Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K. Rowling. I am writing this for my own amusement and the amusement of my readers and I am not being paid in any way.

*Chapter Four*

"Yeah... I don't think she's ever going to like me..." said Liliana, frowning.

"And she's never going to speak to me again," said Ron seriously as he ran after her.

"Guess it's just us then..." said Harry. Liliana exhaled noisily and turned to follow him down the hall.

"So what did you say your name was?" she asked, once they began their trek across the grounds.

"Harry. Potter," he said placidly, turning around to see her reaction. She stopped and extended her hand. Harry eyed her cautiously and shook it. "Didn't we do this already?"

"I don't know, did we?" Harry shrugged in response and kept walking. When they reached the door to the greenhouse Harry pushed it open and walked in, causing it to close loudly in Liliana's face.

"Oops," he mouthed as she opened the door for herself.

"It's fine," she said with a slight trace of scorn in her voice.

Harry walked over to a vacant table and sat down on the garden bench behind it. "Do you mind?" asked Liliana dryly as she sat down on the opposite end of the bench. Harry shrugged again.

Just then Professor Sprout walked in and began taking attendance. "Where are Mr. Weasley and Miss. Granger?" she asked.

Harry raised his hand hesitantly, "I saw Hermione run to the nurse and Ron went after her to make sure that everything was fine. They should be here anytime now."

"Well Mr. Potter, not that I don't believe you, but was there anyone else around who can confirm that story?"

"Liliana was there," said Harry, shooting her a pleading look.

"Is that true Miss?" asked the Professor.

Liliana looked appraisingly at Harry, "I was there..." she began, "and I think that I remember Hermione saying something about feeling ill."

"Very well then," said Professor Sprout pleasantly.

Ron and Hermione didn't turn up for class at all. So Harry and Liliana were stuck as partners. The pair tried their best to be civil to one another, but it was nearly impossible. They had been examining a leaf of the Oublais plant when Harry had innocently advised Liliana to smell the leaf, as he had. They ended up spending a solid fifteen minutes not being able to remember who they were or what they were doing. When the effects of the plant finally wore off, Liliana was resolute in not speaking to Harry at all. Harry then blamed her when they lost points for Gryffindor. He'd taken off his glove to feel the stalk of the Ferriolar plant and as soon as he touched it, his hand began turning silver. Then when he touched the silver with his right hand, it began turning as well. Professor Sprout had angrily taken five points away for their lack of teamwork. She also refused to fix his hands.

When class was finally over, Liliana sprang out of her chair and rushed for the door. Harry was out of the greenhouse about a minute afterward, but when he looked around at his classmates, he didn't see Liliana. "Oh well..." he thought as he shoved his silver hands into his pockets and began walking toward the castle.

It wasn't until lunch, immediately after, that the trio reunited. Hermione was going through her Herbology book to find the antidote for Harry when Liliana reappeared.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly to Hermione as she sat down beside her. Hermione didn't look away from her book or acknowledge Liliana's presence in any way. "I didn't realize that Ron was your boyfriend, otherwise I would have just let the gargoyle strangle me." When Hermione looked at her she smirked and bit loudly into an apple. She put another in her pocket and went to sit by her sister at the Ravenclaw table.

"What was that all about?" asked Ron, who had been too busy eating to listen to what Liliana had said.

"She thinks that you're my boyfriend..." said Hermione, still glaring at Liliana as she walked away.

"Why'd she say that?"

"I don't know, something about a gargoyle or something..."

"Oh," said Harry simply. "You didn't see that part, did you Mione?"

"See what part?" she responded.

"When you came down, you only saw her hugging Ron, right?"

"Yes... the little wench had her hands..." began Hermione.

She was interrupted by Ron's laughter. She shot him a look and he stopped immediately. "When we were going into Dumbledore's office she did this thing to gargoyle to make him let us in. But I guess it liked her a bit too much... So when she knelt in front of it to tie her shoes... it tried to grab her. So I pulled her away from it, a little too hard, I guess 'cause she ended up in my arms..." Hermione's face softened. "Then you came down and ran off."

"You know what she said before Ron went after you?" asked Harry, picking at his potpie.

"Well of course not..." said Hermione, looking at the book but not really reading it.

"Something about wanting to get along with you... and then in Herbology she went along with the story I made up about you so that you two wouldn't get in trouble..."

"Oh," said Hermione guiltily.

"Anyway," said Harry, as though nothing before mattered. "You were telling us what Dumbledore said to you."

"He was just asking me to be kind to Liliana and kind of serve as her guide or something... you know, since I'm prefect and all... I don't know..." She suddenly perked up, "Here it is!"

"The antidote?" asked Ron.

"Yup..." said Hermione somewhat cheerfully, "Harry can I have your pot pie?"

"Er... Sure," he said, passing it to her across the table.

She used her fork to pull out two carrots. She handed them to Harry and smiled at his confusion. "Rub them on your hands, the carotene in them will cancel out the silver color."

"Oh."

~*~*~*~*~

On their way to Potions, Ron caught sight of Liliana walking alone and ran ahead to speak to her.

"He really likes her, doesn't he?" Hermione asked, seeing the look on Ron's face when Liliana smiled at him.

"Probably," said Harry thoughtfully, "and you don't. Why?"

"She's no good for him..." She was too busy staring at her shoes to look at Harry when she spoke.

"What do you mean? You've yet to spend five minutes getting to know her."

"And since when are you her spokesperson?" asked Hermione playfully.

"This isn't about me."

"Well," said Hermione matching Harry's seriousness. "I don't like how he gets when he's around her.. It's like he would do anything she asked him to. And what kind of person doesn't support the Order? For all we know, she's on the waiting list to become a Death Eater." She was on a roll now, "And the girls a gypsy for crying out loud! She's probably never stayed in one place for more than a month, and I bet she's never had a relationship that's lasted more than a week... if that much."

"Tsk Tsk, that's no way to talk about one of your friends... mudblood," came a voice from behind them.

"She's not my friend and you shouldn't eavesdrop on people's conversations Malfoy," she spat.

"And it's not right to talk about people behind their backs," he said coolly, "especially not you Granger, since you don't have the balls to say it to her face." Harry was reaching into his pocket to get his wand. "Don't bother Potter, I was just leaving. I've got someone that I must speak with." With that, Draco sped up and whispered something into Liliana's ear. He then turned around and pointed maliciously to Hermione. Liliana turned around as well and looked at Hermione confused. Draco patted her on the back in phony sympathy and left. She said something to Ron, smiled, and then followed Draco.

"What did he say?" asked Hermione, as soon as Liliana was out of hearing range and she and Harry had caught up with Ron.

"What did you say?" asked Ron, a bit upset. "Because Draco told her that you said some nasty things about her and that you asked him to tell her for you. She went after him to find out what you said... Mione, she looked pissed off..."

"I'm sorry..." said Hermione, speeding up to find Liliana.

"What did she say?" Ron asked Harry, "Was it something really bad? Something that would make her not want to choose Gryffindor?"

"That's a possibility," said Harry, "She was just talking about her being a gypsy or something like that... I wasn't really paying attention," he lied.

Ron and Harry swore in unison as they turned the corner that Draco, Liliana, and Hermione had disappeared around. There was a crowd forming in front of Snape's classroom and the only one visible in it's center was Liliana. She looked livid and she had her wand pointed at someone. "Don't think I won't hex you..." she was saying.

A/N: I liked this chapter, I hope you did too... Please tell me if you did or didn't in a nice review... My other story is up by the way, it would be nice if you could read and review that too. Thanks... Oh and don't worry, I won't leave this as a cliffhanger for too long...