Sneaking down the hallway to Professor McGonagall's transfiguration
classroom, Brooke prayed that the teacher wouldn't spot her as she jumped
up and down outside the doorway, trying to attract Harry's attention.
Sitting together as a group, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Seamus were
working on transfiguring a squirrel into something, but Brooke didn't know
what.
Ron noticed Brooke's flailing arms in the doorway and looked as if he were about to laugh. Brooke started pointing at Harry and before she could stop herself, Ron had gotten Harry's attention and Harry was making his way across the room to the doorway.
"Why aren't you in bed?" he asked her, closing the door softly behind them. "Did you go see Madam Pomfrey? What did she say?"
Brooke just shook her head and threw herself in Harry's arms. He held her tightly as she cried. "Let's get out of here," Harry whispered and Brooke stood up straight.
"Where's Professor McGonagall? Won't she wonder why you're gone?"
"Professor Dumbledore summoned her to his office a few minutes ago. She won't be back for a while. Let's go sit down by the water." He began pulling her arm but she stopped him.
"I want to go to class," she said firmly. Harry gave her a questioning look, stunned by her sudden outburst and retraction of tears. Nodding stubbornly, she repeated, "I want to go to class. I want to be with all my friends."
Shrugging at her odd behaviour, Harry opened the door again and Brooke joined her friends at their table. Sitting in silence, trying to dodge the obvious glances Hermione was shooting her way, Brooke was almost certain that Professor McGonagall was learning all about Malfoy's foul plan and Brooke's new condition. Her suspicions were confirmed ten minutes later when Professor McGonagall burst through the door. She addressed the class quickly, ("You may all leave early. Make sure you do your homework.") and stopped Brooke at the door.
"May I speak with you a moment, Miss Crystalline?"
Motioning for her friends to leave without her, Brooke stood facing Professor McGonagall. Brooke had always found her long face to be depressing and strict, but her eyes had always been kind and generous. "Let's sit down, shall we?" she said, leading Brooke gently to her desk. Facing each other from opposite sides of the desk, Professor McGonagall was the first one to speak.
"Miss Crystalline," she paused, almost as if unsure what to say next. "Miss Crystalline, I'm sure you're aware that Professor Dumbledore has informed me of your condition." Brooke nodded, fighting back the tears. "And I'm sure you'll be glad to know that he and I have sent an owl to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy and I'm sure we'll have a reply in a few days.
"For the time being, however, Draco Malfoy is to be held in almost a quarantine. His actions have proved that we can no longer trust him and he will be of no harm to you anymore." Brooke nodded miserably, almost unable to believe her luck. Lucius Malfoy would be thrilled at the news. What was the point in asking him to visit the castle to discuss the matter?
"Brooke." Professor McGonagall's voice was soft and sympathetic. "I know you must be scared. I don't blame you. But I want you to know that you can feel free to talk to me whenever. You will be experiencing a great change in your life. A drastic change. Don't be afraid to talk to me, or Professor Dumbledore, or any of the teachers. That's what we're here for."
"Who else knows?" Brooke asked quietly.
"Just you, me, Draco and Professor Dumbledore, I believe. But Dumbledore is planning on holding a staff meeting later on this evening to discuss the matter."
Brooke slumped down in her chair. Just what she wanted. Harry had wanted to stay out of the spotlight with their relationship, to help Brooke avoid the kind of exposure Harry had experienced ever since his debut into the wizarding world. Now she had brought more shame to him than ever before. She felt awful as she left Professor McGonagall's classroom, but not before promising her teacher that she would talk to her whenever she felt the need.
Miserably, she made her way to the Common Room, sure that Ron, Hermione and Harry would be there to greet her. Unable to forget that news spread through Hogwarts rather quickly, she was convinced that by the next morning, almost every student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would know of her situation.
That evening, Brooke sat in front of the fireplace, wrapped in Harry's arms, a blanket wrapped around them both. Ron and Hermione sat above them on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket as well. Seamus and Dean Thomas were involved in a game of wizard's chess and Neville Longbottom was studying his Potions text, fretting over the following day's test.
