Chapter 9
Tangles and Trysts
x.0.x.0.x
Keira had just fallen asleep when a peal of laughter fell across her half of the room. With a groan, she opened one eye, trying desperately to ignore the sounds on the bed right next to hers.
"God, Pansy, for the love of Zeus, it's three in the morning!" Keira groaned, rolling over onto her back.
Pansy started giggling, but the subsequent male laughter following didn't belong to Draco Malfoy. Now fully awake, she saw Pansy and some other guy that Keira didn't know buried under Pansy's bright green satin sheets.
"I don't want to know," Keira pouted, rolling back over onto her side, listening to both Pansy and her mate guffaw stupidly.
The following day she was going to find an empty room, someplace far away from Pansy and her middle-of-the-night guests. She wished she could share Willow's room, but Padma Patil wasn't on very good terms with Keira, probably because she associated herself with what the rest of the girls on Willow's floor were calling the "pureblood cult".
But also in her mind was where a certain blonde-haired boy was. Her eyes flew back open. It was no use. She wasn't about to get any sleep before Potions and Practical Defense the next day with all of this racket going on in the bed next to her. Grabbing her blanket and her pillow, she shuffled unnoticed from the room and down the hallway lit by wall sconces the shape of serpents. When she reached the study room, she settled on the most comfortable emerald green leather sofa and closed her eyes, inhaling the sweet scent of leather.
Now that she was far away from the giggling couple, her thoughts turned back to Draco. Where was he if Pansy was with some unknown in her bed? Draco seemed to be pretty protective of things that were his, and Pansy was more than likely one of those things.
At dinner that night, she had caught him looking at her with the strangest expression on his face. Maybe that's because he had been throwing her angry looks all day when she'd been studying with Neville Longbottom. But she didn't see his gaze shift slowly to the redheaded girl on her right side, eating away happily and chattering with Harry about the essentials of Wiccan magic.
No, she hadn't seen his look at all. It was a soft, almost pensive look. It was arrogant, because that was who he was. His gaze darkened when he saw the look on Harry's face.
Well, well, he thought to himself with a smug smile. Harry looked as though he may potentially be smitten by Little Red.
At three in the morning, Draco was sound asleep in his own bed, without a care about Pansy or anything, really. He was, however, following a certain redheaded girl through a library and was getting quite annoyed that she was always two rows ahead of him. He was calling her name, but she never once acknowledged him.
"Willow," he muttered in his sleep, not realizing he was talking out loud, calling her name.
Willow wasn't sleeping, however. She was down in the empty study room, on the telephone, her fingers tapping anxiously on the side of the metal face. She was hoping to reach Buffy, but so far there had been no answers. Joyce Summers had given Willow the number for Buffy's dorm room, but Buffy's machine picked it up there.
"Hi, you have reached Buffy and Tara... we're not in right now..."
Angrily, Willow slammed the receiver down and rested her forehead against the cool surface of the phone booth before pulling away. She had to talk to someone, preferably her best friend. She needed Buffy at that very moment.
She turned and the floorboards creaked behind her. "Who's there?" she whispered.
"It's me," came a sleepy female voice. Willow turned and smiled with relief as she saw Hermione Granger. There had been someone in the study room after all, in a hidden chair tucked in the corner. The girl set down her enormous textbook and frowned when she saw the look on Willow's face. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I just wanted to talk to my best friend," Willow said stubbornly, falling onto the floor near Hermione's chair. "And... I'm sorry. I didn't realize anyone was still up. If I'm bothering you..."
"Oh, no," Hermione said, replacing her book inside her bag. "I'm sorry. I should have said something sooner, but you looked so worried."
"I am worried," Willow confessed. "I miss Buffy, my best friend. I mean, Keira is great and all, but she's not..." Her voice caught in her throat and she looked away before standing up. "I think I'm going to go to bed."
Before Willow could walk away, however, Hermione called after her, "He likes you, you know."
Willow froze and glanced back at Hermione over her shoulder. "Who does?" She was half-afraid Hermione was going to say Ron, but Hermione just gave her a placid, knowing smile and stood up, dragging her book bag with her.
"He'll tell you when he's ready," she said quietly, touching the other girl on the shoulder. Willow felt slightly comforted and even more apprehensive at Hermione's words.
"I... I guess," Willow said, hurrying to catch up with the other girl, who was making a swift beeline for the bank of elevators at the far end of the building. "Hermione, you don't have to keep me in suspense."
"It's not my business," Hermione replied, tapping the arrow on the keypad and waiting for the golden doors to open.
"Hermione, it's three in the morning," Willow replied, massaging her temples as she entered the elevator behind the other girl. "Just tell me if it's Harry or not, because I'm starting to get that impression."
