It was finally the end of the week. The day before the next Hogsmeade visit, the day when everyone would be there shopping for their outfits for the Christmas Ball. Alyssa's week had gone dreadfully slow. It was filled with lots and lots of late homework assignments. Her teachers had been going extremely hard on her about the homework, and Snape had even made her take a few quizzes to refresh her memory, as if she'd been gone for a month. The Daily Prophet was also being an enemy of hers; the writers had somehow found out about the mishap of her close call with the Death Eaters and the story was on the front page, finding its way, of course, to the rest of the student body.
Rumors were circulating around Hogwarts about what had, or had not happened to Alyssa. Most of them were of course untrue and were stories of bloody, and decapitating events – which obviously – was very far from the truth. Alyssa had received loads of letters from Brad, her mom, and even some old friends from America – the news had even reached another country.
Among the letters from Brad was one scheduling a meet up in Hogsmeade for the next day. He wanted Alyssa to meet him at the Three Broomsticks around 2 o'clock for lunch. This had been the only up of her extremely boring, homework filled week.
Alyssa woke up at precisely ten o'clock on Saturday. It was especially early for her on these so savored weekends, but today she was off to Hogsmeade at 12 so she wanted to get up at a somewhat decent hour. She stretched her arms and legs underneath her comforter and popped her head above it to look out the window. It had started snowing once again on Wednesday, and today was no different.
She threw her legs over the side of her bed and yawned loudly, stretching her muscles some more. Surprisingly enough, Hermione was still sleeping. She had been up late the previous night studying as usual and was still up by the time Alyssa had retired to her bed.
Cracking her back, she rose from the bed and walked over to the closet to grab her robe. She pulled on a pair of shorts and fastened the robe over her shoulders. She ruffled her already messy hair and headed down towards the kitchens.
Upon entering, a house elf immediately appeared with Alyssa's coffee in hand.
"The usual, Missus." The squeaky voice emitted, and it popped away before she could mutter a thanks.
Draco was already there, seated at the other side of the kitchens by a small window. He was usually the early bird and Alyssa wasn't a bit surprised to see him there. She yawned and took a sip of her coffee as she made her way over.
He looked up as she sat down next to him. She flopped on the seat, took another sip of her coffee and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Rough night?" he asked with a smirk on his face.
Alyssa rolled her eyes; he very well knew what they had been up to the previous night.
"Splendid." She muttered stifling another yawn. "I'm not used to getting up early on weekends."
"Alyssa, this is hardly early."
She flailed a dismissive hand, covering her mouth with her free hand as another yawn tempted to escape. "Yeah, yeah." She muttered. She downed the rest of her coffee rather quickly and dropped the mug back to the table.
"I'm gonna shower." Alyssa said standing. "I'll come by your room afterwards before we go to Hogsmeade."
Draco nodded and set his eyes back to the Daily Prophet he was reading.
Alyssa walked back up the pathway that led back to her dorms and into her room. Hermione was still sleeping but was rudely disrupted when Alyssa made her way over and softly slapped her cheek a couple of times. Hermione's eyes popped open at once and she uttered a loud gasp seeing Alyssa standing by her bedside.
"It's 10:30, Hermione. We're leaving at 12."
Hermione let out a pained groan but sat up in bed anyway ruffling a hand through her fuzzy hair.
"You're up before me." She said quietly in utter amazement.
"Surprising myself even." Alyssa replied happily. She turned from the bed and made her way to the bathroom calling over her shoulder, "I'll be in the shower."
Hermione's response was a loud yawn. Alyssa rolled her eyes and shut and locked the door behind her. She threw a towel over the door of the shower and turned on the water. After quickly stripping off her pajamas, she stepped into the shower and let the hot steaming water cascade down between her shoulder blades.
It didn't take long to finish her shower. Alyssa stepped out and wrapped the towel around herself, and squeezed the water from her hair. She walked over to the fogged up mirror and rubbed her hand across it a few times in order to see her reflection. As she combed her hair she waved her free hand by the door, unlocking it and opening it about a foot. Hermione immediately bolted in and although Alyssa was standing there staring incredulously at her, she ran straight to the toilet and peed right in front of her.
Alyssa furrowed her brows at her reflection, chose not to say anything and continued combing her hair.
