This was about the time my father nearly threw something at Dumbledore. I only hoped he wouldn't push things. Don't get me wrong, my father can hold his own, but Dumbledore could do better.

Instead of doing something drastic, Mikhail stood up and took a deep breath. "I regret to inform you headmaster, but my children will no longer be enrolled in Hogwarts." I seriously had to restrain from pulling my wand out.

"Father, you can't do that!" I surveyed the room; Draco had put the book down, Dumbledore was still seated, Snape was getting up, but it was Julian who had spoken. "I refuse to leave right when I start! I've been waiting for years to come here!"

"Jules," I started, fearing our father was going to do something. "Let me take care of--."

"You've got no right." I turned; Draco had cut me off and was now glaring at my father. "You do enough damage on holiday, and there's no way you can take this one bit of safety from your children. Besides, how smart would it be to let Julian grow up without any education? He'd blow his bloody hands off!"

As if on cue, everyone turned to Dumbledore. After a few moments Severus spoke up instead. "Really Mikhail, the standing rules are only being enforced. No one at Hogwarts gets special treatment."

I pushed myself out of my chair and stood. "Father, I don't care what you say, we're both staying here." Instinctively, I tensed the muscles in my arms and hands. Standing up to my father was how I got my most prominent scar. But this situation was very different; last time we were alone and he had had a knife. Now we were in a room with other people and no knife was in sight.

Mikhail glared and turned as if to leave, but stopped. "You are an ungrateful child. We are leaving." I stayed silent while he turned around. "I said we're leaving." I crossed my arms across my chest. He took two steps towards me and raised his hand. It was as if the next few seconds were in slow motion. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Draco trying to run and stop him, Snape pulled out his wand and I could see his lips move. Julian's eyes started to tear up; he knew what was coming as well as I did.

My father swung his hand and it connected hard with the side of my face. I fell and could hear feet running, though it was too late, the damage was done. A sharp pain went though my head, and the last thing I could remember was Draco dropping to his knees next to me as my world turned dark.

"...ake up, please. Come on, just open your eyes."

"Mister Malfoy, she needs her rest. That was quite a blow to the head she took."

Blow to the head? What was she talking about? I could hear someone walking away, but I could still hear someone breathing beside me. I barely opened my eyes and saw very familiar blond hair. "Dray?" I groaned and threw my hand over my eyes. "My head feels like I've been attacked by fifty bludgers. Where am I? What happened?"

He got up and pulled the curtains across the room. Once it was darker, I slowly sat up and he sat at the other end of my bed. "Zee, you're in the hospital wing. The meeting with your father got a little heated. He hit you; you fell to the ground, hitting your head on the edge of a chair on the way down. Your head split open, there was blood everywhere. I almost thought you were dead." His voice dropped with the last sentence and he looked away. "It's my fault. I couldn't stop him. I tried to, I really did, but by the time I reached you, it was too late. I was there to stop him, wasn't I? I should have at least stopped your fall, caught you or something. You're lying here because of me."

I held my face in my hands, my head was killing me and there was a hot spot on my cheek where I'd been first hit. "Draco, there's no blame, no fault." I felt the side of my head that had hit the chair. There was a bandage on it and it still felt very sore. "Well, maybe some fault." He looked as if I was about to condemn him to Azkaban. "That ruddy chair got in the way of my fall."

Draco laughed a bit and smiled that genuine smile of his. We heard footsteps coming and I settled down in the hospital bed. Madame Pomfrey walked into view. "Mister Malfoy, I told you to let her rest!"

"It's alright, he's just making sure I'm not dead," I said, sitting back up.

She pushed me down. "You shouldn't be awake. You need to sleep. That was a nasty fall." She rummaged in the bedside table and pulled out a potion. She poured a bit into a glass and handed it to me. "Drink this."

I grabbed it and took a sip. I started to feel a bit dizzy and the next thing I knew, I was asleep again.

Hours later, it was the time when all of Hogwarts either cheered that classes were over, or mulled over the huge amount of homework they had. It was after the last class of the day and a couple of hours before dinner. Now was when most homework was done and the fun planned. About this time was when a certain Slytherin was finally getting out of the hospital wing.

"Yes Madame, I know, no flying for three months," I called on my way out. Under my breath I muttered, "Not like I play quidditch or anything." I'd tried out last year, but apparently wasn't good enough. Slowly, I walked down to the Dungeons, not wanting to answer anyone's stupid questions about why I hadn't been around. Thought after thought raced through my mind, but I didn't let any of them stick for long.

Soon I'd run into my favorite weasel, the youngest of the family. "Weaslette, get lost or something? Or did you want to stop being a goody-goody Gryffindork?" Her face turned as red as her hair, and I took the opportunity to intimidate her for a bit. "The entrance to the Gryffindork room is behind that portrait of the Fat Lady, or did you forget that small bit of information?"

Ginny Weasley was just about fuming. "I know where it is! At least I'm not some-some-some stupid Slytherin!" she stuttered and stomped off. I just stood there laughing.

I grinned and walked to the dungeons. Upon approaching the entrance, I waved my wand over the stonewall and muttered, "Gloria serpens." Almost at once, a stone moved out and a small snake appeared on it. I tapped it with my wand and the stonewall before me opened up into the Slytherin Common room.

Books were scattered, parchment was strewn about, and a few heads turned when I walked in. It seemed as if the entire Slytherin house was in there. Nothing much had changed in my absence, but then again, I wasn't sure I expected any of it to be different. I made my way to the dorm, weaving around all the chairs that were oddly placed about the room, just like normal. I'd almost reached the dorm when I saw Draco.