Hermione nodded.
"Well, I'm glad we cleared that up," Willow said cheerfully as the doors opened up onto the third floor and Willow walked out. "Good night, Hermione."
"Good night, Willow," Hermione echoed as the doors closed in front of her.
Harry had come to her that evening, looking troubled over something. When she finally asked him about it, he'd said that he was having strange feelings for someone. It took Hermione just one guess to figure out who it was.
"She's just so different from the rest of us," Harry had said, shaking his head.
Yes, Hermione smiled. Willow was different. She was part of a group of students who felt like a breath of fresh air from the same old, same old. She would have made a great Gryffindor. Or even Ravenclaw. It was almost laughable to see the friendly redhead in Slytherin, but since she hung around with Keira, whose temper was always on a short leash, Hermione wasn't certain.
She unlocked her room and walked inside, seeing Aura sound asleep, hugging a small, fluffy pink bunny. So, the spitfire had a little bit of a soft side after all, Hermione reckoned, grinning as she changed into her nightgown. It made Aura seem more real somehow.
Aura had been sharing with Hermione a lot about her feelings for Harry. Hermione was starting to see Aura's feelings more different than those of someone else's, say, Willow's. Aura was attracted to his popularity, not his personality. It was something Harry had obviously noticed, not that Aura didn't try though. She had been attempting to engage Harry in conversation all throughout dinner. But he'd been completely wrapped up in a discussion of Wiccan magic with Willow, who was only too happy to talk more about her skills.
The next morning came far too soon for many of the students. Willow was one of the first people to enter the Great Hall and walk over to a table. There were maybe a round dozen other students enjoying breakfast, but there really weren't any people she recognized, unless you counted Blaise Zabini and that Leo person, which Willow certainly did not.
Yet as soon as she sat, they got up and walked over to her. Willow swallowed her cereal nervously and attempted a short smile. "Hi," she greeted rather unenthusiastically. While she wanted to make friends with all of these nice people, it was something else to make friends with those of Draco Malfoy, whom Keira had already made her nemesis.
"What's going on?" Blaise asked her cheerfully, swinging one leg over the bench and sitting down on her left side. Leo just smirked at her and sat down across from Blaise, throwing her a smug smile.
"Uh, breakfast, eating it," Willow replied, feeling even more confused. Why were these prats sitting with her? And where was Keira? They always met early before Potions with Professor Crieux to discuss them. "Um... what are you doing here?"
"Eating breakfast," Leo said in his accented voice as he bent over, tipped eggs onto his plate.
"But you were eating breakfast over there," Willow said slowly, gesturing towards the table on the far end of the room.
"I hate to break it to you, Leo, but it looks like Little Red here is a bit uncomfortable with our fellowship," Blaise said, immediately picked up on Willow's reluctance to act friendly.
"No, no, wait... I'm sorry," Willow said as both boys turned to her, smirking. "I just had a late night and all... I'm sorry for being such an antisocial, err..."
"Bitch?" Blaise suggested lightly, arching one eyebrow as he sat back down. "I wouldn't say you've gone that far, but--"
Whatever he was about to say, it was cut off by Keira's sharp, "What do you two think you're doing?"
"Isley," Leo said, sneering at the dark-haired girl who glared at both him and Blaise. "We're eating breakfast."
"With Willow?" she asked archly. Blaise turned around to smirk up at Keira and was stunned to see how angry she really looked. "Wil, I have to say, you surprised me. I never pegged you the type to hang out with these horrors from Conjuration."
"Hey, now," Blaise said, his eyes darkening in anger. "What have we ever done to you?"
"How would you like me to answer that?" Keira asked, raising her fist and taking a step towards him.
"Whoa, okay, I can see that your hormones are a little rampant, dear," Willow said, jumping to her feet and pulling Keira away from Blaise, who had tensed, his own grey eyes dark with anger. "Keira, go outside."
"You're not the keeper of me," Keira retorted, trying to pull herself out of Willow's strong grip. "Besides, I haven't eaten."
Blaise, smirking, handed Willow a napkin with a stack of toast with jam. Keira's eyes widened as she turned to Blaise, almost tempted to accept the sweet gesture. Instead, she knocked into his wrist, causing the pile to tumble into his lap, covering the boy with stick berry jam.
With a snarl of satisfaction, Keira tossed her head and walked right back out the doors.
"Let me help you with that," Willow said, turning back to Blaise, who was staring at his clothing in horror. "I'm really sorry about her."
"You shouldn't be," Blaise said, catching her wrist, causing Willow to look up in surprise. "You should just go."
"Well, well, well... what have we here?"
