Chapter 13:

Leah still kept to her revenge plan even if she couldn't stop thinking about what Elise had said to her. She didn't want to believe it, and how could she have all those facial expressions and not know they were there? She avoided Malfoy as much as possible and still planned on going to Hogsmeade with Harry. Thinking about Harry made her stomach squeal with guilt, but she stuck with it. Harry wasn't a bad choice anyhow, she kept on telling herself that. He's sweet, a sportsman, got beautiful eyes… she counted all the pros of Harry off on her fingers and eventually made herself feel good enough to head to the Gryffindor common room.

Once she had gotten to the portrait, she greeted the fat lady and gave the password to walk in. On entry, she found Harry and Ron quietly talking by the fire. She approached them but neither of them stoped the conversation. She sat next to Harry and joined in on the conversation. They were talking about Quidditch, which wasn't a surprise but since Leah had some idea about the game, teams and people, the two were happy to let Leah into the argument. The argument though, wasn't easy to resolve so it gradually moved on to the following weekend; a Hogsmeade weekend. Leah looked shyly towards Harry, who was blushing and smiled when their eyes met. Ron looked between them a grin spreading across his freckly face. Harry looked at Ron, "What?" he asked.

Ron desperately tried to take off his grin, although it didn't work and said quickly, "Nothing."

Leah grew uncomfortable and moved the subject onto Ron. "So Ron, are you going to Hogsmeade with anyone?"

"Nope, just boring old me again," he looked slightly flattened.

"Don't you have anyone in mind to ask them to come with you?" Harry asked.

Ron turned pink when asked this and said, "Well, I suppose I could ask Hermione. She's nice, even though she doesn't let us copy her homework."

"That's a great idea! I've heard through the grapevine that she likes you," Leah said.

Ron's face lit up but soon was flattened again, "but I could never say that to Hermione."

"Say what to me, Ron?"

It was Hermione, returning from the library with Annie and Callisto. Ron shot a panicked look at Harry, who motioned with his eyes to go and ask her. Hermione stood opposite Ron and waited patiently. Ron took a deep breath and said slowly, "Do you want to come to Hogsmeade with me this weekend, Hermione?"

Ron looked at her pleadingly. Hermione smiled gently, "Of course, I will!"

Everyone whooped and Hermione went over to hug him. She said quietly in his ear, "Don't leave it so long next time, alright?" Ron nodded and hugged her back.

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It was finally the Hogsmeade weekend and Leah now sat with Harry, Callisto, Annie, Dean, Ron and Hermione at a large round table in the middle of the bustling Three Broomsticks. They all chatted happily, occasionally sipping at their Butterbeers. Everything was going pretty well, until Malfoy walked into the pub lagging behind his goons, Crabbe and Goyle. This wasn't an unexpected scene; nearly everyone who went to Hogsmeade also stopped by at The Three Broomsticks. But this time, Malfoy saw the group of Gryffindor friends huddled around a table and saw that Leah was among them, he didn't like what he saw.

"Boys, follow me," he said and they stalked towards the table. Harry was the first to notice the intruder and shot up, wearing an expression of nothing less than disgust.

"No need to stand up for me," Malfoy said, acting gracious as if asked to join the table. "My, my, don't we have a gathering. Let's see, we've got Potty, Weasel, Mudblood; the Dream Team is never seen apart, and who do we have here? Why, if it isn't the Muggle-lover."

"Shut up, Malfoy. Why should it matter to you that I would rather make friends with those of muggle heritage than with a filthy inbred scum like you?"

The people around the table gaped at her anger. Annie let out a low whistle and smiled at Callisto in a knowing way.

Malfoy stood silent and glared at Leah. How dare she insult my family, he thought. "You'd better watch what you say," he said in a dangerously soft voice and turned with a swish of his robes and left to order a Butterbeer.

"Wow, go Leah," said Ron. Leah though didn't smile but looked after the black figure sit down at a nearby table, disgusted.

The table gradually settled back into their conversation, but Harry didn't join in. he turned to Leah and said quietly, "did you want to go somewhere more private?"

Leah nodded and they excused themselves and went outside.

