Catherine and Harry went as fast as they could to meet up with Ron and Hermione, who was their classes prefrects. After a while of standing there, waiting for the Head Boy to finish talking, she felt someone bump into her and put something in her hand. She looked down and saw it was a piece of paper.
"Why don't you watch where you are going?" Draco said.
"What? You were the one who bumped into me, remember?" Catherine yelled back. She couldn't tell if he was doing this for show, or if he really was bipolar. She decided whatever it was, she would just go with it.
"Malfoy...why don't you just go back with your first years? You're supposed to be setting an example for them." Hermione said, very seriously. How he got picked to be a prefect was beyond her.
"I am! See kids, you have to watch out for the bloody Gryffindors because they can be a real pain in the-"
"Malfoy!" Ron yelled and pointed down the hall where the other Slytherin were going. Draco just gave them a dirty look and walked away with the little first years that had stayed with him.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked Catherine.
"Oh yeah. I am fine." she replied, slipping the note into her inside pocket.
Soon, all of the Gryffindors were back in their corridors.
"Hey uys! Look what I have got!" Seamus held out a box of Bernie Bott's every flavour jelly beans : Tasteful Vengence. Those were the kind that you gave to your enemies, every flavor being nastier than the last.
"Oh yeah. I heard Fred and George talking about those. I thought they weren't out yet. They said they couldn't wait to put them in their new joke shop, " Ginny replied.
"My dad works for the company, so we got some free samples."
Seamus opened the box and popped one into his mouth. For a while, he looked as if he enjoyed the taste, but then he made a face that made everyone laugh. Soon it became a game. Everyone got into a circle and took turns in eating the jelly beans. The results were very funny. Especially when Ron't turn came up. They even found some new flavors they had never had such as brunt hair, ink, acetone, and tar. Some things are just not meant to be eaten for a reason, Ron thought after he had put one in his mouth and almost vomitted. Hermione started laughing her head off.
"Oh yea, you think its funny, do you? Why don't you have a go at it?" Ron asked.
Hermione took one from the box and stuffed it in her mouth. Right after she had one chew and the juice in the jelly bean spilled out in her mouth, her eyes began to water. She was trying hard not to spit it out because if you did, you had to do a dare that the group decided on. Finally, she just spit it out and Ron gave her an, "I told you so" look.
"Oh come on Ron. You spit one out earlier that tasted like grass. I just tried to eat one that tasted like blood and vinegar!" she said.
"Well, Hermione, you know what this means," Ginny said with a mischevious look on her face.
Everyone that was part of the circle got into a huddle, except for Hermione.
"Alright. What should we dare her to do?" Ginny asked.
"I don't know. I don't want to make it too bad, because it is Hermione we are daring," Ron replied.
"True," Ginny said slowly. "How about making her walk through the boys dorms in her bra?"
"What? No, she would never do that. And she's a prefect, so that wouldn't work out to well." Harry said.
"Oh you guys are no fun! You probably would reject all of my ideas. Seamus, Catherine. Any plans?" Catherine immediatly shook her head. She was never good at making up dares.
"Well, we could make her pretend to like that new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for a week. But she has to make it really obvious. And on the last day of the dare she has to try to kiss him."
"What! No!" Ron said.
"A little jealous, are we Ronald? Oh don't look at me like that. It's not like everyone in the whole bloody school doesn't know!" Ginny said.
"What? Oh, fine. Is that the dare then?" Ron asked.
They then got out of the huddle and went over to Hermione to tell her the dare. She almost looked like she was going to die.
"No way! It's against the rules for a teacher and a student to do that!" she said.
"You're not even going to do anything! You just have to try to kiss him. Try being the key word. He probably won't let you anyways. He is a teacher after all and he knows the rules." Ginny said.
Hermione just sighed and nodded. She knew there was no way Ginny was going to let her out of this one. She was the craziest Gryffindor she ever met. Probably the craziest Gryffindor there ever was.
"Well, that was fun guys. There is one more jelly bean left. I think we should vote who gets to eat this one." Seamus said. They then all looked at Ron.
"No, no, no! I just ate one," Ron pleaded. "Okay. Fine. Give me the jelly bean. He put it in his mouth and immediatly spit it out after the first bite. Everyone started to laugh.
"What did that taste like?" asked Harry.
"I don't know but I never want to taste it again!" Ron replied.
"Well Ron, you spit it out, so now you have to do a dare," Ginny started to grin, "I dare you to kiss Hermione."
Hermione looked at Ginny with suprised. "Wait, what? What happened to our huddle?"
"That sounds like a pretty good dare to me," Harry said and Ron gave him a death glare. Catherine and Seamus just nodded their heads.
