:DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter. I think I speak for everyone when I say, "Duh."

:AN: I know I haven't updated in a bazillion (is that a real number? My spell check says it is, lol), years (well, like, two months or so), and I'm really sorry about that. I've been a combination of both busy and lazy. (Very bad combo, by the way.) And every time I got a review or email saying "Please update soon!" all desperate-like, I felt even worse for not updating, but I couldn't really think of anything to write and blah blah blah. You don't care, right? You just want to read the chapter, huh? Well, all right then. But I have to make a few responses first. I hope that's okay with you. It is? Oh, thanks so much. (Chill. You know I love y'all.)

Okay, no responses. I have no time. Just thanks to everyone who reviewed and sorry this chapter is late coming. And a special thanks to my faithful reviewers who kept on reviewing and reviewing to get me to update (or just to bug me, I don't know. Kidding, lol). You know who you are.

Audrey Claio: I'll gladly read your fic 'Echo', but when I clicked on your name, it's not there. You have a fic, but that's not the title. Let me know when you post the one you want me to read, M'kay? M'kay!

Onward, ye merry men of exploration, to:

Chapter Seventeen

As soon as I walked into the Gryffindor common room, I heard someone start squeaking.

Seriously. It was like a language consisting of nothing but squeaky noises.

Really scary.

I looked around for a minute. "Oh, hey Hermione." I nodded to her and bounded towards the armchair she was seated in. "Look! I'm wild! I'm dangerous! I'm in a common room that's not mine!"

"How in Merlin's name did you get in here?" I heard someone ask. I turned, then.

Ah, Ron. On the couch with Ginny and that boy that I don't know.

No, wait. Longbottom. That's his name.

"With my ruthless and mercilessly conniving wit." I said as I sat on the arm of Hermione's chair.

"You came in with Dennis Creevey." Ginny said, her eyes narrowing in confusion.

I paused and scratched my head. "Well, when I said 'ruthless and mercilessly conniving wit', I may have meant…" I met eyes with Ginny.

Ginny just blinked at me for a second before she proceeded to giggle into her hand.

Um, okay. You… have fun over there, Gin. No, really.

I shrugged and looked around. "So this is what you griffins do, then, hmm? You just sit around like a bunch of boring bores and make up your own squeaky languages?"

Just then, Hermione decided to demonstrate her extensive knowledge of Squeakiness. "You!" She squeaked. "Youcan'tbeinhereyouneedtoleaverightnowdoyouhaveanyideahowmanyrulesyou'rebreaking!"

I paused. "No. How many?"

Whoa! I can understand Squeakiness.

She stood up, the books on her lap falling to the floor. "Lucy!" She hissed, starting to sound like a normal person for once. "You can't be in here!"

Okay. I understand. I'll just go somewhere else, then.

I said this to her. I said, "I'll just go somewhere else, then."

She heaved a huge sigh and nodded as I moved around her. "Good. Good, good."

Yeah, right. Like I'm going to leave just like that.

Who does she think I am? Better yet, who does she think I'm not?

Does she think I'm not a Malfoy?

Phhhtt.

"Hey, what's up these stairs?" I asked a small girl that I recognized as a first year from the feast on September 1st.

Again with the Fs. Honestly. Next thing you know I'll be Lisping Lucy. Or Fffing Freak.

Or, you know, something to that affect.

"The Boys' Dormitory." She giggled, looking up at me in what I can only describe as semi-admiration.

Aw, look. I'm a role model!

"LUCINDA MALFOY!" I heard Hermione squeak from across the room.

Ah, well, I don't suppose I'm a positive role model, hmm?

No.

"Thanks." I grinned to the little first year and continued to run as fast as I could up the stairs.

I could hear footsteps pounding up the steps behind me, but I ran harder than ever. (Which isn't very hard, considering the fact that I'm not in tip-top physical shape, I'll have you know.) As soon as I saw that one of the doors in the hallway was ajar, I ripped it all the way open and stumbled inside, shutting the hunk of wood behind me and pulling out my wand to place a locking charm on it. All in lightning-fast speed.

Oh, I'm good.

"Er, can I help you?" I heard someone ask behind me.

