Alli awoke the next morning with a smile on her face. The clock on her bedside table read ,'8:16'. Alli stretched, sat up, and looked over at Ashley. She was still asleep. She felt a small pressure just below her stomach and remembered the night before: Draco and the library. Alli giggled a little at the thought. After pulling up her black pantyhose, zipping up her black skirt, buttoning her white blouse, and tying the green and silver-striped tie around her neck, Alli took a look at herself in the mirror. She ran a brush through her tangled wavy mess of hair and pulled it half-up. She took a step-back from the mirror. Her body was tiny compared to the average teenage girl. After all, she only stood about five feet tall. She closed her eyes and put her fingers to her lips, remembering the way Draco had kissed her last night. Alli sighed and opened her eyes. As Alli studied her own reflection, she realized how innocent she looked. Alli decided to apply some makeup, which she had decided made her look a bit older and less naive. After slipping her feet into some black flats, Alli darted out of her room and past the Slytherin Common Room towards the Great Hall for breakfast. She couldn't help but be excited to see Draco again. Alli drew in a deep breath when she saw Draco sitting at the Slytherin table, waiting for her. He looked up when she approached and smiled, receiving some awkward looks from the other students as it was rare that Draco ever smiled. Alli sat down beside him.
"Hey," Alli greeted him.
"Good morning," Draco replied. Alli giggled. Draco leaned in and kissed her full on the lips in front of everyone. As they pulled away, Alli felt a presence behind her. She looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. Pansy sat down beside Alli. She didn't say anything immediately, so Alli spoke up.
"Can I help you?" Alli snapped at her.
"You're starting to become a problem to me," said Pansy as she glared at Alli.
"You've always been a problem to me," Alli replied, with a tilt of her head and a fake smile.
"I need to talk to you," said Pansy, "away from everyone if you don't mind."
"I think I'm going to pass on that," Alli replied.
"I. Need. To. Talk. To. You," Pansy repeated. Alli sighed and rolled her eyes.
"Fine." Alli turned to Draco. "I'll be right back, Draco." Draco stood up and looked Alli in the eye as Pansy headed away from them.
"Alli, I know you think you know what you're doing, but you don't know what she's capable of," Draco told her quickly. Alli raised her eyebrows.
"Seriously? It's Pansy. It's probably not a big deal. She's not that smart. I'll be fine," said Alli, "trust me."
Alli followed Pansy out of the Great Hall and around the corner, into the girls' bathroom. Pansy placed her hands on the edge of one of the sinks, facing away from Alli. Alli crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows.
"Are you planning on talking any time soon?" asked Alli, finally. Pansy turned around and looked Alli in the eye.
"I know you hate me," said Pansy quietly.
"Good guess," Alli replied.
"But, I want to share something with you," Pansy continued. "You have to know something about Draco."
"And what could you possibly have to tell me about Draco, that I don't already know?" Alli replied.
"Draco has secrets, Alli. Things he hasn't yet told you."
"And how do you know that he hasn't told me yet?" asked Alli.
"Because," Pansy stated, "if he had told you, you would've already left him." Alli was silent. "I've known Draco since first year," Pansy continued. "I've been around him and his friends. I've heard him talk about his father and I've seen the way he reacts to certain topics that are brought up in conversation."
"Mind if I ask you a question?" Alli asked. Without waiting for a reply, she said, "Why do you care?" Pansy shrugged. "You know what I think?" Alli said taking a step closer to Pansy. "I think you're doing a fantastic job this time." Pansy narrowed her eyes. "It's really funny, actually," Alli continued. "This whole thing about you trying to get Draco is pathetic, Pansy," she laughed. "Let me spell it out for you, again. Draco. Does. Not. Want. You."
"I'm trying to help you, Potter," said Pansy, twisting her mouth into a snarl.
"The only person you're looking out for is yourself. Don't play. Once you've gotten me out of the way, you're going to swoop in and try to steal him away."