At the sound of the flushing toilet Alyssa set down her comb, cast an odd look at Hermione as she walked to the sink to brush her teeth, and went back to her room for some clothes. It was snowing outside so she decided to dress warmly. She wore long black pants with her knee high boots and put on a white, long sleeved blouse. She towel dried the rest of her hair even though it wasn't exactly tidy looking, and grabbed her red cloak.
Hermione finally came out of the bathroom, fully clothed and her curly hair tamed.
"What's your plan for the day?" Alyssa asked interestedly.
"Er – well I'm going dress shopping. And I need to buy some school supplies and whatnot. Harry and Ron are of course dragging me to Honeydukes and Fred and George's shop."
"Why don't you come dress shopping with me and Ginny?"
Hermione pondered the question for a moment. "Won't you be with Malfoy?"
Alyssa couldn't help but roll her eyes at the question. "Well we're splitting up to go dress shopping. I don't think boys would like to come with us anyway, it'll probably take a while."
Hermione's face lit up immediately, "Well then yea, sure. When do you want to meet?"
"Well, I'm meeting my brother at the Three Broomsticks at 2 so how about after that?"
"Yeah, that's fine. That gives me time to do other stuff first." She said nodding.
Alyssa stood up from her seated position on the bed and grabbed her cloak. "Well I'm going to go see Malfoy. So I'll see you later." Hermione rolled her eyes and waved goodbye.
Alyssa smiled back and headed out the room and across the commons to Draco's. She did not bother to knock and entered his room. He was standing by the closet getting dressed, his hair was wet showing that he had just gotten out of the shower. He turned as she came in and she melted at the sight of him.
Draco Malfoy was a sight to behold.
"Hey." She managed to choke out. Draco smiled as he finished buttoning up his dark pants. Alyssa made her way to his bed and sat down Indian style, with her cloak resting upon her lap.
"You ready to go?" She heard Draco ask from his spot near the closet.
She nodded, "Yep, but we've still got – like – a half hour." She said looking at her watch. He pulled his white oxford shirt over his shoulders and buttoned it up, then sat down at the bed to put on some socks. Once he was done, Draco turned to look at her sitting a few feet behind him. He stretched his long arms out and grabbed her waist; she let out a loud squeak and giggled as he pulled her towards him.
Draco silenced her by pressing his lips to hers in a hard passionate kiss. Alyssa went practically limp in his arms and he kept his arms firmly wrapped around her waist. She moaned in his mouth and pulled away slightly, "We'll never get to Hogsmeade if you keep kissing me like that."
He smirked at her and pinched her side before standing up to grab his cloak. "You ready?" He asked after he shrugged it over his shoulders.
"Yup." Alyssa stood up as well, tossing the cloak lazily over her shoulder.
It was not moments before they left their dorms before Alyssa walked into somebody. That someone was holding a scolding hot cup of coffee and happened to spill it all over her chest.
"OH FUCK!" she shouted incredibly loud. She started fanning her chest and was jumping up and down making "Ooh" and "Aah" sounds.
Draco stared at her strangely with a cocked eyebrow then looked up at her attacker. It was a Gryffindor, he observed with a roll of the eyes.
Alyssa – still jumping up and down – pointed her finger at the Gryffindor. "Oh my God! Look what you did!!!" she had also barely recognized him; she thought he was in Ginny's year.
"Oh, I'm so terribly sorry!" The boy stuttered, his face remained emotionless though as he saw the effect the coffee had on Alyssa's shirt – it had become practically see through. His eyes narrowed into slits and he reached forward as if to touch her before she jumped backwards.
"Whoa!" She shouted. "What do you think-!"
"Hands OFF!" Draco suddenly shouted stepping forward.
The boy immediately recoiled once he saw the look on Draco's face. He muttered another sorry before practically running off. Draco turned back to look at Alyssa who was red in the face and looked like she was about to cry; and she was still hopping.
He pointed his wand at her and muttered, "Scourgify," the coffee immediately disappeared, her shirt had dried. Alyssa let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Did you see the look on his face?" Draco asked, clearly amused.
Alyssa through her hands in the air, "Oh yes, Draco! It was hilarious!" She said sarcastically.
He continued to laugh softly, although he did catch the sarcasm in her voice.
