Author's Note: Erm, here it is. Picking up where we left off, because chapter one was already too long to squish this part in too. Enjoy.

Fate vs. Free Will

Chapter Two: Inner Turmoil

By nycscribe46

Hermione found Kayla leaning against a wall in the corridor. She looked up at Hermione gratefully.

"You know," she started, "this place is too big. I just realized that I had no hope of finding anything by myself."

Hermione nodded.

"Gryffindor's this way. Come on. Your things have probably already been brought up. And besides, even if you did find it, you don't know the password."

"Password? Well, that makes sense. You wouldn't want anything to get stolen. But what if someone from your house steals things? You'd have no idea who it was."

Hermione looked taken aback.

"No one in Gryffindor would steal from another Gryffindor. Or anyone else, for that matter."

"How ideal," muttered Kayla. Hermione gave her an odd look, but didn't say anything.

They reached a large portrait at the end of a hallway, after going up countless staircases. Kayla practically collapsed on a couch after Hermione told the picture, "Ordinary Wizarding Levels."

"Kayla, I've got to get back to the Great Hall, because I'm a prefect. I'll see you later, all right?" Kayla nodded, and went up to the girl's dormitories, where she changed, and lay down on her bed. Why the hell is this happening to me, Kayla thought. He won't talk to me any more because I'm in a different house dormitory than him? What the hell? Kayla hoped that Hermione was overreacting, but the girl didn't seem the type. She gave it to you straight. She wouldn't joke about something like this.

Kayla sat up suddenly. How did she know that? She had only just met Hermione. Was her empathy working? Maybe her grandmother was right. But it was just too much. She sucked her teeth, frustrated. It just figured, didn't it? Meeting Draco like that was just too good to be true. Everything had happened so fast, she almost couldn't believe it. It was like a dream.

Maybe it was. Kayla felt the depression she had fought so hard to escape begin to descend upon her. She rummaged through her bag for the one thing that would help. She turned on her extremely portable CD player (it was the size of her palm) and put on Jay-Z. The first song came on, and she sank back onto her bed.

It was all a dream

Last night I had a dream, thoughts was racing through my head,

It was all a dream

Felt so real to me, this is what was said, oh…

***

Draco watched Kayla discreetly. She looked very confused. He saw Potter speak to her, and then elbow Weasley, who was silenced. Kayla kept looking at him, but he couldn't allow himself to look back. Pansy sidled next to him, putting an arm around his waist.

"Well, that was interesting. Care to explain?"

"There's nothing to explain."

Pansy straightened up, looking at Draco incredulously.

"What are you talking about? You walk in here with some tart on your arm, and sit down with her at our table, and then she gets put into Gryffindor, of all places, and you have nothing to say?"

"It doesn't make sense," Draco muttered to himself, ignoring Pansy completely. He had been so sure she would be in Slytherin. She was a pureblood, and…

And she liked me, Draco thought. She wouldn't even pay attention to his condescending attitude. She even zinged him for it, and then continued as if he'd said nothing at all. She was willing to look past it and see him, he realized. She did belong in Gryffindor.

She was too good for him. Draco's eyes narrowed, and his face took on the look that Pansy was used to. Angry and resentful.

"Now that's better," she said approvingly. "Draco-"

"Arrgh!"

Draco's head snapped up at the sound. He watched Kayla storm out of the hall. Granger followed her. He almost stood, but kept a tight rein on his emotions and remained in his seat.

"Well. What was that about?" wondered Pansy, along with everyone else in the room. She watched Draco's face, looking for a break in the mask. There was none.

Draco noticed Pansy looking at him.

"Are you asking me? How should I know?" he said, sounding bored. Pansy let it drop.

Granger returned shortly, and led the first year Gryffindors to the Gryffindor dormitories, which was her duty as a prefect. Draco caught her looking at him as he left the Great Hall, but she turned quickly. He wondered how much Kayla had told her, and how much she had told Kayla about him. Not that it mattered. The battle lines had been drawn years ago, and there was no crossing them now. Kayla would learn.

