Chapter 15:

A few days on from Leah's nightmare, Malfoy came and sat opposite Leah at lunch. She had just come back from Herbology, where she had had a bad time trying to prune her Screaming Roses, and wasn't in a good mood. Her pot of roses had screamed at her the whole time, mainly because she had pruned it too much and because of that, she was landed with an essay on the correct procedures of pruning a plant.

"What do you want now?" she growled as Malfoy sat down.

He mock-shocked and said with a pout, "Gees, I just wanted to sit her and eat my lunch. It's a free world isn't it?"

"No it's not. If it was a free world then we wouldn't have to pay to come here," Leah said matter-of-factly.

"Whatever…" Malfoy muttered.

They sat silent for sometime, neither of them eating much of their lunch. Leah's ham sandwich lay only half eaten, by the time her temper had cooled down. Malfoy also just fiddled around with the stuffing of his pie. Leah looked up from time to time, just getting a peek of him and then quickly looking back down again. He's alright I guess, she thought. If only he'd stop being so racist…

Malfoy cleared his throat and said, "I'm off."

"Yeah, me too," and got up, heaving her bag full of books from the previous lessons and headed back to the common room to change books.

………………………………………………………………

That afternoon, Leah sneaked to the broom shed and slung a broomstick over her shoulder and walked to the pitch. On her way there, she met someone that made her stop in her tracks. It was Malfoy - again.

"What are you doing here?" he asked pointedly. Although he knew all along that she would be flying that afternoon and decided to take his broom out for a fly also.

"Not you again," she groaned.

"Like wise," he said curtly and headed into the pitch.

She rolled her eyes and proceeded after him. He had already kicked off into the air by the time Leah mounted her broomstick. He was doing a couple of laps around the pitch when Leah was at the same level as him in the air. "Any room to spare?" she asked him as he came to stop beside her. He shrugged and flew off, doing a couple of flips. She followed him closely, playing the opponent Seeker.

"What do you think you're doing?" Malfoy questioned, halting mid-air after Leah had zoomed past him.

"Opposing you. Come on, Malfoy – play with me."

"Alright," he took on the challenge. "But a mid-air war like Quidditch isn't a place for a girl like you." He sneered and flew off.

"The sky's the limit, Malfoy," she said after him and flew after the shining Nimbus Two Thousand and One.

By the time the sun had set behind the ice-capped mountains, Leah had out done Malfoy to a point where he was dangling off his broomstick with two hands. He swung for a few seconds and hoisted his leg to get up again. Leah sat silently on her broomstick near him, tilting her head to the side slightly. Malfoy looked her with mock-spite. He was puffing slightly and gripped his broomstick with renewed strength.

Leah peered at Malfoy's watch and said, "Oops, time to fly," and flew off to the entrance to the pitch.

Malfoy called after her angrily, "Wait, I'm not done with you." But Leah didn't hear him and ran to the shed to replace the broomstick. By the time she had returned to the common room, it was about time for dinner and she headed down to the Great Hall with Elise.

……………………………………………………………

Draco also gave up flying as it was not as fun as flying with someone else, even though he didn't want to admit it. He went back to his dormitory and put away his broomstick in his trunk. But as he gently placed his broomstick, he noticed the black velvet pouch lying at the bottom of the trunk. He picked it up and started fiddling with the straps. He ended up taking out the silver ring and tracing the serpents. His father had given this to him when he was small and spoke to him about old families and partnerships. He didn't know what he meant but he promised to explain in more depth one day… but it seemed that that 'one day' wouldn't be here for a long time still.

The door of the common room opened and in walked Crabbe and Goyle. Malfoy quickly shoved the ring in his pocket and chucked the pouch inside the trunk. "What're you doing here?" he asked accusingly.

"Er, nothing," Goyle grunted.

"Oh, right. Let's go, it's time for dinner."

They left the room and walked up several staircases to come to the Entrance Hall. There they came face to face with the Golden Trio – Harry, Ron and Hermione. The six stared at each other, though only for a moment before they started spitting insults at each other.