"Hey Malfoy." He looked up and grinned one of those real grins. "That old witch finally let me out."

"It's about time," he said. "You've already missed four days of class."

My mind was reeling. Four days? I thought it had been much less, one and a half at the most. I sneered at him. "No way."

Pansy Parkinson walked up and almost immediately started laughing. "Nice hair, Doshon." She turned to Draco. "Come on Draky-poo, you said we could go down to the lake before dinner." Draco cursed under his breath. Her eyes started to water. "Do you not want to be with me?"

Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. "That's not it. Zee just got out of hospital."

Pansy's feeling of rejection turned quickly to anger. "You like that dramatic slut more than you like me!" She ran out of the room. Half of the third years and below turned to watch, everyone else was used to this by now.

"Pansy--!" Draco called to her, but she was gone. He scowled and stomped off into his dorm. In the midst of all this, my head had started to pound.

I walked off to my dorm, I needed to lie down. I changed into my pajamas and flopped onto my bed. Thoughts started flying through my head. Draco didn't really like Pansy, it was true, and everyone knew that. Well, maybe not everyone; I don't think she knew. He stayed with her because of his father. If he was with a pureblood Slytherin from a rich family, like hers, he was out of trouble and the line of fire.

So why couldn't he be with someone else? Why couldn't he be with someone like me? I'd mused over it a long time ago, but I knew him too well for anything to work and neither of us had ever brought it up. We were just good friends, that's all. Besides, most of the time his father treated me like one of his own whenever I spent holidays over there. He also thought of me as quite outspoken, and I knew the Malfoys liked their women obedient and submissive, much like Lucious's own wife.

The entire Slytherin house was a just a bunch of malicious gossipers, but we knew our stuff. It was like the required reading in class; everyone knew it so they wouldn't be behind.

I shut the curtains around my bed and laid there, my headache slowly left. After what I guessed was an hour, I got up; I still had an essay to do. As I gathered my materials, I caught a glance of myself in the mirror above Millicent's bed and almost shrieked. My head had split open on the right side. The cut was obviously made by the corner of the chair, and it was still badly bruised, but what was left of my hair hid it well. An entire chunk of my hair had been cut out. My beautiful black hair was now uneven and it looked horrible, I needed something to cover it. My school robe was the closest thing to me, so I swung it on and flipped the hood up. I grabbed my things and went out in the common to do my homework.

The room had cleared; it must've been dinnertime. I chose one of the best seats by the fire and started reading about the pepper-up potion. About forty-five minutes later, I was furiously writing my essay and everyone came in. Most people stumbled into their dorms, ready for sleep, but a few stayed behind to do homework like me.

Draco sat next to me on the couch and started scanning over the portion of my essay I had written. Unconsciously, I felt myself rest my head on his shoulder as my eyelids began to droop. Slowly, slowly, I let my eyes close.

I yawned and opened my eyes; that was my best nap ever. I blinked; it was much darker than when I had fallen asleep. The nearby fire was almost out, only brightly glowing embers were left in its place. A light snore came from next to me, and a hand on my waist twitched a little. I sat up completely and turned to face this person. The almost white-blond hair told me exactly who this was. Quietly, I whispered, "Draco?"

He yawned and groggily looked at me. He smiled a bit and said softly, "Morning Dosh."

"What're we doing in the house common, and why's your arm around me?" He quickly retracted said arm. A fast glance at the clock told me that classes started in twenty minutes and the entire student body was in the Great Hall, including the Slytherins who had no doubt seen us as they walked out. "Oh Salazar!" I got up quickly and started gathering my things.

A hand on my arm stopped me. "Zee, wait." He spun me around and kissed me full on the lips.

It may have been just a few second, and it seems so clichéd, but it felt like an eternity. Sure, I've kissed other guys, but they meant nothing to me. The relationships with those guys had been so shallow. I pulled away, slightly dazed. "How could you…why did you…Pansy!"

Draco shook his head. "You know better than anyone how I feel about her."

I took a step backwards and pointed behind him. He slowly turned and saw the reason for my concern. Taking this opportunity, I ran back into my dorm and left Draco alone to deal with Pansy.

Fifteen minutes until classes started. I raced around the room, taking clothes off, putting clothes back on, gathering my books, and tried to find a way to conceal my cald spot. I found two barrettes and used them to fasten the front of my hair back. Through all this, I could hear the two of them shouting. Angry voices reverberated through the dungeons.

Five minutes left. I shot out of my dorm, right into someone else. The person grunted and I fell back into the now closed door. At one glance I knew who it was and wished I didn't. I raced up the steps to the common, tripping on the last step. I reached for my wand, but to my despair it wasn't there. My robe pockets, my book bag, no sign of it. My wand must've fallen out while I was asleep. I glanced across the room and sure enough, there it was, poking out from under the couch.

"Doshon, I have had it!" I got up and scrambled over to my wand. "First you steal my boyfriend, now you're trying to kill me! I think not!" Pansy Parkinson whipped out her wand, pointing it straight at me. "Now you're gonna get some of what you deserve!"

Quickly I grabbed my wand and held it up, ready to defend myself. "Pansy, I didn't…it wasn't my…" She raised her wand and opened her mouth to curse me, but before she had the chance I yelled, "expelliarmus!" Her wand flew from her hand directly into the face of an old clock, shattering the glass.

I ran out and was nearly to the Potions classroom when I was tackled from behind. We slid across the stone floor and stopped right outside the classroom door.

"You filthy little slut! How dare you think you can do this to me!" She had me pinned with one hand and held a fistful of hair in the other.

I tried to throw her off, kick her off, just get her off me. I squealed, "Pansy! Get off! You're hurting me!"