Secret Admirer

"I need some air" I told them even though we were already outside. I pushed my chair back and walked in a random direction, footsteps behind me. "I don't wanna talk about it" I told whoever it was.

"Good, I don't either" Fred said as he followed close behind me.

"Then why are you following me?" I asked.

"Was told not to let you out of my sight" he answered, trying to sound cheerful. I sighed and stopped walking, slowly turning around. "Listen, I know what you heard is the last thing you wanted to hear, but, I'm here for you, and Melinda and all your other friends. And you know, maybe Draco was right." I shook my head, not knowing what he meant, "maybe he does wanna be friends, maybe he didn't know the whole story. I'm not going to bat for him or anything, but, I honestly don't think he'd go this far for someone he doesn't care about. I know I wouldn't." I knew I was supposed to think it was sweet Fred was saying all this but I was tired and I felt alone.

"I appreciate your insight—" he kissed me before I could finish my sentence. I thought about asking him to come to a quiet area for maybe a make out but I didn't want to be that kind of girl, and I knew I had to think about the problem at hand with a clear mind.

"Please know I care about you, but, I don't want you involved with any of this, if something happened with my dad and it could happen to me I don't want to put you in danger" I told him but he only walked closer, cupping my face.

"I'm in this with you" he assured me as we knocked foreheads. "We'll find out what's going on together okay? Let's just go back and finish listening to what Melinda was saying" he suggested as I looked over.

"Yeah, okay" I decided as Fred held out his hand and we walked over to Melinda and Draco, the two staring at each other, Melinda looking between highly mad and about to cry; Draco's face twisted into an expression I couldn't read.

"What happened?" Fred asked as I looked from one to the other.

"I can't" Melinda said as she got up, I gave Draco a quick look but had to nearly run after Melinda.

"Hold on, what's wrong, can't?" I asked in a hushed voice as she looked back at Draco with sad eyes.

"He knew Tammie" Melinda said her voice on the edge of crying.

"Not everything, he said so himself" I reminded her.

"But he knew enough, he knew you were a Malfoy and didn't tell you til it—"

"Listen, it doesn't matter—"

"What are you talking about? Of course it matters, don't act like it doesn't to spare me. I know how much all this absolutely sucks for you and honestly I don't want someone who has been dishonest toward my friends. Whose family doesn't even appreciate a good, no great person." I watched as she exhaled enough air to fill a ballon in one blow.

"Okay, you're right, it's not okay, I am upset, I'm sad, I'm confused, but I want more answers and you do too, tossing him aside isn't going to get us anywhere, so whatever you're thinking, stop" I told her. She looked at her feet and shook her head. "This is between us, whatever happened, us, our families goes back generations. We gotta focus" I told her as she finally looked up and nodded.

"Perfect, then tossing Draco will help and that's exactly what I did. I'm going back to my mom, I need to talk it over with her, see if we can see my gran" she said as I half nodded.

"Melinda..." I said knowing this crushed Draco.

"I gotta go" she whispered and then took off, disappearing into the crowd within seconds.

After a few seconds I went back over to the boys. "You okay?" I asked Draco as he sat with his arms crossed over his chest, his legs outstretched, his eyes focused on his bowl of melting ice cream.

"Let's go home" he said after a long minute.

"Draco, I really wanted..." I trailed off as he quickly looked up at me, half glare, half pained. "Fred—"

"Go, I get it" Fred said coming over and hugging me. "There's a lot to process, we'll talk about it back at school or you can write me a letter." I tried not to smirk too widely, I didn't want to make Draco feel anymore down on himself than he already did.

"See you then" I said as he kissed my forehead, shoved his hands into his pocket and started off the same way Melinda had went.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked Draco as we returned to the Manor.

"No" he answered simply as he walked upstairs and out of sight.

The rest of the break was an extremely slow burn. I spent more than enough time in my room, reading and writing letters to my friends and my mom. I told her the news, at first she appeared to not take it well, saying no one would do that, but then she sent another letter explaining she did know most of what I found out. Dad had written her a similar letter, at the end asking her not to tell me. No one was supposed to tell me, they were all afraid I'd leave or hate them, somehow breaking the curse or ruining some long standing agreement no one really knew anything about. But it wasn't like that, what bothered me more was who sent the letter to Melinda, that and what she had done with it.

I had written her several times but her responses were always short, too short so I felt worried but Fred assured me she was fine and just needed space. We talked too, through the mirror, when everyone was sleep. Almost every night. I'd tell him how I was curious about my father's history, I was wondering if I would ever really get to see my mom spending the night at the Manor, I wondered what the next steps were. Fred still questioned me about my whereabouts when I supposedly had my memories rearranged. I tried to explain to him that was the least of my worries and I was sure if someone did do something it was a one time thing and I'd be more careful. He tried to subtly suggest we date again, but only so he'd be better able to protect me. I had to nearly stifle a laugh when he suggested we perhaps search the Quiet Corner.

Back at school the rest of the group was quickly updated, mostly getting the short version from Ron, though Hermione kept interrupting to ask about the letter, she too was suspicious about who would write such a thing. Anyone with a grudge in my opinion, but we didn't have any enemies. Melinda did confess she and Hermione tried all the tricks they could think of to see if there was anything they could uncover about the letter, but to no avail. They even took it to the library to try and decipher the personality of the writer. After all this Melinda said she stored it away someplace safe, but made a copy for each of us in case we remembered something.

