Chapter Fourteen: A Disappearance

I continued fuming for about a week. If Malfoy came near me, I'd snarl something at him and leave as quickly as possible. He was just pissing me off so much, with his stuck up attitude and all. Plus, I was frightened if I was near him too long, I'd launch myself at him and beat him senseless.

And now Potions was even more detestable than ever, if that was even possible. I refused to speak to the disgusting little rat, so his head of house picked on me worse than ever. I sat through the class with a sullenly dead expression on my face.

Snape seemed to enjoy seeing me like that though, as he didn't move me out of the partnership. I considered sabotaging our potions constantly and blowing things up, but decided it was more trouble than it was worth.

'Fissure,' Malfoy sneered at the end of class, 'I want to talk to you.'

I was going to keep walking and ignore him, but decided not to in the end. There was only just over a month until the assignment was due, and I didn't really want to give Snape another excuse to give me bad marks.

'You guys go on,' I said to Hermione, Ron and Harry. They nodded, though Hermione hung back.

'Don't do anything you'll regret!' she squeaked, before dashing off after the boys.

'What is it Malfoy,' I sighed, turning to him. He scowled.

'Look, Fissure, I like you less than you like me,' he started.

'Doubt it,' I snorted.

'Trust me,' he snapped, 'but I have to get this assignment done. Even if I have to tie you up and drag you to the library, you will create a good potion to go with mine.'

I glared at him sullenly.

'So, I'll meet you in the library after dinner. To finish the written stuff,' he said.

'Right,' I snapped.

'You over react way too much,' he muttered.

'I do not!' I cried. He flinched away for a moment, and I realized he thought I had been going to fly at him again.

'I don't,' I repeated, quietly this time.

'You do. You haven't spoken to me for a week, all because I called your friend names-'

'If I had my way, I wouldn't speak to you at all,' I snapped. I gritted my teeth. He was frustrating.

'Just shut up and deal with it, Fissure!' he snarled. 'It's not like I want to speak to you either.'

'You're going to wish you'd never messed with me, Malfoy,' I hissed.

'Oh, I'm terrified,' he whispered sarcastically. I glowered at him, before turning and marching away.

--

When I returned to the common room later that day, Hermione and the boys were waiting for me in the common room. Ron was staring into the fire, Harry was fiddling with his shirt in an agitated way, and Hermione was pacing backwards and forth.

'Lark!' she cried when I entered, stopping her pacing and running to me. 'He's gone, but I don't know where, maybe someone took him? I don't know!'

She was almost hysterical, her cheeks flushed and eyes bright. Ron was looking uncomfortable and Harry was furious.

'What's the matter?' I asked quickly, dropping my book bag.

'Kettle's disappeared!' Hermione sobbed.

'What?' I gasped. Someone had taken Kettle? 'Did you see anyone..?'

'No one! I just got back, and he was gone! At first I thought you'd taken him out with you, and then I noticed that there were other things missing too, like my blazer, and a scarf, and your necklace-'

'It's alright,' I said calmly. 'He's wandered off before, maybe this is just like all those other time. He might come back by tomorrow, and bring all the stuff back with him.'

'But what if someone took him?' Ron asked quickly. 'And he's never wandered off with the kettle before.'

'I bet I know who took him,' Harry seethed.

'Who?' I asked quickly. Parvarti? Lavender? Maybe they'd heard that he had a connection to Bouilloire and wanted to get a look?

'Malfoy,' Harry said, his voice filled with conviction, 'who else?'

I thought about it for a moment, before shaking my head. 'No,' I paused, 'no. Not even Malfoy would do that. How would he get in, anyway? I thought it was impossible for boys to get into the girl's dorms, let alone for him to get into Gryffindor Tower.'

'Malfoy's one slimy bugger, Lark,' Ron said thoughtfully. 'I wouldn't put it past him. Besides, he's kind of girly already.'

'I'm really sorry, Lark…' Hermione said softly. I managed a grin and hugged her tightly.

'It wasn't your fault, 'Mione,' I said kindly. 'You weren't here, and he might have been taken even while we were in classes. It's nothing to worry about now at least, anyway.'

I gestured for Ron to come over, and steered Hermione into him. 'Give her a hug!' I hissed. He looked terrified, but obeyed anyway.

Satisfied that Hermione was wrapped in the arms of someone who cared for her, I turned to Harry.

'You really think it was Malfoy?' I asked. He nodded seriously. I frowned.

'I don't think it's possible,' I said eventually, shrugging. 'For him to get in and out of there, plus Kettle would have made a huge racket and all…' I shook my head with an air of finality. 'No, I don't think it was Malfoy.'

