A/N-- yeah so my orginial copy of this chapter got deleted, because when i was editing it my computer froze, yeah so then the friggin piece of junk deleted my document. im so mad right now. the old chapter nine was absolutely the best chapter i had ever written and now it's gone. Isn't that marvelous???????? ON WITH THE STORY:

Chapter Nine- How to Smile

"You can feel my lips undress your eyes. Undress your eyes. Undress your eyes. Skin can feel my lips, they tingle tense anticipation, this ones an easy one. Feel the word and melt upon it. Words of love, words so leisured, words are poisoned darts of pleasure. Tied, and so you die!"

Franz Ferdinand, Darts of Pleasure

The "new power" experience hadn't improved Autumn's new found outlook on contact to the outside world. As a matter of fact, it had only pushed her further into her shell. This is when Ginny began to worry. Ginny knew quite a bit about mourning friends from her experiences with Harry, so she let Autumn alone awhile, knowing that eventually she would come around and that all that her herself could do is offer a friendly ear. When she was to lend it was all up to Autumn. But, it was time to intervene.

Ginny found Autumn on the quidditch pitch, flying. Flying was a highly effective thought cleanser normally, but today it was not working, at all. Ginny summoned her broom and flew up to Autumn. They talked a long time, mostly in peace, until the Slytherin team came to practice. But, no scene was made, Autumn and Ginny dismounted their brooms quietly and walked back towards the castle.

Autumn finished her sentence, and telling all of her 'secrets.' She sat, staring patiently at Ginny.

"Wow, there is way more stuff going on than I realized."

"Sorry." Autumn whispered

"It's alright, I am not upset or anything, no offense, but I have already been down this road with Harry, so I kind of expected there to be some changes. . .but, this new...new..."ability," I just don't know. Is it dangerous?"

"They don't know."

"Can you control it?"

"Yes, but they don't know how."

"There seems to be a pattern there."

"Apparently it runs in my family, but most of them are dead or wish I was."

"Awww, don't say that, they don't wish you were dead."

"You weren't there Ginny, you didn't see the way my grandparents looked at me, like it was my fault, like I was the one that should have died."

"They were just upset their daughter died."

"Yeah, well if they wanted to actually be grandparents during some point in my life, they missed it. But nevermind them, all I know is that all I can do right now is live with it somehow. Maybe the more it happens the more my mind will adjust."

"How often does it happen?"

"Couple times a day. I've gotten it to where I don't get weak or faint anymore."

"When was the last time it happened?"

"Today in Herbology, when Neville bumped into my arm."

"For merlin's sake! He just bumped into and it happened?"

"Yep, sometimes that is all it takes."

They continued on like this for quite sometime before Ginny decided that it was best if she back off the subject. The two were planning on what to do with the rest of the day when Ginny suggested that they try out some of Fred and George's new products.

"Smashing idea Gin!" Ginny and Autumn laughed at her attempted accent.

Draco Malfoy looked on from a ways back. It was nice to see Autumn smile for once. Oh how he had missed that smile the last week or so. He shook the thoughts from his head, but they had taken hold of his mind and refused to let go and there was nothing that he could do about it. 'She's beautiful, you can't deny it.' his heart told his mind 'fight it all you want, it will be there. She's intelligent, she's funny, she's everything you want and can't have in yourself. She's everything you find attractive, she's the only one you find attractive.' But his mind wouldn't have it, 'She's the opposite of everything you are, she goes against all the rules, she goes against society and her father. She doesn't care that your a Malfoy, she wouldn't care if you were a no good Weasley for merlin's sake!' 'But thats precisely it, that's what you find so intriguing about her. She is rebellous, yet she's a Gryffindor. She's dark, but she is on the side of righteousness. She is pessimistic, but she even stays on the sunny side of it.'

"Ha." he said out loud "The sunny side of pessimism! Like there is such a thing."

