Draco scrambled up and helped her to her feet, but she was more worried about what the crack had been.
"What were you thinking, Riley? I'm grateful that you caught me, don't misunderstand, but not at the cost of your life!" He yelled at her, seeming genuinely angry and somewhat concerned, "Come, and let's get Madam Pomfrey to fix you up. Also, why were you late for practice?" He demanded, dusting himself off and sending the brooms to the shed, she assumed. She scowled at him.
"Thanks for your concern, Draco, but I am perfectly fine." She said snootily.
He reached for her right hand and when he gripped her wrist, she yelped again. He smirked.
"Clearly you are not perfectly fine, Riley, and I don't need you parents breathing down my neck for nearly killing you." He said, and she could almost see the fumes coming out of his ears. She laughed at the image, and he looked around, surprised – he hadn't heard her laugh thus far.
"What?" He demanded, forcing her to follow him.
"No, it just looked as though steam was coming out of ears." She grinned, keeping up with him. He just shook his head.
"Please don't tell you parents, Riley." He said as they entered the hospital wing. That's easy, she thought.
The hospital wing was busy, but she knew it would be, what with all the cruel detentions being dished out, she knew it would be full. Students were shaking with friends or siblings hugging them, the aftershock of crucio. She also saw some of the students her age from all houses standing around, looking guilty. Defence Against the Dark Arts students who had been forced to cast the curses in fear of having it cast upon them.
She spotted Creevey amongst the students that were shaking. His younger brother was sitting next to him, his hand on the older Creevey's arm, but at a loss for words.
Creevey looked up and saw her, concern immediately clouding his face. His eyes flitted to Draco and he looked away, but not before she saw something that resembled hurt flash across his young face.
That made her feel a tiny bit guilty for a reason she didn't know.
"Draco, I'll fix it myself, Madam Pomfrey has bigger worries than me right now," She said, looking up at the taller boy, who nodded shortly and lead her out. His face was ashen.
She spared a last look at Creevey, who was refusing to look at her again. She sniffed indignantly, if he wanted to be an idiot, so be it. She didn't have to explain herself to him.
Draco put a hand on her strong arm, and, unbeknownst to her, he sent a smirk Creevey's way, before leading her further away.
"How do you intend to fix it?" He asked. She hesitated before answering.
"In a way of which you would not approve. I'm going to use the muggle technique, it'll take my arm six months to heal, but I'm fine with that." She smiled airily.
"Six months? We can go back and wait?" He suggested. She shook her head.
"Now I have the opportunity to wallow in self-pity and the pity of others, won't it be fantastic?" She said sarcastically, before pausing, "No, I'm going to the headmaster. He can fix this." She changed her course. She needed to talk to Snape about the house divided within itself too, maybe he could do something about it.
"NO! I wouldn't bother him right now…" Draco stopped her by grabbing onto the wrong hand, causing her to shriek of pain, before she withdrew her broken arm and cradle it with the other hand.
"What is your problem?" She demanded, wishing she could draw her wand and hex him.
Draco looked panicked, "Wait a bit, a few minutes, please? He's busy…"
She caught a glimpse of his Dark Mark and nodded. Of course he was a Death Eater; his father was, so it was only obvious that he would be too. They'd all heard the rumours: Draco had been given the task of murdering Dumbledore, but failed to do so and Snape did it. The majority of the school believed it, but no one dared to voice it.
"Please don't tell your parents?" He tried to change the topic. He succeeded, because Riley's expression turned into a mask.
"I can't, Draco," she replied, "they're dead."
Draco's expression fell, and she winced. No one but Snape and Dumbledore had known that, and -now Draco knew too. She hadn't told him because she hated the pity party that followed.
"What? How?" He asked, frowning.
"Caught in the tug of war of the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix in fifth year. They were working the night shift, they were in the Department of Mysteries, and the next morning their corpses were found," She explained, "I don't know who killed them. Could've been any side."
"Is that why you insist on being neutral?" He asked. She came to a stop.
"No. I'm neutral because when this impending fight breaks out, I can kill both sides without feeling bad. Innocent people are killed in this stupid war, and I will make every fucking person pay." She said dangerously. She'd probably end up dead too, but she didn't really care anymore, because she had nothing to live for but Quidditch, and she was almost entirely certain that Quidditch wouldn't be popular after the war, mostly because half of the population would be dead.
She looked him in the eye, and it was clear that he was scared.
"And I don't care if I have to kill my best friend either." She added softly. She shook her head and continued on her way to Snape's office, Draco would tell her if it was safe, and if it wasn't safe… well, she'd go down with a fight.
"Who do you stay with?" he enquired, falling into step next to her.
"I live alone; I stayed with an aunt for one summer, but as soon as I turned seventeen I was emancipated. My parents left me enough to survive for a while, and I also had the house."
