Author's Notes: So here's another chapter that's up pretty soon and there's going to be an important note in the ANs so please check for it. I'm going to put it closer to the actual story so that hopefully those who don't read these notes will read at least that.
Winner: Hurrah, there's another winner for the quote contest majigger.
saturnstar55: Congrats, you won this time. Anyway, thanks for your review, it was really nice. Anyway, you said in your review 'don't change anything', so I won't. But if there's anything you really want, some deep desire of yours, please, please mention it. It can even be something as little as Harry or something mentioning your favourite band, or Draco ending up with pink hair because of some freak accident. I don't know. I guess that's all. Ta.
Disclaimer: Although I do not own Harry Potter, you better bet you're sweet bippy that this fic is mine. Olay.
IMPORTANT!!!!!!: Yeah, this is pretty damn important. I while back I rewrote the first and second chapters, throwing in some plot details that I was going to bring up later in the story. I've brought said details up in this chapter. So, if you haven't read the revised first and second chapters, then you might be a bit confused. If you find yourself a little confused, just go back and read Draco's POV for those two chapters. Now don't bother with the prologue, just the chapters called Bloody Hell and Enter Malfoy, and you only need to read Draco's POV. I'll repost this at the bottom in case some people didn't read this up here. Ta.
________________________________________________________________________
******Harry's POV******
I've been avoiding Draco all week, but finding it very hard to. There's still a wall between my friends and I, though maybe not as high. But I need him, now more than ever. Ron and Hermione still have their 'Prefect Meetings', though whether the meetings are real or not I do not know. I am beginning to feel inferior again, and the fact that Quidditch is starting soon isn't making it any better. The one thing that set me apart from my friends, the thing that was mine, my super special club, is no longer mine. Ron. He made the team, and is now a part of something that is mine, or was mine. Damn him! God, what is wrong with me? I should be happy that he made the team. Haven't I been dreaming of this since I made the team in my first year? Damn this inferiority complex. I needed Draco, I didn't feel inferior around him, and I wanted him. Without realizing it, I had become obsessed with him; his face, his voice, his annoying cocky arrogance at times, his *sweet* ass...
I giggled despite myself. I had become quite a giddy school girl with a crush. And like a girl with a crush, I was too afraid to talk to the guy I liked. Draco didn't feel the way I did, and this thought depressed me. The first time I fall hard for someone and they don't share my feelings, and there was no chance of it ever happening. Draco was straight; I had seen him with girls in the past. He could be bisexual... I clung to that thought, as if it was the only thing keeping me from falling into darkness, into an eternal pit of despair. Alright, I'm being melodramatic again. I seemed to be doing that a lot, but never when Draco was around.
I was walking down a tall hall. Students passed me on either side, paying me no attention; nothing more than a look anyhow before turning back to their friends. Bastards. I hated them suddenly, and wanted to get away from them. I ran, ran towards a set of doors that would lead me to the outside. I wasn't going to Hagrid's cottage, he wasn't there. The giant had been missing all this year, and no one seemed to know why. I missed him, but not as much as I thought I would. He had given me some good advice in the past, and I could always talk to him. But I couldn't have talked to him about what was going on now, even if he was still here. Talk to him about my feelings for Draco? He wouldn't understand. I also knew that he didn't like Draco, and I could understand why.
The wind rushed to greet me when I stepped outside, causing my eyes to water. I lowered my head and stepped outside, closing the door behind me. I flipped my hood up, keeping my head down. It was incredibly cold tonight, even without the wind whipping around me, blowing my cloak in all directions. I headed towards the lake, the wind at my back, pushing me along.
The lake was an inky black, perfectly smooth. Not a ripple disturbed the surface, despite the winds fierce attempts to break the eerie stillness. I kneeled at the edge of the lake, staring into it, only to see my own face mirrored in its waters.
"Why is everything so confusing?"
My reflection moved as I did. It offered no answer. I muttered:
"Maybe I'm just out of my mind..."{5}
I closed my eyes for a moment, holding back tears. I opened them to see another face reflected in the water. A flawless, stark-white face, with gleaming black eyes. I screamed, spinning around, only to find that no one was there. I looked back into the water. The face was gone. Calm down, Harry. It was just a figment of your imagination, my mind said. But I knew it wasn't. There had been a face in the water, Lestair's face. Whenever I saw him, I caught glimpses of something, something I had forgotten. Or was it something I had never experienced, but would? I kept seeing him standing in a hall, staring into my eyes. But this would only flash for a second, and I could never recall the memory.
I sat beside the lake a while longer, calming myself down. The wind greeted me as I stood, almost blowing me back a step. I cursed, I would have to walk against the wind now. I lowered my head, braced myself against the wind, and trudged forward, the thought of a warm common room and couches sustaining me.
I reached the door, chilled to the bone. And to my surprise, the door was slightly ajar, as if someone had left it open for me. Too tired to care, I slipped in through the door without thinking further on the subject. I closed the door behind me and slowly made my way to the common room, enjoying the warmth of the school. Ron and Hermione were waiting for me back in the dorm, worry etched in their faces. Seeing them that worried about me lifted my spirits; they cared.
"Where have you been?" Hermione said the minute I walked in, rushing to my side. She grabbed my arm and gasped. "You're so cold!"
"I took a walk," I said plainly, letting her lead me to the couch in front of the fire and forcing me to lie down.
"Outside?" She all but screamed. "Harry, it's freezing out there!"