"Uhh, what are you talking about?" Blaise said

"Nothing. Nevermind Zabini" Draco pushed the soft platnium blond hair from his eyes. He actually looked normally for once. His hair was messy and shaggy, he had run out of gel and just got done flying, his eyes weren't their normal dull, they were bright with emotion. Well, as bright as grey can be. He even looked less pale. Pansy Parkinson hated it, he was becoming less and less of the Draco Malfoy she knew everyday. It was driving her mad. Try as she might he continued to change, and even sometimes she thought that he did it to upset her. That he did it as revenge.

"Hard to get. Yeah, that's what he is playing alright Pansy." Malachi Lestrange said in a some what French accent.

"I just don't know what to do about him anymore!" Pansy exasperated

"Don't do anything, just sit back and watch. If you aren't feeding his ego he will stop." Malachi sighed.

"Ohhh! Malachi your so smart!" Pansy was overjoyed

"Yes, I know."

Autumn and Ginny had gotten up to where Pansy and Malachi were talking, when she realized that she had left her scarf down by the lake. She hurried back to get it, telling Ginny she would meet her later. Ginny walked through the large oak doors behind Pansy Parkinson, not looking back over her shoulder at her friend. Not knowing that her friend was being followed.

"Where is that damned thing anyway?" Autumn searched around the williow (non-magical williow) they had been sitting by.

"Looking for something?" She instantly recognized the voice, its coolness, the calm, icy tone she had grown so accustomed to. Draco Malfoy was leaning against the tree, twhirling her scarf in his hands. She sighed and held her hand out.

"This is a very nice scarf, what's it made of?" She sighed again at his response.

"Oh, Draco quit being difficult and give me my scarf back!" He laughed softly. He turned away and looked towards the vast grounds. He was trying to hide his smile. It had been so very long since he had smiled a true smile, years it seemed.

"But, I just love to hear you sigh!" He teased her. 'This isn't like him' she thought

"When did you learn how to smile?" she asked confusedly

"I've always known how to, I guess I just forgot overtime. It's not a matter of knowing, it's a matter of wanting." He looked at her, emotion thick in his eyes. She caused him so much inner turmoil, inner conflict. He didn't understand what was happening to him, and part of him liked it.

They stood close to each other under the williow, and he wrapped the scarf around her slowly. He was so quiet, but not his normal cold silence, something else. They were so close now, her heart skipped a beat as his gaze met her's. He turned away and ran his fingers through his hair, he did the only thing he knew how to, walk away. Autumn returned back to Ginny and pushed the incident from her mind. But eyes, peering, gazing into the williows had seen the exchange between the two teenagers. Those eyes did not easily forget how Draco had looked at Autumn, how she had momentarily lost her breath when he had first stepped so close to him. They saw, they remembered, they burned.

A few days later, Draco Malfoy was in the library trying to study for their transfiguration test, but Parkinson just wouldn't let him alone.

"Just put some of Blaise's gel in and I will go away!" She persisted, gel bottle in hand.

"Bloody Hell woman, just go away! I don't want to use any of that damned gel!" Pansy shrinked back, and turned to leave. But, she remembered what Malachi had said, well part of it anyway. A spell shot across the library and hit the bottle of gel, it launched out of Pansy's hands and into the air where it turned, most maginificently, into an apple.

"Now this is no gel. Take your apple and leave, food isn't allowed in the library, and neither are annoying, foolish little girls. Run along and play with your dollies or something." Autumn said sharply. She had come from the potions section. Pansy left most distraught.

"Bloody Hell was right. I could hear you two arguing over that stupid gel from the potions section." she muttered angrily.

"Its nice that you thought to step in. I might have gone to Azkaban otherwise." He gathered his books and began placing them back on the shelves. It was clear he wasn't going to get any work done. "What were you going in the Potions section anyway?"

"Nothing." she shrugged her shoulders casually

"So, thats what you do in your free time? Bookworm of the worst sort."

"Well it's better than what you do!"