"What the hell is going on here?" Someone shouted. Alyssa and Draco turned their heads to see Ginny and Blaise walking towards them with strange looks on their faces.
"Merlin," Ginny exclaimed, "I could hear you screaming all the way down the hall!" She told Alyssa.
"Well some moron spilled coffee all over my tits!" Everyone stared at her, "Well he did!" Ginny and Blaise fell into hysterics, practically doubled over laughing, but Draco looked none too amused.
"Bloody pervert if you ask me."
"You laughed you big jerk!" Alyssa said, hitting him in the shoulder.
"Well that's because he thought I was going to rip his head off!" Draco resented.
"Oh yeah - because - you know," Alyssa faltered at first, "You didn't find it funny at all when I was making an idiot out of myself."
Draco looked affronted, slapping a hand to his chest dramatically, "Of course not!"
"Enough you two!" Blaise cut in, stepping in between them. "My God." He rolled his eyes and continued walking down the hall, Ginny followed in step. Draco and Alyssa looked at each other, rolled their eyes in unison and caught up with Ginny and Blaise.
Just outside the Great Hall, McGonagall and Filch were standing collecting permission slips from students going to Hogsmeade. Carriages were outside in the snow waiting to take them to the village and students were piling around the doors rushing to get outside.
"Oh I'm so excited!" Alyssa said, hopping with glee. "My first Hogsmeade trip."
"We've been there before, y'know." Ginny said over her shoulder.
"Yes but this is the official trip. Like – official!" They all turned to stare at her strangely as she smiled to herself imagining the fun shops she'd be visiting in about a half hour. She finally reached McGonagall and handed her the permission slip her mom had signed. She let out an excited "WOO!" startling a few students, and headed out the front doors.
Everyone immediately pulled their heavy cloaks on as they entered the brisk air. Snow was falling in heavy clumps and there was already about a foot lying on the ground. Alyssa thanked herself silently that she wore boots instead of sneakers as her feet were buried in snow. She looked to Draco on her right whose eyes were searching for empty carriages; his cheeks were tinted pink from the chill air. He looked ridiculously adorable, she concluded. He stuck his arm out, pointing to a carriage a bit to their right.
"There's one." He said.
They all hurried forward and got into the carriage before anyone else could occupy it. The carriage was considerably warmer than the outside, probably charmed.
Alyssa looked out the tiny window as the rest of the students got into the carriages. Her attention was once again brought to the dark winged horses that were leading them; she hadn't seen them since her arrival at Hogwarts. She still wondered why they'd use such odd creatures. She voiced her thoughts to the rest of the occupants.
"I wonder why they use these strange horses to lead the carriages." She said quietly. Everyone looked at her strangely.
"What horses?" Blaise asked.
Alyssa looked around at everyone, they seemed oddly confused. "The ones leading the carriages… the winged horses…"
Ginny was the only one who spoke up. "You can see them?"
"Well, yeah. I'm not blind, you know." Alyssa said rather matter-of-factly.
"What horses?" Blaise asked again, seeming more frustrated.
"Their Thestrals." Ginny explained. "Only people who've seen death can see them…" She trailed off, realizing that Alyssa must've seen someone die in order to see these creatures.
Everyone else had also come to this conclusion; they were all looking at her in deep thought. Draco didn't look too surprised though; he leaned towards her and spoke quietly so only she could hear. "I see them too, you're not mad."
Alyssa didn't know whether she should've been relieved or not. Why the hell would the school have creatures like that? She decided to push this to the back of her mind and brought her attention to looking outside the window as the carriage slowly came to a start. Ginny and Blaise saw her silence as a sign to move on and they changed the subject, starting up new conversation. Alyssa was barely aware of her surroundings until she felt Draco take her hand in both of his and place it safely on his lap. She turned to look at him and his attention was also focused elsewhere.
Once they made their arrival to Hogsmeade, Alyssa's mood was lightened extremely and she was bouncing in her seat with excitement. She waited just until the carriage made a full stop and kicked the door opened, hopping out into the foot of snow.
"C'mon let's go!" She shouted impatiently at the other occupants. She turned to look at the view of Hogsmeade; students were already making their way to different shops. Not quite soon enough - Ginny, Blaise and Draco stepped out of the carriage and it quickly pulled away.
"Where to, malady?" Ginny asked hooking her arm in Alyssa's.
