A/N: Hey all, I decided to post today since I'm at home, instead of at
school. My grandfather passed away earlier this morning, so everything
going on around me has been really hectic. I thank you all for your
patience with me because I do tend to procrastinate very often.
Special thanks goes out to crazyme89 for reviewing. I'm beyond pleased that my story has drawn you in. To Sneezy Mouse and Rosh: thank you for being your usual selves. Oh, and about the fact that Alina was disgusted about Keverene being killed: remember he had a silver rod right through his body? It's not that she was disgusted he died; she was disgusted that she had to see him die. I mean I don't think you'd want to see a bloody werewolf, right? ::cringe:: So that's the story behind that.
The werewolf thing actually took me a while to work out. I knew I wanted them to be werewolves, but making up their story was a little hard. J.K. doesn't really give that much information about werewolves, and I didn't know where to find any information, so I made it all up myself.
Oh hey, am I the only one, or have any of y'all seen Rupert Grint's new haircut? OMG, he looks adorable! I can't say he looks hot or anything because, well, I'm crushing over enough guys from Harry Potter. =)
I don't own Harry Potter.
See y'all at the bottom.
Chapter 17: The Hero, the Enemy, and the Friend
As he ran towards the lake, he pulled his blazer off, and tossed it carelessly to the side. He undid his tie, and threw that behind him, too. He met the edge of the lake, and began to slip his shoes off. He rolled up the sleeves of his long sleeved dress shirt, made sure his wand was tucked into place, and waded in the water until he was deep enough to dive under.
He swam towards the middle of the lake and found her body floating face down in the water with her arms and legs bound tightly together. He cursed under his breath. Was he too late? He knew he shouldn't've done what he had done. He didn't even know why he even thought of doing so in the first place.
He flipped the body over, and sure enough it was Alina. Her eyes were shut tight, and she was extremely pale. He couldn't stand seeing her like that. He cursed himself again. It was his own stupid fault, and he knew that he should be the only one to blame.
He put his arm around her body and brought it towards him. He kicked off and began swimming back to the shore. He gently pulled her out of the water, and over onto the grass. She was showing no signs of life. He guessed Voldemort put a curse on her to keep her from reaching the water's surface. Now, he had no other choice but to lower his mouth over hers and put some life into her. He pressed his hands against her chest to try to get the water out of her airwaves so she could breath. He brushed the hair out of her face and lowered his mouth over hers again.
"DRACO, WHERE ARE YOU? DRA-OH MY GOD DRACO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Pansy Parkinson came running down the path to the lake and stopped at Draco's side. Draco kept trying to get Alina back into consciousness. He lowered his mouth over hers again, to Pansy's dislike. "What are you doing? What's-Isn't that the missing Gryffindor girl everyone's buzzing about? Get off of her! Don't-STOP IT! WHAT IF YOUR FATHER FINDS OUT!?" Draco brought his mouth away from Alina's to look up at Pansy. She made the wrong decision of mentioning his father.
He stared at her, as if ready to commit murder.
"Don't look at me like that, Draco." Pansy stated firmly. Draco stood up and pushed her. Pushed her so hard that she fell to the ground with her dress flowing in the wind carelessly. She looked up at him, with tears brimming the corners of her eyes. "You choose this Gryffindor sell-out over me!? Fine. See if I care." Pansy forced herself up and headed back to the Great Hall.
Draco went back to Alina's body and decided that Muggle way wasn't going to work at all if he was going to make her regain consciousness. He pulled out his wand and mumbled a charm under his breath. Within seconds, Alina was sputtering and coughing up water.
Draco untied the ropes on her wrists and ankles. When Alina had stopped coughing, he cradled her in his arms. She looked up at him with vacant eyes. She didn't know what to think at the moment. She had almost died, and he's the one that saves her life.
"Draco, I saw him... I-I looked him in his eyes, and he tried to kill me... He knows who I am, and he wants to kill Harry... But-but Harry's not here... He's dead, isn't he!? Tell me Draco... I... This is all my fault." Alina squeaked as she gripped him roughly. She threw her arms around him and held him tightly against her.
