A/N: Sorry it's taken so long! Life! Thanks to everyone who reviewed
before!!!
Disclaimer; I still don't own them...
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The first couple of weeks back at school were as normal as might be expected for a place as seemingly abnormal as Hogwarts. Classes were anyway. Professor McGonagall had immediately started in on them about the importance of the O.W.L.s. Snape had taken a total of thirty points from Gryffindor on the first day back because of numerous "deliberate distractions," including a melted cauldron from Neville, a slipped giggle from Lavender when Goyle's pile of fish eyes spilled to the floor, a rather loud sneeze from Dean when he opened his container of Pepper Prenze, and a disregard for the school's dress code on Harry's part- the top button of his collar had slipped undone behind his tie. He'd taken an additional ten when Hermione had stubbornly pointed out that Blaise Zabini's skirt was a good four inches shorter than the outlined required length in the school uniform policy; this had also earned a wadded up piece of parchment with the words, "Kiss my ass, you drippy little know-it-all bitch," aimed at Hermione's head by the aforementioned skirt assailant the second Snape's back was turned. And Hermione who, even a year ago, wouldn't have even dignified the action by reading the note, did the exact opposite. She read it, turned around and glared at Blaise, took out her own quill, scribbled a note back to the original writer, and flung it across to the Slytherins. Of course, Snape turned around at the exact same moment as the parchment went flying and after reading the note, took another twenty points from Hermione. All of the Gryffindors had protested this heatedly since Hermione hadn't even been the original note-passer. Snape had, naturally, turned a sneer toward them and threatened to give them all detentions for the rest of the month if they ever criticized his teaching methods again. Things were better in the other classes, though. Professor Flitwick had given a very pleased Harry and Ron full marks on the homework they'd copied from Hermione. Professor Trelawney had predicted Harry's death by drowning. And Professor Lupin had decided to take a page out of Faux Mad- Eyed Moody's book and continue their lessons on resisting the Imperius Curse. Classes were normal.
Life was not.
Harry spent a good deal of time moping about missing Gia. When he wasn't moping, he was dozing off in class because he spent half the night in the owlery sending her letters; all correspondence had to be done in the middle of the night, so her parents wouldn't get suspicious about a large white owl pecking round their house.
Ron and Hermione were dealing with their own set of problems. News of their relationship had spread to the whole school by the evening feast their first night back. Dean and Seamus had barricaded Ron with a load of questions that he had stubbornly refused to answer, much to Harry's relief, as he really had no desire to know the specific details. Parvati and Lavender had dragged Hermione into the girls' loo on the train and demanded a play by play of the first kiss. Because she was dying to tell someone, Hermione had sworn them to secrecy and spilled. It had felt great to tell someone, and she figured that Parvati and Lavender were her best choice, as out of her three closest friends, one was the subject, one was a direct blood relative of the subject, and other was the subject's best mate. Parvati and Lavender had squealed giddily like proper girlfriends should, and they'd sworn to keep the details within the Fifth Year Gryffindor girls. Both Ron and Hermione had suffered their fair share of taunting from the Slytherins, and Malfoy had managed to catch them up outside of the Great Hall.
He strolled up with a cocky smirk on his face and an arm draped around Pansy Parkinson's waist. The four of them had stood facing each other for a moment- the Slytherins grinning and the Gryffindors narrowing their eyes in suspicion.
Finally, Malfoy spoke. "You better enjoy these Hogwarts feasts, Granger, because Weasley sure won't be able to afford to feed you outside of school."
Ron turned red. "Sod off, Malfoy."
But Malfoy just did his best innocent act. "Bet you couldn't believe your luck, huh, Weasley? She's probably the first thing you've ever gotten that you didn't have to share."
Pansy sniggered, and Hermione grabbed Ron's elbow to stop him from lunging at Malfoy who kept talking.
"Of course, she is second- hand. Spent a good deal of time showing off her knickers for Viktor Krum, didn't she? You don't know, though, Weasley. You probably wouldn't know what to do with something that wasn't a hand-me- down."
