Chapter Four

As they walked into Hogsmede, Draco had a feeling of unease. Since he didn't know where it came from, he simply pushed the sensation away. "Come on! My god you walk slowly. I wanna get some candy. And why yes, I am two years old." With this she stuck out her tongue, and grabbed his hand, pulling him forcefully into Honeydukes. Normally he tried to stay away from the sweet filled store, but she wouldn't accept his struggling.

"Why must we go into this store? Everyone else in the whole school goes to this candy store."

"Well, I love candy. And this store makes me happy; don't you want me to be happy?" The pout on her face was alluring, but before he could say yes, she pulled him over to the back corner of the store.

"Free samples! I adore free samples. Icing! Mm, I love icing!" After cunningly glancing around to make sure no one was watching, she stuck her finger into the bowl and grabbed an enormous blob of it and stuck in into her mouth. He was about to do the same, but stopped when he read the side of the bowl.

"Um, Mora? You do know this is 'Changeling Icing'? Apparently not…" His warning came to late, as her skin had transformed from it's normal shade to a bright green. This mixed with her black hair made her seem very similar to the stereotypical alien. She glanced into a nearby mirror, and smiled.

"You know what? I quite like this shade of green. Maybe I should eat this stuff more often. Or better yet, you should try some!" She took her finger once again and dunked it into the bowl. Before he could make any protests, her finger was shoved into his mouth. Mora pulled it out, and then replaced her hand over his mouth so he couldn't spit it out. By now, many of their peers had stopped to look at the odd scene. Draco was attempting to push her off, but decided just to swallow it. Once he did, the people watching busted into a fit of laughter, one of the spectators decided to voice his ideas about his new hair color.

"Why, I always knew you were a pouf Malfoy. The pink'll go great with your Death Eater robes you know. And maybe this way more than just your cronies will pay attention to you now." Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger were all standing in the candy store in a fit of giggles.

"I should've guessed it scar head. Only you could come up with such an idiotic remark. But you better watch your back; soon Weasel and Mudblood won't be there to protect you." Sensing the major tension between the four people, Mora stepped in-between them.

"Draco is certainly not a pouf. And I personally like the new color; it matches amazingly with my skin color." While she liked a good fight now and then, having a fight break out in here wouldn't be a very good idea. And she wanted to spend time with Draco, not worry about whether he would be in the Hospital Wing for the next few weeks.

"Prove he's not a pouf." By now Ron had stood in front of Harry, his face still reddened from Draco's comment about Hermione's blood. Mora didn't look at all shocked at his command, she'd seen it coming. And yet for some reason, she didn't mind. Ron's comment had got the attention of a few more people in the store, and now they had turned to see what the Ravenclaw would do.

"Okay." She turned to him, and as she moved her face toward his said, "Words are poisoned darts of pleasure." When their lips touched, Draco hesitated, but only for a second. She wrapped her arm around his back as he rested his hands on her hips. He hated her for putting him on the spot like this, but no matter how hard his brain told him to pull away, he couldn't. The kiss wasn't very long, but passionate none the less. When she pulled away, his lips were on fire. How could she do this to him? All he wanted was to pull her back to him, but at the moment he knew it wasn't the right thing to do. But he was Draco Malfoy! Why should he care what was right? He closed his eyes for a second, and then let out a sigh. He opened his eyes to see Mora smirking up at him.

"See? Not a pouf." She nodded her head, and pulled him out of the store in the same manner she had taken him in. On her way out, she heard Ron muttered, "Bloody 'ell," while a few people hollered in agreement.

"Well, that was fun!" Draco turned to her to see that her skin was slowly changing back to its pallor, but he would miss the green. After a few seconds, the color was completely gone, leaving a hint of red covering her cheeks.

"Did you see the look on Weasley's face? I thought he was going to pass out. Those insufferable Griffindors think that they rule everything. Bloody Potter…" Yet before he could finish, Mora decided that they should go grab a few butterbeers, so she grabbed his hand yet again, and led him to the Three Broomsticks. But this time she was in less of a rush, and actually enjoyed the feeling of his hand in hers. On the contrary, Draco was very uneasy with the whole situation. He was still flustered over there last contact, but he didn't want to drop her hand. Nevertheless, he was anxious about touching her. As said before, there unspoken rules had always been no contact, but obviously Mora had erased those from her mind.

Suddenly, she stopped and put his hands on her waist and placed her hands on his shoulders, just like before. Draco's heart started beating faster, for he had no idea what she was doing. As if she heard music playing, she started waltzing all over the street with him. Instead of pulling away, he decided to join in on her little game. People had begun to stare once again, but she normally got that reaction out of the public. She threw her head back and laughed, then exclaimed, "This is crazy." Her face burst into a smile and she broke free from his grasp when she felt a strong hand clamp down on her shoulder.