"Potty, Weasel, Mudblood, how spiffing to see you," Malfoy said with sarcasm. Crabbe and Goyle stood behind him, cracking their knuckles loudly. This was perhaps, a practiced cue and the only thing they knew to do at appropriate times.

"C'mon Harry, Ron," Hermione urged, also holding back Ron, who was drawing himself up to his full hight, by the scruff of his shirt. But both of them ignored her.

"Malfoy, don't tell me you're still scared to walk about with out your body guards," Harry said. "I suppose a duel without them would be impossible – you didn't even turn up last time."

Malfoy's eyes glittered maliciously, "I'll fight you anytime."

"One on one?" Ron asked looking suspicious.

Malfoy flashed his glare at Ron, whose ears tinged with anger. Harry said, trying to sound confident, "Scared, Malfoy?"

"Alright Potter, here's the deal," he spat out his name. "I'll fight you tonight at 11. How about the Room of Requirement? I'm sure we'll find what we need there."

Ron's eyes narrowed, "How can we be sure that you'll turn up?"

Malfoy stood silent for a moment thinking, then coming up with an idea, he dug is hand into his pocket and took out the ring. "Here, take this. But make sure you bring it tonight – it's probably worth more than your life." Then handing it to Harry he added, "Maybe you're parents can repay it by selling your mutilated head down Knockturn Alley, or perhaps even that won't suffice."

Ron turned scarlet, so scarlet in fact that his flaming hair couldn't even match up to the fury. But lucky for him, Harry caught him before he could lay a finger on the contrasting pale figure of Malfoy. "You… you'd -," Ron started angrily.

"I'd what?" Malfoy tested him.

But Ron was dragged away before he could answer by Hermione who was whispering to Harry, "It's a bit dodgy, don't you think…"

Malfoy sneered and walked behind them. They reached the Slytherin table and took their usual seats near their friends, around about the centre of the table. Once the various dishes appeared in front of their shining silver plates, the three talked quietly to themselves, discussing mostly of what was to come to night.

"Now, we'll have to revise our curses and jinxes. Crabbe, will you be my first? Although, that probably won't be needed," Malfoy said with a smirk.

Crabbe shot a nervous glance at Goyle, but Goyle only shrugged back. Instead, he said, "um, what kind of curses?"

Draco looked at him tiredly, "Any sort of curse, Goyle. Curses are definitely not going to make a positive impact, will it? Just wait, you two. I'll have Potter down on the ground, begging in the first ten minutes…"

Unfortunately for them, Leah was sitting nearby and had heard their whole conversation. She had been listening to Pansy's on-going antics, but soon got bored and tuned into Malfoy's conversation. Her ears perked up a little when she heard 'Potter', knowing that that name from the mouth of a Malfoy was trouble. But listening further to their conversation, she wasn't enjoying what she heard. 'Potter' out of a Malfoy's mouth was bad enough, but the word 'duel' put together with 'Potter' was even more trouble. She had a bad feeling about this, but was soon pushed aside as the dessert dishes appeared in front of her.

Finally dinner was over and the Slytherins returned to their dungeon common room. Leah had homework which she desperately had to finish and sat in a couch with her homework leaning against The Standard Book of Spells – Grade 6 on her lap. Near the fire sat Draco and his 'oaf' friends, whispering very quietly and spilling themselves over books, which Leah guessed must be full of jinxes and curses. But towards 10 o'clock, the three went to their dormitory with their curse books in hand. Leah decided to pitch in for the night, by that time and it was getting awfully hard to concentrate on her homework. She couldn't help it, but it seemed that she kept on reading the same passage over and over again in the book on Pixie law which was enforced some numerous centuries ago, that she had gotten from the Library. She had a tingling feeling in the back of her mind that some how, the book was making her read the same passage over and over again. Knowing pixies, thought Leah as she closed the book with a snap.

She headed downstairs to her dormitory and hop into bed to find that she couldn't sleep. She lay there, awake for about half an hour and decided to go to the bathroom for a drink of water. The water was bitterly cold and sent an army of goose-pimples to march up her arms. Her hands were aching from the cold and she shivered as she walked back into the common room to 'defrost' her hands by the fire. She sat in an elaborately carved chair facing the fire and its back to the dark room, now deserted. But it wasn't long until she heard voices, whispering quickly among them.

