Chapter 33

After the holidays were over Hogwarts was filled with students and joy again. Jackie never did tell anybody about what happened between her and Draco. Every time her friends mentioned it, she just changed the subject. The four girls were eating in the great hall like old times.

"Mm…chocolate chip bagels." said Heather. "Oh how I've missed these." (Oh man I have a craving for one now…)

Danielle, Nehal and Jackie laughed.

Jackie saw Draco come in the great hall. She then remembered what happened and looked away.

Danielle noticed this. "How did things go between you guys?"

"Yeah." added Nehal. "You never did tell me what happened!"

Jackie answered, "Um…that's because I um…um….um….I wanted too really, but I forgot!"

"Well tell us now." suggested Heather

"Yeah!" exclaimed Danielle. "Give us the dirty details." She nudged Jackie who was sitting beside her.

"There are no dirty details!"

Nehal said, "Oh come on Jackie you know you can trust us."

"Of course. It's just there's not much to talk about."

"Liar!" said Heather

"Is everything okay Jackie?" Danielle asked concerned.

"Yeah everything's fine." replied Jackie. She took a sip of her drink.

Heather looked at Nehal. "How did things go with Ron?"

Nehal shrugged her shoulders. "It was alright. No romance happened. We're just friends."

"So I take it you didn't kiss him?"

"Obviously Heather!"

Heather smiled. "Yeah but in the summer when I walked in on you and Ron I could tell something was going on."

"Oh please!" scoffed Nehal. "That was such a long time ago!"

"Or was it? Don't deny it Nehal!"

Jackie looked over at Draco. He seemed to be behaving the way Jackie was. All of his friends were asking him questions and poking him.

"Are you sure everything's okay?" asked Danielle again

"Of course! Like Nehal's Christmas."

"Give me a sec…" said Nehal and she ran to the Slytherin table. "What's wrong with you Malfoy?"

"Why'd you wanna speak to Malfoy?" said Cory. "You his girlfriend?"

"You think I have such bad taste!"

"Judging by Weasley, yeah!" said Sean

"A word?" Nehal looked at Draco. He shrugged and followed Nehal. Then she slapped him in front of everyone, Jackie gasped and many people started laughing.

Draco said, "Ow! What the fuck was that for?"

"For being a Slimeball!" answered Nehal

"I've heard that line before."

"Why did you dump Jackie?"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I think you know what I'm talking about." Nehal crossed her arms over her chest. "How come she left so early? She was supposed to stay at your manor for the whole 2 weeks!"

"She left early because…of my father."

"Oh…ouch that's not good."

"Is she mad?"

"No I don't think so. I think she's just sad."

"Well there wasn't much I could do. I think I've screwed things up enough as it is."

"Yeah me too…" Nehal looked at Ron.

"I did worse."

"What? Worse than the death wish best friend love triangle? What'd you do? Tell her she was fat?"

Draco shook his head.

"What's going on?"

"What were we thinking, Nehal?"

"You and me, or you and Jackie?"

"All of us."

"I guess we weren't."

Draco nodded his head.

"Yeah." Nehal sighed. "All my hard work right down the drain….oh well see you later Malfoy!"

"Pradhan! This is a huge dilemma here for me!"

"Let me take a minute to pretend I care." She looked at Draco in sympathy. "Glad that's over with." She then walked away.

It was now potions class. Jackie and Danielle sat together while Nehal and Heather sat together.

Professor Snape said, "Now today I will be assigning an assignment that you will have to work in partners and it will be worth 25 percent of your final grade! The potion you will be making is the truth potion!" There were several groans from the students. "The potion will be tested and I will ask some questions." Professor Snape swept around the room pairing up people.

"Mr. Malfoy with Miss Allan…"

"Great." muttered Jackie and Draco at the same time.

"Mr. Rich and Miss Mcleod."

"Wow! I'm really looking forward to this." Danielle said loudly and sarcastically

"I know I am!" said Cory. Danielle rolled her eyes.

