Kiana sat in her dorm upstairs after telling Hermione off. She was pleasantly surprised at how nice Hermione had been, though she did feel a little uncertain and guilty about her own behavior. Losing her temper, especially in front of Harry! And it wasn't as if Ron and Harry wouldn't have found out about her secret anyways. Actually, she felt suspicious that secretly she had wanted Hermione to tell. Being fairy kindred made her special, even if it was somewhat unusual. Josh, her boyfriend from Durmstrang, had called it "peculiar."
She smiled when she saw an eagle land at the windowsill, recognizing it immediately as Josh's. She took the letter off quickly and climbed the bookcase to sit in the huge crumble of blankets she had placed atop it. She paused for a second to savor her anticipation before opening it.
Dear Kiana,
How is it in Hogwarts? Do you like it there? Durmstrang is strange without you. We're working on creating new jinxes in Professor Steinbeck's class. It's still very boring right now. We're just modifying existing ones. I have to turn the jelly-legs hex into jelly-arms. I can just imagine you adding all sorts of side effects to your jinxes and pretending it was an accident. Remember that time in Experimental Theory when we were testing new wand designs and you purposely made a crack? That was so funny! Mrs. Zirfror made the funniest face when she tried a spell and it went in the wrong direction. Well, I'm off to Aerial Competency. We all miss you. Have fun at Hogwarts.
Josh
xXx
Kiana laughed and jumped down from the bookcase. She had to think about what she would write. She wasn't quite sure what to say. Before she had left for Hogwarts, they had agreed to part. Long distance relationships weren't known for working very well. She remembered their goodbye. Both of them had put it off until the very last moment. Josh was not very sentimental, but he had still said, "I'll miss you." It wasn't the three words Kiana had hoped to hear, but they still made her smile. She could imagine perfectly his face, a little paler than usual, his eyes a slightly pleading. As much as she tried to, she couldn't remember his exact words. He had made her make a sort of promise. It was something along the lines of keeping a special bond between them. Not quite a relationship, because they were still allowed to date other people, but something more than friendship. And when she was out of Hogwarts, or transferred back to Durmstrang, they would seek each other out and perhaps get back together again. It was like their relationship was being put on hold by her leaving instead of being destroyed.
She had kissed him as her agreement, first each corner of his mouth and then on it, telling him those three kisses would be her way of affirming their promise. It was those three kisses the xXx in his letter was supposed to represent.
The next day was the weekend. Kiana was glad that she would have two full days to catch up on all the work she had missed. On the way to the Great Hall, Kiana saw Harry, Hermione, and Ron in front of her. Almost without thinking she ran to catch up with them.
"Hey," she said.
Hermione turned around and smiled, glad that Kiana was obviously not mad anymore. Seeing that Ron was about turn a corner, Kiana, said,
"Oh, I know a shorter way!"
"You've only been here two days and you already know a shortcut?" Ron said. Kiana shrugged.
"They come in handy."
Kiana led them down a corridor they wouldn't have noticed otherwise, it was so well disguised by a tapestry and a suit of armor. There was another staircase at the end of it, bringing them right to the hallway outside the Great Hall. Kiana couldn't resist sliding down the rail. She slid smoothly, quickly, expertly...and straight into a dirty, hunched figure trudging past.
"Oh hello!" she said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't stop myself."
"You shouldn't have needed to," the man said, with a wrinkle of his nose. Kiana noticed his cheeks sagged and jiggled a little as he talked. She tried to avoid looking at them. "It's against the school ruules to slide down staircases. I'm going to have to-"
"Ok, don't worry," Kiana broke in, "I'm new here, I didn't know, but you won't see me doing that again!" Kiana saluted. The man stared at her. He was starting to really annoy her.
"New? Well, you'll get off this time, but next time I catch you doing that, you're going to get a detention," he said, and shuffled away. Kiana ran back up the stairs.
"Who was that?"
"That's Filch, the school's caretaker," Harry said, a grin breaking out on his face. "I've never seen anyone treat him like that before."
Kiana couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not, so she just smiled tentatively at him. Then she jumped back on the rail and slid down again, feeling very aware of the three watching her.
Hermione dashed down the stairs.
"Didn't you hear what Filch just said?" Hermione asked, looking shocked.
"Of course I did," Kiana said, "But he made that rule up out of spite. I only follow rules that have good reason to follow them."
"You sound like my brothers!" Ron said.
"Oh really? I'd like the meet them."
Once they had reached the Great Hall, Ron led the way over to where Fred and George were sitting. They looked up when he arrived.
"Kiana, these are my brothers, Fred and George."
