a Blood red rOse:




Ron tripped and fell, his lunch spilling out across the floor. Draco laughed, the rest of the Slytherins following suit.

"Weasley... He's such a bloody moron... Can't walk from one place to another without tripping over his own feet." he chuckled to the Slytherins as Ron hastily picked up his things.

Ron got up off the floor and made to join the rest of the Gryffindors as Malfoy shouted, "Were you absent the day they taught walking in the school of 'Simple concepts for mentally retarded Weasles'?" he yelled over the loud chatting of the dining hall, the Slytherins burst with laughter once again...

"Get stuffed Malfoy" Ron yelled angrily. The moment he said that, Snape entered the dining hall, looking as repulsing as ever in his flowing purple and orange robes, dotted green around the seams .

"Ten points from Gryffindor" he said as he swept past Ron on his way to the staff dining table.

"Damn!" Ron said frustrated under his breath as he moved to sit in the seat Harry and Hermione had saved for him...

"Don't worry Ron, don't let them bother you." Hermione said to him.

Ron rolled his eyes at Hermione as he poked through his food looking for something that might still be clean enough to eat. " I hate them" He said to his two friends after he found everything on his plate had been ruined.

"Who, Snape or Malfoy?" Harry asked as he took a few stabs at his meatballs.

"Both."

"You know, 'Malfoy' does have a first name, you could use it." Hermione said slightly defensively.

Harry looked at Hermione with absent eyes, "Yes and we also have first names, but he doesn't care to use ours either, so we pay him the same courtesy..." he said passively, looking again down to his meatballs.

"Are you defending Draco Malfoy?" Ron asked Hermione.

"I feel sorry for him Ron, and you should too, instead of being so insensitive. Really! Look at him... look who he's been surrounded by his entire life. It's not his fault he's like that," She said glancing over at Draco as he laughed with his 'friends'.

For some reason this made Ron upset.

"You know I guess I do feel sorry for Malfoy Herm," He whispered heatedly so only the three friends could hear. "And I feel sorry for you also, because anyone who would even consider having feelings toward Draco Malfoy will get what's coming to them." He finished, a dark look clouding his eyes. and with that he stormed out of the dining hall, leaving the tray and his two friends at the table.

Hermione sat at the table, her face red. Her knees were trembling with uncontained emotion. Had Ron just threatened her?

"I never said I had feelings for Draco!" she said, tears welling up in her eyes as she also tore away from the table, pushing past a few Huffelpuffs on her way out of the Dining Hall and up to the Gryffindor tower, this starting several low hissing conversations from the Ravenclaw table

And so it was just Harry and his meatballs, the two seats either side of him abandoned. "Well I don't know about you two, but I believe that meatballs are more of a dinner food than lunch..." He said, apparently unaware that his two friends had deserted him, as he speared a meatball and stuffed it in his mouth.



Draco watched the Gryffindor table as the events leading up to Ron's' outburst and Hermione's tearful escape unfolded.

He smiled as he processed the information of those events.

"So," he drawled, "Granger has a 'thing' for me." Crabb grinned repulsively at Draco.

"I can't believe it," Malfoy thought, "After all this time the passageway to Potter is finally opened to me... Your mine Harry. I get everything I want."
"
"Crabb get Goyle and meet me in the Slytherin tower." he instructed as he himself left the darker corner the Slytherin table was placed and made his way out of the Dining Hall. Outside, he found the halls of the Hogwarts School of Magic to be practically empty. It made it easy for him to walk to the Slytherin common room without his thoughts being disturbed.

His thoughts... He could hardly think of them as his anymore. All his thoughts lately had belonged to Harry, thoughts of him smiling, the way his lips tightened slightly when he was upset. And he should know, Draco had gotten Harry upset plenty of times. Nobody knew, but sometimes he had started fights with Harry just to have an excuse to look at him, to be close. What everyone else considered an angry glare to him was an angry desire reflecting from his face. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't put out of his mind those slight dimples in his cheeks. His unruly Hair...

Draco nearly ran into the Slytherin common room entrance, his mind being elsewhere. He gained access quickly and walked in. Then sat down waiting for Crabb and Goyle to arrive. He changed his entire frame of mind to think of every possible way he could to use his new found knowledge of Granger's attraction to him to his own advantage.