"I'm sorry." Draco whispered against her hair. Alina held him tighter.
"Don't be. You didn't do anything. You saved me, Draco. I owe you my life." Alina said as she pulled away from him. She put her hands on either side of his face and forced him to look into her eyes. "You are my hero." Alina said softly. She brushed a strand of silvery blonde hair out of his eyes.
"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Halliwell." The two looked away from each other to see Professor Dumbledore standing at the path, flanked by Professors McGonagall and Snape, with Pansy Parkinson standing not too far behind. Behind her seemed to be the entire fourth year classes and up, staring at them with surprise.
Their choice of position didn't leave much to the imagination: together, on the ground, wet. Draco had his arms around Alina, and she had her hands on his face. Draco's blazer, tie, and shoes weren't too far away from them either. And to make matters worse, Cho and Harry skidded to a halt to see what the commotion was about. With a surprised look on her face, Cho grabbed Harry's wand from out of his hands and sent up red sparks.
"The two of you have some explaining to do." Professor McGonagall said as she and the other two professors walked up to Draco and Alina. The two quickly brought their hands away from each other and scooted a good distance away. Alina winced in pain and looked at the cuts on the back of her legs.
"What happened here?" Snape asked, with his nose high in distaste.
"A werewolf, Professor Dumbledore. Keverene came out tonight. I was out here and he tried leading me into the forest." Alina explained, her voice quavering. She wiped her face, unsure if those were tears or water on her cheeks.
"What were you doing out here? The Winter Ball was inside the castle. We also have reason to believe that Oliver Wood was present with you, too." Snape said, raising an eyebrow, "Draco, why are you here? Why are you both wet?" he interrogated.
"Severus, I don't find it appropriate to use that kind of tone." Professor Dumbledore silenced the younger professor. "Miss Halliwell, you will be taken to the hospital wing, and I will speak to you about it then. Mr. Malfoy, I will have to have a word with you in my office about your involvements in this." Professor Dumbledore pulled his wand out of his blazer pocket, and Alina wasn't on the ground anymore, put on a floating stretcher, wrapped in a fleece blanket. "The Hogwarts First-Ever Winter Ball is now over."
******
"You're a part of this now, Alina." Professor Dumbledore said as he looked down at the girl tucked neatly in the bed with scared and questioningly brown eyes. He took off his half-moon spectacles and rubbed his eyes. It was early morning, and he would've really liked to head to bed, but Alina was in need of answers.
"How did I become a part of this?" Alina asked as she tried to bury her head in her pillow.
"It's all a matter of who you surround yourself with. You know that Harry is not safe anymore with a resurrected Voldemort. That also puts everyone around him in danger." The headmaster said as he put his half-moon spectacles back on.
"But doesn't that mean Ron and Hermione are in danger, too?" she questioned.
"Well, it seems that you have a very special place in young Mr. Potter's heart." Professor Dumbledore smiled knowingly to her. She gave him a perplexed look. "I may be old, but I'm not blind. I can tell when one of my students is love-struck."
"You sound just like the girls. 'The Boy Who Lived is openly smitten with you, blah, blah, blah.'" Alina rolled her eyes at that. She wasn't trying to deny it; it's just that she didn't believe it.
"If you haven't noticed, you have quite the fan club here, Miss Halliwell. Oliver Wood has fallen head-over-heels, and you've seemed to have softened the dragon within our stubborn Draco Malfoy." Professor Dumbledore stroked his long white beard.
"Professor, if Oliver feels so deeply about me, why didn't he save me?"
"Ah, not every possesses the same courage as others." Professor Dumbledore turned and headed for the door.
"But Pro-" he put a hand up.
"This discussion is closed for now. It's late. Madam Pomfrey will not be pleased to hear you didn't get a lot of sleep." Alina relaxed against the bed, and she brought the covers up to her chin. "Goodnight, Alina." He nodded politely before pushing the doors open.
"Goodnight, Professor."
