A/N: Wow, it feels like forever since I've been on. (58 days, exactly). I'm sorry for my long hiatus, but I have actually been working on things. I just worked a little bit on each story, just never got a chapter done. Thanks to my friends Harry Potter FF, I feel newly revived and motivated to continue (and hopefully finish) TFTNF!

Mild Warning: Quite a bit of cussing.

Enjoy!

Meeting With Amaranta

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! DAMMIT!

Amaranta glared with great ferocity at the strawberry blonde girl giggling angelically in her newly found posse of boys. It was only a couple of days before a fan club started. Amaranta noticed many of the other girls were shooting her nasty glares. Since coming to Hogwarts, Amaranta was the only girl Dianthe had ever spoken to. She was either treated like a goddess, or like the devil.

And Amaranta had the unfortunate fate of sharing every class with her. It was as if she purposefully came here to be near Amaranta. She didn't go out of her way to talk to her, but every time Amaranta would glance her way, her smile seemed a bit brighter, her bust a bit larger, and the boys even more wrapped around her finger than they already were.

Amaranta ignored it at first, but dealing with that pure essence of perfect got on her nerves. By the end of the week, she wanted to snap her pretty little neck. There was just something about the girl that invoked anger in you.

"You couldn't be jealous, could you?" Hermoine asked slowly and cautiously when Amaranta spoke out her troubles.

The reunion with Harry, Ron, and Hermoine had gone just like Draco's with mere "hello's" and comments on her healthy look. It seemed as if they simply picked up right where they left off.

"Jealous?" Amaranta snapped grouchily at her friend. "Of the godsend from Transylvania? Now why would you think that, Hermoine? How could such a perfect person cause such imperfectness in others? Or maybe that's it! She not perfect, she just makes us all look bad! That's her trick!"

Hermoine and the others exchanged wary looks.

Harry leaned closer to her from his spot on the bench that they sat in inside the courtyard and said, "It doesn't matter how perfect she is, Amaranta, because you have one thing she doesn't!"

"What's that?" Amaranta immediately asked eyes hopeful and wide.

"Us!" Harry smiled kindly. "I hate superficial and preppy girls like her. She just feels too artificial. I much rather prefer your company."

Amaranta blushed and smiled giddily. "Th-that's such a bold thing to say. Thanks, Harry. Ah! There's Draco; he's probably looking for me! I better go, bye!"

Amaranta quickly scrambled off of the bench and away from sight. Ron and Hermoine gave Harry curious looks when she was gone.

"Yeah, that was such a bold thing to say," Hermoine warned.

"You're not into her or anything, are you?" Ron asked.

"What? Of course not!" Harry quickly answered. "I've just come to realize how good of a friend she is, ya know? You know what they say, you never realize what you have until it's gone. Luckily for us, Amaranta came back."

The other two fell silent, remembering how they almost lost her.

Amaranta's mind was in chaos. She liked Harry, and never even considered the notion of anything more between them until now. His words echoed in her brain and her heart was only just now slowing down.

He probably didn't mean anything drastic by that, she told herself to try and calm down. He was just trying to cheer me up, as a concerned friend.

Amaranta spotted a familiar speck of bleach-blonde hair in the distance. She had only used Draco as an excuse to get away, but had he actually been looking for her?

No.

The young Blommarian's stomach dropped to the ground when she saw him conversing with the "godsend." Could she actually be jealous?

No, no; she was just concerned for her best friend. Dianthe was probably a heart breaker. She had to break up this little meeting instantly, or something bad was going to happen. However, she couldn't find the will to move her body. They just…looked so perfect together. Like two peas in a pod, as if they were meant to be.

Amaranta hid behind the tree near her, and sunk to the ground. She suddenly felt weak and defeated. What would she do if her best friend was taken away from her? Just that thought had made her begin to cry, however she stopped when a flood of crinkly, dead leaves fell on top of her. She looked up at the once healthy, green tree to find it grey and shriveled. What had happened?

Draco Malfoy walked into the Slytherin common room confident. He had given her a week's grace period, now he could surely start making his move. He found his target pacing around the leather couches in deep thought.

