"So, I guess we can just spend the rest of the day training." Draco suggested draping his hand over my shoulder.

I glanced up at him. He had a small grin on his lips. It sent shivers down my spine, but I didn't lose my focus.

"Draco, you're not in the least bit worried about Pansy." It wasn't a question. It wasn't so much that I was worried about her, per se. It was more of the fact that I was worried what she would do to other people, particularly me.

Still, he shook his head and pulled me back into the dungeon. He closed the door behind him and pulled out his wand.

"Not at all. She should have seen this coming. I know how Pansy is though. She doesn't take too kindly to people getting in the way of what she wants."

"What she wants is you." I couldn't help but think back to all the threats that I underwent at the beginning of the school year. Pansy and her friends didn't seem so dangerous. To say that I underestimated her would be an understatement.

"What she wants...is everything you have." He corrected.

I tried to wrap my mind around that. I hardly noticed Draco sending a spell at me. The blue sparks flew at me. I barely jumped out of the way. I ducked my head and glared at him.

"Pay attention."

"Draco, I'm sorry. I can't do this. Not today."

He shook his head. "This is important. Are you even listening to me?"

I shook my head. "How can you be so calm about this? Pansy acted like a psycho today, and you don't even care."

He laughed once and walked back up to me. He pushed a strand of my long hair back behind my ear. "Pansy always acts like a psycho-"

"-more than usual." I corrected.

"But she still did something that shouldn't surprise you. She'll go to any lengths to get what she wants."

"Anything?"

"Just about."

I sighed in frustration. "Then why don't you just give her what she wants and get it over with."

He laughed again and pulled me close to him. "Because you already have what she wants. Besides, I'm not a toy."

"You treat everyone else like a toy- a tool."

He feigned distress. "That hurts, Emma. It really does."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, right. Sorry." I said unsympathetically. It wasn't me who wasn't listening. He didn't seem to care about what just happened. His mind seemed to be on something else.

"Well, since you don't want to train, there's always other ways to preoccupy ourselves."

Right. That's where his mind was at. "Draco. You can't be serious." I said and pulled his hands away from my waist.

He smirked at me and planted soft kisses on my neck and collarbone. I sighed and he bit down and sucked. My knees began to shake. My eyes lost focus of the high ceiling that I was staring at. Draco just pulled me closer to him. This was far from pretending. I couldn't possibly pull him in that far.

"Draco, stop." I whispered into his ear. It wasn't very convincing, so I had to reluctantly push him away.

"What?"

"I can't."

"Why, because you don't want to use me. You're already doing that aren't you?"

I stared at him. I tried to pull away to get a better look at his face but he held me against his body and hissed in my ear.

"You think you can use me, and I won't notice it. You try to distract me so you can go running to those Gryffindors, so you can be with that Potter and Granger. You don't have any secrets Emma. I know everything that runs through that pretty little head of yours."

I scoffed and pushed at his chest. It did no good. It was like pushing up against a wall.

"I use you; you use me. Is that the way it goes?" He sounded a bit hurt as his rough voice cracked in the midway through his sentence.

"Draco, I-"

"I don't want it to be like that. I'm not going to lie to you Emma... ever. You ask me to do something I do it, don't I? With no complaint."

I frowned at his shoulder. "I don't recall."

He laughed into my neck. "I told you I couldn't protect you forever. I tried, but everything you see now has always been there. It's real. I care about you."

"What about Kim?"

He laughed again releasing me. "Yes, she's always been violent. I told her to tone it down. For your benefit."

"Yeah, okay. So, you just run this whole show don't you? Kim is your spy just like all the others."

"Something like that." He pulled me into a kiss again. I didn't push him away. I pulled him closer to me even though our bodies were pressed tightly together. He slid his tongue across my bottom lip, begging for entrance. I granted it without question. I tasted him as I pulled at his quidditch shirt. He smirked against my lips.

I knew that I was all over the place with Draco. I honestly had no idea what I wanted anymore. Sometimes I hated him and wanted to get as far away from him as humanly possible, but other times he seemed to transform into this irresistible... thing that I couldn't stay away from. I loved to hate him, but I was getting to the point where it was weird if I was without him. It wasn't love, god no. It was something like lust, but lust and love seemed to along the same lines these days. You could find yourself walking on one line one day, and then you could tumble over with nothing but the other line to grasp onto.

"Emma."

"Hmn," I said in between kisses. I was so absorbed in what I was doing. I was struggling to pull out his belt. He just smirked and pulled my hand up away from his pants until it was around his neck again.

"I thought you said that you couldn't." He taunted. His smirk was killing me. I was hyper aware of his muscled body against mine.

"I've been known to be a liar." I grumbled. I straightened up and released him from my death grip.

"You are really something, you know that?"

"Shut up." My cheeks were a deep shade of red.