******
There was a soft knock on the door. Madam Pomfrey grumbled about her patients not getting enough sleep as she went over to the door. But Alina didn't understand why she was complaining because she hasn't had a guest since her last conversation with Professor Dumbledore. That was two days ago.
"You have a guest, Alina. Please keep it short, Mr. Malfoy." Alina watched as Draco pulled up a chair and sat himself quietly at her bedside. They just stared at each other, trying to find the words to say. Her last words spoken to him were down at the lake.
"I've been feeling like shit since the Ball. I don't think I deserve to be called a 'hero.' Alina, I told Lord Voldemort...things." He said quickly. His mind laughed at him for sounding stupid.
"Told Lord Voldemort what?" Alina didn't get what he was saying.
"I told him everything. Well, I didn't tell him, but I told my father. I told him everything about you. How you're an exchange student, with a far better mind than the usual Gryffindor. About you befriending me, and eventually Harry Potter and his friends. I even told him about Harry's infatuation with you." He said softly, and Alina sighed loudly at that. "I told my father of the Ball, and that's when Lord Voldemort planned on getting you."
"Was he going to let me die if Harry, or actually you, hadn't come?" Draco shrugged.
"I don't know. Honestly, I don't think he'd care. You're a pawn in the game now. Just go home and forget about Harry. It'll be safer that way." Draco said, running a hand over his face.
"Why do you care so much about my safety? I'm the bitch, aren't I?" she spat.
"Look, I feel guilty about giving you away. I owe you."
"Well, the debt has been repaid. You gave me away, but you saved my life. You could get on with living yours, forget about me. It seems everyone else has." Alina turned over in bed, giving Draco her back.
"What do you mean? The other girls didn't come to visit you?"
"No. I've been here for two days. It shouldn't take them that long to notice I'm missing."
"I think they're just confused about all of this. The buzz going around is that we're having some sort of secret relationship. Harry wants to kill me now, and Ron wants to second that. I have a feeling that my housemates disowned me. The same probably goes for you-"
"I don't have friends like you do. My friends care about me!"
"Yeah, well, the Sorting Hat told me that I'll make real friends in my house. I guess it's just my name that attracts everyone. And if you really had friends, they'd have visited you by now." Alina turned back to face him.
"They're probably busy with those Christmas break assignments."
"You didn't seem to think that before. Alina, it's just the two of us now. We're the two loners of Hogwarts."
"I don't know what you're talking about. You'll be a loner by yourself. I have friends, and they're waiting for me." Draco shifted his weight onto his other foot as Alina turned to lie on her back.
"If your friends aren't there for you, know that I'll be sitting at the lone end of Slytherin table."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be back to my usual routine of ignoring you when I get back." Draco shrugged and began to proceed to the door, "One question, Malfoy." He turned back to her, with his hand on the doorknob. "How did you know about...?" she trailed off.
"You being a werewolf? You couldn't've made it any more obvious. You'd have to be stupid not to notice."
******
Alina pushed the doors of the Great Hall open with a smile on her face. Madam Pomfrey had finally released her out of the hospital wing, and she'd finally be able to join her friends for the remainder of the Christmas break. She couldn't wait to see them. She had Christmas presents she had yet to give them, and she had to let them know that Keverene was banished once and for all, but there was still the threat of Voldemort.
Her smiled faded, though, when all the eyes in the Great Hall were on her. And there weren't very many welcoming looks either. To be exact, there were no welcoming looks. Everyone just sat there and stared. Except for her so-called friends who seemed to not be looking at her at all.
She approached the Gryffindor table, where Camille, Erin, and Mikaela sat with Megan, Penelope, Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Megan and Ron sat close together, with their hands entwined. Camille was yelling something to someone over at the Ravenclaw table. Erin and Mikaela seemed to be debating over something with Penelope and Hermione, as Harry scribbled down Quidditch plays on a piece of parchment. Alina cleared her throat, and nobody looked up.
"Um...hi guys. Incase you haven't noticed, I just got back from the hospital wing. I almost drowned. Did anybody know? Yeah, and, uh, Draco Malfoy saved my life. Strange, huh? I thought he hated me, but I guess some people-" Mikaela looked up at Alina with cold eyes.