It was a slow, dark drawl that made Willow's skin crawl. Glancing up, she turned apologetically to see Draco Malfoy standing behind her, his arms crossed. Instead of looking delighted to see her, as he normally would have, the sight of her and Blaise so close together made him want to tear her away and throttle the former Slytherin in anger. And, dare he say it, jealousy.
"I was just leaving," Willow said, wiping her hands on her napkin. Lifting her bag, she ran off after Keira, nearly knocking into Harry, Ron and a few of the other males from their floor. Giving them an apologetic smile, she raced off.
Keira was sitting at one of the fountains, staring at the water. Willow stopped, seeing the look on Keira's face. "Keira..."
"You know I didn't mean any of that, right?" Keira asked softly. "It's just... my temper gets the best of me sometimes."
"Oh, Keir... I know," Willow sighed, walking over to her new friend. She found herself smiling. It was something Xander would have done. She put a comforting hand on Keira's shoulder. "I'm sorry... I keep forgetting how much you hate those morons."
"I thought Draco was bad," Keira said, wiping her eyes, "but Blaise and Leo? They're so much worse, Wil. Their reputations alone are scandalous. Stay away from them... they'll do nothing but harm that sweet, innocent face of yours."
Willow sighed and pulled away. "I wasn't doing anything with Blaise. They cornered me, probably on Draco's orders."
"Figures," Keira huffed.
"Well, let's get to class," Willow said in resignation. "At least we'll get there early."
By the time breakfast had ended, there were rumors abound. Harry had been ignoring them for the most part until Aura bounced over to their table, looking downright cheerful as she dropped in the seat next to Seamus. "Did you guys hear about Rosenberg and Zabini?"
Harry nearly choked on his orange juice. Willow... and Blaise Zabini?
"What happened?" Parvati Patil asked, leaning towards the other girl. Although Aura was Hermione's roommate, the two didn't get along very well. Aura was starting to see that Parvati was truly a magnificent wonder, although she was sometimes as brainless as Aura herself proved to be.
"Apparently Malfoy caught them," Aura said in supercilious delight, her eyes flickering to see the look on Harry's face. He looked so anguished by this news she felt her heart soar. She knew that he fancied the American redhead; it was so completely obvious. As much as she liked Willow and enjoyed her company, she preferred to be at Harry's side. "They were, shall we say, in a precarious position."
Harry stood up and stalked off then, leaving his breakfast and his book bag behind. For some odd reason, he had to leave Aura and her bloody rumor mill behind.
He should have known. He'd seen Willow running out of the large room just an hour before. She had looked stricken about something. If she'd been caught in a compromising position with someone else, who wouldn't want to get away?
The thing was, it disappointed him. He wanted so badly to believe that Willow was pure and wholesome. Anyone that did anything with Draco's group wasn't. It wasn't that Blaise wasn't good looking, because he was. He had dark hair that had some naturally lighter colors woven in, with blonde highlights. He wore it long, usually in a short ponytail. He had entrancing grey eyes that seemed to cause every female within a certain vicinity to melt. He had destroyed many reputations with his dark, seductive charm and for some reason, he didn't want Willow to succumb to it.
When Potions began, Harry glanced around the large hall as Professor Crieux droned on and on about sleeping potions. His eyes sought out Willow's red head from the back of the classroom. She and Keira always sat together in the lower part of the hall, towards the right-hand side. Aura usually sat with them, but oddly enough, Aura wasn't present for today's lecture.
Harry was slightly surprised to see that Neville Longbottom had joined them. He sat on the other side of Keira. He looked deeply relaxed, as though he were enjoying his first Potions lecture, ever.
After class, he moved immediately to intercept Willow, but was stunned to see that Draco got their first. He looked almost embarrassed to walk up to her and blinked when he saw Keira's cold gaze.
"See you at lunch, Wil. Enjoy Intro to Magic," she muttered as she and Neville passed them, on their way to Practical Defense.
Harry quickly stood in the shadows, wanting to hear Willow's own story about what happened there today.
"Little Red... Willow... I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions like that."
"You should be," Willow replied coldly. "I'm not some toy you can keep throwing around, Malfoy. I'm not Keira."
"No, but you're her bloody shadow. You could do so much better to have good friends away from... Potter and his gang..."
"What's wrong with Harry?" Willow asked, crossing her arms. "I have no problem with him."
"Besides the fact the boy obviously has it bad for you?" Draco drawled, seeing the look of realization in the other woman's eyes. Her gaze dropped to the floor and she began to shift uncomfortably. "I know he's heard the rumors of you and Blaise."
"You and I both know those are untrue," Willow said boldly, raising her gaze back up to meet his. "And if you try to say otherwise, I'll take a page from Keira's book."
