7.Surprises
I awoke in a warm feather mattress in the hospital ward. I heard voices talking, apparently about me, so I feigned sleep to hear the conversation.
"So you saw her swallow something, and then she passed out?"
"Yes Ron, I don't know what she took."
"Are you sure? Did you do anything to upset her? She's been out for 24 hours Harry, this is serious."
At this point I decided I had better "wake up". I moaned as I propped myself up on my arms. I must've hit something hard when I fell.
"Eve!" Harry and Ron shouted simultaneously. "Are you okay?"
"Depends on your definition of the word." I grumbled. I had definitely hit something hard.
"What happened to you? I mean you just stepped inside and potions, and you passed out. You hit your head on the edge of a desk as you fell, but Ron caught you before you hit the floor."
"Did we get detentions for being so late?"
"No, Snape must have forgot when you passed out."
At this an evil grin spread across my face.
"Why are you smiling like that?"
"Ron, you may remember that your two wonderful brothers, Fred and George, came up with quite and invention called skiving snack boxes. And as you also may remember, there is one kind called fainting fancies. Well as they have proved to be very useful to me, I never leave the common room with out a box in my bag."
"You took a fainting fancy so that when we walked in Snape would forget to give us a detention?"
"Exactly."
"But do you have any idea how dangerous that was, I mean it isn't dangerous to take it, but no one knew so they couldn't give you the purple half."
"I know, but I also knew that the effects do eventually wear off, so I figured if I could get harry and I out of detentions from Snape and miss some classes as well, all the better."
Harry was now grinning broadly at me, though Ron still looked slightly confused, and after I had convinced Madame Promfrey that I was all better, we walked to lunch.
When hermione saw me walking with harry and Ron a look of relief cross her face, and corny as it may sound, I had a warm and fuzzy feeling inside to know that she was worried.
"Oh thank goodness you're alright!" she squealed and engulfed me in a backbreaking hug.
"Yes I'm fine, no worries, no broken bones, just a very sore head."
"I'd imagine such, they way you hit your head as you fell. It's a good thing Ron caught you before you hit the floor, or you would have more than a headache. But what made you pass out anyway?"
"Well as I haven't eaten in the past 24 hours I'm starved, but I'm sure harry or Ron would be happy to relate the events to you."
Harry proceeded to explain to hermione exactly what I had explained to them minutes earlier. Hermione looked scandalized when harry finished.
"You didn't!"
"I did. And I got away with it too." I countered.
"Touché, well I can see that there is nothing I can do, but I hope that you won't try anything else of the kind anytime soon."
I simply smirked and headed off to ancient ruins. As I walked through the bustling halls, I felt someone press a piece of parchment into my hands. I turned to see who it was, but I couldn't single out the culprit in the throng of students rushing to get to their classes. When I finally got to classroom 11, I took my usual seat in the back of the class, and I pulled out the piece of parchment. It read:
Eveline,
I admire what you did, though I did not understand before.
I will not tell my father, so you need not worry.
We are very much the same, you and I.
It's just harder to see.
I wish to now more about you.
Give me a second chance.
Tomorrow is a hogsmeade weekend.
I'll meet you at the shrieking shack at one o'clock.
Draco
P.S. No one stands up a malfoy.
I smirked. No one had ever stood up a malfoy? Well no malfoy had ever asked me out. That's when I realized what he had done, asked me out. "My god does this guy take no hints?" I thought. I let my mind wander for the rest of period, occasionally hoping that nothing discussed in class would be on a later exam. Was I actually considering going out with the person who had made my life a living hell for the past six years? This year there seemed to be a change in him, in the way he acted toward me, I argued with myself. Yes, a voice answered back, he noticed you're beautiful.
But was I beautiful? I had never thought about it before. I certainly had pretty characteristics about me. I had always loved my eyes. They were a light green, like early spring, near the pupil. And a darker green just around the edges, like a clearing in a forest. My oma (German for grandma) had always loved my nose, she said it fit my face. My brown hair had a particular shine to it that made it look gold if the sun hit it right. And my skin, though in Germany girls were supposed to be pale, was always tanned. I guess I am beautiful. Though this sounds pathetic, it was a startling revelation that made my day.
After ancient ruins, I had transfiguration, also with slytherin this year. As I was walking in the hall I realized that slytherin meant Draco, and Draco would be expecting a response to his note. Not sure if I would go or not, I decided that if I caught his eye, I would smile as if to insinuate that I had excepted, but if I later decided against it, I could say that the smile was merely a smirk that was caused by his ignorance. Feeling slightly light headed at the thought of facing malfoy, with the knowledge that he liked me enough to ask me out, I walked into transfiguration.
"Hi!" I said brightly to harry as I sat next to him.
"Hey there, what's got you so happy?"
Responding that I was beautiful, and that malfoy thought so too, and had asked me out because of it didn't seem like an appropriate answer, so I simply said, "It's just one of those days." This was an extremely ironic statement, as it was pouring outside, but I didn't care. In fact, I had a sudden urge to go outside and run around the grounds singing in the rain. However, I was pulled from my daydreams when Professor McGonnagal called class to attention.
Harry, Hermione and Ron all saved me at least once from McGonnagal's wrath, as I once again let my mind wander, they had nudged me when I had been asked a question, and hissed the answer under their breath. Each time, after I had answered I gave them a grateful smile behind her back. I felt eyes burning into the back of my head for the whole of the period, and I knew whom they belonged to. After class, hermione, harry, Ron, and I were planning our hogsmeade weekend, when I heard someone call my name.
"Bugger off, Malfoy."
"I just want to ask Eve something."
"Oh so now you're on a first name basis?"
"We've always been, her last names too hard to say."
Hearing this I snorted and broke in. "What is it Malfoy?"
"I wanted to verify the answer to what I asked earlier."
At this I gave him a smirk and winking, I said, "Because, you are a horrible, deceitful person, that deserves only to be loathed by his fellow human beings."
"Good answer." He said smiling, and he turned around and stalked off.
"What was that about?"
"Malfoy asked me why I hated him so much, and that was my answer." Eve replied to Ron. I had a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach, had I just lied to my friends to cover Draco? Did I just call him Draco and not malfoy? Maybe Hogsmeade wasn't such a good idea. I had told the golden trio that I would be staying at the castle this time, and now I was seriously considering it. "I hate Malfoy, I hate malfoy, I hate malfoy, I hate malfoy." I thought to myself. It was all I could do to stop from thinking how cute he looked when he smiled. "What's happening to me? I can fight this. I will go to Hogsmeade with Dra-Malfoy, and I won't do anything rash. I will be cool and collect the whole time. In fact, I will be 30 minutes late so that Malfoy will think that I stood him up. And nothing will happen. I swear on Tommy's grave." I thought determinedly. And if you haven't figured it out yet, when I swear something on Tommy's grave, I ALWAYS do it.