Hermione tightened her grasp on Ron but simply smiled politely at Malfoy. "Speaking of knickers," she said airily. "I hear Bridget Vemmingmore is missing a pair. Surely, you haven't seen them, have you?"
Ron burst into laughter, Malfoy's cheeks turned a pale pin, and Pansy's head immediately whipped around, her dark blue eyes widened in silent questioning.
Hermione did her best shocked look. She stared at Malfoy, then turned to Pansy, then back to Malfoy, raising a hand to her mouth in fake embarrassment. "Oh, my God. Pansy doesn't know about your little rendezvous with Miss Vemmingmore, does she? Oh, I'm so sorry!"
Malfoy glared at her, his gray eyes piercing her brown ones. Hermione simply sent him back an exact replica of the cocky little smirk he was so famous for. It was almost as if she was daring him to contradict her or even comment back. Pansy looked absolutely livid and was looking very sharply at her so-called boyfriend's profile.
"You've learned the family trade early, huh, Malfoy?" Ron's eyes danced mischievously. "Screwing around with whoever you can find while the 'official' one sits back and keeps her mouth shut like a good little girl." He glanced at the still completely silent Pansy.
Malfoy seemed to snap out of his momentary shock. "Don't even get me started on your family trade, Weasley." He turned to Hermione. "You better watch out unless you want to end up as Mummy to a litter of redheaded brats and living on Ministry welfare." He flashed her a grin. "You'd have done better if you'd picked Potter- as pitiful as that sounds. At least then you wouldn't be poor. And your kids might have at least a chance in the looks department. They'd be a bit shrimpy, of course, but not completely ugly like they're bound to be if you stick with Weasley." He snorted with amusement. "God, can't you just imagine what your children would look like? Red, bushy hair, freckles, and buck teeth."
"Why don't you save it for someone who cares?" Hermione glared at him, knowing that if she got into yet another fight with him this year, she would probably get more than points taken from her. Draco Malfoy was not worth expulsion.
Malfoy ignored her, though, and kept his attention focused on Ron. "And you don't know shit about my family, Weasley, so don't act like you do."
It was obvious that desecrating the Malfoy name was a definite sore spot, and Ron just couldn't let it pass. "Everyone knows your father fucks anything he can get his hands on. Isn't that the reason your family goes through so many maids?"
"At least we can afford a maid!" Malfoy suddenly shoved Ron roughly, sending the taller boy backwards into the wall. Just as the fight started to brew, though, Pansy suddenly spoke up.
"Stop." She grabbed Malfoy's arm and pulled him back. "Just stop. Let's go."
Surprisingly enough, Malfoy walked away from the fight, sending a glare in the direction of the Gryffindors before he left. Both Ron and Hermione were shocked by the sudden turnabout, but they both knew that it was for the best. Neither of them could afford another fight.
"Do you feel sorry for Pansy?" Ron asked as they each watched the Slytherins' retreating backs.
Hermione wasted no time in answering. "No. She's a bitch. They deserve each other."
Glancing over at the brunette beside him, Ron couldn't help but grin a little. "Yeah," he added absently for no reason at all.
But Malfoy and the Slytherins weren't their biggest problem. By the second week of classes, it was painfully obvious that all of their teachers knew, too. This was especially embarrassing, as a few of their teachers actually pointed it out.
Professor McGonagall had given a rather pointed speech about the inappropriate uses of such items as an Invisibility Cloak. Most of the Gryffindors in the Common Room that night had no idea why she was even making an appearance. But her meaning was quite clear to the intended recipients of the lecture, not to mention their rather sickened best friend who was obviously realizing that maybe he oughtn't share his belongings with his friends any longer.
Professor Lupin hadn't said anything, but he wasn't doing too good of a job at hiding his amusement whenever he saw the two of them with their heads ducked down in quiet conversation or whenever Hermione rushed into his classroom after her Arithmancy lesson and settled in between her best friends with a telling grin to one that she didn't extend to the other.
