Chapter Four: Arachnophobia
All through their Transfiguration class, Fae was growing impatient for lunchtime. She had to fight to not glance up at Harry, and let it slip a few times, but he wasn't even looking at her. Apparently he had a lot more self-control than she did. She was sitting in front of George, who seemed to notice her fidgeting. He leaned up and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Fae, you're squirming like a bloody worm. What bothers?" he said. She rolled her eyes. "This class sucks." She lied. Obviously, Harry didn't want her to go telling people about their little 'meeting', so she thought it best to keep things secret. "Ah. I see." he said, and lifted his chin up to run his fingers over it in thought. Fae giggled and playfully smacked his head. "Miss O'Connor." Professor McGonagall said sternly, and Fae froze. "Perhaps you can tell me the answer to question number four." She bit her lip and looked around the class. She had been reading along with the class as they were instructed, but George had distracted her and she had no idea where they were now. She cleared her throat and tried to take a guess. "...False.?" She said, and a few giggles were echoed through the classroom. McGonagall stuck her nose in the air. "Perhaps if you were paying attention, you would know the answer. I assume you know your way to the detention hall?" Fae's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" "Do I look like I'm kidding? Now, please pick up your things and escort yourself out the door." She said, and Fae sighed irritably. She mumbled something about 'injustice' and 'prejudging teachers'. As she was shoving her things into her black messenger bag complete with skull and pins, the class was dead silent, until the teacher spoke again. "Now." She said. "Miss Brown, I suppose you can tell us the answer?" she said, turning to a girl named Lavender. She smiled cheerily, and looked down at her book. "Transfiguration is a marked change in form or appearance; a metamorphosis." As Fae was leaving, she gave professor McGonagall the finger over her shoulder, and grabbed George's arm. "Promise you'll get me out before lunch." She said through gritted teeth. He laughed and nodded, and she patted his head. "Good boy." "Miss O'Connor!" "I'm going, I'm going." she said, and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
The Detention Room was very, very boring indeed. She had received a lecture from whoever was holding detention-she had forgotten his name-on how important it was to stay a good student in school, and it was horrible that she had received detention on the first few weeks. Eventually it wound up in how she could possibly end up in Azkaban. She had her head down on her desk now, in the empty room, listening to his off-key singing. She was thankful that McGonagall had forgotten to assign her a detention task, and whoever this guy was, was too caught up in his reading of the paper to notice. She looked up at the clock on the wall. It had only been fifteen minutes. Only fifteen minutes? She groaned loudly and banged her head on the desk. Finally, it was time for lunch. She looked up excitedly at the teacher and waited for him to tell her she could leave. A few minutes passed and she cleared her throat. Finally, she asked. "Can I go now?" He lowered his newspaper with a raised eyebrow. "Listen, I don't appreciate your attitude. I think you need to stay in here for lunch today." "But you can't-" He lowered the newspaper again. "Oh, you'd be surprised at what I can do, miss." He said, and then continued reading. She made a loud aggravated noise, and banged her head on the desk a few times. She really didn't care if it bruised right then, as she turned her head to watch the clock and wallow in self-pity. "Pssst!" At first she thought she was imagining it, but then she heard a harsh whispering again. "Pssst! Fae!" She lifted her head inquisitively and saw none other than the twins standing in the doorway. Her jaw dropped and she stole another glance at the teacher, who was still engrossed in his newspaper. "What are you doing here?" she whispered back. "I was only joking!" "Nonsense. Come on." Fred motioned for her to go to the door, and she gave him an are-you-crazy look. "Just come on! It's okay." Fae slowly sat up in her seat, and paused. She didn't hear any stopping in his singing-more like squalling-and slowly crept towards the door. Suddenly, the newspaper went down in a flash, banging the desk and causing them all to jump. She whirled around and saw that he suddenly looked like he was some rabid animal. No wonder they made him the teacher for the 'problem kids'; he could definitely keep them in line. "What are you doing?" he bellowed. She stared for a second, and then started stretching. "Just.getting some exercise. You wouldn't want me to fall asleep in your class, would you?" He jerked his head in the direction of the door. "Then why are they standing there?" George took a giant leap in, and pointed his wand. "Obliviate!" he exclaimed, and blue sparks and stars shot out of his wand. The teacher suddenly stopped talking and stood stiff. He slowly sat back down in his seat, not blinking. He had a dazed look on his face. Fred stepped forward. "It's a simple spell, really." He said, as George put his wand away. She looked at him, aghast being an understatement. "Do you know how much trouble you're going to get into?" she exclaimed, her eyes as wide as Quaffles. George waved his hand dismissingly. "Nah, it causes people to forget things; if they ask him what happened, he'd have no idea. You're good to go." He bowed dramatically and pointed his hands at the door. A huge smile crept across her face, and she grabbed them both in another crushing hug. "My knights in shining armor. I think I'm madly in love with you." She said, giving them each a peck on the cheek. Fred and George had most likely gotten over any intent to want to be with her by then, and just found her attractive and fun to be around. Besides, they were like brother(s) and sister. It would be too weird for them to become anything more, and they all knew it and abided by it without complaint. They all linked arms with Fae in the middle; heaven forbid two guys have any physical contact. Can't be looking even relatively to a Puff, now. She looked over her shoulder and saw the detention monitor just sitting there staring a hold into his newspaper, as if nothing had happened. They skipped- literally, the dorks-down the hall and finally stopped at the moving staircases. "Where did you learn a spell like that?" she exclaimed. The twins exchanged glances. "We are seventh years, you know." George said. "I suppose you're right." She said, and sighed. "I'm so behind, and I have to take extra exams and everything. probably even summer school if I don't pass them all. I'll bet missing McGonagall's class murdered me." Fred shrugged. "Basically." He said with a grin, and Fae punched his shoulder.