"Ugh, I don't care!" Alyssa said exasperated. She gripped onto Ginny and pulled her forward, practically marching through the snow. Blaise and Draco followed close behind.
"Ooh, lets visit my brothers first, they have a shop here."
"Really? Which ones?" Alyssa asked; Ginny had been more than sure to inform her of the numerous members of her family.
"The twins; Fred and George. Don't even try to tell them apart."
Alyssa's brows furrowed, "…all right."
Ginny stopped walking for a moment, pulling Alyssa to a stop with her. She turned back to look at Blaise and Draco who were not far behind.
"You two would best decide not to come in."
They seemed to have been in the middle of a conversation and Blaise looked up confused. "Sorry?"
"We're going to my brothers shop."
Blaise seemed to have understood immediately and nodded. Alyssa looked at Ginny, "Why not?"
Ginny waved a dismissive hand at the whole ordeal, "Family rivalry, the usual." Alyssa frowned; she didn't exactly want to leave Draco. They continued walking down the street they were on until they reached a shop with vibrant colors of weird mechanics in the window. A large display that read Weasley Wizard Wheezes stood at the top.
"This is it!" Ginny said cheerfully. Alyssa made her way over to Draco and kissed his cheek.
"I'll see you in a bit."
"We'll be waiting." He said reassuringly.
Alyssa turned back to Ginny and they walked inside the shop, it was completely crowded with tons of other students including Harry, Ron and Hermione. Ron was enthusiastically trying new products as Hermione stood behind him tapping her foot starting scolding at his back.
"Ginny!" Shouted two identical voices over the crowd of students. Alyssa looked up as two tall twins bounded through everyone and grabbed Ginny in a forceful hug.
-----
"Well that was fantastic!" Alyssa said excitedly. She was sifting through her bag of products that Fred and George had willingly given her.
"I know! And most of this stuff is free isn't it?"
"Yeah, they said they had load of extra experiments."
"To be honest," Ginny said looking into Alyssa's bag, "I'm not sure I'll be willing to try these anyway. You never know what these two are up to."
"Eh, whatever. We'll just try them on Draco and Blaise."
Ginny let out an excited giggle and nodded enthusiastically. "Brilliant." They stopped right outside the doors, hitting their wands to their bags to make them smaller and fit inside their cloak pockets. Ginny looked around the street, "Actually, there they are."
Draco and Blaise were across the street looking into the window of the Quidditch store. They were both smoking and were talking animatedly about the Firebolt that was in the window. As Ginny and Alyssa made their way over they could here snippets of their conversation.
"-Oh don't complain, Draco. You've got a fine broom."
"Yes but I want this one."
"You sound like you're three years old."
"Yes but I want this one!"
"Should we get you a nice big colorful lollypop as well?"
"That's not funny at all, Zabini."
Ginny and Alyssa looked at each other and rolled their eyes in unison. "I actually find that quite funny." Ginny said with an amused look on her face.
"Yes I thought it was quite funny as well." Blaise said in agreement. Draco let out a sigh of frustration.
"He's a child at heart." Alyssa said slapping a hand to her chest. She turned to walk a few steps down the street when a hard snowball hit her right on the spine.
She whipped around quickly; Blaise and Ginny were standing there with their jaws dropped, and Draco was standing there smirking.
"Damn…" Ginny muttered. "That look could destroy Voldemort himself!" Draco faltered, taken aback by Ginny's comment and turned to look at her. Alyssa took this as her chance; she ran forward and dove at him, tackling him down to the ground.
"Holy crap!" Blaise shouted. He stutter stepped to the side, wondering if he should get involved or not. Alyssa straddled Draco's waist and grabbed a handful of snow, shoving it all over Draco's face.
"ARGH – bloody wench!" he bellowed. He too grabbed himself a handful of snow and slapped it to the side of Alyssa's head, knocking her to the side. She let out a frustrated scream and went to shove snow on the inside of his robes before he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the side of her head.
"Uh-oh." Blaise said. "This is going to be a huge change of events."
Draco reached up to brush the remaining snow from his face. He looked down at Alyssa; her face had droplets of water and was bright red, there was clumped snow in her hair, and as he gave her a once over he chuckled to himself before pressing his lips to hers.
"Oh, come off it." Ginny said.
