Chapter 16

At First You Don't Succeed…You say WHAT THE SKINNER!

I never really forgave Draco for getting myself bit by Duff's stupid owl. But I never let it show as Christmas time neared at Hogwarts.

Everyone scrambled to get onto the train, scared of Finch-Fletchley's, Nearly Headless Nick's and now Colin Creevey's fate.

I still wasn't talking to Ivy, and to make matters worse, Pansy refused to break it off with Draco! I was rather glad to see her leave on the train.

I was finishing some last minute Potions work when Draco nudged me again.

"I have another plan to get your dagger." he announced proudly, sitting next to me.

"Does it involve getting bitten?" I ask, my eyes still on my work.

"No…but we'll be getting revenge. What does Duff love more than her precious owl?"

I looked up and at him.

"The bear!" we said together.

"So we steal it…" I said, starting to put things away "Then what?"

"We threaten to cut its head off if Duff doesn't hand over the knife and the book." Draco said.

"GENIUS!" I said, slapping Draco five "I'm going for it!"

"Take this." Draco said, handing me a picture of the actual bear. "There's a ransom note on the back."

I smirk as I took my Invisibility Cloak and left the dungeons.

Ivy wasn't around when I snuck into the dorms, so I slipped into the dorm unseen or unnoticed.

"Hello," I said to the bear as I picked it up "How about a nice little visit to the Slytherin dungeons?"

I shook my head, thinking I had gone mental, talking to a bear. I didn't even talk to my teddy bear, Alejandro anymore.

I opened Ivy's trunk and put the ransom not in next to the dagger.

I smirked as I swept out of the dorm, the bear held tightly under my arm.

Ivy had three days to return my dagger and book to me, or the bear lost his head. But one problem…what do you do with an inanimate object when they're being held for ransom? You cant torture it, that's no fun. So what do you do?

Go have fun with Draco…DUH!

Draco and I went back outside on twenty third and yet again had a snowball fight.

"MISSED, DRACO!" I yelled after a particularly bad throw from Draco. I made the perfect snowball and threw it, hitting him in the face.

"NOT COOL!" Draco yelled running blindly after me.

"I got you!" I said when Draco got close enough to me, grabbing his arms and wiping the snow out of his face. "|There we go." I said finally, looking down.

"Thanks for the damage control." Draco said finally, taking my chin in his hand and having me look up at him.

I bit my lip and blushed "No problem." I said.

"You still a little upset about me dating Pansy?" Draco asked.

I shrugged "Maybe…"

Draco rolled his eyes and brushed a stray strand of hair out of my face, saying nothing.

"What?" I asked finally.

Draco sighed and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Pansy isn't here now."

I bit my lip and smiled faintly "And that means…?"

Draco leaned in close to my face, his breath just brushing my cheeks.

I would have almost felt guilty, having him this close to my face with him dating Pansy. But then again, Pansy asked Draco out on me, so I guess this made us even.

I stifled a giggle as his lips met both my cheeks, and were just about to meet my own when I was nailed hard in the back with a snowball, causing me to fall into Draco.

"HEY!" I yelled as another snowball nailed Draco in the side of the head.

"HEY!" Draco yelled as I turned around.

It was Ivy, and this time around, she was not smiling as she nailed Draco with a snowball. She glared at me and ran into the Forest.

"Stay here, and I'll be back." I said running into the Forest.

I listened for Ivy's thoughts as I ran, but I heard nothing. I looked around me when I stopped running, panting from the chase. I didn't see anything.

I walked back to Draco.

I completely forgot that that day was the third day since we took the bear from Ivy. And she still didn't give me my dagger and journal.

"So, it's time we decapitate the bear." Draco said, smirking, as Blaise read in the common room.

I was beginning to have second thoughts about this. Like, after all, I wasn't that evil as to take Ivy's bear, which had sentimental value and decapitate it.

"I don't know Dray…" I said quietly.

"Oh, come on, Han!" Draco whined "Think of what she had done, she took your dagger, you only proof that there really is a Chamber of Secrets."

I felt a little less guilty. Ivy deserved what was coming to her bear.

"Hannah, no!" Blaise said finally, looking up from his book "Ivy's your best friend! So you had a row, big deal. You know deep down you still love her!"

That was a good point.

"But she called you a bad ass Slytherin, she deserves what she's getting!" Draco said to Blaise as Draco handed me the knife.

I looked at the strapped bear on the table and thought about it. On one hand, Ivy was my best friend, but then again, she wasn't anymore, because she had taken to getting Pansy to ask Draco out and called me a bad ass.

I slashed the head off the teddy bear without a second thought.

"I'll be back." I said, grabbing my Cloak "I'm going to deliver this to Ivy."

As I was making my way through to Gryffindor Tower, I saw the sight I have wanted to see for so long.

It was Drosie, Petrified, lying on the floor, her eyes open and glassy.

"YES!" I yelled, laughing in triumph.

Big mistake. Filch came bounding up to me and saw Drosie's body.

"You! What are you doing out of bed after hours!" Filch demanded.

"Um…I…" I stammered as Filch grabbed my arm.

"Come with me!" Filch ordered, dragging me down to his office.

Filch's office reeked of mothballs and mould. I was made to sit down as he went to fetch the Headmaster.

I groaned as I looked around for something…anything to keep me entertained. I found a purple envelope and opened it. It was a Kwikspell thing, whatever that was.

My hypothesis was that it was for wizards and witches who sucked at magic.

Filch's footsteps rung through the hall as I scrambled to put the letter back in the envelope and threw it back on the desk. Filch came in, without Dumbledore, but still red with exertion.

"Did you…did you read?" Filch stammered looking at the purple envelope that was now two feet away from where it began.

"No." I lied quickly.

Filch shook his head "You may leave, provided you tell no one of what you saw…but if you didn't read it…oh, just go!"

I broke into a run for Gryffindor Tower and placed Duff's now decapitated bear by the portrait and ran back to the dungeons.

The next morning, Draco and I saw Duff. And she wasn't miserable that her bear had no head, oh, on the contrary.

She had her bear in her backpack. And it didn't look like it was ever damaged!

Draco and I looked at each other.

"WHAT THE SKINNER!" I yelled out.