But somehow he knew that the stubborn girl he had met on the train would definitely be one to buck the system. If she really wanted him, she would ignore what all her classmates said. He decided to wait; what could he lose by letting her come to him? It was the smart thing to do. He would look even more desirable if a Gryffindor was in pursuit of him. In the recesses of his mind, he admitted that there was another benefit of letting Kayla do all the work.

He wouldn't have to admit how much he liked her, too.

***

Kayla was already asleep by the time the other Gryffindors arrived at the dormitories. Hermione noticed that the girl's music player was still on, so she switched it off and gently removed the headphones from Kayla's head. Lavender and Parvati glanced at the sleeping girl, and then at Hermione.

"I really don't think it's my business to tell," Hermione confessed.

"Hermione, we all saw who she'd been sitting next to," reminded Parvati. "It's got something to do with him, doesn't it?"

Hermione looked uncertain.

"I don't think that's it. Not all of it."

"Don't tell me she actually wanted to be in Slytherin?" Lavender asked dubiously.

Hermione didn't say anything, and Lavender and Parvati moved on to other gossip. Who was dating who, and other such blather. Hermione ignored it as usual, and began to read a book about ancient runes. It was true that their O.W.L.s weren't until June, but still…

***

Kayla was laying on her back in a sea of darkness. At first she thought she was dreaming, but as she stood up, she knew where she was. She was on the astral plane. How did I get here, she wondered. The last time she'd been on the astral plane, she'd had to go into a deep trance, and it was so she could sense Dom wherever he was. It had taken a long time to get there, and it hadn't even worked. She hadn't been able to find him. But now she was here, seemingly without effort.

The last thing she remembered was laying down and turning her CD player on. She must have fallen asleep. But then how did she get onto the astral plane? And why? Kayla looked around. She vaguely recognized the astral form laying on the 'ground' a few yards away from her. She 'walked' over to it. It was Hermione. She was laying on her back, asleep. Kayla studied her form for a few moments so she would remember it. That was how she could sense her family, but with them it was automatic. She just knew them, like they were part of her.

Kayla also recognized the astral form of the boy who had spoken to her in the Great Hall. She didn't know his name, but now she knew his energy. His astral form was odd. She could see 'him' but there were others present within his form. Not like a possession; she shivered. She'd never seen one, but her grandma had, and had been called upon to excise the possessor. No, this was as if the remains of two other people's energy had fastened themselves within him. He was marked with conflicting and constantly warring forces.

Her empathy had reacted to them; it was so strange. She could feel the love someone had felt for him; see it running through his form. She could see the destruction someone else had tried to render; feel the hatred, although the love had removed most of the sting, bits of the other mark remained. She knew who this boy was. She shook her head sadly. What a pity. He would never know the person who had loved him so.

Kayla felt something strong pulling at her suddenly. She released Harry Potter's sleeping astral form and allowed her own astral form to be drawn toward another. She knew whose form it was instantly. It was Draco. His astral form was beautiful. She knelt beside him. He was asleep. She ran a hand across his face. He didn't stir. She didn't expect him to; most people didn't have the power to move freely across the astral plane. At the most, he could only react to what she did. Her grandma had implied as much when she was instructing her on astrophysical tendencies.

She put her arms around him, and looked at his face. He looked so innocent. She figured it couldn't do any harm, and he would never even know she'd done it. So she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips. And his astral form's energy seemed to envelope her in its warmth. She'd never felt anything like it. Her energy surged forward to meet his, and it was like he became part of her. She gasped.

Draco's eyes opened.

"Kayla," he murmured.

"Oh!" she said, startled. Then she was blinded by a sudden ray of light that had no business being in the darkness of the astral plane, and was snapped back into her body.

Kayla sat up in her bed, feeling like she'd just had a bucket of cold water thrown on her.

"HOLY SHIT!" she said, a bit loudly. Far too loud for early morning, anyway.

Everyone else in the room grumbled, annoyed.

"Sorry," Kayla said sheepishly. She definitely wasn't earning any brownie points today.

