A/N: OK, so Beth and I are going to try to stick to a schedule this school year. Every other week, I will update TOHRS. On the weeks that I do not, Beth and I will update this story, TOHMS. Thanks for your patience, and just know that my life is really busy at the moment, so I'm going to do my best.

In the weeks after the kitchen incident, Draco seemed to avoid Megan at all costs. She told herself it didn't bother her at all. We will never know if that is true or not. But she couldn't help wondering what he thought of her. She hoped that he would think of her as an equal, not an inferior being. Not a "Mudblood." He had no idea how badly it had hurt her to hear that from someone, especially him. Megan had cut her finger to show him that there was no such thing, to prove to him that she wasn't who he thought she was. She closed her textbook, lost in thought.

"Megan. Megan. Megan!" Annie tried and failed to get her friend's attention. She snapped her fingers in front of Megan's face in annoyance. Fortunately, that did the trick. Megan finally turned to look at her.

"Hmm?"

"You okay?" Annie asked, worried for her friend's mental health. Megan blanched.

"Yes. Why?"

"Well, your face is pale, you had this blank look, plus you were staring at Malfoy."

"Oh, well..." Megan stammered, not wanting to blush in front of her friend.

"Megan..."

"I was just thinking," she told Annie, blushing furiously. Annie raised her eyebrows at Megan, and Megan looked down, angry with herself. She hadn't even noticed that Draco was in the library, let alone that she was staring at him. Did he notice her staring? Or was he equally oblivious to her presence? She hoped he hadn't noticed. Now that Annie had pointed him out, her eyes wouldn't stop wandering over to him. She had so many questions about and for him, but no way of getting answers. Megan sighed and went back to her homework.

As lunchtime approached, the Malfoy twins and their multitude of friends from Slytherin left the library, leaving it feeling quite empty. Draco turned to look at Megan with a grin on his face. Megan smiled back at him, before she'd even realized that she'd done it. Draco turned back to talk to his sister. He seemed happy, instead of his usual cruel and heartless self. He had even smiled at her. She'd smiled back. What was that about? Maybe... but Megan barely dared to think of that happening. Maybe he'd finally realized that there was no such thing as a Mudblood. That might explain why she'd smiled back at him. Otherwise, that would never have happened. Or at least, that's what she told herself. Satisfied with her explanation of the situation, Megan nearly skipped to lunch, but stopped after Madam Pince gave her a dirty look.

-o-O-o-

"Megan, what was that whole lovey-dovey smile thing with Malfoy in the library about?" Annie asked suspiciously when Megan reached the Gryffindor table and sat down.

"Smile thing with Draco?" Megan asked curiously. "What are you talking about?" Annie rolled her eyes fondly.

"Oh, come on. He smiled at you, and you smiled back. Then you got caught skipping to lunch," she explained. Then she furrowed her brow. "Did you just call him Draco?" Megan's heart leapt up into her throat. She thought fast, then came up with what was to her a plausible explanation.

"I don't call people by their last names." Annie smirked.

"Never stopped you before, did it?" Megan blushed and ducked her head, missing her friend's knowing look. "But that's beside the point, anyway."

"I wasn't aware that there was a point."

"Do you like him?" Megan's head snapped up.

"What?" Annie's gaze was steady, no trace of humor about her features to show that she was joking. Megan gulped. Her friend really was serious.

"Do you?"

"No!" Megan cried. She grabbed her book bag and strode angrily out of the Great Hall.

"She so likes him," Annie muttered to Fred and George, who had sat down across from her. Their faces broke into identical evil grins as they asked,

"Who?"

-o-O-o-

Megan stomped out to a large pile of boulders near the lake and plopped herself down. She stared out at the horizon, thinking about what Annie had said.

"It's nice out here, isn't it?" A voice said from behind her.

"Yes, it is," Megan answered, before turning her head to see who she was talking to. Draco Malfoy smiled hesitantly at her, no trace of his usual smirk. I thought all Malfoys came with a smirk, She thought, smiling to herself.

"No craziness," Draco continued. "And the sky is finally clear." Megan nodded, thinking the weather is quite possibly the only thing that I can agree on with Draco Malfoy. She rubbed the slash on her finger, before noticing an inflamed gash across Draco's whole hand that didn't seem to be healing. Had he done it himself? And if so, why?

"What happened to your hand?" She asked before she knew what she was saying. He seemed to be surprised.

"Cut it."

"Why?" Draco looked down.

"None of your business." Megan scooted over next to him and took his hand, tracing the infected cut with her fingers.

"You need to get this checked," she murmured. Draco shook his head, not taking his hand from hers, like he normally would've done.

"I don't need to," he said stubbornly.

"Yes, you do," Megan retorted.