"We'll see about that," Draco retorted, turning on his heel and walking away. Willow waited for a moment, sighed, and followed behind him.
Harry stepped from the shadows, feeling his heart clench painfully. Willow now knew that he had feelings for her... somehow, he thought, it was only going to get worse.
x.0.x.0.x
Practical Defense was nothing short of torture for those not into the spirit of exercising often. Keira was covered in sweat and was shaking far too much for her liking as she stood at the back of the queue.
They were attempted to play the practical version of a new Wizarding sport known as Sciocco. Professor Gabon was obviously a huge fan as the class separated into groups of eight and group by group, they were handed what appeared to be scooters and cricket nets.
After a full hour of the double-length class, Keira was exhausted and pulled back, sitting against the wall. She was part of a good team, she could say that. Parvati Patil and Blaise Zabini were the only two people on her team that she really knew, except the Kaz boy who was Hermione's Potions partner.
"All right! Team three, you're back up! Face team seven!"
Keira groaned and got back to her feet, collecting her miniature scooter and her net. A tiny ball the size of a child's fist was flying gracefully through the air as the players clumsily knocked into each other, spilling hard across the cold, wooden floor.
After Keira's third knockdown, she was starting to feel pissed off, especially since the seventh and final team included such people as Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, to name a few. But it was Leo Tolchiev who kept purposely knocking her over since he was playing one of the two defender positions.
Keira saw Harry lunging towards their goal from the corner of her eye and quickly moved to intercept him. Completely forgetting that there were certain rules against fouling the scoring players of the other team, she hurled into him, both of them flying back at least twenty feet before landing painfully.
"Oh! Crap!" Keira cried, landing hard on her back. Turning, she saw Harry staring incredulously at her. "Are you all right?" she asked him.
"I'm good," he said, offering her a hand and getting her back to her feet.
"Did you talk with Willow?" she asked, still breathing hard.
"Not really," Harry replied as he fetched his scooter. "But I want to."
Keira gave him a breathless smile, looking dazzling even when she was so miserable. "Good," she breathed, seizing her net from the floor. "Fantastic, even."
If any two people deserved each other, it was Willow and Harry, Keira thought. He may be the tragic hero type, but Willow was under some serious heartbreak right now. They both needed to have some fun. Naturally, it should be together.
Lunch came all too soon. Keira quickly ran back to her hall to shower and walked into lunch, looking around the crowded room. She spotted Willow immediately and smiled, walking over to the girl. Willow glanced up at her over her thick Introduction to Magic textbook.
"Hey, Keira!" she said with a friendly grin.
"Hey, Wil."
There was a burst of raucous laughter from the table on the other end of the great hall. Keira saw Aura look over her shoulder, her eyes widening.
"Don't look now, but here comes trouble," Aura muttered to Willow, who frowned, not really knowing what to expect.
It usually didn't come with an entire pack of hungry, rabid wolves, Keira thought, wincing as she noticed Draco, with his thugs and the other boys from his floor in tote. All of them were looking at Willow.
"Hey, Red, we want a word."
Willow lifted her fork to her mouth calmly, ignoring them. Next to her, Keira and Aura both bristled. Willow couldn't even look at Harry, who was sitting a ways down the table from them, although he'd looked at her immediately, as though trying to gauge her reaction.
"Get lost, Malfoy," Aura said coldly.
"Oh, you must be Red's little bodyguard," Blaise said coolly, looking the Greek girl up and down. Her eyes narrowed in indignation and she stamped one foot on the ground. "See, I just thought my girlfriend would like to walk with us."
Clank. Willow had dropped her fork on her plate. With trembling fingers, she reached down and grasped it again, ignoring the fact her face was turning pink.
"Sod off, Zabini," Keira said, standing up. Since she was barely taller than Willow, she only came up to his shoulders, but the look in her eyes was clear enough. When Aura rose, it was much more intimidating, since she easily matched Blaise's height.
"Yeah, go away," Aura replied.
Willow swallowed the last of her baked chicken, dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, and turned at last to face her new nemesis.
Down the table, Harry held his breath, watching as Willow stood up. She was slightly shorter than Keira, and quite a bit shorter than Aura. It was almost a laughable move on their part, as they watched as Willow stepped away from the bench and raised her gaze to glare at the entire lot of them.
"Oh, so you want to take a walk, right?" she asked in a light, airy tone.
Keira's jaw dropped behind her.
"That's right," said Blaise, reaching for her hand. To everyone's surprise, Willow let him take it.
"Willow, what are you doing?" Keira asked in horror from behind her.
"Going for a walk," Willow said with a cheerful wink over her shoulder back at her friend. "I'll see you in History..."