Of course, Professor Snape was by far the worst. It had been during the fourth lesson of the semester that Snape had made it quite clear that he was well-aware of the blossoming romance between two of his least favorite students. He'd marched pointedly up to the table that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had shared for five years with a wicked little smirk on his face. "And how is the love-fest coming along?" he asked sarcastically. Hermione had smartly kicked Ron under the table to silently inform him that answering back was definitely not the best idea. "Didn't I have to separate the three of you last year because of a torrid little affair?" All three of them glared in response to the reminder of the whole 'Viktor Krum/Hermione Granger/Harry Potter' alleged love triangle from the year before. "Well, we certainly can't have your twisted love lives affecting your work, now can we? Miss Granger, switch chairs with Mr. Malfoy." Every head in the room had whipped around at the commandment. Switching chairs with Malfoy would put him at the same table with Harry and Ron and her at the same table with Pansy and Blaise. Among the students in the classroom at that moment, there were eight girls and ten boys, each of which was feeling somewhat of a mixture of outrage at their professor and of sympathy for the members of their houses being directly affected by this abominable change.
So, no, life wasn't exactly normal.
But it was carrying on anyway, and all three friends were learning to deal with the Christmas holiday's events slowly but surely. Ron and Hermione were both struggling with balancing themselves with Harry, and Harry was slowly coming to terms with his friends' relationship while trying hard not to focus all of his time on missing Gia. Her letters were always anxiously awaited, and, though he would never have admitted this to anyone, he carried them with him in his schoolbag, pulling them out and reading them under his desk during particularly boring (or even not-so-boring) lessons. No one but Ron, Hermione, and the other Weasleys even knew about Gia; Harry had figured that since she wasn't at Hogwarts, nor was she likely to ever be at Hogwarts, no one needed to know about her. It really wasn't anyone's business anyway.
He had bigger problems to worry about anyway.
Problems like trying not to drown in a suddenly overpowering guilt.
After being held over by Professor Sprout because of a forgotten homework assignment, Harry found himself hurrying down the hall trying to make it to Charms on time. He stopped short in the second floor corridor, though, upon hearing the familiar sneering voice of Draco Malfoy.
"Why don't you watch were you're going, Weasley?"
Harry rolled his eyes and turned the corner expecting to see a brewing fight between Ron and Malfoy. What he saw, though, was Malfoy standing nose to nose with Ginny. Apparently, they'd run into each other and were both too stubborn to move.
Ginny glared at the Slytherin. "No, why don't you get over the delusion that you own the hallways and watch where you're going yourself?"
"You're right. It is a delusion." Malfoy sent the same type of rigid glare. "Because in a perfect world, I wouldn't even have to be in the same building with your kind."
Ginny opened her mouth to retort, but Harry beat her to it. "Leave her alone, Malfoy." He walked over and looked warningly at the other boy.
Ginny looked up and turned a slight but familiar shade of pink. Malfoy just smirked.
"What's the matter, Potter? One Weasley dumped you for a Mudblood, so you moved onto his little sister?"
Ginny's blush of embarrassment quickly turned into one of anger. "Don't call Hermione that!" She furiously pushed a lone strand of hair away from her eyes. "She's a hell of a lot smarter than you! Who cares is she's Muggle-born? She could outwit you in a second, and you're just jealous!"
Harry was amazed by the sudden strong resemblance he saw between Ron and Ginny. Malfoy, though, seemed quite amused. He turned to Harry and said, "Your little girlfriend's got quite the mouth on her, doesn't she?"
Harry didn't even bother to comment on the girlfriend remark. He simply rolled his eyes and said, "Just shut up."
But no one ever succeeded at shutting up a Malfoy. "So, what made you go after the baby of the poor bunch?" he retorted airily. "The red-hot temper? The fact that her mum's been feeding you for the past five years? Or..." his eyes glinted mischievously, "the scary resemblance to another woman close to you?"
Harry was confused, and he waited wordlessly for Malfoy's explanation. He didn't have to wait long.
"I think some Muggle psychologist had a theory about it..." he went on thoughtfully. "You know, Potter, I saw a picture of your mother once. It was from before you got her killed, obviously, but she did look an awful lot like this one." He swung his head in Ginny's direction. "Maybe that explains why you like Mudbloods and redheads so much. They remind you of your mum."
