Indigo by C C

Summary: When loyalties clash and their hearts are torn apart, how will the students of Hogwarts ultimately choose? Read to discover what is hidden beneath all the masks, deceit, and lies, but, most of all, how strong friendship and, ultimately, love, truly is.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling

Chapter V "Something Borrowed, Something True, Something Remembered, and Something Blue"

The audience is silent with anticipation as the ghost of (Christmas) past whisks away the drapes of night.

Sending her consoling rays down upon the rain-washed world, the sun dries the tears that the night had shed. Little did she know that, one day, even her smile would be unable to stop the tears from falling …

The bright-eyed winter sun polished the fresh-fallen snow, causing the soft white to glimmer with blinding brilliance. Throughout the grounds, colorfully dressed Hogwarts students could be seen, laughing, playing, and chattering, as they made plans for the final Hogsmeade outing before Christmas break.

Ron sighed. After all, Hermione was his girlfriend and he couldn't seem to get a-hold of her for a period of time exceeding five minutes before she slipped away, giggling, to join Ginny or Blu or some other Gryffindor girls, whispering and casting surreptitious glances at him and Harry.

Christmas always gave Ron a headache. From the atrocious maroon sweaters his mom knitted and sent him to the pain of knowing that he couldn't purchase gifts on the same price range as those that Hermione and Harry gave him, Christmas was an endless series of trials. This year, he grimaced, to add to that list of pains, was the simple fact that Hermione was his girlfriend, and, as his girlfriend, she probably expected something outside of the ordinary – something which Ron had neither the gift-shopping finesse nor the allowance to purchase.

Maybe he could ask Ginny or Blu, he mused, only that Ginny, being his sister, would probably stare and call him "stupid" while Blu was almost impossible to find when she wasn't either surrounded by girls or accompanied by that thrice-cursed Malfoy.

Either way, he needed to think of something soon, Christmas break was in 4 days.

The Slytherin Common Room glistened with Everlasting Icicles™, which alternated between a clear white, a luminescent red, and a glowing green, and a dull green branch of mistletoe was hung festively over the crackling fireplace. Blu sat quietly in her customary armchair, A Christmas Carol held open between her white hands and a faraway look in her eyes.

For once she had some peace and quiet – most of the students were outside, putting the finishing touches to Christmas shopping lists and discussing the stores they planned to visit at Hogsmeade later that day – and Draco was outside with the Slytherin Quidditch team playing some friendly matches to kill time. Letting her mind wander freely, Blu found herself musing, as she often had since childhood, over the fairy tales that she loved so much. A wave of homesickness swept over her as she remembered herself, a little girl hearing her first fairy tale, and her mother, as beautiful as any of the princesses she whispered to Blu about, falling, together, under the enchantment of Sleeping Beauty. Since then, Blu had often daydreamed about a prince on a white horse, her knight-in-shining-armor, coming to sweep her off her feet and take her away to his castle where, together, they would live happily ever after.

The heavy leather-bound tome fell onto the velvet red carpet with a dull "thud" startling Blu from her fantasies. She sighed and bent to retrieve it. For an instant, her vision blurred and she collapsed to the ground, gasping from the vertigo. Deep inside her mind, she could still hear the voices echoing hollowly, like the mournful bells of death.

"Rowena, don't!"

"He's insane, Gods, what's gotten over you man? Let her go!"

"Please … that's not you … let it go, just let it go …"

"No … No … I can't! You said you loved me! You said you were on my-y s-side … you were on my side …"

Cold, maniacal laughter reverberated endlessly through her head, chasing itself in wild circles, punctuated by pain-filled shrieks that tore through her thoughts. Blu chorused them as she screamed and screamed into the empty stillness.

Green bubbles burst open, releasing a strong stench of Oriental medicines, as Snape wrinkled his nose critically. It seemed alright, though one could never tell until the potion had been tested.

Shrill cries pierced the quiet peace of Snape's dungeon office. Dropping the notebook he clutched in a pale hand onto a convenient table, Snape hurried towards the Slytherin dormitories in a whirl of black robes.

