44 Thursday, October 31st (Evening)

Noelle was scared to walk anywhere now, afraid she might bump into Malfoy and his friends with no one around to help her. Knowing this, she left for the feast with her roommates, preferring to travel in a larger group if she was going to at all. Several of the girls had played witness to her confrontation the other night she knew, and yet she found more and more that she couldn't blame them. No one wanted to get between Draco and what he wanted. No one except her evidently.

Together they walked through the halls, the other girls clambering excitedly. She was finding their joy infectious, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Of course, it helped too that Azraeyn had eased one of her many worries from mind earlier in the day.

"-going to ruin everything!" A thought ran across her mind. She stopped, frowning, knowing it not to be her own.

The other girls kept walking, but Margaret stopped as she realized Noelle had. "Hey, you okay?"

"Y-yeah." She forced a smile. "You guys go ahead. I'm going to stop at the bathroom to wash up."

Margaret pursed her lips, unsure, but the other girls grabbed her elbows and pulled her along. "See you there!" One shouted.

Noelle waited until they were out of view and then ducked down a hallway, tuning her thoughts towards finding the stray one she'd heard.

"Always getting into trouble!" She heard it again and turned down another corridor, stopping at a door that stood partially open. Inside, she could see flickering candlelight and the backs of two men. She pressed herself against the wall, where she hoped she would be out of view, and listened in.

"I promised to look after you, but the idea was that you wouldn't make messes where they weren't deemed necessary!" Snape's voice snapped.

"The Lestrange girl is stubborn and defiant and needed to be put in her place!" She heard Draco's voice argue.

"That is not for you to decide." Snape admonished. "Now why don't you focus on what you were tasked, rather than picking fights and bringing attention to yourself!"

Noelle heard their voices getting closer to the door and she quickly opened another behind herself, stepping into the shadows as quietly as possible.

"If I hear that you bothered that girl again, I will personally bring you to the master myself and request that someone else take your place." Noelle peered through the crack between the door and the wall, seeing only Snape's arm and hand as he physically deposited Draco outside of the room. "Now get going so no one misses you at the feast." He sneered.

She saw the outline of Snape as he watched the boy adjust his robes and stomp off down the hallway, clearly disgruntled. The man sighed and ran a hand over his face.

Noelle pulled her wand from her pocket and pointed it at him through the crack, whispering "legilimens."

"If only she knew what I do to protect him…" He thought wistfully. Then his eyes snapped her direction and he took a slow step towards the door where Noelle hid.

"Crap! He felt it!" Noelle searched for an exit wildly.

Luck was with her that day. Across the room was another way out of the classroom. She bolted, making it to the far end before Snape entered. She kept running until finally she looked up and saw that she'd arrived at the Great Hall.

Not thinking, Noelle went straight for where her friends sat, sitting between Brook and another Hufflepuff, across from Kade. Her mind was on what she'd overheard. "Snape defended me. How odd. But what was all that about Draco's 'task?' And did he mean that he would take him to the headmaster and get him expelled?" She tapped the table, not aware of the gazes from her friends. "'If only she knew what I do to protect him…' Who could he be talking about? Why would he protect Malfoy?"

"Noelle?" Brooke broke her from her thoughts.

"Huh?" Noelle looked around and then blushed. "Hey Brooke. Kade. Paul." She acknowledged them each in turn.

"We didn't know if you planned on joining us." Paul addressed the elephant in the room.

"Oh. Well I can go if you guys want…" She played with the edge of her sleeve.

"Of course we don't want that!" Brooke glared at Paul who shrugged. "In fact, we were hoping we would see you tonight. Kade? Did you have something to say?"

Noelle looked at him, face mostly hidden by her hood still she knew.

Kade smiled nervously. "Hey Noelle. Sorry… About the party, and the potion, and Azraeyn… I didn't mean to make you upset."

She sighed. "I know Kade. I just- I trusted you with that."

"I know! And I'm super sorry! I know it was wrong. I just wanted to see you happy and I could tell there was chemistry there."

"I don't mean just the thing with Azraeyn." She corrected. "Though you shouldn't have done that either. But my other secret? That was not yours to share."

Kade nodded in understanding and then his mouth fell open as his eyes drifted upwards. "Oh, Azraeyn. Hi there! We weren't just talking about you or anything."

Azraeyn put a hand on her shoulder, meeting her eyes. "Mind if I join you?"

"Not at all." Noelle asked if the other Hufflepuff would mind scooting down, and the two made room for him to sit.

Making herself a plate, Noelle self-consciously pulled her hood back.

Brooke took one look at her and gasped. "Noelle! What happened?!"

Noelle glanced at Azraeyn and sighed, smiling awkardly. "Where to start?"