More Questions Than Answers

Disclaimer: I'm Not J.K Rowling.

A/N: So, if you feel like I'm taking the story in a way you don't like feel free to tell me. I'm just doing this for kicks and giggles. Let me know. On with the show.

One interesting fact about Allie was that she dreamt in any language except for English. Not that it was amazing that she dreamt in foreign languages, she was born with an adept mind for speech. Her muggle mom had enrolled her in many language classes, which she was thankful for. She was fluent in German, Spanish, Greek, Italian, and of course English. What was strange was that the first language she had learned was English, but she was no less keen to it as she was Italian (Which she learned at age 6). Sometimes she would dream she was a young rebel on the fringes of society in early modern France and other times she would dream of distant lands where sultry Spanish accents were almost as important as competence with a sword. But one thing was always constant, the language. Having had the dream about Tom the night before worried her, not only for the fact that he had been charming and incredibly cute, but that they had spoken in English. She made a mental note to ask her divinations teacher, Professor Awena, what that meant. She trudged down the halls not even stopping to talk to the portrait of the over-weight monk that resided just outside the Hufflepuff common room. She was in a right foul mood and she was determined that everyone feel just as lousy as she did. Passing a very confused looking Argus she stomped her way to a lone seat in the middle of the table. She was angrily biting into an oddly shaped pear sized fruit with purple spots when she saw out of the corner of her eye someone join her in her solitude. A smug looking Tom was inspecting her out of the corner of his eyes. Allie was extremely annoyed with the fact that the Tom who had helped her up to bed and had shown a shred of humanity was his cold, indifferent self again.

"Oi! You just gonna sit down next to me and be Mr. I-don't-talk-or-other-wise-show-affection? 'Cause if you are, warn me. I don't feel up to that today," Allie spat at Tom. She immediately regretted it, because for a fleeting second she swore she saw hurt in his eyes.

Just as quickly as it came it passed and he sneered at her. " Well, forgive me for not being obnoxiously loud like your dear Abraxas. Your sitting in my bloody seat-"

"Oh, your bloody seat is it. Can you please show me where it says 'Mr. Riddle A.K.A King of Snakes', because my eyes deceive me. You know what, if it weren't for your pride-"

"My pride?"

"- You might just be a halfway decent fellow. But no! When are you going to learn that you can't just get by life with out letting anyone close to you? You know if you weren't so scared-"

This time he did succeed in interrupting her; he stepped towards her only allowing three inches between them. "So this is what you want. You want me to get closer to you?"

Allie was at a loss for words. Looking up to his face and then back down to her eye level (His chest) she stuttered trying to grasp a sentence. "I didn't say me. I meant you're so lonely all the time. You wear your discomfort like a favorite t-shirt. It's not healthy," she trailed off. She sounded like a worried mother, but she didn't care.

Tom narrowed his eyes accusingly. "So, your worried my behavior isn't healthy. What about yours? You prance in here from Merlin knows where, never been to Hogwarts before even though you're sixteen. You throw yourself at the caretaker and a Professor in the same day, I find you strolling around with one at an ungodly hour. You give me looks sometimes like I'm Grindelwald's doppelganger. Your mere existence raises more questions than answers." He looked at her expectantly.

"Well, I'm afraid you need to get better acquainted with disappointment, because if it's answers you seek you shall be spending more unwanted time with it." Allie turned violently on her heel and stomped off. Not stopping for any of her friends, not stopping for any of the staff, and definitely not stopping for a rather annoyed ghost who walked into her path. Her thoughts were a flurry as she paced up and down a hallway she had wandered into.

I can't believe the nerve of that git. I can't believe he had the nerve to question me; he's the future bloody dark lord. Ugggggh. I wonder why he still hasn't gone even a little bit evil; I can't catch him hurting a freaking fly. That's it, drastic times calls for drastic.

Allie had made up her mind. The next day she wood start out to find the room of requirement, then she would start cooking up a steaming batch of polyjuice potion. Her plan was simple: she would disable Cygnus and grab a couple hairs. After she was cleverly disguised as him, she would work her way into the boys' dorm and try to find out what Tom talked about to the only boy in their house that was semi-civil to him. It was fool proof, that is to say if Tom didn't question her really being Cygnus or if she didn't make the potion right and she got sick because of it. Or… She really needed to stop being so negative. She walked to the greenhouses 30 minutes earlier than usual.

She had calmed down from her little 'episode' despite he being in all of her classes. Towards the end of the day she sauntered to her muggle studies class lazily, happy that the brunt of her workload was over for the day. She was also very excited for the acting she was going to be able to do. She hoped she got a good partner, maybe a Hufflepuff. They would probably cry easier. She walked over to Fenwick's desk and proudly sat her bag full of scrolls down.

She beamed at him. "There they all are. Some of them you won't recognize because there my…err…personal work." She hated copyrighting other artists' work, but she could just out and say 'Oh, you've never heard of that movie because it won't be made for another fifty odd years in the muggle world.' That would be very detrimental to her cause, indeed.

Her Professor looked over her work with a scrutinizing eye. "Well, I can definitely tell a teenage girl wrote these. There all romances," he said with a fake grossed out tone.

"Yeah well, if all of the Hufflepuffs eyes are wet then my work here is complete," Allie said with a wink. She turned to seat in her seat alongside a nice, heavy fourth-year in Ravenclaw.