Content, but also feeling sick at the thought of telling Harry what had happened, Brooke felt as if she was being torn in two. Part of her wanted to blurt out to Harry, "I'm pregnant and Malfoy's the father!" but the other part of her wanted to keep it quiet for as long as she could.
Professor McGonagall appeared in the portrait hole a few minutes later. "Mr. Weasley, there are some people here to see you. They're waiting in the Entrance Hall." With that announcement, she turned on her heels and left the room, leaving Ron scrambling.
"Must be Mum and Bill!" he cried, dashing for the portrait hole. Hermione followed him, leaving Harry and Brooke sitting on the floor. Brooke's mind raced with random thoughts. Should she tell Harry or not? What would Lucius say? How would Harry react? Would she stay in school? Would Harry still want her? Should she keep the baby? Could her and Harry raise her and Draco Malfoy's child in peace?
All the incessant thoughts in her head must have caused her to drift off to sleep, for when she opened her eyes, the room was almost pitch black, kept lit by a few glowering embers of the fire. Turning her head around slowly, she noted that Harry, too, was asleep. Lifting her arm to see his watch, she saw that it was nearing four in the morning. Professor McGonagall always did her final check on the Common Room around midnight, to make sure everyone was in bed. Funny how she hadn't woken them. Then again, seeing as how all the teachers would now treat her as if she were glass, she wasn't surprised that the professor hadn't awakened them. Curling up against the crook of Harry's arm again, she proceeded to fall into a peaceful sleep.
The following morning was Saturday and the four friends had big plans of getting ready for a picnic by the water that afternoon. However, on the way downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast, Brooke noted that several of the students were glancing at her warily. Deciding that it was just her mind overreacting, she proceeded to ignore their stares and joked with her friends as usual.
Her fears returned in full force when she entered the Great Hall. Every pair of eyes in the room swung around to watch her enter and then the whispering began. Nervously trying to drown out their voices, she said, "Maybe we should skip breakfast and head on outside to set up for the picnic."
Hermione, who had already guessed the verdict from Madam Pomfrey, nodded in agreement, raising her voice to cover those of two third year Hufflepuffs. "Yes, maybe we should. Besides, it is such a lovely day outside, why would we want to waste it inside?"
Before either of the boys had a chance to speak, Victor Wormlead, a seventh year Slytherin, stood up in front of the entire Great Hall and yelled, "Hey, Brooke! How's the Malfoy heir?" He patted his stomach and laughed, along with the entire Slytherin table.
Glaring hatefully at Wormlead, she turned to face her friends. Harry was grinning in an odd sort of way. "What is he talking about? Or has he really just lost it?" Looking as if he would have got down on his knees and prayed for the latter part of his statement to be true, Harry waited anxiously for Brooke's answer as Ron and Hermione shared apprehensive looks.
"Harry, you and I need to talk," Brooke said quietly, pulling his arm gently, "away from the crowd." She led him out into the hallway and down a few flights of stairs before stopping and facing him. Still holding on to his arm, she began to speak, but Harry never gave her a chance.
"What did he mean, Brooke? The Malfoy heir? How would you know anything about Malfoy's family?" His green eyes, normally so vibrant and full of life, were dull and hurt. Pain reflected off them like green pools of water.
Searching desperately for the words, Brooke let her hand slip from his arm to his hand, before dropping it completely. She turned away from him and spilled out the entire story in three long breaths. Trying to read the silence from behind her, she winced and turned around, prepared to face the wrath of fury. Instead, she faced a wall. A blank wall.
"He went that way," came the voice of a portrait not far off to her right. The man in the portrait nodded his head up the staircase leading to the Gryffindor Tower. Brooke hung her head in defeat. She hadn't wanted to hurt him. It wasn't her fault. Hoping that she would wake up soon, realizing the whole nightmare didn't really happen, she pinched her arm hard. Yelping in pain, it hit home with her: she had officially screwed up.
