A/n: Ah, yes, an update! School is getting closer, and I am getting scared, but enjoy this chapter. Oh, yes, by the way, beware of Half-Blood Prince spoilers.

Thanks reviewers: Kitsune'sfoxykurama, T. Riddle, and phabandphat.

Hate's Just a Word

Chapter FIFTEEN: Changes

Life changed. It wasn't a drastic change. It was a weird change. April rolled in. Everyone was excited because the weather was becoming better. It would soon be turning nice and people would be able to spend their time outdoors. Lindsay wasn't looking forward to that. She sort of lost care for everything. Everything became quiet. It seemed like nothing mattered anymore. No one could understand what it was like. She lost one of the best things in her life, and she wasn't depressed. That feeling alone was unbearable. She didn't cry at all because she lost him. She got her life back. It was what she had wanted, right?

She became a part of the background, once more. Less and less people started to acknowledge her or even pay attention to her. She didn't have much to say anymore. When she was with Draco, whether they loved each other or hated each other, he gave her something that made her life more alive. That element was gone now and she became boring once again. She didn't have her usual poise or confidence. She didn't talk to him and he didn't talk to her. They agreed on that. It was the way it was before. They didn't acknowledge each other. Sometimes, she hoped that her teachers would pair them up together so that she'd have an excuse to talk to him. That didn't happen.

Draco didn't revert back to his usual self. He didn't spend all of his time insulting Harry and making Harry's life difficult. No, he was too preoccupied with Voldemort's mission. He probably spent his free time doing whatever he needed to. In class, he didn't pay attention. He looked kind of anxious, like he could be doing something else. He didn't even do half his homework anymore. He became much more paler and he looked kind of empty. He didn't act like his usual self-centered self. He didn't hang around with any of the Slytherins anymore. He was off by himself.

After the first week of April was through, she was starting to feel different. It was hard to describe her feelings. She missed him a lot. At night, she wouldn't take walks, just in case she ran into him. She would stay in bed, awake all night. She was used to being awake. She couldn't sleep without him. She spent the night, tossing and turning. All Lindsay wanted was the blonde boy next to her. Yet, that was not going to happen and she knew that. It needed to be that way. She needed to get over him. He was the bad guy. He was evil, yet he had another side. Lindsay knew that he had a side that could be loving and sensitive. He had a side of him that was filled up with fear. Yet there was a side of him that liked evil and liked power. He had the dark mark, after all.

After the second week of April, things were progressing more smoothly. She started to hear conversations again. Things weren't as quiet and meaningless as they once were. She decided to occupy herself with something else so she wouldn't think of Malfoy a lot. Her grades improved drastically. She had a lot more free time. She spent all that time writing better essays, and actually putting effort into her work. She had never done that before, especially when she was with Malfoy. She could see that things were going to be okay. The more time she spent away from him, the better she felt.

At the start of the third week, she realized that she had survived two weeks without Malfoy. It was a weird feeling and a weird thought, but it meant that she could do it. She could get over Draco Malfoy and life wasn't going to be pathetic and meaningless without him.

Lindsay went down to the library to start on her Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. She found a few books that seemed to be about her topic, and started to skim through them. Her paper was on dementors. She remembered them from their third year at school. They were quite creepy. The dementors joined You-Know-Who at this point. She imagined them out there, right now, sucking people's souls out

The quiet life was boring. She hadn't had a conversation with anyone in ages. Dementors were boring, as well. All her subjects were boring. She used to like Defense Against the Dark Arts, back when Lupin was their teacher. Oh, and she liked Moody, but he turned out to be an imposter or something. Hogswarts was such a messed up school. Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Sirius Black, Triwizard Tournament, Ministry of Magic interference, and six different Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. She hadn't been apart of any of these things, but they happened around her.

"Dementors are…stupid..." She muttered to herself.

"'ey, Caldwell."

She sighed and looked up from her book. Standing in front of her table was Pansy Parkinson.

"Yeah?" She asked, not even bothering to insult her.

"I hope you're happy. Draco told me that he doesn't 'appreciate my advances and would prefer it if I stopped'," Pansy said, bitterly. Lindsay stared up at Pansy.