"Well, majority rules," Ginny said with a grin. Ron and Hermione just kept looking at eachother uncomfortably. "It is now or never! Besides, we aren't first years anymore. It's not like anyone has 'cooties'"
"Okay fine Ginny!"
Ron went over and grabbed Hermione and gave her a peck on the lips. Everyone ooed! Ron turned red while Hermione just had this look of shock on her face. Soon Giny and Seamus decided to go to bed. That just left Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Catherine in the common room.
Catherine went deep into thought, while Hermione and Ron started talking. Harry got up and walked over to the window.
Outside of it, he could see the whomping willow. He had so many memories with that tree. (woah..that sounds wrong...oops..did i ruin the sad moment?) That was where Sirius had asked him to live with him. He remembered how happy he was then. He had never been so in his wholelife. Harry felt a hot tear fall down his cheek. He slowly wiped it away and took a deep breath, trying to hold back more from coming.
Catherin looked over at Harry. She was about to go up to him, but decided against it. He looke like he needed to be alone for a couple of minutes. She then looked over at Hermione and Ron She saw Hermione smile and lightly slap Ron in the arm. Soon he started chasing her around the room. Catherine just laughed. Thank God that little dare didn't make things uncomfortable between them, she thought. All these years she had always wondered why they never had gotten together. They always argued over frivolous things, which was like a sure sign of them having some feelings for eachother. Kind of like the way her and Draco argued on the train. No, she thought. That was nothing.
She then remembered the note he had given her. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out.
Meet me in the Room of Requirements at 11P.M.
At the bottom there was a map. She didn't need it though. She was part of the whole D.A. thing that Harry had started a couple years back. Those were the good times, when things were less complicated.
She looked back over at Harry. He was beginnning to look like he needed a friend.
"Hey, are you alright?"
Harry looked up. "Yeah. I am alright. I have just been thinking."
"What about?"
"Well, my godfather. He passed away a few months ago."
"Oh, I am sorry," Catherine said and hugged him.
Suddenly there was a loud thump. Ron had finally caught Hermione, causing them both to fall onto the ground. Harry and Catherine just stared at them. By the looks on Ron and Hermione's faces, they could tell it was very awkward. Ron was laying on top of Hermione with his legs straddling her waist. For a moment, Harry and Catherine thought they were going to kiss again. But then Ron gave a little chuckle and rolled off of her. His face was bright red and he yelled goodnight and ran into the boys dormitories. Hermione lied there for a minute before getting up and slowly walking to the girls dormitories.
Harry and Catherine smiled at eachother. She looked at her watch. 10:30. In half an hour she would have to sneak over to the Room or Requirements to meet Draco. She looked back up at Harry who was still smiling at her.
"Well, I better go bed now. It's getting late and it's been a very long day."
"Yeah. You're right," Harry said with a look of disappointment. He still wanted to talk to Catherine. He had the sudden urge to know everything about her. I have the whole school year to do that and I don't want to scare her off, Harry thought.
They started walking up to where the girls and boys dorms seperated. They turned towards eachother, none of them saying a word. Finally, Catherine thought it felt a little awkward so she broke the silence.
"Goodnight Harry."
"Sweet Dreams, Catherine."
Draco's words then rang in her head. "You have to get close to Potter" She then leaned in and kissed Harry on the cheek. She just smiled at him and walked up the stairs before he might have the chance of grabbing her and passionatly kissing her. She didn't know how strong that potion was, and she did not want to find out just yet.
Harry stood there for a moment and watched her go. He then touched his cheek where she had kissed him. Harry walked into the boys dorm and fell on his bed knowing that he would be have sweet dream sof Catherine that night. (Aaaaw!)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
On the way up the girls dorms, Catherine cursed herself for doing that to Harry. She never liked leading people on like that. But then maybe if she didn't, her grandfather would have a fit. And theres no telling how bad of a punishment he may give her. That's horrible, she thought. Living in fear of your own grandfather.
Catherine looked around and saw that everyone was already asleep. She looked at her watch again and saw that it was 10:50. She decided that she had better get started. She went out into the common room. Luckily, no one was in there. She got out into the hallways and no one was there either. Catherine sighed in relief. Let's see she thought. I am on the second floor and the Room of Requirements is on the fifth floor. She quietly walked up to the fifth floor. Soon she heard two voices talking. She recognized them as Professor McGonnagle and Professor Dumbledore. Their voices were getting louder so Catherine ran to hide behind one of the statues nearby.
"You do remember what this year marks, don't you Albus?" she heard Professor McGonnagle ask. Catherine then saw Professor Dumbledore look around. SHIT, she thought. Maybe he knows I'm here. But he did nothing and continued talking with Professor McGonnagle.