"Mr. Cameron and Miss Pradhan."

"Kill me now." said Nehal

"No! Let me do the honors." Sean snapped back. They glowered at each other.

"Mr. Smith and Miss Reid!" Professor Snape smiled. "This class is going to be interesting." He thought.

"Heather!" said Danielle. "You are so lucky!"

"I don't know about that!" said Heather looking at Tommy and Neville with a sigh.

"Why do I always get stuck with Mr. Pervert?" whined Danielle

"Excuse me?" said Nehal. "And you think you have the worst partner?" Sean just ignored her and kept bumping into her so the ingredients would go wrong. "CAMERON!"

"Yes?" Sean said innocently. Draco started sniggering loudly. Jackie frowned at Draco.

"Shut up Slimeball!" Nehal snapped at Draco. "After putting up with you, you ruin the plan!"

"What plan?" Draco shot back.

"Yeah what plan?" asked Jackie looking at Nehal.

Sean raised his eyebrows at Nehal.

Amanda whispered something to Casey and Meghan and they both sniggered loudly. Amanda was giving them the update of what happened at Christmas dinner.

Nehal looked at Draco, wondering if she should tell Jackie the truth or not. "The plan…about…Mr. K and how we're going to…get him fired!"

"Why do you want to get him fired?" asked Jackie. "He's not as mean as Mr. Judge!"

"Were not learning anything!"

"And that's a bad thing?"

Professor Snape started to walk up and down the rows to see how the students were doing.

Jackie thought, "Good thing I'm partnered up with Draco. Professor Snape just adores him, plus he's good at potions."

Nehal looked over at Amanda, Casey and Meghan. She then whispered to Jackie, "You know I got your back right?"

Jackie looked at Nehal. "Great. Just don't stick another knife in it."

Nehal sighed and walked over to Sean.

Sean said, "Alright…do you know how to make the potion?"

"Yeah." answered Nehal

"Because I have no idea what to do."

Nehal gave Sean an annoyed look. "You at least have to help!"

"I'm no good at potions!"

"But you're a Slytherin?"

"Yeah I know it says that in the book 101 ways to be a perfect Slytherin. But hey, I'm not perfect!"

"Oh yeah that book. I've read it before."

Sean raised his eyebrows. "You have?"

"Yeah, when I was in Malfoy's room." Nehal then changed the topic because she felt uncomfortable with the look that Sean was giving her. "Well what are you good at Cameron?"

"Auto. Cars…you know the works."

"Hey that means you can fix my baby, because her engine keeps on smoking!"

"Uh…I know how to fix cars but not babies!"

"But it's the same thing!"

Sean felt Nehal's forehead. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Of course!"

"Okay then…"

"Oh wait, you thought that I meant…ha, ha. Oh Cameron you crack me up! You see I call my car my baby because she's like a baby to me and I'm her mother. I was the one who brought her into this world of Hogwarts." Nehal sniffed. "She's growing up so fast."

"Okay, okay I'll fix your baby! But it's gonna cost you."

Meanwhile Cory was bothering Danielle. (Nothing new there)

Cory said, "So…I like the way you stir."

Danielle looked at him from the corner of her eye. "I like they way you try to hit on me every five seconds! Don't you ever give up?"

Cory smiled. "Well you've gotta admit, I've got skills."

"Whatever. Let's just concentrate on the potion. After all it is worth 25 percent of our grade." She looked at Cory as he was dangerously close to her. "What do you want?"

"I think you know" Cory whispered in her ear.

"Just go away." Danielle whispered back.

Cory smirked. "Is that what you really want?"

"Yes it is now back off!" growled Danielle.

Cory laughed.

"That's it!" Danielle dumped the whole cauldron on top of Cory. "Oops…I guess my fingers must have slipped." Danielle giggled, batting her eyelashes.

"Aww it burns, but that's okay. I'll forgive you."

Professor Snape saw what happened. "Miss Mcleod what is the meaning behind this!" Snape was furious.

