Author's Note: Very confused Draco ahead as per my beta-reader. lol Menecarkawan... Thanks!

A bit short, but enjoyable I hope!

Chapter 5

A Difficult Decision

'What is wrong with me? What the hell was I thinking when I helped him, HIM! I was helping Potter for goodness sake! I helped Potter with his potion because I couldn't bear the thought of Potter's incredibly beautiful girl form being hypnotized and acting like an ape! What in Merlin's name is wrong with me?' The blonde boy was pacing from side to side in the Slytherin common room. He sighed for what had to be the hundredth time. Crabbe and Goyle were sitting watching their leader pacing, their eyes going from side to side following their friend's movements. 'She is so gorgeous... Shit! There I am thinking stupidly again! It's Potter! There is no 'she'! The 'she' doesn't exist! It's stupid Potter!' "Aarrgh!" The last was expressed loudly making the two cronies jump. Draco messed his white blonde mane with both hands as if that would take the thoughts away.

"Errr..." Crabbe didn't know what to say and Goyle shrugged.

Malfoy looked at both boys and without a word left the common room. They didn't dare follow him and he was glad. He walked faster and faster until he reached the specific dungeon he needed. He took a glimpse and sighed in relief when he noticed it was empty except for the man he needed. He had been afraid of interrupting a class, but it seemed that just as he had a free period the man had no classes at that time either. "Sir?"

"Mr. Malfoy? What brings you here?"

"Just wanted to know... how... How's it going?"

"How is what going, may I ask?"

"The potion, sir! The potion to turn Potter back to normal?"

"To be honest, Mr. Malfoy... It's going bad. I'm not even close to figuring the ingredients needed to prepare a potion to undo the damage that you have done." Snape then thought for a minute. "Do you by any chance have the book from which you got the spell?"

"Not here, sir, but I can ask my mother to send it. She wouldn't even bother me with questions."

"Please do so. Such a book doesn't exist here at Hogwarts."

The Slytherin blonde grinned. "Too dark for Hogwarts?"

Severus smirked, but the young Slytherin knew he was right. There were many dark books that would never be found in Hogwarts, not even in the Restricted Section of the Library.

Draco left the Potions class dungeon worried. He couldn't share his secret little crush with anyone. No one would ever know. No one could know.

XxXxX

The days passed and Larissa somehow survived. To her relief the love letters had stopped as she always ignored the senders. There was something bothering her though. Even though she suffered humiliation by the Slytherins for the simple reason of being a Gryffindor, Draco wasn't participating in any of the mockery sessions. In fact, the blonde had been a great help lately in Potions class and Larissa knew that Snape had noticed it, but protected his favorite student from humiliation by not exposing that tiny detail. Larissa wondered if Malfoy was being 'nice' because of guilt. It was a strange thought, but the only possible answer that made any sense. It was only in Potions class that Malfoy was being secretly 'nice', as outside of the classroom the Slytherin simply ignored her by all means. When Larissa told Ron and Hermione about Malfoy's help in Potions they were both worried. Hermione thought that perhaps the blonde simply wanted to gain Harry's trust to then humiliate Harry in the worst way possible. Ron agreed. Both friends told Larissa to be very careful, but Sa couldn't help thinking that her friends were wrong. She had always detested Malfoy and even when helping her he insulted her with 'Are you mad? Are you stupid? Don't be such a moron!' etc., so it couldn't be just gaining her trust... It had to be guilt, yes, that had to be it.

Ginny approached Larissa. "Sa... Quidditch tryouts will be tomorrow... Do you intend to try for the seeker position?"

The raven-haired girl considered for a moment and shook her head. "No Ginny... As much as I would love to, it would be something that would link me to my true self plus the Firebolt..." The green-eyed girl sighed, but Ginny understood. The style would be Potter's, the broom would be Potter's... Ginny patted Larissa on the back, nodded in understanding, and left. Larissa then ran away from the Gryffindor common room. It was a Saturday so they were free. Larissa just kept running and running. It was easy to run in just jeans, a sweater, and trainers. She found herself in front of Hagrid's cottage and right before she knocked, the door opened and the half-giant looked at her with wary eyes. He hugged her avoiding crushing her and the girl cried.

XxXxX

Getting used to the bloody periods wasn't easy plus each lasted five days. She also learned that stained sheets had to be either washed immediately or left in water. The first time Hermione had been kind enough to wash them and then gave Sa a lecture about it. From then on, she always washed them ceremoniously. With each day that passed, she got used to being a girl more and more, but at the same time fear snaked inside her telling her that she would remain like that forever.

Sometimes Sa was happy, sometimes she felt miserable, sometimes she cried for no reason, sometimes she angered with no reason... Being a girl was a mystery. Hermione had told her it was all hormonal. Moaning Myrtle had mentioned mood swings and Hermione and Ginny had confirmed this. Why was being a girl so bloody difficult? Who would want that?