"Why didn't you tell us?" she asked.
"Tell you what?" Alina didn't get why Mikaela was looking at her that way.
"You and Draco." Erin said simply.
"What about me and Draco?"
"Your 'secret relationship.' We thought that when you're in a scenario like that, your friends should be the first ones to know." Mikaela said.
"What are you talking about? 'Secret relationship?' You're kidding me, right?"
"Why would we lie about this?" Erin asked.
"Why would you keep this from us?" Penelope inquired before going back to another conversation.
"I don't know where you guys are getting this from. Harry, Hermione, Ron: do believe any of this?"
"Well, I guess you can't trust some people. Even if they promise you things over and over, you can't trust someone who's been untrustworthy from the beginning." Hermione didn't even look up at Alina as she spoke. Obviously, she wasn't referring to Alina at all. But how was Alina supposed to know?
"Ron? Harry?" Alina looked at them with hopeful eyes. Someone had to think this was stupid.
"I don't know what to say. The way they found you and Malfoy. You had a different kind of relationship back then. You're quite the actress, Alina, to pull it off for so long. We actually believed that you wanted nothing to do with Malfoy. I stood up for you. Now, I can't find the guts in myself to trust you." Megan squeezed Ron's hand for support. Alina sighed and looked to Harry. Harry looked to her with lost green eyes. He didn't know what to believe. But on the night of the Ball, he saw what he saw.
"Cho was right about you." Camille stood up, and went toe-to-toe with Alina.
"Right about what?" Alina hated the fact that Cho was being brought into this now.
"She knew you were going to react this way. She knew right on the off what kind of person you are. We've known you for so long, and I feel so STUPID for not seeing it. You use people just so you could find your place in life. You used Draco Malfoy to make a name for yourself, to make yourself seem rebellious. 'Ooh, a Gryffindor sat at the Slytherin table.' You used Harry to get that spot on the Quidditch team. You made him fall for you, and pick you over his own best friend. It didn't matter that you had no skill. George and Oliver were just there. They were the parts of your game. Bonus points, should I say? You thought it would be wicked to get two boys fighting over you." Alina shoved Camille and she stumbled back. "Violence doesn't make matters better." Alina shoved Camille again.
"You're full of shit, Camille. You've been brainwashed to believe all these lies. I thought you knew me better than that. I didn't think you'd be the one to believe those rumors about one of your own friends." Alina said. She kept shoving Camille until she shoved her onto her seat at the table.
"Stop it!" Camille and Alina looked to Megan who had her hands up in defense. "Alina, we don't know if we can believe you. Everything is pointing against you. We took the fall for you one too many times. We ruined ourselves for you. You haven't done anything. You've been keeping things from us. Do you know how that makes me feel? Ya know, if you will just tell me the truth, I will find a way to fix this. But for now, I don't know what to think." Alina edged away from the table. She just wanted to run away, crying. But she had to show them she was better than that.
She turned on her heel to the look to the end of the Great Hall. He was sitting at the end of Slytherin table, all by himself, staring right back at her. Alina looked over her shoulder to see her old friends at the Gryffindor table watching to see what she was about to do. She took a step, and didn't stop until she reached the Slytherin table. She threw her hands on the table and looked at the silvery blonde haired boy sitting before her.
"Is this spot taken?" she asked.
"Be my guest." Draco said. And with that, Alina sat in the seat across from him with everyone in the Great Hall staring. She didn't care. They could stare and think all they want. She knew the real story, and that's all that mattered to her.
She didn't eat. She just sat there and stared at him for a while until he looked up at her and frowned.
"Thank you." She whispered, and the two shared what they haven't shared in a long time: a smile.