"All he wants from you is-"
"All he wants is what he didn't want from you," All replied with a smirk. "Pansy, nothing you say to either of us is going to change that. Get it?"
Pansy's entire expression faded and she looked Alli straight in the eye, having realized something.
"You've been shagging him," Pansy accused.
"Shagging?" Alli laughed. "What the hell is shagging? It sounds like—"
"I think you know what it means," Pansy growled.
"Why don't you just say it in normal words? Or are you afraid to tell me what you really mean by that?" Alli laughed, haughtily.
"You had sex with him," Pansy told her. Alli smirked and narrowed her eyes.
"Last night, actually," Alli corrected her.
Pansy scowled and pulled her wand from her skirt pocket. Alli titled her head to the side with a smile.
"Are you going to fight me, Pansy?" Alli laughed. She pulled her wand from her pocket just as Pansy yelled her first curse. Alli darted out of the way of the red light shooting towards her. She pointed her wand at Pansy and yelled, "Levicorpus!"
Pansy was thrown into the air and hung by her ankles. Alli slashed her wand downward and Pansy fell to the floor. Pansy looked up at Alli from the ground. She shot another curse at Alli. Alli wasn't able to move in time. She was hit with red sparks and thrown off her feet. Pansy stood up and laughed as she sauntered over to Alli.
"Are you finished?" Pansy asked.
"Locomotor Mortis!" Alli called.
"Protego!" Pansy yelled at an attempt to defend herself. But, Alli's spell was faster. It hit Pansy and locked her legs in place.
"No, actually," Alli replied, as she stood up. "I've got one more for you." Pansy, still unable to move, widened her eyes. "Stupefy!"
Pansy was thrown backward into the air, and slammed against the bathroom wall. She dropped to the floor. Alli smiled and walked over to Pansy. Pansy glared at Alli as blood began dripping from her now broken nose and from a cut on her cheek. Alli placed her wand back inside her pocket with a smirk.
"Oh, yeah, and by the way I know Draco didn't fuck you," said Alli, "Oh, excuse me. I mean shag." With that, Alli flipped her hair over her shoulder and left the girls' bathroom. Draco was waiting for her in the corridor.
"What happened?" asked Draco, quickly. Alli shrugged.
"I took care of it," replied Alli as Pansy emerged from the doorway of the bathroom. She was holding a bloodied tissue to her nose. Draco looked at Pansy's face and smirked.
"Good." Draco looked at Alli and then began to walk away. Alli smiled at Pansy sarcastically.
"You might want to clean up your face," Alli sneered, looking Pansy up and down. She snickered as she turned on her heel and followed Draco around the corner.
Alli arrived in Transfiguration a few minutes before class began. As she sat down at her usual spot towards the front of the classroom, she felt a presence behind her.
"Alli?"
Alli looked over her shoulder to see Harry taking a seat next to her at the table.
"Oh, hey, Harry!" Alli greeted him with a smile. "How are you doing this morning?"
Harry eyed her curiously. Alli was not normally this excited to see him, or rather anyone, in general.
"Err, hi," Harry replied, awkwardly.
"Did you enjoy breakfast?" Alli asked him. Then, her eyes widened. "Oh, my gosh! I have to tell you what happened this morning with Pansy Parkinson!" Before waiting for a response, Alli continued. "Okay, so last night me and Draco were in the library and-" she paused suddenly. Harry raised his eyebrows. "Well, we... yeah... anyway," Alli trailed off.
"Okay," said Harry, "so?"
"So," said Alli, "this morning at breakfast, Pansy came up and was being a bitch, as usual. She said she wanted to like talk to me or something so we went to the bathroom to talk. She started talking about Draco keeping secrets or something? It was like all this stupid shit and I was like um, okay? Well, anyway, she ended up trying to duel me and like I totally kicked her ass. Oh, and her nose was broken afterwards, too. It was hilarious."
Harry looked at her as if he was expecting her to say more, but Alli just smiled.