Draco brought her hands down and placed them on his hips, he placed his own hands to cup her face before nibbling slightly on her lower lip.
"Can we please go?" Ginny continued, "I'd like to get to another shop before having to go for lunch."
"Yes, and I'd like to get through the day without watching you two snogging." Blaise agreed.
They finally broke apart and eventually raised themselves off the ground. But they stood still with their hands locked looking at each other; they leaned forward as if to kiss again but Ginny grabbed Alyssa's arm and yanked her back.
"You're done – I'm cutting you off." She said sternly. She gripped onto her arm tighter and dragged her in the opposite direction.
Blaise waited patiently as Draco brushed the snow off of his cloak and ran a hand through his hair. He looked up at Blaise expectantly, smirking.
"Real sly, Draco. Real sly." Blaise murmured, Draco's smirk grew stronger and they followed suit behind Alyssa and Ginny.
Alyssa was walking lazily through the snow, deep in thought with a ghost of a smile on her face. Ginny stared at her pointedly until snapping her fingers in Alyssa's face. "What?" Alyssa snapped, the smile vanishing completely.
"You're off your rocker."
"Excuse me?" Alyssa asked confused.
"What is with you two anyway?" Ginny went on, "I mean, every time I see you, you're both snogging as if your life is going to end in an instant!"
"Oh Ginny, don't tell me you and Blaise don't do the same thing."
"Well have you seen us walking all over the place waving our business out and about?"
"Well – no." She decided as they turned a corner, "But I'm sure you both have those times when you're alone in his room, and he's there, and you're there, and you just decide – hey-"
"You're not making any sense!" Ginny snapped.
Alyssa thought about what she said then nodded in agreement. "But you must admit you have times when you can't keep your hands - OH!" she exclaimed in surprise as a bright white light flashed before her eyes. Her thoughts of course, were that she was about to die and she was waiting for her life to flash over – but in reality, she blinked hard willing away the black spots blurring her vision.
Everyone stopped walking in surprise and looked forward at the photographer who just let off a flash.
"Ms. Bennington!" He cried taking a step towards her with a notepad out, "Tell me – what was it like to be attacked my a mass of Death Eaters?!"
"What? I never-" she was cut off. Draco took a step forward and pushed her behind him glaring at the photographer.
"Fuck. Off." He uttered, clearly pissed.
But the photographer looked delighted at the sight of Draco. "Ah… Mr. Malfoy, I presume? Is it true about your relationship with Ms. Bennington?" He asked taking another flash with his camera and pulling out a quill to scribble something now.
"Hey!" Alyssa shouted from behind Draco, "That's none of your business!"
Draco let out a deep growl that Alyssa could feel coarse through his body. He stepped forward, seized the camera and pegged it at the wall causing it to smash.
"HEY!" The photographer exclaimed outraged. "That's worth galleons!"
"I'll be taking that notepad as well." Draco said rather civilly.
The photographer paused, but at the look on Draco's face he dropped the pad and scurried off down an alleyway, disappearing from view. Alyssa took a step forward and raised her hand expectantly as the notepad floated slowly till it was hovering slightly above her palm. She blinked her eyes and the pad burst into flames. Her head snapped back in surprise and she dropped her hand to her side, the pad falling into the snow and burning until it was a small pile of ash.
"How'd you do that?" Ginny asked curiously from behind.
Alyssa's brows furrowed, "I'm not exactly sure." She turned around to meet the gazes of her three companions, followed by an awkward silence. "Let's go." She finally said looking to the ground and starting off down the street.
Glancing at her watch quickly, Alyssa saw that it was quarter past one. She had been anticipating seeing her brother all week and just hoped that the next forty-five minutes would pass by quickly. She reached her hand out once more, waiting. Then was satisfied as she felt Draco grip her hand tightly with his own.
"Are you okay?" He asked softly.
Alyssa looked up at him, "How about we stop at Honeydukes?" She could hear Ginny ask.
She answered "Yes." To both their questions – satisfying Ginny – but Draco looked at her sadly before they crossed the street and entered the shop. Alyssa was once again met with bright vibrant colors of all sorts of treats lined up along the walls of the shop. There was a crowd of students milling through the aisles of assorted candy, such as were Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Fizzing Whizbees, Chocolate Frogs, Acid Pops, Pepper Imps and Sherbet Balls. Most of which, Alyssa had never tried before as she watched a student grab a sherbet ball and levitate off the ground.
