Chapter 3
After their Magical Herbs and Fungi class with Hufflepuff was over, Neville having managed to knock over a whole shelf of magical carrots that they had to chase around the room, they went to lunch. Once again there were American foods mixed in with the traditional ones and Thalia helped herself to a cheese steak sub.
"How could you eat that thing?" Ginny asked, looking with disgust at the grease dripping from one end.
"Don't knock it till you try it." Thalia replied, holding it out to Ginny.
"No thanks, I'll pass." Ginny said, pushing the sub away.
"Suit yourself."
They had a free afternoon ahead of them so they decided to check in on Hagrid. They walked across the grass to his house, excited to let Hagrid meet Thalia. They hadn't spoken since they were introduced on the first day.
"Allo guys it's good ter see yah." Hagrid greeted them at the door.
"Hello Hagrid." Harry said. "You remember Thalia."
"Oh 'course I do. Hermione's cousin eh? Well come in and we'll see about gettin yer some food." Hagrid said, stepping aside so they could come in.
Hagrid's house was every bit as warm and cozy as usual, with Fang lying on the rug in front of the fire. They sat around the table and waited while Hagrid got them some tea and biscuits. They each took one, and pretended to nibble at it. This was a little difficult considering that they were hard as rocks, as usual. Hagrid asked Thalia some questions about America, and she was happy to tell him about it. They sat in his house and talked for a few hours then decided to go hang out in the Gryffindor common room and play wizard chess for a while before dinner.
"I never understood chess." Thalia sighed as Ron's knight grabbed one of her pawns and drug it off the board.
"Ah, you just have to pay more attention, it's pretty simple once you learn to pay attention." he shrugged.
A few minutes later Ron's queen drug Thalia's king off the board.
"Bah, I'll never get the hang of it." she laughed as her king looked at her like she was a moron.
"You have to get your pieces to trust you. They know that you aren't into the game, so they don't help you out." Harry said, walking over to them. "Hey Ron, can you let me show her some things?"
"Yeah go for it, I have to get to work on my potions homework anyway." Ron got up and walked over to where Hermione was sitting at the table. He pulled out his papers, and she moved hers so they'd have enough room on the table for both their stuff.
"I think Hermione likes him." Thalia told Harry, motioning over her shoulder.
"Yeah, I think Ron likes her too. One of these day's they'll notice it, but I think they're in denial." He laughed. "Now about your chess pieces..."
Before long, Harry managed to get Thalia's chess pieces to at least give her a shot. They still didn't trust her, but at least they were listening. They played until dinner, then went down to the great hall to eat.
The next couple of weeks flew by in a flurry of classes and homework. Thalia was doing well in astronomy and charms, however was doing horrible in potions and transmogrification. Hermione was spending time tutoring her. It was Friday evening and Thalia was making her third attempt to turn the chair in the Gryffindor common room into a newt (it now looked like a large cushion with a newt head and tail) when Ron came in with a piece of paper.
"The trip to Hogsmeade is this weekend." He announced. "Better prepare yourself for a day with Malfoy"
"Ugh, I was hoping it would never come, and it's only a day away." Thalia groaned.
"Well, you could always just stand him up and come hang out with us." Harry replied from the chair by the fireplace. He had been studying for the next days Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid. They had been working with a new animal, the pincer grabbon. It was like a large crab with huge pinchers.
"No, thank you Harry. I think it would be best to go with him and hope he keeps up to his promise of leaving me alone." Thalia replied. "But what am i going to do with my hair?"
"I don't see why it should matter. You're not trying to impress him are you?" Hermione huffed. "I'd just leave it as it is."
"Easy for you to say. Your's is getting much better."
Hermione passed a hand over her no longer unruly curly brown hair. It was looking a lot better now, if only she could get Ron to notice. She didn't want to tell him she liked him, but she supposed one day she'd have to. If she left it to him, they'd probably never get together. 'not today.' she thought to herself.
"Why don't you straighten it like you did the other day? That looked really cute." Ginny piped up.
"Yes, and it's fairly easy to do." Thalia replied. "I just have to put a charm on it."
"I have an idea, why don't we go with you?"
"But Ginny, I think Malfoy wanted it to be a date."
"Well, if i go with Harry and Hermione goes with Ron wouldn't it be a date?" Ginny asked.
"Sorry Ginny, but spending my day with Malfoy isn't exactly what i had in mind for my day at Hogsmeade. I'm sure that Thalia can take care of herself. Besides, it's not like he can hurt her there, everybody would know."
