No, sadly, I am not J. K. Rowling. Please refrain from pointing this out to me, or I may sic a rabid Chihuahua on you. And I'm warning anybody who will flip out at any non-canon facts about the original characters again, get out now.
Thank you to anyone who's sticking with this, even after the last chapter. Review PLEASE. My canon-kicking seems to directly correlate with the number of reviews I get, and since I've only had ONE since I started writing this story, expect worse things to come.
Sorry this took so long. I've been stressing over testing and whatnot, and I've been working on other stuff, too. But this one's up! Hooray! But don't expect the next one up for a while. Sorry, I'm just a wee bit overwhelmed with everything...
"Mate, she's a bloody Slytherin Amazon! How can you even think about being with her?" That Ron kid was trying to talk Harry out of dating me. Hermione had seemed to sort of accepted me; or rather, she wasn't openly trashing me. I balled up a piece of parchment and tossed it at his head.
"Um, yeah. I can hear everything you say, idiot." He blushed crimson. We were standing outside Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, waiting to be let in. I'd been standing near Harry, as I had for the past week before every class. My eyes were the purple-brown they turned when I was annoyed.
"It's okay, just calm down," Harry whispered in my ear. Even though he was tall, he had to stand on his toes to reach my ear. "He's just jealous because you're taller than him." I snickered loudly, trying and failing tp turning it into cough. No matter how annoyed or angry I was, Harry could cheer me up.
Umbridge finally opened the door, and everyone crowded in. I sat at an empty desk in the back to let Harry sit with his friends. However, I wished I would have sat with him because Malfoy and one of his lackeys sat down in the open spaces at the desk. The other lackey stood behind Malfoy. I pointedly turned my back to them and rummaged around in my bag for a quill.
Malfoy muttered some comment about Mudbloods, but I was ignoring him. I felt more than heard something moving towards my head. I turned around just in time to catch the fist hurtling at me. Still holding the lackey's wrist, I jumped up and slapped him hard across the face. Surprise looked like it was trying to surface on his face from under the stupid.
"Miss Prodigioso, sit down," Umbridge shouted at me. I didn't even look at her. I pulled the guy by the front of his shirt.
"Listen to me, you vile excuse for a human," I hissed in his ear. "I'm going to use words that may not make it through the armor plating of your bulbous, misshapen cranium, so you'll want to find a dictionary later. If you ever attack anyone from behind again, I will kick your ass into oblivion. And believe me, it will be a lesson you remember, unlike any instruction in civility you have ever had." I shoved him away then turned to Malfoy. "And you! Why don't you grow a pair and take care of your own problems instead of having your obtuse dogsbodies do it?"
"Miss Prodigioso! Sit down, or you will have detention!" I whirled on Umbridge. I was irrationally angry, but I didn't care. I was tired of all this crap.
"DO IT THEN! Give me detention, you repulsive harpy!" Everyone was staring but I was beyond caring right then. I ran my hand through my hair, and something dripped onto my face. I must have busted the blisters open on Malfoy's dense friend's face. "I have to go." I dashed out of the classroom and to the hospital ward. I think someone called my name, but I was just intent on getting to Madam Pomfrey.
"Madam Pomfrey! I accidentally busted the blister! I think I need some help!" I clutched my arm to my chest and looked around for Madam Pomfrey. She was in her office, but came bustling out when I shouted. She pulled another cream out of her pocket, and made me lie down on a bed so she could take care of it. All the while, I was muttering a steady stream expletives under my breath.
Harry came into the hospital wing, huffing and puffing. He must have been the one shouting at me when I ran out. For an athlete, he couldn't handle a lot of running. Madam Pomfrey shushed him quietly. I guess she thought I was asleep or couldn't handle seeing him while I was all loopy from the blisters.
"Hey, Harry. How angry was Umbridge when I ran out?" I sat up, leaning on my uninjured arm. Harry pulled a stool up next to my bed.
"Well, I don't really know. I ran after you." I laid back again.
"Damn. I was hoping something weird happened, like steam came out of her ears." Harry laughed and rested his elbows on the mattress.
"That doesn't happen a lot, but it happened once when I ate some sweets that made you sound like different things. I got a train." Madam Pomfrey looked like she was going to shoo Harry away, then looked like she thought of something else.
"Harry, go back to class and tell Professor Umbridge that everything Raynebowe did was because of a sudden burst of hormones from the blisters bursting.* She needs to stay in the hospital wing so I can keep an eye on it." Harry looked at me. I just nodded and made shooing motions with my free hand. Harry took off running again.