"You're telling me this because?" Lindsay asked, confused.

"Oh, come on. We all know about you and Draco," Pansy said, putting her hands on her hips. Lindsay's heart rate rose. 'It was that Blaise…wasn't it!'

"Right…" Lindsay said, sarcastically. "So, you're saying that Draco told you that we had some kind of relationship?"

"Well, no, but it's soo obvious," Pansy said. Lindsay just stared at her. Okay, no one told her, so it would be easy to handle this.

"You have the best reasoning, Parkinson," Lindsay muttered, sarcastically.

"Come on, just admit it," Pansy said. Lindsay just gave her a look. Pansy suddenly pointed to her hand. "Why else would you have that?"

Lindsay looked down at the ring. She hadn't taken it off since Draco gave it to her. 'Shit,' She thought. She hadn't made up a story for having that yet. No one asked. They just didn't notice. Where was Blaise Zabini when she needed him?

"What?" That was all she managed to come up with to stall for time.

"The Slytherin ring. You don't even deserve to wear it. You're a blood traitor," Pansy said. 'Yes, I'm saved!'

"Slytherin ring, eh?" Lindsay said. She held out her hand. "See any 'S' there?"

Pansy glared. "No," She muttered.

"So, if you'll excuse me, I'll be working on my essay now," Lindsay said. Pansy shot a glare, but stormed off a moment later. She smiled to herself and continued with her essay. He probably told Pansy that because he was too busy with Voldemort's mission. She didn't really like that encounter though. She didn't want to be bothered by Slytherins. That reminded her of Draco.

She found it surprisingly easy to slip back into the world of dementors as opposed to spending her time thinking about him. It was strange that she no longer dwelled on him. It actually made her kind of sad, but she had an essay to finish.

By the third week, she was doing pretty alright. She made a new friend, who was in the library just as much as she was. It was Ernie Macmillan, who was in her year. He was in Hufflepuff. One day, he just asked her for help with his transfiguration essay. Transfiguration was her best subject. She helped him with his essay, and he helped her with Potions. He was so worried about school, and reminded her of Hermione. He wanted the best grades. She was trying to improve her grades, so the concern of grades was something they had in common. He actually thought that she was smart, and she always told him that he was gravely mistaken. Then he would tell her that she 'had potential.'

The fourth week came as a shock to Lindsay. Basically because she thought she wouldn't make it this far without Draco Malfoy. In fact, life had been going quite normal. She was still having a lot of trouble sleeping. Her bed was still feeling empty, but once in a while, she was able to sleep. She could go longer than ten minutes without thinking about him. She no longer stared at him in classes and wondered what he was doing, nowadays. Okay, she still did that, but not as much.

She was in the library with Ernie Macmillan who asked her to check his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. She looked over it.

"Yeah, it's fine," Lindsay said, and handed it back to him.

"Are you sure?" He asked. He looked down at it. "I'm not really sure this paragraph sounds right. I mean, I know what the effects are, but I'm not really sure I explained this well."

Lindsay rolled her eyes. He would usually go on for an hour or so about this. He was a perfectionist. "It's perfect. I swear. It's as good as Hermione's work."

"Okay," He mumbled, and put it away. He would probably go back to it later and read it over and over until he was sure it was perfect. The problem with reading it over and over is that you often find mistakes that don't exist. He looked over at her. "How did you do with your Potions essay?"

"Top grade," She replied. "But I can tell Snape hated to do that."

"He hates giving out good grades, unless it's to Slytherins…" Ernie said, frowning. "He especially favors Malfoy, who I think would otherwise do bad in potions."

She didn't want to defend Malfoy and tell Ernie that he actually was pretty good in Potions. He had his strong points. He told her how he had learned Occlumency well. He was bad at Transfiguration, though. She didn't say anything, and just nodded in agreement. Although, as of late, Draco Malfoy was not doing well in any of his classes. He was getting detentions in all of his classes for not doing half of his homework. His grades were dropping drastically and he showed no interest in any thing anymore. But he was no longer her concern any more.