Forty minutes later, Brooke returned to the Common Room, her eyes red and swollen. Hermione was sitting on the chair by the fireplace and Ron was sitting on the footstool in front of the chair, facing Hermione. They both looked up when she entered and Ron smiled weakly. Hermione hid her face, but before she did, Brooke noticed that she, too, had been crying.
"Where's Harry?" she asked softly, afraid to hear their answer.
"I don't know. He came in here about half an hour ago, angrier than sin. He started throwing things around and when Seamus asked him to stop, he started yelling at Seamus. Then he just took off. Ran out the portrait hole and hasn't been back since." Smiling weakly again, Ron said, "Just give him time, Brooke. It's a big ordeal he has to face."
"I know, but what about me?" Brooke hated feeling selfish but she wanted someone to hug her and comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. "I'm the one whose body is changing. I'm the one whose mind is in an uproar. I'm the one who has to deal with Malfoy and his laughing goons. And I don't want to lose Harry!"
"You won't lose him if you're careful," Hermione said, almost in a singsong type of voice. She sounded far away and distant. "Ron's right, Brooke. You just have to give him time. Yes, you were deceived. But so was Harry. You took your time in coming to grips with it; now he needs his time."
Wanting to protest further, but deciding against it, Brooke thanked her friends and retreated to her dormitory, hoping that it would be empty for a while yet. She just didn't feel like talking to anyone.
Days passed before anyone even saw Harry. Brooke suspected that Seamus, Dean and Neville had seen him on several occasions, but they wouldn't share it with Brooke, and she didn't blame them. Neville gave her these sad little looks whenever she was around him and Seamus kept telling her that everything would be all right, but Brooke had a hard time facing that.
Both Harry and Brooke had been out of classes the three days after that Saturday. When Harry finally came around, in the Great Hall during a school assembly, he looked as if he had gotten lost in the Forbidden Forest. Fighting the urge to run to him, Brooke turned the other way. Professor Dumbledore had told her only hours ago that Lucius and his wife were on their way to the school and would arrive in less than three hours. Their meeting would commence then. But first, he told her, he had to deal with the school assembly.
Harry took a seat beside Ron, who sat beside Hermione, who was sitting beside Brooke. Trying not to feel too overwhelmed, Brooke tried to pay attention to what Dumbledore was saying about trying times and such. Voldemort was back, everyone knew that by now, and his rise to power had failed on several attempts. This news was greeting with happiness and joy, but Brooke's area of the table remained silent.
"I understand that everyone now knows about the strange occurrences in our midst," Dumbledore began, avoiding looking at Brooke. He glanced at the empty spot where Draco would usually sit. "And I would like to remind everyone that if the news does not concern you, please don't concern yourself with it. Some events have taken place recently in the school that involve no more than two people directly. Those two people are handling this situation very well and one of them exceptionally well." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at Brooke and she stared down at the table. When she glanced up again, she turned to face Hermione. She caught Harry staring at her from down the table and he made no move to look away. She caught his eye and for a few seconds, it seemed as if nothing had changed between them.
The Great Hall door burst open, causing everyone to turn and look. Lucius Malfoy strutted in, his wife behind him and Draco at his side. Stopping to glare hatefully at Brooke, Lucius continued to the front. "How dare you?" he spat at Professor Dumbledore. "Keeping my son locked up as a prisoner!"
"For your son's actions, he is quite lucky I didn't send him to Azkaban," Dumbledore replied in his calm voice.
The blond haired lady stepped up from behind Lucius. "My son did nothing wrong!" she cried. "It is hardly his fault that this.tramp threw herself at him and wound up in this situation. Don't punish our son for that.evil temptress." "Oh!" Brooke jumped up from her place at the Gryffindor table and charged towards the Malfoys at the front of the Hall. "Oh, whatever!" She pushed aside her fellow classmates who were brave enough to try and stop her and she reached the front of the Hall in record time. "Whatever!" she screamed. "I'm the tramp? Yeah? Your son is the one who cast a spell on me to knock me out!"