It was then – as she reached for a box of Chocolate Frogs – that she started seeing things. It was all too familiar. She squeezed her eyes shut and dropped the box to the ground, quickly pushing through the students and back outside.
She took a deep breath trying to calm down. Other people passing looked at her strangely as she practically hyperventilated in front of them. Alyssa couldn't understand what was going on. She was getting flashes of her father and she couldn't block it out. He was smiling that smug smile that he always had plastered on his face as if he'd done something grand. But in his case it usually had to do with the torturing of an unfortunate Muggle.
Alyssa snapped her eyes shut again as she started hearing voices – voices of her father, and of people she didn't know. She put her hands to her ears. "Get out of my head." She whispered venomously.
Soon it all stopped. She calmed down and breathed in the crisp air.
She pulled her hood up, concealing half of her face and put on her gloves. As she turned to walk away someone tapped her shoulder. She whipped her head around and her demanding gaze met silver eyes.
"Are you okay?" Draco asked.
"I'm fine." She ground out.
He looked her up and down, his brows furrowed. "You're crying."
"What?" She asked surprised. She wiped a hand across her face, indeed she was crying. She hadn't even realized. She let out a stupid "Oh." and turned to keep walking. Draco grabbed her arm and swung her around again.
"What's wrong?" he demanded.
"Nothing." She answered after a long pause.
"Oh okay. Because here I thought it was normal to burst out of shops crying when there was absolutely nothing wrong."
Draco waited for her to respond and when she didn't, he sighed deeply. "You want to go for a walk?" Alyssa nodded mutely and he took her hand, taking off walking in the opposite direction. Alyssa wasn't sure of where they were going, but followed suit as Draco walked down the sidewalk. They soon reached the end of the street but he kept walking, down a small pathway of snow. Tall trees and everything that was covered with snow obscured everything in vision.
A few minutes passed until they reached a clearing. They stopped at a wooden fence that looked out over a bare field. All except an old abandoned looking house. The windows were either broken or boarded up as well as the door. The roof was practically falling off and the entire house was slanted a bit on its side.
"What is that?" Alyssa asked, squinting her eyes as she looked at it.
"It's the Shrieking Shack." He answered softly. "Most students think it's haunted. But I heard that Dumbledore made it for Lupin to stay there while he was in his werewolf form, so no one would find out."
"My godfather you mean?"
"Yes."
"Can we go in?"
"It'll probably collapse right on our heads once we walked through the front door." He said observantly.
She nodded in agreement. She took of her gloves and stuffed them in her pockets, then climbed up on the fence and sat on the top post. Draco stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, his height making him able to rest his chin on her shoulder.
"So what's wrong?" He finally asked.
Alyssa sighed, not knowing what to say. She shrugged, "It's my dad. He's trying to get in my head, ever since Monday." She said referring to the Imperius.
He didn't say anything so she continued. "And my powers… I can feel them getting stronger. Like today with the fire, I didn't even know I could just do that with a blink of an eye. I want to see what I can do… but I can't… Brad told me they're dangerous, that they can be used as a weapon."
"I don't know what to say…" He admitted. "You've got some burden."
Alyssa let out a deep breath, "Tell me about it."
They sat there in silence for a few minutes; Alyssa was in deep thought as her eyes stuck to the Shrieking Shack, neither of them saying a word.
It wasn't too long before Alyssa could feel Draco shift his body around, then a vibration ripple through her back as he growled. She whipped around to look at what was bothering and could see a few feet away from them that the Golden Trio was approaching.
"Oh great," She could already hear Ron whining, "The ferret is here."
Alyssa's head snapped back, "What did you call him?" she asked confused. Ron's eyes glanced at her briefly then snapped back to Draco, who had let go of Alyssa and turned around to face them. Alyssa hopped off the fence and walked over to his side. Harry and Hermione seemed relatively calm but Ron was red in the face, already pissed off.
"To what do I owe this pleasure ladies?" Draco spat. Alyssa and Hermione tried a bit unsuccessfully to hide their laughter and Ron only turned a deeper shade of red.
"Watch it, ferret." Ron snapped at once.