Blu leaned wearily against the upholstered armchair, her hair drenched with icy sweat and her respiration heavy. As the portrait hole swung open, she lifted her head to see Professor Snape stride in, wand ready. He glanced around the Common Room suspiciously before turning his sharp black eyes onto her. Involuntarily, Blu cringed under the glare.

"What happened here Miss Nero?" he snapped, eyes still darting nervously about the dormitories.

"I – I had a nightmare," Blu stammered, hoping fervently that he wouldn't see through the flimsy lie. Snape's eyes narrowed disbelievingly, but he chose not to comment, instead, he coldly remarked,

"It must have been a bad one then," before sweeping out of the portrait hole.

Releasing a breath she had not known that she had held, Blu slowly climbed the dormitory stairs to the bath, a hollow ringing in her ears.

Warm vanilla sugar permeated the Slytherin Common Room as Blu tripped quickly down the dormitory stairs, adding its own cheerful perfume to the already festive atmosphere. Draco sniffed appreciatively, grinning at Blu's excellent choice of fragrances. She had abandoned her school robes for a pair of white denim jeans and a pale blue turtleneck, a white shoulder bag in one hand and a brush in the other, with which she was hastily sweeping her still wet black hair into a high ponytail. Lounging comfortably in his black sweatshirt and blue jeans, Draco watched as she was immediately engulfed in a swarm of giggling girls. The chatter reached fever pitch as the students began flooding out of the portrait hole. As she was swept past him by the stampede of eager students, Blu sent Draco a quick wink before disappearing. Replying with a non-committal "Hey", Draco too was pushed out into the corridor.

Perusing the various appealing displays in the shop windows, Ginny pondered whether she should give Harry the latest edition of Seek and Ye Shall Find: What Every Seeker Must Know or a shining golden Snitch with his name engraved on it. Her troubled mind was soon distracted, however, by an excited Hermione who had spotted Blu in a crowd of Slytherin girls. Abandoning, her previous companions, Blu had walked over, giving both Ginny and Hermione a warm hug.

Harry and Ron had finally fulfilled their promise and introduced Ginny and Blu who became fast friends. Ever since the Forbidden Forest incident, Blu had been wary of wandering on Hogwarts grounds alone, which meant that she spent quite a lot of time with Ginny and Hermione. It was highly probable, Ginny mused, that Blu was the only Slytherin girl to have spent the night in the Gryffindor dormitories. Those slumber parties were unbelievably fun, but, with end of term exams and Blu making friends with most of the girls in her own House, the three hadn't spent time together since the beginning of December.

"How about we go to Florin Flortiscue's for hot fudge sundaes? The Three Broomsticks is going to be filled and you know, we might meet people we're not supposed to see today there," Blu was suggesting.

"Ice cream? In winter?" Hermione queried disbelievingly, apparently thinking Blu was going mad.

"Why not? It'll be a lark, c'mon," Blu urged, dragging the other two towards the afore-mentioned ice cream parlor.

While attempting to decide between a fiery red and gold silk scarf and a sweet smelling notebook, Harry was surprised to find that Ron had disappeared. Instead, Draco Malfoy walked into the classy boutique with his customary superiority considerably diminished.

Watching with interest, Harry saw the shopkeeper, a tall witch dressed in posh black robes, approach Draco with the customary soft query. Draco murmured something before being led away towards an array of colorful shawls. Harry caught the tail end of the conversation: "pashmina, very light and warm …" and watched Draco nod and whisper something to the witch. Nodding her comprehension, the shopkeeper picked up a silver embroidered white shawl and began folding it before wrapping it in silver paper and affixing a dazzling white bow. Draco handed over what appeared to be a large sum of money before taking the package and turning to exit the store.

As Draco was walking out, however, his eyes and Harry's met and a frown spread over both their faces while each measured the other with his eyes.

"So, Malfoy," Harry inquired in measured tones, breaking the silence, "finally found yourself a girlfriend, huh? Or have you finally decided to make your relationship with that slut, Parkinson, public?"