"I don't think it's hurting me he has in mind." Thalia winked.
"Ew, I don't even want to think about what he might have in mind." Hermione said, repulsed. "I just hope you have sense enough to be careful around him."
Thalia's newt cushion had managed to make it's way across the room and bump into Ron.
"Gross, Thal can you do something with this poor thing?" Ron said as he watched the creature try to back up to avoid bumping into him again.
"Oh, oops i forgot about him."
She waved her wand, and miraculously the animal actually turned into a newt.
"Hm, maybe we were just working to hard." Thalia said, picking up the newt and putting it into the cage that had been waiting on the table.
"Nonsense, you just weren't trying hard enough." Hermione replied. "Let's go outside and get him some crickets to eat."
After they went cricket hunting, they decided to go to bed. Thalia lay awake thinking about the next day. Malfoy hadn't said a word to her since he asked her to go. Would he still even be there? Against her better judgement, she found herself anticipating the next day. She began with planning what to wear, and then what she would say. She caught herself. She wasn't going to like this boy, she knew he was no good. The last time she had fallen for a dark wizard, her sister had paid the price. Nikolas had seemed a good man, just a little misunderstood. Her sister had tried to get between them, knowing he had been hitting Thalia, and she had wound up in the hospital. She didn't even know her own name, Hope. It had been sad leaving her behind, but the doctors said she probably wouldn't even realize they were gone. Thalia wasn't sure of the hex Nikolas hit her with, she had been on the ground at the time holding her broken nose. Nikolas had disappeared and so she wasn't sure she'd ever find out.
With a sigh, Thalia rolled over and tried to forget what had happened. Her sister was never going to be the same again and she sure wasn't going to fall for another dark wizard. Especially one as self absorbed as Draco Malfoy. Whatever he said to her tomorrow, she was going to have to not let it get to her.
The next day dawned clear and sunny. Thalia drug herself out of bed and began to dress, deciding on a pair of tight jeans and a nice sweater to wear under her robes. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and put on her makeup with a spell her mom had taught her. She straightened her long hair and made it shiny with a charm. She looked in the mirror and decided it was good enough. Down in the common room, she found Hermione Harry Ginny and Ron waiting for her.
"Wow, Thal you look very pretty today." Harry said.
"Thanks Harry, I just hope not too pretty. The plan is to get him to leave me alone, not make him come back." Thalia laughed.
They walked down the stairs, and sure enough Malfoy was there waiting for her. For once he was all alone.
"You look incredible, as usual, today Thalia. Thank you for coming to meet me." He greeted her.
Ron looked over at Harry and put his finger in his mouth, pretending to gag. It was all Harry could do to keep from laughing.
"Well, lets go then." Thalia replied, walking with Draco out the door.
"Can you believe that he actually didn't say anything at all to us?" Hermione said as she watched them leave.
"I guess he was too busy attempting to sweep Thal off her feet." Harry replied.
"Oh I know, Hermione you look incredible today. Shall I take you into Hogsmeade?" Ron laughed, bowing low.
"Honestly Ron, are you ever serious." Hermoine said, trying to hide her embarrassment. Even though he was joking, he had said she looked incredible.
They followed Thalia and Draco out the door and into Hogsmeade.
"So, where would you like to go?" Draco asked her when they had entered Hogsmeade.
Thalia couldn't help but be impressed, they didn't have very many wizarding towns in America and she hadn't ever been to one. She let him lead her around and show her the best stores. Everywhere they went, people were looking at them. Apparently a couple of weeks before school started Pansy and Draco had broken up badly, so everyone wanted to see who he was replacing her with. Eventually they got chilly and headed into the Three Broomsticks for a couple of butterbeers. Thalia sat at a table while Draco went to the bar and got them.
"So, you're the one who's seeing Draco now." came a voice from behind her. Thalia turned her head to see Pansy standing right behind her.
"No, I'm just walking around with him." Thalia replied.
"He doesn't really like you. He's just using you." Pansy sneered.
"What on earth are you talking about Pansy? Get the hell out of here." Draco yelled at her. He had just gotten back from getting the butter beers.
"Fine, if you want to spend your time with this ugly thing go right ahead. I can't stop you." She turned and ran, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"Bitch is bloody bonkers, she's the one who cheated on me." Draco huffed. "I'm sorry Thalia, I didn't mean for that to happen."
"It's okay, it wasn't your fault." Thalia replied, picking up her butterbeer and taking a sip.
"So, are you having a good time? I mean with out the episode that just occurred?"