But there was no way she was going back to sleep now. She didn't know what had just happened, but she knew she was changed. Everything was different; she could feel the energy of everyone in the room. She didn't know them all like the back of her hand yet, but she knew that she could, now. She had to call her grandmother. Oh, wait. She'd forgotten that her cell phone wouldn't work here. No Verison towers here, that was for sure. She'd send a letter by owl post instead. It would take forever, but she had to know.

What had just happened to Draco and herself? He would definitely remember what she'd done now. Maybe he would think he had dreamed it. She tried to remember. What did an ordinary person see in the astral plane? Not that Draco was ordinary, not at all. But he probably didn't have the Sight. Funny how it was called that, but it was more of a feeling, mostly. She'd probably just interrupted one of his dreams. She wondered what he would dream about. She didn't delude herself. It probably wasn't her.

But she could feel him, as if he were right beside her. It was as if he was a bright light, so bright it shined through all the walls between them. If she got up, she could find the Slytherin dormitory just by going to him. She wanted to go to him so badly. He had to feel something for her. She hadn't even had to look for his astral form. It had drawn her to him.

And he'd seen her. What did it mean? She still had a connection to him, an almost tangible cord. She 'tugged' it. And gasped out loud, as she felt his energy move in response.

She'd woken him up.

She suddenly felt very grumpy and tired. Pissed at having a very good dream interrupted.

But she hadn't-

Then Kayla realized that the emotions she was feeling weren't hers.

They were Draco's.

***

Draco had been asleep, dreaming about being on the train with Kayla. She was behind him, fixing his hair. Suddenly he stood and turned around, holding her wrists tightly. She dropped the comb, and looked up at him. He leaned down and kissed her firmly. "Kayla," he murmured in her ear, as she put her arms around him. The dream had been about to progress beyond the boundaries of PG-13 behavior, when he had the strangest feeling that someone was calling him, and was roused out of his sleep. He sat up in his bed. Of course, no one was there.

What the hell was that, Draco wondered. It felt like someone had pulled at his very consciousness. And out of that dream. Damn. He glanced out at the darkness creeping in from the window. It was very early in the morning. He lay back on his bed and tried to get back to sleep. And stop thinking about Kayla. She was the least of his problems. His father was pressuring him, with increasing urgency as he got older, to step up to the inner circle of Death Eaters, and receive the Dark Mark.

But he wasn't sure he wanted to join his father in a life of servitude. Because that's what it really was, and that's how Draco saw it. Serving Voldemort, always being second, or third, or whatever cardinal position was left. Yes, it was what he'd been trained for and expected to do since birth, but his parents had to have realized that they had raised no one's servant. And Draco wasn't blind. He knew what the Dark Lord was doing, making sure that Draco accepted him as his master before he finished his studies at Hogwarts, and possibly became more powerful than Voldemort himself.

Draco knew better than to simply refuse his father's advances on the behalf of Voldemort outright. He'd long ago realized that the welfare of his son did not come before the wishes of his master in the mind of Lucius Malfoy. Draco needed to find a way to stave off what fate had in store for him. Luckily, his father had assumed that the appeal of being the second most feared wizard of the age had been adequate reparations for being essentially a glorified servant. A slave. His father was wrong. Draco was ambitious, but he wasn't stupid. He wanted to be powerful, but he knew that no matter how powerful he became, if he bore Voldemort's mark, the Dark Lord would have complete power over him.

Draco continued to conceal his true opinion of his father's chosen life beneath a veneer of respect and general obedience. Not too obedient, he still tried to claim more than he was allotted so as not to create suspicion. He acted the way he was expected to. And his father pretty much left him alone, with the periodic reminder that his time was coming. And the occasional test to see if his skills with the Unforgivable curses remained sharp. Which they were. This kept his father relaxed. If he delivered a powerful wizard to his master in the form of Draco, he would remain in favor.