"Don't talk about things you don't understand Potter," Draco drawled in reply, his icy blue eyes glittering with malice, "And just for the record, this is for my girl friend, not a girlfriend. Though you seem to be shopping for that Weasley girlfriend of yours. Maybe you should try buying her some essentials, like clothes, Heaven knows she's poor enough to need them." At this, Harry jumped towards Draco, arm raised, scarf and notebook both forgotten, but, before his fist could make contact, another fist had already sent Draco flying into the shelves. Looking up, he saw Ron standing there, his face as red as his hair and absolutely seething with rage.

"Don't –huff- you –huff- ever –huff- insult –huff- -huff- my family –huff- ever –huff- again!" Ron yelled at Draco, who was getting back to his feet. At this unpropitious moment, Blu and Luna Lovegood, a shy, hapless witch from Gryffindor, chose to stroll into the boutique. Running immediately to where Draco sat, Blu glanced concernedly at his bruised cheek.

"Okay," she glared at them, "what's going on?" All three immediately started yelling at once, jabbing angry fingers at each other. Blu rolled her eyes and motioned for them to quiet down. She pointed at Ron. "You, tell me, what was so important that you three idiots had to resort to violence?" Ron crossed his arms.

"Malfoy was being a huge prat, as usual," he stated matter-of-factly as if that were the most obvious truth of the world. Seeing the utterly serious expression on his face, Blu, to Ron's surprise, burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Well," she snickered, "my opinion of the maturity levels of all those assembled here today has suffered a definite decrease." Luna glanced worriedly at her.

"I-is that fair? I mean," Luna blushed, "Harry didn't do anything, did he?" Blu smirked and winked at Luna, causing her to resemble a sun-ripened tomato.

"Don't worry Luna dear, I'm not blaming Harry, after all," she paused for dramatic effect, "we all know you, mmph!" Luna's hand had effectively muffled the rest of Blu's speech, while the owner herself was blushing even redder (if that was possible) at her own boldness. Quickly, before she could wreak more damage with her careless teasing, Luna half-pushed, half-dragged Blu outside of the boutique, despite Blu's vehement protests of "hey! I'm not finished!"

As Blu was forced to leave her statement unfinished and was hauled away by Luna, Draco glanced at Harry with barely suppressed mirth.

"What?" snapped Harry irritably, wondering what was amusing the Slytherin Prince so much, "Ron, what's so funny?" Ron was too busy wiping dust off the floor as he squirmed with laughter to reply so Draco took the liberty of answering for him,

"For someone with a girlfriend, Potter, you are surprisingly dense," he chortled before picking up his package and exiting the building.

Squinting into the bright winter's afternoon, Hermione pushed open the door of Honeydukes and inhaled the saccharine aroma of chocolate and other sweets as a silver bell announced her arrival in dulcet tones. Having finished her Christmas shopping, as she did everything else, early, Hermione was amused to see the various harried looking individuals scuttling between shops with mountain-high piles of well-wrapped packages, each larger than the one before. All she had left to complete now on her list of holiday shopping, Hermione mused, was to pick up a couple tasty stocking stuffers for the young cousins that were bound to run rampant around her parents' house come Christmas Eve.

Slowly perusing the overly laden shelves of mouth-watering confections, Hermione chose a handful of colorfully wrapped French chocolates and various color-changing candy canes which boasted the flavors of mint, strawberry, and chocolate-vanilla. Placing her selections in one of the festive red and green baskets provided for the customers, Hermione slowly eased her way through the ever increasing crowd of last-minute shoppers. At the register, she was startled to see Kreacher, the surly old house-elf that had served the Black family and now served Harry, who had inherited the Black family house from his godfather, Sirius Black who was killed during a duel with his own cousin, a Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange.

"-young girl, very pretty," the old house-elf was grunting at the confused shopkeeper, who stared at him vacantly.

"Sorry sir, but I can't quite recall any specific face. As you can probably see, I cater to quite a few pretty young women in a day. Ah …" he smiled, seeing Hermione approach, "here is one such example. How may I help you, m'dear?" Hermione placed her basket on the counter, waving at Kreacher who gave her a curt nod in reply. He had never quite taken to Harry nor his friends, grumbling about how the family estates of the Black family now lay in the hands of an outsider and that even Mudbloods like Hermione were allowed to walk on "the sainted grounds that his [Sirius's forefathers had laid down through blood, magic, and sacrifice." As the shopkeeper rang up her purchases, Hermione watched the old elf curiously. He had not been known to willingly leave the ancient Black estates before, not to mention enter shops like Honeydukes in search of pretty young women. The whole time, Kreacher was furtively observing the passerby, as if searching for a certain individual that dangled the keys of life and death in his/her pockets.