They reached the Great Hall and Fae took in a big breath of air. "Oh, how I love elf cooking." She said excitedly, and shot off to seat herself next to Hermione. Fae gobbled her food down faster than usual that day, and earned some staring from the others at the table. A few snotty girls stared in disgust and when she looked up at them, they stuck their noses in the air. She returned this with the raising of one finger in particular, and kept eating like a starved animal. She saw Harry get up and leave, watching her as he left the room. This caused her to eat a lot faster, shoveling the food in. Hermione finally grabbed her arm. "Fae." She said, and the Irish girl turned around to face her with food on her mouth, and some on her face. "I don't think your food's going to get up and walk away. Slow down, you're going to choke yourself." She swallowed and wiped her mouth. "Aye, but I need to.see Professor McGonagall about what I missed in class." "Oh, well you can just get it from me-" "No!" Fae exclaimed, and then blushed and cleared her throat. "Erm. no, that's okay Hermione. Thanks though. Later!" she called out and trotted out of the Great Hall. Hermione looked at Ron, who shook his head and continued to eat.
Fae hurried through the corridors, stopping to ask directions twice, and managing to get her self lost more than once. Hogwarts was such an insanely huge school! Finally, she rounded the corner to the hall containing Madame Hooch's room. No wonder he had picked this class; she taught mostly to the first years outside on their broomsticks. She most likely wouldn't be in there very much that day, let alone during the entire school's lunchtime. She caught a glance of someone heading into the classroom, and smiled to herself. Harry, she thought, and walked faster.
Back in the Great Hall, Harry returned to the table, and seated himself across from Hermione. "Where'd you go off to?" she asked, while properly cutting her steak. She, unlike Fae, had table manners. "Bathroom." He replied. She nodded and continued eating. "Wonder where the Irish one went." He said, and Ron for some reason cracked up at the fact that she was Irish. It was probably because he called her 'crazy drunken Irish woman' behind her back.
Fae walked into the classroom and shut the door behind her. It was mostly dark except for a few windows with their blinds up, casting their beams of light on the floor. When she turned around, she saw Draco Malfoy leaning against the teacher's desk. He smirked when he saw her come in, but didn't move otherwise. She paused. "Uh.wrong room." She finally said, and opened the door. "No, you have the right room." He said, standing up and walking to her with his hands in his pockets. She turned around and blinked. "You wrote the note." She accused, and folded her arms. "You wrote it and said you were Harry to try and get me here." Draco shook his head. "No, I believe you did that on your own." He told her. "I never signed it. Because if anyone was reading it over your shoulder, they would have asked me about it, or asked you, and nothing but a bloody mess would have come of it." "Point taken." Fae said, scratching the back of her neck. "So why did you want me up here?" He folded his arms also, looking confident. "To tell you that you're in the wrong house." Fae sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up!" She said. He looked taken aback and she went on. "How do you think you can tell me that and get me to believe it?" "Why else would I be talking to a Gryffindor." He stated, rather than asked. "Because you enjoy harassing me," She shot back. He laughed quietly, and then shook his head. "No, as much as I do enjoy doing that, I can't say it's the only reason. I feel something when you're around: something that should have gotten you into Slytherin instead. And you don't need to be around those mudbloods. "If you hang around someone like me, I can show you true power. There's something that menaces deep inside your soul. It's calling out for darkness. Calling out for something you want, something you need, whether you know right now or not. You have a dark side in you, Fae. And I can show you how to use it," He stuck out his hand, waiting for her to shake it. Fae felt offended that he could talk so easily about his friends that way. But at the same time, something about his words were empowering. Maybe it was that he was being so damn poetic, which she was very intrigued by. She looked at his hand, then back into his crystal eyes. Such a pretty shade of blue. She slowly put out her hand to shake it, but then blinked and quickly brought it up to the back of her neck. All she could do was shake her head and barely look up at him. Something changed in his eyes. It looked like disappointment with the slightest twinge of anger. "That's a mistake, Fae." He said, meeting her eyes again. "You're going to need me eventually, when you get tired of the mudbloods. You know it." She backed away from him. "I doubt that will happen, but until then I don't need you." She said, and stepped out of the classroom. "It's only a matter of time." Draco said to himself, and smirked.