There were so many options open to him now, it was difficult to decide. But he was having a wonderful time doing just that.

His thoughts were interrupted by shuffling in the corner of the candle lit room. The room was tinted by the green flame of enchanted candles, Draco liked the effect they had on the room, he found them relaxing, partly because that was half of their enchantment. Their flame cast shadows throughout the further corners of the very large Common room, his eyes were unable to penetrate though the darkness of those corners. It set him slightly on edge. Again he heard rustling only louder this time.

Draco put his hand in his robes and brought out his wand.

"Lumos" he said and the far dark corner of the room lit up instantly. As he walked over he heard the same noise. the noise of parchment rustling in the wind from the window that had been left open in the common room by some forgetful dolt. He relaxed and walked over to the window five feet opposite of the coffee table the parchment had been placed.

He stood there at the window for a good time breathing the fresh air of the Hogwarts grounds, the sun shining on his pale skin. He felt good. Until he looked down and saw Harry... He was walking with Weasley. He stared at Harry walk across the grounds. The way he walks...

"God, their heading to potions... I hate taking potions with those dicks"

Draco swung around to find the entrance to the Slytherin common room open and Pansy Perkinson behind him. He had been too enthralled by his thoughts to notice. did she know he was staring?

"Probably not as much as you do though," she said with a smile as she headed back towards the entrance. "Come on move your ass Draco! We don't want to be too late for potions." she beckoned.

"who cares?" he thought, "It's not like Snape is going to give me any trouble"

She looked at him with some violent intent.

"Alright I'm coming..." he closed the window shutters and walked with Pansy out of the common room, bumping into Crabbe and Goyle right outside. "Hurry up we have potions." he said to them both, and they fell into line behind him and Pansy...






















Severus Snape SLAMMED the thick potions curricular book down on the long oak wood desk Harry and Ron shared during class. "Wake up Potter!" Snape practically shouted as he dropped the book.

Harry's eyes snapped into focus, his body still slumped lazily in the chair, he seemed to just have zoned out of reality, the second time since lunch that afternoon.

"This is not Professor Trewlani's class, here we learn how to make potions, in my class you don't get an A for falling asleep and waking up claiming to have a vision. Five points from Gryffindor Potter." Snape sneered as he walked to the potions storeroom to get ingredients for the potion they were to learn to concoct today.

"Lay off the pot Potter." Draco mused loud enough for Harry and Ron to hear. The Slytherins laughed.

"Stop selling it Malfoy." Ron retorted, the entire room, save for Harry snickered quietly, a few of the Slytherins joining in.

"Defending Potter again huh Weasley, trying to score points? You afraid your going to lose your place as Potter's whore to that Granger girl? I'm sure the mudblood would like that. She does look very fitting down on her knees, I would know."

"Shut up" Ron said through Gritted teeth. But Malfoy didn't stop there, he continued with a satisfied smirk on his face.
"Oh yes, but don't take my word for it Weasley, ask Crabbe and Goyle, I gave them sloppy seconds."

That was all it took. Ron barreled across the room toward Draco; candles flickered in the dungeon as he flew past. Anger filled his eyes. He knocked past several people from the Slytherin house making his way to Malfoy. He pushed past the few people left, and he grabbed Draco by his robes. Draco's smirk widened, Ron couldn't see that Malfoy was holding his wand at waist level pointed directly at his chest.

"Edjectus" Draco shouted and Ron was shoved three tables away, by the force of Draco's wand, from were he had been standing.

Snape stood at the door to the potions supply room, watching the spectacle. "What's going on here?" he asked with a faint smile, in an obviously humorous tone.

"Weasley tripped sir, it's the second time today, we were just about to go help him up. Right Weasley?" Draco asked, looking at Ron with a satisfied twinkle in his eye.

Ron said nothing, he simply got up from off the floor, bruised and bleeding from were his arm had hit the edge of the table he had slammed into. A dark look grew in his eyes as the candlelight flickered once again. Warm blood trickled from his wound as he moved his arm.

"Go see Nurse Pomfrey Weasley, you're going to bleed on my floor." Snape ordered.

Ron brushed past Draco's shoulder on his way out the door.

"You shouldn't have done that Malfoy." then he left.

Draco's imitation of fear was a poor one. Snape watched Ron leave, as soon as he left, Snape walked back over to his desk. "Potter clean up this mess, and hurry up, I have a class to teach" Snape said. But he heard nothing but quiet snickers from students.

