CHAPTER 9-NAIVE

By definition, winter was generally referred to as the time of the year when it was cold and snowy. Winter had no place in that definition, at this precise moment she was so angry that she had to be causing the room temperature to up various degrees. Anyone who entered the common room had fled to get away from her and no one dared to talk to her. The more she thought of Blaise the worse off she became, Mrs. Revenfall's speech had gone on deaf ears. Another week with not even a glimpse of Blaise and Winter was just about to lose her mind. She was out of control and she knew Blaise was the reason why, she'd definitely not read Posture and Principal well enough. Whenever Blaise came through that common room door he was going to get it and Winter couldn't wait to explode at him.

Just the thought made her feel better, her and Blaise had never gone more than three days without talking even when they were mad at each other. Blaise however was avoiding her with a passion and she wouldn't have that, no chance. As more and more hours went by the less and less angry Winter became until she found herself sitting back on the couch and staring into the fire. As she sat there Draco approached her once again and she breathed out in frustration and turned her gaze to the roof.

"Please, just leave me alone, I'm already confused enough as it is. I don't need you coming onto me and then changing your mind. I can't.....I can't take that right now, not now," Winter said, dropping her head into her hands.

"He's a nutter, to treat you this way," Draco said quietly, and rested a hand on her shoulder. Winter let out a small sob but stifled it; against her better judgment she reached up and took Draco's hand beneath hers. Selfless Draco was a mystery to Winter but that side of him drew her in like a month to firelight. She knew it wasn't the real him or at least not the him he liked to portray and that was what made her weary of him.

"Why aren't you making any snide comments?" Winter asked, wiping her eyes and looking up at Draco.

"Do we need to have a repeat of a few nights ago?" Draco replied, and Winter blushed.

"That's no answer, you just told me I was attractive then proceeded to take advantage of me."

"I stopped didn't I?"

Winter rolled her eyes and sat back in the couch then turned to look at Draco once more.

"Has he talked to you?" she asked, she hadn't wanted to go there, she hadn't wanted to appear vulnerable but she had to know.

"No, he hasn't said a word to me in weeks," Draco answered, and for once Winter believed him.

"How am I supposed to keep myself distracted, all I think about is him!"

"Ignore him; he'll take that very hard, believe me. Stop thinking about him, asking around, he'll realize you've stopped caring."

Winter turned to Draco and took a deep breath before nodding; she had to hear it from more than one person to give her that push. Tomorrow she would pretend there had never been a boy named Blaise Zabini, and maybe if she tried hard enough she'd actually believe it herself.

When the morning approached and Winter looked at the date she realized today was the day of Snape's detention. She drug herself out of bed and got dressed before walking down into the dungeon, then she remembered Snape now occupied the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Winter turned around and found her way to Snape's new classroom and stepped inside.

"You're late," Snape said, looking up from the papers on his desk.

"I went the wrong way," said Winter, pointing towards the potions class.

"I need you to clean the floor, Mr. Longbottom had yet another accident with his spell making," Snape said, he pointed his finger to where the center of the floor was and Winter saw a big mess. Scorch marks, pieces of wood scattered across the floor, broken desks, Neville really had done a number on the place.

"Yes, sir," she said, and walked over to the center of the room where cleaning supplies were sitting off to the side. Manual labor, it was new considering magic usually took care of those things. The first thing Winter did was sweep up anything left on the floor then began to pile bigger pieces together and set them off to the side. Once that was finished she scrubbed the floor, then she washed it, then she scrubbed it once more and washed it again before beginning to dry. The stains were tough to get out and she was surprised to see she had been at the floor for a little over an hour. She wiped away the drop of wetness and then stood up. Snape approached her and look over the floor.

"May I see your wand?" he asked. Winter wondered where this was going but pulled her wand from her pocket and handed it to him. He motioned with it and expelliarmus shot out, the last spell Winter had used from her wand; he nodded then handed Winter back her wand.

"You're free to go," Snape said, and Winter obliged happily, she replaced her wand and left the classroom heading back to Slytherin house. As she was walking down the stairs to the dungeon she almost froze when she saw Blaise walking towards her. She was hoping he wasn't some type of illusion from all the cleaning supplies she'd inhaled. Then she figured she didn't care, real or not she was going to cuss him out.

"Where have you been?" Winter asked, putting her hands on her hips and staring a hole in Blaise's head with her glare.

"What do you mean?" Blaise asked innocently.

"What do I mean?" Winter scoffed at the answer. "What do I mean? Well, I haven't seen you in over two weeks, I haven't glimpsed you, heard your voice, nothing. Don't try to say you weren't avoiding me because everyone has seen you but me."

"I've been looking for you; I thought you were avoiding me."

Winter didn't want to believe him, actually, she didn't believe him but she wanted to believe him so bad that she made herself.

"I've been in the common room every night, where were you?" Winter asked.

"I was….with Rayanne," answered Blaise.

"Every night?"

"We got together when we were by your bedside after Pansy attacked you; we've kind of been inseparable ever since."

"You could have told me, you could have found me and told me, not just leave me thinking you didn't want to be friends anymore."

Blaise approached Winter and picked up one of her hands and looked into her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Winter, I didn't realize this was affecting you that much," Blaise said. Winter nodded and Blaise pulled her into a hug, Mrs. Revenfall's advice had really been lost on her.