The next few weeks of school were pretty uneventful for Fae. All she really did was stay up late and study for the extra work she had to do. She had some days where she looked like a zombie walking in to class. Thankfully, on those days, she almost thought Draco to have a heart. Or at least something in the place of where a heart should be, that on sporadic days offered sympathy, and those 'sporadic' days just happened to be the ones in which she hated the world and herself. Either way, he wouldn't bother her when she seemed really stressed out, although he probably just didn't want to get told off. He had seen what she did when one of the Gryffindor boys gave her a pepper-flavored Bertie Bot's Jelly Bean and told her it was the 'best flavored one out of the lot.' It wasn't pretty; took him a week for his black eye to disappear. Of course, Fae was given another detention for this. Ron and Tracy were closer than ever, and Fae had barely said two words to either of them for some weeks now. She had heard rumor of them supposedly kissing in the hallway. Fae didn't really doubt it though; apparently they really did like each other. What's worse was that the others were slowly spending less time with her. Not so much the twins, but definitely Ron, Harry and Hermione. She had no idea why, either. It usually ended up in her just spending time with Violete when she could, which was only in their Potions class. And they all knew you can barely get a word said in there without receiving an 'ultimate evil death glare of doom' from Snape. So Fae's social life hadn't been much over the last few months. She suspected it was probably because of her sudden moodiness, and felt awful about everything. But the twins seemed to be putting up with it, so she couldn't have been that bad. But of course Ginny never really talked to her to begin with. It still seemed like she had some sort of a grudge against Fae, for reasons unknown. But surprisingly, the only thing on her mind right then was studying. So now we join her, in the Gryffindor common room. Of course, being studious, and doing her homework like a good little child. She sighed and dropped her pen for a minute, and glanced out the window. It was her lunch hour, and it was a beautiful day. As the year went on it had gotten much colder, and it was now the beginning of October. A day like this wasn't very common. She looked back down at her Potions essay. She was almost finished; all she had to do was talk about the mixture of certain potions and what their side effects could be. "I'm almost done. it can wait." She said to herself. "It's not even due for two more days." She stood and stretched as her spine cracked. It felt so good to be standing and not having he nose buried in a book. She put on her non- prescription "emo kid" glasses and looked in the mirror. "Yeck." She said, surprised by her own zombified appearance. She had dark circles under her eyes and she looked even paler (if that was possible). Also, her smeared black eyeliner from the constant rubbing of her tired eyes made it look as if she had been crying. Noting to herself to get more sleep at night, she headed out into the corridors. She had barely gotten down the hall when Ron and Tracy came staggering up the stairs, laughing themselves red. For reasons unknown, Fae darted into the shadows of a large doorway and waited, hiding from them. Ron finally stopped laughing long enough to get a few words out. ".I don't know why either, I think she just wants to be hardcore." He said. Tracy sighed, but still giggled. "Ron, that's so mean. What did she ever do to you?" she asked. The laughter died down to a small giggle here and there. "I don't know. I just don't really like her." He said. "I just met her, yes, but she's.I don't know." He finally decided. Fae gasped. They were talking about her. She quickly prayed that this wasn't a common thing; she really did think Ron was very funny, and would love to get to know him more if he would have given her the time of day. She heard them keep talking and listened in again, feeling awfully nosey, hurt, and inquisitive at the same time. Tracy giggled. "Well, you should try to get to know her. She's real nice. And funny." He looked down at her shyly. "Why would I want to get to know someone so wonderful when I already have someone like that?" he said softly. Fae wasn't sure if Tracy was intended to hear this or not, but she did. Tracy squealed like a pig. "That's so sweet!" she said, putting her arms around her neck. His face turned about the same color as his hair and nervously places his hands on her hips. "Oh, Ron." she said, and touched his nose with hers. "Oh, Rhett." Fae gagged from her hiding place, comparing Tracy to Scarlett O'Hara from the classic movie, 'Gone With the Wind'. The two of them paused for a moment, their lips almost touching. Fae froze. They had heard her! She smacked herself in the head a few times degradingly. "Did ya hear something?" Tracy's voice was heard. Ron slowly nodded. "Fae." He said, his voice faltering. He hoped that she hadn't heard their entire conversation, or that maybe it wasn't her. But who else would be so sarcastic and-Ron hated to almost compliment her- witty? Footsteps sounded, and Fae looked around nervously. She finally decided to go in the huge door she was hiding in front of; it was her best escape. She opened it with some difficulty, and then finally got inside and shut it behind her. Ron started to open the door, but Tracy put her hand out. "Just leave her alone. She probably heard everything." She said, barely above a whisper. As if Fae couldn't hear (Which she did). He wanted to protest, but as soon as he looked her in the eyes he forgot about everything. Instead he just smiled and nodded, then put his arm around her shoulders. Tracy smiled happily and they walked off together.