A/N: Ooh, so much drama. It actually reminds me of when I was in the eighth grade. Bah, there was so much drama between everyone in that class. There was actually a time when I was alienated, and I had no one to turn to. So I guess that's where all the emotion came from. Hmph, I wish I had Draco. ::grin:: Well, I have no more to say, I guess I'll talk to y'all in the next chapter A/N. -Gryffindor Heiress
Special thanks goes out to crazyme89 for reviewing. I'm beyond pleased that my story has drawn you in. To Sneezy Mouse and Rosh: thank you for being your usual selves. Oh, and about the fact that Alina was disgusted about Keverene being killed: remember he had a silver rod right through his body? It's not that she was disgusted he died; she was disgusted that she had to see him die. I mean I don't think you'd want to see a bloody werewolf, right? ::cringe:: So that's the story behind that.
The werewolf thing actually took me a while to work out. I knew I wanted them to be werewolves, but making up their story was a little hard. J.K. doesn't really give that much information about werewolves, and I didn't know where to find any information, so I made it all up myself.
Oh hey, am I the only one, or have any of y'all seen Rupert Grint's new haircut? OMG, he looks adorable! I can't say he looks hot or anything because, well, I'm crushing over enough guys from Harry Potter. =)
I don't own Harry Potter.
See y'all at the bottom.
Chapter 17: The Hero, the Enemy, and the Friend
As he ran towards the lake, he pulled his blazer off, and tossed it carelessly to the side. He undid his tie, and threw that behind him, too. He met the edge of the lake, and began to slip his shoes off. He rolled up the sleeves of his long sleeved dress shirt, made sure his wand was tucked into place, and waded in the water until he was deep enough to dive under.
He swam towards the middle of the lake and found her body floating face down in the water with her arms and legs bound tightly together. He cursed under his breath. Was he too late? He knew he shouldn't've done what he had done. He didn't even know why he even thought of doing so in the first place.
He flipped the body over, and sure enough it was Alina. Her eyes were shut tight, and she was extremely pale. He couldn't stand seeing her like that. He cursed himself again. It was his own stupid fault, and he knew that he should be the only one to blame.
He put his arm around her body and brought it towards him. He kicked off and began swimming back to the shore. He gently pulled her out of the water, and over onto the grass. She was showing no signs of life. He guessed Voldemort put a curse on her to keep her from reaching the water's surface. Now, he had no other choice but to lower his mouth over hers and put some life into her. He pressed his hands against her chest to try to get the water out of her airwaves so she could breath. He brushed the hair out of her face and lowered his mouth over hers again.
"DRACO, WHERE ARE YOU? DRA-OH MY GOD DRACO, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Pansy Parkinson came running down the path to the lake and stopped at Draco's side. Draco kept trying to get Alina back into consciousness. He lowered his mouth over hers again, to Pansy's dislike. "What are you doing? What's-Isn't that the missing Gryffindor girl everyone's buzzing about? Get off of her! Don't-STOP IT! WHAT IF YOUR FATHER FINDS OUT!?" Draco brought his mouth away from Alina's to look up at Pansy. She made the wrong decision of mentioning his father.
He stared at her, as if ready to commit murder.
"Don't look at me like that, Draco." Pansy stated firmly. Draco stood up and pushed her. Pushed her so hard that she fell to the ground with her dress flowing in the wind carelessly. She looked up at him, with tears brimming the corners of her eyes. "You choose this Gryffindor sell-out over me!? Fine. See if I care." Pansy forced herself up and headed back to the Great Hall.
Draco went back to Alina's body and decided that Muggle way wasn't going to work at all if he was going to make her regain consciousness. He pulled out his wand and mumbled a charm under his breath. Within seconds, Alina was sputtering and coughing up water.
Draco untied the ropes on her wrists and ankles. When Alina had stopped coughing, he cradled her in his arms. She looked up at him with vacant eyes. She didn't know what to think at the moment. She had almost died, and he's the one that saves her life.
"Draco, I saw him... I-I looked him in his eyes, and he tried to kill me... He knows who I am, and he wants to kill Harry... But-but Harry's not here... He's dead, isn't he!? Tell me Draco... I... This is all my fault." Alina squeaked as she gripped him roughly. She threw her arms around him and held him tightly against her.
"I'm sorry." Draco whispered against her hair. Alina held him tighter.
