Author's Note: Thank you to those that reviewed! Your comments are always very helpful! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm super nervous about all the new chapters lately...Anyway, please review if you feel the urge. Thanks so much!! :)

Saturday had approached rather quickly and Raynea still wasn't fully prepared for her date with Shane. She did truly care about him, but not in the way that he wanted. It seemed like a lot of that had been going around lately.

Raynea spent the early part of the morning getting ready for Hogsmeade. She took a quick shower then pulled on a pair of jeans, a tight, black v-neck sweater and black boots. After she got dressed, Raynea ran a brush through her long, brown hair which she had chosen to wear straight that day. She quickly put on some make-up before putting on a long, grey coat and a black beret to shield from the cold.

Once her morning routine was finished, Raynea headed down to the front of the school to meet up with Shane and then head off to Hogsmeade. There was a large crowd of students assembled outside when she arrived, making it hard for her to find Shane. She scanned the flock of students carefully, but was still unable to find her friend. However, during her search, Raynea did notice Draco Malfoy mingling with a group of his friends towards the back of the crowd. She rolled her eyes as she saw him and grew even more infuriated when she caught him looking her up and down. She knew he did this partly just because he wanted to, and partly just to piss her off. He did his classic eyebrow raise and Raynea narrowed her eyes at him in reply. She turned her back to him and was glad to see Shane pushing past the hordes of students to greet her.

"Hey," he said with a bright smile, "Ready to go?"

"Definitely," Raynea replied kindly, though inside she was utterly frustrated. Once she saw Shane, she knew she would have to tell him the truth. Maybe not at that exact moment, but sometime on their trip to Hogsmeade, she would have to set him straight.

***

The students had been at Hogsmeade for a little over two hours now, and Raynea had still not worked up the courage to tell Shane how she really felt. It was a difficult situation for her, especially considering how much she valued their friendship. Losing Shane would be completely devastating, and she was afraid to risk it. Though Raynea knew that the longer she waited, the harder it would be.

After visiting a few of the shops in town, Raynea and Shane decided to take a stroll towards the Shrieking Shack. It was a beautiful, snowy day and it seemed the perfect time to take a long walk. Raynea recognized this as an opportune moment to explain things to Shane. She just hoped everything would work out okay.

"I've had a good time today," Shane said suddenly before Raynea had a chance to speak.

"Yeah, me too," she agreed with a soft smile.

"I'm glad we decided to do this," he added. Raynea merely nodded. She was beginning to lose her nerve, but she would force herself to say something, one way or another.

"We should do something like this again," Shane continued. Raynea felt her stomach jolt nervously. It was now or never.
"Definitely…as friends," she uttered.

"Oh," Shane responded after a short pause.

"I should've told you earlier," Raynea began with an ashamed expression, "I just don't feel that way about you. I know I never should've agreed to the date, but I didn't know what to say."

"You could've said no," Shane said in annoyance.

"I know. I should have," Raynea agreed as she cast her eyes downwards, "I'm really sorry."

"Yeah, I'm sure you are, Rayne," he stated with a nod.

"Please, don't be upset," Raynea pleaded, "This doesn't change anything. We're still friends."

"I guess," Shane said as he shrugged, "Raynea, I'm not mad at you because you're not into me. That's totally okay. I just wish you told me. How could you lead me on like that?"

"I didn't mean to lead you on," she told him desperately, "I'm so, so sorry."

"I know you are," he replied as he started to back away, "I have to go. Bye."

Shane turned around and began walking away at a fast pace, leaving Raynea to stand alone in front of the Shrieking Shack. She was feeling rather shaky from the confrontation and took a seat beneath a nearby tree. She couldn't believe that she had lost another friend, just like that. It felt like she was alienating herself from everyone lately. She never would've thought that she'd distance herself from Shane, too. They were so close, it just seemed odd. Raynea sighed heavily and swallowed a lump in her throat before getting back on her feet. As she began to head back towards the town, she heard footsteps behind her. Judging from the run of bad luck she was having, Raynea was certain she knew who it was.

"Not now, Malfoy," she said wearily as she held back tears.

"You handled that rather badly," Draco stated with dark amusement, ignoring her request.

"Thanks for the update," Raynea replied sarcastically, hoping he wouldn't be able to detect the tears in her eyes, "Now go away."

"Oh come on, McCoy…" Malfoy said with a cocky smile.

"Well, at least you listened to me about one thing," Raynea mused bitingly, glad that he finally decided to stop calling her Raynea.