I turned around, my wand dropping to the floor as I jumped, seeing who sat on a bed on the other side of the dorm room.

Great. Harry Freaking Potter. Just who I wanted to see.

Not.

Well, okay, I had wanted to talk to him. But that was, like, yesterday.

"I… Uh…" I stammered like a dolt. I cleared my throat. "Not, uh, really. I'm just… hiding from… you know, Hermione."

He smiled a little, then.

Oh, dying. No, melting into a puddle is more like it.

What is wrong with me! It must be the fumes. This is not only one boy's room, but five. I'm being overwhelmed with Scent of Boy.

"What are you doing in the Gryffindor Tower?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

I shrugged, shuffling over to another bed and plopping down on it. "I snuck out of the hospital wing, but then I got lost. And then I was in front of that painting of that enormous lady and then it opened up and Dennis came out." I grinned, then. "He was easily convinced that I would show him something he's never seen before, so he let me in. I don't think he caught on that I was just going to show him my birthmark." I paused. "It's on my ankle."

Harry Potter let out a small chuckle and studied my face for a moment. He was on the bed next to the one that I was sitting on and it suddenly dawned on me that this was the most conversation we'd ever had.

Maybe the fumes were getting to him, too.

"Sorry I barged in here." I added, to break the silence. "I'll leave as soon as I'm sure that Hermione won't hex me."

He nodded, still looking intently at my face.

I cleared my throat, shifting slightly under his gaze.

Yeah, this is weird. I'm just saying.

I looked up from my lap and saw Harry Potter still staring at me. Like he always does.

I tilted my head to the side. "You're doing it again." I told him. "Why do you do that, anyway?"

"Do what?" He asked.

Stare at me.

I shrugged and layed down on the bed. I wonder whose bed this is. "Whose bed is this?" I asked the ceiling.

"Dean Thomas's." Harry Potter responded.

Oh. I don't know who he is. I shrugged and sat up a little more, my back against the headboard. "Tell me something." I said, turning my head towards The Boy Who Made No Attempt To Keep The Conversation Flowing.

He shrugged and looked at me, waiting for me to speak.

"What's your worst subject?"

He seemed like he needed to think about it for a moment before he answered. Or maybe I just caught him off-guard, is all. "Potions." He finally said.

I smirked. "Why? Is it because it's hard or because the professor hates Gryffindors?"

He shrugged. "Probably because of Snape, yeah."

I laughed. "Snape's a bit scary, I suppose. He took points from Hufflepuff on our first day of class."

"I think he took points from everyone but Slytherin on the first day." Harry laughed. "What's yours?"

"My what?"

"Worst subject."

I groaned. "Oh, definitely History of Magic. I can never remember who did what. Plus, you know, that class is really boring."

Harry nodded and sat up straighter. Like he was actually getting into the conversation or something.

Yeah, right.

"Best subject." He said.

Oh, I get it. It's like a game!

I grinned. "Charms. I don't know why. And you?"

"Defense." He shrugged.

Of course. The Boy Who Lived would obviously be good in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

"Favorite place in the world." I said, coming up with another topic.

"Hogwarts." He responded.

I wrinkled my nose and shook my head. "Ugh."

"What about you?" He asked after a few moments.

"I don't have one." I shrugged. "Hmm… Let me think… Birthday?"

He wrinkled his eyebrows at me. "Do you mean when is it or which was my favorite?"

Good question.

I laughed. "Both, I guess."

He scratched the top of his head for a second and grinned at me. "Well, July 31st and… I'm not sure which birthday was my favorite."

"Fair enough." I shrugged. "I don't have a favorite place so we're even."

He nodded. "Your turn."

I opened my mouth to answer, when it suddenly dawned on me.

That's right. We were getting along. Worse, we both seemed to be enjoying it. It was the weirdest feeling in the world, let me assure you.

But it passed.

"June 21st. Summer solstice, of course." I said, smiling. "Um… I think my favorite was when I turned eleven."

Harry frowned. "Why? Because you'd be starting school soon?"

I laughed outright and shook my head. Yeah, right. Like that's something to look forward to. "No… Because it was a fun day, I guess. It was a Sunday and my brother had just gotten back from Hogwarts the day before, so was making this huge deal about him being home. She had this 'Welcome Home' party for him and invited all of her friends that had children Draco's age at Hogwarts."

