asked, confused.

She smiled, the warmth not reaching her eyes. "Please, call me Ginny. We're not in school anymore, surnames are ridiculous, Pansy." She said, shaking her head. Her red hair fell across her shoulders in a waterfall of fire. I grimaced at her beauty. How could anyone stand to be around her?

"Oh." Was all I could manage out of the hate I had for her. It was nearly blinding.

"Pansy," she began, but then sighed, shook her head and started again. "I know about you and Draco." She said, looking me in the eye.

It was my turn to look like an owl as I stared at the red-haired witch across from me. The shock dissolved into anger as I pictured Draco telling her stories of my undoubtful love for him. They must have thought it so funny.

"Do you?" I growled.

She swallowed, nodding. "Not everything. There are details he leaves out, but I have the basic outline. The rest I can pretty much fill in."

I felt my hands shaking under the table. I gripped the old, hard wood to stop them. "That's none of your bloody business, Ginny." I spat.

She winced from my tone, shrinking to half her size, but then shook it off and sat up straight. "It isn't." She stated, looking me in the eye with challenge.

At that, I shrunk down. Deflated. This girl made no sense. What was her goal? What was her plan? "Then why bring it up?" I asked.

She looked at me a bit longer, thinking, and then shook her head, looking at her hands again. "Because, as much as he tries to deny it, Draco loves you too."

It was the last thing I had imagined her to say. That one sentence played over and over in my head. The reverberation was unstoppable. "No." was all I could manage after a while.

She nodded, her eyes still on her hands. "He misses you, too." She said, shaking her head at something only she could remember. Her chocolate eyes landed on Draco, finally placing our order at the bar. "That night he told you," she paused, narrowing her eyes in thought, or memory, I couldn't tell. "You remember that, I imagine."

I nodded, gripping the table tighter. She nodded also, and returned her eyes to mine. "He didn't speak to me for a week after that." She said quietly.

My eyebrows were at my hairline. "He just stopped contacting me. I had to burst past the house elves in the Malfoy manor to speak to him. And when I found him," she paused, and paled. "I realized then that he needs you, Pansy."

I couldn't take anymore of her brown stare, so I watched as my hand turned purple from the death grip I had on the table. "He blames me, I think." She continued. "For you hating him."

I couldn't take this conversation anymore. The leaky cauldron had become suffocating. "If I had known, even a little bit, that you loved him." This caused me to look at her now. "I wouldn't have said yes to a date. I would have run for the hills." She smiled, a sad smile on her beautiful face.

My head was in my hands then. I couldn't cry in front of her. I wouldn't cry. This was unfair. It was the only way I could describe it.

Ginny Weasley was so un-hateable. She wasn't evil, or conniving. She wasn't plotting against me, either. She knew I loved Draco. And, she was sorry.

My hands were wet, but I didn't make a move to wipe the tears that splashed on the table. Ginny didn't say anything further; just let me cry without commentary. For that, I respected her. We sat that way for a while. My tears dried, but I made no move to lift my head, and she made no attempt to speak to me.

We were finally at an understanding. We both loved Draco Malfoy desperately. We were also both aware of the fact that polygamy in the wizarding world was illegal. We both knew he could only have one.

I knew he only wanted her.

The pain in my chest was astronomical. I wondered idly if Weasley had a charm, or a potion at St. Mungos that could take the pain away.

If she could mend the gaping, festering hole my chest had formed. I knew she didn't, but the thought helped the pain push to the back of my mind.

"Lift your head, I'll cast a face clearing charm on you, laugh like I'm the funniest person you've ever met. Draco's coming." She said, a hushed whisper.

I looked at her, sniffling. She whispered a silent face clearing charm on me. Tears gone, and red puffy eyes a memory, I began to laugh. My laugh was that of a crazed Azkaban prisoner.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, Draco arrived, floating a tray with three bowls of steaming soup, three plates, and a basket of fresh looking bread in front of him. As we both looked up at him, he smiled, placing the tray in front of us. "My two girls." He said with a triumphant smile.

My laugh abruptly choked me as I shared a look with Weasley, who looked as torn as I felt. She slipped a small smile on for Draco and took a bowl. "This looks good, Draco. What is it?"