Draco's freedom was doomed. Lucius Malfoy's position with Voldemort was the most important thing to the man. He would let nothing stand in the way of it, especially not a piddling thing like his son's life. Draco wondered if there was any way out of it, short of killing his own father. That was an option. His mother would forgive him. Probably. He wondered if she would even care. She'd be free. They both would. Unless she'd deluded herself into believing that their relationship was one based on love rather than the purity of their blood.

So his only plan was to kill his father if he tried to make him enter that damnable slave ring of Voldemort's. He wondered if he'd be a wanted man then. What would the Ministry rather, he give in to his father and become a Death Eater? He didn't have a choice. If his father was smart, he'd take Draco's wand before they went to his initiation. Just in case his father had developed a brain, Draco decided to obtain a gun. His father definitely wouldn't be expecting that. Ha, imagine that. Lucius Malfoy, killed by his own son, using a Muggle weapon. Draco smiled. If it came to that.

Draco saw the sun come up, and consulted his class schedule. Potions with the Gryffindors. Well, he'd be informing Pansy that she would have to find a new seatmate for that class. Care of Magical Creatures, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Astronomy, and Charms were also with the Gryffindors, while Herbology and Transfiguration were with the Ravenclaws. And Arithmancy, as well as History of Magic, were with the Hufflepuffs. He hoped the new DADA instructor, Professor Prisciandaro, was better than the last one.

***

Kayla got ready for Potions as quickly as possible, shutting off her empathy and energy sensing powers. It was too distracting. She didn't want to know what that great sense of relief she'd felt from Draco just before dawn meant. He'd probably just used the bathroom or something. Eww.

Hermione had explained to her about the classes, and offered to show Kayla where everything was. Kayla had been extremely grateful, and apologized, because she was most likely going to become Hermione's second shadow.

Lavender laughed.

"No, that's Ron…"

"He is not!" protested Hermione. No matter how many times she told Lavender and Parvati that she and Ron were just friends, they just wouldn't listen. She decided that more force was needed behind her words.

"Aieee!"

Kayla watched, amused, as Hermione attacked Lavender and Parvati with a pillow.

"We're."

*smack*

"Not."

*smack*

"Going."

*smack*

"OUT!"

*smack*

Lavender and Parvati giggled and nodded in agreement.

"Right. Sure you're not."

"If you say so, 'Mione."

"Good." Hermione put her pillow back on her bed. "Let's go to class, then. Potions is in the dungeons, Kayla." Kayla adjusted her robes and got her books, while Lavender and Parvati picked the feathers out of their hair.

As they entered the Gryffindor common room, the rest of their housemates milled about, getting ready for class. Two boys approached Hermione and Kayla.

"I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself properly last night. I'm Harry Potter." He extended a hand in greeting.

"Kayla Ross." She took his hand and shook it firmly. Then she turned to his taller, redheaded companion.

"Ron Weasley," he said, shaking her hand as well.

"Hello, Ron," Kayla said genially, with a sidelong look at Hermione, who narrowed her eyes at her. So this was Ron, Kayla thought evilly. Oh, he was cute, too. She was going to torture Hermione to the end of her days. If she thought Lavender and Parvati were bad…

"Let's go to Potions, shall we?" said Hermione through gritted teeth. "We wouldn't want to be late."

Harry nodded, as they left the common room and started down the stairs.

"Snape will try to take us out of the running for the house cup in the first week, even if we're on time. Better not give him an actual reason to deduct points."

"That's horrible," said Kayla. "Why would a professor do such a thing?"

"He's head of Slytherin house," explained Ron. "He'd do anything to help them win, and he obviously doesn't like Gryffindors. Which reminds me-"

Harry shot Ron a look that said Watch your mouth.

Kayla didn't miss any of this.

"What?"

Hermione sighed.

"It's about Draco Malfoy. He hasn't been very kind to us, and Ron thinks you should stay away from him." She looked at Ron. "Is that about all?"

"All? Well, let's see. He's been absolutely evil since the first time any of us met him, he's been horrible to all of us, especially you, Hermione. I just wanted to warn you, Kayla. He's a bad sort. I don't know what you were thinking, Harry. Why shouldn't she know what he's really like?"