"Sometimes I don't know if you're pretending or if you really like me."

"Yeah okay. Which do you think it is?" I asked trying to calm myself. I completely avoided his searching eyes by playing with the collar of his shirt. He put a little space between us as we made our way away from the dungeon.

"I think it's a bit of both." He said with a wide smile. He must have seen my face react because he laughed. "I think that you want to pretend to like me so you can find some way to change my mind about you being an heir and the task, but," He stressed the 'but' part, "you can't help but fall flat on your face in love with me."

I snorted. "You're playing it up just a bit, don't you think?"

"I'm not wrong though."

I rolled my eyes. "Draco-"

"I know I'm not wrong. Anyone with eyes can see."

"No, no they can't." I shook my head. I was sure that I wasn't that far gone that I went gaga when Draco and I were together. I was pretty sure...

"Sure, Emma, but you're going to love me one day. I guarantee it."

"Sure, Draco." I replied giving him a peck on the cheek. While he slipped behind the sleek trick wall, I headed up the stairs.

"Where are you going now?" He groaned. If there was one thing I knew about Draco, he couldn't keep up with my movements.

"Out to fall in love with someone that's not you." I joked.

"That's nowhere near funny."

I snickered and jogged up the stairs. Only when I heard the stone wall snap back into place did my face become serious again. I touched my forehead and bit my lip.

I wasn't in love with Draco. I wasn't. Harry and Ron didn't even know. I let my feet lead me. I didn't know where I was going until I got there. I glanced up once I hit the last round of stairs. Without completely thinking, I pulled off Draco's robe and draped it over my arm. Then, I went up the stairs.

The fat lady stared at me with curious eyes. "Password?"

"Uhh..." I didn't think that far ahead. I didn't think at all.

"Password dear?"

"Drooping Droobles." A voice called from the stairs. "Hello, long time, no see."

I turned my head around to see Hermione hurrying up the stairs with a tall pile of books.

"Oh wow, do you need help with that?" I asked trying to pull a couple off the top.

"Yes, that would be nice." She replied as we both headed into the common room. I was surprised to see that not many people were there. A few students lounged around playing wizard chess and doing homework.

The Gryffindor common room seemed so homey. There was a large fire going in a fireplace on the far wall. There were dull red sofas and chairs around it. Red and gold seemed to blend in with the tan stone walls. It was literally a tower, and it had long windows that looked out upon the grounds.

"Can you believe it? All our classes have been canceled for the day. Something must be going on."

I laughed nervously, "Huh, I bet."

She raised an eyebrow but didn't make more of it. "Well, I've taken the liberty of making the most of this time."

"So, you waste a perfectly good day by studying for your O.W.L.s?" I observed the books that all had to do with preparations for the up-and-coming examination.

"Yes, unfortunately, Harry and Ron made a run for it as soon as I mentioned the library, so it's just you and me until this evening."

"Lovely."

She grinned and dropped the books in her room. I watched her a few moments scrambling for parchment and ink. Her hair was pulled into a big messy bun and her forehead creased with intent focus. It was amusing watching Hermione sometimes. It was when other people watched me that I had a problem. She glanced up as she pulled a two foot long roll of parchment out of her trunk.

"So, what brings you up here into enemy territory?" She asked crossing her legs and pulling a book into her lap.

"I just wanted to talk to some friends."

"Is this about Draco?"

"Uhh," My mouth dropped open. "No, this is not about Draco."

"It's always about Draco. You know, you still haven't told Harry. I think Ron is getting the picture, but Harry's just walking around in a daze."

"Well, what's wrong with him?"

"Um, no, what's going on with you and Draco?"

"Nothing."

I was always amazed at how much Hermione seemed to know. I didn't have to tell her something. She just... knew. The girl was too smart for her own good.

She pressed her lips into a tight line and began copying a phrase from the large book.

"So... you don't mind anymore... about Draco?"

"I still think he's going to hurt you, but you're going to do what you want to anyway. There's no point in arguing about it."

"Well, there's really not that much to tell," I dove into my speech with ease. "He's kinda all over the place. I mean, first he acts like it's all business and then sometimes, it seems as if he really wants to just be with me. I just don't know sometimes. Then, there's Pansy. She wants him all the time, and she will do anything to have him. Then Kim, I honestly had no idea how knit tight her and Draco were. It's like everyone around me is in on this huge secret and I'm just a little pawn in it all."

Hermione looked up from her notes and sighed. "Well, I'm not sure what to tell you. I have to say that that's typical Slytherin behavior." She gave an apologetic shrug. "Pansy has always been that way, and she'll be that way until she dies. At one point I heard a rumor that she had been messing around with Crabbe, but you know how rumors go. With Draco, I've never known him to have a heart, so whether he likes you or not, I couldn't possibly begin to tell you what to do."

