Hey everybody. Let's get this show on the road!

Shall we take a look?

For the next few weeks, Draco and Raiko met at their table in the Library after dinner every night. When they were not in the library, Draco ignored her and Raiko watched him. On Saturdays they met in a different space entirely. Those nights they met before dinner. Raiko had learnt of Hermione and the Golden Boy's excursions to the kitchens. One night she had followed them there and saw how to open the tapestry. Now she used it to have dinner with Draco on the roof of one of Hogwart's wings. They switched which rooftops they were using so they could see a different part of the grounds every week.

Draco was doing better in school than he had for the last two years, though he would never admit it to anyone. He was also a lot happier. The Golden Trio and friends noticed Draco's odd behavior. He did not start fights as often, but when he did, his words held much more power in them. The Slytherin gang noticed that he was eating a little more healthily, rather than skipping his meals. He also looked out windows more often and spent much less time in the dungeons.

Unfortunately for Draco, Pansy Parkinson really noticed. She had not forgotten the first breakfast when he had kissed her. She would never forget, and she wanted it again. Pansy would not stop until she had it again. Unfortunately for her, Draco had impeccable hearing and he always watched for stalkers. Draco knew more ways to escape from a potential corner than Houdini could ever hope to imagine. That was one of the reasons she loved him so much.

Draco spent almost no time talking to Raiko while he was with her. The only thing that broke the silence was the clock tower chiming, the scratch of quills on parchment, and the occasional shuffling of papers or flipping of pages. Life was more peaceful in those three weeks than any other in Draco's life even with the thought of NEWTS slowly coming into view.

Not everyone thought Draco's odd behavior was bad. Blaise Zabini thought it was great. Draco actually listened to him when he talked about classes or Quidditch or the upcoming Hogsmeade visit-

"What?" asked Draco incredulously.

"I said that the next Hogsmeade visit is next Wednesday and I was thinking of going. Don't tell me you missed all the fliers." Zabini looked at him like Draco had just told him he was joining the Gryffindor Quidditch team

"No, of course not." Draco smirked, "I just did not connect what you said to what my brain knew. Rook to E4." What are you talking about? I haven't noticed and damn fliers.

Blaise looked down at the chessboard and squinted, not sure what trick Draco was pulling. He could easily take the rook with his queen, so was that what Draco wanted? Blaise looked at the board and tried to find any possible way for Draco to take his queen in the next three turns. It seemed highly unlikely. Blaise looked at Draco before saying "Queen to E4."

Draco looked down at the board as his rook flew to pieces from the queen's sword. "Damn." Draco rested his head in his hands before running them through his hair. "Okay Blaise, you win. I'm not thinking straight anymore." Draco got up from his chair and started towards the boy's dormitory.

"Sure, Draco. As long as you don't ask me to come up with you," replied Blaise.

Draco groaned. "Not that shit again, Blaise."

"Dreamless sleep, Draco," Blaise chortled.

Draco's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Sometimes it's better when you don't dream at all, don't you think?" Blaise got up from the table they had been sitting at and gave Draco's arm a light punch. He stretched and started down the stairs.

Draco gazed at the dying embers and whispered, "Yeah."

Most of the Slytherin kids had problems. Waking up in a cold sweat was nothing that had not been experienced by any of the House. Waking up with someone thrashing in bed was nothing new. Neither was hearing a scream in the middle of the night. Midnight wake ups were experienced by everyone was subjected to them.

"More than we know."

With that, Draco went to his bed, exhausted, yet something kept him up the entire night. Something considered weak by all Death Eaters.

Fear.

-

Raiko woke up the next morning, Friday, to see Luna peering down at her and sunlight streaming down on her face.

"You missed breakfast. It is already 8:45."

Raiko jumped out of bed and narrowly missed hitting Luna's head. She rummaged through the chest at the bottom of her bed and took out a clean robe. She shook it out, threw it on the bed and then started looking for her brush. When she could not find it, she looked up at Luna who was handing it to her. She grabbed it and quickly brushed her hair. Then she put her hair back into a ponytail and threw her pillow off her bed. She slipped into the clothes that were under it and then put on her robe. She grabbed her shoes from under her bed and did not bother to lace them. Then she grabbed her bag that was ready to go and flew down the dormitory stairs.