"Because she shouldn't dislike him because of what we say, when she can see for herself. I'm not going to prejudice you against anyone, Kayla. You've got eyes." Having had his say, Harry was silent. He nodded to Kayla, and continued walking to class.

"Thank you, Harry. I appreciate the concern, Ron, but Harry's right. If he's as bad as you say, I'll deck him. But he was awfully nice to me yesterday." Kayla smiled.

Ron stared at her in disbelief.

"Malfoy? Nice? You've got to be kidding-"

Hermione elbowed him, and they entered the potions room, a few minutes early. Kayla saw Draco, but continued to follow Hermione to the center of the room. Or tried to. Draco seized her wrist and held it. Kayla turned around slowly.

"Sit," he told her. So she sat down beside him and set her books down on the large black double desk.

"Hello, Kayla." he said, looking into her eyes. His blue-gray eyes were like lasers to Kayla, but she closed her eyes before she could fall under their spell.

"There's something I have to ask you, Draco," she said, eyes still closed.

He let go of her wrist.

"What is it?"

She opened her eyes. And released the controls of her empathy and energy senses. The intensity of the connection hit her, and she took a deep breath.

"Did you have a dream last night?"

Draco's cheeks took on a slightly pink tinge.

"No."

She knew he was lying. She could feel his unease like it was her own.

"Draco, it's really important. I have to know. What did you dream about last night?"

"Why do you want to know? Why is it so important?" Draco was stalling. He couldn't believe this. Of all the questions to ask…

"Just tell me!"

"All right! You really want to know? I dreamed about us. We were…" Draco paused, and looked around to see if anyone was listening. Pansy was glaring at him, but that was because he'd forced her to partner with Zabini. He turned back to Kayla, who was smiling at him.

"Draco, were we kissing in your dream?"

He stared at her.

"How did you know?" he whispered.

Kayla giggled. Poor Draco must have been dreaming about her before she'd practically molested his astral form. He hadn't seen a thing.

"Don't worry about it, Draco. I'm sorry I had to drag the information out of you."

Draco looked relieved. Just then, their professor entered the classroom. Stalked in is more like it, with a dramatic swirl of his robes.

Professor Snape fixed the class with a glare, Slytherins excepted. Then he decided to see who had actually done their summer reading. And who had not.

Kayla gulped. She'd spent the summer sleeping outside Turner Field, praying to the baseball gods.

Draco's smirk was filled with confidence, as usual. He excelled in potions. And it didn't hurt that the instructor was the head of his house.

Professor Snape started with his favorite victim-eh, pupil, that is.

"Potter. What is the key ingredient in the draught of de-venery?"

Harry looked at Ron. Ron shrugged. Hermione nearly blew Neville over with the wind current her vigorously waving hand was creating. As usual, she was ignored.

Snape moved on to another student. Draco was prepared, of course.

"Malfoy?" Snape said expectantly.

"The key ingredient in the draught of de-venery is gentian. The flower, not the root."

Snape nodded, and then his gaze moved to Kayla.

"Miss Ross. What is the base for the draught?"

"Ah…"

Kayla racked her brain for the answer. She had read of this before. She felt a surge of confidence from Draco, and she remembered.

"Columbine powder, Professor Snape."

"Correct. You will all be creating draughts of de-venery for my inspection. The draught should appear pale green, and have a consistency no thicker than that of water. Any disparities are unacceptable." With that, he went to his desk and observed the class attempt to follow his directions.

Draco gave Kayla the relatively easy job of measuring out the ingredients, while he sifted the columbine powder, and added it to the boiling water in his cauldron. Kayla finished crushing the gentian with her mortar and pestle, and watched Draco's slender hands and long, graceful fingers, as he carefully added the crushed petals and stirred the solution slowly. The gentian, once added, turned the liquid a pale, almost translucent green. Draco then turned the fire down to a low simmer, and smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Perfect," Draco said.

