Jessica's A/N: Whew, another long chapter, eh? Enjoy @.@

Special thanks to PrincessLesse ^_^

-The Faerie

Chapter 2

*~*~*~*~*

Two figures could be seen in the faint light of the moon that flowed into the astronomy tower. One was about a head taller than the other, dressed in long, flowing robes, his silver hair almost shinning. The other was shaking as if from anger, fists balled up at her sides, long, brown hair framing her heart-shaped face.

"Malfoy, I cannot believe you told the Sorting Hat to place you in Gryffindor."

Draco raised a silvery eyebrow. "What's it matter to you anyway, Jones?" His father had told him long before school started that the Sorting Hat would place you wherever you wanted to be. Right now, in this time, he wanted to be in Gryffindor—with Lily and James here, it was bound to do good for the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord once he got back in his own time.

And some part of him. . .Some jealous little part he was ashamed of. . .actually wanted to be in Gryffindor. . .to be great and respected. . .just like Potter. . .

Draco shoved those thoughts aside—he was Malfoy! And so he would uphold his family honor by acting like one.

"What's it matter to me?" Melissa hissed, taking a threatening step forward. "Der! It matters oodles to me!" Her hands flew up in frustration. "You're a Slytherin! Knowing you, you have some tricky plan up your sleeve!"

"Does being a Slytherin offend you that much?" Draco sneered. "Maybe I want to be in Gryffindor for a good reason." Yeah, so he could tell his father and the rest of them the secrets he had learned from being in this time.

Melissa's eyes narrowed. "Malfoy, I can't read your thoughts."

He hid a smug smirk—she didn't know it, but during dinner earlier that night, he had been practicing trying to block his thoughts from her. As in, keeping them hidden away in his subconscious where she couldn't reach them. He had to admit: His plan was working so far.

Keeping his face an emotionless mask, he retorted smoothly, "Why would you want to read my thoughts anyway, Jones? They're probably too dark for you to handle—especially how my father killed your aunt. I knew all about it."

When pain flashed across her face, he told himself he felt no trickle of guilt—he really hadn't known about it, but it was something to hurt her, something to let her know that even though they were stuck in this time together, they weren't friends.

"Malfoy," she began slowly, "no wonder no one likes, or better yet, loves you. You're too cold-hearted even for your two goons. They're probably only your friends because of your money—or, because they fear you and your name." She straightened. "True friends come from the heart, true friends come from being nice and considerate and compassionate. You are none of these things."

"If you're trying to hurt me," he replied in his calm, cold voice, "it's not working."

But later, when he would stare up at the canopy of his temporary bed, unable to sleep, the very truth of those words would plague his thoughts relentlessly.

"Of course not." Why was her voice so quiet? "Nothing hurts the great Draco Malfoy—he's almost not human."

His eyes narrowed, blue eyes glinting—he rarely felt anger, and the only ones who could really cause it were Jones and Potter. "Take that back," he growled lowly.

"I won't," she whispered back, brown eyes unable to be read. Even her thoughts were well guarded—she must have been practicing on that, too.

Draco reached within his robes for his wand, pulling it out, pointing it at her. "Don't tempt me."

Melissa merely continued to look up at him.

After a few moments, he realized his hand was shaking. Cursing himself softly, he replaced his wand again, then stood with his hands curled up loosely at his sides.

Without a word, she turned on her foot and left the astronomy tower, heading back for the Gryffindor common room—Harry Wannabe had given them the password earlier.

Scoffing, Draco climbed up onto the windowsill, rolling his shoulders to let his robes cover him fully as he shivered a little from the cold.

"When I get back, Father," he spoke softly into the crisp, night air, looking up at the moon as snowflakes continued to drift down slowly, "I'll be the greatest Death Eater the Dark Lord's ever had. You'll be very proud of me."

But why, he couldn't help but think, would he think he was proud now when he never had his whole life?

*~*~*~*~*

"Draco, now look what you've done!" Lucius Malfoy roared, grabbing his son roughly by the arm. He gave him a harsh shove, letting the boy fall to the floor and slide a few feet before stopping.

"I'm sorry, Father," Draco whimpered, tears streaming down his cheeks. He hiccuped, continuing in a broken-hearted tone, sniffling, "I didn't mean to break your favorite vase."

