Author's Note: Ok, I got about 40 flamers from that last chapter, because of some person giving me the same one 35 times...I hope you're proud of yourself. That was real mature. And the person that put my story up on their Mary Jane website...I hope you're proud of killing some writers dreams. Some people actually take your bullshit seriously, and they get all sad and never write again. Not me. So if that's what you were going for, you can kiss my ass.

Anyway, sorry it took so long to update...school sucks and so does cheerleading-it's taken over my life. Seriously. So, yeah, I've posted like, 3 things in the last 3 days, and I'm hoping to post more, so keep checking back!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! But Ephyra! Must you keep shoving it in my face, sheesh!

Chapter 8

Ephyra watched Draco walking back to the Slytherin dorms, hidden in the flickering shadows of the firelight.

"I hope you're proud of yourself." She stepped in front of him, crossing her arms and staring at him, her stance immovable. "What in the WORLD made you want to say something so despicable to my friends?"

"Aren't you more curious to know why I said those things to you?" His sneer made her want to kill him. There was no word to say how she felt right then. She wanted to stab him, shoot him, cry, yell at him, cuss him out, love him, and hug him all at once.

But she kept her cool. "No. I don't care what you or any of your slut friends say bout me, but if you talk to my friends that way, you've crossed the line. And now you'll pay for it." Her hand shot up to slap him hard across the face, but he caught her wrist.

"Ah ah ah, now why would you want to do something like that?" He leaned toward her and kissed her softly on the mouth. Ephyra whipped away from him, wiping her mouth on her sleeve.

"Stay away from me." She ran back up to the Gryffindor common room, Draco's eyes following her as long as he could see her back.

She slammed her dormitory door shut and paced around the room, thinking about what had just happened.

'What is wrong with me? He insults my friends and I go to defend them, then he kisses me and I get BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH!'

She couldn't believe what had just happened. She didn't want to believe what had just happened. But it had just happened. Draco Malfoy had kissed her again and she went all googily eyed again. At least she had kind of kept her cool and not totally freaked out. She did manage to walk away, didn't she?

Ephyra was tired and didn't even want to think about it any more, so she put on her pajamas and went to bed.

Hermione came in later that night and was surprised to see Ephyra in her bed, fast asleep. She expected her to be in the library studying since she wasn't in the common room with her, Ron, and Harry. Hermione shrugged her shoulders and got in bed.

Ephyra woke up to the morning sun shining in her window. She blinked and rolled over to look at the grandfather clock in the corner of the room. 5 minutes before breakfast came up on the table-perfect. She woke Hermione up and they started getting dressed.

"Effy, why'd you go to bed so early? I was worried about you." Hermione looked over at Ephyra, eager to hear her answer. Usually she stayed up extra late to get her homework done, even if that meant getting 2 hours of sleep. No wonder they were friends-Ephyra and Hermione were exactly alike.

Ephyra sighed and looked at her friend with sad eyes. "You can't tell anyone, especially Harry and Ron, OK?" Hermione nodded and sat on her bed. Ephyra explained how she went to see Draco and yell at him for saying those things in Transfiguration, and how he kissed her.

"And the worst part is that...well, I liked it when he kissed me. And I just barely pulled away before I started kissing him back." She fell on the bed next to Hermione. Her voice muffled by the quilt, she said, "This really sucks, ya know? Cuz...I...I like Ron too."

"WHAT?"

Ephyra pulled a pillow over her head and started laughing sheepishly. She peeked at Hermione right as she threw a pillow at Ephyra.

"HE LIKES YOU TOO!"

"Well, I kinda figured as much..." She sat up and looked at Hermione. "What the hell do I do?" Ephyra really didn't know and she leaned her head on Hermione's shoulder.

"Well, hun, this is kind of a no brainer. Let's see, there's Ron who's a total sweetie and would do anything for you and then there's Malfoy who insults you and your friends without a second thought. Effy, one night in a dark corridor means nothing to him, trust me. Malfoy's one of those people who snog you and then move on to the next pair of nice legs he sees."

Ephyra giggled and smiled at Hermione. "Thanks. Let's go, I'm starving."

They all met up in the Great Hall for breakfast and Ephyra purposely sat next to Ron with her back facing the Slytherin table. It was the first time that she could remember that she didn't sit facing the other way just so she could get a glimpse of the most handsome face in Hogwarts.

"What classes do we have today?" Harry asked.

"You don't want to know." Hermione said, matter-of-factly.

"Yes, yes I do."

Hermione cringed. "Double potions."

Ephyra almost spat her pumpkin juice out. She had totally forgotten that they had double potions with the Slytherins today. Hermione looked at her wide eyed as Ron asked, "Are you okay?"