"Hey, Amaranta," he called out to her in the friendliest voice he could muster; "Zach and the others are going to play Spin-the-Bottle, wanna join?"

"I suppose it would be impossible to get sunlight in here, wouldn't it?" She pondered aloud, continuing her same circuit around the couch.

"What are you talking about?"

"Huh? Oh, Draco, I didn't notice you there. I was just thinking about getting a plant, like a fichus or something. It would certainly brighten up the girls' bedroom."

"Uh . . . sure, I suppose it would," Draco couldn't follow her train of thought. "Look here, I'll get you an Apollo's Artificial Sun later, do you wanna-"

Draco stopped mid-sentence. Everyone else was either in their dormitories or playing Spin-The-Bottle in the boys' dormitories. He was alone with Amaranta. Chance!

"Hey, Amaranta," Draco turned on the charm and walked predatorily towards the unsuspecting girl. "I've heard a rumor that you can hold your breath longer if you share your air with someone."

"Really?" She looked up at him. She had always been a curious one. You never knew when nifty little facts would come in handy. "How can you share breath?"

"Like this. . ." Draco held Amaranta's chin up and closed his lips around her mouth. With his free hand, he held her waist close to him, so she couldn't escape. Again, he felt that hungry feeling inside him again. The push and the pull. He leaned deeper and deeper into the kiss until he had pushed Amaranta onto the couch behind her.

Their fall had caused them to break apart, with Amaranta lying red and shocked on the couch, staring up at the panting Draco on top of her.

"It appears that the rumor's wrong," Draco said with a coy smirk as he reluctantly got off of Amaranta. "You look breathless. Well, then, I'll go write Dad about that artificial sun. You go on to bed."

Leaving her still lying on the couch, Draco went downstairs to his room.

Amaranta felt quite comfortable on cloud nine with her friends, and hanging out with Harry. She gave a mental thanks to Albus, for creating a very convenient schedule in which she had all classes with Harry on one day and all classes with Draco on the other, with the exclusion of Potions (which happens to be on a Draco day, so she spends Potion class with him). She now plans her agenda by "Harry" days and "Draco" days. Today happened to be a Draco day. And it seemed like cloud nine had no more room for her.

Dianthe, whom until now hadn't bothered with her, was still not bothering with her, but now seemed to be magnetically attracted to Draco. She never stole her spot on Draco's right side ― no; young Mr. Malfoy would never allow that. She did, however, take Crabbe and Goyle's spot on his other side.

At first, she started idle chat, only exchanging a few words before ignoring him for the rest of class. But as the days went by, she began to make her presence more and more felt. Amaranta's eye would twitch each time Miss Greene would lean up against Draco in such a way that it was quite easy to see her cleavage.

It was at times like these that every girl in the classroom's brainwaves would unite with one single word: Whore!

Amaranta was no exception. If anything, her mind's tongue was more colorful. At the end of Arithmetic, Pansy Parkinson pulled her aside for a quick word.

"You know she's aiming for Draco, right?" she said bluntly as the other witches and wizards filed out of the classroom.

"Uh, yeah," Amaranta answered warily, eyeing Parkinson's face cautiously.

"And you still just let her snuggle up to Draco like that?!"

"I'm not letting her; it's just not like I can just tell her to move it."

"Sure, you can! Draco will listen to whatever you have to say. If you want her to back off, then he'll push her away. In fact, I wonder why he's even letting her be there in the first. He's smart enough to know her goal."

"I don't know, just…I'll talk to her, alright?"

"Fine, but if she ever gives you any trouble, you just tell me, and me and my girls'll ruin that pretty face of hers." She punched her fist into the palm of her other hand to emphasize her meaning.

"Why would you help me?" Amaranta asked seriously. "I thought you hated me?"

"Oh, I do, don't doubt that," Pansy replied immediately. "But I hate her even more. And right now, she's the one trying to steal Draco away, so together, we have a common enemy."