It was no surprise when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle came in, all holding out their wands. It could have been the light, but Malfoy looked deathly pale and Goyle was rubbing his backside. "Ouch. The spot where your blasting charm hit still hurts," Goyle complained.

"Stop whining," Malfoy said and disappeared through the door.

Leah's curiosity was of an extremely curious three year old at that time and she leapt up to follow them. They hadn't seen her sitting in the chair, but didn't pay much attention to see if anybody would be nearby. Leah had no trouble following behind them.

Once they had gotten to the Room of Requirement, the three quietly went in and Leah sat around the corner, listening for any signs of teachers or anybody else, for that matter. A few minutes passed and Leah heard voices advancing the room, different voices this time. The voices neared and around the corner came Harry, Ron and Hermione, who looked very reluctant and kept on nagging the others to head back. But neither of them listened and walked straight into the room where they would meet their opponents.

In the next 15 minutes or so, there were several dull bangs emitted from the room. Leah jumped every time they echoed off the cold walls and she looked anxiously around the corner to check if anybody came out. She fiddled with her ring nervously as the time ticked away and she kept an eye on the door. But she didn't have to check for any movement from that door; it was the other side that she heard it from. Dull, shuffling footsteps could be heard, getting louder by each step and soon a sort of grumble could also be heard. Leah didn't have to name the person to realise who it was. She ran to the door and flew through it. When she looked around her, Harry was on the ground being tickled by invisible hands and Malfoy was standing near him, his wand raised and puffing slightly.

Malfoy looked at her with astonishment, "What the -?"

"Quick, Filch is coming!" Leah whispered urgently and ran to Goyle and took his wand out of his hand. She pointed it at Harry and incanted, "Finite Incantatem." Harry stopped wriggling on the ground and he held onto his stomach and gasped for breath. "Hurry!" Leah urged and Harry got up, with a little difficulty.

Two and two finally matched up in Malloy's head and he quickly said, "Come on!" and ran out.

Leah looked desperately at the rest of the gathering. "Don't worry about us, we'll get out, just go!" Hermione said and Leah ran out.

Filch was nearly there, she could hear him, and she ran off in the opposite direction, around a corner, then down a corridor… she was going fine for the moment, until she met a pair of yellow lamp-like eyes looking up at her with delight. It was Mrs. Norris, Filch's spy cat and helper. One look at her and the cat sped off in the direction that Leah came from. Electricity ran up her spine and she ran, even faster than before. But once she had gotten around the corner at the end of the corridor a hand grabbed at her and pulled her aside. She was pulled into a dungeon like room, semi-black and cold. But when she drew her breath in to scream an equally cold hand pressed against her mouth and a voice behind her said, "Shh!" The other hand closed the door to the dungeon as Filch's hurried footsteps went past them, hot on the trails… or so he thought. Leah mentally sighed but her body was still tense from being held back by someone. The person who was holding her also sighed but reached out for the handle to realise that it was locked. "Oh no!" the boy's voice said and he let go of Leah and punched the door.

Leah saw who it was, and for once was glad to see him; Malfoy. But soon finding that they had locked themselves in a dark and cold dungeon didn't make her situation any better. Malfoy got his wand out of the inside of his robe and said, "Alohamora," but the door stood, still locked. He battered at the door a couple more times, though with out any change for the better. "Great," he said and slumped down on the floor leaning against the surely locked door.

"Well, at least we didn't get caught by Filch," Leah suggested.

"Well seeing that even if we get out of here, we'll be found by Filch; it really doesn't make a difference. And even if we do get found, it probably won't be until the morning," said Malfoy, quite frankly.

Leah weighed out the two; Found by Filch or night with Malfoy… Found by Filch or night with Malfoy… Found by Filch. Leah ran towards the door and started hammering viciously, yelling, "HEEELLLLPPP!!!"

A/N: R&R!
So, what did everyone think? The next chapter should be interesting. Being locked up with Draco Malfoy is always fun… :)