Fae peered out of the keyhole in disgust. How could Ron be so freaking inconsiderate? What had she ever even done to him? They'd barely said two words since they had met, so what was wrong? She folded her arms across her chest as they disappeared around a corner. At least Tracy was sticking up for her. Kind of. She looked around the room, trying to figure out just where she was. It was very dark, so she couldn't really tell, but there were blue and white stained-glass windows. They let in very little light, and she couldn't see any other source that would maybe make it less dark; no torches, no fireplace, nothing. However, there was something rather large and rectangular against the back wall, but she really didn't want to stick around to find out what it was. She had the most awful feeling that she wasn't allowed to be there. Taking one last look out of the keyhole, she made sure the two were gone. They were nowhere in sight, so she put her hand on the door. As soon as her fingers touched the handle, she felt something crawl off, and gasped, clutching her hand to her chest. Please don't be.please don't be, her mind begged. She could barely see as a huge black spider lowered itself in front of her face. She let out a shrill scream and threw herself against the door, and it swung open. Fae spilled face down onto the floor, and flipped over on her back, just in time to see the huge arachnid trying to crawl out after her. Raising only her upper torso, she kicked the door with a terrified yelp, and it swung shut. Fae heaved a sigh of relief and allowed herself to collapse back onto the ground. She stared up at the ceiling, when she suddenly felt the presence of someone else. She slowly tilted her head back, revealing none other than Violete Lane. Fae blinked, and then smiled nervously. "Don't you hate spiders?" she finally said, breaking the long silence. She suddenly felt very, very inferior and somewhat embarrassed. Violete's expression unreadable, until she finally burst into fits of laughter. Fae hauled herself to her feet and turned to face the girl laughing like a hyena. Finally she quieted down. "May I ask what you were doing in there?" Fae scratched the back of her neck. "Hiding.." she said timidly. Violete raised an eyebrow. "From what?" She looked around for a bit, and finally met the much taller girls' eyes. She took in a deep breath, and eventually ended up spilling the whole story about what happened with Tracy and Ron, and her hiding in the room, up until Violete had found her. She nodded, looking confused. Fae's story told at rapid-speed had probably lost her somewhere close to the beginning, and she just gave her benefit of the doubt. "Right." She finally said. "Did you see anything?" The younger girl shook her head slowly. What was there to see, other than spiders and stained glass? "No.why? Do you know what's in there?"
"Nah. Just always wondered. Guess it's not worth looking into, then." She said, and gave a small grin. She nodded at her, and voices and footsteps were heard. "Ah, time for class. I'm so excited." Violete said sarcastically, and Fae giggled. "I'll see you in second then." She said, and they started to go their separate ways, as other students began to fill the corridors. "Oh, Fae!" Violete suddenly called. She turned around and a male Slytherin pushed past her, muttering something about 'mudbloods needing to watch where they stand' under his breath. Fae flipped him off and turned back to Violete. "I've heard some bad stuff about that room...please don't go back in there. I'm worried about what's actually there that you didn't see." Fae raised an eyebrow, but soon the hall was flooded with students, and Violete was out of sight. She sighed and started to head to her Herbology class, completely forgetting her supplies in the Gryffindor common room.