The jab at his mother stung painfully, and Harry couldn't come up with a single thing to say. He felt the blood start to pound in his ears and struggled to breathe normally.
Ginny, though, appeared to be having no such troubles. Before any of them could even predict it, she'd grabbed the front of Malfoy's robes and had slammed him backwards into the stone wall. She wasn't much smaller than him, and her brown eyes burned with a heated anger.
"You fucking asshole!" she shouted, obviously not worried at all about getting into trouble for yelling swear words in the hallway when she should actually have been in class. "What right do you have to even mention his parents or anything for that matter?! You're not the bloody prince that you think you are!" She glared at him, still clutching the front of his robes in her tightened fists. "And if you want to talk about people's blood, then talk about mine! Mine is as pure as yours, and I don't go around thinking I'm superior to everyone else!"
Harry watched in silence as Malfoy, making no move to release himself from her grip, glared daggers. "Your blood is nowhere near as pure as mine, you little piece of filth," he spat hatefully. "And the reason you don't go around thinking you're superior to everyone else is because you aren't. You're barely above a sewer rat."
Ginny was silent for a long moment before narrowing her eyes and speaking in a slow, calm voice. "Well, I'd rather be a sewer rat than let my father bully me into becoming his clone."
"Yes," Malfoy sneered. "Good call, Weasley. Who would want to be your father's clone?" It was obvious that he knew exactly what she was talking about, but he wasn't about to let her know that it affected him. With that, he yanked his collar from her fists and straightened up. "And you better watch out, little girl, or you're going to end up exactly like your brother will."
Harry closed his eyes, trying desperately not to hear the rest of the argument. It didn't work.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ginny demanded heatedly.
Harry opened his eyes again and saw Malfoy looking directly at him. "You just better watch out," Malfoy warned, never taking his eyes away from Harry's. "You just better all watch out."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ginny demanded again.
Malfoy finally turned his attention back to her. "Think about it. Your brother. His Mudblood girlfriend. This bastard," he swung his head in Harry's direction. "Just wait." He turned his head once more to Harry and spoke two simple words before stalking away in the opposite direction. "It's over."
Harry watched him go, not knowing what to do or what to say. He was dizzy, and he suddenly had no desire to make it to Charms on time. Or even at all.
"Harry..." Ginny's voice was quiet and nervous, a vast difference from the way she'd just been laying into Malfoy.
Hearing his name drew Harry's attention to his best friend's little sister. She was looking at him timidly, her cheeks rapidly paling. "Don't listen to him," she said softly. "He's just a jerk." Ginny looked away, avoiding his eyes. He was reminded of the little girl who used to knock everything over whenever he was in the room. But she wasn't that little girl anymore. She'd grown up, and he had completely missed it.
Not knowing what else to say, he swallowed and said, "What class are you supposed to be in?"
"Potions," she muttered, still not looking up.
"Snape'll kill you," he answered dully. "You should go."
She shrugged but then nodded wordlessly.
"See you later," he mumbled, having no idea what else to do. Without looking back, he turned and headed off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. Skiving off of Flitwick's class was the least of his problems. The entire way back through the castle, Harry kept hearing Malfoy's words. The way he'd talked about his mother, the way he'd taunted Ginny. And, of course, his final statement.
'Your brother. His Mudblood girlfriend. This bastard. Just wait... It's over.'
And what if it was? What if this was the end? Harry wasn't so naïve to think that life was just peachy. His Christmas holiday might have given him a momentary escape, but he couldn't run forever.
The prophecy spelled it right out for them.
The time was coming. And quickly. Soon enough, it would turn into kill or be killed.
Gloomily, Harry tried not to notice that his brain immediately favored the latter.
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So, I know a lot happened here, but this is me moving the plot along. Yay!!!
Thanks to everyone who reviews!!!
Oh, yeah. Anyone who is of legal age should DEFINITELY check out Alfonso Cuaron's film, Y Tu Mama Tambien. It is absolutely the most brilliant piece of film I've ever seen. By the time the movie ends, you'll be so dumbfounded that you won't even care that you've spent the last two hours watching nothing but naked people. Though, I am a bit scared for the future of the Harry Potter films... (
Disclaimer; I still don't own them...