Outside, winter had moved away and bulbs and blossoms were starting to gain colour. Spring was definitely upon them and it was refreshing to walk about in sunshine that was warm against their backs. Neither of them talked much; partly because they were a little embarrassed and couldn't think of a suitable subject of which to discuss.

Eventually, they came up to the gates of the Shrieking Shack and stood there silently listening to each others puffed breathing. Harry hung his arms over the fence and Leah lent on the bars and started to play with the dirt on the tip of her shoe. She hated awkward silences, especially when there's something you wanted to say, but couldn't find what it was that you wanted to say. But it was Harry who broke the silence first.

"What's it like living with the Slytherins?"

"Um," she said, trying to think of the appropriate words. "It's not too bad, I guess. There are a couple of people you have to be careful around, but once you get to know them, they're quite decent people."

Harry looked at her, mildly surprised, "Even Death Eater's children?"

"Uha – even them." Leah didn't think this was the best subject to discuss; it often made Leah get a panic sensation in her stomach, all this stuff about war. She cleared her throat and thought quickly of something else to talk about. "So... what's it like living with the Gryffindors?" Damn, she thought, could I get any more original?

"It's great. But you know what it's like. I'd never change houses; I love being with the people in Gryffindor. It's friendly, comfortable, warm… it's just great."

"Yeah, I've felt that way while I've been there. You guys have definitely made me feel welcome, even if I'm staying with the Slytherins. You especially," she said and gave him a warm smile.

Harry's smile stretched, "Really?" Leah nodded. "Well, you make me feel like a special person, just being with you. I like you, you know. And I think I mean it," his face reddened and he quickly looked down, overwhelmed of the embarrassment.

"You are special, Harry," Leah said and looked at him straight in the eye. He looked up and his green eyes were so strong that they penetrated through hers. He lent closer to her, his lips getting closer and closer hers. But before he could plant his kiss on hers, her stomach gave her a guilty squirm and Leah fought hard to push it down. But she couldn't stand it any more; she didn't really like him and she was only doing this because she wanted to get back at Malfoy. Harry's lips met Leah's cheek as she quickly turned her face away. Harry straightened, taking in what had happened.

"I'm sorry; I'm just not ready yet…" Leah started to say, but Harry cut her off.

"No, it's my fault. I shouldn't have rushed into things."

"It doesn't mean I don't like you though," Leah quickly added.

Harry didn't say anything, but just smiled though somewhat weakly. His face was tinged from the embarrassment. "Maybe we should head back."

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Once Leah got back to her common room in the dark and dank dungeon, she came to meet Elise who was seated in front of the coffee table. She looked up, but showed no expressions. Leah pulled herself towards her and fell into a couch. "You couldn't do it, could you?" Elise asked shortly.

"No," Leah said. Se had a tingling all along that Elise would be keeping a close eye on her, and of course, she knew her secrets. She didn't mind having Elise's eyes closely watching her; at the moment it seemed that everything that went thought Leah's mind came out more jumbled than it had first been when it came in.

Leah called to her and Elise made a sound that meant she was listening. "Do you think I should stop now?"

"Stop what, exactly?"

"You know, all this revenge stuff about Malfoy and… oh god, I'm going to break Harry's heart when he knows the truth," Leah bit her lip.

"Then don't tell him the truth; just say that you're not ready or something. You'll hurt his feeling what ever you say, but there are degrees of pain that you can put in a break-up. Like you're break-up with Chris for example…"

"Ok, Ok! Just don't bring Chris into this."

"He still hurts?"

Leah didn't reply – there was no need to. Elise could see right through Leah and there was no stopping her. This was something that Leah both hated and loved about Elise. You could just walk in after a horrible day and she could immediately sense you're mood and come over to comfort you. But this also meant that in a situation like this, she couldn't hide any feelings.

"Listen," said Elise. "Harry's not the right one for you, and you know it. Now, sooner or later you're going to realise that, stronger than before and it'll be at a point where it's going to be really hard to break-up with Harry. So for your sake and his, just break it off soon and you'll both feel a lot better. Trust me on this; you don't want to hurt him anymore than he will be now, do you?"

"Ok," Leah sighed.