All through their Transfiguration class, Fae was growing impatient for lunchtime. She had to fight to not glance up at Harry, and let it slip a few times, but he wasn't even looking at her. Apparently he had a lot more self-control than she did. She was sitting in front of George, who seemed to notice her fidgeting. He leaned up and rested his chin on her shoulder. "Fae, you're squirming like a bloody worm. What bothers?" he said. She rolled her eyes. "This class sucks." She lied. Obviously, Harry didn't want her to go telling people about their little 'meeting', so she thought it best to keep things secret. "Ah. I see." he said, and lifted his chin up to run his fingers over it in thought. Fae giggled and playfully smacked his head. "Miss O'Connor." Professor McGonagall said sternly, and Fae froze. "Perhaps you can tell me the answer to question number four." She bit her lip and looked around the class. She had been reading along with the class as they were instructed, but George had distracted her and she had no idea where they were now. She cleared her throat and tried to take a guess. "...False.?" She said, and a few giggles were echoed through the classroom. McGonagall stuck her nose in the air. "Perhaps if you were paying attention, you would know the answer. I assume you know your way to the detention hall?" Fae's jaw dropped. "Are you serious?" "Do I look like I'm kidding? Now, please pick up your things and escort yourself out the door." She said, and Fae sighed irritably. She mumbled something about 'injustice' and 'prejudging teachers'. As she was shoving her things into her black messenger bag complete with skull and pins, the class was dead silent, until the teacher spoke again. "Now." She said. "Miss Brown, I suppose you can tell us the answer?" she said, turning to a girl named Lavender. She smiled cheerily, and looked down at her book. "Transfiguration is a marked change in form or appearance; a metamorphosis." As Fae was leaving, she gave professor McGonagall the finger over her shoulder, and grabbed George's arm. "Promise you'll get me out before lunch." She said through gritted teeth. He laughed and nodded, and she patted his head. "Good boy." "Miss O'Connor!" "I'm going, I'm going." she said, and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
The Detention Room was very, very boring indeed. She had received a lecture from whoever was holding detention-she had forgotten his name-on how important it was to stay a good student in school, and it was horrible that she had received detention on the first few weeks. Eventually it wound up in how she could possibly end up in Azkaban. She had her head down on her desk now, in the empty room, listening to his off-key singing. She was thankful that McGonagall had forgotten to assign her a detention task, and whoever this guy was, was too caught up in his reading of the paper to notice. She looked up at the clock on the wall. It had only been fifteen minutes. Only fifteen minutes? She groaned loudly and banged her head on the desk. Finally, it was time for lunch. She looked up excitedly at the teacher and waited for him to tell her she could leave. A few minutes passed and she cleared her throat. Finally, she asked. "Can I go now?" He lowered his newspaper with a raised eyebrow. "Listen, I don't appreciate your attitude. I think you need to stay in here for lunch today." "But you can't-" He lowered the newspaper again. "Oh, you'd be surprised at what I can do, miss." He said, and then continued reading. She made a loud aggravated noise, and banged her head on the desk a few times. She really didn't care if it bruised right then, as she turned her head to watch the clock and wallow in self-pity. "Pssst!" At first she thought she was imagining it, but then she heard a harsh whispering again. "Pssst! Fae!" She lifted her head inquisitively and saw none other than the twins standing in the doorway. Her jaw dropped and she stole another glance at the teacher, who was still engrossed in his newspaper. "What are you doing here?" she whispered back. "I was only joking!" "Nonsense. Come on." Fred motioned for her to go to the door, and she gave him an are-you-crazy look. "Just come on! It's okay." Fae slowly sat up in her seat, and paused. She didn't hear any stopping in his singing-more like squalling-and slowly crept towards the door. Suddenly, the newspaper went down in a flash, banging the desk and causing them all to jump. She whirled around and saw that he suddenly looked like he was some rabid animal. No wonder they made him the teacher for the 'problem kids'; he could definitely keep them in line. "What are you doing?" he bellowed. She stared for a second, and then started stretching. "Just.getting some exercise. You wouldn't want me to fall asleep in your class, would you?" He jerked his head in the direction of the door. "Then why are they standing there?" George took a giant leap in, and pointed his wand. "Obliviate!" he exclaimed, and blue sparks and stars shot out of his wand. The teacher suddenly stopped talking and stood stiff. He slowly sat back down in his seat, not blinking. He had a dazed look on his face. Fred stepped forward. "It's a simple spell, really." He said, as George put his wand away. She looked at him, aghast being an understatement. "Do you know how much trouble you're going to get into?" she exclaimed, her eyes as wide as Quaffles. George waved his hand dismissingly. "Nah, it causes people to forget things; if they ask him what happened, he'd have no idea. You're good to go." He bowed dramatically and pointed his hands at the door. A huge smile crept across her face, and she grabbed them both in another crushing hug. "My knights in shining armor. I think I'm madly in love with you." She said, giving them each a peck on the cheek. Fred and George had most likely gotten over any intent to want to be with her by then, and just found her attractive and fun to be around. Besides, they were like brother(s) and sister. It would be too weird for them to become anything more, and they all knew it and abided by it without complaint. They all linked arms with Fae in the middle; heaven forbid two guys have any physical contact. Can't be looking even relatively to a Puff, now. She looked over her shoulder and saw the detention monitor just sitting there staring a hold into his newspaper, as if nothing had happened. They skipped- literally, the dorks-down the hall and finally stopped at the moving staircases. "Where did you learn a spell like that?" she exclaimed. The twins exchanged glances. "We are seventh years, you know." George said. "I suppose you're right." She said, and sighed. "I'm so behind, and I have to take extra exams and everything. probably even summer school if I don't pass them all. I'll bet missing McGonagall's class murdered me." Fred shrugged. "Basically." He said with a grin, and Fae punched his shoulder.