"Do you know what that cost me!? Do you have any idea at all!?"

Draco winced, crying harder now, the scrape on his knee from his fall throbbing, adding to the pain he was filling—physical and emotional. "I didn't mean it! Honestly, Daddy! I didn't mean it!"

"Don't call me Daddy! You are a Malfoy! Refer to me as Father! I am your father, not your daddy! Do you understand me!?" Lucius picked the boy up again by the scruff of his robes, giving him a harsh shake, causing his teeth to clatter.

"I'm s-sorry!" he wailed. "I didn't mean it! I d-didn't! Why won't you believe me!?"

"Because you're a poor, pathetic liar!" Lucius' breath reeked of wizard alcohol, and splotches of red appeared on his normally pale, angry face. "Malfoys don't lie!"

"D-Daddy—"

"Don't call me that!" He shoved the boy down again.

Narcissa, who stood at the side, watching with horror-filled eyes, began to step forward. "Lucius—"

Lucius landed a harsh slap to his wife's face. "And you, you whore, you stay out of this!"

Tears filled her eyes and she backed away, hand pressed to her cheek tenderly, nodding.

Draco continued bawling at the sight of his mother being treated in such a way.

"Stop crying!" Lucius gave him a slap, as well. "Malfoys don't cry! Can't you get that through your thick, stupid head! Malfoys do not cry!"

Draco sat up with a start, breathing coming in harsh, ragged turns. Cold sweat bathed his body, making him shiver from the already cool temperatures of the dorm room. He bent over, burying his face in his hands, the dream, no, nightmare of the past all too vivid for his tastes.

"Malfoys don't cry," he whispered, trying to get a grip of himself. "Malfoys do not cry."

But, for the first time in years, tears pricked at the back of his eyes, burning.

Inhaling a rattling breath, he slumped over and sobbed quietly, no one awake to hear his pain.

*~*~*~*~*

"Hm. . .Looks as if he had a rough night." James looked to Sirius. "Wonder what happened."

Sirius shrugged. "Probably couldn't sleep. Who could blame him though?" With James being his best friend, the boy had already told him that the boy and the girl were from the future. However, as they had wandered over to Draco's bed and found him half off it, drool coming out of his mouth, hair mussed, snoring loudly, James hadn't had time to finish explaining as they had quietly laughed at his state as not to wake the others.

"Yeah." James nodded.

"Potter," Draco abruptly mumbled, accompanied by a particularly angry snore.

Sirius' eyebrows raised. "Uh. . ."

James held up his hands. "Man, don't ask me. I have no clue."

"Me neither." Sirius suppressed an amused smirk. "Perhaps we should wake him now?"

"Nah. Let's let him sleep—if he keeps on muttering my last name like that, I have a feeling that I don't want to be the one to wake him up."

They stood up, heading towards Peter Pettigrew's bed.

"Oh, because of that time when Moony was having that nightmare, and he kept on crying, 'James! Get out of my way!' and when you woke him up, you were almost strangled to death?" Sirius asked as he drew the curtains from around their friend's bed.

"Exactly that."

"Can't blame you either, then." Sirius chuckled, bending down to rap lightly with his knuckles on Peter's head. "C'mon, Wormtail. Get up, or I'll club you with my stick."

James frowned. "How the bloody hell can you club someone with a stick?"

"I don't know—watch."

Peter, squealing, opened his watery, blue eyes, blinking up at Sirius. "Oh, it's just you, Padfoot. You scared me."

"Dare I ask?" Sirius cast James a solemn look across the room before rolling his eyes. The boy always had had odd dreams—it didn't help that he was a coward when you got right down to it. But he was a friend of Moony's, and so they let him stay in their group and become one of the Marauders.

"Well, I was being chased around suddenly in my nice dream of cheesecake by a large stick. . ."

Sirius patted the boy's shoulder. "Well, don't you worry! We'll get the one who dare attacked Wormtail's cheesecake!"

Peter laughed, roundish face allowing its dimples to show. "Thanks, Padfoot. You made me feel better."

"Oh, no problem." Sirius waved his hand, looking straight ahead solemnly. "I shall hereby do my best to avenge cheesecakes all over the world—except yours, of course. You like to eat them."