Narcissa laughed. "I find that highly unlikely," she chortled. "I also find it sad that you tell everyone that my son came to you. He would much rather be with someone of, shall we say, higher standards?"
Brooke saw red in her rage, but keeping her voice steady, she replied, "Shouldn't you also find it sad, then, that the only girl your son can get is one that is unconscious?"
Narcissa's temper flared as she struck out at Brooke. Ducking, Brooke grabbed her wand from the inside of her robes. Pointing it directly at Draco's throat, she spoke calmly. "You cost me everything that matters to me. You took my dignity, my pride, and my innocence. You took away my right to respect myself. You took away my right to respect and trust other people. But most of all, you took away the one person I truly love and the one person that loved me back for who I am. And that cannot be forgiven."
"Brooke, I don't think you should do that."
Brooke turned towards the familiar voice and saw her father and mother heading up the aisle towards her. The rest of the Hall started to murmur in excitement; some shifted in their seats to get a better view. This was better than a movie!
Slipping her wand out of her hand quietly, Mr. Crystalline waved it at Lucius gently. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Lucius Malfoy. We meet again."
"Shane Crystalline. Yes, indeed, it has been a long time. How have you been?"
Ignoring Lucius' obvious attempts to cover up his embarrassment, Brooke's father started to circle the Malfoy family. Mrs. Crystalline came up behind Brooke and hugged her daughter protectively. Feeling another hand on her back, Brooke turned around to face Harry. Smiling, he held her tightly as the two fathers glared at each other, agreeing that it was not the time, nor place to be discussing matters.
A groan welled up from the centre of the room and Dumbledore ushered everyone out of the Hall. "Minerva, please direct them to my office," he said as he instructed the rest of the school to head to their dormitories. Meeting eyes with Ron and Hermione, Brooke and Harry smiled.
"I don't think Harry Potter needs to assist us in our decision," Lucius said, glaring at Harry. But his protests went unheard as Professor McGonagall lead the bickering group to Professor Dumbledore's office.
Ron noticed Brooke's flailing arms in the doorway and looked as if he were about to laugh. Brooke started pointing at Harry and before she could stop herself, Ron had gotten Harry's attention and Harry was making his way across the room to the doorway.
"Why aren't you in bed?" he asked her, closing the door softly behind them. "Did you go see Madam Pomfrey? What did she say?"
Brooke just shook her head and threw herself in Harry's arms. He held her tightly as she cried. "Let's get out of here," Harry whispered and Brooke stood up straight.
"Where's Professor McGonagall? Won't she wonder why you're gone?"
"Professor Dumbledore summoned her to his office a few minutes ago. She won't be back for a while. Let's go sit down by the water." He began pulling her arm but she stopped him.
"I want to go to class," she said firmly. Harry gave her a questioning look, stunned by her sudden outburst and retraction of tears. Nodding stubbornly, she repeated, "I want to go to class. I want to be with all my friends."
Shrugging at her odd behaviour, Harry opened the door again and Brooke joined her friends at their table. Sitting in silence, trying to dodge the obvious glances Hermione was shooting her way, Brooke was almost certain that Professor McGonagall was learning all about Malfoy's foul plan and Brooke's new condition. Her suspicions were confirmed ten minutes later when Professor McGonagall burst through the door. She addressed the class quickly, ("You may all leave early. Make sure you do your homework.") and stopped Brooke at the door.
"May I speak with you a moment, Miss Crystalline?"
Motioning for her friends to leave without her, Brooke stood facing Professor McGonagall. Brooke had always found her long face to be depressing and strict, but her eyes had always been kind and generous. "Let's sit down, shall we?" she said, leading Brooke gently to her desk. Facing each other from opposite sides of the desk, Professor McGonagall was the first one to speak.
