I…I'm just speechless. There are no words to describe how I felt after that night. It's not as if I wanted Michaelson to declare his undying love for me afterward, but some acknowledgment would have been nice. I mean, he just ignored me when he wasn't shooting me suggestive looks. He really is a smarmy bastard. I hate him.

And I am lying. I don't hate him; at least no more than usual. So he ignored me for a couple of weeks, and it wasn't until late October that he actually acknowledged me again. By some sort of hearsay (Ananda), all the girls at Hogwarts stayed away from Michaelson, and while they were "staying away" they seemed to have a nasty little look for me. Bring it on, Barbie, I could totally take them.

Anyway, acknowledgment. He cornered me on the way to Potions and told me that he was taking me to Hogsmeade that weekend. I just stared at him and shrugged. It's always best to play hard to get with someone you want. Ananda said maybe if I played hard to get with Charles we'd still be together. Uh, eew. I adore Charles, truly I do, but the thought of dating him now that I know better and my hormones are developing seems kind of sick. Yet again…eew.

"I don't even like him Nana," Maleah whined as Ananda tried to primp her for her meeting with Michaelson.

"The devil is a liar babe," was the simple response Maleah got from her friend.

Maleah stuck her tongue out childishly before walking to her closet to look for something suitable to wear. In the end she settled for a handmade African skirt that Ayanna sent her that summer with a matching dark green top with her dark green custom made Marc Jacob sandals that Kia, Ananda's mum, had given her for her birthday.

Ananda straightened Maleah's thick curly hair and placed it into a carefully made messy bun at the nape of her neck with select strands to fall around her face. It was so calculated that it looked natural. Her face was devoid of make-up as it always was. Maleah didn't even own a tube of lipstick, but she did smear lip balm onto her lips to keep them from chapping in the cold.

Just as Maleah walked out of the dorm, Ananda handed her a trendy dark green coat with a heating charm placed on it so Maleah wouldn't freeze for looking cute.

"You look hot," Michaelson told her as they walked out of the school together.

Maleah only shot him a coy look under her eyelids.

He laughed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She leaned into his touch as he led her into the quaint village. He lead her towards Honeydukes and opened the door-but didn't leave it open for her. She brushed it off and entered behind him, not noticing the snickers of a few guys down the lane.

"Chocolate?" he asked her once she reached him.

"Of course," Maleah stated seriously. "Can't live without chocolate."

He held out a piece for her and she reached to take it but he just moved it out of the way. "Unh unh," he whispered before bringing the chocolate piece to her lips.

She flushed as she bit into the softness and let out an involuntary moan when she tasted it. A look Maleah didn't recognize passed Michaelson's face before he took her lips with his. Instantly her hands found themselves wrapped around his neck pulling him closer. It seemed as though neither remembered that they were in a public place because Michaelson placed Maleah against a wall and continued to kiss her breath away. Just as his hands wandered under tank top a voice interrupted them.

"Mike man!" a guy who looked to be a sixth year cried. "You get all the slags."

Maleah flushed in anger and was about to retort when Michaelson led her from the guy. "Here's a hint mate: don't call girls slags when they're right there," he told the boy before leading her away from the shop.

"Is that all you're going to say?" Maleah cried once she stepped outside the shop.

Michaelson shrugged. "What more do you want me to say?"

"How about defend me against a bloke who obviously thinks that I'm some sort of slag that you're shagging!"

Michaelson did not reveal that that was his ultimate plan. He was pretty sure it wouldn't be appreciated. Instead he rolled his eyes. "Relax. You're too uptight Potter."

"I…I-can't believe-forget it," Maleah stated before turning away.

"Where are you going?" he called after her.

"I don't want to see you right now," Maleah shouted ignoring the looks the third years were sending her.

Michaelson groaned and turned to meet his friends at Three Broomsticks. He'd deal with the chick later.

Maleah walked through the halls of the castle heading toward her dorm in a pissy mood. She'd deal with the asshole later.

"What an asshole," Maria announced later that night.

"Hmm," Ananda murmured playing with the food on her plate.

"Nana?" Maleah questioned quietly.

"Huh?" she snapped and flushed when she saw Maria, Jake, and Maleah staring at her. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"How big an asshole Michaelson is?" Maria reminded her with a strange look.

"Of course," Ananda agreed wholeheartedly. "Biggest there is."

Maleah rolled her eyes and "casually" glanced down the table to look at Michaelson. He was holding court as usual with his friends and their groupies. She saw one girl get a little too close and her eyes involuntarily narrowed themselves. She expected Michaelson to at least push the slag away but he only laughed and wrapped his arm around her. Now she was blazing.

"I don't have an appetite anymore," she said simply before leaving the table and the hall.

After she changed into her pajamas, Maleah curled on a couch in the common room before the fire to work on her Potions homework. No matter how gorgeous Professor Scott was, he was strict and accepted nothing less than perfect. To make matters worse, it was the year of O.W.Ls so the teachers were adding even more work to their course load.

She sensed him before he came to stand next to her. He lifted her legs up and sat before replacing them on his lap. Maleah didn't acknowledge his presence but just kept on with her Potions assignment.

"Potter," he whispered gruffly.

Sighing heavily, Maleah looked up from her parchment and gave Michaelson a cold look. "May I help you?"

He nodded. "I deserve that."

"Look Michaelson, I don't know what I was thinking when I actually agreed to go to Hogsmeade with you. Apparently you think that I'm one of your stupid little puppies that adore you and accept any treatment from you. You're wrong. I'm not going to be one of the girls you just shag and leave."

"What are you saying then?"

"It's actually pretty simple Michaelson," Maleah snapped. "I do not want to be with you. Go find some other whore to amuse you, because it won't be me."

His blue eyes darkened in anger but he only scoffed and dropped her legs from his lap before he went up to his dorm.

Maleah let out a breath that she didn't even realize she was holding. Somehow that seemed easier than she thought it would. And now she was worried.

I would've updated sooner, but i didn't get a chance to. plus, i haven't felt like writing lately so the chapters probably will come a bit slower. i posted the sequel to lily, meet a charmed one, but it hasn't gotten the response i wanted it to-i don't know. maybe a sequel was a bad idea.