"Hello," Fred said, "I'm George."
"Pleased to meetcha, I'm Fred," George said.
"Really now?" Kiana said, tilting her head and tapping her mouth with her first finger.
"I think you're Fred," she waggled her finger at Fred, "And you're George." She waggled her finger at George.
"Whoa, we must be losing our touch!" George said, catching her waggling finger.
"But we'll get it back," Fred said. He patted George on the back.
"Here, a chocolate for the first person to tell us apart." George pressed a candy into Kiana's hand.
"Don't eat that!" Harry warned. "They've probably done something to it."
Kiana turned to glare accusingly at them.
"Harry, now why would you think such a thing?" Fred said, feigning surprise.
"Yes, we merely meant to reward such a fine young lady as your friend here for telling us apart," George added.
All of them were grinning by now, and Ron made his way over to his usual seat to sit down. It didn't look like they were going to finish talking anytime soon now. Hermione came too. Kiana sat down to talk to Fred and George. After a few minutes, Harry made his way over as well.
"What are they talking about now?" Ron asked.
"Pranks," Harry said, and filled his mouth with waffle.
Harry glanced over at Kiana. She seemed to be waiting for either Fred or George to take a huge bite before asking them a question. (Particularly questions that one would like to answer quickly.) They were all laughing. She herself made sure to take tiny bites she could still talk through, in the case that they reciprocated the prank. He wished she was sitting in the empty seat across from him instead of over there.
Kiana finally finished all her homework by late afternoon. She would have liked to meet a few more people instead of working, but because Hermione had decided to start some sort of homework marathon, Kiana decided to join her. She would have at least split the work between the two days of the weekend, but since Hermione was helping her catch up, Kiana really didn't feel like interrupting her. Feeling rather dizzy from all the reading and writing, Kiana decided to take a walk. The halls were starting to fill up with people coming for dinner. Now would be a good time to meet people, she realized, and smiled at everyone who caught her eye. Most people were surprised she was smiling at them, and gave her a very hasty, unnatural smile.
One girl with short, cute blond hair, smiled very sweetly back. Kiana was going to talk to her, but someone else called her away.
"Hannah!"
Kiana mentally took note of her name. Hannah. Behind her, she heard someone say,
"-so Father bought me a snake. I-"
Kiana whirled around before he could finish his sentence, saying,
"You have a pet snake?" She found herself facing Draco Malfoy and some other guy with dark hair and eyes. She fell into step with them.
"I love snakes! What kind do you have?"
"A python," Draco said. He smiled with just the left side of his mouth. "They make excellent pillows."
"Pillows?" Kiana asked, almost stopping in her steps, "You stuffed it?"
"No, no." Draco threw back his head and laughed. "He's alive. I just coil him up and use him as a pillow."
"Really?" Kiana said, smiling. She glanced at the boy beside Draco. He looked at her but did not show any expression and didn't speak.
"It's quite soft, actually, and because he's cold-blooded it doesn't get hot," Draco said.
"That's awesome!" Kiana said. "I want one now. What'd you name him?"
"I don't know. Do you have any ideas?"
Kiana took up her thinking pose. Draco smirked and then couldn't help it; he started laughing at her.
"What??"
"You!"
She pointedly ignored him.
"I have an idea," she said, "Name him Snape. It's snake except with a p for python."
Finally the boy walking with Draco made a sound. He laughed. Kiana liked his laugh. It was quiet and agreeable. Still, she didn't like him laughing at her, so she turned to Draco. He had the oddest expression on, and when he saw her puzzled face, he burst out laughing too.
"What is it with you and laughing?" Kiana was starting to think he was a bit crazier than she had thought at first. Draco made a funny sound in his throat and stopped laughing quickly. He usually didn't laugh like this.
"Nothing, it's just that Snape is the name of a Professor here."
"Oh. Oh!" Kiana started laughing, too, which for some reason made the guy with Draco stop laughing. It was getting on her nerves.
"I don't believe I've met you," she said, "What's your name?"
"Blaise," he said.
"Blaise? Cool. So tell me about this Professor named Snape."
Their conversation ranged from Snape, to classes, to their summers. Draco had a lot of funny stories to tell about his vacation in America. Kiana decided Blaise wasn't giving her the cold shoulder, he was just quiet by nature and didn't mind not saying much.
Since Kiana wasn't going anywhere in particular, she just let Draco and Blaise lead the way. At last, Draco said,
"Where are you going?"
"No where in particular," Kiana said, looking around. She realized they were walking in the darker corridors of Hogwarts, near the dungeons.
'Well, Blaise and I have got to stop by the common room before dinner." He began to go down a different passageway. "See you around."
