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Chapter 3

Potions class again. Thankfully, we didn't have to pair up. It was a lecture day, and at the end, Professor Snape handed back our report of the stomatis potion we made the other day. The potion that I made as Draco sat there frowning.

Professor Snape gave me a look and handed me mine, and I gaped at it. Tears stung my eyes at the grade alone. I looked over at Malfoy, and he simply took the paper from Snape, looked at it, then put it down like it was no big deal!

Class ended. I had to talk to him, as much as I didn't want to. If no one was willing to put him in his place, or were to afraid to, I had to do it.

"You two go on," I told Harry and Ron, and they left out the door. Malfoy still sat at his seat, but with Crabbe and Goyle near him. I walked up to them, head held high. Crabbe and Goyle stared at me in confusion and disgust.

"Malfoy," I said, and the greasy blonde looked up at me. He stood.

"C'mon Crabbe and Goyle. I don't want her mudblood slime to rub off on me."

Crabbe and Goyle sneered at me, then walked off with Malfoy. I clenched my free fist since the other hand held my books and the parchment. "Malfoy!"

He stopped. He turned around to face me, a frown on his face. "What, mudblood?"

I refused to let that get to me. I stomped up to him and put our potion report in his face. "I failed the potion assignment because of you!"

He shoved the parchment away. "So? Why would I care?"

"Wouldn't you care since it's your grade, too?"

"No, I don't. Now buzz off."

He about turned, but I belted out, letting out my annoyance and irritation, "Well, you should care! You should care that you caused me to fail this assignment, and you should notice that all you're doing around here is pushing people around and being a bully!"

He glared at me, fire in his eyes. "I didn't want to go to this school in the first place, Granger. And since I'm rich, I can do whatever I want."

I shook my head, my eyes burning. "You really don't understand, do you? No, of course you wouldn't. Your heart is as cold as ice."

He frowned. I held his glare, wanting him to understand. Crabbe started pulling Malfoy's arm. "C'mon, Draco, no one cares what a mudblood thinks."

Malfoy looked at his large friend, then back at me. "You're right. Let's go."

They all left, and I stayed standing there, hot tears coming. Why was I wasting my energy and emotions on him? He wasn't going to change. He was as good on the forever bully list as I was on his hate list. Along with every other half-blood and muggle in the school.

I huffed again and walked out of the classroom, and met Ron and Harry. They didn't say anything as we walked on to our next class.

I had to do something to get my mind off of everything. Normally, I would head to the library to pick out a book and pour over that all evening, but oddly, I just didn't feel like it. Throwing stones into deep water seemed more therapeutic.

After telling Harry and Ron to head on to the common room after our last class, I turned the other direction and out the south entrance to the castle. I passed Hagrid's hut and walked a little farther until said hut was as small as a tree stump in my vision. I stopped at the water's edge, passed a large boulder. The cold wind whipped my wavy light-brown hair.

"That's better," I said into the wind. "The breeze, the water, and several rocks I can practice with."

I took a small rock up and angled it with my fingers. I flicked it off in the water's direction, but it just ker-plunked in the water instantly. I sighed in disappointment. I tried to skip several more rocks, but only got one skip out of all of them—that one skip was when it sank.

"Golly," I exasperated, then tried a few more. All failures. "I should just give up." My breath hitched. "No! Absolutely not. I will master this, no matter what! I have to master it!"

I attempted to skip ten more rocks, but they all sank instantly. I groaned. What wasn't I getting? I skipped another and another, with the same result as the last. I about shouted out in frustration, when a rock suddenly zoomed passed me and skipped on the water five times. I gasped, and my jaw dropped.

"How...?"

I turned to see who threw that rock, and gasped in shock when I saw who it was. His eyes widened, clearly shocked to see me there as well.

"Granger!"

"Malfoy!"

"What are you doing here?" we said at the same time.

"I asked you first," he said.

"No, I believe I did."

He pointed towards the school. "Leave. This is my spot."

"Your spot? I don't see your name written on it."

"Just leave, Granger," he growled.

I stood tall, attempting not to be fazed. "No. I was here first. Besides, I've been coming here every other day just to..." I stopped. He didn't need to know my stresses and challenges. Especially since one of them was him.

"I don't care," he said. "Now leave."

"I said no. Looks like we're going to have to share."

His brows contorted. "Share? With a mudblood? Not a chance."

"Well, I don't want to share this place with anyone, especially you." I paused, and stared at his blue eyes for a moment. "Um, how did you skip that rock?"

He blinked. "What?"

"Well, since neither of us are going to leave this shore, I suggest that we make the most of it. Now—I've been learning to skip a rock since I was little, and I still can't do it."

His mouth quirked up to a cocky grin. "The Almighty Mudblood Granger actually not good at something? Shocking."

I let out a breath through my nose. Irritation wasn't the answer at the moment. "Could you at least show me how to hold the rock and how to flick my wrist?"

His eyes turned cold. "Not a chance. I'm not teaching you anything."

There was ice in his eyes, but also something else. I saw it in my own whenever I looked into a mirror...

Hurt. But why? Because of what I said to him back in the classroom?

I gulped. I knew I told myself I wouldn't, but... "Look, Malfoy, I'm sorry for saying those things about you parents, and about you, so... could you teach me how to skip a rock?"

That frown returned, and for an instant, I thought my apology got to him, but... "No. I'm not going to spend any more time than I need to with a mudblood like you. Especially you."

He turned and started up the pathway to the school. I tried. There was no getting through to him. He was too prideful. Pity.