As Peter and Sirius fell together laughing like two idiots, James opened the curtains to Remus Lupin's bed. "Moony! Get your lazy ass up before I have to do it for you!"

A pillow was immediately thrown in his face.

James sniffed the air distastefully. "You know, that was quite rude, Moony."

"Your wake up call was no better," came the returning deep growl.

"Perhaps we should call you Moody instead of Moony?" James suggested, raising an eyebrow.

"Go to hell," Remus grumbled before rolling over.

"Yep, that settles it. Moony is the grouchiest person to ever walk the planet."

"Just the planet? Try the whole entire universe! One time I woke him up and I had a black eye for ages!" Sirius sniffled, pretend tears he had practiced on back in their third year forming. "And he only came here at the beginning of this year."

"Oh, I know!" Peter at last sat up in bed. "Mayhaps we go and get Jessica to wake him up."

Immediately Remus was out of bed, brown hair with a few gray streaks disheveled from sleep, but his brown eyes alert and wary. "You wouldn't!"

"Knew that would do it," Peter chuckled.

It was common knowledge that Remus had had a crush on the girl ever since he had first laid eyes on her. Sirius and the others teased that it was 'true love,' but Remus protested. After all, there was no such thing as love at first sight in his opinion, but Sirius didn't agree with that, along with James.

"You three are horrible."

Sirius chuckled. "We know, Moony, we know."

"Horrible," he repeated.

James clapped a hand on his shoulder, nodding. "Yes, and why don't you tell us how horrible we are on the way to breakfast?"

"What about that Draco boy? Won't he get lost?" Remus asked, letting James lead him towards the bathroom so he could get changed.

"Eh, I'm sure he'll manage."

"Potter. . .You bastard. . .Potter. . ." Three angry snores.

Remus' eyes narrowed suspiciously, placing his hands on his hips as he turned towards James.

Prongs offered a sheepish smile. "I know nothing."

"Then why do you look so guilty?"

"Uh. . .So anyway, Moony, how bout that breakfast?" Sirius asked loudly. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm famished!"

*~*~*~*~*

"Should we go in there?"

"I don't know. That's where the she-devils reside."

"Thank you, but I'll be happy to say that Jessica is not a she-devil."

"Yes, well, you don't have a say as you're madly in love with her."

"I am not madly in love with her!"

"Yeah, so, anyway, are we going in there or not?"

Abruptly, the door to the girl's dormitory opened, causing Peter, James, Sirius, and Remus to stumble forward at her feet. They looked up, saying in unison, "Wuh-oh."

"It's the she-devil!" Sirius whispered, his cheek plastered to the floor as James was sprawled over his shoulders and head.

James shifted, causing him to accidentally crush Sirius in the ground, and he ignored his friend's "Ow! Ow! Ow!" "So, Lily, my sweet, my love, the flower of my heart, the jewel of my soul—"

"Shut it, Potter," Lily growled.

"She-devil!" Sirius whispered again. "You she-devil!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "I am not a she-devil, Sirius."

"Only you could perform such gruesome deeds," Sirius continued. "Because why? You're a she-devil!"

"Get up. Now."

"Yes'm!" Sirius immediately fell back to the floor, groaning from James' weight. "Okay, maybe not. Prongs, get your heavy ass off me!"

"Eh. . .That's Peter."

"Wha?"

"Yes, I moved just a minute ago, cause Peter was on me."

"Where's Remus?"

"Somewhere. . ."

"What do you mean somewhere!? Where is he!?"

"On the floor with the rest of us?"

"Gr. . ."

"I'm right here!" they heard Remus cry wheezily. "I'm under Sirius."

"Oh. Sorry."

"No problem. I think I have a broken rib or two, but no problem."

"Nothing that Madam Pomfrey can't fix!" Peter replied cheerfully.

"That's easy for you to say, you're not under two people!" Sirius retorted.

"Yeah, but you're not under three," Remus pointed out.

Lily yawned. "You guys finished yet?"

"Yeah."

"Pretty much."

"Can't. . .Breathe. . ."

"Suffocating. . ."

"What are you doing here in the first place?"

"We—"

"Uh. . .What are we doing here?"