XxXxX

Larissa seemed to still have Harry Potter's magnet for trouble. On those days that she had been in foul moods, she had managed to get into fights with Pansy Parkinson. Somehow, what had started as girl fights and quarrels between the two, had ended up involving other Slytherins and other Gryffindors and had jinxes and hexes that were always exchanged. Both houses had lost lots of points because of this, but Larissa didn't know what she had brought upon herself. She had managed to channel all of the Slytherins' hate against Potter toward herself unknowingly. A Slytherin by the name of Blaise Zabini had even told her that her eyes reminded him of 'stinky Potter'. Sa had swallowed at this comment, but had managed to keep her cool.

On the first days of December, it started to snow. A Saturday came and the school seemed free of teachers due to an emergency staff meeting. All the teachers were supposed to be at the meeting leaving only Mr. Filch and his dear Mrs. Norris in charge of keeping everything in order. It seemed like a normal day, but most students had remained in their common rooms due to a slight snowstorm outside.

Larissa was having a depressed day. She had just finished her period two days before and was suddenly feeling down. She told Ron and Hermione that she would walk for a bit and with that, she had left the warmth of the Gryffindor common room.

Sa was walking through a corridor when someone grabbed her and covered her mouth. The person dragged her and received help from other students and in minutes they were outside. Larissa was getting desperate. Where were the teachers when you needed them? Then she remembered the staff meeting. She swore in her mind and thought: 'Where is Filch anyway?'

It was snowing hard and Sa hadn't had any plans of going outside so she wasn't exactly wearing a warm coat, so the jacket she was wearing was a 'light' one. The group of students dragged her to the lake and one of them made sure that the lake wasn't frozen.

Four students partially got into the terribly cold water with her and submerged her once, twice, thrice, and so on. With every plunge, they left her under the water for more and more time. The girl was gasping for breath and she could identify Pansy Parkinson's giggles, but wasn't able to recognize any of the attackers. Pansy wasn't one of the students trying to drown her. Larissa knew that very well. Pansy was simply waiting and enjoying the sight. Sa could feel her whole body getting colder and colder and was terribly afraid of passing out. The students submerged her one last time leaving her for over one minute and got her out. They threw her on the snow and ran away leaving her.

Sa was gasping and panting, and tried to stand, but her legs wouldn't cooperate. She kept falling and falling and soon tears were running down her face. She thought she was going to die there and that someone would find her the next day. She wondered how they would make up that Harry Potter had died in some sort of accident in North America... After all, if Larissa died Harry Potter would die with her, as they were one and the same.

XxXxX

The blonde had noticed the conspiracy in the Slytherin common room. Zabini, Nott, and Parkinson had planned something and they had included some 6th year Slytherins in it. Draco wondered why he hadn't been included, but he wouldn't be left out so easily. Curiosity had gotten the better of him and he had cautiously followed his fellow Slytherins. He had seen them grab Potter and he followed them to the lake. He hid behind a tree when they were drowning Potter in the lake. He couldn't do anything and he felt like a complete coward for not intervening. He simply waited until everything was over and saw them leave. After they had disappeared into the castle he saw the girl trying to stand and every time she fell. The girl looked blue and that worried him. There was a fight inside him. Should he save Potter? What kind of Slytherin would he be if he saved a Gryffindor, and to make things worse, not just any Gryffindor, but The-Boy-Who-Lived himself? He waited until he saw the girl crumble again and that time the girl didn't stand again. The snowstorm seemed about to get worse and Malfoy made a decision. He ran towards the crumpled figure and picked her up. She was very light. He ran towards the castle with her. He didn't know how he had so much energy, but he found himself running through flights of stairs all through the castle.

At the 7th floor, Malfoy didn't have to think twice for the door to appear. He entered and locked the door from inside even though he knew no one would be able to see it anyway. The room was perfect. It had a fireplace ready as he had wished. He quickly started to strip the girl. He didn't think twice about it either. There was no time to think about modesty at that moment. The girl had to be stripped of the frozen clothes or she wouldn't make it. After the girl was naked, the blonde used a warming charm on her and placed her close to the fire. Then he looked for warm blankets that the room had provided and covered the pale body that was in front of him. Draco found himself breathing uncontrollably due to the nervousness the situation had stirred inside him. He then lied beside the girl and before he knew it, he had fallen asleep next to her.

Thanks to:

Shadow Eclipse

Sweet-single: Lucky you! In my case it's sporadic, but when they come I do get nausea and have to take painkillers. I'm glad it doesn't happen with every monthly curse!

Jilliane: Yes, I know! 'almost cries' Yeah, I needed Hermione OOC... Ehehehehehe! I will start praying for my humoristic muse to come back!

Theo Drake: I'm glad! Hope you enjoyed this ch. too!

GD: I might take on the suggestion you sent me through e-mail for this fic! Thanks!