"Miss? Miss?" the shopkeeper's gentle inquiry startled Hermione out of her curiosity induced reverie. Smiling a thank you to the shopkeeper, Hermione retrieved her basket and handed over a couple bronze Knuts before exiting the store, a million questions still running through her mind. One query presented itself again and again to her: Did Harry even know that his house-elf was in Hogsmeade? Weren't house-elves supposed to remain on the estates unless a direct order was issued by the master? Then why was Kreacher, as traditional and cantankerous as they came, inside of Hogsmeade searching for a young girl of his own free will? She doubted that Harry would be angry if he discovered that his house-elf was in Hogsmeade without his orders, he had always supported free will, but he would definitely be curious, as was she.

Shaking these puzzles aside, Hermione crunched her way towards the assigned Gryffindor meeting place, a frozen fountain featuring a pensive mermaid, leaving a trail of immaculate footprints in the crisp white snow.

Ron gaped openly at Hermione as the Golden Trio climbed the winding staircase to Gryffindor Tower.

"You're kidding right? You mean you actually saw that old geezer down at Honeydukes?" he insisted. Harry mirrored his expression.

"Couldn't it have been another old elf looking for his master's daughter? I mean, are you sure Hermione? Cause everyone makes mistakes now and again," he questioned in a softer hue. Hermione shook her head at their doubts impatiently.

"Have I ever been wrong before?" she demanded, "Now stop implying that I'm going insane and just accept what I'm saying. Harry's – house – elf – was – at – Honeydukes today!" The two boys shook their heads.

"But why?" Harry mused, "I can't exactly imagine Kreacher gallivanting around looking for pretty young girls …" Behind him, Ron snorted into his hand despite the gravity of the situation. Scowling, Hermione snapped,

"That's what I've been asking you guys for the past half hour!" In response to her tone, Harry and Ron immediately plastered on hilarious poker faces that would have amused anyone that wasn't as miffed as Hermione was.

"Maybe he became tired of his life as a sexless gnome," Harry suggested, "You know, the whole midlife crisis thing, that stuff does happen, right?"

"Or he might be searching for a wife for Harry; it's not as if we know that much about Black family tradition, maybe their supposed to marry early." Ron sniggered as he glanced suggestively at Harry, "Harry and Ginny sitting in a tree, K I S S I N G … First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes … owwwww!!!" His sing-songy rendition of the nursery rhyme was promptly cut short when Harry directed a well-aimed kick at his shins. Hermione rolled her eyes at the duo.

"I thought we were much too mature for this, but, apparently I was wrong. Merlin, the two of you sound more like preschoolers than young adults!" She snapped. The two had the grace to look properly abashed while Harry replied in a humorously penitent voice,

"I'm sorry Ms. Granger, we won't do it again, or," a roguish twinkle lit in his eyes, "should I say Mrs. Ronald Weasley?" Almost on cue, both Ron and Hermione turned a brilliant red and Ron started after Harry who was already halfway down the hall.

"I'll get you for that!" Ron bellowed as he and Harry disappeared from sight.

The sharp aroma of pine needles diffused from the twelve enormous Christmas trees that presided over the Great Hall and mingled with the rich smell of steak and kidney pie. Blu picked languidly at the barely eaten pie before her and sighed, what wouldn't she give for a plate of steaming pasta right now?

Yes, unfinished, unfortunately. I have a very clear idea of where to go with this, but I just can't seem to be satisfied with the bringing about, so between writing and rewriting and then deleting, this chapter just can't seem to be finished anytime soon. It's so stubborn! Argh! (Pulls out hair) So I'm posting this finished portion for now and will post the complete chapter ASAP (hopefully sometime this month). My apologies again and thanks for your patience. R&R