With that, Pansy Parkinson strode away, and Amaranta quickly skipped out of the classroom to find Draco, who was surely waiting for her. He was waiting, but with another particular blonde.

"Oh, look, there she is!" Draco called as he grabbed Amaranta's hand and pulled her closer. "Dianthe and I were waiting for you, Amaranta."

"Oh, really?" Amaranta meant to give a condescending smile, but it came out crooked and psychotic looking.

"Yes, I've been meaning to speak to you," Dianthe smiled her syrupy smile. "I've just been so shy that I haven't had the nerve to speak up."

Like hell!

"As you can see, I don't have many girl friends."

Her pouting lip was disgusting.

"I try to be nice, but it seems beauty can be deadly sometimes. Girls get really jealous easily! Boys are the only ones who will ever even talk to me!"

They aren't talking to you; they're talking to your boobs.

"So I found it a little easier to talk to your friend here, Dra-I mean, Malfoy," she blushed and fluttered her eyes girlishly at Amaranta's childhood friend at her little slip-up.

Good Merlin! She must've been taking lessons from Umbridge herself!

"You were the first person to talk to me, when we met before the entrance ceremony! If you don't mind, I'd like to spend sometime to get to know you, and hopefully we can be friends in the near future!"

This is my chance to get her alone and murder her in the most brutal way possible.

"Sure!" Amaranta exclaimed with fake enthusiasm. "I wanted to talk to you as well! Since it's lunch period, why don't we go outside and have a little girl-to-girl chat."

Amaranta glanced over at Draco hoping he caught the "girl-to-girl." She didn't want him to see her looking so ugly when she murdered the little slut.

"Well, I'll just go to the Great Hall with Crabbe and Goyle," Draco obediently said, noting Amaranta's look. "Catch you in Charms later."

Amaranta waved him off and then "followed" (remember the whole "can't lead a leader" thing?) Dianthe to the courtyard. However, she went out past the Courtyard and towards the Whomping Willow by the lake. Curious, but willing, Amaranta made no protest. Here, they would be alone.

Amaranta stopped a safe distance from the thrashing tree, but Dianthe continued to walk towards it. Oh, no! She's new here, so she won't know about it's aggressive behavior! Amaranta opened her mouth to shout a warning, but stopped when she noticed that the Whomping Willow was starting to calm down. By the time that Dianthe had arrived at it's trunk, the Whomping Willow resembled a normal tree.

She put her hand on it, and for the first time, Amaranta saw her frown, and even look sad, as if remembering an old wound. The tree itself started to lean into her touch.

"Hello, my other self," she murmured. Then, she turned around and glared at the girl she had led here. "God, I'm so sick of smiling all the time! My cheeks hurt! Men really are retarded creatures. They see only with their eyes."

The brown-haired Blommarian took a step back. So her true character has arrived!

"Now, Amaranta, my dearest, after lifetimes of searching for you, I can finally take my revenge!"

She lifted her arms straight into the air, and suddenly, the roots of the Whomping Willow leapt out of the ground and shot right for her. If it was for her quick reflexes, she would have been skewered!

"What's wrong, Amaranta? Why don't you block?" Dianthe sneered at her. "You can't run forever!"

She swung her left arm in a great motion across her chest, and the roots dashed towards her, as if connected to Dianthe's slender fingers by thin strings. Again, Amaranta dove out of the way, but this time, she wasn't so lucky. One of the roots nicked her right leg, and she tumbled into the lush green grass, now stained with her blood. Hissing from the pain, she grabbed her injured leg, and braced for the next attack.

The puppet roots wrapped around her arms and legs, holding her up above the ground, immobile. Contrary to Amaranta's thoughts, Dianthe didn't look at all pleased that she had just captured and injured her. She looked frustrated in fact.

"Why don't you fight back?" Dianthe growled at her captive. "I brought you specifically to this place so that you wouldn't be able to control my medium against me. You used to be a stronger Blommarian than me. Used to. But there is still grass around for you to manipulate, why do you not?"

"What are you talking about?" I said through clenched teeth, trying to ignore the searing pain shooting up my leg.