"Don't be. You didn't do anything. You saved me, Draco. I owe you my life." Alina said as she pulled away from him. She put her hands on either side of his face and forced him to look into her eyes. "You are my hero." Alina said softly. She brushed a strand of silvery blonde hair out of his eyes.
"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Halliwell." The two looked away from each other to see Professor Dumbledore standing at the path, flanked by Professors McGonagall and Snape, with Pansy Parkinson standing not too far behind. Behind her seemed to be the entire fourth year classes and up, staring at them with surprise.
Their choice of position didn't leave much to the imagination: together, on the ground, wet. Draco had his arms around Alina, and she had her hands on his face. Draco's blazer, tie, and shoes weren't too far away from them either. And to make matters worse, Cho and Harry skidded to a halt to see what the commotion was about. With a surprised look on her face, Cho grabbed Harry's wand from out of his hands and sent up red sparks.
"The two of you have some explaining to do." Professor McGonagall said as she and the other two professors walked up to Draco and Alina. The two quickly brought their hands away from each other and scooted a good distance away. Alina winced in pain and looked at the cuts on the back of her legs.
"What happened here?" Snape asked, with his nose high in distaste.
"A werewolf, Professor Dumbledore. Keverene came out tonight. I was out here and he tried leading me into the forest." Alina explained, her voice quavering. She wiped her face, unsure if those were tears or water on her cheeks.
"What were you doing out here? The Winter Ball was inside the castle. We also have reason to believe that Oliver Wood was present with you, too." Snape said, raising an eyebrow, "Draco, why are you here? Why are you both wet?" he interrogated.
"Severus, I don't find it appropriate to use that kind of tone." Professor Dumbledore silenced the younger professor. "Miss Halliwell, you will be taken to the hospital wing, and I will speak to you about it then. Mr. Malfoy, I will have to have a word with you in my office about your involvements in this." Professor Dumbledore pulled his wand out of his blazer pocket, and Alina wasn't on the ground anymore, put on a floating stretcher, wrapped in a fleece blanket. "The Hogwarts First-Ever Winter Ball is now over."
******
"You're a part of this now, Alina." Professor Dumbledore said as he looked down at the girl tucked neatly in the bed with scared and questioningly brown eyes. He took off his half-moon spectacles and rubbed his eyes. It was early morning, and he would've really liked to head to bed, but Alina was in need of answers.
"How did I become a part of this?" Alina asked as she tried to bury her head in her pillow.
"It's all a matter of who you surround yourself with. You know that Harry is not safe anymore with a resurrected Voldemort. That also puts everyone around him in danger." The headmaster said as he put his half-moon spectacles back on.
"But doesn't that mean Ron and Hermione are in danger, too?" she questioned.
"Well, it seems that you have a very special place in young Mr. Potter's heart." Professor Dumbledore smiled knowingly to her. She gave him a perplexed look. "I may be old, but I'm not blind. I can tell when one of my students is love-struck."
"You sound just like the girls. 'The Boy Who Lived is openly smitten with you, blah, blah, blah.'" Alina rolled her eyes at that. She wasn't trying to deny it; it's just that she didn't believe it.
"If you haven't noticed, you have quite the fan club here, Miss Halliwell. Oliver Wood has fallen head-over-heels, and you've seemed to have softened the dragon within our stubborn Draco Malfoy." Professor Dumbledore stroked his long white beard.
"Professor, if Oliver feels so deeply about me, why didn't he save me?"
"Ah, not every possesses the same courage as others." Professor Dumbledore turned and headed for the door.
"But Pro-" he put a hand up.
"This discussion is closed for now. It's late. Madam Pomfrey will not be pleased to hear you didn't get a lot of sleep." Alina relaxed against the bed, and she brought the covers up to her chin. "Goodnight, Alina." He nodded politely before pushing the doors open.
"Goodnight, Professor."
******
There was a soft knock on the door. Madam Pomfrey grumbled about her patients not getting enough sleep as she went over to the door. But Alina didn't understand why she was complaining because she hasn't had a guest since her last conversation with Professor Dumbledore. That was two days ago.
