Princess-Turnip: - in this chapter we meet Verona's older brother, Maxim Aiwa, who is currently in his 7th year at Hogwarts. This takes place after the Yule ball, Draco sees them together and thinks she's going out with Maxim. This is the violent chapter; close your eyes kiddies! lol.

"Maxim! Where did I put my scarf?" Verona's voice was slightly muffled from the chest she had her head in.

"if you look around your neck maybe you'll see it" Verona blushed,

"I knew that, I was just testing to see if you knew where it was!" Maxim raised an eyebrow at her and then looked at his watch, "don't you have defence against the dark arts now?" Verona peered over at his watch,

"Merlin's beard! I'm 10 minutes late already; McGonagall's going to have my hide! I'll see you later." She raced out the portrait hole and down the corridor; she didn't get far though. As she neared the classroom a hand stretched out and grabbed the front of her robes, pulling her behind a beautiful tapestry of a sunset. Verona found herself facing Draco,

"hi Draco, what's wrong?" Draco sneered at her.

"Who's this guy you've being seeing a lot of lately?" Verona laughed,

"He's my brother! I thought you knew that?" Draco's eyes narrowed,

"no he's not, you've been cheating on me haven't you?" Verona's smile slid off of her face,

"Maxim, my brother, has just returned from an exchange trip at Durmstrang, I've been talking to him a lot lately because I haven't seen him for almost a year. Don't worry Draco, I would never dream of cheating on you." She slid her hand down his arm. Draco shook his head,

"you're lying! You don't love me you love him!" he yelled and wrenched her hand off of his arm. Verona lost her cool with him; "I am not cheating on you for Christ sake! Get it into your fat head" Draco slapped her across the cheek,

"don't lie to me" he whispered loudly and stalked off, his robes billowing everywhere. Verona slid her back down the wall as a tear made its way across her cheek; she clasped her hand to her cheek where it stung from the slap and sobbed loudly. The person walking past stopped and flung the tapestry back. It was the same boy Verona remembered seeing on her first day at Hogwarts. He squatted next to her;

"are you alright?" she shook her head and drew her knees up to her chest.

"Come on, I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey, she'll fix that up for you" he held out his hand and she took it.

In the hospital wing Professor Flitwick was trying to get Verona to tell him who hit her. She refused to tell him anything.

"I just want you to know that we take abuse very seriously and punishments are severe' he squeaked as he closed the door "if you want to talk about it I'll be in my office" she nodded and lay down on the bed, enjoying the quiet environment of the wing. Maxim came through the double doors in anger,

"who did it Verona? You have to tell me so I can ring their slimy little neck!" Verona shook her head,

"I can't, they'll get in trouble and then they'll probably try and kill me" Maxim sat down on the edge of the bed and took her hand in his,

"I wont tell anyone, I promise" Verona sat up and Maxim hugged her tightly,

"it was Draco, Maxim. It was Draco who did it"

There we are, another chapter for the day! Hoorah for 8 weeks holiday over here in oz! See you l8r!

Princess-Turnip xxx