"Miss Crystalline," she paused, almost as if unsure what to say next. "Miss Crystalline, I'm sure you're aware that Professor Dumbledore has informed me of your condition." Brooke nodded, fighting back the tears. "And I'm sure you'll be glad to know that he and I have sent an owl to Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy and I'm sure we'll have a reply in a few days.
"For the time being, however, Draco Malfoy is to be held in almost a quarantine. His actions have proved that we can no longer trust him and he will be of no harm to you anymore." Brooke nodded miserably, almost unable to believe her luck. Lucius Malfoy would be thrilled at the news. What was the point in asking him to visit the castle to discuss the matter?
"Brooke." Professor McGonagall's voice was soft and sympathetic. "I know you must be scared. I don't blame you. But I want you to know that you can feel free to talk to me whenever. You will be experiencing a great change in your life. A drastic change. Don't be afraid to talk to me, or Professor Dumbledore, or any of the teachers. That's what we're here for."
"Who else knows?" Brooke asked quietly.
"Just you, me, Draco and Professor Dumbledore, I believe. But Dumbledore is planning on holding a staff meeting later on this evening to discuss the matter."
Brooke slumped down in her chair. Just what she wanted. Harry had wanted to stay out of the spotlight with their relationship, to help Brooke avoid the kind of exposure Harry had experienced ever since his debut into the wizarding world. Now she had brought more shame to him than ever before. She felt awful as she left Professor McGonagall's classroom, but not before promising her teacher that she would talk to her whenever she felt the need.
Miserably, she made her way to the Common Room, sure that Ron, Hermione and Harry would be there to greet her. Unable to forget that news spread through Hogwarts rather quickly, she was convinced that by the next morning, almost every student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would know of her situation.
That evening, Brooke sat in front of the fireplace, wrapped in Harry's arms, a blanket wrapped around them both. Ron and Hermione sat above them on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket as well. Seamus and Dean Thomas were involved in a game of wizard's chess and Neville Longbottom was studying his Potions text, fretting over the following day's test.
Content, but also feeling sick at the thought of telling Harry what had happened, Brooke felt as if she was being torn in two. Part of her wanted to blurt out to Harry, "I'm pregnant and Malfoy's the father!" but the other part of her wanted to keep it quiet for as long as she could.
Professor McGonagall appeared in the portrait hole a few minutes later. "Mr. Weasley, there are some people here to see you. They're waiting in the Entrance Hall." With that announcement, she turned on her heels and left the room, leaving Ron scrambling.
"Must be Mum and Bill!" he cried, dashing for the portrait hole. Hermione followed him, leaving Harry and Brooke sitting on the floor. Brooke's mind raced with random thoughts. Should she tell Harry or not? What would Lucius say? How would Harry react? Would she stay in school? Would Harry still want her? Should she keep the baby? Could her and Harry raise her and Draco Malfoy's child in peace?
All the incessant thoughts in her head must have caused her to drift off to sleep, for when she opened her eyes, the room was almost pitch black, kept lit by a few glowering embers of the fire. Turning her head around slowly, she noted that Harry, too, was asleep. Lifting her arm to see his watch, she saw that it was nearing four in the morning. Professor McGonagall always did her final check on the Common Room around midnight, to make sure everyone was in bed. Funny how she hadn't woken them. Then again, seeing as how all the teachers would now treat her as if she were glass, she wasn't surprised that the professor hadn't awakened them. Curling up against the crook of Harry's arm again, she proceeded to fall into a peaceful sleep.
The following morning was Saturday and the four friends had big plans of getting ready for a picnic by the water that afternoon. However, on the way downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast, Brooke noted that several of the students were glancing at her warily. Deciding that it was just her mind overreacting, she proceeded to ignore their stares and joked with her friends as usual.
Her fears returned in full force when she entered the Great Hall. Every pair of eyes in the room swung around to watch her enter and then the whispering began. Nervously trying to drown out their voices, she said, "Maybe we should skip breakfast and head on outside to set up for the picnic."