Draco didn't say anything, which she was grateful for, she didn't want to be pitied. She never told anyone, because she knew they would pity her, and she hated that.
"This war will get dangerous," Draco said next, "I know because after Christmas I'm not coming back to school until Easter. No one will be safe, Riley, not even Slytherins." So he'd finally decided on a day to go, did he?
"So you flee?" She accused him, coming to a standstill again. He paused too.
"No, I'm not fleeing, Riley; I'm going home on the train. The only difference is that I will not be climbing on the train in the first place," He explained, "I don't know if you've heard about the snatchers, but their becoming ridiculous and dangerous. I'm afraid they'll catch Potter and his cohorts before he can finish what he's doing. I owe him, Riley, even if I don't like him. And if one person can save all our sorry asses, it's him."
"So you've switched sides?" She asked next. He nodded in confirmation, though still hesitating. She smiled at him.
"Admirable. I am still going to kill both sides, Draco, and if you're in front of my wand, you'll fall." She warned him. She knew a number of spells that were of questionable legality.
"You're bluffing." He said, though he didn't seem so certain.
"I don't bluff. I bet, yes, against my own house too, but I will do anything to avenge the death of my parents, and if I find out who killed them, I will murder them brutally and then be on my way."
They had arrived in front of Snape's office. She lifted a questioning eyebrow to Draco, and he nodded and motioned for her to go up. She spoke the password, given to her by Snape at the beginning of the year, and the stone gargoyle allowed her entrance. Draco followed.
Draco knocked on the door, and the door was opened quickly. Snape saw who it was and granted them entrance before spelling the door locked and soundproofing it. He waved his wand at the fireplace and did a search for unfriendly spells.
Being headmaster had made him paranoid, she thought.
"What is it?" He asked, looking at his students.
"I broke my arm, or rather Draco did, and Madam Pomfrey's busy." Riley said without blinking. Snape took a look at her arm before tapping it, and she felt her bones fix themselves. She smiled thankfully at her professor.
"Severus," Draco started, and she vaguely wondered why her classmate was calling him on his name, "Are we still set for Christmas?"
Snape eyed her suspiciously, before Draco said that she already knew.
"Yes; I will plant false memories of students to make sure they see you board the train, before you simply disappear."
"Snape's in on it?" She asked, "Wow, okay. What do I get for keeping quiet?" She lifted an eyebrow, causing the two in front of her to both look shocked.
"Miss Frost, are you corrupting us?" Snape asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes, that's what I do. I make winning bets and bribe people – why else do you think Theodore Nott is my Potions partner?" She folded her arms, "And don't spin me some bullshit that you fixing my arm is enough, because it isn't, it's your job, otherwise I will advertise to your Death Eater friends that you two are the biggest traitors since Peter Pettigrew and Dumbledore, if you believe anything that book by Skeeter says."
"Miss Frost, you do realise you are against Harry Potter here?" Snape said.
"Sir, with all due respect, I don't give a damn about sides. I am on my own side, and in this case the side with the most to offer wins." She smiled sweetly.
"You can come with me?" Draco offered suddenly, grabbing her hand, "You have a bigger chance of getting to the one who murdered your parents."
"I could provide you with the identity of that person." Snape said softly, and Riley looked up at him sharply.
"Yes?" She said eagerly – if she knew who, she could start to plan how they would die.
"First I want your word," Snape said, "that you will keep this arrangement that Draco and I have to yourself." Snape was concentrating hard, his wand making the tiniest jerk, but nothing happened, and he frowned.
She nodded, "You have my word. The name?"
He gave her the name and told her they had found the signs on her parents' bodies. She relished at the idea of her revenge. She thanked her professor again before leaving his office with a new skip in her step.
Of course that was ruined when she found Creevey waiting for her outside Snape's office. He saw her and hurried over, wanting to know why she was in the hospital wing with Draco Malfoy and, of course, to ask why she had been there in the first place, and she realised she'd entirely forgotten to mention the division of her house.
"Draco sort of fell on me and broke my arm," she shrugged, "Snape fixed it."
"What do you mean he fell on top of you?" Creevey asked.
"We were snogging in his dorm on his bed, then I sort of fell off and he fell with me?" She lied easily, seeing his expression darken, "I heard a snap and it was my arm, mind you."
She shrugged and turned to leave, "I was helping Draco, and he fell out of the sky on top of me. I'm very good at curses, actually." She winked at him over her shoulder before heading to the Slytherin Common Room.
She told Pansy about her fictional flirtations with Draco Malfoy and afternoon with Creevey to ease her friend otherwise she would accuse Riley of withholding information, which would make Riley accuse Pansy of obsessing over Draco and a threat to tell Theo, but that was irrelevant.
Pansy didn't seem phased by the fact that Draco was showing interest in her, though.
. . .