The fire crackled fiercly, reminding Cora of the room of requirements. She sat gazing into the flames, a small glass half full of sparkling cider, which was a Ravenclaw favorite. They often smuggled bottles back to the common room for later use. Her glass contained the very last of it, but she really didn't care. Everybody else had gone down to dinner, which left her alone to think, to retrospect.

It was only a couple hours ago when she'd experienced the worst detention ever - or, at least, she assumed. This was the first detention she'd ever had.

Fortunately, the only staff member who was available for the next few weeks was Professor Flitwick, who absolutely adored Cora, like most teachers (with the exception of Snape)

Cora had been dreading detention all day. Not only had it been awkward between her and Darren, but she was trying to avoid Draco as well. Luckily, Draco was late. Darren, on the other hand, was there before Cora. He was sitting in the chair closest to Professor Flitwicks desk, a sullen look on this face. Trying to make the least noise possible, Cora entered the room and sat down in the spot next to Darren. He shifted his position, but pretended to not acknowledge she was there.

"I just don't understand how you two could get detention!" Professor Flitwick squeaked from behind a stack of books.

"Let's just say we were in the wrong place and the wrong time," Cora smiled. Darren rolled his eyes. Professor Flitwick poked his head out from behind his books and beamed back at her. Darren's irritation was visible in his burning eyes, which stayed fixed at the window ahead of him.

"I understand. I've been here long enough to know that happens often." Professor Flitwick said before returned to his work.

Finishing off her cider, she lay the glass next to her and curled her knees up onto the blue armchair. Understanding what was going on was only hard, but understanding what to do was even more difficult. After what had happened, Cora wasn't sure whether she wanted to speak to Darren or Draco again. And why was Darren so intent on keeping Cora away from Draco? Of course he was...well, a creep, but if he was really a good friend, wouldn't he respect her choices?

"Where's Malfoy?" Darren finally said after a couple minutes. A wave of heat hit Cora's face. She untucked the hair from behind her ear and let it fall in front of her face so Darren couldn't see her, in case her cheeks were red.

Professor Flitwicks puzzled face peered out again, "I thought he was here. Well, I'll give him 5 more minutes to get here."

Five minutes passed. No Malfoy.

Ten minutes passed. No Malfoy.

Another five minutes passed, and in came Malfoy. "What took you so long?" Professor Flitwick glared. Draco shrugged, a smug look on his face. Darren turned away from the window and looked Draco up and down; noticing his tie was tied sloppily and there was one section of his hair that was messed up. The rest was perfectly styled, like it always was.

"I had to talk to Professor Snape." He said, which was obviously a lie. Cora untucked the other side of her hair from behind her ear as Draco sat down next to her, hoping he wouldn't notice her. As she had expected, her attempt failed. Draco kicked her leg softly. Cora just ignored him. Shutting her eyes, she tried to concentrate on something else. He kicked again. Again. Once more. Giving up, she looked over at him. He licked his lips suggestively and smirked. Cora groaned and buried her face in her hands, wishing the day would end right there. He kicked again.

"Quit it!" Cora snapped. Professor Flitwicks face appeared.

"Something wrong?"

"Sorry, that was my fault," Draco lifted his hand and faked a sincere face. Professor Flitwick nodded in approval and disappeared.

What was it about him that was so...intriguing? Not at the moment, but whenever he was around. It was like she wanted to dislike him - scratch that, she wanted to loath him, but something inside kept her wanting more. She hardly knew anything about him except from what she had experienced, and a lot of that wasn't pleasant. The common room was warm, like the room of requirements, and she began to wish there was no fire. It made her think of the intense heat between her and Draco on the couch, which wasn't exactly what she wanted to think about. She just wanted to get her mind off of everything!

Flashbacks from the previous night began to creep into Cora's thoughts as she lay her head down on her desk. The warm fire, feeling Dracos fingers in her hair, his kisses, the tugging on her bra strap, the way she scrambled to stand when Darren came in...

"Ow!"

Cora snapped back to reality, feeling another kick. She looked over at Draco sharply. He pointed to her desk. Looking down, she saw a small scrap of paper with Dracos handwriting. Cora looked back, scowled and sat up before reading the note.

Last night was fun.
Wanna try again tonight?

Wishing she had brought her supplies with her so she could write back, Cora fiddled with the little piece of paper, trying not to remember that just a foot away was the person who was anticipating her answer. She turned to look at Darren, who immediately pretended he wasn't paying attention.

It was odd, Cora thought, that today she didn't have any vibe between her and Draco. She didn't care about him at all. And, at the same time, she was still extremely mad at Darren for interrupting the night before. It was like there were two sides to her. One wanted to be her old self, this goody-goody who was carefree and happy all the time. The other half wanted something new, exciting, and dangerous for her reputation. Her heart, however, was stuck in the middle, leaning one way or the other at different times.