They reached the Great Hall and Fae took in a big breath of air. "Oh, how I love elf cooking." She said excitedly, and shot off to seat herself next to Hermione. Fae gobbled her food down faster than usual that day, and earned some staring from the others at the table. A few snotty girls stared in disgust and when she looked up at them, they stuck their noses in the air. She returned this with the raising of one finger in particular, and kept eating like a starved animal. She saw Harry get up and leave, watching her as he left the room. This caused her to eat a lot faster, shoveling the food in. Hermione finally grabbed her arm. "Fae." She said, and the Irish girl turned around to face her with food on her mouth, and some on her face. "I don't think your food's going to get up and walk away. Slow down, you're going to choke yourself." She swallowed and wiped her mouth. "Aye, but I need to.see Professor McGonagall about what I missed in class." "Oh, well you can just get it from me-" "No!" Fae exclaimed, and then blushed and cleared her throat. "Erm. no, that's okay Hermione. Thanks though. Later!" she called out and trotted out of the Great Hall. Hermione looked at Ron, who shook his head and continued to eat.
Fae hurried through the corridors, stopping to ask directions twice, and managing to get her self lost more than once. Hogwarts was such an insanely huge school! Finally, she rounded the corner to the hall containing Madame Hooch's room. No wonder he had picked this class; she taught mostly to the first years outside on their broomsticks. She most likely wouldn't be in there very much that day, let alone during the entire school's lunchtime. She caught a glance of someone heading into the classroom, and smiled to herself. Harry, she thought, and walked faster.
Back in the Great Hall, Harry returned to the table, and seated himself across from Hermione. "Where'd you go off to?" she asked, while properly cutting her steak. She, unlike Fae, had table manners. "Bathroom." He replied. She nodded and continued eating. "Wonder where the Irish one went." He said, and Ron for some reason cracked up at the fact that she was Irish. It was probably because he called her 'crazy drunken Irish woman' behind her back.
Fae walked into the classroom and shut the door behind her. It was mostly dark except for a few windows with their blinds up, casting their beams of light on the floor. When she turned around, she saw Draco Malfoy leaning against the teacher's desk. He smirked when he saw her come in, but didn't move otherwise. She paused. "Uh.wrong room." She finally said, and opened the door. "No, you have the right room." He said, standing up and walking to her with his hands in his pockets. She turned around and blinked. "You wrote the note." She accused, and folded her arms. "You wrote it and said you were Harry to try and get me here." Draco shook his head. "No, I believe you did that on your own." He told her. "I never signed it. Because if anyone was reading it over your shoulder, they would have asked me about it, or asked you, and nothing but a bloody mess would have come of it." "Point taken." Fae said, scratching the back of her neck. "So why did you want me up here?" He folded his arms also, looking confident. "To tell you that you're in the wrong house." Fae sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up!" She said. He looked taken aback and she went on. "How do you think you can tell me that and get me to believe it?" "Why else would I be talking to a Gryffindor." He stated, rather than asked. "Because you enjoy harassing me," She shot back. He laughed quietly, and then shook his head. "No, as much as I do enjoy doing that, I can't say it's the only reason. I feel something when you're around: something that should have gotten you into Slytherin instead. And you don't need to be around those mudbloods. "If you hang around someone like me, I can show you true power. There's something that menaces deep inside your soul. It's calling out for darkness. Calling out for something you want, something you need, whether you know right now or not. You have a dark side in you, Fae. And I can show you how to use it," He stuck out his hand, waiting for her to shake it. Fae felt offended that he could talk so easily about his friends that way. But at the same time, something about his words were empowering. Maybe it was that he was being so damn poetic, which she was very intrigued by. She looked at his hand, then back into his crystal eyes. Such a pretty shade of blue. She slowly put out her hand to shake it, but then blinked and quickly brought it up to the back of her neck. All she could do was shake her head and barely look up at him. Something changed in his eyes. It looked like disappointment with the slightest twinge of anger. "That's a mistake, Fae." He said, meeting her eyes again. "You're going to need me eventually, when you get tired of the mudbloods. You know it." She backed away from him. "I doubt that will happen, but until then I don't need you." She said, and stepped out of the classroom. "It's only a matter of time." Draco said to himself, and smirked.