Draco looked at me as he said "Tom's special potato and herbs cream soup. It's Pansy's favorite."

I couldn't look at the blonde, I only looked at the bowl I had grabbed and began dipping the hot bread in it and stuffing my face. He was right. Tom's potato and herbs cream soup was my favorite meal. I used to come here with Draco nearly every weekend just to get it.

Draco frowned at my lack of a reaction to his meal choice and then looked at Ginny. "What were you guys talking about? Pansy was laughing like Mad-eye Moody." He said with a smirk my way.

I chose to ignore it as Ginny said "girl talk." nonchalantly. I had been completely wrong about this girl. She would have made an incredible Slytherin.

Draco nodded; not wanting to delve into what he probably thought was light talk about attractive quidditch players and shoes. "Is it good, Pansy?"

I stopped my devouring of the bread and looked at Ginny, nodding. Draco seemed confused as his brow furrowed and he looked back and forth between Ginny and I. "Is all well?" He asked cautiously.

Ginny turned on a mega-watt smile as she looked at her boyfriend. "Of course! Pansy and I were just talking about the shoes I'm wearing to…" at that point, Weasley began a long winded tangent about something Draco didn't care about. He listened anyway, feigning interest.

I stopped my assault of the delicious soup in my bowl and calmly put down the bread. I took the moment to access what Ginny had told me.

She had started the conversation by saying that Draco had told her things about he and I. My mind reeled with the possibilities of what she knew. I would have to ask her later.

Did she know about Paris? About his house-warming 'gift' when I moved into my flat in muggle London? Did she know about my congratulations 'gift' when he made it into the auror league for the ministry? Or were those details he had left out?

The dull ache flamed as I remembered the parts of our relationship that Draco would never openly admit to. It was torture to know that Ginny Weasley knew even a little bit about the two of us. Draco and I had spent almost half of our lives together. That had to mean something, right?

I remembered Weasley's expression as she said, "he loves you too". But, that was impossible. Draco had only ever been with me because I was convenient. When he did say, "I love you", it had only been after shagging senselessly. Didn't all men say that? His love was platonic. I was a sister, to him. A sister he shagged on occasion.

The dull ache came to the forefront of my awareness as I thought about how he had said he loved Weasley that night. The night I realized he didn't want me. He wanted her. If he loved Weasley, why would she ever think to say that he loved me 'too'?

I was interrupted from my revere when Draco was laughing at something, looking at my expectantly. I looked to Weasley, who asked, "Right, Pansy?"

I started in confusion, not sure what to say. "Erm, yeah." I said, looking at Ginny, confused.

She smiled. "See? She would be perfect for Harry." Ginny said, looking off dreamily.

Draco's expression was serious when he said, "No. Never." He looked at me, begging me to agree.

Realization crashed on my head I realized Ginny was telling Draco that Potter and I would be a good couple. "Over my dead body." I said flatly, looking at Ginny.

She smiled. "We'll see."

Draco shook his head, running a hand through his hair. "Pansy doesn't like brunettes."

I glared at Draco, knowing what he was hinting at. He gave me a shrug of his shoulders. "Anyway, can we please stop talking about Potter?" He spat. Draco had yet to grow a liking to the boy who lived. I wondered idly what he would say to the news that Potter would be teaching at Hogwarts with me in a few weeks.

"He's going to be the Defense against the dark arts professor." I said quietly.

Draco's eyes flashed angrily at me. "What?" He ran a hand through his hair again as he huffed angrily.

"I saw him at the teashop I go to, and he said he's the new D. A. D. A. professor." I shrugged, attempting nonchalance.

Ginny smiled widely, clapping her hands like a five year old at Honey dukes. "No way!" She nearly shrieked. "This is too good."

I grimaced at her excitement, and glanced at Draco who was looking above my head with an expression of utter anger. His face was turning red. "Quit." He said, lowering his eyes to mine.

My eyebrows were at my hairline again as I realized what he was implying. "Excuse me?" I said venomously. "Like it's your choice on what I do, or who I work with." I said, crossing my arms over my chest immaturely.