Professor Fenwick took center stage. Literally. He had turned half of his classroom into a stage fit for Broadway. After a few dramatic moments, he was washed in a bright, yellow spot light. " We become just by performing just actions, Temperate by performing temperate actions, and brave by performing brave actions. Today, I want you all to come out of your comfort zone and act. Act like you're somebody else, act like you're somewhere else, and I don't care how you act so long as you do just that. If you reach under your seats you will find two envelopes. The seats you chose today have chosen your partners. Subsequently, you together have chosen what scene you both will be doing today. You may now seek out your partner."

Everyone was a flurry of action. Almost as soon as he said that everyone had reached under his or her desk. Allie was just as excited, but was logical and calm. She knew no matter how fast she went she'd still find out who her partner was, regardless. She opened her envelope to find a key. Looking around she figured out that half of the class had either a lock or a key. She now realized what she was meant to do. Wander around aimlessly until she opened someone's lock. After a few minutes of chaos, she saw the numbers of unmatched people dwindle. Sitting in the back of the room was an unpaired

Tom. Still looking as haughty and smug as he did that morning.

No bloody way.

She was unattached to her corporal self as she glided towards him. She knew if anything were fair and just in the world, she would be paired with the heavy-set younger boy she was previously sitting next to. If there were any higher being with a shred of pity and care she would wake up from this nightmare to find she was still laying on the couch in the common room. If life were fair.

She was standing before Tom, under his twisted, angry face. She was out of body when she calmly took his hand and guided her key into his lock. Twisting it ever so slowly, she gasped.

Click.

That tiny noise condemned her to her fate. Whoever was watching from up above had a serious hatred for all things Allie Dumbledore.

Tom looked on with incredulity. "Where is your second envelope?" He asked, a hard, cold edge to his voice.

Allie still beside herself with disbelief handed it to him. He fumbled with both of their envelopes and whispered something confused.

Allie looked up, hoping she hadn't heard what she had heard. "What was that?"

He looked straight into to her eyes, jade green to steel grey. "Pride and Prejudice. What is it about?"

Allie shook her head. "Well I'll be damned… It's a muggle romance story that's set twenty years ago in England."

An excited Fenwick who explained swept up the pair. "Allie since you are experienced in this, I was hoping you would go first. Splendid. Okay, you and Mr. Riddle take the stage. Oh, wait what are we going to do about costumes." He thought for a moment, tapping his wand on his chin. "Okay, this should suffice." He transfigured Allie's robes into a flowing white dress that was fitted from the waist up. Her hair was swept up into a elegant twist with loose curls framing her face. Her lips were painted with a deep, burgundy red color that stood out against her tanned skin. Tom however, was dressed in very well fitted trousers, showing off his toned legs. He wore a waistcoat that was a deep shade of blue, and his under shirt was of some kind of fluffy, ruffled material. His hair was swept into elegant yet somehow still messy curls and at that moment he was no longer Tom, he was Darcy. Now she not only hated him for being Tom, but for also being Darcy. Both were alike, both proud and stubborn. And socially awkward. Fenwick shoved copied scripts into there hands and pushed them on stage. "You got five minutes to remember lines. Good luck."

They both stood looking around unsure of what to do next. Tom was the first to break the silence. "We should go ever lines. You go."

Allie eyed him. "Actually, I know all of the lines. This was my favorite book last summer, we should probably go over yours."

They spent the five-minutes arguing about whose lines they should go over. Fenwick made the call that they had thirty seconds till curtain and Allie and Tom sat there center stage, staring at each other with malice. The curtain drew back and Allie forgot where she was.

Tom's first line rang out, confident. "I love you. Most Ardently. Please do me the honor of accepting my hand."

His outstretched hand was very enticing indeed, but Allie walked by it as if she didn't care at all. "Sir, I appreciate the struggle you have been through indeed, and I am very sorry to have caused you pain. Believe me, it was unconsciously done." She said the last part sarcastically, but only Tom caught it.

Tom looked incredulously at her. He was good indeed, "Is this you reply?"

"Yes sir," said Allie politely.

Tom looked on in disbelief. "Are you… are you laughing at me?"

"No." Although, inside Allie indeed was.

Tom's cynical tone rang out. " Are you *rejecting* me?

"I'm sure the feelings which, as you've told me have hindered your regard, will help you in overcoming it," Allie languidly told Tom.

"Might I ask why, with so little endeavor at civility, I am thus repulsed?" Tom asked.

"And I might as well enquire why, with so evident a design of insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your better judgment," Allie ran up to him angrily.

"So this is your opinion of me. Thank you for explaining so fully. Perhaps these offences might have been overlooked had not your pride been hurt by my honesty..."

Allie angrily countered, "My pride?" She felt a sense of déjà vu from their fight earlier that day.

Tom however was unaffected continuing,"...in admitting scruples about our relationship. Could you expect me to rejoice in the inferiority of your circumstances?"

Allie laughed bitterly. " And those are the words of a gentleman. From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry."

They stood a while, huffing and puffing from their angry dialogue. For a moment, Allie swore she saw Tom tilt his head ever so slightly. They faces were inches away, growing closer and closer to each other. A loud cough in the audience stole Tom's attention away.

He looked sobered, aware of where he was. He bowed lowly saying, "Forgive me, madam, for taking up so much of your time. " He swept off the stage, leaving Allie alone on the big stage. And confused, along with her classmates that had witnessed the fake (but all too real) fight. He almost kissed her. To hell with the script, he had that look in his eyes that said he really meant it. Allie was confused and tired and mad and hopeless and angry and scared and so many other things she didn't have names for. Tom had left her high and dry.

And wanting answers.

YEAHH! Okay, so that scene was obviously from Jane Austen's, "Pride and Prejudice." Ch.9 down, hopefully I can get the next chapter up within a couple days.

Anywho, keep on keeping on.

XOXO

-Ella Mentry.