"You have a guest, Alina. Please keep it short, Mr. Malfoy." Alina watched as Draco pulled up a chair and sat himself quietly at her bedside. They just stared at each other, trying to find the words to say. Her last words spoken to him were down at the lake.
"I've been feeling like shit since the Ball. I don't think I deserve to be called a 'hero.' Alina, I told Lord Voldemort...things." He said quickly. His mind laughed at him for sounding stupid.
"Told Lord Voldemort what?" Alina didn't get what he was saying.
"I told him everything. Well, I didn't tell him, but I told my father. I told him everything about you. How you're an exchange student, with a far better mind than the usual Gryffindor. About you befriending me, and eventually Harry Potter and his friends. I even told him about Harry's infatuation with you." He said softly, and Alina sighed loudly at that. "I told my father of the Ball, and that's when Lord Voldemort planned on getting you."
"Was he going to let me die if Harry, or actually you, hadn't come?" Draco shrugged.
"I don't know. Honestly, I don't think he'd care. You're a pawn in the game now. Just go home and forget about Harry. It'll be safer that way." Draco said, running a hand over his face.
"Why do you care so much about my safety? I'm the bitch, aren't I?" she spat.
"Look, I feel guilty about giving you away. I owe you."
"Well, the debt has been repaid. You gave me away, but you saved my life. You could get on with living yours, forget about me. It seems everyone else has." Alina turned over in bed, giving Draco her back.
"What do you mean? The other girls didn't come to visit you?"
"No. I've been here for two days. It shouldn't take them that long to notice I'm missing."
"I think they're just confused about all of this. The buzz going around is that we're having some sort of secret relationship. Harry wants to kill me now, and Ron wants to second that. I have a feeling that my housemates disowned me. The same probably goes for you-"
"I don't have friends like you do. My friends care about me!"
"Yeah, well, the Sorting Hat told me that I'll make real friends in my house. I guess it's just my name that attracts everyone. And if you really had friends, they'd have visited you by now." Alina turned back to face him.
"They're probably busy with those Christmas break assignments."
"You didn't seem to think that before. Alina, it's just the two of us now. We're the two loners of Hogwarts."
"I don't know what you're talking about. You'll be a loner by yourself. I have friends, and they're waiting for me." Draco shifted his weight onto his other foot as Alina turned to lie on her back.
"If your friends aren't there for you, know that I'll be sitting at the lone end of Slytherin table."
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll be back to my usual routine of ignoring you when I get back." Draco shrugged and began to proceed to the door, "One question, Malfoy." He turned back to her, with his hand on the doorknob. "How did you know about...?" she trailed off.
"You being a werewolf? You couldn't've made it any more obvious. You'd have to be stupid not to notice."
******
Alina pushed the doors of the Great Hall open with a smile on her face. Madam Pomfrey had finally released her out of the hospital wing, and she'd finally be able to join her friends for the remainder of the Christmas break. She couldn't wait to see them. She had Christmas presents she had yet to give them, and she had to let them know that Keverene was banished once and for all, but there was still the threat of Voldemort.
Her smiled faded, though, when all the eyes in the Great Hall were on her. And there weren't very many welcoming looks either. To be exact, there were no welcoming looks. Everyone just sat there and stared. Except for her so-called friends who seemed to not be looking at her at all.
She approached the Gryffindor table, where Camille, Erin, and Mikaela sat with Megan, Penelope, Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Megan and Ron sat close together, with their hands entwined. Camille was yelling something to someone over at the Ravenclaw table. Erin and Mikaela seemed to be debating over something with Penelope and Hermione, as Harry scribbled down Quidditch plays on a piece of parchment. Alina cleared her throat, and nobody looked up.
"Um...hi guys. Incase you haven't noticed, I just got back from the hospital wing. I almost drowned. Did anybody know? Yeah, and, uh, Draco Malfoy saved my life. Strange, huh? I thought he hated me, but I guess some people-" Mikaela looked up at Alina with cold eyes.