"Yes, I do remember what this year was meant to expose," he replied calmly.
If only I knew what they were talking about, Catherine thought. They were soon getting too far so that Catherine could no longer hear them. The last words she heard were by Professor McGonnagle.
"What are we going to do about the protection of the students?"
What? The protection of the students. Wait a minute. This thing she was doing for her grandfather. What exactly was the point of it? What had she gotten herself into? Was she part of a plot to take over the whole wizarding world? Catherine decided she should ask Draco about it when she got to the Room of Requirements. Oh, she thought. Draco. Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonnagle's discussion had made her forget what she was doing. She looked down at her watch. 11:00 P.M.
She immediatly began to run again. Finally she came up to the wall and a door appeared. She quickly opened it and saw the room. It was beautiful. It was an antique kind of looking living room with the old fashioned sofas and armchairs with a little fire place. It was the kind of thing that reminded her of a parlor from the early 1900's.
"It's 11:02." Draco said. Catherine jumped at this. She had not known that he was already there.
"So?"
"So? You're late. If there is one thing I have learned from my father, it to be on time. Or else you get punished."
"Oh, so are you going to punish me now?" She said sarcastically. Shit, Catherine thought. How do I always end up saying these things to him? She then saw him begin to smirk.
"What kind of punishment did you have in mind, Miss Bruins?"
"Wait, what kind of punishment are you talking about?" Catherine asked, not wanting to sound like she was thinking wrong things.
"What kind of punishment do you want me to talk about?" He answered.
"Ew Malfoy, you pervert."
He smirked at you and said, "Well anyways, we will finish talking about that later. That's not important just yet." Catherine raised an eyebrow at him. "Okay come take a seat."
At first she was hesitant, but then she decided to go sit down. Draco then got on his knee and brought out a little box. Catherine thought he was going to propose to her or something.
"Um, Malfoy, I know you like me, but I am just not ready for this kind of commitment." She said jokingly.But you will soon be, he thought.
"I know, my darling. But I can't help it, it's love baby." he replied playing around. Catherine smiled at him. She liked it when they talked. Not whent they were arguing or talking about 'the plan' but talking like they had been best friends forever. "No, but this is important." He then opened the box.
Catherine gasped. "It's beautiful!"
Draco took the necklace out of the box. The pendant was a gold heart with a glass ring around it. He undid the gold chain and Catherine turned around so that he could put it on her. She didn't know why, but when he put it on her, she got the chills. Okay she did know why. She thought he was kind of cute.
"This necklace," he continued," is suppose to be of very good use to us. The person we bought it from in Knockturn Alley told us so."
"And you guys just believed him. What if he was lying?" Catherine asked.
"Well my father locked him up in the dungeouns, so he can't escape. If it was a lie, they'll just kill him."
"WHAT!"
"Woah, chill out. I was joking. He is a deatheater, so your grandfather will know how to take care of it."
Draco got up and walked over to a counter. He took out a bottle of fire whiskey. Okay, he thought. Malfoy charm. Well, this is different though. Slytherin girls had swooned over him because he was dead sexy and a bad ass. This was a Gryffindor. Now all he had was the dead sexy working for her. Alright, he thought. I have to act nice. He had to be himself.
"May I offer you something to drink? What is this? Virgin Strawberry Pina Colada?" He pulled out a glass from the cabinet.
"Wait, that's my favorite drink. How did you..?"
"This is the Room of Requirements. I didn't do anything."
He brought over the drink for Catherine.
Catherine took the drink and..drank it... She then began to think. But not to hard, as she could've hurt herself. (sorry I had to put that ;P) She then remembered the question she had for Draco.
"Um, Malfoy, why am I doing this? I mean why am I trying to get friends with Harry and give you information. What are you planning to do to him?"
"Well, if you don't know now, then I see no point in telling you. You will find out soon enough."
Catherine then thought about it for a second. What did Vol- her grandfather always wanted to do to Harry? Oh my God, she thought. She was part of a plot to kill Harry Potter. How could she be so stupid to get herself into something like this! How could she not know? Well she did kind of get pushed into it so she didn't have time to think about it. Now there was no way out, besides death. Catherine decided to stop thinking about it.
"So Catherine," Draco started. For the first time in his life, he didn't know what to say.
"So what?" Catherine asked. She then began to shake her head.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"I don't get you. One minute you are like cocky, then funny, nice,"
"Yes, keep going." he said with a smirk.
"Then your an ass hole. Like that time in the hallway today. And all these years! But when it's just us, you seem nice. Don't tell me you are one of those people are jack asses in front of the crowd, but when you're alone with someone you act all sweet and nice."
"What? I'm apaulled." Catherine was about to apologize to him but Draco cut her off. "I am a jack ass when I am alone with people too."