"And that was fun?" Harry asked, practically scowling. "It sounds like your mom forgot your birthday and you had to put up with a bunch of Slytherins all day."

Well, when you put it that way…

What an idiot. Seriously.

"No, she didn't forget." I felt my stomach tense up, like it does when I'm starting to get mad. "And I didn't have to put up with anything. It was fun." I paused and sighed. "I guess it's just my favorite because my dad left for London the next morning and didn't come home before I left to go stay with some relatives a few days later. And then I started at Durmstrang and I didn't come home until this past summer."

Harry frowned. "You haven't seen Luc – I mean, your father, in five years?"

"You make it sound so weird."

"It is weird."

"You're weird."

Harry just blinked at me like he was thinking about something. "Why'd you go to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts?"

"Honestly?"

"Yes."

I shrugged. "Okay, um, I know you completely hate my brother, but I don't. Anyway, you'd think that I was friends with all of the purebloods my age, but really we – Draco and me – didn't see many kids around our age except at boring parties and whatnot. So, it was usually just us, you know." I stopped for a second and stared at the opposite wall. "After Draco got back from Hogwarts, he was… different." I continued. "He was arrogant and conceited and the rudest person in the world. I didn't like it. And I was really naïve about, I don't know, everything, so I just came up with the perfect solution: don't go to Hogwarts. I was afraid I'd end up like my brother or something if I came here and I just didn't want to be around him anymore."

Harry seemed to find my answer…

What am I saying? I have no idea what I'm going on about. My brain shifted off-balance for a second when my chakra was thrown into whack by bad feng shui and what have you.

I told you, I don't know what I'm saying.

All I know is I was staring at Harry's brilliant green eyes for what seemed like a millennia but was really only a few seconds (I think) when there was an "Alohamora", a squeaking yell of frustration (or was it aggravation? I think both), a sudden headache like you wouldn't believe, and darkness.

Complete and utter darkness.

000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

I found out later that the darkness was caused by flaps of skin folding over my eyes.

You may know this process as "eyes closing."

Yes, that's what happened.

More specifically, I was hit in the back of the head with a blunt object (which I now know to be a very large book), causing me to – for lack of a better term – pass out.

At least that's what Ginny was telling me as I lay safely back in my bed in the hospital wing.

"At least Pomfrey didn't notice that you left." She said. "That's good, right?"

"Sure." I mumbled tiredly, my eyes closed.

Hermione is so dead.

"Well, I'm going to go now." Ginny was saying as I fell asleep. "You just… sleep it off, okay?"

So very, very dead.

:AN: Sorry it's short! I'll try and update sooner than this, I promise. It was weird going for, like, two months without updating again

:AN2: It might not be as soon as you want, though, since I practically had to push out this chapter from the wee corners of the universe. I was a bit blocked, you see. Any suggestions, people? Help is appreciated.

:AN3: Harry is a bit OOC in this chapter – what with talking to Lucy openlyish and all. My excuse is that Lucy is sick and infatuated with Harry and Harry is lonely (if you'll remember from earlier chapters, he's been keeping to himself lately. Which is why he was alone when Lucy barged in on him in this chapter), so he jumped at some social interaction. And his sudden moodiness towards the end is blamed on the fact that he realized (although he obviously knew, he just wasn't thinking about it) that Lucy is a Malfoy and Draco's sister. You'll notice that nothing is blamed on me, n'est-ce pas?

:AN4: I'm pretty sure the dates of Lucy's birthday and everything match up. I looked on the Harry Potter Lexicon and the timeline for Harry's first year does say that the students went back home on June 20.

I read somewhere that Draco's birthday was the Winter Solstice, which means he was born in late '79 (December 22nd, to be exact), not '80, since you have to already be 11 to start school at Hogwarts (JK Rowling said this on her website). But I don't know for sure if that's what his birthday is – that's what I'm going by, though. I decided to make Lucy's birthday the Summer Solstice in contrast, and if she was born on June 21st of '81, it makes sense that she would start school in the fall. Some of you may have already understood this, but I'm just explaining it anyway, just incase. If it doesn't make sense, I'm sorry.

Please review!