Harry shrugged. 'Alright then, if you think so,' he said. 'But if Kettle doesn't turn up…'

'I'll smash his face in anyway,' I finished. 'Whether he did it or not, I'm pretty sure I'll feel like it.'

Harry grinned and nodded. 'It's settled, then,' he laughed.

--

I still had the guts to turn up at the library though. Malfoy was already sitting at a desk inside. Madame Pince watched me with hawk eyes as I sat at the same table as the hateful boy.

'Evening,' he said politely, without looking up.

I didn't say anything and just got out my books to begin writing.

'We have to finish this all tonight,' he said anyway. 'It takes a full moon-cycle to mature, so we should make the potion tomorrow.'

'Fabulous,' I said softly. I wasn't in the mood for a fight.

'You right?' he said looking up. He wasn't concerned though, more annoyed, I realized.

'Always am,' I said with sarcastic brightness. He rolled his eyes.

I began working. Time passed, and I realized I was stuck. Part of it just didn't make sense.

'I bet Malfoy knows…' I thought. Could I bring myself to ask him?

…No.

I sat for a long time, fidgeting. Starting sentences and crossing them out.

'What the hell is the matter?' Malfoy snapped eventually, as I started absent mindedly tapping my foot on the floor.

'What do you mean?' I asked, avoiding his eyes. He glared at me.

'That's the seventh time you've dropped your quill,' he said drily.

'Oh. Um, I just… I don't understand this part,' I said in a small voice.

He sighed and stood up, coming to look at my work. He pulled a face at the doodles all around the edges, most depicted a me-looking stick figure stabbing/guillotining/wounding a Malfoy-looking stick figure.

He read it through only once, before taking the quill from my hand and changing a few things.

'So it's here you're having trouble then?' he said, indicating the area where I'd started writing gibberish.

'Mm,' I said slowly. His shoulder bumped mine as he leant forward to continue writing.

I looked at him, as he did. I'd never really looked at him before. Pale features, light blonde hair. Serious, blue/grey eyes. I felt a wave of repulsion hit me as the word 'pretty' popped into my mind.

'Oh, gross,' I muttered, grimacing.

'What?' Malfoy asked, looking at me, a confused scowl on his face.

'Nothing,' I said quickly, flushing.

'It wasn't making sense because you had these steps backwards,' he said, ignoring me. 'So once you've swapped them… there, does it make sense now?'

I leaned closer and looked at the changes he'd made. Now it did make sense.

'Oh! Yes! Much better, thank-'

I stopped. He didn't deserve to be thanked.

'What was that, Fissure?' he drawled. 'A thank you?'

'No,' I muttered sullenly.

'I think it was.'

'Well it wasn't.'

He smirked and went back to his chair. I pulled a face at him and looked back down at my work.

It was then I noticed a doodle down the bottom of the page that I hadn't done. It showed Malfoy standing on a pedestal with his usual smug face and several fan girls around him, and then a version of me that had a hunch back, pointy teeth, drool, uneven eyes, and a generally unpleasant appearance.

'I see you think I'm rather attractive,' I said drily. He snorted loudly and I smirked.

--

'Lark?'

I sat up quickly, my neck snapping back. I groaned in pain and rubbed it.

'Hermine?' I whispered.

I was still in the library, my head had been resting on my text book. Malfoy and all his things had disappeared, and Hermione was slowly collecting my things.

'What's the time?' I asked quietly, helping her.

'After midnight,' she replied softly. 'When you didn't come back by twelve I came looking for you… he was gone when I arrived.'

'Oh, damn!' I swore. 'I was supposed to finish the written stuff so we could do the…'

I trailed off, looking at my work. I could only remember doing about half of it, but someone had finished the rest with neat, spiky writing. I stared, confused.

At the bottom of the page was a little box, and in the box more words were written.

I tried to wake you, but you're damn lazy. Copy it onto a clean sheet of parchment, please. 8 o'clock tomorrow in the charms classroom.

'Malfoy,' I hissed angrily. 'I must have fallen asleep,' I said turning to Hermione. She looked worried.

'Well, I think we should go back to the common room. Um, tomorrow we can look for Kettle.'

I remembered then, what had been worrying me before Malfoy. Kettle had disappeared. Strangely, I didn't feel too upset or frightened.

'Alright, but I have to go at eight.'

Hermione nodded, and together we set off for Gryffindor Tower.

Author's Note:

Dun, dun! Is that the faint underline of a plot I see? gasp

:D Here is the next part. I hope you like it