And she left with the entire lot of them. The look on Draco's face couldn't have been happier; he had finally bested Keira by getting Willow to ditch her. And Willow had to be one of Isley's only new friends, since Keira was so antisocial a lot of the time.
Once they were outside, Draco watched Willow closely. He knew she could act like a ticking time bomb. But, she acted the part of the perfect girlfriend for their walk around the gardens. She and Blaise even went off on their own.
So why do I feel so jealous? Draco wondered. They obviously looked cute together. Then again, Little Red would make anyone look good.
Even me.
"I should probably be getting back," Willow said softly. "History starts soon and I really don't want to be late for that."
"We could always find someplace more private," Blaise suggested smugly, looking around their dark corner. "And just, you know, talk."
"Oh, Blaise, do you know how long I've been waiting for you to say that?" Willow asked sweetly.
Blaise stared at her adoring face and immediately tensed with suspicion. "What are you playing at?"
Willow coyly twirled a lock of red hair around her finger. "Well, since you're playing me, I thought we could make a game of it." Seeing Draco staring at them from across the commons, she turned to Blaise suggestively. "I like these games..."
"You... you do?" Blaise asked incredulously. He'd only agreed to go along with Malfoy for a reason; to completely piss off Keira Isley, who was much more trouble than she was worth. The only problem was, using Little Red to get to her seemed to be such a cold, heartless thing to do. And, another problem, Willow was a total sweetheart, if such a person ever existed.
Willow grinned. She knew Draco had to set this up. It had his name written all over it. She had planned to play along and face the consequences later. But it was time for her big finish.
"You know I do," she murmured seductively as she took him by the lapels of his coat and pulled his face down to hers, their lips meeting passionately.
Willow heard what she was looking to find. She heard Draco's sharp gasp and the sound of footsteps running towards them. Willow broke away from Blaise before gazing up at him with a revolted look.
"Stop playing me, Zabini, or you will be very, very sorry," she snarled as Draco stopped before a pissed off Willow and a very stunned Blaise.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked Blaise angrily, but before Blaise could reply, Willow turned cold eyes to him.
"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" she asked playfully, walking towards him. "I hope you liked the show. More to come," she said with a wink. "So just wait for more."
Clapping him on the shoulder, she walked off, her red hair blowing freely in the wind.
She met Keira in front of their classroom. Keira's jaw was set and she looked angry. "What the hell was that all about?" she asked as Willow joined her.
"Oh, you know Malfoy! It was hit plot to peg you down," Willow said, snorting as she saw Malfoy and his croonies all gathering at the back of the queue. "But I told him that if he didn't stop playing me... he was going to get burned."
"You saw through Zabini's scheme?"
"Duh," Willow said, rolling her eyes. "I may be naive, Keira, but I'm not stupid."
"Obviously you are," Keira said shortly as the class began filing into the lecture hall. "Because you already hurt someone."
"I... oh..." Willow said, her eyes glancing up at the seats above them. Her eyes met Harry, who looked away with great difficulty. "Harry..."
Willow hadn't meant to hurt Harry in any way. She had just been hoping to show Draco up. Now that she thought of it, it had been a very Cordelia-like thing to do, and she regretted it. Pulling out her notebook, she stared at the front of the class to listen to their Professor speak.
Above her, Harry Potter felt as though his heart was hovering in the balls of his feet, squashing along with every step. Seeing Willow walking off with Blaise Zabini had been one thing, but that look Draco had given her, one of open admiration, had been something in a whole new park.
Draco and Harry had always been enemies, before and after the fall of the Dark Lord. It seemed as though Draco was still trying to best Harry, including going after the one girl in this whole sodding school Harry seemed to fancy.
He had just thought it to himself; he fancied Willow. He liked the damn girl and she was off running around with Blaise Zabini as though nothing could stop her.
Aura had been dripping with satisfaction, he realized with revulsion. As much as he thought he'd liked Aura in the beginning, she was as good as Parvati Patil when it came to gossip, but when it came to spite, she was second only to Pansy Parkinson.
He knew he had to talk to Willow, to tell her what he was feeling. He reckoned she already knew, since he'd spilled his heart to Keira, who would have turned around and told Willow. The two girls were practically attached to the hip, the closest friendship between two women he'd seen since Parvati and Lavender.
In the back row of seats, Draco Malfoy glared at the Professor babbling in broken Russian below. He had never been so humiliated in his life. He really liked Willow, really liked her, and he had thrown it all away on a stupid plot of his to make Keira look bad. The kiss had been the breaking point, Draco realized sadly. When he'd seen Blaise and Willow together, it had been a horrible punch to the gut. There was a passion there, he'd seen.