"How would you know?"

"My parents are doctors, that's like a Healer in the Muggle world. Your hand is infected, and it's not going to get better unless you let someone look at it," she told him softly.

"Fine," he sighed. Then Draco snapped his head up to look her straight in the eye. "Could you?" Megan was taken aback.

"Er..." she replied intelligently.

"Please?" she was so thrown off by his saying 'please' that she agreed against her better judgment.

"Fine," Megan relented. Draco grinned at her. She busied herself in getting lake water to dab on the wound, effectively cleaning it. Then she ripped off the hem of her robe and wrapped it around his hand, securing it tightly with a charm. "Done." The boy looked at his bandaged hand, looking at it in wonder.

"Teach me," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"Teach me how to do this." Megan smiled a little.

"Or you could just come running to me or Madam Pomfrey with every little scratch." Draco smiled back.

"True." Megan took a deep breath, finally asking the question that had been niggling on her mind ever since she saw the cut.

"Why do you have that cut on your hand, anyway?" Immediately, she knew it was the wrong thing to say.

"You have one on yours," he retorted, all of his walls going back up.

"Yes, but I did it to show you that my blood is normal, not mud!"

"So? Since when do you care so much about what I do?"

"I don't!"

"Then why did you bandage my hand?" Megan stood up.

"Because I felt bad for you!" And with that, she stomped away, leaving Draco behind. He watched her grow smaller and smaller in the distance, feeling lonelier then he ever had in his short life.
-o-O-o-

Megan pulled out her Cleansweep 5 and carried it to the Quidditch Pitch. A gentle breeze blew through, brushing her hair back. She mounted the broom and kicked off hard, rising into the air. For the next ten minutes, she circled the Pitch, trying to get her mind off of Draco Malfoy. Megan wondered why he refused to answer her question. She supposed that if worst came to worst, she could always ask Rose, but Draco's sister hadn't spoken to her in a month. There was no guaranteeing that she would now, either. Megan leaned forward and steered her broom back down to the ground. After she dismounted, she put her broom away and made her way back into the school.

"Hey, Abbott!" Rose hailed her cheerfully the second she set foot on the main staircase.

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen my brother?"

"Last I saw him was by the boulders near the Black Lake."

"Thanks!" Rose passed Megan and dashed out the door. The siblings had become nearly inseparable over the past month. Megan couldn't figure out why. Then again, most things confused her when it came to the Malfoy twins, Draco in particular. She made her way up to the portrait of the Fat Lady on the seventh floor.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked, just like most days.

"Godric," Megan answered. The portrait swung open, and the young Gryffindor climbed through into her common room. From there, she dashed through and up the stairs to her dorm, ignoring the sideways glances from Fred, George, and Annie. She sat on her bed and pulled out her homework, beginning the one hundred questions from pages five hundred and five hundred and one in her Charms textbook. Megan had only gotten to question ten when she was interrupted by Abigail.

"Megan, there's a boy who wants to talk to you. I think he's in Ravenclaw. He said he'll wait for you out by the boulders," Abigail informed her. "I think it was really important." Megan thanked her, grabbed her cloak, and hurried out to the lake, wondering what Ravenclaw boy wants to talk to me, and do I even know them? When she reached the boulders, the boys standing there were certainly not Ravenclaws.

"What do you want?" She snapped. Draco took a small step backward, whispering to his friends,

"I can't do this." The tall, dark haired boy on the right seemed to agree, but the light brown haired one pinched Draco's arm so hard he yelped and pushed him forward until he was standing in front of Megan again. "I... I... wanted to tell you something," he said awkwardly. Megan raised her eyebrows,

"Well?

"I'msorryforcallingyouaMudblood," Draco said very quickly.

"Excuse me?" Megan asked, not quite sure what exactly she'd just heard.

"I'm sorry for calling you a Mudblood," the boy said again. She smiled, wanting to see if she could make him apologize again.

"You're what?"

"Please don't make me say it again," Draco pleaded. "I hate this." Megan sighed, not wanting to tell him what he really needed to hear, then mentally slapping herself for it.

"Do you expect me to forgive you?" All three boys looked shocked.

"Um... yes?" Draco said hesitantly. The lighter haired boy slapped a palm to his forehead while the dark haired one just shook his head.

"Well, too bad for you, because I can't," Megan told him, feeling sick.

"W...why not?" Draco asked in a tiny voice. She hated doing this to him, but it needed to be done. He couldn't just call people names and get away with it.

"Because, Malfoy, calling me a 'Mudblood' is just sick. It's going to take a lot more then words to fix it." Megan turned and walked away, nearly on the verge of vomiting at the sight of the completely and deeply hurt look on Draco's face.