Love or Something like It—A Remix
By chibiCIRRUS

Author's Note: Well here's chapter two! Thanks to ma chére Sophie for reviewing!

Disclaimer: If I owned them, I wouldn't be writing fanfic. Unless, of course, you count Elizabeth. I do own her.

Seems like a dream
But there's one thing missing
Nobody's here with me
(Here with me)
To share in all that
I've been given
I need someone
That's strong enough for me

--Krystal Harris "Supergirl"

--------------------

One year later…

Liz Rider sighed as she walked down the hall towards the library. She pushed the hair out of her eyes and glanced up, taking her eyes off of the ground, which they had been focused on for the last fifteen minutes. There was absolutely nothing unusual at all about her walking to the library when most other students were outside or in their Common Rooms enjoying their free time. In fact, Liz was probably going to be voted "Most Studious" at the end of the year. Actually, the reason she was sighing was because—

"Hey, Mudblood, wait up!"

--Draco Malfoy was following her. She had spent the last fourteen minutes trying to evade him. She knew; she had checked her watch at least six times.

"Great, just what I needed," she grumbled. Ever since Malfoy had first laid eyes on her when he saw her boarding the Hogwarts Express, he had made it his personal goal to make her life miserable. He did that by being pleasant--pleasantly evil, pleasantly obnoxious, and perfectly, pleasantly annoying, snide, and any other word that could possibly have a negative connotation in her mind. But he wasn't so bad. In fact, he was probably one of her few friends. She'd also never admit it, but Blaise was right—she was falling for him, and hard too. Of course the chances of her admitting that to herself or anyone else were pretty, well, slim.

"Honestly, Mudblood, I never knew that you could be so forward," drawled Malfoy as he caught up and draped his arm around her shoulders. "I kind of like it."

She shrugged his arm off and kept walking. "Shut up, Malfoy, and don't call me that. What do you want, anyways?"

He was unfazed. "Well, I noticed you weren't in Arithmancy today, so I took the liberty of copying down some notes for you. You can thank me by writing my Potions paper. It has to be at least 3 feet long and it's about the many uses of--"

"I am not writing your paper for you Malfoy! For once in your life do your own work--"

"I'm hurt, really hurt, Eliza that you would snap at me like that. Especially after I've taken you under my wing, gone out of my way to make you feel at home here at Hogwarts, and took about ten pages of notes, just for you, and you, out of all people should know that I never take notes when I can help it."

"If by saying that, you actually mean teasing me relentlessly and making my life miserable whenever possible, then yes, you have made me feel right at home. Not."

He knelt down in front of her, clasping his hands. "Please, please, please, reconsider, my dearest. It would mean the world to me."

Liz glanced around nervously, eyeing the other students passing by and talking in whispers about them, and finally hissed, "Stop it, Malfoy. You're making a scene. You're embarrassing me!"

"Will you take my notes?"

Another nervous glance around, and then, "Yes!"

"And you'll write my paper?"

"Yes!"

Malfoy threw himself at her, hugging her around her stomach. "Thank you, thank you, dearest little Mudblood! I shall forever be indebted to you; I shall owe you for--"

"Ummm….Malfoy?"

"Yes, Eliza?"

"Could you get your head out of my chest before I'm forced to curse you to hell and back?"

"Well…as long as you're promising to bring me back…"

"Malfoy!"

He stood up, "Okay, okay, alright, dearest."

"And don't do that."

"Don't what?" he asked innocently.

"Call me Mudblood or dearest or Eliza."

"Oh, so you want me to call you my dearest little Mudblood, Eliza?"

"Yes! I mean no. I mean…Let's just go to the library, alright?"

Draco smiled, "Okay….Ellie."

--------------------

"So what are you reading?"

"None of your business, buzz off, Malfoy."

"I'm hurt, really—"

"--hurt. I know, I know, I know. And you know what else, Malfoy? I just don't care right now." Silence—why wouldn't Malfoy answer her? Unless…

"Oh alright! I'm reading A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's another play by Shakespeare. Now are you happy? Can you just leave me be now?"

"Whatever you want, Eliza. May I borrow it when you're done?"

"Here, I've already read it. And stop calling me that!"

"What?"

"Eliza. It's annoying and I don't exactly enjoy being called by the name of a character out of Pygmalion—"

"Pygmalion…That's the one about the flower girl who gets turned into a lady, right?"

"Something like that, yeah. I didn't really like it."

"Really? Because I think it's a perfect idea. You know I know someone who could—"

"Shut up Zabini!" Liz and Draco glared at him.

"And anyways, I'm not getting a makeover; we've already had this conversation, remember?"

"Well I remember. You were both being excessively loud and—"

"We weren't being loud, Draco. You were just hung over."

"Shut up mudblood."

"After you, ferret."

"Why can't the two of you ever just get along?"

--------------------

School was going to end soon and Dumbledore had announced that there would be a dance for the soon-to-be graduates. Liz had stopped doing anything except going to class, studying, eating, and sleeping. Actually, sleeping seemed to be last of her priorities. There was even a lottery going on in Gryffindor Tower, allowing anyone who had two galleons to bid on when they thought she would finally crack. So far the pot was at 100 galleons.

"So, Eliza, do you have a date for the ball yet?"

"Shut up Malfoy, I'm studying."

"You're right. I mean, who would ask you? So tell you what, mudblood, I'll do you a favor and take you. That's right; I'll allow you to come as my date. Even though I've got at least half the school's population that wants to go with me, you don't have to worry because I will take you. You and no one else. Do you understand what a privilege this is? Eliza, are you listening to me?"

"Uh huh, that's nice, Malfoy."

Draco sighed. "You're not even listening to me, are you?"

"No, not really."

He reached across the table and pulled the book she had been buried in away from her. "Elizabeth Elisë Rider. I am going to say this slowly and clearly so you can understand. Ok? You…are going to the Graduate's Ball…with me. Whether you like it, or not—have I made myself clear?"

"Umm…I can't."

"Why not?"

"I don't have anything to wear."

"You're joking, right? You mean you weren't even planning on going?"

"Well no, not really. I mean, I never went to these kinds of things at my other school. I figured that I would just hang around the library or maybe go and sit out on the Quidditch field and stare at the stars and relax or something. Why? Is there something wrong with that?"

It took a moment for Draco to recover, then, "No, not at all. To be perfectly honest I didn't really want to go at all either. Tell you what; I'll meet you at the bottom of the stairs leading to your dormitory. We can make a date out of it."

"Ok, that would be…nice."

--------------------

"So have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"About that Gryffindor geek Rider and Malfoy, of course!"

"You're kidding, aren't you?"

"No way—hooked up at the ball last night."

"You have got to be kidding me! What's he doing with that four-eyed, frizz-head nerd?"

"No clue."

--------------------

Well, that's all for now! Hope you guys liked it. If you're reading, please review and remember: flames roast hot dogs:)

Ciao for now!
chibiC