The rest of the detention carried on as awkwardly as it had. When Professor Flitwick dismissed them at last, it was quarter 'til dinner. Cora was the first person out of the room, fallowed by Darren and Draco, who both wanted to speak to her first.

"Cora!" They both said together after they were in the hall.

"I'm not in the mood," she called back to them without even turning her head. The two boys looked at each other angrily and sped up to be by her side.

"Cora, we desperately need to talk!" Darren pleaded. Cora made no change in facial expression.

"Cora, can we have a moment alone? Just to go over some things?" Draco put his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged his hand off.

"Go over? Yeah right!" Darren laughed in disbelief, "Why can't you see that this guy's just a pimp?"

"Why can't you see that he's a nerd?" Draco spat back. Cora pushed both of them away. They stumbled backwards simultaneously.

"I need some time to myself. I'll talk to you both later," she said over her shoulder as if everything was okay. Their mouths open to protest, but she spoke first, "Individually, of course." And then she turned a corner.

Draco smirked in relief and looked over at Darren, who was still trying to figure out how to convince Cora to talk with him now, his mouth fumbling for words.

"Looks like I've got a date," Draco sneered. Darren lunged at him, smashing Draco's head onto the concrete wall. Draco grunted and pushed Darren back.

"Keep your hands off me, prick!" he threatened. Darren took a step back, but looked ready to strike at any second. Draco smoothed his robes and kept walking.

"So you'll fight a girl, but you won't fight me?" Darren shouted. Draco simply raised his fist and flicked out his middle finger, then turned the corner after Cora. Sinking to the floor, Darren let out a frustrated sigh and kicked the wall. He looked down the hall and then down at his feet, trying to decide whether he should go after Cora, Draco, both, or just leave it as it was until he had some time to think.

Tracing the ridge of the glass with her finger, Cora let another tear escape. If the rest of her week was going to be this idiotic, she didn't see the point in hiding in the common room. Everyone was going to see how depressed she was sooner or later, and would then be trampled with remarks such as, "You can tell me anything!" or, "Please tell me what's bothering you, I won't tell anyone!"

In fact, on the way back to the Ravenclaw common room, Cora had run into Hermione, along with her friends Ron and Harry.

"Oh, hi, Cora!" Hermione smiled, stopping abruptly. Cora stopped and smiled, muttering a small 'hi' back. Ron and Harry waved emotionlessly. They only knew each other from the few times Hermione had stopped to talk in the hallway.

"Hi Corry!" Ron said.

Hermione elbowed in the ribs and corrected him, "Cora."

"How are you all doing?" Cora questioned, hoping they wouldn't see through her act. All three shrugged.

"Just going down to the great hall," Harry's green eyes wandered.

"Is it time for dinner already?" Cora sighed. They all nodded. She put her hand to her forehead and leaned against the wall, remembering how hungry she was.

"Are you okay?" Hermione stepped forward and put her hand on Cora's cheek, feeling for a fever.

"Yeah, I'm fine…I'm just…" knowing they were Dracos worst enemies, she avoided telling them anything, but didn't want to lie, "well, can I hang out with you guys sometime?"

"Of course you can!" Hermione cried generously. Harry and Ron both stood awkwardly, not knowing how to respond. She put her hand on Cora's shoulder, "anytime." Cora felt tears in her eyes. She needed to get out, needing to be alone.

"Thanks. But, I think I'm just going to go back to my common room right now…I'm not very hungry," she said, staggering away from them. They said their goodbyes and continued walking. Once they had disappeared, Cora began to run. As she ran, her mind began to race. Things people had said over the last couple days echoed in her thoughts. It seemed like it had been forever since the fight with Draco, but she remembered it like it had been five minutes ago. Everything played through her head like a movie, causing emotions to stir inside her. The anger that had built up inside her over the last few hours began to stream down her cheeks with her tears. She sobbed the password to her portrait and burst through the hole in the wall. Just as she had hoped, the common room was empty.

And there she was, sitting by her self wiping her tears onto the sleeves of her robe. The tears had died down know, but occasionally something terrible would replay in her mind and they would start to flood down her cheeks again.

"I hate it!" She cried to herself, crumpling up a random paper and throwing it into the fireplace. Her vision blurred as the paper became black and turned to ashes.

"Hate what, me?" came a voice behind her. Cora's eyes widened. She could sense a grin in the penetrating voice. You're imagining it, she told herself, it wasn't real. But the voice came again, "That's a lot of tears over one guy, you know."