"And what would that be?" He said in his normal tone

"Stare at yourself in the mirror. You can't deny it, we all know you do it. Disturbing really." She retorted, then walked away. He finished putting his books up and happened to walk by the aisle she was in, and stopped.

"Nice of you to walk away. You always have to have the last word don't you?"

"It was to help the delivery of the punchline. He who laughs last doesn't understand the joke."

"Or the joke was lame."

"Or he is just a prat."

"Or the person telling it is just difficult."

"Aww, don't be so hard on yourself!" She laughed. The eyes were again watching, unnoticed from the shadows. Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head at Autumn. She stuck her tounge out at him playfully. They stood there, awkward for a moment, before Draco made a move. Eyes, peering from a few feet away, spoke silently to themselves, convincing itself that she would reject him. They continued to look on at the pair. They watched as Draco brushed a stray hair from Autumn's face. How his hand then traveled down to her hand, where he intertwined their fingers. Autumn looked up into Draco's eyes, his lips caught hers. Something triggered inside both of them. A deep attraction, a deep passion. Smouldering coals that had caught wind of kerosine, and burst into a red hot fire. They explored one another, the feel of their skin against each other, the tingle when they kissed, the emotion within. Neither was aware of their surroundings, nothing that wasn't a few feet away. In their passion they bumped into the bookshelf. Autumn giggled onto Draco's lips. She kissed his bottom lip gently, he was smiling. The eyes were not, and neither was their owner. They watched as she kissed Draco again, the eyes grew angry. He didn't deserve her, he didn't understand her. They did, they knew her, they wanted her. The two lovers heard a loud crash. Draco put his arm around Autumn's waist, he peered over her shoulder.

"Hey," he whispered "wait here a sec." Draco went around the corner where he found an overturned chair and a heap of crumbled up paper. Autumn stayed where she was, she leaned against the bookshelf and caught her breath. Her mind was racing, and so was her heart. 'What does this mean?' she thought to herself, she heard someone approach, but paid no attention. They dropped something by her feet and she picked it up. Something was written on it:

"He can never love you, he can never give you what you need. He can only use you, like all the others."

Draco startled her, he looked over her shoulder at the parchment.

"What's this?"

"Nothing." she said hurriedly and shoved the piece of parchment in her pocket. Draco scanned her eyes, he didn't like what he saw. Worry.

"Let me see it." she shook her head no. But, Draco Malfoy was not used to hearing 'no,' and took the parchment out of her pocket. He read it and looked back at it.

"Where did you get this?"

"Somebody walked past, I didn't see their face, I wasn't really paying attention, and they dropped it." He crumbled up the paper and pulled her into his arms. He stroked her hair. Promising himself to find out who it was. He kissed her gently on the top of the head, not even thinking about it. It was instinct, he was protecting something, someone he cared about, something that was his.

He made Autumn promise to tell him if something else weird happened. She did, and he walked her back to the common room. She told him that he didn't have to, she could take care of herself, but he refused. She tried to explain how weird he was acting and that it was nothing, just someone who was trying to be funny. He told her that they weren't funny and he had prefect duty that night anyway so he would just told anyone who cared that he was patrolling. He was very serious and it really wasn't helping. She couldn't understand why he was going out of his way to do all this anyway.

"Is this normal for you or are you just acting like this because of me?"

"Ha. Do you really think that this is something that Pansy and I did? No, this isn't normal."

"You didn't have to be so harsh" She was getting angry with him. He sighed, he wasn't good at apologising. She knew it too, so when he took her hand, she knew he was trying to say he was sorry.

"What's happening between us?" She asked as they stood infront of the Fat Lady.

"I don't know." Draco said honestly, they both wished they knew what it was, but neither did.

"Umm...Good Night?" 'How are you supposed to say good-bye to the guy you just made out with?' she thought. This was all new to her.

"Night." He kissed her good night, she briefly kissed him back, and then entered the safety of the common room.

Long nights were ahead for both lovers.