Ephyra coughed. "Yeah, I'm fine, it just went down the wrong tube." She smiled and Hermione gave her a comforting look. "We'd better get going, huh? I don't need any more excuses for Snape to take more points away."

She got up and Ron followed. Harry was about to get up, but Hermione grabbed his arm and held him down.

"Ow Hermione, jeeze."

"Um, I'm not really done eating yet. I'm still hungry. And so is Harry." she said filling up her and Harry's plate with bacon and eggs.

"I'm not that hungry, and Snape doesn't exactly like me, soo..."

Hermione held him down and said very apparently through clenched teeth, "WE need to stay HERE so that THEY can go to POTIONS and TALK."

"We...? OH, ok, yeah, I'm hungry." Harry started eating fastly going, "Mmm, more food." Hermione just rolled her eyes.

Ephyra was so embarrassed, she could have shot Hermione right then and there. Thankfully, she didn't and just said, "THANKS Hermione." and she and Ron walked out.

Once they were out of the Great Hall, Ron turned to her. "What was that all about?"

Ephyra laughed awkwardly and said, "Um, I think it might be because of something I told Hermione. You know how she gets-all 'I'm-going-to-make-everything-happy-becuase-I'm-Hermione-and-that's-what-I-do!' Ya know?"

"Haha, yeah I know what you mean. What'd you tell her?"

"Um, something about how I kindasortalikeyou."

"What?" Ron's ears turned pink and he looked down at Ephyra.

"Heh, yeah." She looked at him and sheepishly smiled at him. He smiled back and reached down for her hand.

She let him hold it for an instant, but pulled away when they got to the entrance of the dungeon. Ron didn't know exactly what this meant, but didn't push anything. I mean, she had only told him her feelings a few minutes ago.

They walked into potions and only one person was in there besides Professor Snape. Unfortunately, that person was Malfoy.

"Oh, where's the rest of the Fab Four? Or are you two doing something that you shouldn't behind their backs that they should know about?"

Ephyra could feel Ron tensing up so she said softly to him, "Don't let him get to you, don't say anything to him back. You know how Snape hates us." Ron just nodded.

"How sweet. Kindle and Weasley. You can be poor together and live in Kindle's garage raising the little ones, seeing as it's probably bigger than Weasley's house anyway."

To ease the tension, Ephyra just said, "Did you enjoy the detention Professor McGonagal gave you yesterday Malfoy? How many points did she take away?"

"You know Kindle, she didn't take too many points off. I mean I can double the amount she took off in this class alone, plus make up for the ones you'll loose for Gryffindor today."

Snape came over and greasily said, "Now now children-play nice." He smirked, patted Draco's shoulder, and walked back to his desk as other students started filing in. Draco stood there, that stupid, fake sneer on his face, eyes glinting. Ephyra wanted to kill him. But she couldn't...Snape would take off too many points from Gryffindor.

Class started and Snape wrote the potion on the board. As Ephyra and Hermione started working together, Hermione whispered to her, "So what happened?"

"What happened when?"

"You know stupid, when you and Ron walked to potions together!"

"We just talked...he knows I like him and he told me he likes me, too."

"Oh my gosh! Yay!" She wanted to give Ephyra a big hug, but knew she couldn't in this class. Snape is SUCH a pain in the ass.

"He held my hand."

"WHAT!"

"Yep."

"In PUBLIC!"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Wow."

"I know. I would have still been holding his hand, but when we got to the entrance of the dungeons, I spotted Malfoy lurking in the shadows, so I let it go. Of course he saw us and asked about it, so soon he'll be teasing us about that too. Just a heads up."

"That blows. I'll tell Harry so that he doesn't freak out. But that's so cool! I mean you and Ron are together and-"

"Ladies, I sense this conversation is not about the potion on the board." Snape had chosen to check their progress right at that moment. Hermione and Ephyra looked up at him. "Now, would you like to get back to this class, or would you like to write lines for the rest of the class and this evening for detention?"

"No sir." they both said. "We'll focus."

"That's what I thought. But if I hear you socializing again, I won't be so nice." He sauntered away, his cloak swishing behind him.

"Since when was he being nice?" Ephyra whispered as Hermione laughed into her notes. Ephyra looked over to Ron and Harry and saw Ron looking at her with a strange look of wonder and awe in his eyes. He smiled at her and she smiled back, looking back at her cauldron and blushing.

Then she heard a slithery voice whisper in her ear behind her, "Weasley and Kindle sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g." Draco smirked and, leaning back to his potion watched as Ephyra sat stock still. What he couldn't see was the fear and outrage in her face. But she didn't do anything about it. Ephyra just went back to her potion, trying to forget the feeling of his lips on hers.