"'K. Bye," Kiana said. Blaise gave her a short nod, and she turned around to walk to dinner with a lingering grin.
Harry rushed through the corridors Sunday evening laden with books from the library. He had belatedly remembered his Transfiguration essay and was trying to finish it in the little time he had before night. On the recommendation of Hermione, he had rented several books from the library. As he was checking the list for the third time, (it was rather comprehensive, with different symbols indicating the length and usefulness of each book,) he heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Kiana and Hannah Abott walking in the opposite direction. They looked like they were deeply immersed in their conversation and didn't notice him watching them. Actually, Kiana was quite aware of his prescence, but she didn't want to seem rude to her new friend. Actually, she was trying to work up the nerve to look at him.
Just as Harry was about to pass her she suddenly met his eyes. He locked gazes with her for a second when suddenly a thump on his foot alerted him to the fact that one of his books had fallen. He couldn't think how, and stared at it with an astonished expression as it skidded across to Kiana. She picked it up and added it to his stack, saying,
"I did that too! Except I dropped all of mine."
"Really? How did you do that?" Harry asked, his grin matching hers.
"I have no clue," she said, shaking her head to emphasize her words. With a last grin over her shoulder, she left with Hannah.
Harry kept grinning as he walked off. It was only after he replayed the scene in his head for the fourth time while doing homework that he realized he had forgotten to say thank you. He hoped she didn't think he was rude.
Kiana grinned at Ron as he bemoaned their next class: Potions. It was Monday morning.
"Come on, Snape can't be that bad, can he?"
"Oh he is, he is," Hermione said earnestly, "You just don't know because you've never met him before."
"He might be nice because I'm new," Kiana said, pursing her lips and frowning thoughtfully.
"Actually he might be nastier. But don't worry, it'll be ok," Harry said.
"Draco seems to think highly of him," Kiana said, still with a thoughtful tone. She quickly dropped it when she felt the three of them stiffen beside her. Suddenly the air was tense.
"When did you talk to Malfoy?" Hermione asked slowly.
"I happened to see him in the halls with some other guy, and I just sort of ended up talking to him," Kiana said with a shrug. She didn't mention that she had initiated the conversation.
"Why?" she continued, "He's nice!"
"He is not nice," Harry said through clenched teeth. The image of Malfoy and Kiana talking really bothered him. It just gave him a really strange feeling he couldn't quite place, like hitting your funny bone really hard.
"Well, even if you guys don't like him, I do, so try not to say mean things about him in front of me, ok?" Kiana's tone was cajoling.
"Mean things? Do you know what he's done to us?" Hermione said, "Do you remember what he called me?" Her cheeks were flushed.
"Everyone has prejudices," Kiana said, still trying to calm her down. She repeated the words of a lecture her father had given her a while ago. "At least he is open with his. And you can't get rid of prejudcices by hating people, you've got to overcome them."
"Don't lecture me," Hermione snapped. At the same moment Ron said, "Are you trying to defend him??" Both talked at the same time but neither stopped.
"You think you can turn him into a good person or something? You think we haven't been nice enough? You think you're better than us? Don't condescend!" Hermione said. Ron's ears brurned red. "You think you can be his friend? He's thinks he's better than everyone else! He's an arrogant, nasty bastard!"
Kiana was silent under their barrage.
"Listen, Kiana," Harry said quietly, his hand on her arm. "Malfoy might seem nice right now, but he's only pretending because he wants something from you. He's really not worth your time."
"You mean not worth anything," Ron said. Kiana shot him a sharp look. He stared back defiantly.
"You can't be friends with both of us," Hermione said, "It's either him or me." She lifted her chin. Kiana's eyebrows shot down. She couldn't believe what Hermione had said.
"Why not? Draco knew I was friends with you. He didn't force me to choose."
"Fine then!" Hermione threw her hands up and walked away without looking back. Ron started after her almost instantly.
Kiana turned to look at Harry. He seemed frozen, but his decision was quick. A year of friendship was worth more than a couple of days, no matter how much he liked her. He moved to catch up with Hermione and Ron. Kiana stood in the middle of the bustling hallway, full of students lost in their own dramas and unaware of her own. She watched him walk away, almost stunned. He paused to look back only once, and his expression reminded Kiana of Josh's as the train pulled away from the station.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading this far. Please review. Thanks goes to midnight solitaire, Lee-SenRu, Suicide777(Sry for the misunderstanding, it's my other story, which I'm posting soon, that is Hermione/Draco), and Princess of Darkness6. Thanks again, your reviews encouraged me so much! I hope you liked this new chapter.