A/N: from Draco's POV for a bit.
Draco opened his eyes slowly and stretched out. He swung his legs over one side of the bed. Being as efficient as he was, Draco didn't like to lie in. He liked to get up as soon as he woke, to get the most out of the days.
His first thought was of, of course, Cassandra. He loved her fiery mystery. They say opposites attract; a blond haired kid with a black haired kid. What could be more perfect? And Draco also saw that in their personalities. He was "the bad boy" of the school, and she was so sweet and innocent. His companions, Crabbe and Goyle, made jokes that he would have to break that about her. And Draco joined in the laughter. But truth was, he loved that most about her. He loved that she was different. The first Slytherin to ever have an innocent side. Draco liked that difference; it was kind of like a new challenge for him. And he intended on keeping that challenge.
But she still never opened up to him.
Draco pulled on his shirt and cloak then grabbed his trousers. He and Cassandra had been…
"a couple", for weeks now. And it was like she still didn't trust him. Whenever he asked her about her family, or where she lived, she just immediately changed the subject, or smiled mysteriously, or met his lips with a kiss he could never resist.
Draco sat back down on his bed and put his feet into his shoes, tying the laces. Well, whatever the reason for her keeping her secrets, he was sure he would get it out of her eventually. He just had to give her time to trust him. Draco couldn't understand what problem she had with her family that she couldn't tell anyone about. After all, no one was worse than Draco's family.
Lucius Malfoy was, in Draco's opinion, the worst human being there was. Apart from Lord Voldemort, who was just a little bit worse than his dad. Although no one knew (and Malfoy could never tell anyone, or he'd be dead in seconds), his father was Voldemort's "main man" or whatever it was called. That slithering snivel, Pettigrew, was just a servant, and weak. Lucius was the man who helped Voldemort with his evil schemes, and helped carry them out, when Voldemort was gathering more and more strength.
And they wanted Draco to join them. "Never. Never, never," Malfoy muttered under his breath as he made his way out of the dungeons. He would never join Lord Voldemort. Not after he'd killed his mother…
Draco hadn't told anyone this, obviously. Too much of a thing in common with Potter. Hainvg a mother dead. The comparisons would be endless. But he missed her. His mother had seemed harsh and a cruel person, much like Lucius, but she wasn't. Not unless Lucius beat her and forced her to seem that way. But when Draco went home at Christmas, she'd always have the house in massive decorations, especially for him, and they always had a lovely roast on Christmas day, whether Lucius was there or not. Usually he was down the pub, drinking away whatever sorrows he had.
And now she was gone. She has refused to join the dark side and had tried to run away from Lucius, and Voldemort had killed her. Draco's father hadn't seemed too sad. All he'd said afterwards was, "Shame. She would have made a good colleague." His father had told Draco that she had just left him and that they were getting a divorce, but Draco saw through him. He wasn't stupid. He knew his mother would never leave him to the hands of Voldemort.
Draco had cried endlessly. One thing no one knew about him; he did cry. His heart wasn't completely made of stone. The one person that had meant most to him had been taken away, by the one person he was supposed to help. Help Voldemort? No. He wasn't going to help Voldemort. He was going to kill Voldemort.
Draco sat down at the Slytherin table and grabbed some toast, not talking to anyone, engrossed in his own thoughts. Then some sunlight came ripping through his darkened thoughts and rescued him back into the real world; it was Cassandra. "Hi," she said, sitting down next to him and kissing him on the cheek. Malfoy didn't say anything. He simply smiled at her beauty and innocence. "Last day of school!" Cassandra grinned.
"Yeah. For you. It's just the last day of lessons for me."
Cassandra looked confused. "I thought you said you went home every Christmas?"
"I do. I mean, I did," Draco said. "I just thought I'd stay here this Christmas. You're going to your dad's right?" Perfect opportunity for me to ask her about her family, Draco thought. "So, where does he live?"
Cassandra just shrugged. "Down South," she said simply. Draco was about to ask her more, when she cut in and spoke again. "I'll miss you over Christmas!" She kissed him on the lips and Draco closed his eyes, smiling at her tenderness.
"Oh get a room," a scornful voice muttered, coming from behind them. Cassandra pulled away and Draco looked behind him, to see Ron and his little friends.
"Get lost, Weasley," Draco said, annoyed.
"No, no; this is too good an opportunity," Ron said, Dean and Seamus sniggering next to him.
"For what?" Draco asked, sounding bored.
"To make fun of you. There are so many jokes I could make right now!" Ron said, sounding clever. Dean and Seamus just laughed. Harry came forward and tugged on Ron's arm. "Can we go now?" he said quietly
Draco frowned. "What's wrong, Potter? Is 'ittle Potter too tired to fight?"
Harry didn't show any expression, just looked away, hands in his pockets. Draco looked at Cassandra who was staring down intently at her toast. I wonder…
Draco stood up. "Cassandra, help me to smash Potter's brains in, will you?"
Cassandra's eyes opened in horror and she looked as if she was going to protest. Then she shut her mouth again. It happened in a split second, but Draco knew exactly what it meant. He pointed at Harry in disbelief. "A Griffindor?" he said quietly, in amazement. "This Griffindor?" he said, his voice rising.
Draco then turned to Potter in anger. He didn't think. One thing he had learned from his evil father was this; don't hesitate, never hesitate, go with your instincts in what you think is right. Draco punched Harry in the face.
