Disclaimer: I still own nothing…tee hee!!

Chapter 15

When they arrived at the castle, Hermione looked out the window to watch a fuming Harry storm up the entrance stairs with Ron running behind him to catch up.

Malfoy looked at Natalie and opened his mouth to say something but closed it again, and got out of the carriage and disappeared behind the castle doors.

"Why did I do that?" Natalie asked looking at the carriage floor.

"I don't know. But don't worry about it, ok? Hopefully this will all be cleared up soon." Hermione looked a little skeptical when she mentioned the last sentence.

Hermione and Natalie looked around for Ron and Harry in the common room but they weren't there.

"Ugh. Come on, let's get some lunch." Hermione said.

"No thanks, I'm not hungry. I'm just gonna go outside for a few hours." Natalie said heading up to her dorm.

She heard the portrait door shut at the bottom of the stairs and knew that Hermione was gone. She went into the dorm, opened her suitcase and pulled out her skateboard.

It was about seven years old and the ends of the grip tape were curling up. She dashed down all the stair cases and went outside.

Most of the grounds were covered in grass and that wouldn't be much fun to skate on. She found a little tunnel that was cement. She wouldn't be able to do many stress-relieving tricks but it was better than nothing.

It only took Natalie about five minutes to realize that it wouldn't work and she needed a set of stairs.

She went around to the back of the castle and found about seven cement stairs with a rail in the middle that led up to a small door. It was perfect. She did ollies, kick-flips, 360's, pop shuvits, anything she could think of. She loved to grind the most though.

She jumped up to do a nose grind but there was a loud bang inside the door. She lost focus, rolled down the stairs and landed on her stomach with the skateboard hitting her hard in the back.

She moaned and threw the skateboard off of her. She clutched her back as she stood up and turned around to see a flustered Professor Snape in the doorway.

"What were you doing?" He asked irritably.

"Just hitting anything I could find, Professor." She answered.

"Excuse me?!" He asked slightly confused.

She didn't know why she just said that considering Professor Snape didn't know "skater" terms.

"Sorry. I was just skateboarding." She said reaching down to get her board.

"Skateboarding? On these steps? Why you spoiled little twit! This school is not your playground and you do not tear it up whenever you like! You should be at lunch anyways!" He said grabbing her arm and leading her into the castle.

He didn't let go of her when they were inside. He dragged her down the hallway and up some stairs into a room where Professor McGonagall was sitting.

"Is there a problem, Professor?" McGonagall asked without looking up.

"This little girl was vandalizing school property." He said curtly.

"Really? How?" McGonagall asked now looking up.

"With her skateboard." He answered.

"With a skateboard? How could she do that?" She asked.

"She was "hitting" it I guess. That's what she said." He answered again.

Natalie was trying hard not to laugh. He got mad over the stupidest things and he didn't even know what he was talking about.

"Professor I was just grinding. It didn't hurt it." Natalie said. She could tell that Professor McGonagall didn't know what she was talking about either but was too busy to worry about it.

"Don't let it happen again." She said and looked back down at some papers.

Professor Snape let go of her arm, shot her a nasty look and left the room.

Natalie left the room and decided that she would just stay in the common room for the rest of the lunch hour.

She was going up some stairs when she ran into Malfoy.

He tried to walk around her but she grabbed his arm.

"What was that all about?!" She asked in a loud whisper.

"What was what all about?" He asked looking at her hand clasped tightly around his arm.

"I kiss you and then you ditch me and try to avoid me? What the fuck man?" She said louder than she intended.

He looked around to make sure no one was near then said really quietly, "Ok well I'm not supposed to tell you this but…"

"What!?"

"I was paid to do it."

Natalie stared at him with her mouth open. He never really liked her?

"It was all fake? One big joke? Who paid you?" She asked quietly.

"I don't think I can tell you."

"Just tell me. I don't care if you can't."

"Hermione."

"WHAT?!"

"Shhh!" He said looking around nervously.

"But she's my best friend. Why would she do that? Are you lying?" Tears were coming to her eyes. Hermione? Of all people…Hermione?

"No, I'm not lying. She didn't tell me why she wanted me to but she said to just make sure I did it when Harry was around."

"Harry?! What has he got to do with it?!" She asked.

"I don't know. But I have to go." He stopped and looked at her. "I'm sorry." He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and took off.

Natalie just stood there stunned. Hermione?

She turned around and went up to the common room. She put her skateboard under her bed and went down to the common room.

She took a seat next to the fire. She was going to wait for Hermione and corner her. She didn't know if she was more sad or mad.

About 15 minutes later Harry, Ron and Hermione entered all talking loudly.

"Well hello Hermione." Natalie said rather evilly.

A/N: HEYYY EVERYBODY!!! I'm SOOOOOO sorry it's taken me so long to update I've just been so busy with school! I'm going to update a lot sooner now that I've got school all straightened out. I've missed you guys so much and I've missed your reviews and hearing from you and everything! Haha well I hope you like the chappie. PLEASE REVIEW!!!! I don't care if you review just to talk to me and didn't even read the chapter. I just love to hear from you guys! Love you all! MUAH!! 333