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The first couple of weeks back at school were as normal as might be expected for a place as seemingly abnormal as Hogwarts. Classes were anyway. Professor McGonagall had immediately started in on them about the importance of the O.W.L.s. Snape had taken a total of thirty points from Gryffindor on the first day back because of numerous "deliberate distractions," including a melted cauldron from Neville, a slipped giggle from Lavender when Goyle's pile of fish eyes spilled to the floor, a rather loud sneeze from Dean when he opened his container of Pepper Prenze, and a disregard for the school's dress code on Harry's part- the top button of his collar had slipped undone behind his tie. He'd taken an additional ten when Hermione had stubbornly pointed out that Blaise Zabini's skirt was a good four inches shorter than the outlined required length in the school uniform policy; this had also earned a wadded up piece of parchment with the words, "Kiss my ass, you drippy little know-it-all bitch," aimed at Hermione's head by the aforementioned skirt assailant the second Snape's back was turned. And Hermione who, even a year ago, wouldn't have even dignified the action by reading the note, did the exact opposite. She read it, turned around and glared at Blaise, took out her own quill, scribbled a note back to the original writer, and flung it across to the Slytherins. Of course, Snape turned around at the exact same moment as the parchment went flying and after reading the note, took another twenty points from Hermione. All of the Gryffindors had protested this heatedly since Hermione hadn't even been the original note-passer. Snape had, naturally, turned a sneer toward them and threatened to give them all detentions for the rest of the month if they ever criticized his teaching methods again. Things were better in the other classes, though. Professor Flitwick had given a very pleased Harry and Ron full marks on the homework they'd copied from Hermione. Professor Trelawney had predicted Harry's death by drowning. And Professor Lupin had decided to take a page out of Faux Mad- Eyed Moody's book and continue their lessons on resisting the Imperius Curse. Classes were normal.
Life was not.
Harry spent a good deal of time moping about missing Gia. When he wasn't moping, he was dozing off in class because he spent half the night in the owlery sending her letters; all correspondence had to be done in the middle of the night, so her parents wouldn't get suspicious about a large white owl pecking round their house.
Ron and Hermione were dealing with their own set of problems. News of their relationship had spread to the whole school by the evening feast their first night back. Dean and Seamus had barricaded Ron with a load of questions that he had stubbornly refused to answer, much to Harry's relief, as he really had no desire to know the specific details. Parvati and Lavender had dragged Hermione into the girls' loo on the train and demanded a play by play of the first kiss. Because she was dying to tell someone, Hermione had sworn them to secrecy and spilled. It had felt great to tell someone, and she figured that Parvati and Lavender were her best choice, as out of her three closest friends, one was the subject, one was a direct blood relative of the subject, and other was the subject's best mate. Parvati and Lavender had squealed giddily like proper girlfriends should, and they'd sworn to keep the details within the Fifth Year Gryffindor girls. Both Ron and Hermione had suffered their fair share of taunting from the Slytherins, and Malfoy had managed to catch them up outside of the Great Hall.
He strolled up with a cocky smirk on his face and an arm draped around Pansy Parkinson's waist. The four of them had stood facing each other for a moment- the Slytherins grinning and the Gryffindors narrowing their eyes in suspicion.
Finally, Malfoy spoke. "You better enjoy these Hogwarts feasts, Granger, because Weasley sure won't be able to afford to feed you outside of school."
Ron turned red. "Sod off, Malfoy."
But Malfoy just did his best innocent act. "Bet you couldn't believe your luck, huh, Weasley? She's probably the first thing you've ever gotten that you didn't have to share."
Pansy sniggered, and Hermione grabbed Ron's elbow to stop him from lunging at Malfoy who kept talking.
"Of course, she is second- hand. Spent a good deal of time showing off her knickers for Viktor Krum, didn't she? You don't know, though, Weasley. You probably wouldn't know what to do with something that wasn't a hand-me- down."
Hermione tightened her grasp on Ron but simply smiled politely at Malfoy. "Speaking of knickers," she said airily. "I hear Bridget Vemmingmore is missing a pair. Surely, you haven't seen them, have you?"