Hermione, who had already guessed the verdict from Madam Pomfrey, nodded in agreement, raising her voice to cover those of two third year Hufflepuffs. "Yes, maybe we should. Besides, it is such a lovely day outside, why would we want to waste it inside?"
Before either of the boys had a chance to speak, Victor Wormlead, a seventh year Slytherin, stood up in front of the entire Great Hall and yelled, "Hey, Brooke! How's the Malfoy heir?" He patted his stomach and laughed, along with the entire Slytherin table.
Glaring hatefully at Wormlead, she turned to face her friends. Harry was grinning in an odd sort of way. "What is he talking about? Or has he really just lost it?" Looking as if he would have got down on his knees and prayed for the latter part of his statement to be true, Harry waited anxiously for Brooke's answer as Ron and Hermione shared apprehensive looks.
"Harry, you and I need to talk," Brooke said quietly, pulling his arm gently, "away from the crowd." She led him out into the hallway and down a few flights of stairs before stopping and facing him. Still holding on to his arm, she began to speak, but Harry never gave her a chance.
"What did he mean, Brooke? The Malfoy heir? How would you know anything about Malfoy's family?" His green eyes, normally so vibrant and full of life, were dull and hurt. Pain reflected off them like green pools of water.
Searching desperately for the words, Brooke let her hand slip from his arm to his hand, before dropping it completely. She turned away from him and spilled out the entire story in three long breaths. Trying to read the silence from behind her, she winced and turned around, prepared to face the wrath of fury. Instead, she faced a wall. A blank wall.
"He went that way," came the voice of a portrait not far off to her right. The man in the portrait nodded his head up the staircase leading to the Gryffindor Tower. Brooke hung her head in defeat. She hadn't wanted to hurt him. It wasn't her fault. Hoping that she would wake up soon, realizing the whole nightmare didn't really happen, she pinched her arm hard. Yelping in pain, it hit home with her: she had officially screwed up.
Forty minutes later, Brooke returned to the Common Room, her eyes red and swollen. Hermione was sitting on the chair by the fireplace and Ron was sitting on the footstool in front of the chair, facing Hermione. They both looked up when she entered and Ron smiled weakly. Hermione hid her face, but before she did, Brooke noticed that she, too, had been crying.
"Where's Harry?" she asked softly, afraid to hear their answer.
"I don't know. He came in here about half an hour ago, angrier than sin. He started throwing things around and when Seamus asked him to stop, he started yelling at Seamus. Then he just took off. Ran out the portrait hole and hasn't been back since." Smiling weakly again, Ron said, "Just give him time, Brooke. It's a big ordeal he has to face."
"I know, but what about me?" Brooke hated feeling selfish but she wanted someone to hug her and comfort her and tell her that everything was going to be okay. "I'm the one whose body is changing. I'm the one whose mind is in an uproar. I'm the one who has to deal with Malfoy and his laughing goons. And I don't want to lose Harry!"
"You won't lose him if you're careful," Hermione said, almost in a singsong type of voice. She sounded far away and distant. "Ron's right, Brooke. You just have to give him time. Yes, you were deceived. But so was Harry. You took your time in coming to grips with it; now he needs his time."
Wanting to protest further, but deciding against it, Brooke thanked her friends and retreated to her dormitory, hoping that it would be empty for a while yet. She just didn't feel like talking to anyone.
Days passed before anyone even saw Harry. Brooke suspected that Seamus, Dean and Neville had seen him on several occasions, but they wouldn't share it with Brooke, and she didn't blame them. Neville gave her these sad little looks whenever she was around him and Seamus kept telling her that everything would be all right, but Brooke had a hard time facing that.
Both Harry and Brooke had been out of classes the three days after that Saturday. When Harry finally came around, in the Great Hall during a school assembly, he looked as if he had gotten lost in the Forbidden Forest. Fighting the urge to run to him, Brooke turned the other way. Professor Dumbledore had told her only hours ago that Lucius and his wife were on their way to the school and would arrive in less than three hours. Their meeting would commence then. But first, he told her, he had to deal with the school assembly.