Draco's face was drained of any expression, but his eyes held confusion mixed with fear. She turned her head to look at whoever was grasping onto her so tightly. She expected to see Blaise, but instead saw a tall man with long, shiny blonde hair. It was slicked back and reached down just passed his shoulder blades. A dark cloak glided off his shoulders, and underneath it was a green shirt so dark it was almost black. Not surprisingly, black pants graced his legs, and his ensemble was finished with shiny black boots. He held himself with superiority; his presence was unsettling. Immediately, she pulled away from his hold. After a quick glare in his direction, she asked Draco, "Who is this?"

"This is my father, Lucious Malfoy." So this had been the reason for his feeling of unease when they first came here. He should have recognized it; he always received the same reaction when he was about to show up after a Death Eater meeting. While he showed no emotion on the outside, within he was quite frightened. A reunion with his father was never a good thing.

"I do believe I could have introduced myself, but you already took that liberty. Shall we go to the Three Broomsticks? I believe that was where you were headed before you burst into dance." This was all spoken with a sense of calmness, maybe even boredom. Normally Mora was normally quite good at reading people, but she couldn't with him. He concealed what he was thinking in the same way he concealed his body; the only thing visible was his face. Even his hands were covered in leather gloves

Reluctantly, Mora and Draco followed him into the local pub. But Lucious turned to her, sent her a look of surprise, and said, "I need to talk to my son alone. You may wait outside, or do whatever else it is you want to. Maybe dance with another pureblood in the street?" With that he firmly pushed her out the door, and closed it in her face. She was surprised at his behavior, but now she saw where Draco had received most of the negative aspects of his personality.

Meanwhile, the golden trio had witnessed all of the above events, and were quite shocked to see one of the most feared Death Eaters at Hogsmede. But they were even more surprised to see how she reacted to him. It was true she hadn't grown up in England, but everyone knew who Lucious Malfoy was. Harry's curiosity got the better of him, and walked over to where she was standing outside of the Three Broomsticks. Even though his two friends found her behavior odd, they didn't feel the need to talk to her. So instead, Hermione and Ron yelled to him that they were going to go into Zonko's and that they'd meet up with them later. As Mora saw the black-haired boy approach, she turned toward him and said, "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Um, I'm not sure. Did you not know who Lucious Malfoy was? I assumed it was obvious to any wizard or witch that lived in England would recognize him from a mile away. You are aware that he's a Death Eater, right?" She was confused as to his motives, but she couldn't help but laugh at his obvious concern.

"Why yes, I am quite aware of whom he is and what he does in his spare time, I'd just never seen him before. The slicked back hair," at this point she made a grimace, which Harry just smiled at, "should've been my first clue. But he doesn't seem anything like Draco really, so I wasn't sure if it really was him. Make sense?"

"Malfoy happens to be just like his father."

"While Draco is an arrogant, pompous bastard at times, he isn't always. That man in that building always is, and I can tell even though I just met him. You can't judge Draco, you barely know him. That'd be like me judging you from that storm on your forehead, it would be ridiculous." She smirked at this, and started walking off towards the Shrieking Shack. While most people still thought it was haunted, Mora knew better. Even though some buildings were haunted, the one in Hogsmede certainly wasn't. She had a knack for knowing things like that, and it had proved her useful in the past.

"Wait, where are you going?" She turned around to see Harry looking mighty confused.

"I'm going over there." With that she pointed and started skipping off. He shrugged and joined his friends in Zonko's, quite confused with the Ravenclaw's eccentric behavior.

--

"What were you doing with a Sumpter?" Lucious deviously glared at his son, sending him daggers with his eyes.

"I don't see why you're uptight about her last name. She's not a mudblood; I made sure of that before I got to know her. And I've never even heard of the Sumpters, how can you expect me to know when to stay away from them?" Although normally the dimly lit pub was a comfortable environment, he could not enjoy himself at the small table pushed up in the corner. There was too little room between himself and his father, and it made him quite nervous. Light didn't reach back this far, and Lucious could do anything he walked, as long as Draco didn't make a sound.

"My god boy, have I taught you nothing? Caeden Sumpter was a pureblood, but an American line, not English. He went and fell in love with a mudblood, Riley Feliciano. Her parents were both Spanish, filthy muggles. They had Mora, and raised her as if she was a pureblood. Putting her in singing and ballet classes, you know. She mastered violin by age eight, and was growing into a very powerful witch even then. Her father was an auror, and a damn good one. Voldemort felt that he would become too great, for he was slowly gaining power. I had to study their family for a long amount of time. You don't need to know the rest of the story now, in another visit you'll find out more if I find it necessary. For the time being, I don't mind if you toy with her. Just don't let her fool you, she's really very intelligent."