Ron burst into laughter, Malfoy's cheeks turned a pale pin, and Pansy's head immediately whipped around, her dark blue eyes widened in silent questioning.
Hermione did her best shocked look. She stared at Malfoy, then turned to Pansy, then back to Malfoy, raising a hand to her mouth in fake embarrassment. "Oh, my God. Pansy doesn't know about your little rendezvous with Miss Vemmingmore, does she? Oh, I'm so sorry!"
Malfoy glared at her, his gray eyes piercing her brown ones. Hermione simply sent him back an exact replica of the cocky little smirk he was so famous for. It was almost as if she was daring him to contradict her or even comment back. Pansy looked absolutely livid and was looking very sharply at her so-called boyfriend's profile.
"You've learned the family trade early, huh, Malfoy?" Ron's eyes danced mischievously. "Screwing around with whoever you can find while the 'official' one sits back and keeps her mouth shut like a good little girl." He glanced at the still completely silent Pansy.
Malfoy seemed to snap out of his momentary shock. "Don't even get me started on your family trade, Weasley." He turned to Hermione. "You better watch out unless you want to end up as Mummy to a litter of redheaded brats and living on Ministry welfare." He flashed her a grin. "You'd have done better if you'd picked Potter- as pitiful as that sounds. At least then you wouldn't be poor. And your kids might have at least a chance in the looks department. They'd be a bit shrimpy, of course, but not completely ugly like they're bound to be if you stick with Weasley." He snorted with amusement. "God, can't you just imagine what your children would look like? Red, bushy hair, freckles, and buck teeth."
"Why don't you save it for someone who cares?" Hermione glared at him, knowing that if she got into yet another fight with him this year, she would probably get more than points taken from her. Draco Malfoy was not worth expulsion.
Malfoy ignored her, though, and kept his attention focused on Ron. "And you don't know shit about my family, Weasley, so don't act like you do."
It was obvious that desecrating the Malfoy name was a definite sore spot, and Ron just couldn't let it pass. "Everyone knows your father fucks anything he can get his hands on. Isn't that the reason your family goes through so many maids?"
"At least we can afford a maid!" Malfoy suddenly shoved Ron roughly, sending the taller boy backwards into the wall. Just as the fight started to brew, though, Pansy suddenly spoke up.
"Stop." She grabbed Malfoy's arm and pulled him back. "Just stop. Let's go."
Surprisingly enough, Malfoy walked away from the fight, sending a glare in the direction of the Gryffindors before he left. Both Ron and Hermione were shocked by the sudden turnabout, but they both knew that it was for the best. Neither of them could afford another fight.
"Do you feel sorry for Pansy?" Ron asked as they each watched the Slytherins' retreating backs.
Hermione wasted no time in answering. "No. She's a bitch. They deserve each other."
Glancing over at the brunette beside him, Ron couldn't help but grin a little. "Yeah," he added absently for no reason at all.
But Malfoy and the Slytherins weren't their biggest problem. By the second week of classes, it was painfully obvious that all of their teachers knew, too. This was especially embarrassing, as a few of their teachers actually pointed it out.
Professor McGonagall had given a rather pointed speech about the inappropriate uses of such items as an Invisibility Cloak. Most of the Gryffindors in the Common Room that night had no idea why she was even making an appearance. But her meaning was quite clear to the intended recipients of the lecture, not to mention their rather sickened best friend who was obviously realizing that maybe he oughtn't share his belongings with his friends any longer.
Professor Lupin hadn't said anything, but he wasn't doing too good of a job at hiding his amusement whenever he saw the two of them with their heads ducked down in quiet conversation or whenever Hermione rushed into his classroom after her Arithmancy lesson and settled in between her best friends with a telling grin to one that she didn't extend to the other.