"You know! Our power!" Dianthe almost looked desperate, and slightly psycho. "Only Blommarians have the power to alter the vegetation around them, even to the point they become deadly weapons." She flicked her hand, and a single root slashed across Amaranta's face to show her meaning.

How is she doing that? Amaranta thought, looking at her empty hands. She doesn't even have a wand out. What, she mentioned Blommarians. "Are you a Blommarian, too?"

"Don't play dumb with me!" Dianthe shouted angrily, and she sent another root to slash at Amaranta's face. "You were the one who taught me about my ability!"

"I seriously don't know what you're talking about!" Amaranta shouted desperately. "I only just met you! How could I have taught you something I didn't even know I could do?"

"You seriously don't remember?" Dianthe's anger faded away, and now she looked distressed. "Not even Jake? You don't even remember him?"

"Who's Jake?" Amaranta furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion.

The roots suddenly dropped into the ground, causing her to fall onto the hard earth. Trying to regain her breath, Amaranta looked up at the blank-faced Dianthe. The beautiful blonde stared intensely at the ground as if her world had just collapsed around her.

"I've waited all those years, for my revenge and you don't even remember us," she finally spoke, and her voice was wavering. "Were all those things you said to me a lie?" She turned on Amaranta with sudden fury and tears in her eyes. "You said you would never forget him! You said that even after you were reborn, you still kept the same heart, and that your heart would always remember! Was that all just a lie?! You never loved him? You stole him from me and you never even loved him! I've been reborn thirteen times over, and I still haven't forgotten a single moment that the three of us spent together! You're a bitch, Amaranta Greene! A fucking bitch!"

Beside the two girls, the Whomping Willow thrashed about in agony, mirroring Dianthe's emotions. All of its branches shot out to smash Amaranta into the earth, but just before they reached the stunned Blommarian, a red jet of light zapped the braches, causing it to recoil.

Both girls looked towards the castle to see three figures running towards them.

"Harry!" Amaranta called in surprise and relief.

"Are you all right, mate?" Ron called out to her through breaths. "I've never seen the Whomping Willow act like that!"

Amaranta noticed Harry was the only one with his wand out, which must've meant that he was the one who had shot at the Willow. When they reached her, they all pointed their wands at Dianthe, but the blonde made no motion to fight them.

Instead, she seemed to have calmed down a bit. She was no longer crying, but still looked furious. "Are you so weak now that you need bodyguards?" she mocked, just before leaving.

"What the bloody hell happened here, Amaranta?" Ron nearly shouted when he felt the coast was clear. "Did you two get into a fight?"

"Oh, my gosh! Amaranta, your leg!" Hermoine cried, noticing the spilling blood.

Amaranta looked down as if she had just noticed. The blood was beginning to dry now, and her whole shin was red.

"What happened between the two of you?" Harry asked her.

"I don't really know," Amaranta spoke in a daze. "The Whomping Willow attacked me."

"It always attacks people," Ron said. "That's why you're supposed to stay away."

"No, I mean its roots attacked me," Amaranta said. "Dianthe was controlling them somehow, without her wand. She said that all Blommarians could do it."

"Wait, so does that mean she's a Blommarian as well?" Hermoine gaped.

"I guess so," Amaranta shrugged.

"But why did she attack you?" Harry asked, lifting her up onto her feet.

"She said she was out for revenge," Amaranta spoke a little more seriously as Dianthe's words reverberated in her mind. "She seemed to know me from somewhere, but I seriously don't remember her. She said something about this guy named Jake. None of it rings a bell."

"She must've mistaken you for someone else," Ron grabbed Amaranta's other arm to help her walk back to the castle.

"But isn't today a Malfoy day?" Harry growled. "What's that bastard doing, leaving you alone! You could've died if Hermoine hadn't remembered to give you your homework for Charms class!"

That's a thought, Amaranta said to herself. Normally, Draco would never let me go anywhere without him on the day he was supposed to spend with me. Let alone go alone with a girl he must no I don't like. What could Draco be thinking?