"The town is nice."
"But not the company?"
Thalia thought, the whole day he had been perfectly courteous. He had opened doors for her, bought her chocolate frogs from Honeydukes, and showed her the best places. He was also handsome, and at times had even been funny. She just couldn't bring herself to trust him yet.
"I've had a good time."
"Okay, I guess I'll accept that for now." Draco said, full of smooth confidence.
"It's just that I don't trust easily, and one day isn't going to bring that. My friends don't like you either."
"It's not my fault you hang out with the wrong sort of people." he grinned.
"They're nice people."
"Not my people."
"Right, well, that's not how i meant it... "
"No that's quite alright, you can think what you want. My family has been full of dark wizards for generations, and probably will be for generations more. However, not all of us are quite so bad you know."
"Well, we'll just see about that." Thalia said, drinking the last of her butterbeer. "But it's getting late, what's say we call it a night before we miss curfew?"
"If you want."
Draco walked her back to Hogwarts, they talked the whole way. Thalia tried to keep the conversation light, he was growing on her and she was trying to keep the dark wizard stuff out of it. At the main stairway they stopped.
"I've had a wonderful day, thank you Draco." She said, turning to say goodbye.
"Will there be more? Or are you going to force me to not talk to you again?"
"We'll see." She replied, beginning to turn to walk away.
Before she knew what was happening, Draco put a hand around her wrist and pulled her back.
"What..." she began, but he cut her off with a kiss. Thalia found herself momentarily lost, it was quick but sweet.
"Just in case." he replied, and turned away.
She watched him walk away, with a hand to her mouth. She was at a loss for words. Thalia turned to walk up the stairs and found Hermione there.
"What are you doing?" she hissed.
"Hermione I'm sorry. But really, I had a good time today."
"Are you telling me you're actually considering seeing him again?"
"Maybe, I don't know. I mean, if I don't give him a chance I'll never know right?"
"Honestly Thal, I don't know what to do with you sometimes." Hermione sighed. "Let's go upstairs."
When they got there, Thalia filled Harry and Ron in on what had happened through the day.
"Malfoy, being nice? There must be something going on." Ron replied, not believing Draco could be capable of being a decent person.
"I know, Thalia you should be careful around him." Harry agreed.
"Come on guys, you never know. He could actually be a nice guy. Besides, I don't even know if I'll date him again."
"Can you believe Pansy going wacko on you at the Three Broomsticks? Honestly, if she wouldn't have slept with that guy from Russia they'd still be together." Ginny said. "It's not you're fault she did something stupid."
"Well if you ask me, Thalia's doing something stupid already. I just hope it doesn't turn out the way I'm afraid of." Hermione said, she was still a little mad at her cousin, but she couldn't quite tell her what to do. She'd just have to hope for the best.
"I don't know guys, but I'm tired and I'm going to go to bed." Thalia said, yawning and getting up from her chair.
"Goodnight Thal." Harry said.
"Goodnight."
The next day they were all eating breakfast when a sleek owl fluttered down on the table in front of Thalia. She took the letter off it's foot and opened it.
It read:
Thalia,
I know that you never answered me about wether you'd see me again, but I want to see you tonight. Meet me on the quidditch field at 9:00 if you want to. I'll wait until 9:30 and if you aren't there I'll assume you don't want to see me and I'll stick to my promise of not bothering you anymore.
Hope to see you later,
Draco.
Thalia blushed, he wanted to see her again.
"You're not going are you? That's after curfew." Hermione said.
"Who said you could read over my shoulder anyway?" Thalia replied, sticking her tongue out. "I don't know, I might. I can make myself dim if I want, so I shouldn't be caught."
"I don't know, if you're caught you'd loose us points." Ron said. "And we are prefects, we're supposed to report if we know someone's going to sneak out."
"But you wouldn't want us to loose points would you? Especially since we haven't gotten any yet, quidditch hasn't started. Please, for me?"
"Alright fine, but you tell him that from now on if he wants to meet you he's got to do it during the day. It's bad enough you like him, he doesn't have to get you into trouble as well."
"Thank you guys." Thalia said, excited about seeing Draco again. She had known he was growing on her, but that kiss. She wanted to give him a chance.
Harry sat quietly listening to all of this, he had been hoping Thalia wouldn't like Draco. She was so nice, and pretty. He never would've gotten the nerve to ask her out though, just as long as Draco didn't hurt her. Harry knew he probably would, and when he did Harry knew he'd make him sorry.