"And what are you going to do if I don't, weasel?" Draco asked calmly. He took a few steps forward.
"Draco." Alyssa warned; she was not in the mood to watch these two beat each other to a bloody pulp. Ron took a step forward as well and Hermione grabbed his sleeve viciously.
"Oh come on, Ronald." She scolded. "He's just trying to provoke you and you're letting him!"
"Ah yes, listen to the girl, weasel." Draco agreed with a smirk plastered on his face.
"Can it!" Ron snapped. "One more word from you and I swear-"
"Swear what, weasel?" Draco asked.
Alyssa rolled her eyes. This was getting extremely childish. She shifted from one foot to another and looked at her watch. It was one 1:53!
"Draco!" She snapped. "We have to go."
He turned his head, "What?"
"This is getting ridiculous," She said walking over and pulling on his arm, "And I'm supposed to meet Brad, let's go." She urged. Draco looked Ron one last time, sighed, rolled his eyes and followed Alyssa back down the path.
"Do you know how unnecessary that was?" Alyssa scolded at Draco, "You stupid boys and your stupid arguments, it couldn't get anymore childish."
"Sorry, mother." Draco spoke in monotone. Alyssa looked at him incredulously and punched him hard in the arm.
"OW!" Draco looked astonished; he stopped walking and began rubbing his arm, "What was that for?"
Alyssa looked up at him innocently but couldn't help but laugh as he pouted and continued on rubbing his arm. "C'mon, loser." she said rolling her eyes and grabbing his sleeve.
Soon enough – though not quite for Alyssa – they approached the Three Broomsticks. Brad was outside waiting for her at the entrance. Alyssa turned to Draco before walking away, "I guess I'll see you later?" She asked gripping his hand.
His silver eyes drifted back to her face and he gave a mute nod. She reached up to kiss his cheek and gave him one last smile before stepping away. Draco stood back as Alyssa practically ran to him with her arms opened wide.
"Brad!" She squealed as she ran into his open arms. She felt as if she hadn't seen him in years even though it hadn't even been a full week. Brad hugged her tightly and let her go after a few seconds.
"Hey, sis. How are you? Still dating Draco, I see." He said glancing at Draco's departing form.
"Oh, shut it. And I'm fine, you?"
Brad shook his head and rubbed his bare hands together. "Never mind that, let's get inside."
Alyssa willingly agreed and they went into the Three Broomsticks, immediately greeted with warmth. They sat at a both on the opposite side of the front doors and took off their cloaks. They both sat in silence until Brad ordered drinks and the waitress came back with two large butterbeers. Alyssa nearly downed the drink as it coursed down her throat and warmed her insides; she smiled as she set down the mug.
"So how's Hogsmeade treating you?" Alyssa asked.
"Pretty good, actually." He answered, "The place I'm staying at is quite nice and the food couldn't possibly be any better."
It was small talk like this for a few minutes before Alyssa started feeling antsy. She could tell Brad wanted to say something, other than 'How's your day?' and 'Crazy weather, don't you think?'. He kept shifting his eyes around as if people were listening onto the conversation. Alyssa nearly said 'I told you so' as he finally said something she figured she'd hear sooner or later.
"So… you're being careful, right?" He asked slowly and attentively.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, with your powers and all."
Alyssa perked up a bit, "Actually, this really cool thing happened today. I set this thing on fire and like, I didn't even do anything really, I just sort of blinked… and…" She trailed at the look on Brad's face.
"What?" She asked.
"Alyssa, I'd rather you not experiment with these powers."
She frowned at him, "But Brad, I didn't even meant to, it just happened and-"
"And you weren't controlling them. What's to say it won't 'just happen' to a building or something."
"Brad, I think you're overreacting. I'm sure I'd be able to stop myself from setting a building on fire."
"But we don't know that," Brad continued, "That's the point. We don't know too much about what your powers can do and we'd rather not risk it."
"Who's we, anyway?" Alyssa asked crossing her arms over her chest.
"We as in me, mom, a few Aurors… people like that. We just want you to be safe is all."
Alyssa flailed a dismissive hand. "It's perfectly fine, Brad. It's not like I sit in my room and see what I can do. I at least have to be thinking it with my mind. It's like I have that hole mind power thing like Professor X." Alyssa said childishly referring to X-Men.