Snape looked over at the desk Harry occupied to find him staring at the ceiling blankly.

"Wake up Potter!"















Harry walked down the corridor that lead to the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. He had just gotten back from his last class for the day...double potions. Snape had somehow managed to steal five points from Gryffindor throughout the period of the class. He couldn't even remember why. All he knew right now was that he needed to rest, to lie down, or do whatever it took to stop whatever it was that was making him feel so... blank. He stood there for a moment looking at the portrait, wondering why it wasn't permitting him to enter the room on the other side.

The fat lady stared back through her new purple pointy-rimmed glasses, a prompting look on her face. When Harry had first saw her new glasses about three days ago, she had declared they made her look more sophisticated. In Harry's opinion they made her look like Rita Skeeter, the very alter ego of sophistication.


"Password?" she asked, looking at Harry.

"Err... what?"

"Have you forgotten the Gryffindor password?" she asked.

" Yup" Harry replied.

"That's the third time today," the fat lady took worried look at Harry, "you stay there, I'll be right back." the fat lady said, disappearing to go get the Gryffindor prefect, so he could open the portrait.

Harry just stood in the hall, leaning on the portrait his head slumped against it lazily. With his head against the portrait he began to pick up voices inside the common room. It sounded as if someone were talking to himself. It sounded like an argument, but he didn't pay much attention.

After a few minutes of waiting for the fat lady to return his mind began drifting away. Until the voices in the common room raised to a very muffled but still distinct enough heated argument to understand.

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT" one of them shouted.

"IT'S MY CHOICE, YOU CAN'T STOP ME" yelled another.

"I WON'T LET YOU" the first shouted.

Then the portrait Harry was leaning on suddenly swung open, and he was swept behind it, on the ground in a heap and out of sight, but he was able to see Dennis Creevy storm out of the Gryffindor common room, quite upset. Harry knew It was a strong possibility Colin was the person that Dennis had been arguing with, they had remarkably similar voices.

Harry was pinned between the wall behind the portrait and the portrait itself. He struggled to his feet but by the time he reached for the opening of the portrait it had already shut with a soft "whoomph."

Harry absently leaned on the portrait again when suddenly, and to his frustration, it swung wide open, and again he was swept dumbly behind it.

Harry sighed in resignation as he sat in a jumbled heap between the door and the wall. He was able to see Colin walk out of the Gryffindor common room and turn the corner as he swept down the broad hallway, it seemed he was clutching an object in his hand but Harry couldn't see that clearly, being behind the open portrait.

Harry took hold of the painting so it wouldn't swing shut again, pushing it forward only slightly so he could stand.

Harry entered the common room and fell lazily onto the couch, his eyes heavy...

"What was it Dennis didn't want Colin to do?" Harry thought to himself, only half interested, then drifted soundly to sleep until someone came and got him for dinner.













He walked down and down through the darkness. Now he stepped. Down forever. He looked back over his shoulder, but after a moment he pulled his head forward again. There was nothing there but memories... and lost moments he could have had for himself, things he was to timid and weak to take, all beating at his back like a blazing fire. Thinking of what he could, but would never have, charred his heart as black as the deepest shadow. A desire. Like a child envying someone else's brand new toy. He wanted it. He was going to steal it. Then he was going to play with it. They were going to have so much fun. He couldn't take it yet, but soon. Soon he would be there. He kept stepping, but faster. He almost skipped down into the darkness with joy... But then he slowed. He felt sad; he wasn't supposed to be alone here. there was someone with him, they had started this journey together. But the other had gotten weak and turned back. He wandered why the other had left him. Was it weakness? No. He wanted to steal the prize for himself. the other was only trying to stop him from getting what he wants. He's always doing that. Always taking from him. Taking the attention, practically bathing in it compared to him. Soon his attention will be mine. Your mine Harry Potter. Again he skipped. Humming a joyful tune. Down. Down until there was no light over his shoulder. No burning heat, not a trace of warmth, only cold. Cold and dark. He could feel it. He was nearly there. He could feel the others' presence. He was calling to him.

"I'm coming master, soon I'll be with you."

A cold laugh from the darkness, A darkness created by the mind of the one walking the path. It was all in his mind. A nightmare. Never to truly wake again...