Draco huffed. "You are my business! I'm trying to protect you!" he said a little too loudly, causing a few surrounding tables to look out way.

Ginny was laughing her head off, obviously enjoying the anger Draco had for the scarred wizard. "Draco, come on. Pansy is 25 now. I think she is old enough to make her own decisions."

Draco didn't take his eyes off of me when he said, "Ginny, shut it. This is not funny. Potter and Pansy are not going to work together."

I scoffed, shocked by his controlling nature suddenly. "No, Draco, you shut it." I spat at the blonde. "I am not quitting this job just because Harry bleeding Potter will be working with me. I'm not a first year, and you are not my father, so please, do us both a favor, and you shut it." I was breathing heavily by the time I was able to look at him.

He flinched when I said 'father', but said nothing further, simply regarded me with narrowed eyes. Weasley at his side was chewing on her bread with pursed lips in an attempt to keep her laughter in.

After that, our conversation dwindled down as we finished eating. When all three of us were done, I stood to leave, but Draco wrapped his large hand around my wrist. "Don't even think about it. We'll escort you to the other shops. We need to talk."

Ginny sighed and put a hand on his shoulder to reprimand him, but was silenced when Draco gave her an icy glare. "Come on."

Both Weasley and I obliged the blonde through his anger and followed him back into Diagon Alley.

After achieving all of my errands, Draco dragged us back to the Leaky Cauldron to floo to our respective homes. First, he let Ginny go, with a kiss on her forehead and a quiet conversation I tuned out. The red-haired witch gave a wave my way, and she was gone.

Draco turned on me, then, with a dangerous look in his eye. I took a step back, afraid of the look he was giving me. He stayed by the fireplace as he looked at me, then smirked and dropped his eyes to the floor beneath him.

"You and Ginny spoke." He stated. It wasn't a question.

I nodded, not able to speak. He looked at me again, his eyes less fiery this time. "I know I have no right to tell you what to do, but, Pansy, you have to understand how I feel about you working with Potter."

I nodded again, shocked by the sudden upbringing of the subject of Potter. "That's not going to stop me, you know."

He laughed, and nodded, looking at the floor again. "Yeah, I know."

Neither of us said anything for a few minutes, both of us not sure what to say. I broke the silence with a thought that had been running through my mind all day. "I like her, Draco." I said. "I don't love her, but I like her."

He tilted his head my way with a small smile on his perfect face. "Really?"

I nodded, crossing my arms. "I wish I could hate her, merlin, it'd be easier if I hated her." I admitted, shaking my head. "But, I just…can't."

His face broke out into a huge grin as he considered what I had said. He looked so happy that I liked her. His shoulders, and entire posture relaxed, as if it had been my opinion of her that had made him tense.

"I knew you would." He said, his smile turning into a smug grin.

I rolled my eyes at his incurable smugness. "Yes, well, don't expect us to be chummy girlfriends, or anything. I'm not going to go shopping with her anytime soon." He laughed at that and nodded. "I'm just saying she's…tolerable." I finished avoiding his smug look by glancing off to the side, searching for Tom again.

"I have to go, Pansy." Draco said, running a hand through his hair. He couldn't contain his happiness now. "Until later?"

I nodded and accepted his kiss on the cheek. "Later." I promised back, and waved as he left in a bit of green flames.

I breathed in deeply as I entered from the portal to platform nine and three quarters. A strange sense of dejá vu wiped over me as I took in the large scarlet Hogwarts express. It hadn't changed in the slightest.

I tried not to remember the last time I had said goodbye to my father on this platform as I made my way to the entrance of the train that I knew was the professor's compartment. While trying to dodge children as I made my way to the doors, I slid them open, and was practically pushed in by the parent traffic.

I scowled, dusted myself off and looked around the professor's compartment. It was larger than the regular student compartments I sat in the seven years I used this train. The soft, velvet cushions that sat on each side of the student compartments, ran along all four sides of the large room, stopping momentarily for the sliding doors that led to the rest of the train.

The professor compartment slightly reminded me of the meeting room the head boy and head girl had used to rally the prefects in for a beginning of the term meeting fifth year, but it was about double the size. It was rather impressive, and the benches were even more cozier than I had remembered from my student years.

