Chapter 4

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"What shall we do with him, Severna?" Felicienne simpered, smiling evilly at James.

"Oh, I don't know. We could just take him to Professor Snape…" she replied, circling him like a vulture.

"Or we could have a little fun first," Felicienne interrupted, raising her wand, and just as she was about to utter a hex, there was a sudden flash of light.

When the light subsided, Felicienne and Severna were unconscious on the floor, as were the 'chickens' in the air. James looked up to see the source of the charm, and it was none other than Pallas Malfoy.

She ran up to him, grabbed his arm, and said, "Follow me. We have to get away from here before they wake up."

James blindly allowed himself to be pulled into a vacant classroom several corridors away. Pallas pushed him inside and preformed a Silencing Charm on the door before turning to him and saying, "You are probably wondering what's going on."

"Wondering? I'm bloody well confused! You've hated me for the past five years, and now you are zapping people from your own house and dragging me off to a vacant classroom! Are you somebody taking Polyjuice potion?" James fumed, placing his hand on his wand.

"No, and if it makes you feel any better, here's my wand," she said, lying it on a table. "We have about an hour before our next class, and that should give me time to explain. Then, you will never have to speak to me again. Deal?"

James looked at her dumbfounded, but he took his hand away from his wand and sat on a table. He said, "All right, but an hour is all I have."

"Thank you!" she said, a light shining in her eyes that he had never seen before. She began to pace the floor and said, "I will start with the day we first met, the day we first came to Hogwarts. My father had surprised me by bringing me to catch the train. Normally, a house elf would accompany me anywhere I needed to go. My parents aren't exactly what you would call affectionate.

So, we were standing on the platform, and my father was talking to Mr. Rookwood. Orpheus walked over to me, and began a self-flattering monologue that he would call a conversation. I pretended to listen, but I was actually looking around the crowd. While my parents raised me to be stoic, they also allowed me books that taught me about emotion. I felt jealous of all the other children with their families, loving and being loved. Just before I went to get a seat on the train, I begged my father to give me a hug, but instead he merely gave me a cold smile and pressed a money bag in my hand.

I was sitting in a compartment by myself when I first saw you and your family. I watched you being hugged and kissed by your parents and aunts and uncles, and I saw the camaraderie between you and your friends. True to my teaching, at that moment, I despised you. That is why I ignored you when you tried to introduce yourself that night when we were loading into the boats," she said, looking down at her feet.

"But that doesn't explain how you went from hating me to defending me!" James said.

"I was just coming to that," she said, giving him a sad smile. "At the beginning of the summer, I went home to the Malfoy Manor, prepared to spend another drab summer of the Rookwood's and my mother trying to get Orpheus and me together. For the 'sake of our blood', they would say. A week into the summer, my mother insisted that I put on my best robes and come into the parlor. I was expecting the usual: I would sit and speak when spoken to while my mother and her 'friends' discussed the 'old' days.

What I found was my father waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs and my family and the Rookwood family standing in the parlor. I gave my father a quizzical look, and he told me silently that I was to be betrothed to Orpheus Rookwood. Before I could argue, he put the Imperius curse on me, and I knew no more until I was back in my room that night. I knew I had to get out. I escaped that night and have been living with my aunt Andromeda ever since. For the first time, I was actually loved! I gave no thought to the whole matter until I arrived at the platform yesterday. Rookwood said he would 'forgive' me, and I told him I would rather marry the giant squid than him. That makes things rather unpleasant for me in Slytherin.

When I ran into you yesterday, I did the only thing I knew to do: I tried to chase you away. But then you spoke of my family, and that scared me. I don't want to be Draco Malfoy's daughter anymore, and I need your help," she finished, giving him a searching look.

James just stared at her. The bell to change classes rang, and he said, "I have to get to class."