"Yeah, now why don't you return the favor," he suggested coolly.

"Don't start this again," she warned as she shook her head.

"How about you stop being a stubborn bitch?" he said with an eyebrow raise.

"Calling me a bitch is a good way to win me over," Raynea snapped caustically, rolling her eyes and turning her back to him.

Malfoy looked up at the sky in irritation and sighed heavily. Even he seemed to be getting frustrated by this conversation.

"Just…leave," Raynea said in a hoarse voice. She was about to burst into tears and she didn't want him to see. It was bad enough he had seen her in a moment of weakness once, she couldn't stand if it happened again.

The aggravation in Draco's expression began to melt away as a smirk graced his face.

"You're not gonna cry again, are you?" he questioned amusedly.

"Shut up," she ordered, still refusing to face him.

"You're pathetic," Draco told her mockingly.

"If I'm so pathetic, then why do you even like me?" Raynea demanded as she spun around to face him.

"If I'm such an 'unfeeling bastard,' then why do you like me?" he shot back, retaining his patented smirk.

"I don't like you, Malfoy," Raynea exclaimed, "I don't know how many different ways I have to tell you that I have no interest in you. I hate you. You disgust me. I look at you and I feel sick. Do you get it now?"

"Yeah, absolutely," he responded with a sinful grin, "You want me."

"I'm not talking about this anymore," she told him as she prepared to leave, "I have no interest in you, Malfoy. End of story"

After that last declaration, Raynea took off towards the town, unable to deal with any further contact with Draco.

"…like hell," he said contradictorily in response to her closing statement as he shoved his hands into his coat pockets bitterly.

***

The following day, Raynea decided to spend the majority of her time working on her half of the Transfiguration project. Burying herself in work seemed like the best method to avoid what she was feeling. In fact, she had been so unwilling to face her emotions that she was in a bit of a blind frenzy. She had bumped into at least five people on her way down to the library, apologizing to each one as it happened.

Once she reached her destination, Raynea rushed past several aisles of books in search of a table. During her fast paced crusade, she collided with another person, this time so hard that it caused them both to topple to the ground. Raynea looked up to see who was the latest victim of her clumsiness was. She felt her stomach jolt nervously as he stared back at her.

Harry was looking at her, seeming rather embarrassed for their collision even though Raynea was truly at fault. He gulped loudly and smiled.

"Hi."

"Hi," Raynea responded slowly, gazing at him with her jaw slightly dropped.

They merely looked at each other awkwardly, remaining on the ground with their materials sprawled out across the floor. Raynea cleared her throat after awhile and began collecting her belongings. There was no point in prolonging this uncomfortable encounter.

"I'm really sorry about this," she apologized with sincerity.

"No, don't worry about it," he said as he started to gather his own items.

For a few moments, the two just continued to pick up the mess in silence, but eventually Raynea found it to be odd. Not talking to Harry when she was perfectly capable of doing so seemed ridiculous.

"So, how've you been?" she asked quietly.

"Alright," Harry replied as he nodded, "You?"

"Okay," Raynea said with a small grin, "And…how's Ginny?"

"She's fine," he stated politely. Through this kind and quiet façade, Raynea could see Harry's true discomfort. Perhaps there was no way to get back to where they were before.

Harry stood up abruptly and Raynea followed suit. They offered each other soft smiles and just stared at each other for a moment.

"Well, I should go," Harry said after awhile.

"Right," Raynea stated with a nod, "Bye, Harry."

"Bye."

He was gone fairly quickly after that. Raynea didn't blame him for trying to escape, the awkwardness was rather blatant. She shook her head as if it would somehow clear her mind and headed off to a vacant table in the middle of the library. Raynea organized the table to her liking before heading off to seek out a few of the books she would need to complete the project. This took little time and she had soon returned to her designated area to begin working.

Raynea started flipping through a rather large book when a gust of wind rushed past her and she saw someone had taken a seat in front of her. She looked up to see Draco sitting across from her and she sighed in disgust.

"What do you want?" Raynea asked as she violently turned the page of the book before her.

"I thought we could talk project," he answered, so obviously withholding his true intentions.

"What happened to our original plan?"

"Seems to have slipped my mind," he told her casually, yet somehow he was able to sound arrogant.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Raynea said acidly as she began to dig through her school bag.

"What're you doing?"

"Well, if you're going to be hanging around, you might as well make yourself useful," Raynea explained as she tossed a book at him, "Start researching."

"Ooh, bossy…" he said with a smirk.

"Just start reading," Raynea stated with narrowed eyes.