I sat, being the first professor to arrive, and set Owl down beside me. I took the time to remember the going away party Draco, Ginny, and Blaise had thrown for me only two nights ago. There had been lots and lots of fire whiskey.

Blaise would be returning to Hogwarts as the Care of magical creatures professor. A job he had had since he was 20. Unknown to both Draco and I, Blaise had been Hagrid's best student. Before the great oaf died, he had told McGonagall that our friend Blaise Zabini was the only qualified person to replace him in his absence. So, at the young age of 20, Blaise became one of the youngest professors to ever work at Hogwarts. I had a sneaking suspicion that my professor-ship had been somewhat influenced by Professor Zabini himself. He was always telling me how the old headmaster had had a soft spot for him, but then again, most women had many spots for the handsome, dark skinned Italian man. He was beautiful.

I sighed at the beauty of my friends, ever present in my mind, and took out the novels Darley had given me before I left. My eyes landed on The catcher in the rye, Ethan Frome, and Gone with the wind. I smiled as I ran a finger across the spines of each of the old books that were in my bag.

As I opened Gone with the wind, the compartment door opened, and Blaise waltzed in. He took one look at my novels and smirked. "Pansy." He said in greeting.

I smirked in response, remembering how Blaise was the one that opted to have late night study sessions with me during our school years in the library. He was the one that initially got me onto reading the 'classic' muggle novels. He was also the one who gave me my first copy of Wuthering heights. "Blaise." I said, watching as he took a seat across from me, setting his midnight black owl's cage down beside him.

We spoke of little, due to the fact that nothing exciting had happened in the two days we hadn't seen each other. He commented on the books in my lap shortly, but we both knew the other only had the intention of reading on this train ride.

Blaise was a man of few words, which is why it had surprised me so much when he had accepted the professor position at Hogwarts. I had always known he was an excellent student, his scores neared those of Granger, but he had never been one to come off as willing to teach. If anything, he wanted to be left alone to his books. Blaise hated most people.

We sat quietly for a while; apparently we had arrived early. A few more professors came in, all of us seemed to be the younger professors at Hogwarts, however, Blaise and I were still the youngest of them all.

I heard the compartment door open after the compartment was becoming quite full, and looked up. Potter swaggered in, a sloppy grin on his face when his eyes landed on me and the empty seat next to me. I hurriedly put my bag in it's place, forcing him to sit next to Blaise, who, after giving me his best Professor Zabini look, scooted over closer to the window to give Potter room to sit.

Once seated, Potter looked at me, and then began a conversation with Blaise. I didn't look up from my novel as the train began to screech into motion. I had the ability to tune people out while I read, Draco liked to call it selective hearing, but I liked to think of it as my in depth focus on the words I was reading. I didn't notice I was tuning anyone out until a piece of balled up paper was tossed onto the page I was reading.

I snapped my head up to glare at my assailant, but no one was looking at me. I looked at Blaise; he was looking out the window, trying to hide a smile. Next to him, Potter was pretending to sleep on top of a burly man's shoulder. "Potter." I snapped quietly.

Nearly the entire room of professors turned their heads to look at me. Apparently the train ride wasn't normally so exciting. Potter pretended to wake up slowly, and then threw a crooked grin my way. "Pansy." He drawled, causing Blaise to finally burst out with a laugh.

I threw the paper ball at his head, but underestimated his seeker reflexes as he caught it before it hit his forehead. "Play nice." He said, tsking at me as if I was a child.

I held back the urge to stick my tongue out at him, and looked back down to my novel. From my peripheral, I could see Blaise shake Potter's hand. "This year is going to be fun, mate." My friend said to the wizard sitting next to him with a chuckle.

I groaned and drew my knees up to shield myself from any on-coming paper balls. The rest of the train ride was silent, save for the occasional chuckles shared between Blaise and Potter.

This is going to be a long term.

Author's note(2.0): Thank you SO much DesiredRomance you are so sweet! And, maybe. I haven't decided yet...what do you think? -Much love!

Please read and review! It gives me confidence! 3