Author's Note: Thank you so much to those who reviewed! I really hope you enjoy this chapter, cause it's super important! It's probably one of the most important chapters in the whole story. Anyway, please review, especially on this particular update. Thanks! :)
The next few days, Draco tried his best to keep Raynea out of his thoughts. These attempts were fruitless, however, for his predicament plagued him relentlessly. During meals, he would glance at the Gryffindor table so often that his friends would ask him what he was staring at. In classes, he could barely pay attention and found himself looking in Raynea's direction in any class that the two of them shared. Whenever Raynea was seen with Shane, Draco would discover the horrible emotion he was experiencing was jealousy—something he never thought he'd have to ever endure. The situation was driving him mad and he was ready to crack. Draco wished his feelings would just disappear; that one morning he would wake up and Raynea would be completely off his radar, but no such luck.
Another week passed, and things were at an all time high. Draco would avoid Raynea in any way he could. However, the temptation to engage her in conversation was strong. He had never been so miserable and he thought it odd that as his misery grew, so did his attraction.
On the other hand, things for Raynea were looking up. She had gotten used to her new routine and found that much of the pain she felt was now on the back burner. Though it was limited, the time she spent with Ron was always enjoyable and the increase in association with her Ravenclaw friends also brought her happiness. Raynea had grown quite close to Shane and was glad to have him around if she ever felt down. Despite all the good, she would not deny how much she missed Harry and Hermione. Luckily, she had not been forced to witness any other passionate moments between Harry and Ginny, and for that she was grateful. Raynea was quite content with the way things had been going lately. Unfortunately, this calm would be short lived.
The first snow of the season came especially early that year. It was mid-November and already the school was covered in a thick blanket of snow. Raynea spent her Saturday afternoon hanging around outside with her Ravenclaw companions. They talked a little, walked around campus and had a good natured snow ball fight. It was the perfect way to enjoy the first snow of the season with good friends. As the afternoon progressed, the others chose to go inside, however, Raynea and Shane decided to hang back and take another stroll around the grounds before going inside for the day.
"So, you like the old gang?" Shane asked, glancing back up at his friends for a moment before fixing his deep brown eyes on Raynea's face.
"Yeah, they're all really nice," Raynea responded with a bright smile as she shoved her hands into the pockets of her black coat.
"Good," he said with a small smile as he inhaled the cold air sharply.
After a few moments of silence, he continued on.
"I'm glad we're doing this. We don't really spend much one on one time together anymore."
"I suppose we haven't," Raynea agreed as she shook some of the flakes of snow out of her long, brown curls.
"We barely get to talk like this at all," he added, shifting his eyes to her and offering her a closed lip grin, "I've missed you."
"You don't have to miss me, Shane," Raynea chuckled, "I'm right here."
"Yeah, I guess," Shane said with a shrug as he fixed his eyes on the path in front of them.
The pair continued their stroll in a comfortable silence and decided to head towards the castle once the wind started picking up.
"So, there's a trip to Hogsmeade next week," Shane informed her.
"Oh yeah, I've heard about that," Raynea said as she folded her lips.
"And I was thinking, maybe we could go together…" he suggested, stopping suddenly.
Raynea followed suit and then turned to face him.
"Sure, is everybody okay with me tagging along?" she questioned. She knew that the group was comfortable with her, but she didn't want to overstep her boundaries.
"Well actually, I was just thinking you and I could go," Shane clarified, seeming to get tense all of a sudden.
"Oh…well, uh—"
Shane cut her off suddenly and took a step closer to her.
"Look, Raynea, I know this is a little weird and kinda out of the blue but I like you and I want to spend some time with you," he explained as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets.
Raynea was quite taken aback by this proclamation. She never thought that there was anything romantic about her friendship with Shane, but apparently she was horrible at reading signs.
"Why do I suck so much at this?" she thought, "I mean, it took me two years to figure out Harry liked me and now I've been totally blind to Shane? What the hell?"
Raynea took a deep breath and thoroughly examined the situation. She and Shane did get along quite well and he wasn't bad to look at either. He was a medium height, had a nice build, big, brown eyes, tan skin and curly, dark hair. The perfect Italian boy. She decided even though she didn't have any definite feelings for Shane, perhaps it was worth a shot.
"Sure, let's go to Hogsmeade together," she replied finally with a smile.
"Great," Shane said with a large grin, "It's a date."
He brought her close and gave her a quick hug before taking off on his own up the hill. Raynea exhaled heavily once he was out of ear shot and turned her head up towards the sky. Snow was still falling pretty heavily at this point, and she figured she should get inside. Howe
However, instead she decided to linger for just a bit longer.
***
Draco had spent the majority of his Saturday in the Slytherin common room with Pansy. This of course was an effort to keep his distance from Raynea, which he had succeeded in doing thus far. He just hoped his decision to take a quick walk outside wouldn't totally destroy his progress.
Once he reached the grounds, he buttoned up his coat as a particularly nasty wind chill passed against him. He was part way down a hill, when suddenly two figures came into view. He recognized them almost immediately.
"Where's the bloody luck?" he cursed aloud as he stopped dead in his tracks.
Draco continued to watch the scene before him, but was unable to hear any of the dialogue.
"Why is she always with this prick?" he thought bitterly as he watched their encounter.