The next few weeks of school were pretty uneventful for Fae. All she really did was stay up late and study for the extra work she had to do. She had some days where she looked like a zombie walking in to class. Thankfully, on those days, she almost thought Draco to have a heart. Or at least something in the place of where a heart should be, that on sporadic days offered sympathy, and those 'sporadic' days just happened to be the ones in which she hated the world and herself. Either way, he wouldn't bother her when she seemed really stressed out, although he probably just didn't want to get told off. He had seen what she did when one of the Gryffindor boys gave her a pepper-flavored Bertie Bot's Jelly Bean and told her it was the 'best flavored one out of the lot.' It wasn't pretty; took him a week for his black eye to disappear. Of course, Fae was given another detention for this. Ron and Tracy were closer than ever, and Fae had barely said two words to either of them for some weeks now. She had heard rumor of them supposedly kissing in the hallway. Fae didn't really doubt it though; apparently they really did like each other. What's worse was that the others were slowly spending less time with her. Not so much the twins, but definitely Ron, Harry and Hermione. She had no idea why, either. It usually ended up in her just spending time with Violete when she could, which was only in their Potions class. And they all knew you can barely get a word said in there without receiving an 'ultimate evil death glare of doom' from Snape. So Fae's social life hadn't been much over the last few months. She suspected it was probably because of her sudden moodiness, and felt awful about everything. But the twins seemed to be putting up with it, so she couldn't have been that bad. But of course Ginny never really talked to her to begin with. It still seemed like she had some sort of a grudge against Fae, for reasons unknown. But surprisingly, the only thing on her mind right then was studying. So now we join her, in the Gryffindor common room. Of course, being studious, and doing her homework like a good little child. She sighed and dropped her pen for a minute, and glanced out the window. It was her lunch hour, and it was a beautiful day. As the year went on it had gotten much colder, and it was now the beginning of October. A day like this wasn't very common. She looked back down at her Potions essay. She was almost finished; all she had to do was talk about the mixture of certain potions and what their side effects could be. "I'm almost done. it can wait." She said to herself. "It's not even due for two more days." She stood and stretched as her spine cracked. It felt so good to be standing and not having he nose buried in a book. She put on her non- prescription "emo kid" glasses and looked in the mirror. "Yeck." She said, surprised by her own zombified appearance. She had dark circles under her eyes and she looked even paler (if that was possible). Also, her smeared black eyeliner from the constant rubbing of her tired eyes made it look as if she had been crying. Noting to herself to get more sleep at night, she headed out into the corridors. She had barely gotten down the hall when Ron and Tracy came staggering up the stairs, laughing themselves red. For reasons unknown, Fae darted into the shadows of a large doorway and waited, hiding from them. Ron finally stopped laughing long enough to get a few words out. ".I don't know why either, I think she just wants to be hardcore." He said. Tracy sighed, but still giggled. "Ron, that's so mean. What did she ever do to you?" she asked. The laughter died down to a small giggle here and there. "I don't know. I just don't really like her." He said. "I just met her, yes, but she's.I don't know." He finally decided. Fae gasped. They were talking about her. She quickly prayed that this wasn't a common thing; she really did think Ron was very funny, and would love to get to know him more if he would have given her the time of day. She heard them keep talking and listened in again, feeling awfully nosey, hurt, and inquisitive at the same time. Tracy giggled. "Well, you should try to get to know her. She's real nice. And funny." He looked down at her shyly. "Why would I want to get to know someone so wonderful when I already have someone like that?" he said softly. Fae wasn't sure if Tracy was intended to hear this or not, but she did. Tracy squealed like a pig. "That's so sweet!" she said, putting her arms around her neck. His face turned about the same color as his hair and nervously places his hands on her hips. "Oh, Ron." she said, and touched his nose with hers. "Oh, Rhett." Fae gagged from her hiding place, comparing Tracy to Scarlett O'Hara from the classic movie, 'Gone With the Wind'. The two of them paused for a moment, their lips almost touching. Fae froze. They had heard her! She smacked herself in the head a few times degradingly. "Did ya hear something?" Tracy's voice was heard. Ron slowly nodded. "Fae." He said, his voice faltering. He hoped that she hadn't heard their entire conversation, or that maybe it wasn't her. But who else would be so sarcastic and-Ron hated to almost compliment her- witty? Footsteps sounded, and Fae looked around nervously. She finally decided to go in the huge door she was hiding in front of; it was her best escape. She opened it with some difficulty, and then finally got inside and shut it behind her. Ron started to open the door, but Tracy put her hand out. "Just leave her alone. She probably heard everything." She said, barely above a whisper. As if Fae couldn't hear (Which she did). He wanted to protest, but as soon as he looked her in the eyes he forgot about everything. Instead he just smiled and nodded, then put his arm around her shoulders. Tracy smiled happily and they walked off together.