"Yeah," Kayla agreed, already in a trance from looking in his eyes. She was beginning to wonder if he was part Veela or something.

Not everyone in the class was having as much luck with their de-venery draught, however. Harry thought it had turned out all right. As a safety precaution, Harry had put in just a little more water. He didn't want it to boil dry. Ron thought it was too thin when he examined the finished product, though.

"It's all right, Harry. I'll just turn it up a little and boil the extra water off," Ron said calmly, as he turned the fire under Harry's cauldron up a bit.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Harry nervously. He didn't like the idea of raising the temperature of a mixture after the ingredients had been added. And he couldn't quite remember what the draught of de-venery was supposed to do.

"Sure. What could happen? There, that's better. I'll just turn it off, and-"

The draught kept boiling, even after Ron turned the fire down. It boiled over the edge of the cauldron. Harry and Ron jumped away from it, but to their surprise, the green bubbles went straight up into the air.

"What the…"

Snape, who had been walking around checking cauldrons, was not pleased.

"Obviously, Potter and Weasley did not follow the instructions, and kept the draught at a high boil rather than a low one. Intolerable actions. Twenty points from Gryffindor."

Snape finally turned and caught Hermione, who had been charming the bubbles to float harmlessly near the ceiling, rather than flow out onto the floor and do God only knew what to Harry and Ron.

"Miss Granger." said Snape in a cold, unfeeling voice.

Hermione sighed, and coaxed the draught into going back into the now cool cauldron. She'd heard Ron's ominous words, of course, but she'd had her hands full with Neville, who was her partner, and only wanted to help. But he was hopeless in Potions, and had a history of causing catastrophes. She couldn't be everyone's den mother, for crying out loud.

Draco had been very amused by all of this. Kayla had tried not to laugh, but had to hide a smile behind her hand. Draco had made it look so easy, how could they have messed up? As long as you followed the instructions in your Potions book, it was child's play.

Snape approached Draco and Kayla's desk and peered into their cauldron.

"Excellent job, Malfoy. Miss Ross."

"Thank you, Professor," they both said at the same time. Snape moved on to the next pair of students. Kayla sighed with relief.

"You know, he's not as bad as everyone makes him out to be. Harry made him sound like the antichrist," she whispered to Draco.

Draco's eyes narrowed when he heard her mention Potter. But he kept his face civil and replied in a low voice.

"He rewards the students that deserve it. The ones who work harder than others."

Kayla shrugged.

"Potions is hard, though. I study, but…" Her voice trailed off, as Draco took her hand in his.

"I'd be happy to help you during your free time," Draco said with a smile.

Kayla nearly swooned from all the lust and affection she felt from Draco just then. She frantically tried to close off their connection, but for some reason, she couldn't.

Draco seemed to sense her panic.

"Are you all right?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"No, I-I'm fine, Draco." She saw no reason to worry him. She'd tell him about her powers later.

Class was dismissed an hour later, without any other mishaps. Kayla had been planning to go to the library and check out some books. The curriculum of Hogwarts was a little different than what she was used to. But it seemed as if Draco had other plans, and she just couldn't resist. Was she actually considering giving up time alone with him to go study?

"Well?" Draco was looking at her expectantly.

"I'll see you later, Hermione," Kayla called over her shoulder. She took Draco's hand.

"So where are we going?" she asked. They were walking in a different direction than the one she had come from to get to the classroom.

"Someplace we can be alone. A place no Gryffindor has ever been before." Draco smirked at her.

"My dorm."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, Draco obviously doesn't know about Harry and Ron taking the Polyjuice potion and making an appearance as Crabbe and Goyle. But you knew that. I think Jay-Z should be paying me for blatant advertising. I don't own 'A Dream', the song performed by the lovely Faith Evans, Jay-Z, and the late, great Notorious B.I.G. Anyway, let me know what you think, people! Review! Even if you hate it, and think my Schnoogle membership should be revoked.

Next: Kayla and Draco. Alone. In Slytherin House, possibly Draco's room. Ah, the possibilities…

Chapter Three- Double Disclosure