"Yeah, I'm kinda lost on that one, too. . ."

"James? Do you know why?"

"Um. . .Because we were going to wake you up?"

"Wrong answer."

"Wuh-oh!"

"Get off me! I want to run!"

"HELP!"

"AHHH! OH MY GOD! THE SHE-DEVIL IS GOING TO KILL ME! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! RUN!"

"Sirius. . ."

"Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"I'll be fine. . .One day."

"Lovely."

"Perfect."

"Hahaha. I can't breathe. I'm starting to see stars. Is it bad that I'm dizzy?"

A wand was pointed down at them.

"RUNNNNNN!" the four cried, standing up, but before they could move an inch, they stumbled over each other again. This time Remus was on top, then Sirius, then James, then Peter.

"Ah. Fresh. Air," Remus gasped.

Sirius groaned. "Not again!" he wailed.

"Ugh." With strength they didn't know she had, Lily closed the door, moving each of them back into the hallway.

"James?"

"Yeah?"

"Is it bad that we're back to where we started in the first place?"

"Shut up, Sirius. Just shut up."

"Would anyone care to carry me to breakfast?" It was Remus. "I think my ribcage is bruised. . ."

*~*~*~*~*

"And so in the end we accomplished nothing!" Sirius told his group of fans.

James rolled his eyes over his oatmeal. "Some people just can never stop bragging."

"Tends to happen when you have the ego the size of the Great Hall and a brain the size of the peanut." Remus smirked, lavishing his toast with butter.

*~*~*~*~*

"Get up."

"Go away, Jones."

"Nope. You've been staring at that wall for the past hour or so. . ."

"And?"

"Malfoy. . .C'mon. If you're going to be a Gryffindor while we're here, you better act like one."

"Are you calling me a coward, Jones?" Draco rolled away from staring at the wall, looking up at her. She sat on the side of his bed, dressed in casual clothing she must have borrowed, as it was Saturday.

"I didn't say that." She smirked.

Draco shook his head, closing his eyes. "I'm tired. I don't feel very well. Go away."

"Draco. . ." She hesitated, then continued. "I'm sorry about what I told you last night. . .I didn't mean it. . ."

"Of course you didn't, Jones. You're a Gryffindor, and better yet, a poor, pathetic little girl, whining because her aunt died at the hands of a Death Eater—la di da."

"Never mind." Melissa stood up, glaring furiously, fists clenched at her sides. "Forget it. I'm going—I hope you're happy." With that, she turned on her heel and stormed out of the dorm.

"Oh, trust me, I am!" Draco shouted after her.

It wasn't until the door slammed, the sound echoing throughout the almost empty room, that he noticed she hadn't said 'Malfoy' while trying to apologize to him. She had said 'Draco'—like a true apology would acquire.

"Damn Gryffindor," he muttered before rolling back over again, tears forming again at the thought of the truth in the words she had told him. Only one day and already he was acting like a sissy—this was not Malfoy behavior.

"Fuck Malfoy behavior!" he shouted before throwing a small vase holding some sort of winter flowers placed there no doubt by the House Elves at the far wall of the room. He watched with only small satisfaction as the fragile clay pottery broke and scattered to the floor in a thousand little pieces.

*~*~*~*~*

Preview of the next chapter:

"Studying too hard again?"

She looked up, startled, only to see warm, brown eyes watching her. "Oh, Remus," she breathed. "You scared me."

He chuckled, taking a seat next to her, ceremoniously moving some of her books out of the way. "I see that."

"Where's your friends?"

"Back in the Great Hall, eating like a bunch of. . .wild animals."

She smiled faintly, turning back to her work. "Yeah, that's typical."

"Lily particularly moody lately?"

"Well, as it happens, she's always moody, so, my friend, you're going to have to be more specific."

A faint blush colored his lightly tanned cheeks. "Moodier than usual, then."

"Yep." Finished with her Potions essay, she folded up the parchment and stuck it in her Potions book—she wasn't really that organized.

"Hm." Remus raised an eyebrow. "Thought you would've taken more care of that."

She shrugged. "Professor Hector doesn't really mind if I do or not, as long as I get it done."

"What kind of parents name their kid Hector anyway?"