"What is wrong with you?" asked Harry, bluntly. Alli shrugged and had started to answer when Professor McGonagall called for silence.
"Now, today," she began, "we will be transforming animals into water goblets." McGonagall flicked her wand and a small bird, rat, or lizard appeared in front of each student. McGonagall opened her mouth to continue when Hermione's hand shot up in the air. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Um, Professor," said Hermione, "we had this lesson in second year, I believe."
"I am not quite finished," McGonagall replied. "Today, we will be transforming animals into water goblets. I assume all of you remember how to do this from second year."
The students exchanged glances as if hoping they were not the only ones who hadn't remembered a small, useless spell from four years ago. Alli raised her eyebrows at Harry.
"Do you know?" asked Alli.
"No," said Harry, "do you?" Alli narrowed her eyes at him.
"Uh, I wasn't even here for second year," she snapped.
"I know that," said Harry, matching her tone. "I was just curious to see if you ever learned it at your other school."
"Why would I have wasted my time trying to turn a stupid animal into a cup?" she replied.
"Quiet down now," McGonagall announced. "I see that many of you may need a reminder. Observe."
McGonagall approached a front table where a rat was sitting in front of Seamus Finnigan. She tapped her wand on the rat's back three times and said, "Vera Verto." The rat transformed into a tall silver goblet. "Now, that you have had that little reminder, we will begin with the untransformations."
Everyone seemed to struggled with the untransformations. Hermione, of course, was the only student to successfully transform her goblet back into the iguana she had in front of her. When class was dismissed an hour later, the students left grumbling with frustration. Alli felt a hand touch her shoulder as she was walking out of the room. She turned around. It was Hermione. Alli sighed.
"What?" said Alli, knowing she would again be told something she didn't want to hear.
"Alli, can we talk?" asked Hermione. Alli sighed and placed a hand on her hip in response.
"I'm worried about you," Hermione began without hesitation.
"Why?" asked Alli.
"I know about the dreams you and Harry have shared recently," Hermione explained. "Alli, Harry has had these types of dreams before and they always seem to lead somewhere. I want you to listen to me when I say Malfoy is not a good guy. Harry thinks that Malfoy is one of them now."
"One of what?"
"He thinks Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater," Hermione told her. Alli huffed and rolled her eyes.
"I don't think you get it," said Alli. "You do understand that every time you try to tell me something bad about Draco I get mad and insult you or something, right? Why the hell are you worried about me if I obviously don't give a shit?" Alli snapped. Hermione's eyes narrowed and she took a step towards Alli.
"The only reason I care to say anything to you, Alli, is because I care about Harry. I don't care if you don't give a shit. I only care because you're the only family he has left now since Sirirus died," said Hermione, angrily. "You're so selfish! You don't care. You don't seem to care about your own well-being much less care about your own family." Alli looked at the floor.
"Sorry," Alli muttered.
"You shouldn't be saying that to me," Hermione continued. "I think you owe Harry an apology." With that, Hermione left Alli standing there feeling ashamed and guilt-tripped. Alli sighed, angrily, and left the classroom.
Defense Against the Dark Arts went normal as usual. Snape lectured, insulted Harry, and assigned a reading. Alli turned to Draco once Snape had dismissed the class.
"Hey, do you want to—"
"Mr. Malfoy," Snape called.
"Hold on," Draco told Alli. Alli sighed and crossed her arms as Draco stepped up to Professor Snape's desk at the front. She was unable to hear what Snape was talking to him about but something about the hushed tones made her nervous. Alli bit her lip and walked over to them.
"I'll meet up with you later, Alli," said Draco before she could speak up. Alli nodded, kissed him on the cheek, and left. As she headed back to the common room, Alli couldn't escape her thoughts. What did Snape possibly want to talk to Draco about? Her memories of the last dream she had haunted her thoughts. That's what Snape wanted to talk to him about. He wanted to talk to Draco about Voldemort.