Fae peered out of the keyhole in disgust. How could Ron be so freaking inconsiderate? What had she ever even done to him? They'd barely said two words since they had met, so what was wrong? She folded her arms across her chest as they disappeared around a corner. At least Tracy was sticking up for her. Kind of. She looked around the room, trying to figure out just where she was. It was very dark, so she couldn't really tell, but there were blue and white stained-glass windows. They let in very little light, and she couldn't see any other source that would maybe make it less dark; no torches, no fireplace, nothing. However, there was something rather large and rectangular against the back wall, but she really didn't want to stick around to find out what it was. She had the most awful feeling that she wasn't allowed to be there. Taking one last look out of the keyhole, she made sure the two were gone. They were nowhere in sight, so she put her hand on the door. As soon as her fingers touched the handle, she felt something crawl off, and gasped, clutching her hand to her chest. Please don't be.please don't be, her mind begged. She could barely see as a huge black spider lowered itself in front of her face. She let out a shrill scream and threw herself against the door, and it swung open. Fae spilled face down onto the floor, and flipped over on her back, just in time to see the huge arachnid trying to crawl out after her. Raising only her upper torso, she kicked the door with a terrified yelp, and it swung shut. Fae heaved a sigh of relief and allowed herself to collapse back onto the ground. She stared up at the ceiling, when she suddenly felt the presence of someone else. She slowly tilted her head back, revealing none other than Violete Lane. Fae blinked, and then smiled nervously. "Don't you hate spiders?" she finally said, breaking the long silence. She suddenly felt very, very inferior and somewhat embarrassed. Violete's expression unreadable, until she finally burst into fits of laughter. Fae hauled herself to her feet and turned to face the girl laughing like a hyena. Finally she quieted down. "May I ask what you were doing in there?" Fae scratched the back of her neck. "Hiding.." she said timidly. Violete raised an eyebrow. "From what?" She looked around for a bit, and finally met the much taller girls' eyes. She took in a deep breath, and eventually ended up spilling the whole story about what happened with Tracy and Ron, and her hiding in the room, up until Violete had found her. She nodded, looking confused. Fae's story told at rapid-speed had probably lost her somewhere close to the beginning, and she just gave her benefit of the doubt. "Right." She finally said. "Did you see anything?" The younger girl shook her head slowly. What was there to see, other than spiders and stained glass? "No.why? Do you know what's in there?"
"Nah. Just always wondered. Guess it's not worth looking into, then." She said, and gave a small grin. She nodded at her, and voices and footsteps were heard. "Ah, time for class. I'm so excited." Violete said sarcastically, and Fae giggled. "I'll see you in second then." She said, and they started to go their separate ways, as other students began to fill the corridors. "Oh, Fae!" Violete suddenly called. She turned around and a male Slytherin pushed past her, muttering something about 'mudbloods needing to watch where they stand' under his breath. Fae flipped him off and turned back to Violete. "I've heard some bad stuff about that room...please don't go back in there. I'm worried about what's actually there that you didn't see." Fae raised an eyebrow, but soon the hall was flooded with students, and Violete was out of sight. She sighed and started to head to her Herbology class, completely forgetting her supplies in the Gryffindor common room.