Catherine laughed and shook her head. She then saw something she had never seen Draco do. Smile.
"I like your laugh," he said.
"Thanks." Catherine said with a smile. He seemed so different right now. It was weird, but Catherine liked it.
Draco looked at the clock on his wall. It was already midnight. The clock began to ring which made Catherine jump.
"Well, it's getting late. We should start to head back now.
"Yeah. Goodnight, Malfoy," Catherine said as she started to walk to the door.
"What? No goodnight kiss?" he asked half-jokingly, half-serious.
"Oh you wish!" Catherine replied. She then realized she did want to give him a kiss. Oh well. ( sorry guys)
"Alright, fine. How about a hug then?"
"A hug I can give."
Catherine walked over to Draco and gave him a hug. Right when she did, she felt her stomach begin to turn and she felt like she had just been punched. That was when she knew that she did indeed have a crush on Malfoy and she did think he was dead sexy.
"Goodnight Catherine," he said as they both let go of eachother. "Goodnight, Draco" Catherine said as she began to walk towards the door once again. She decided to leave before he saw she was blushing. She could feel her cheeks begin to burn. When she got out into the hallway, she heard Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonnagle talking again. She ran behind another statue that just happen to be right there.
"I know someone who can make a map that shows us where everyone is and what they are doing. We will just have to watch for him. We should also have the castle monitored. This time we will be prepared if the prophecy comes true," Professor Dumbledore said.
" What should we tell the students if they get suspicious?"
"Just tell them that we are just trying to make Hogwarts a safer place."
Catherine was about to follow them so she could find out more about what they were talking about. Who were they watching out for? Well, that was a stupid question. Her grandfather of course. But what prophecy were they talking about? And why would they have to watch out for her grandfather? Millions of questions just started popping up in her head. She then decided to just go back to the dorms and get some sleep. Luckily, she passed no one else in the hallways or in the commom room.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The next morning Catherine woke up. She took a shower and got dressed. She walked down into the commom room and saw that Hermione and Ron were arguing. Harry was sitting on the couch and staring at them. He then saw Catherine and gave her a look that said, 'help me get away from these two lunatics. Are you hungry?' Catherine nodded.
"Okay guys," Harry told Hermione and Ron,"Catherine and I are going to head down to the Great Hall to get some food."
But it was no use. They were still arguing with eachother. They were both smiling like mad, but still arguing. Harry shook his head and laughed at them. Catherine walked over to him and he held out his arm, so she took it. Hermione and Ron both finally stopped arguing and looked over at Harry and Catherine.
"Were you going to go to breakfast with out us?" Ron asked.
"I told you guys, but you weren't listening."
"Harry don't be ridiculous. I am sure if you said something about food, Ron would hear you," Hermione said teasingly. Ron stuck his toungue at Hermione.
"Okay shall we go then?" asked Catherine.
"Yes, we shall."
The Great Hall was kind of a little full. Most of the students were probably still in bed because classes weren't in session yet. Catherine looked over at the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy there with his two goons. He seemed to take no notice of her so she just continued in the conversation with Hermione, Ron, and Harry.
"So, Hermione, you can't forget to do that dare when we start our classes tomorrow," Catherine said.
"What dare?"
"You know, the one where you have to pretend to like that new teacher."said Harry.
"She doesn't have to- I mean it was just a silly game." Ron replied. Harry could tell Ron did not like the idea of Hermione throwing herself at some guy. Except if the guy was him.
Catherine began to space out of the conversation. She had so many things to think about and this was her second day back at Hogwarts. She then felt a pair of eyes staring at her. She looked up and she saw Malfoy stare at her then quickly look away. She began to smile like mad. Was he really staring at HER? She could feel he butterflies in her stomach. She started to imagine what it would be like if they got married. She could hear him say her name. Actually is sounded quite real, but it wasn't his voice it was..
"Catherine?" Harry said. "Why are you smiling like a madman?"
"Oh- What? I- um, my arm hurts." Damnit! Why can't I think quick! And my arm hurts? What? Harry, Hermione, and Ron started laughing.
"You're smiling because your arm hurts?" Harry asked.
"It's okay. I smile when my arm hurts too." Ron said, still laughing.
"Hey Catherine, want to come with me to the library?" Harry asked.
"The library?"
"I was just about to ask the same thing. Why do you want to go to the- Oh Harry! I told you! We can't go looking up stuff on the John Mckimpsey guy," Hermione said. (John Mckimspey is the guy who died in Diagon Alley if you dont remember :) )
"Hermione come on! I just want to do some research. Nothing bad can come from reading a book."
"Alright Harry. Since I see you will never give up. Let's go."