"Alyssa… could we not refer to comics, please? This is serious."
"Ugh," She scoffed, "You're starting to sound like my dad." She paused as he made a frown and continued quickly, "Well not our dad, but, like a dad in general… telling me what to do… oh you get it!" she said giving up and throwing her hands in the air.
"It's fine" Brad said taking a sip of his butterbeer. "Like I said, we're just looking out for you. We – I don't want anything to happen to you."
"Yeah, especially with Lucius knowing about me already." She muttered.
"What?" Brad snapped. "You didn't tell me that!"
"Well DUH, Brad. Dad is friends with him, you think he honestly wouldn't know?"
"Oh… right, sorry." Brad muttered.
"Well anyway, can we please switch subjects? I wanna chat with my bro, not have this crappy discussion."
He laughed, "You're so lucky I'm a laid back guy, little sis." Alyssa rolled her eyes.
They eventually got sandwiches to eat and treated themselves to a second butterbeer. An hour flew by and they found themselves ready to part ways again. Alyssa got her cloak and gloves on as slow as possible; she never spent time with Brad and with him in Hogsmeade it was like he was so close yet so far. They stood outside of the Three Broomsticks in the freezing cold air and flipped up their hoods as the chill wind whipped by.
"Well, it's time to go, little sis." Brad said looking down at her. He zipped up his coat and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Aw man," She whined, "But I probably won't see you in forever!"
He laughed and patted her arms reassuringly; "Actually I'll be in Hogwarts for Christmas. I'll be sure to visit you."
"Really? Are you going to the ball too?"
"Oh yeah." He said scratching his head, "Now that I think of it, I need to get a tux or something." He looked at her and smiled, then bent down to kiss her cheek. "Be careful, would you?"
"Yes, Brad, of course." She murmured reluctantly. She stepped forward and hugged his waist tightly and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders in return. "I'll miss you." She whispered.
"It'll be Christmas soon enough. Love you." He said kissing her forehead.
"Love you too." She said looking up at him. Brad gave Alyssa one last smile before turning to the opposite direction and headed down the snow-covered sidewalk. Alyssa sighed heavily and rubbed the palms of her hands together. She took off down the street and it wasn't long before she met up with Ginny and Hermione. They were standing outside of Madam Puddifoot's finishing their cups of coffee before throwing them out in the nearby trashcan.
"Hey," They both greeted Alyssa in unison. "How was your lunch with Brad?" Ginny asked.
"It was great," she said smiling, "I found out he's coming to Hogwarts for Christmas!" she continued excitedly.
"Oh really?" Hermione asked, "I can't wait to meet him, I've heard so much from Ginny." She continued, nudging Ginny in the ribs.
"Oh sod it." Ginny said rolling her eyes.
"So where's Draco and Blaise?" Alyssa asked.
"Hm? Oh, they went to go get something to eat. A small café or something."
"Yeah, so we figured we'd go looking for dresses now." Hermione added.
Alyssa nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, I've been waiting to go shopping for this."
The two of them nodded in agreement and they took off down the street. They reached a small dress shop on the corner of a side street and walked through the entrance. A bell above the door rang as the door opened and closed. There were aisles of racks filled with many different colors and styles of dresses. On the far wall were shoes and accessories. Alyssa immediately walked to the far side of the room on the opposite wall. She sorted through a few different dresses that were odd colors. She trailed her fingertips over the fabric as she looked for her dress.
"Oh! Look at this one!" She could hear Ginny saying not to far from her. Alyssa looked up briefly to see Ginny pick out a long red dress.
"Don't pick red, Ginny." Hermione said critically from her spot in the corner. "You already have that blood red hair, you need something else."
Ginny put her finger to her lips in thought as she looked over the dress. After a few moments she nodded in agreement and put the dress back down.
"Yeah… try something violet." Alyssa piped up.
"Violet?"
"Yes, violet. That color looks great on redheads."
For a few minutes they searched for certain dresses, here and there they'd find something but then would decide against it. After a good twenty minutes, Alyssa finally came across a gorgeous dress that hung alone against the wall. She literally gasped when she saw it and walked over to it.
She fingered the dress, running her hands over the straps and the flowing material. "This is it." She muttered, and without a second thought, she grabbed it off the rack and brought it up to the sales clerk.