"YOU DID WHAT?!"
"We flew here in dad's car."
Bella had finally found her brother and Harry and was now thoroughly berating them in the common room.
"Why, Ronald? Why would you do that?!" She screeched.
"The barrier closed. We couldn't get through!" Harry explained.
"Oh so you just decide to ILLEGALLY fly dads car?!"
"I'M NOT ARGUING WITH YOU!" Ron yelled, stomping up the stairs to the dormitory.
Bella sighed and took the seat Ron had just vacated.
"I'm sorry." Harry said timidly from beside her.
"No Harry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted." She smiled at him before following after Ron into the boys dorm.
Ron sat cross-legged on his bed, a pillow gripped in his arms as he cried into it. Bella took soft steps and sat down on the bed beside him, putting her arms around his shoulders and pulling him into her.
"I'm sorry." She whispered as he cried on her shoulder.
She rubbed circles on his back as she whispered soothing words to him. Shortly afterwards his cries subsided and he lifted his tear-stained face to look at her.
"I'm sorry." She whispered again.
"No I'm sorry, you were right." He wiped his face on his sleeve as he spoke.
"Did I just hear Ron Weasley admit I was right?" She asked, nudging his shoulder with hers and he laughed.
"Don't get used to it." He replied.
The pair chuckled and their conversation lulled as they both fell into their own thoughts.
"What happened?" Bella asked.
"The barrier closed and we couldn't get through. We knew we'd missed the train but I was worried that mum and dad wouldn't be able to get back through and we'd be stranded. I know it was a stupid idea but I thought we could fly the car here and get here on time with you guys but the engine died just as we got here and we crashed into the Whomping Willow. It attacked us! Went mental, and I broke my wand." Ron pulled his broken wand from his pocket and sighed. The tip was hanging on by a thread and the unicorn hair core was protruding from the end.
"I suppose you've been punished enough." Bella laughed.
Ron mockingly glared at her as she pulled him in for another hug. As she pulled back she caught his grinning face.
"What?"
"I can't help but feel proud I managed to fly that dinky old thing from London all the way here."
Bella laughed again, swatting his arm as he joined in on her giggles.
Giggles were the furthest thing from anyone's mind, least of all Ron's, when the mail arrived the following morning.
"Oh no." Bella whispered as a scarlet red envelop fell onto Ron's plate.
"What am I going to do?" Ron croaked nervously looking at his sister.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
His question needed no explanation as the envelope burst open and the yells of Molly Weasley erupted from within.
"HOW DARE YOU STEAL THAT CAR! WE HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE EMBARRASSED! I BET YOU DIDN'T STOP AND THINK HOW THIS WOULD AFFECT YOUR FATHER!"
Ron's face had gone bright red as he stared open-mouthed at the roaring letter.
"YOUR FATHER IS FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK AND IT IS ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! YOU AND HARRY COULD HAVE DIED FOR MERLIN'S SAKE! I'M VERY SURPRISED THEY HAVEN'T EXPELLED YOU! ONE MORE TOE OUT OF LINE RONALD WEASLEY AND I WILL BRING YOU STRAIGHT HOME!"
The letter gave a huff and disintegrated in a puff of smoke. Ron looked from the letter to Bella and back down at the letter. Hermione harrumphed beside Bella and this seemed to snap Ron from his state. He glared at her as she continued to read 'Gadding with Ghouls by Gilderoy Lockhart'
"I'm not sure what you expected Ronald but -"
"Don't tell me that I deserved that." He seethed, pushing away from the table and stalking off out of the hall.
"I'm sorry about your dad Bella." Harry said sincerely while Bella glared at Hermione from the side of her eye.
"It's okay Harry." She smiled softly before turning to Hermione.
"What did you say that for?" She asked the girl.
"He broke the rules Bella. He needs to be punished." Hermione stated without looking up from her book.
"He's been punished enough thank you very much."
Bella left the table in much the same fashion as her brother as she went off looking for him. She found him pacing the defence corridor shaking with rage; before she could open her mouth he spoke.
"Who does she think she is?!" He yelled.
"Who?" Bella asked.
"Hermione! That was embarrassing enough without her starting on me." He made to punch the wall before Bella grabbed his arm and pulled it towards her.
"Don't."
"What else am I supposed to do? My wands broken!"
"If you're going to punch something, punch something worth punching."
"Like Malfoy."