Of course, Professor Snape was by far the worst. It had been during the fourth lesson of the semester that Snape had made it quite clear that he was well-aware of the blossoming romance between two of his least favorite students. He'd marched pointedly up to the table that Harry, Ron, and Hermione had shared for five years with a wicked little smirk on his face. "And how is the love-fest coming along?" he asked sarcastically. Hermione had smartly kicked Ron under the table to silently inform him that answering back was definitely not the best idea. "Didn't I have to separate the three of you last year because of a torrid little affair?" All three of them glared in response to the reminder of the whole 'Viktor Krum/Hermione Granger/Harry Potter' alleged love triangle from the year before. "Well, we certainly can't have your twisted love lives affecting your work, now can we? Miss Granger, switch chairs with Mr. Malfoy." Every head in the room had whipped around at the commandment. Switching chairs with Malfoy would put him at the same table with Harry and Ron and her at the same table with Pansy and Blaise. Among the students in the classroom at that moment, there were eight girls and ten boys, each of which was feeling somewhat of a mixture of outrage at their professor and of sympathy for the members of their houses being directly affected by this abominable change.
So, no, life wasn't exactly normal.
But it was carrying on anyway, and all three friends were learning to deal with the Christmas holiday's events slowly but surely. Ron and Hermione were both struggling with balancing themselves with Harry, and Harry was slowly coming to terms with his friends' relationship while trying hard not to focus all of his time on missing Gia. Her letters were always anxiously awaited, and, though he would never have admitted this to anyone, he carried them with him in his schoolbag, pulling them out and reading them under his desk during particularly boring (or even not-so-boring) lessons. No one but Ron, Hermione, and the other Weasleys even knew about Gia; Harry had figured that since she wasn't at Hogwarts, nor was she likely to ever be at Hogwarts, no one needed to know about her. It really wasn't anyone's business anyway.
He had bigger problems to worry about anyway.
Problems like trying not to drown in a suddenly overpowering guilt.
After being held over by Professor Sprout because of a forgotten homework assignment, Harry found himself hurrying down the hall trying to make it to Charms on time. He stopped short in the second floor corridor, though, upon hearing the familiar sneering voice of Draco Malfoy.
"Why don't you watch were you're going, Weasley?"
Harry rolled his eyes and turned the corner expecting to see a brewing fight between Ron and Malfoy. What he saw, though, was Malfoy standing nose to nose with Ginny. Apparently, they'd run into each other and were both too stubborn to move.
Ginny glared at the Slytherin. "No, why don't you get over the delusion that you own the hallways and watch where you're going yourself?"
"You're right. It is a delusion." Malfoy sent the same type of rigid glare. "Because in a perfect world, I wouldn't even have to be in the same building with your kind."
Ginny opened her mouth to retort, but Harry beat her to it. "Leave her alone, Malfoy." He walked over and looked warningly at the other boy.
Ginny looked up and turned a slight but familiar shade of pink. Malfoy just smirked.
"What's the matter, Potter? One Weasley dumped you for a Mudblood, so you moved onto his little sister?"
Ginny's blush of embarrassment quickly turned into one of anger. "Don't call Hermione that!" She furiously pushed a lone strand of hair away from her eyes. "She's a hell of a lot smarter than you! Who cares is she's Muggle-born? She could outwit you in a second, and you're just jealous!"
Harry was amazed by the sudden strong resemblance he saw between Ron and Ginny. Malfoy, though, seemed quite amused. He turned to Harry and said, "Your little girlfriend's got quite the mouth on her, doesn't she?"
Harry didn't even bother to comment on the girlfriend remark. He simply rolled his eyes and said, "Just shut up."
But no one ever succeeded at shutting up a Malfoy. "So, what made you go after the baby of the poor bunch?" he retorted airily. "The red-hot temper? The fact that her mum's been feeding you for the past five years? Or..." his eyes glinted mischievously, "the scary resemblance to another woman close to you?"
Harry was confused, and he waited wordlessly for Malfoy's explanation. He didn't have to wait long.
"I think some Muggle psychologist had a theory about it..." he went on thoughtfully. "You know, Potter, I saw a picture of your mother once. It was from before you got her killed, obviously, but she did look an awful lot like this one." He swung his head in Ginny's direction. "Maybe that explains why you like Mudbloods and redheads so much. They remind you of your mum."