She bumped into Robert Thayer and fell to the floor. Robert gave her a hand and helped her up. She brushed off her robe free of nonexistent dust and then heard Robert chuckling.

"What?" she asked.

"Your haha robe is heeheeha backwards," he managed to choke out before succumbing to a fit of laughter. This boy seriously needed to get out more if he thought it was that funny.

Raiko looked down at her self and slipped her arms inside her robe. Then she pulled her head through and turned it around. She pulled her head through once more and looked down at herself. Much better. Luna came down the stairs with something in her hands.

"You forgot your glasses."

Raiko grinned sheepishly. "Thanks guys. I'd loose my head if it weren't attached and my sanity if you guys didn't keep me together." She but her hand behind her head, a nervous habit she had always had.

Luna grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door. "C'mon. I don't want to be late to double potions with the Gryffindor's today."

"Oh yeah. That would be just asking for trouble."

The girls went to a tapestry of the African savanna and lifted it up. A spiral staircase going all the way to the first floor lay behind it. Raiko climbed onto the banister and started sliding down. She heard Luna above her. When they got to the bottom, the girls stood for a moment to catch their breaths. Reina whispered "Alohomora." Into a keyhole and then opened the door slightly. The coast was clear. The girls left and went down the stairs to the dungeons, not bothering to lock the self-locking door before they went to class.

When they went into class, Luna and Raiko took a seat by Ginny and Colin Creevey. Raiko put her cauldron that she shared with Luna on the table and then started setting up.

At nine-fifteen, Snape walked into the classroom. "Please turn to page 493 in your book. Today you will be making an engorging potion. You have until a half-hour before the end of class. Begin."

Raiko and Ginny went to the student cupboard to gather ingredients while Colin and Luna looked at the directions. For the rest of the class period, the only sounds made were the quiet murmuring of students and the chopping of ingredients for the potion. The engorging potion normally took 70 minutes to make. In a double period, however, rather than the normal 80 minute period, it was a three hour period. Raiko wondered what the extra 80 minutes were for.

When Luna and Raiko's potion had gotten a turquoise color at seventy-two minutes, Raiko scooped up some of the liquid into a small vial with her and Luna's name on it. She put a cork on it and brought it to Snape's desk. The vial and cork would have been super sized, but Snape had been smart and spelled everything. Snape uncorked the vial, stuck an eyedropper, also magicked, into the mouth and took some of the potion. He dropped some of the liquid onto an orange and watched as it inflated to the size of a beach ball.

"Very good, Miss Hattori, Miss Lovegood. I would say that this is E level work. Your potion seems to be extremely potent." He started pulling the peel off of the orange, but, as it was now three centimeters thick, he had to use a small dagger to start the peel. Raiko wondered what he had a dagger for, and from.

Raiko looked at the orange meat hungrily. So hungry. Need food. Snape looked at her through some of his greasy black bangs that had fallen over his face when he bent over to peel the orange. "Should I offer you a piece of your work, Miss Hattori?"

"Yes, sir. I'd like that very much."

Snape peeled back the peel so that half of the orange was showing. He pulled apart the two halves and then unstuck (you know what it's like to peel an orange) one of the sections. "Acio Napkin," said Snape as he made a flick with his wand. He then handed the piece of orange to Raiko in the napkin.

"Thank you, Professor," said Raiko with much more gratitude than she had meant to put in.

Snape looked at her for a moment with a piercing look/glare and drawled, "From you, I prefer sensei."

Raiko smiled. Like Draco, Snape was just misunderstood, even though she hardly knew either of them. Raiko made a slight bow (just a nod of her head) and repeated, "Thank you, sensei."

Snape's lips were tugged up in the Slytherin smirk that all of the house could perform. "You and Miss Lovegood have free time for the next seventy-eight minutes. I advise you to study chapters three and four in your book. And you don't have to worry about engorging yourself the-"

"Orange has stopped growing, and therefore the potion has used itself up," she interrupted him.