"I noticed," I muttered. Her concern was sweet, however annoying.
"Harry," she said, gazing at me concernedly. "I don't want to sound like an overbearing parent," she stopped, realizing what she had said.
"It's alright," I said. I had spent fourteen years without parents, it didn't upset me so much anymore.
"I'm sorry, I forgot..." She muttered quickly. "But Harry, we're your friends and we don't want anything to happen to you. Please, don't do this ever again."
"Ok, now you sound like an overbearing parent," I said.
"Harry..."
"Alright, I won't do it again," I promised. There was a moment of silence, then Ron spoke up.
"Hey, Harry, about the Quidditch practice tomorrow," he began. I turned to him. "Can we go together? I mean, to the locker room and everything."
"Sure, why not?" I said, letting my head fall against the pillow on the couch, and stared at the ceiling.
"Thanks, Harry."
"Don't mention it, Ron," I said. "I'm going to bed. Good night."
I stood up from the couch, ignoring Hermione's stare. Once more she knew something was wrong, but didn't dare ask. I hopped over the couch and headed for my room.
******Draco's POV******
Where is he? I searched desperately for the raven-haired boy. He had avoided me all week, despite my best efforts to locate him. I had even almost confronted him in Potions Class, but decided against it. It would raise too many questions and good luck trying to talk to him in private while Slytherin and Gryffindor were around.
"Gaah!" I growled, kicking a stone statue lightly. I had learned by now that kicking solid stone structures doesn't help anything, and just causes you to have more pain and anger. Overall, it's not worth it.
I continued my way down the hall, looking for traces of Harry. Did he just disappear off the face of the planet? Normally I had no trouble finding him, he just seemed to POP out of nowhere, or my feet would guide me to him. But now they weren't doing anything but lead me into dead-ends. Or to Damon.
She was reading something posted on the wall, seemingly unaware of my eyes on her back. I snuck up behind her and grabbed her shoulders. She jumped, whipping around to face me and hitting me in the ribs with her elbow at the same time. I doubled over, coughing.
"Dammit Damon!" I yelled.
"Don't sneak up on me!" She yelled back. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm just fine," I said sarcastically. "Why did you hit me?"
"It was self-defense. For all I knew you could have been trying to kill me," she replied.
"You're insane."
"Neurotic," she corrected.
"Whatever," I said. "You owe me."
"What do you want?" Damon asked, sighing.
"I want you to tell me what happened that night when you found me in the hall," I said.
She looked at me, eyes darkening. "What do you want to know?"
"I want to know why after you found me I was miraculously healed."
She looked away, "I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"I'm not allowed," she whispered. "And I don't fully understand it."
"Understand what?!" This was getting annoying, all the secrets. "And why aren't you allowed? Who says?"
She turned her head back to me, but said nothing. There was a pleading look in her eyes. She wanted me to stop asking questions, to forget about it. But I couldn't.
"Damon, I need to know what's going on," I said. "Your father was kicked out of my house because of some conspiracy involving you and I, and I want to know what that is."
"You never told me what happened," she said, referring to the time when I had confronted my uncle on why my father had acted so strange when I said I wasn't going to be his slave anymore. I had forgotten that I had never told her.
"I didn't find out anything," I half-lied. Part of it was true; I didn't find out anything, nothing definite. But he had been telling me something, something about Damon and I being different... I couldn't make sense of it, and he couldn't tell me anything more because my father interrupted. I hadn't seen my uncle Luther since that day. The conversation we had had still haunted me. I decided to change the subject.
"Have you seen Harry?" I asked.
She shook her head, and laughed. "It's been a month into the Bet and you've already managed to lose your mark."
"Oh fuck off," I said, taking my leave. I needed some kind of distraction, something to take my mind away from Damon and Luther. Damon and I were the root of something, something great and terrible, judging from the way in which my uncle and father spoke. The latter didn't want me to know about said 'something', but my uncle did. He thought I had the rite to know. But what was it? What was so important about me that two men would fight over it? Why would it be kept from me? I needed someone to talk to.
Dammit Harry, where are you?
________________________________________________________________________
End Notes: So that's the chapter. It took me absolutely no time to write, but I still think it's pretty good. IMPORTANT NOTE TO FOLLOW!
-----Just in case some of you didn't read it up top:
Yeah, this is pretty damn important. I while back I rewrote the first and second chapters, throwing in some plot details that I was going to bring up later in the story. I've brought said details up in this chapter. So, if you haven't read the revised first and second chapters, then you might be a bit confused. If you find yourself a little confused, just go back and read Draco's POV for those two chapters. Now don't bother with the prologue, just the chapters called Bloody Hell and Enter Malfoy, and you only need to read Draco's POV. I'll repost this at the bottom in case some people didn't read this up here. Ta.
------I'm sorry I did this, rewriting the chapters after posting ones after it, but I really didn't like the chapters before and while writing the revised ones a few brilliant ideas struck me. I do hope you understand.
Quote: Here's the first quote from the third group.
Why is everything so confusing?
Maybe I'm just out of my mind...
-Yeah, it's from a song, a song that I really hate (no offense to those who do like it). Anyway, good luck!
Winner: Right, so the winner from the first group was RaNdOm Hp FaN, and the winner from the second was saturnstar55. So if they would kindly e-mail me, or write in a review, what they would like...
BTW: I won't be updating for a while cuz I'm going on a trip to Washington for week (starting Tuesday, ending by Saturday). So you're just going to have to wait for another chapter. Ta.