Madame Pomfrey did a quick examination of me. "Have you been sleeping well, Rayne? Are you eating a balanced diet?" I tried not to look her in the eyes.
"Well, I've been having some nightmares so I've only been getting an hour or two each night, and I've never had a good appetite, so… I ate a piece of toast this morning, does that count as a balanced breakfast?" While I was talking, Madam Pomfrey yanked the bandage off quickly.
I swooned from the pain. When I came to, Harry was waiting by my bed. I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my palm. I looked up at him. "What happened?"
"You blacked out when she pulled the bandage off," he said, half-smiling. "I never took you for the fainting type, Rayne." I sat up and hit him lightly in the arm.
"That's not funny. Stop smiling, you arse." I coughed into my elbow. "Why do I feel like I've been drinking sand?" Harry handed me a glass of water from the table beside the bed.
"It's a side effect of one of the potions Madam Pomfrey is using to try to heal your burn." Harry looked at the clock in the medical ward, then glanced back at me. "Well, there's still almost an hour before the next class, but that means putting up with the repulsive harpy."
"Let's just stay here. I'll say I needed you for moral support. And if that doesn't work, no one can resist the puppy dog eyes." I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and forced my eyes into a weird luminescent blue. I looked up at him with the first glistening of tears in the corners of my eyes. "See? It screams 'protect me'."
"Yeah, now stop it. Your eyes are creeping me out." He turned away a little bit, looking out the window. We sat in silence for a long time. He jumped a little when the door opened and Hermione and Ron walked through. "Hey guys. Shouldn't you be in DA?" I blinked rapidly to clear my eyes to my normal aqua.
"We left early to see if Rayne was okay." Hermione looked at Ron a little angrily. "We were both worried very much." I had a feeling that Ron had expressed other such feelings, probably very loudly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But Madam Pomfrey wants to observe my blisters, so I won't be in any more classes today. Can I copy your notes later, Hermione?" I knew that's what Harry and Ron would be doing later, so why not me? "Is it alright if I come by Gryffindor Tower later?" I forgot that I wasn't supposed to know where that was; I didn't care, though. I'd never been there, so I was supposed to be in the dark about its location.
"Um, okay. Well, we're going to go now. Harry, are you coming?" He looked at me again. I rolled my eyes.
"You don't have to have my permission to go, Harry. You're still your own person." I smiled at him. "But could you bring my bag to me? I'm going to die of boredom in here."
He nodded and left. I rested my head back and took a little nap. It had been stressful today and I deserved to be lazy. Harry must have brought my bag and left, because when I woke up, it was propped up on the bedside table. But something I didn't expect was also there.
"Malfoy, what the hell are you doing here?" I sat straight up and almost threw something at him. I guess I had been asleep longer than I thought because it clear night sky was showing through the window. That meant Malfoy was probably out after curfew. "Shouldn't you be in the dorms, terrorizing first years?" I sat back tiredly. It had to be after midnight.
"No. I mean, I feel bad about what happened. I came to make sure you were okay." He looked up at me with soulfully brimming grey eyes. "It's my fault. I never meant to push you away, Rayne, but I thought it was for your own good."
"What do you mean?" Ever since the first day of school, he had done nothing but insult me and hurt me emotionally. Could all of that been an act? He seemed sincere, but how did I know he wasn't acting?
"I can't let you get close to me. My father…" He faltered for a second. "My father is not a reasonable man, and if we were in a relationship… Bad things would happen. If my father thought I detested you, you'd be safe."
"What do you mean I'd be safe? I'm a big girl and can take care of myself." I rolled over onto my side so I wasn't looking at him. "Go to bed, Malfoy." With that, I promptly fell asleep.
(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
The next morning, I stretched luxuriously. It felt good to be able to sleep, with no dreams. I hadn't been plagued by the flashes of terror as I had since school started. I threw my hand off the hospital bed and accidentally hit someone in the face. Whoops. Looked like Draco had dragged a cot over and slept beside me last night. Maybe he was serious about what he had said last night.
"Hey," I whispered softly as he looked up at me. "Sorry for whacking you in the face." He rubbed his eye, where I had hit him. "So were you serious last night? Because if you were… Well, I think we have some stuff to talk about."
"I believe we do."
Not the best I've written, but I figured that you've been waiting long enough.
Review please, and cupcakes for all!