Neither one of them was really into the other, he knew. Willow probably had a thing for Potter, since he seemed to fancy her. As for Blaise, he was probably figuring out which woman to bed next. And since he'd been staring at a group of French-Canadians at the other end of the row with suggestive eyes, Draco didn't doubt it.
But Blaise wasn't looking at those girls, exactly. He was thinking about that kiss. It had been passionate, very passionate. It had been one of the best impromptu kisses he had ever had.
He was starting to think second thoughts about Little Red, followed closely by third thoughts and fourth. He couldn't help it. There was more to the little redhead that met the eye. Draco sure as hell couldn't see it. He kept giving Willow those open-ended come-hither looks that Willow obviously couldn't see.
By the time Blaise and Draco went down to dinner, everyone was talking about what had happened that morning. Blaise was met by Pansy's triumphant face as she waved a bit of newspaper in front of them.
"Pansy, what is this?" Draco asked patiently.
"It's the new column!" Pansy shrieked, giggling. "And look what we got on our front page?"
Blaise felt his heart drop into his shoes. Draco hissed like a venomous serpent, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
Across the room, Willow was shaking as she stared at the moving image of herself kissing Blaise again... and again... and again...
"Oh, my God," she said, jumping up. Keira turned to her friend in alarm.
"Wil?" she asked.
"That bastard," Willow said angrily, turning around to face Draco and Blaise, who were standing with the boy named Leo, Pansy and a few others. "What have you done?" she demanded, rushing over to them.
"Like the picture, Little Red?" Pansy asked innocently. "That should take Irish high-and-mighty over there down a notch or two..."
Keira had heard her roommate and jumped to her feet. Aura did the same, not really knowing why, since she really wasn't in the mood to fight Malfoy at all.
"What have I done to you?" Willow asked angrily.
"You were convenient revenge," Pansy said, her heavily-made up eyes drifting lazily over to where Harry was sitting with the rest of his friends. He'd gone white and looked as though he were on his deathbed. "It's a very naughty thing you've done, Willow. Just look at his face... how crushed does he look knowing the one girl who had an original thought in her head has consorted with the enemy?"
As Pansy wrapped a slim, pale arm over her shoulder, Willow turned, shaking, to face Harry. His eyes met hers. They were full of loathing.
Willow found she couldn't speak. She could barely even move.
"Get the hell away from her!"
It was Keira, who had finally entered the fray. She had her hands on her hips and looked positively venomous. "We all know you've had it in for Willow ever since your supposed lover here starting making googly eyes at her."
Pansy's face twisted into a righteous snarl. "Oh, you can be Miss High-and-Mighty all you want, Isley, but that doesn't ignore the fact you practically sent Little Red here into our willing arms."
"Don't you dare pull this stuff with Willow, she never did anything to you!" Keira shouted.
The Great Hall was quiet now, watching as the three women faced off. Even Draco looked put out, but it was nothing compared to how Harry felt. He had turned the newspaper over, not wanting to see the damning embrace every single time his eyes fell on it...
"The only thing Willow has going for her is us," Pansy said with a smooth smile. "Let's see how fast she can get away with being a Blaise Zabini castoff."
"You bitch," Keira muttered, throwing herself at Pansy.
Both women fell to the floor as Keira rolled over the top of the taller girl and leapt to her feet.
Willow still hadn't been able to move.
Blaise hadn't felt sorry for many people before now. But the look on Willow's face was bad enough. He felt his heart climb into his throat as Willow stood there, watching without much conviction, as Keira and Pansy, once happy roommates, clawed at each other, as though attempting to rip one another's eyes out.
"Really, that's enough!"
It was Percy Weasley, the one Professor left in the Hall. He looked beside himself as he pulled out his wand and muttered, "Impedimenta"
Both women were blasted off their feet. Keira jumped back to a standing position, feeling as though she could row all night with a pathetic simpering fool like Parkinson.
That was until she saw the look on Willow's face. It was beyond devastation. It was beyond being crushed. It was hurt. Keira's dark gaze raised to meet Draco's. "Look at what you've done," she snapped bitterly. "Did you ever think she'd fall for you when you'd hurt her so easily? You just threw it all away."
Draco blinked as he turned his gaze to look at Willow, but she hadn't moved in the past few moments. She kept staring out towards the door, looking as though she were about to shatter.
Blaise stood next to him, the newspaper falling onto the floor, the picture facing upwards. For a moment, no one said anything until Percy returned, looking furious.
"You're on restriction, Miss Parkinson, Miss Isley, starting now. You can forget about your Practical lesson tonight, Isley. Get to your room. Now."
Seeing as though they really had no choice, Pansy and Keira, throwing each other looks of deepest loathing, exited.