"Yes. You may return to your seat now."

"Very good, Snape-sensei." With that, Raiko turned to go down the aisle of seats and went to her seat. When she sat, she told Luna what they were supposed to do and then handed her part of the orange. They finished the orange quickly and used a small cleaning spell before they started studying. Luna and Raiko, though not the most popular (or understood) students in the school, their year, or even with their peers, were very talented, and they took school seriously. That is why, though Luna had the current edition of the Quibbler in her bag and Raiko had a new book from her parents, they focused on Potions. OWL year was certainly no time for frivolous use of free class time.

Raiko, immersed as she was in Potions, vaguely heard Ginny get up to give her potion to Snape. She watched as the apple, in this case, expanded to almost the same size as her orange, and heard Ginny receive an Acceptable grade for her and Colin. It seemed that any class was better than Gryffindor, but no class was better than Slytherin when it came to Snape. Raiko thought about the short conversation that she had with Snape earlier and wondered whether or not he was just biased or also bipolar. As Ginny came back to her seat fuming and with red ears, Raiko mouthed, "I'm sorry."

Ginny shrugged her shoulders and started studying. Seventy minutes into the period. Ginny could try for a better grade. As Raiko looked back at her book she knew that Snape would never give a Gryffindor a better grade than Acceptable unless he had to, like with Hermione. The teachers would be enraged to see Snape be that biased. It hurt to think that, had she been in Gryffindor, home of Harry & Co., Snape would never have given her an E grade. As Raiko walked to the Great Hall with Ginny and Luna, her stomach felt worse than before she had eaten the orange.

Not all of it was hunger.

Draco sat down to lunch the day after he had been told about Hogsmeade. He was not happy that something had crept up on him like that, especially something so important. In fact, he was really angry right now, but it wasn't because Blaise had told him about Hogsmeade rather than knowing about it beforehand. It was something he couldn't put his finger on.

Not knowing what had pissed him off annoyed him even more than just being annoyed. What was he mad about?

It was not Crabbe and Goyle. They had given him some space to the point of not knowing where he was anymore.

Pansy Parkinson continued to follow him, but he was confident he could always lose her. She was not a problem, she was just an annoyance.

Potter and the Golden sidekicks were as annoying as normal. No mysterious plots had been discovered as yet, so they had not started to creep around the school. It was not them either.

Draco ran a list of names through his head from Slytherin and Gryffindor. The other houses never did anything for or against him; it would not be from them. He ran through the list again and came up short of answers.

He slammed his fist on the hardwood table and startled the occupants of nearby chairs. They quickly looked away. 'Yeah, that's right. Don't be caught looking at the son of Lucius Malfoy in an unpleasant manner. Daddy might come and get you in the night.'

Draco looked back to his plate and picked up a sandwich. Maybe he could talk to Raiko about it. His eyes flew to where Raiko- Hattori- was sitting next to the Quibbler girl. What was she doing with trash like that? That pureblooded witch was worse than the Weasleys. Then again, she hung out with Weaselette, so maybe they were just as bad. That made it a sure fact that he could not talk to her. Everything he told her would go straight to the Golden trio. They probably knew about every single time that he had asked a question from her in their study sessions. It was probably constantly laughed about in their common room.

Draco took a large bite from his sandwich and washed it down with a swig of pumpkin juice. He took another large bite from his sandwich and looked back at Hattori. This time her gaze was not towards him, but to the teacher's table. He followed her gaze and saw Snape. He looked back at Hattori and saw her frowning. This made him frown as well. Whenever Raiko- Damn it, he should not be so casual with her name; Hattori- had looked at Draco, or off into space, she had no expression on her face. It was absolutely neutral. He wondered what Snape had done. 'Probably just gave her a bad grade in class,' he thought. Hah! Served her right.

Draco finished his food and took a last swish of his pumpkin juice. "… so I think that the day after Halloween we should start training for-"

Draco gave Blaise a withering glare that said, 'Say another word and I'll Avada Kedavra you before you finish it.' Blaise took the hint and closed his mouth.

"I'm going on a walk and no, Parkinson, I do not need an escort."

