Rain

By: Who Else? Me

Chapter Twenty:

My Best Enemy

Dorothy opened her eyes and stared out the window of her dorm. The holidays were over so fast. It was all like a dream. Her fingers found the ring on her left hand and she smiled. It wasn't a dream, thank god. She was a little down that the holidays were over. All of the students would be returning to Hogwarts from their trips home. That meant that she'd be met with the challenge of keeping her love for Draco a secret from the annoying pug-faced girl. She grimaced at the word 'secret.' Why must they keep everything a secret? She looked at the enchanted clock by her bed and groaned when she saw the time. 6:12 AM? It was too early to wake up.

Dorothy rolled over and pulled the covers over her head, trying to get back to sleep but had no success. She sat up on her bed and picked up her schedule from the table beside it. She had intermediate Potions, ("Darn!") with Slytherin ("Yay!"), Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Charms with Ravenclaw in the morning, and Transfiguration with Hufflepuff and Double Care of Magical Creatures with Slytherin ("Double yay!") in the afternoon. Today was going to be a good day, she hoped.

She stood up from her bed and stretched. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and walked over, cheerfully to her trunk. She took out her long-sleeved blouse, gray skirt, Gryffindor tie, and black school robe. She dressed herself and then took out the proper books for the day. She stacked them in two separate piles; one pile for her lessons in the morning, one pile for her lessons in the afternoon. She sighed and left the dormitories to go to breakfast.

The corridors were silent and peaceful and the only sounds that were heard were the soft hooting coming down from the owlery and the snores of the surrounding portraits. Dorothy felt calm and collected at that moment. She didn't care about anything, she didn't need anything, just this soothing walk through the hallway. She began to step lightly sown the stairs, her footsteps echoing slightly in the massive stairway. Portraits' eyes followed her as she walked along, some greeting her, some closing their eyes and drifting back to sleep.

When she reached the Great hall, she walked in and saw that the other students seemed to have arrived back to Hogwarts already. They were talking amongst themselves and showing off new presents. She also saw, to her dismay, that Pansy had returned as well and was draping her arms possessively over Draco and showing him something new and probably expensive. Both of the Slytherins watched as Dorothy crossed the room to her table. Pansy was more glaring, while Draco was smiling slyly, remembering their little meet in the prefects' bathroom. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil both met up with her and grabbed her left hand.

"Wow!!" exclaimed Lavender. "Look at those rocks! They must have cost a fortune! Who gave them to you?"

"I got it for Christmas," Dorothy replied, risking a quick glance at Draco before continuing, "from a secret admirer. I like it a lot, that's why I wear it on my engagement ring finger."

"It's sooo beautiful! I bet who ever bought it must be loaded," declared Parvati, releasing Dorothy's hand. "I wish I could have something like that."

"Me too..." Lavender and Parvati seemed to drift off into a wishful and glamorous day dream while Dorothy sat down at the Gryffindor table and began to eat. Soon she was joined by an irritated looking Ron and Harry.

"What's wrong?" Dorothy asked as they sat across from her.

"Have you looked at our schedule?" he asked. "It's horrible! Two classes with Slytherin and one of them is a double! I don't know how much Slytherin I can take!"

"But I thought that you guys were trying to get along with Draco," the dark-haired girl managed, chewing on her spoon a little.

"It's not just Malfoy," Harry said. "It others too—"

"—like that cow Pansy Parkinson!" Hermione burst out sitting down beside Dorothy and grabbing a spoonful of eggs from a nearby platter.

"I don't like her much, either! She keeps giving me this glare. You know, if looks could kill, I'd be dead about 200 times already!" Dorothy complained, looking over her shoulder at the pug-faced girl at the Slytherin table.

"I guess she's your rival—er—I mean...she's all of our rivals, isn't she? She is a Slytherin after all," choked Hermione.

"Yeah, she's like the annoying bee in my bonnet. She just follows me like she wants to tear my leg off and when I acknowledge her existence she turns like she wasn't following me at all, I just wanna—"but Dorothy cut herself short figuring what she wanted to do was a bit too violent and bloody for a conversation. "So, anyway, Hermione, What do you think of our schedules?"

"I think it could be worse. We could have every class with the Slytherins!" Harry and Ron seemed to shudder at the thought and Dorothy giggled slightly.

"I don't really mind," said Dorothy, making the two boys look up at her suspiciously. "Maybe I'm off my rocker, but it's class and if they bother me, I'll just shoulder their thick-headed comments off. I don't really mind them if they talk about me behind my back. They'll do it even if I tell them not to and cursing them would only make things worse. So I just learn to...block it out!"

"I'd need some pretty big patience AND earplugs for that to work for me and I don't have either," Ron said, swallowing so toast. "So, they can get a bloody nose from me if they ever bother me.

"Ron Weasley!" yelled Hermione, huffily, putting her hands on her hips. "We're prefects, we should be setting an example."

"I'm setting an example! I'm setting the example of standing up for yourself," Ron had a note of finality in his voice and he continued to eat. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Dorothy talked for the rest of breakfast and then went to get their things from the common room.

A/N: Hey people! CELEBRATE! IT'S THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER!! This is the longest running story I've ever written!!! CELEBRATE!! Yay!!

Draco: What's the big deal about a twentieth chapter? It's just a stupid story!

Dorothy: A stupid story? But it's a story about us!! That's not stupid!!

Draco:.....About us? They're writing a story about us?! Is my hair okay? Does my breath smell? Does my smirk look natural? Gah! Don't look at me I'm not ready!!

Dorothy: holds up camera Say 'cheese' Draco!

Draco: Cheese? But I don't like cheese!

Hope you like that! I just kind of thought of it in Algebra! Well, ciao.

WEM