Leah left the Slytherin common room in very painful and doubtful walk up to the Gryffindor common room. Once inside, her stomach had caught itself in such a tight knot that Leah was finding it hard to breath properly. Not many people were in the room, probably still wandering around Hogsmeade. In fact the only person in the room was Harry. He smiled faintly as she climbed in and she came to it next to him on the couch. "What brings you here?"

"You," Leah said.

Harry looked at her curiously and then he said, "Hey, um, sorry about what happened earlier today."

"No, it's my fault, really," she paused, "Did you really mean it when you said you liked me?"

Harry tilted his head back to rest against the back of the chair and he brought his hand up to scrunch through his jet black hair, "Yeah, I thing so. I mean, I do like you." He looked at her again, only his eyes were full of worry.

Looking at him made her stomach churn with guilt, so Leah concentrated on looking at her shoes. It was interesting; at times like this, ordinary things – like shoes – became extraordinarily interesting to look at. Harry continued, "I'm sorry, if I pushed you too much. I'll take it slower in the future, alright? I mean, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything." Leah still kept her concentration on her shoes. "Um, this might sound like a stupid question, but do you like me?" Harry asked.

Leah looked up quickly, "Of course I do." Her stomach tightened with guilt and Leah realised she was lying. Harry looked at her with relief but Leah couldn't stand it. "Harry," she said seriously and he looked at her with questioning eyes. "I like you; you know that, don't you? But I don't think I'm the right person for you."

Harry still kept his eyes on her but he didn't need any more explaining; he knew what she meant. "You mean, I'm not your type, right?"

Leah bit her lip and thought fast of what to say.

"Well, it was nice spending time with you today; I enjoyed it," Harry said, flatly. He had doubted for a long time whether Leah actually liked him, until now.

"Yeah, I had a good time too," she said, also feeling a little flat. And with that, she left the room.

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Malfoy sat on a highly polished leather couch in the Slytherin common room, pondering at the thought of what had happened previously at The Three Broomsticks. Even when he had been laying there, his legs resting on a cushion and his arms folded behind his head relaxingly for the last 15 minutes or so, neither his temper nor the sickening gut feeling would subside. His face moulded into a scowl at the thought of Leah. And all the trouble she's caused so far, Malfoy added in his mind.

How could she just… do that? He asked himself. Ugh, I just hate the thought of even associating with a muggle-born, let alone going to a place infested with them. Even going to classes with them is enough to make you feel nauseated. Argh, and not to mention Potter's Peace team… how can she stand him? He's so…holy. I swear it's unhealthy to be that holy.

He chuckled as he did an impersonation of Harry, raising his hands up to hush his 'invisible' fans supposedly milling around him. Thank you, thank you, he could almost hear him say so. Yes, yes, I love god and the whole world and I'd like to thank… Malfoy launched into a long list of people he could think of Harry thanking – for his fame, perhaps. But even thinking about Harry's 'fame' made Malfoy choke with laughter – he cracked himself up sometimes. That's going to kill him on of these days, he thought to himself and he could feel a familiar evil contentment start to sooth the anger that was boiling inside him.

Now-a-days, Malfoy started directing most of his anger at Potter, rather than Leah. It seemed wrong to be angry with a girl, for some reason. But it was like hitting a girl; you just don't do it. Unless you were a heartless wimp, in which case was totally the opposite of his lovely and agreeable personality as he regarded himself.

But because he was detouring his anger and resentment to Potter, nearly everything that went wrong in his opinion was Potter's fault, whether or not it had anything to do with him. But it didn't matter to Malfoy. Whenever he could spare any sympathy on anyone else, he would instantaneously squash it by telling himself that life wasn't meant to be fair. That way, he could keep up his cool persona in which he thought was the most attractive to himself. Although this only caused more difficult for Draco to get rid of the parasite which became more irresistible to that parasite known as Pansy Parkinson. Her annoying would pop up at every spare moment, completely destroying the cool atmosphere he worked so hard to establish and throw it right down the S-bend of the toilet basin. But then again, he added to himself, rather sheepishly, that life wasn't meant to be fair.

A/N: Please R&R! Thanks to everyone who reviewed – you have my highest respect! Oh shit – I just remembered that my washing is still wet in the laundry room from yesterday afternoon…. shit!!! Okay, gotta go and save the day! Mia xx