Danielle answered, "He was being a jerk sir."

"Yes but that is no way you should treat a Slytherin! I bet he did all that hard work!"

"But Sir!"

"20 points taken off Gryffindor for pure stupidity!"

"But sir he was trying…to make a move on me."

"Yes I'm sure he was." Professor Snape said sarcastically.

Ian raised his hand. "Professor I think you should take Danielle's side on this one."

"Yeah!" said Heather. "There is no I in team…but there is one in pie. Pumpkin pie! Oh there are two I's in that."

Everyone in the room looked at Heather.

"Oh I thought we were talking about pie."

Professor Snape looked at Ian. "Mr. Smith, you're only taking her side because she's your girlfriend!"

Everyone in the classroom said, "Ooo."

Professor Snape looked around the room. "All of you report to my office tonight at 7:00 for detention!"

All the students groaned.

Hermione's hand shot up in the air. "Professor I didn't do anything!"

"Too bad! The whole class I mean…change of plans. All the Gryffindors report for detention tonight!"

"WHAT?" yelled Heather, standing up.

"Sit down Miss Reid."

"Yes sir." Heather said and sat down in defeat.

All the Gryffindors were furious and all blamed Danielle for the mess.

After class Ian confronted Danielle. "Baby, why did you do it?"

Danielle replied with a simple, "Because."

"Because why?"

"Because he kept on bothering me."

"But I thought we made a promise that we would just ignore him!"

"Ian! He was getting on my nerves! He's like, I like the way you stir and he just…bugs me so much! Come on wouldn't you be annoyed if Casey or Meghan kept on hitting on you!"

"Yeah probably, but that's not the point!"

Danielle felt like she wanted to cry but she wouldn't do it in front of Ian. "Whatever." She walked towards Gryffindor tower.

"Danie!" yelled Ian.

Danielle didn't look back at Ian. She went upstairs to the girls' dorms and sat down on her bed in defeat.

Sunshine chirped at her.

"Sunshine my baby!"

Sunshine chirped again. Danielle smiled. Whenever she saw Sunshine it reminded her of her family. "I think I feel homesick." She said to herself out loud.

"You're not supposed to talk your thoughts out loud!" Nehal said coming in followed by Jackie and Heather.

"Why is it bad luck?" asked Danielle concerned.

"No! It just shows what your thinking." replied Nehal sitting down beside Danielle.

"We haven't gotten in trouble for such a long time." said Heather.

"Wow that was random." said Nehal.

Jackie said, "Maybe for you, but remember when my foot got stuck in-"

"Don't remind me!" groaned Danielle

"Disaster struck!" exclaimed Heather

"I thought I lost my seeker!" Nehal shook her head at Jackie.

"What did I do?" Jackie said cluelessly of what was happening, and why her friends had exasperated expressions on their faces.

"Anyways, I got someone to fix my baby!" Nehal said happily.

"Nehal! Who did you do it with? And how did you get so thin so quickly?" asked Heather.

"Maybe she called Jenny Craig." Jackie said thoughtfully.

Danielle rolled her eyes. "She is talking about her car guys!"

"Duh!" said Nehal.

"So who offered?" asked Danielle

"Sean!" Jackie said smiling.

"Were you eavesdropping?" asked Nehal, who sounded angry.

"Well…only a little bit. I…I…didn't mean to…I'm sorry."

Danielle replied, "Remember the last time you eavesdropped on a conversation? You thought Malfoy and Nehal were dating…but really they were actually trying to get you two together."

"Yeah so it didn't work did it?" Jackie said coldly. She touched the door knob when Nehal spoke.

"You know…Amanda was not part of our plan, and if you tell me that you didn't enjoy being with just Malfoy, your lying!"

"And you would know, wouldn't you?" Jackie left the room. Heather and Danielle looked at each other and then looked at Nehal.

"I seriously thought she was over him!" Nehal said out loud. "Well I gotta go. Bye guys." She left as well.

