These characters aren't mine, sadly, and I make no profit from (insert story the particular fic of mine you are reading is based on here). I cry out to the stars, "If only, if only."

By the by, watch out, a few of the characters may be ooc. (out of character for those of you who don't know what that stands for.)

Chapter 13: Early Morning in Slytherin

Draco woke up because something had been nibbling his ear. In his dream, it had been Deena, but in reality it was his father's ruddy falcon. He took the letter and shoved the bird away until it left. The letter was brief:

Son, I have acquired some valuable information on

Deena MacDonald. You are to get as close to her as

possible.

Like he needed to be told to get close to her. That was all he wanted. A glance at his wristwatch informed him that it was time to get up for Quidditch practice. He kicked Goyle's mattress to wake him up, then beat Crabbe until he showed signs of life. He went to the common room and found Chasers Posco Jeters and Rufus Hobson waiting, as well as Keeper Wesley Sipes. The only team member missing was Deena.

Draco opened the door to the girls' room quietly. A look inside told him his newest Chaser was still in bed. How anyone could sleep past five thirty in the morning on a Saturday was beyond him. He stood by her bed and softly called her name. She groaned in response and pulled her pillow over her head. Deciding to try something else, he went to the bottom of the bed and yanked the covers off. She curled up and whimpered. So he took more drastic measures. Returning to the side of the bed, he lifted the mattress and threw Deena onto the floor.

Deena's eyes flew open as she fell and her short nightgown slid up to reveal her underwear. Draco couldn't help but stare, and Deena noticed this.

"You pervert!" she yelled, grabbing her pillow and leaping to attack him after pulling her nightgown back down. This woke the other girls, who screamed because they considered themselves indecent to have a male in their room. Deena brought the pillow down with amazing force. She beat him out of the room with her pillow, calling him a pervert the entire time.

"Draco, there's a lump on your head," Posco informed him.

"The next person who wakes me up before nine DIES!" Deena yelled, standing in the doorway of the girls' room armed with a pillow and giving fatal glares to the entire Quidditch team.

"We've got Quidditch practice," Draco reminded her icily.

"You picked this ungodly hour of the morning to practice?"

"It's not that early," Rufus answered.

"Say that again and you'll get a lump like Draco's," Deena said furiously.

"You wouldn't hit someone smaller than you," Rufus returned, smugly confident of his assessment of her.

"Oh, wouldn't I?" Deena leapt into the common room, beating Rufus with her pillow, but a lot more gently then she had with Draco. And she was laughing. Posco and Rufus attacked her in return, also laughing and hitting gently. It was almost like they were brothers and sister, like they were family. Everyone knew the Jeters and Hobsons were related. Maybe Deena was part of that family.

While the Chasers waged a pillow war, Pansy threw some of Deena's clothes, her new Quidditch robes, and her broom out into the common room and shut the door to the girls' room. When Deena went to get dressed, she found the door locked and, being without her wand, couldn't get back in. (None of the guys offered to unlock the door for her.) She made them face a wall and dressed behind their backs. Draco glanced over his shoulder more then once (he wasn't the only one to do so), hoping to catch a glimpse, but Deena must have felt his eyes and informed him that if he continued to look or looked again, he would die a thousand deaths.

-

Deena heaved a sigh of exasperation. They were practicing in the early morning, she hadn't had breakfast, and it was snowing. Posco and Rufus had no problem passing the Quaffle to Deena, but Crabbe and Goyle, the Beaters, seemed to abhor it. She had several close calls whenever the Quaffle was in her possession, and Posco and Rufus faced the same danger when they passed it to her, so they quit passing.

Finally, Deena gave up on getting the Quaffle. Draco didn't notice her land and take shelter from the snow in the changing rooms. Too tired to walk up to the castle, Deena grabbed her school robe out of the locker she'd left it in. It wasn't long enough to cover her, so she "borrowed" Draco's and laid down on a bench, using her robe for a pillow and Draco's for a blanket. The bench was uncomfortable, but she found a semi-comfortable position and fell asleep. Then the nightmare came.

Where am I? I don't think I know this place...wait, I do. This is the house in the sketch I gave Harry. Things are changing. Why am I in a dark room now? Who's that standing over there? I...I know him, or at least, I should. What is he doing? Is he firing a spell at me? What type of spell is that?? In the dream, the spell flew past her and she turned to see it hit Harry. It flung back about twenty feet, over the edge of a dark crevice. He managed to catch the edge. Draco went over (Where did he come from?) and attempted to throw Harry into the pit. Deena tried to run to get to Harry, but she could only limp. Something was wrong with her left leg. When she got to him, she pushed Draco aside and grabbed onto Harry and struggled to pull him up.

"Don't let go," he pleaded to her.

"I won't, and that's a promise," Deena replied.

Deena struck her head on something hard and jolted awake. She had fallen off the bench. She couldn't sleep here. She walked up to the castle, into Slytherin, and then promptly flopped down onto one of the common room's couches, falling into a deeper slumber, with a new nightmare awaiting her.

-

"Where's Deena?" Draco asked, noticing she wasn't in the changing room. He picked up his robe from where it laid crumpled on the floor.

"She left practice early," Posco offered.

"Why would she do that?"

"Don't know," Rufus said, keeping Posco from revealing the truth.

Draco hurriedly got his robes on and made his way back to the House. When he got there, he found Deena stretched out on a couch, asleep. She was thrashing around, as people in nightmares often do. He went over and shook her shoulders. She grabbed hold of him as she screamed, her eyes flying open as tears began streaming down her cheeks. Deena pressed herself into him, searching for comfort and security.

"It's alright," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her. He waited until her sobs died before he asked her about it. "What did you see in that dream? Tell me."

"No," she answered evenly, pulling away from him. She wasn't crying anymore; she had composed herself to look strong in his eyes. Her face hid her fright, but her eyes were incapable of such deception.