Willow was still standing, feeling so very alone now that Keira had left. It was the mark on how new she really was to this world.
It wasn't until Aura stood up, looking impassive as she walked to Willow's side.
"I think it's high time you left, Malfoy," she said coldly.
"Wait," Willow said under her breath. Aura looked at her friend in surprise. Willow's head had snapped back up, as though she were trying to do something she wasn't so sure she should be doing. Moving forward, she met Draco's gaze.
"This is what you wanted, isn't it?" she asked him in a hollow, dead voice. Before Draco could react or even put his arms up to protect himself, she raised her hand and slapped him very hard across the face.
Draco was starting to get annoyed. First Isley, and now Little Red. But he didn't dare say anything in front of the other girl now, who gave him a stormy look before pulling away and walking out of the Great Hall alone.
Harry wanted desperately to stand up and go after her, but he knew that it was going above and beyond anything he had ever faced. No matter how much he liked her, Draco had played her for an idiot. Willow had been hurt badly, and getting on Keira's bad side, especially when it concerned Willow, was probably a very stupid thing to do.
"Go after her," Ron muttered, his elbow digging into Harry's ribs.
"I... I can't," Harry replied, looking at the door. "She's already gone."
Willow stopped by the fountain, feeling as though she wanted the Earth to open up. She wanted to sink through it so she could be back home in Sunnydale again.
"I want to go home," she whispered as she sat on the fountain, feeling as though everything had gone so suddenly wrong.
"Willow?"
She glanced up and saw Blaise Zabini standing there, looking almost nervous to come closer. She straightened and gave him an icy look.
"What are you doing here, Zabini?" she snapped.
"I wanted to apologize," Blaise replied, taking a few steps closer. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that."
"It wasn't your fault," she said, giving him a tense look. "It was all Malfoy."
"I went along with it," Blaise said angrily, dropping onto the fountain next to her. "It was stupid of me."
"And I was the one that kissed you, so you have no blame," Willow said sadly.
"He didn't want to hurt you," Blaise said after a few moments of awkward silence. "He really did like you, you know."
"I'm just the daffy American everyone thinks they can throw around and play with like a toy," Willow said angrily, unaware that tears kept slipping down her cheeks. "Damn it..."
Blaise edged closer to her, putting a shaking hand on her shoulder to comfort her as she cried. "Come on, Willow. You're like the strongest person I've met. I saw what you did at the midnight duel. You've got power no one here can begin to understand because we use wands. You're stronger than this. Draco just wanted to make Keira look like an idiot... but he hurt the one person he actually cares about in this place."
"Right," Willow said angrily. "Because I'm so good-natured and hearty, right? He's never seen me pissed off before. If he's thinks Potter is his worst enemy, he's got another thing coming."
Her tone of voice scared Blaise. His hand fell down her back, coming to rest on her waist. It was such a tender scene that Blaise was astonished by his own daring. He would have laughed if it wouldn't piss her off so badly. He had never been this soft nor this sensitive to a woman before. It scared him.
Neither one of them noticed Harry Potter and his gang of goody-goody's walking out of the hall towards their Practical Potions class, Neville moaning that his Potions partner had been put on Restriction.
Harry glanced up when he saw that Willow was sitting by the fountains. For some odd reason, he wanted to go to her. He stopped dead when he saw that she wasn't alone but was in the company of none other than Blaise Zabini.
"What does he want with her?" Harry asked Ron, who'd come up beside him.
"Beats me, mate. We've got to go if we're going to make it on time."
"Yeah..."
Willow was fifteen minutes late for Practical Potions. Professor Crieux didn't say anything other than give Willow a small smile. He, as everyone else did, pitied the daft American girl.
But she wasn't about to let her humiliation show her true colors. She felt rage like nothing she had ever felt before.
She joined Ron and Neville, who'd come over to work with them. It was Ron who spoke first however.
"How could you do that to him?"
"To who?" Willow asked coldly as she measured a teaspoon of yak's blood before adding it to their cauldron.
"Harry," Neville said earnestly. "He really liked you."
It had been said in the past tense, Willow thought miserably, glancing up at the table two across from her own. Harry was working with Aura, who was laughing and openly flirting with him. It was this sight than any other, perhaps, that made Willow feel even worse.
"I really like him, too," Willow said quietly, turning back to their Potion.
"Then what is the deal between you and Zabini?" Ron snapped.
"It was just Draco's sick game," Willow said sadly as she took a beaker of bile from Neville and added it to the Potion, stepping back to the let the other boy stir it.
"I meant just a few minutes ago," Ron said hastily. It was then that he noticed Willow's face. She had been crying...