"Well…that was something." said Heather. She looked at Danielle. "You want to get something to eat in the kitchens?"

"Yeah." answered Danielle quickly.

Heather laughed, as the two linked arms and exited the room.

When Nehal left the common room she had not the slightest idea where to look for Jackie, so she tried to find Sean for her car instead. Nehal found Sean along with Cory, Draco and Ian putting dung bombs in the suits of armor.

"Hey, put it away." hissed Ian

Nehal walked up to the Slytherin boys. "Hey Cameron."

"Pradhan?" Sean asked surprised

"Sorry to spoil your game guys, but I need to borrow your gang member." said Nehal dragging Sean away.

When Nehal was about to turn around Ian called out to her. "Nehal!"

"Yes?"

Ian handed to her, his Gryffindor tie…Danielle's tie. Nehal gaped at it.

"Okay, listen show this tie to Danielle. If she takes it, Cory gets her for a week, if she doesn't Cory leaves her alone for a month."

"You are gambling with my friend?" Nehal sounded furious.

"No just testing her."

"You should really talk thing over with her."

"I know." sighed Ian.

Sean replied, "If your going to chat with Smith let go of my hand!"

Nehal looked down. Somehow her hand had slid into his palm and rested there. She let go, as though Cameron's hands were on fire. She looked up and saw mockery in Sean's eyes. Behind him, Cory and Draco were howling with laughter. Nehal felt so humiliated that she slapped Sean by anger. "Bye Ian!" Nehal walked down the hallway, her shoes sending an echo through out the corridor.

Draco looked at Sean, "Hey man, I think she has the hots for you!"

Meanwhile Jackie was heading towards detention when someone called her name. She turned around and saw Colt. "Hey."

Colt said, "Hi, how are you?"

"I'm good, you?"

"Pretty good, so uh how were your holidays?"

"They were…interesting."

"Oh yeah, did you go to Malfoy's?"

Jackie didn't know what to say. A part of her didn't want to lie Colt, but another part didn't want to hurt his feelings. "No…I went home for the holidays. It was really nice, because I haven't seen my family in such a long time."

"I see…"

"How were your holidays Colt?"

Colt shrugged his shoulders. "They were alright. I stayed at Riley's house."

"Coolies. Yeah…so I gotta go to detention now. So I'll talk you to later."

"What did you do this time Jackie?"

"Hey! It wasn't just me. It was Professor Snape being a total idiot and he decided to give all the Gryffindors detention just because Danielle poured her potion all over Cory…you know your friend Cory?"

"Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Cory has a huge crush on Danielle."

Jackie laughed. "Well I um…probably should um…go now, so…bye!"

"Bye Jackie!"

Meanwhile Heather and Danielle were eating food in the kitchens.

Danielle said, "So how's it going between you, Neville and Tommy?"

Heather answered, "It's complicated."

"Really? How so?"

"I can't really choose between them. I mean Tommy is all about fun, and he is totally good looking but Neville, I have like this huge emotional connection with him. So…it's crazy."

"That sucks."

"Yeah I know Danie but it's not like I planned on this happening. It's not like I woke up one morning thinking, I am going to cheat on Neville with Tommy! It was never ever like that!"

"You must be in a difficult position!"

"Yeah you think?"

Danielle smiled at Heather. "Well at least you and your boyfriends haven't had a fight in awhile. Things are going terrible between Ian and I. I think he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you."

"I don't know Hey Hey."

"Hey you can't beat yourself up over it; no one knew that Cory was gonna be such a pervert when he went to get sorted."

"He got sorted into Slytherin."

"Yeah, but Ian isn't a pervert…is he?"

Danielle shrugged her shoulders and Heather sighed.

"Maybe we just weren't meant to be together." replied Danielle

"Maybe we were just chasing after the wrong boys." said Heather.

The two girls looked at each other.

A/N: Hey everybody! How's your summer going? Well it's a good thing some of you are near computers so you can review the story. La La La, the next chapter has lots of Ian/ Danielle action in it.