"Why didn't you tell us?" she asked.
"Tell you what?" Alina didn't get why Mikaela was looking at her that way.
"You and Draco." Erin said simply.
"What about me and Draco?"
"Your 'secret relationship.' We thought that when you're in a scenario like that, your friends should be the first ones to know." Mikaela said.
"What are you talking about? 'Secret relationship?' You're kidding me, right?"
"Why would we lie about this?" Erin asked.
"Why would you keep this from us?" Penelope inquired before going back to another conversation.
"I don't know where you guys are getting this from. Harry, Hermione, Ron: do believe any of this?"
"Well, I guess you can't trust some people. Even if they promise you things over and over, you can't trust someone who's been untrustworthy from the beginning." Hermione didn't even look up at Alina as she spoke. Obviously, she wasn't referring to Alina at all. But how was Alina supposed to know?
"Ron? Harry?" Alina looked at them with hopeful eyes. Someone had to think this was stupid.
"I don't know what to say. The way they found you and Malfoy. You had a different kind of relationship back then. You're quite the actress, Alina, to pull it off for so long. We actually believed that you wanted nothing to do with Malfoy. I stood up for you. Now, I can't find the guts in myself to trust you." Megan squeezed Ron's hand for support. Alina sighed and looked to Harry. Harry looked to her with lost green eyes. He didn't know what to believe. But on the night of the Ball, he saw what he saw.
"Cho was right about you." Camille stood up, and went toe-to-toe with Alina.
"Right about what?" Alina hated the fact that Cho was being brought into this now.
"She knew you were going to react this way. She knew right on the off what kind of person you are. We've known you for so long, and I feel so STUPID for not seeing it. You use people just so you could find your place in life. You used Draco Malfoy to make a name for yourself, to make yourself seem rebellious. 'Ooh, a Gryffindor sat at the Slytherin table.' You used Harry to get that spot on the Quidditch team. You made him fall for you, and pick you over his own best friend. It didn't matter that you had no skill. George and Oliver were just there. They were the parts of your game. Bonus points, should I say? You thought it would be wicked to get two boys fighting over you." Alina shoved Camille and she stumbled back. "Violence doesn't make matters better." Alina shoved Camille again.
"You're full of shit, Camille. You've been brainwashed to believe all these lies. I thought you knew me better than that. I didn't think you'd be the one to believe those rumors about one of your own friends." Alina said. She kept shoving Camille until she shoved her onto her seat at the table.
"Stop it!" Camille and Alina looked to Megan who had her hands up in defense. "Alina, we don't know if we can believe you. Everything is pointing against you. We took the fall for you one too many times. We ruined ourselves for you. You haven't done anything. You've been keeping things from us. Do you know how that makes me feel? Ya know, if you will just tell me the truth, I will find a way to fix this. But for now, I don't know what to think." Alina edged away from the table. She just wanted to run away, crying. But she had to show them she was better than that.
She turned on her heel to the look to the end of the Great Hall. He was sitting at the end of Slytherin table, all by himself, staring right back at her. Alina looked over her shoulder to see her old friends at the Gryffindor table watching to see what she was about to do. She took a step, and didn't stop until she reached the Slytherin table. She threw her hands on the table and looked at the silvery blonde haired boy sitting before her.
"Is this spot taken?" she asked.
"Be my guest." Draco said. And with that, Alina sat in the seat across from him with everyone in the Great Hall staring. She didn't care. They could stare and think all they want. She knew the real story, and that's all that mattered to her.
She didn't eat. She just sat there and stared at him for a while until he looked up at her and frowned.
"Thank you." She whispered, and the two shared what they haven't shared in a long time: a smile.
A/N: Ooh, so much drama. It actually reminds me of when I was in the eighth grade. Bah, there was so much drama between everyone in that class. There was actually a time when I was alienated, and I had no one to turn to. So I guess that's where all the emotion came from. Hmph, I wish I had Draco. ::grin:: Well, I have no more to say, I guess I'll talk to y'all in the next chapter A/N. -Gryffindor Heiress