Soon, the conversation seemed to be coming to a close, but not before the Ravenclaw gave Raynea a farewell hug. Draco's stomach contracted uncomfortably and his face fell as he stared ahead. However, his depression turned to rage rather quickly as Shane headed up the hill. Draco quickly ducked behind a tree, hoping he went unnoticed. After he knew the boy was gone, Draco headed down the hill and immediately approached Raynea, ignoring his resolution completely.
***
Raynea's solitude was brief, for soon afterward she saw a tall, pale figure approaching her. She sighed heavily and rolled her eyes. She recognized him in an instant.
"A bit cold to be outside, isn't it?" Malfoy questioned with a rude tone as he came closer to her.
"It got a bit colder once you showed up," Raynea shot back with an eyebrow raise.
"Not in a very good mood today, are we?" he asked, wincing for dramatic effect.
"I'm just fine, thank you," she told him, as she turned to walk away.
Draco stopped her before she could even begin walking.
"Who's the bloke?" he said suddenly as he took a step forward.
Raynea twisted back around to face him and shrugged.
"Just a friend."
"Didn't look that way to me," Malfoy replied, his voice sounding extremely agitated.
"What, were you watching us or something?"
"Please, I have better things to do then watch you and that git," he scoffed, "I'm just saying you two looked a little more than friendly, that's all."
"Why do you even care?" Raynea challenged.
"I don't care," he jeered, "You must be joking."
"Whatever," Raynea sighed in annoyance, hoping then she would be free to leave.
"…but are you?"
"Are we what?" Raynea asked harshly.
"More than friendly?"
"No…what the—why does it even matter?" she demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
"It doesn't matter," Draco said tensely, "I was just asking."
"Yeah, well why are you 'just asking'? Why do you care?" Raynea inquired, her voice growing louder.
"Care? Are you mad?" Malfoy mocked with cold laughter.
"Then, why do you keep asking me about it?"
Draco seemed to get extremely flustered at this point and had trouble trying to put his thoughts together. He couldn't even reply with a good comeback. He narrowed his eyes.
"Hmmm…for once I've silenced you, Malfoy," Raynea said with a grin, seeming satisfied with herself. She made another attempt to leave, but he called after her.
"Why do you spend so much time with that ponce if you don't even like him?"
Raynea turned back to face him and took a few steps forward.
"I like him just fine," she said with a puzzled look.
"So, you like him?" Malfoy asked angrily.
"He's my friend," Raynea told him, her tone growing increasingly aggravated, "Why are we even still talking about this?"
"Well, do you like him?" he pressed further, disregarding her question completely.
"As a friend…why are you even asking me this?" she demanded.
"Raynea, will you just shut the—"
"What did you just call me?" Raynea asked, seeming utterly repulsed by the fact that Malfoy had said her first name.
"Bloody hell," he said with an eye roll, "Are you seriously getting on me for calling you by your name?"
"Well, yeah, considering you've called me nothing but 'McCoy' and 'bitch' for the last five years," Raynea said pointedly.
"Fine, I won't call you Raynea…bitch."
Raynea stared at him with narrowed eyes for a moment before taking a step closer.
"What's going on with you?" she questioned.
"What'd you mean?" He appeared to get really uncomfortable at this time.
"Well, you keep asking me about my love life, you helped me up that one time and you called me by my first name…all signs point to insanity," Raynea explained.
"Please, you're imagining all this stuff," he spat, "Like I'd ever…"
"I'm not imagining it," Raynea said, "What the hell are you doing?"
Draco stared at her for a moment and his expression softened slightly. He lowered his voice and took a step towards her so that they were only inches apart.
"…Why do you think I follow you around all the time? ...Why do you think I'm so hard on you all the time? …Why do you think I do any of it?"
Raynea's cast her eyes downwards and took a deep breath then returned her gaze to his face.
"You tell me," she said at long last.
Draco's expression hardened once again and he sighed in exasperation.
"You slow witted bint…do I have to spell it out for you?" he yelled.
Raynea stood there for a moment, trying to take in what he was saying. Suddenly, everything clicked and she opened her mouth in realization. A feeling of intense nausea came over her and she felt as though she couldn't even stand.
"You… have got… to be kidding me…" she said, grasping her stomach. She looked like she was going to be sick.
"I know it's completely mad…" Draco chimed in, stepping even closer to her.
Raynea looked at him furiously and backed away.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked, coming off crueler than she intended.
"Like I bloody know," he shot back, "You're inside my head…"
"Stop!" Raynea shouted, holding her arm out, almost as if to shield herself from him.
"You have to admit, it'd be interesting," Malfoy said as he came towards her.
"No…not interesting…horrifying…disgusting…bad," Raynea rambled on, continuing to back away from him.
"Look, this isn't exactly peaches and cream for me either," Draco said fiercely, "You think I like this? It's bloody awful."
"Then…make it stop," Raynea stated with pleading eyes, backing away as he advanced her.
"I can't," he replied through gritted teeth.
"Well try harder," Raynea exclaimed as her back hit the tree behind her, making it impossible to back up any farther.
"I'm telling you, I have tried, you bitch," Draco said viciously, his face now only about a foot from Raynea's, "It won't go away."
Raynea looked up into his piercing grey eyes, feeling extremely uncomfortable by their proximity to one another. She was panicked and truly lost for words. Malfoy began speaking again, breaking the short silence.
"Raynea, I—"
"Don't!" Raynea interrupted sharply, pushing past him then turning back around so they were face to face, "Just …Stay away from me."
Raynea glared at him once more before heading up the hill, unable to stand the sight of him any longer.