Draco was shocked at this speech of his father's, he had known nothing about her past except the fact that she had no parents and was from America. The fact that his father had allowed him to stay around her raised suspicion in him. But he knew there was nothing more he could find out today.

"You may go now. I'll be seeing you." While to some this may seem a pleasant way to end a conversation, Draco knew better. They shared an interesting relationship, with a fine line between love and hate. It might've been because Lucious had a twisted form of love. It was borderline obsession, and borderline disgust. He had to be careful around his father, to keep himself safe. And normally that meant not being near him; he tried to keep their meetings to a minimum. The phrase, "I'll be seeing you," meant that he defiantly would have to see him again, and it was something he dreaded.

With a swish of his cape, he walked out the door, with Draco following close behind. Lucious went to the right, while he stopped and glanced around to try and find Mora. After a few minutes of looking, he saw her lonely shape sitting on a log down by the fence surrounding the Shrieking Shack. Quietly he snuck up behind her, in attempts to catch her by surprise. Unfortunately for him, without turning her head she said, "I know you're there. For trying to be stealthy, it certainly didn't work out that well. What did your father want? It obviously wasn't anything fun considering you don't look too pleased."

"What the hell? You aren't even looking at me!" With this she laughed, and turned to stare at him.

"I am now. And my theory was right, you don't look happy. I'd tell you who talked to me while you conversed with Mr. I-Use-Too-Much-Hair-Gel-And-It-Should-Be-Illegal, but that'd probably piss you off." She then smirked at him, and his face showed a brief amount of suspicion, and then changed to show immense curiosity.

"Tell me."

"Oh! Aren't we the demanding one? Let's make a game. You get three guesses, and if you don't figure it out, then you have to…" At this she paused, and thought about all the things she could make him do. After a few minutes of pondering, she decided what he would have to do.

"I have to what? Let's not carry this on all day, the sun's out. It might ruin my complexion."

"Oh puh, who cares if you skin gets a bit of sun? If it's anything like mine, which it looks like it is, it won't tan even if you wanted it too. If you don't figure it out," she repeated, "Then you have to carry me back to the castle."

"That's all? I thought you were going to make me snog a tree or something." Her face lit up into a huge smile, for the thought of his lip-locked with a piece of nature was endlessly amusing.

"Go on. Three guesses, what's your first one?"

"Ron Weasley."

"Nope, try again."

"Harry Potter?"

"There you go! It took you long enough. But I was looking forward to you carrying me back to Hogwarts." Her face was filled with mischief, and he knew she was planning something.

"He talked to you? What in the world for?" She pressed a finger up to his mouth to silence him. Once he quit talking, she smirked.

"I won't tell you, unless you carry me back to the school."

"Well, aren't we completely set on that idea?" His voice held frustration, but his face showed that he really didn't mind the thought of it.

"Yes. And I would take your response as an okay. Basically, he wanted to make sure I knew your father was a Death Eater. You know, be the good guy and let me know who I was dealing with. My father was killed by them, you'd think he would get that I knew who your father was." Mora said this with a bit of sorrow and resentment, but it was obvious she didn't hold a grudge against him. She hated them, but she didn't take it out on their sons. Unfortunately, Draco never knew about the demise of her father. He knew he had died; he just never knew the details. She was opening up so quickly to him, but that was just her personality. To people she didn't know, she was quiet and secretive. But once she knew you, she shared things randomly, and out of the blue. It was just her personality. But he was perplexed! 'How can she stand to be around me? My father's a death eater!'

Sensing his confusion, she said, "Don't worry about it, I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault. And plus I was in American when it happened, your father couldn't have done it." His nerves were soothed at this, and his face lost its previous expression of worry. 'But he had watched her family; he had watched her as a child. What if he did do it?'

'He couldn't have. And quit talking to yourself, psychotic bastard'

'I resent that'

"How about giving me that ride now? I'm ready to return to Hogwarts, my escort!" After a roll of his eyes, he lifted her into his arms. Surprisingly, she was lighter than she looked. Not that she was fat, she wasn't stick thin and she wasn't voluptuous. Her body was a nice mix in-between the two. But she felt much lighter than she looked.

Mora relaxed when she found that he was holding her in a safe position, cradling her like a baby. "You're going to spoil me." With that, she smiled contently and closed her eyes, enjoying the ride back to school.

A.N. One review, and I couldn't be happier. I've been on vacation, sorry it took so long to upload. The next chapter is shorter, but I had found a nice stopping point. I'll upload it soon, but I'm not sure how soon.

To my reviewer- In my experience, my memories seem to do that. The more I try not to think about them, they randomly pop into my head and I cannot stop them. Maybe Mora and I are just a bunch of freaks. laughs But that's just how I normally relive bad memories. But I will take you comment into consideration. Thanks for the feedback!

PrincessBitterheart