"He apologized for being such a jerk," Willow replied. "I can't really blame him, you know. It was my own stupid fault for wanting to hurt Draco before he could get back at Keira."
"You were protecting her," Neville said earnestly at her elbow. "There's nothing wrong with that."
"Keira's my closest friend here if you haven't noticed," Willow replied as she watched Ron carefully shred roots. "This has to simmer now for nine minutes, right?"
"Yeah," Ron said, checking their Potions manual. "Right."
Willow sat down on the stool. "I'm sorry Ron, for doing whatever I did to make you angry."
"Hey," said Ron, the hard look on his face softening, "I was protecting my best friend, too."
"It's something we're both guilty of," Willow said with a shy smile. "The only problem is, it's probably ruined the chance I had with Harry."
"No," Neville said suddenly. "It really hasn't."
Willow glanced at him in confusion just as a warm hand touched her shoulder. She found herself responding to the touch. It felt like...
"Harry, mate, what brings you to table four?" Ron asked in a happy voice as he prodded the flames with the tip of his wand.
"I was hoping I could talk to Willow... alone."
Across the room, Aura was sending Willow a scathing glare as both Harry and the other girl walked outside into the cool night air.
Willow hugged herself as the cool air hit her face, drying the confused tears left behind.
"You want to tell me the truth about what happened in there?" Harry asked softly from behind her.
Willow turned to face him. "I was trying to protect Keira. I am so sick of Malfoy's games and this time he chose to hurt me. He used Blaise to get at me and I am not going to let that one go."
"You have to, Willow," Harry said, taking a step towards her. "You don't know Draco like I do. He'll destroy you."
"I think my life here has been destroyed already, don't you think?"
"Why, because of one false rumor and a picture?" he asked her as she turned away. He felt like he was losing her and he didn't want it to happen. He really liked her and this reaction of hers was scaring him. "Willow, I like you a lot. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
"I just spent the last eighteen years of my life on a Hellmouth," Willow said, not look at him. "I think I can manage an eighteen-year-old male just fine, thanks." She paused a moment. Had he just said what she think she heard?
She turned around. He had; his smile was enough to make her own heart flutter. "Oh, Harry... I really like you now that I'm getting to know you... but... I can't do this, not now... not so soon after..." She bit her lip and pulled away. "If you knew half as much of what I've been through..."
"I'd like you even more," Harry said, walking up behind her. He slowly turned her to face him. "Oh, Willow... no wonder Keira adores you. You have a heart and you're not afraid to use it."
"I am right now," she confessed. Without warning, she stepped into his arms and for a moment, they held onto each other.
There was the sound of a clearing throat from the doorway; it was Ron. "Sorry to break up the happy moment, but the potion is just about ready, Wil."
"I'm coming," she said, stepping out of Harry's embrace. As soon as Ron left, she turned to Harry with an endearing smile. "Thank you, Harry... for being my friend."
"Maybe someday..." he said, tucking a strand of her bright hair behind one ear.
"I'll get back to you on that one," she said with a grin as they both retreated back inside the warmth of the tower laboratory.
x.0.x.0.x
Chapter 10... Keira's reaction...
I have to make a few comments to the reviewers.
Irina -- Welcome back! I'm glad you're liking this. I'm surprised I even like it. I was ready to abandon it, but I haven't. Not yet, anyway. To answer your questions, what sort of magic does Willow have? Wiccan. She has a wand, but her skills are more pronounced with her Wiccan studies. It'll be picked up a bit when she starts more in depth studying. Is Willow going to be on the Voldemort storyline? Not really, but there are supporters of Voldemort that still exist. They'll be brought into the story, which will take it away from the soap opera track it's still on. And, yeah, this chapter explored her BtVS roots. It'll be explored further, with visitations and everything. Buffy and Xander were in this chapter... others will come later! Lastly, Willow does pick up on evil. It comes from living on a hellmouth for the first eighteen years of her life. You'll see what I mean!
Lady Aura -- Thank you :) I'm glad this story helped raise your spirits. The love stories are only tangled up now. Oh, the evil fun I could have with this...
Yeah, so this hasn't been updated since the middle of August. I figure if I can do at least TWO a month, that's pretty damn good. But, I'll be frank and say one more chapter before my break. If I write fast enough, it may even be a multiple-update.
I really love the direction this chapter nudged the story in. Hopefully it won't be TOO sappy, but... you never know. I gotta bring in some plot twists and evil morons like the Death Eaters. It just adds mystery to the story. Oh, and a few other BtVS-Season 4 surprises. I planned this a long time ago... so, sticking with it.
I hope you enjoy... and if you'd like to leave a review, I won't twist your arm. :)