Hermione suggested we keep a sample of handwriting from anyone who gave us anything, just in terms of comparison, not to make any accusations. Ron was quick to point to Professor Snape but I reminded him Professor Snape seemed to know my relationship with Draco and never tried to split us up during class, in fact from my first day he always paired us together. I reckoned he knew beforehand. I had yet to ask who else knew, but I felt not many.

Being a Malfoy still gave me a huge disadvantage and after finding out I stayed at their house for another holiday I seemed to get mixed reception in the common room. Charity and her group hadn't let up, they seemed to mock anything I did, even if I walked into the common room, but only if I were alone. They often called me a spy or blood spy. Lee continued to stick up for me while George subtly sided with the girls and Oliver just flat out ignored me. I didn't want to seem hurt but I just couldn't keep explaining to them I didn't ask for any of this and I was loyal to my house; secretly I hoped other houses had this problem.

"Professor, can I talk to you?" I said after a Defense Against the Dark class. Professor Barrass was packing up our lesson and clearing the chalkboard, preparing for the next class.

"Of course" he said as I nodded and pulled out the letter, wanting to get right to the point. We took turns carrying around the letter, comparing them to other students, trying to seeing if we could find something that jumped out or hinted who it was. Today was my day to carry the thing around. I had absolutely no idea where to go with the letter and I knew Professor Barrass was someone I could talk to, I had known him for a while, he was a good mentor, a good person. He'd be able to help. Fred never thought it was a good idea to talk to him, nor did Draco, not after what happened, but I still didn't believe he was involved.

"Over break, we got a weird letter" I shook my head, "Melinda got a weird letter" I started as the Professor leaned against his desk. "I can come back later if that works?"

"No, it's fine, I'm on a break, I'll write you a note for your next class" he said as I nodded and moved forward. "Go on about the letter" he said as I nodded again.

"Someone told her about my dad, he made this spell, like a bonding spell with Melinda's grandparents and it turned out in order to keep the spell I had to stay with a blood relative and keep my mom at bay. The Malfoys knew, including Draco and it sorta left a bad taste in everyone mouth" I explained as he knitted his eyebrows together.

"Who was the letter from?" He asked but I could only shrug. "Do you have any idea what the purpose of the letter might have been?"

"To distance us?" I suggested.

"Did it work?" I laughed at his question but then realized he wasn't laughing too. "Let me see the letter" he said standing up.

"What makes you think I have it?" I asked unintentionally backing up into a desk as he took a step forward.

"I know you wouldn't come to me with a question like that if you didn't have the proof, if you want me to look over it I need to see it" he said as I felt the strangest feeling of needing to get out of the classroom as soon as possible.

"I should go" I told him as he took another step, I pulled my bag closer.

"You still need that note" he reminded me as I licked my lips, ready to say I'd take losing points and run out when the door opened.

"Where have you been? C'mon, do you know how late you are?" I couldn't explain the relief I had seeing Draco barging into the classroom.

"Yeah, exactly" I said as Draco grabbed my arm and dragged me out, not even saying goodbye to the Professor.

"What did we all tell you?" He hissed as he held a tight grip on my arm as we headed toward my Muggle Studies class.

"How do you know I have class now? Much less what class?" I asked as we got closer.

"I overheard Melinda asking one of her friends where you were. I checked out the Gryffindor Tower, I tailed the twins, I checked the library, I was about to actually ask Fred when I heard your voice coming from that classroom" he explained as I honestly felt a newfound respect for him. He knew my voice.

"Well thanks for checking on me, I was okay, really, we can talk about it later" I told him as we stood outside of the classroom.

"Absolutely" he said and gave me a little push toward the door. "Later" he whispered before heading off.

I never did get it explain what happened with Professor Barrass when I entered class because Melinda immediately got on my case about being late. Didn't bother asking where I went or if I was okay so by time class was over I didn't feel much like talking to her. Instead I slowly traveled around the castle, hoping to catch Professor Barrass to just see if I could figure out what's been going on with him. I knew better than to get too close again, there was definitely something going on. "Tammie?" I stopped short, seeing Professor Burnner stepping outside of Professor Barrass' office. "Everything alright?"

"Just looking for Professor Barrass" I told her as she nodded.

"I was too actually, he seemed to have left, didn't give me much of a notice, shame really" she said as I started to ask why it matter if he told her, at first thinking it was a simple lesson pairing reason but then I wondered something else.

"Are you two, seeing each other?" I asked, hoping it wasn't too forward of a question. To my surprise and relief, Professor Burnner laughed and then nodded.

"Not to say too much, but he is a noble and good man, Tammie, whatever is going on with him, you have to give him a break, your mom too, you can't blame her" she said as I nodded, catching Fred waving at me.

"I gotta go" I told as she started to move but she grabbed my wrist.

"How's the daydreaming going?" she whispered with a kind smile as I swallowed my words, I couldn't explain what it was but suddenly every hair on my body was standing to attention.

"Better, I feel much better, more alert" I told her as Fred called my name. "I should go" I told her as she nodded, smiled wider and let go of my arm.

"Have a good day then Tammie."