"Absence doth sharpen love, presence strengthens it; the one brings fuel, the other blows it til it burns clear - William Shakespeare.

Draco made his way back to his room after Potions. He sat at his bed putting his things away, when there was a tap at his window. He had recognised his Aunt Bellatrix's owl, it was unmistakeable. The nervous butterflies had entered his stomach. He let the owl in and removed the letter from its leg. The owl tried to bite him, and Draco shoved it out the window with no pellets to give as payment "Bloody buzzard" he spat. He opened the letter and all it wrote was.

Room of Requirement.

Test one tonight.

He folded up the letter and placed it in his pocket. He knew what he had to do tonight. He went over to the fruit bowl that was on one of the tables in the room, took a green apple and placed it in his robe pocket.

Gabrielle was in the Gryffindor Common room, looking at the damage caused on her knee from falling over. Barely a scratch but her knees were red and sore "Bloody Parkinson" she spat "honestly, tripping? She's lost her creative streak this year"

"I think you handled that situation perfectly" Hermione nodded in approval.

"She's only in my business because Draco stood up for me on the train" Gabrielle said as she stood up and straightened herself out.

"Excuse me?" Hermione looked at her as if she said something insulting "go on then, tell me"

"I bumped into Draco on the train, and Pansy saw and started saying something horrible, the usual. And Draco told her on more than one occasion to shut up" Gabrielle shrugged "I don't know why he did it, but he did" she looked away to avoid Hermione's gaze. "Can we head down to dinner? I'm really hungry" she said as she smiled.

Hermione knew Gabrielle was uncomfortable, this was possibly the most she spoke about Draco since they had stopped speaking after the sorting ceremony.

"Sure" she nodded. Gabrielle knew Hermione wanted to drop the subject because it made her uncomfortable and she appreciated that. Now that Gabrielle had thought about it, she started to question why he was so nice to her.

"They had made it to the Great Hall for dinner. Ron was already halfway through his meal when he was there. They had sat down at the table and started to eat. Gabrielle for some unknown reason to her, looked up and searched for Draco at the Slytherin table, he wasn't there. "Gabbie, you looking for someone?" Ron asked.

"Nah, just looking around, you know me" she chuckled and then continued to eat again. The fact that he wasn't there made her more curious as to where his location was. Considering all his chronies were there, he wasn't there sitting in the middle eating and having Pansy watch him lovingly. She wanted to know where he was, and what he was doing. She scolded herself for thinking these thoughts and continued to eat. He was invisible to her for such a long time, she had no intention of making it a regular thing for him to be in her thought pattern.

Dinner had finished and Gabrielle wanted to have an early night so she left the trio and headed to Gryffindor Common room. She decided to take the long way around the castle as she thought she could use the walk and enjoy some quiet time, and read her book whilst she walked along. Draco had finished with his test and left the room of Requirement. Gabrielle started singing softly to herself as softly as she could sing, her voice echoed through the hall. Draco stopped and listened to the voice that was singing. He couldn't recognise who it was. He decided to track where it was coming from. He started to follow her.

Gabrielle kept walking and continued to sing to herself. She heard footsteps other than hers echoing through the halls. She stopped and turned around, and Draco stopped and looked. It was her.

"Malfoy?" she put her book down and held it to her side.

"de Famille" he nodded as he approached her.

"Why are you following me?" she walked to him slowly and cautiously, her hand in her pocket, grasping her wand just in case.

"I was headed toward the Great Hall and I decided to-" he stopped when Gabrielle immediately took out her wand and pressed it against his throat.

"This is the opposite way to the Great Hall, Malfoy. Answer me truthfully, why were you following me?"

"I heard someone singing and wanted to know who it was, if it were you I wouldn't have bothered" he glared at her. She pressed her wand more firmly into his neck. Her eyes met his she hesitated, looked him up and down lowered her wand down.

"You're not worth it" she said as she put her wand away and started to walk away from him.

He started to laugh his signature Malfoy laugh "Oh and Fred Weasley is?"

"What does Fred have to do with this?" She looked at him.

She had a point, what did Fred had to do with it? He wasn't even part of the conversation. He had just blurted it out.

"Why is he all of a sudden an issue to you? Whether or not he's worthy of me? Or I am of him?"

"He…he doesn't" he was caught off guard. He didn't know why he said it.

Gabrielle stared him straight in the eye, her blue eyes were piercing "He is worth it" she answered "and you have no right to judge me, Malfoy. You or anyone in that damned house for that matter. You know, Fred knew of my Slytherin past and decided to stay with me? After I told him? I thought he'd reject me, but he didn't. Not all people are like you, Malfoy. They don't base their friendships on house or ranking, but I guess that's what you do. So what am I? Scum between your toes? Lower than dirt? Not even worth a second look?" her voice was shaking.

"Char" he blurted out. Everyone else called her by her first name, Gabrielle. But he wanted to be different and call her by her middle name, Charlotte. He always wanted her to know when they were younger that he cared for her more than the others.

Her eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. That name that was once familiar to her took her by surprise. "No!" she yelled at him "you have NO right to call me that. Not now, not EVER. And by rights I should hex you into oblivion so I would never see your face again since you did that to me all those years ago" tears started streaming down her face "You chose pride over friendship. That's fine. But don't you dare judge me for my choices. You have NO idea what I go through on a day to day basis, at home, here, just ask Parkinson - I dare you to" Gabrielle looked at him "ask your friends, Draco. Ask what they've done to me and understand why I hate you and I hate them"

"You…hate me?" He was surprised.

"How is this surprising to you?" she answered as she walked away from him.

"I'm…" he took a deep breath "I'm sorry, Char" he said softly looking at the floor.

"Malfoy, don't ever call me that name, again. I used to have a friend that used to call me that…not anymore" she disappeared into the hall as fast as she could. Draco ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He was mad at himself for having to put on the arrogant Slytherin facade around her. He didn't know what to do. In all that time conversing, she never once called him Draco, and that hurt him slightly, although he didn't want to admit it.

Gabrielle went into the Gryffindor Common room and straight into the Girls' Dormitories. She wept into her pillow, she was so lost and confused. She looked at the photo of her and Fred and held the photo to her chest tightly. She looked at the ceiling and continued to cry, not certain of what was going on with her feelings.

Things are going to get awkward and even more angsty…fast.