"Well, I've got to go…and…do something," Ernie said, suddenly. She knew that he was going to go recheck all his essays in private.

"Alright," She said as he gathered his things. "See ya."

He left the library, and she chuckled to herself. He was such a creepy perfectionist. She left the library not too long after he did, and headed back to the Common Room.

"Hey, hand it over."

"No, I think I'll keep this for myself. I do need a good grade in that class…"

"Give it back…"

Lindsay couldn't help, but go in the directions of the sound. She was quite curious to see what was happening. She saw the figures of Ernie Macmillan and Theodore Nott. Theodore Nott had Ernie's essays in his hand and wouldn't give them back. With a sigh, Lindsay whipped out her wand.

"Pertrificus Totalus."

Nott was suddenly in an unexpected full-body lock and fell to the floor. Ernie took his essays and looked at Lindsay.

"Thanks," He said, grinning. She grinned back.

"Any opportunity to hurt Slytherins is a good one."

The fourth week was the same as the previous three weeks, and then suddenly it was the beginning of the fifth week, and it was May. It was unbelievable that she made it through a month without even talking to him. She thought about him a lot, and she stared at him, a lot. She constantly was wondering about what he was doing and how he was. He didn't look his best but she never asked him about it. It was better if they didn't talk. It helped ease the pain. She still didn't cry at all. Life did seem empty without him, but she was doing very well.

It was an ordinary day in May. Lindsay was walking back to her Common Room after class. Suddenly, she heard her name being called.

"Lindsay, wait up!"

She turned around to see Ernie Macmillan. It was obvious what he wanted. He wanted her to check all of his essays over and over again. She wasn't in the mood for doing work after a long and boring class of History of Magic. She ran into the nearest girls' bathroom. She closed the door, and let out a sigh of relief. She saw a couple of first years washing their hands. They looked at her, and then left a minute later. She was probably safe for now. She walked into the bathroom and went to wash her hands. She turned on the faucet and looked into the mirror. Suddenly, she heard something behind her. She turned and looked around. Moaning Myrtle appeared from one of the stalls, which was surprising, considering this wasn't her usual haunt.

"Jeez, you scared me," Lindsay said, looking at the ghost.

"Did you hear what happened?" She asked. Lindsay frowned and shook her head. "Draco Malfoy was nearly murdered!"

Lindsay's stomach did a turn and her heart suddenly stopped. "Wh-what?"

"It's true," Myrtle said with emphasis. Lindsay stared.

"What happened?"

"Well, he was talking to me as he usually does. He started crying and sobbing, and I was comforting him. Suddenly, Harry Potter comes out of nowhere, yells some spell, and Draco was suddenly slashed and bleeding, and he fell to the ground. He was saved, thanks to me. Some teacher heard my screaming, came in and helped him."

Lindsay stared. She doubted that Harry attacked him offensively. Well, the truth be told, Harry had been acting a little crazy lately.

"So, he's okay?" Lindsay asked. Myrtle nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't expect I'll be seeing him soon. It's a pity, it is. I'm the only one that really understands him."

Lindsay stared. Why was Draco confiding in a ghost? She wanted some answers. "How long has he been coming to see you?"

"That's none of your business. What do you care?" She snapped. Lindsay glared.

"How long?"

"Probably since fall. Why do you care?"

"I'm his—" She stopped in her sentence. She was about to say girlfriend. Her voice became more weak and feeble. She dropped it to a whisper. "I'm his friend."

Myrtle stared at her for a few moments, as if studying her. "Ho-ho!" She suddenly said, making Lindsay jump. "I know who you are! You're that disgusting girl who broke his heart!"

Lindsay stared. Had Draco actually used the word 'disgusting'? And could it really be considered 'breaking his heart' when it was a mutual decision. She felt kind of weird. He had been confiding in Moaning Myrtle, a ghost, even during their relationship. She felt discomforted that he didn't feel he could talk to her at all.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lindsay mumbled. She headed towards the door. She heard Myrtle saying negative things about her, but she ignored them. She knew what she had to do now. It was time to pay Draco Malfoy a little visit.