Bella didn't feel the need to disagree with him there; if Ron wanted to punch Draco she would happily let him, he deserved it after how he treated her on the train. Bella nodded her head as Ron smirked. She handed him his bag and his timetable as the sounds from the Great Hall reached their ears.
"Have you calmed down?" Bella asked him as the first group of people rounded the corner.
"Yeah, I'm okay."
Bella spotted their friends coming up the corridor, a sheepish looking Hermione among them.
"I'm sorry Ron, Bella." She said as soon as she reached the twins.
Ron thought for a minute before speaking.
"Apology accepted." Ron said.
Bella didn't have time to respond as the door to the defence classroom was thrown open and Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed in magenta pink robes, strutted to the door way.
"In you come now, in you come."
Large portraits of the man flashing a beaming smile littered the walls of the large classroom and Bella sneered at them in disgust as she took her seat.
"Loves himself much?" She whispered to Ron and Harry eliciting snickers from the pair.
Bella dumped her bag on the table as she rested her head in her hands. Hermione, Freya and Emily occupied the desks in front of her alongside Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Harry and Ron sat on Bella's left side while Seamus and Dean sat on the right. Bella rolled her eyes as she felt something hit her shoulder and turned in her seat to see that Draco had chosen to sit in the seat behind her. She again rolled her eyes as he chuckled and turned back to the front of the classroom.
"Don't let him bother you." Seamus said as he glared at Draco.
"I won't" Bella replied at the same time Draco spoke up.
"Oh don't worry Finnegan, I won't be stealing your girlfriend anytime soon."
Bella tuned him out as he snickered with his friends, she also tuned out Lockhart as he spoke to the class. She only listened to what was being said as Seamus chortled beside her.
"Cornish Pixies?"
Lockhart held a cage full of small blue creatures. Their faces long and pointed and their voices shrill. Bella chuckled along with Seamus as Lockhart held the cage at arms length. She stopped when Lockhart reached for the latch to open the cage.
"Are you mad?" She questioned.
"I beg your pardon, Miss...?"
"Weasley."
"Weasley, right. Well, Miss Weasley, they shall not hurt you, I only intend to demonstrate how to deal with them."
"He's not for real is he?" Bella asked Ron.
Ron shrugged as Lockhart pulled open the latch dramatically and released the pixies from their confinement. Big mistake thought Bella. They flew in all directions causing absolute mayhem. People were diving under the desks to get away from them and Bella watched from under her own desk as two lifted poor Neville, from where he cowered on the ground, and dropped him onto the candelabra on the ceiling. He rocked back and forth a few times before falling to the ground.
"Not to worry!" Lockhart called over the rabble.
"Stupid, idiot teacher." She heard Draco grumbling from behind her.
"It's a pixie, it's not going to kill you." She retorted.
"Peskipiksi Pesternomi!" Lockhart cried in an attempt to stop the chaos.
He yelped in fright when one of the pixies grabbed his wand from his hand and tossed it out of the broken window. Scared and wand-less, Lockhart sped from the room into his personal chamber, leaving the class of twelve-year-olds to deal with the mess.
"If it won't hurt you then you deal with it." Draco growled.
"Fine." She huffed.
Bella stood from under her desk and brandished her wand;
"Imobulus!"
At once, the pixies fell to the ground and everyone stared stunned at her. The bell went, signally the end of their first hectic class. Most filed out of the classroom as quick as they could but Bella took her time collecting her bag and robes.
"That was amazing!" Seamus beamed.
""Incredible -"
"How did you do that?"
"You'd be a better professor than that twit."
"Guys it was a simple spell." Bella laughed.
Someone bumped into Bella's arm on the way down the corridor and the shock of white hair told her it was Draco.
"Watch it." He sneered.
"Piss off." She retorted.
He turned away and stalked off down the corridor as Bella grumbled about what a little git he was.
After their first day of classes Bella was extremely tired. Before heading to bed she took her time doing her nightly routine and when she was emptying her pockets on her robes she found a note that hadn't been there earlier in the day. Opening the note she decided the writing matched the writing on the necklace box at Christmas.
'Well done in Defence this morning'
The note could have come from anyone but Bella knew exactly who sent her the note; Draco. It had to be. Something had been telling her since Christmas that the pendant had come from him but she didn't have any proof. Why would he ever send her a Christmas gift? And why would he congratulate her for something she did well? It wasn't like him at all. But neither was letting her sleep on his shoulder. She couldn't explain why but she knew it was Draco. What made it worse was that even though she knew she shouldn't, she wanted it to be him.