Pansy closed her mouth in much the same manner as Blaise had done only a second before. The only difference was that, where Blaise had looked down at his plate and continued to eat, Pansy decided to pout.

Draco made sure to slam the door as hard as he could when he went out. It did not help to blow off any of his steam.

-

Raiko heard the door shut and was startled out of her reverie. For some reason her face really seemed to hurt. She looked at Luna and growled. Luna looked up, smiled, frowned and told her, "Is something wrong? You are scowling."

Raiko squeaked. "Hurry tell me a joke!"

"A joke? I don't-"

"Just do it!" Raiko exclaimed. Her face was stuck! Gah! If she did not laugh soon, she might…

"Okay, okay. Er… Draco, Ron and Harry were trying to see who was the strongest by swimming across the entire lake. Ron swam a quarter of the way there, gave up, and swam back. Harry swam a third of the way there, gave up, and swam back. Draco swam half of the way there, gave up and swam back. They made a truce and decided that all three boys were weak."

Raiko tried to stop her laughter at first, but she could not stop it. Finally it burst out in a wave and she could not stop. Some of the nearby Ravenclaw students chuckled on the account of poor Draco. (By the way, this is just a variation on a blonde joke. I thought it went well since all three had different hair colors.) Raiko wiped tears out of her eyes and then remembered Draco leaving, and her laughing at the joke. She didn't feel like laughing anymore.

"Listen, Luna. I'm gonna go to the house before I go to my next class. I need to pick up some supplies."

Luna nodded and watched as her friend left. What supplies did you need for Care of Magical Creatures with Hagrid?

Raiko left the hall and looked around for Draco. She went to the Quidditch pitch and found her locker. Even though she did not play on a team, she requested that she keep her broom in the lockers. She put her bag inside her locker and pulled out her broom. She had made it herself, with a little bit of help from her parents. She had modeled the handle on the Nimbus 2000. It was made of a ten-foot long piece of oak, which she had painted with dark lacquer to keep it shining and weatherproof. The hardest part had been the actual broom, but eventually she had gathered enough twigs for the bottom part. It was almost as fast as a Firebolt, but with the cushion she had put on it- it was an old double cushion for a bike- it was much more comfortable. She walked onto the field, sung her leg over her broom, and took off.

Once she was a good height in the air, Raiko swung her left leg back over the broomstick and sat sidesaddle. As long as she did not let her broom tip, she could sit like this for hours. She looked at her watch- it was quite beautiful with its parchment colored face and finely crafted hands- and checked the time. She had almost an hour before class started.

It was time to have some fun.

She sat on her broom in the gentlemanly way and pointed her broom up towards the sky. Higher and higher she rose making her ears pop time and again. Finally, the lake was the size of her hand, and Hogwarts the size of her fingers. She dismounted her broom while still holding onto it like a gymnast about to swing around the bar.

And then she dropped it.

As she fell, she spread her arms and legs to go more slowly. Air rushed past her face as she fell towards the earth. Finally, she pulled her wand from her pocket. She was about to say "Acio broom,"when she felt something catch her. They plummeted forward for ten more meters when they stopped and flew straight and up a little. She opened her eyes- she had not remembered closing them on impact- and looked to see that they- who or what ever had caught her- were still in the air on a broom, a very nice broom. A couple hundred meters from the ground, she thought, if she was any judge. The broom rider- flew them to a roof and set down.

Even before they dismounted, Raiko called out, "Acio broom." She said it just in time, for her broom had been about to crash to the ground. She sighed in relief as her broom came towards her when she heard a familiar voice, in an unfamiliar tone.

"What the bloody Hell were you doing?" Her saver turned her around with wind tossed hair and fire in his green eyes.

"I-I," she stuttered.

Draco shook her by her shoulders and screamed in her face. "Are you insane? Do you hate me being at your table so much, you are committing suicide?"

Raiko tried to talk but nothing would come out of her mouth. All she could do was stand there and gape.

"Answer me!" he cried.

Raiko turned around and started walking towards the other side of the roof. She needed to collect her thoughts because, right now, she could not see straight.