The jab at his mother stung painfully, and Harry couldn't come up with a single thing to say. He felt the blood start to pound in his ears and struggled to breathe normally.
Ginny, though, appeared to be having no such troubles. Before any of them could even predict it, she'd grabbed the front of Malfoy's robes and had slammed him backwards into the stone wall. She wasn't much smaller than him, and her brown eyes burned with a heated anger.
"You fucking asshole!" she shouted, obviously not worried at all about getting into trouble for yelling swear words in the hallway when she should actually have been in class. "What right do you have to even mention his parents or anything for that matter?! You're not the bloody prince that you think you are!" She glared at him, still clutching the front of his robes in her tightened fists. "And if you want to talk about people's blood, then talk about mine! Mine is as pure as yours, and I don't go around thinking I'm superior to everyone else!"
Harry watched in silence as Malfoy, making no move to release himself from her grip, glared daggers. "Your blood is nowhere near as pure as mine, you little piece of filth," he spat hatefully. "And the reason you don't go around thinking you're superior to everyone else is because you aren't. You're barely above a sewer rat."
Ginny was silent for a long moment before narrowing her eyes and speaking in a slow, calm voice. "Well, I'd rather be a sewer rat than let my father bully me into becoming his clone."
"Yes," Malfoy sneered. "Good call, Weasley. Who would want to be your father's clone?" It was obvious that he knew exactly what she was talking about, but he wasn't about to let her know that it affected him. With that, he yanked his collar from her fists and straightened up. "And you better watch out, little girl, or you're going to end up exactly like your brother will."
Harry closed his eyes, trying desperately not to hear the rest of the argument. It didn't work.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ginny demanded heatedly.
Harry opened his eyes again and saw Malfoy looking directly at him. "You just better watch out," Malfoy warned, never taking his eyes away from Harry's. "You just better all watch out."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Ginny demanded again.
Malfoy finally turned his attention back to her. "Think about it. Your brother. His Mudblood girlfriend. This bastard," he swung his head in Harry's direction. "Just wait." He turned his head once more to Harry and spoke two simple words before stalking away in the opposite direction. "It's over."
Harry watched him go, not knowing what to do or what to say. He was dizzy, and he suddenly had no desire to make it to Charms on time. Or even at all.
"Harry..." Ginny's voice was quiet and nervous, a vast difference from the way she'd just been laying into Malfoy.
Hearing his name drew Harry's attention to his best friend's little sister. She was looking at him timidly, her cheeks rapidly paling. "Don't listen to him," she said softly. "He's just a jerk." Ginny looked away, avoiding his eyes. He was reminded of the little girl who used to knock everything over whenever he was in the room. But she wasn't that little girl anymore. She'd grown up, and he had completely missed it.
Not knowing what else to say, he swallowed and said, "What class are you supposed to be in?"
"Potions," she muttered, still not looking up.
"Snape'll kill you," he answered dully. "You should go."
She shrugged but then nodded wordlessly.
"See you later," he mumbled, having no idea what else to do. Without looking back, he turned and headed off in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. Skiving off of Flitwick's class was the least of his problems. The entire way back through the castle, Harry kept hearing Malfoy's words. The way he'd talked about his mother, the way he'd taunted Ginny. And, of course, his final statement.
'Your brother. His Mudblood girlfriend. This bastard. Just wait... It's over.'
And what if it was? What if this was the end? Harry wasn't so naïve to think that life was just peachy. His Christmas holiday might have given him a momentary escape, but he couldn't run forever.
The prophecy spelled it right out for them.
The time was coming. And quickly. Soon enough, it would turn into kill or be killed.
Gloomily, Harry tried not to notice that his brain immediately favored the latter.
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So, I know a lot happened here, but this is me moving the plot along. Yay!!!
Thanks to everyone who reviews!!!
Oh, yeah. Anyone who is of legal age should DEFINITELY check out Alfonso Cuaron's film, Y Tu Mama Tambien. It is absolutely the most brilliant piece of film I've ever seen. By the time the movie ends, you'll be so dumbfounded that you won't even care that you've spent the last two hours watching nothing but naked people. Though, I am a bit scared for the future of the Harry Potter films... (