Harry frowned at Draco, confused, and so in the confusion wasn't ready for the fist that landed heavily in his face. He stumbled backwards, and fell over onto the floor, hand rushing straight to his already bleeding nose. He touched the blood and looked at his hand in disbelief. Malfoy had punched him? Punched him? Standing up shakily, with help from Dean (Seamus was busy trying to hold Ron back from attacking Malfoy), Harry said, "What happened to our lovely duels I love so much?"
"This way you weren't ready for it," Malfoy answered back cleverly. He was still seething with anger, and Harry failed to see what he had done to deserve this unprovoked attack, although he did know it was probably something to do with Cassandra.
"So what did I do this time?" Harry asked, getting his wand out, prepared.
Malfoy glared at him, then glanced at Cassandra and back again. Harry hesitated, and then laughed out loud, his wand hand dropping to his side. "Cassandra? Is that what this is all about?!"
Malfoy frowned, confused, and also dropped his arm to his side. He hated being made a fool of.
Harry came forward and put a hand on Malfoy's shoulder, smiling. "Malfoy, Malfoy, Malfoy… If you think there's anything going on between me and Cassandra, think again. One," Harry held up a finger with the hand that wasn't on Malfoy's shoulder, "she's a Slytherin, I'm a Griffindor. There are rules, you know? Two," he held up another finger, "Hermione has just died. I'm not that low. And three," he held up yet another finger, "if she's going out with you, she's got to have really bad taste. Why would I want her if she's got bad taste?" Harry's friends laughed behind him, and Malfoy frowned, shrugging Harry's hand off of his shoulder
Malfoy turned to Cassandra, but she'd gone. "Cassandra?" he called to a direction he thought she might have gone in. He turned back to Harry. "Nice one, Potter. I think you scared her off." He clapped in applause. "Nice one."
"Why thank you," was Harry's calm and simple reply. He bowed, then turned and began to walk off.
"Hey, this isn't finished yet, Potter," Malfoy spat after him.
Harry turned to face Malfoy and walked away from him backwards. "After Christmas at the Quidditch match. We'll settle it then." Harry smiled. "Merry Christmas, Malfoy," he said, then turned and walked off with his friends. Malfoy was left feeling very confused, angry, and somehow, sad.
"That was bloody fantastic!" Ron said, punching the air.
"A win well deserved," Seamus agreed, slapping Harry on the back.
Harry smiled vaguely. Although it had been quite nice to see the look on Malfoy's face, Harry knew that he had hurt Cassandra's feelings. Almost everything he had said back there had been a lie. He had hoped that Cassandra would somehow realise that. Obviously she hadn't.
Harry said a quick goodbye to his friends, and went off in search of Cassandra. He looked everywhere for her, and it meant having to skip Herbology, but he didn't care. When he eventually found her, she was in the last place he'd think of looking in. He nearly didn't go there, because he thought it was a stupid idea. Luckily he looked anyway. She was in the Divination Tower.
Cassandra was sitting on the ledge of the window, gazing out into the cold breeze that the sun beamed down out. It was snowing, and as Harry watched her, Cassandra held out a hand and caught a flake, holding it in her hand, and watching it, sadly. "Don't you just love snow," said Harry, his voice interrupting Cassandra's secretive and isolated thoughts. She looked up, surprised. Harry walked over to her, and sat down on the ledge next to her. "I for one love the snow. It's just like rain – only purer." Harry didn't go on to explain why that would make snow even better, being like rain; he saw no point.
The two sat there in silence for a while, each waiting for the other to speak first. When Harry thought it was getting to the point of ridiculous, neither of them speaking, he said, without looking at Cassandra, "Look, I'm really sorry about what I said. I didn't mean any of it."
He looked then to Cassandra to see what her reaction would be. Her face was full of scorn. Harry smiled wryly. "Ok, so I did mean it. I meant all of it. But the point is, I like you even with all those things."
Cassandra smiled and looked down at her hand. The flake had melted. "I really wish you hadn't just said that, Harry," she said with a soft sigh.
"Why?" Harry asked curiously.
Cassandra smiled sadly. She held her hand again out of the window, and caught another falling flake. She watched it for a while until it melted into her hand and disappeared into nothingness. "Because it makes my life so much harder," she said finally, surprising Harry because he'd thought she wasn't going to answer him. "My life is full of snowflakes," Cassandra said sincerely. Harry raised an eyebrow. "I keep getting these wonderful snowflakes drifting into my hand, and I love to look at them, and enjoy having them on my hand. I feel happy with them in my life" She sighed. "But I know that sooner or later, they're going to melt. There's nothing I can do about that. All my snowflakes melt in the end.
Harry frowned. Cassandra lifted her face up to meet his gaze. In her face Harry saw something that he'd never seen there before. He wasn't quite sure what it was. Sorrow, maybe. Or just a sad honesty. "Don't let me turn you into a snowflake, Harry," Cassandra said softly.
a/n: what is up with all of these short chapters?! Not that any of you will notice or care probably, but I notice that it's like, two (yes, TWOOOO) whole pages shorter than usual. Like the last one was. PIFFLE
(explanation – piffle means HMPH only in Hevbek Language – don't ask). So REEEVIEWWWWWWWWWW please :D wow, this story is quite long. Big smiles! :D and again :D and again :D
sorry. Hyped up. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! big exclamation mark time !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D review pleazeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
~rowan
xxxxxxxx