I listened closely to everything she said. I snorted at the end. "Wow, Mione. I thought you were supposed to be the smart one. You're loads of help, really." I said sarcastically.

Hermione kept her pin straight face. "What I want to know is, are you feeling the same way?"

My grin dropped. That one definitely hit home. "I- do you want me to tell you the truth?"

"No, I want you to tell me a lie- of course I want you to tell me the truth." She said slamming her book shut, now completely wrapped in the conversation.

I ran my hands through my dark hair and felt my eyebrows inch closer together. "Well, I honestly don't know. Sometimes I feel like ripping his throat out, he's such a jerk. Other times, it's like he's this completely other person. He's sweet and it really seems like he cares. I don't know." I worked to get out every word, trying to make sure it sounded perfect-making sure every word I said was the truth. I avoided Hermione's gaze by playing with my fingers twisting and folding them. "I think I like him, but- ugh. I want to be with him. I want to be away from him, you know, because a part of me wants things to go back to the way they were, but when I look at things now, I'm not so sure. There are definitely things that I could go without, but I know that Draco isn't all bad. At least, I don't think he is."

I was actually surprised with her. When I glanced up at her, she was nodding and had a completely serious look on her face. She was actually listening to what I had to say, judgment absent from her maternal expression. If it was Harry or Ron, they wouldn't have let me explain myself. They'd just continue to make assumptions like they always did. Hermione just listened, gathering up the information and waited until I was done to give her intelligent analysis.

"It seems to me like you do like him. You just don't want to admit it. I don't understand it," She sighed and added with a small grin, "but if you say he's what you want then maybe I might have been wrong this one time. Who knows, if he stopped calling me Mudblood so much, maybe he and I could even become friends."

I grinned too. "Maybe. I'm glad you think so."

I lounged around in Hermione's room for a while. Then Ginny came up to remind us about the DA meeting. We met up with Ron and Harry and made our way over to the Room of Requirement. On the way, I could have sworn I saw a statue move or its shadow shift. I stopped and turned back to examine the corridor.

"Emma, come on."

"I thought I saw... never mind. I'm coming." I said shaking the cold goose bumps away and jogging up to the door.

The meeting went as it normally did. Everyone was having their trials and errors, but we all managed to produce our Patronus, even Neville. We were in the mist of making a full body patronus when a crash was heard from the corridor. Everyone stopped and looked towards the wall which the sound was produced. I just turned towards Cody. His horror mirrored mine. Then, another crash was heard. Dust and debris broke off and crumbled to the floor.

"What is that?" Seamus Finnigan asked quietly.

"You think that..." Cody couldn't even finish his sentence.

Hermione ran over to me and pulled me away. I hadn't even realized that I wasn't moving. I just stood there in my paralyzed state. Hermione managed to conjure up a small door to get me and Cody out. I found my voice as she was shutting the trick wall.

"Wait, you're not going to come with us?" I questioned in a frenzy. She just continued to push the door.

"Finding us is one thing. We can handle whatever Umbridge dishes out, but you two Slytherins... what would your house think of you?" She said seriously, a grin playing on her face. "We'll talk later."

Then she shut the door and it disappeared. I stared at the wall for a few seconds listening to the walls on the other side shake and probably crash to the floor with the loudest pounding of all.

"Come on, Emma. We have to go." Cody said pulling me through the tiny corridor. We bent our heads all the way through, the ceiling being far too low for us to fully stand. Once we were out, we bounded down a flight of stairs away from the 'crime scene'. We seemed to be in a sprint, running down the corridor. I just felt my heart pound in my chest and make its way up to my throat and pounded there, choking me. Cody got me out of there before I had a nervous breakdown, but I still couldn't calm myself.

"We should've stayed." I told him. We sat down on a window sill and took a breath.

"Yeah, that's smart. Let's give the heirs another reason to hate us. I really don't want a repeat of the beginning of last term. Do you?"

"Sounds perfect actually." A shrilly voice echoed from the end of the corridor.

Cody and I turned to come face to face with a bob-raven black headed Pansy. The blood drained and cooled in my veins just from the sight of her. She had a smirk on her mouth. I didn't chance a glance at Cody. Instead, I wrapped my fingers around my wand. I was sure that Cody would do the same if he had any common sense.

"Kimberly can't save you now." She said and walked over to us with subtly. "This is rich. You not only betrayed all of the heirs and your fellow Slytherins, but you also betrayed the Dark Lord... conspiring with the enemy...tut-tut. Where's Draco now?"

Her words seemed to be as cold as the air that breezed in through the low window. The difference between the two- Pansy's words made me shy away. The cool air was empowering. I took in a deep breath and focused my eyes. I pulled out my wand and pointed it directly at her. My confidence grew out and caused a smirk to spread through my lips, stretching them until it looked what I was positively sure was frightening.

"Like I need Draco to save me."

Then sparks flew.