"Oh no you don't!" Draco exclaimed as he grabbed her arm. She was taking another step and the tug caused her to fall and drop her broom onto the roof. She slid to the edge and over, one hand held Draco's as he tried to pull her back up and the other held the rain gutter's edge.

"Draco, listen to me. Hand me my broom." Raiko spoke softly and slowly trying not to aggravate Draco any further.

"No way," he told her.

"Draco, gosh darn it, give me my broom now!"

Draco put her hand down on the gutter and scurried to his broom. He mounted and kicked off from the roof. Then he went down and up under Raiko to go back onto the roof. When Raiko sung her leg over this time, she crawled on all fours a little ways away from Draco and towards her broom. Then she put her head in between her knees and her hands over her mouth and nose. Her body started shuddering with the deep breaths she was taking. Draco ran towards her and put his arms around her shoulders.

"Raiko? Raiko, you okay? Hey, are you okay?" He saw her nod and poke her head up to look at him. He sighed in relief. He ran the words she had said before through his mind. "Hey Raiko. You didn't call me Draco-kun. What's up?"

Raiko blushed and squeaked. She waved a hand nervously. "No, no, no. You must be mistaken. I always call you Draco-kun, Draco-kun."

"What does kun mean, anyway?"

She put a finger up to her still blushing face. Her face rivaled a Weasley, the reddest blushers he had ever seen. "It's a secret," she whispered.

"Damn it all, Raiko." Draco threw his arms in the air and left a startled Raiko behind him.

Raiko looked at Draco sadly before grabbing her broom and jumping off the edge of the building without looking back. She then flew around towards the Ravenclaw lockers to get her bag. Then she would head to Hagrid's for Care of Magical creatures.

-

Draco flew out towards Hagrid's cabin and the Forbidden forest. He flew high enough so he could see the entire grounds. He was especially interested in the carriage path to Hogsmeade. Draco watched it for a while before scowling and looking at the lake.

He flew above the deepest part of the lake and dove, making himself as small as possible to go faster and faster. Right before he hit the water, he pulled out of the dive and flew across the unbroken surface. Below him he could see the giant squid following him. A tentacle streamed up towards him and he shot forward and then went up.

This was life at its greatest. Flight in open air. No strings to hold you down. Forgetting all responsibilities and grief and people. Just being yourself within the air.

Draco looked up as he flew higher and higher. The sun went behind him, and suddenly he saw a figure falling towards the ground. Their broom blew around in the wind since it was so light. It looked to be a lot bigger than most brooms too. Draco flew a little bit closer to see the figure better and laugh. When the figure became close enough to depict their features, Draco's heart stopped. He saw drops of water fly up and her hair streaming around as time stood still.

Then he started breathing again and watched as Raiko came closer. He pointed his broom up towards her, closer, closer. Suddenly she was on his broom. He was unused to the extra weight and could not help falling several meters in the air before he gained control of his broom and flew to a roof.

Many things came to his mind like angry bees in a hive vying for his attention. He said some things. He didn't mean to scream, he just needed to discharge his emotions. It was too much. And when she almost fell of the roof…

After that he had a mental breakdown. He actually hugged her. Never thought that would happen. But then he swore at her when, after saving her twice, she refused to tell him what 'kun' meant. Didn't he deserve to know what she called him.

She blushed when he told her she hadn't used a suffix. What did that mean?

A disheartened Draco smacked his forehead with the palm of his hand after she left and flew to go to his next class. Guess she wouldn't be meeting him tonight.

Hey. Glad that is over. I can't wait till the next chapter is finished. Please tell me if something is not accurate according to the books. I really don't want to have the story wrong. I am especially confused about Blaise. I cannot remember what year he is in. This is the 6th Harry potter year, so I don't know if he should be here. Maybe some things will come to me when I read HP6 tomorrow. My dad is buying it from Ralieghs tomorrow morning. The next chapter probably won't be up for a while- I'm going to Bass lake (near Yosemite)- so I won't be able to post the next chapter for at least the next two weeks.

See you later, and sorry for the inconvenience.

-In the good Old-days…