Harry took a seat beside Ron, who sat beside Hermione, who was sitting beside Brooke. Trying not to feel too overwhelmed, Brooke tried to pay attention to what Dumbledore was saying about trying times and such. Voldemort was back, everyone knew that by now, and his rise to power had failed on several attempts. This news was greeting with happiness and joy, but Brooke's area of the table remained silent.
"I understand that everyone now knows about the strange occurrences in our midst," Dumbledore began, avoiding looking at Brooke. He glanced at the empty spot where Draco would usually sit. "And I would like to remind everyone that if the news does not concern you, please don't concern yourself with it. Some events have taken place recently in the school that involve no more than two people directly. Those two people are handling this situation very well and one of them exceptionally well." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at Brooke and she stared down at the table. When she glanced up again, she turned to face Hermione. She caught Harry staring at her from down the table and he made no move to look away. She caught his eye and for a few seconds, it seemed as if nothing had changed between them.
The Great Hall door burst open, causing everyone to turn and look. Lucius Malfoy strutted in, his wife behind him and Draco at his side. Stopping to glare hatefully at Brooke, Lucius continued to the front. "How dare you?" he spat at Professor Dumbledore. "Keeping my son locked up as a prisoner!"
"For your son's actions, he is quite lucky I didn't send him to Azkaban," Dumbledore replied in his calm voice.
The blond haired lady stepped up from behind Lucius. "My son did nothing wrong!" she cried. "It is hardly his fault that this.tramp threw herself at him and wound up in this situation. Don't punish our son for that.evil temptress." "Oh!" Brooke jumped up from her place at the Gryffindor table and charged towards the Malfoys at the front of the Hall. "Oh, whatever!" She pushed aside her fellow classmates who were brave enough to try and stop her and she reached the front of the Hall in record time. "Whatever!" she screamed. "I'm the tramp? Yeah? Your son is the one who cast a spell on me to knock me out!"
Narcissa laughed. "I find that highly unlikely," she chortled. "I also find it sad that you tell everyone that my son came to you. He would much rather be with someone of, shall we say, higher standards?"
Brooke saw red in her rage, but keeping her voice steady, she replied, "Shouldn't you also find it sad, then, that the only girl your son can get is one that is unconscious?"
Narcissa's temper flared as she struck out at Brooke. Ducking, Brooke grabbed her wand from the inside of her robes. Pointing it directly at Draco's throat, she spoke calmly. "You cost me everything that matters to me. You took my dignity, my pride, and my innocence. You took away my right to respect myself. You took away my right to respect and trust other people. But most of all, you took away the one person I truly love and the one person that loved me back for who I am. And that cannot be forgiven."
"Brooke, I don't think you should do that."
Brooke turned towards the familiar voice and saw her father and mother heading up the aisle towards her. The rest of the Hall started to murmur in excitement; some shifted in their seats to get a better view. This was better than a movie!
Slipping her wand out of her hand quietly, Mr. Crystalline waved it at Lucius gently. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Lucius Malfoy. We meet again."
"Shane Crystalline. Yes, indeed, it has been a long time. How have you been?"
Ignoring Lucius' obvious attempts to cover up his embarrassment, Brooke's father started to circle the Malfoy family. Mrs. Crystalline came up behind Brooke and hugged her daughter protectively. Feeling another hand on her back, Brooke turned around to face Harry. Smiling, he held her tightly as the two fathers glared at each other, agreeing that it was not the time, nor place to be discussing matters.
A groan welled up from the centre of the room and Dumbledore ushered everyone out of the Hall. "Minerva, please direct them to my office," he said as he instructed the rest of the school to head to their dormitories. Meeting eyes with Ron and Hermione, Brooke and Harry smiled.
"I don't think Harry Potter needs to assist us in our decision," Lucius said, glaring at Harry. But his protests went unheard as Professor McGonagall lead the bickering group to Professor Dumbledore's office.