A/N: I didn't think I'd be able to get this out on time, due to... certain events, but I was wrong. Dedicated to XxX Fred Weasley's Wife XxX for being the first person to put this story on story alert. Please review.

She couldn't think. She couldn't breathe. Not with him standing there staring at her. Now, Megan Abbott may have been a Gryffindor, but at that moment, she did the most Slytherin thing possible. She turned around and ran. No asking him why he was there. No greeting. Nothing. Just her feet leaving tracks in the snow.

Megan dashed into her house and slammed the door behind her.

"Don't do that!" her mother's voice wailed from the kitchen. Megan sighed. Her mother was having a tough time again. Sometimes Megan just wished she'd disappear. Then she felt disloyal for thinking that.

"Sorry!" she called back, not really sorry at all.

"Supper's ready!" her father announced. The Abbotts sat down to their last family dinner before Megan and Hannah would be going back to school. The twins ate in silence, casting fearful looks at their mother. Anything could set her off at any given time, and they needed to be ready to run if and when it did. Soon enough, it happened. Lexa ate a bite of steaming hot potatoes. They burned her mouth, so she started crying and screaming and carrying on. Megan and Hannah fled to their rooms.

-o-O-o-

Megan shut the front passenger side door of the car. Hannah got out on the other side, but in the back, along with their mother. Her father got the bags and they all walked through the barrier, dreading the moment of goodbye.

"Goodbye," Megan said, hugging her father tightly. She ignored her mother.

"Goodbye, Monkey. Take care of your sister for me, okay?"

"I will," Megan lied, then stepped onto the scarlet engine. She searched the halls until she found Annie sitting in an otherwise empty compartment. Megan sat down across from her friend, and looked at her parents on the platform. She looked at her mother, and was suddenly filled with a sense of dread. Somehow, she knew that this was the last time that they would ever come face to face.

"Megan!" Annie exclaimed. Megan got the feeling that this wasn't the first time that her best friend had said her name.

"Sorry," she apologized quickly. "What were you saying?" Annie rolled her eyes.

"How was your Christmas? Mine was alright. That's a nice necklace. Who's it from?" she said all of this very fast.

"Mum had a few of her spells again," Megan said slowly. Annie grimaced sympathetically. She knew all about Lexa Abbott and her psycho spells. "Other then the Christmas was okay. The necklace was a gift."

"A gift? From who?"

"There wasn't a name. Someone signed it SA on the bottom of the box. I'll show you later."

"SA?" Annie squealed, all of her previous annoyance forgotten. "Megs, you have a Secret Admirer! Tell me everything!" And Megan did. She told Annie everything, even about her meeting with Draco and her flight from it. Annie's eyes widened throughout the story, until Megan got to the part where she ran away from Draco. That was when she burst out into giggles.

"You ran away?" she laughed. Megan blushed and nodded.

"You would've too!" she protested. "He was just standing there, with his hair all touseled and his cheeks all rosy like he'd been running. I didn't want to embarrass myself, so I ran away!" Annie stopped laughing, her mouth drawing together at the corners.

"You didn't want to embarrass yourself in front of him?" she gasped. Megan nodded, confused. What was the big deal? "You like him!" Megan blanched.

"I do not!" she protested, feeling offended. How could anyone like that pompous prat? "Why would you say that?"

"Think about it," Annie said slowly, as if she was explaining something to a very small child. "You get all red when I mention his name. You didn't want to embarrass yourself in front of him. You like him. Just admit it. It's not all that hard."

"Annie!" Megan exclaimed, shocked. "Stop it!"

"What?" Annie fired back. "It's true! You just want me to stop because you don't like what I'm saying!"

"Shut up!" Megan stood up from her seat and marched out the door, slamming it behind her. She stumbled down the corridors, half blinded by tears. She and Annie had fought more this year then they ever had in the entire history of their friendship. She opened the door to the first empty compartment she saw and staggered inside, flinging herself down on the seat. She was too busy crying to hear the compartment door slowly creak open and closed.

"Megan?" a soft voice asked. Megan lifted her head. Draco was standing there, an ashamed look on his face. She scrambled away into the corner of the seat, feeling almost like a cornered animal.

"Go away," she whispered, not really having the strength to argue at the moment. He seemed to sense this, and didn't leave, instead coming to sit next to her.

"What's the matter?" he asked, in a strangely soothing tone. She shook her head.

"Why would I tell you?"

"Because you can trust me." Megan let out a strangled laugh.

"Trust you?" she said incredulously. "Why?" Draco shrugged.

"You trust my sister, don't you?" She thought it over, then reluctantly admitted that yes, she did. "So that means you can trust me by extension," he reasoned. Megan had to admit, he had a good point.

"Annie and I had another fight," she said quietly, almost unable to believe she was doing this. Draco frowned.

"Another? Why?"

"She was falsely accusing me of something." Draco scooted closer to her. She found herself not caring.

"What did she accuse you of?" Megan gulped.

"Liking you," she answered softly.

"And what did you say?" Draco asked, his voice so low she could barely hear it.

"I said I didn't," she admitted. He moved away from her like he'd had an electric shock.

"I see," he said coldly. "I suppose you want me to leave now. Good day."

"No," Megan told him, her voice trembling. "I want to try to be your friend." Draco whipped back around, his gray eyes blazing with an unrecognizable fire.

"Really?" he asked, unable to believe his ears. Megan just nodded.

-o-O-o-

"Today's the first day back. What should I wear?" Annie paced back and forth across the floor of their dormitory, talking more to herself then Megan. Megan grinned, glad to have her best friend back. Annie had hunted her down after the feast, and had apologized profusely. Now things between the two Gryffindors were back to normal. Annie tore through her closet, trying to find her robes that she was already wearing.

"You look fine," Megan told her, trying to get her friend to calm down just the slightest bit. She really didn't understand what it was with Annie and clothes. Megan was simply dressed in her uniform, with her SA necklace as her only accessory, and she was perfectly comfortable.

"You think so?" Annie asked anxiously, blue eyes wide."Then let's go down."

"She's finally ready," Megan mumbled, before following her friend down to breakfast.

-o-O-o-

The next day, Annie woke up in the morning and was feeling very ill. Megan, being the person that she was, took her friend to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey insisted that Annie stay there for the morning, so Megan headed off to class by herself.

She sat down in Charms just before the bell rang. Flitwick tapped the chalkboard a few times with his wand, and words appeared for the students to copy down. Out of the corner of her eye, Megan saw the door slowly swing open. Had Madame Pomfrey let Annie out early? Maybe not. Draco walked through the door, trying yet failing to go unnoticed.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Professor," he said in an apologetic tone.

"That's twenty points from Slytherin. Go take the seat next to Miss Abbott," Flitwick said sternly. Draco hung his head in shame and walked over to Megan's seat, sliding in next to her. Some girls would kill to be in my position, Megan thought ruefully to herself. Or maybe not kill. After all, it's only Draco. They'd probably maim instead. Girls like Pansy Parkinson, who was shooting Megan death rays out of her eyeballs.

"Megan," Draco whispered, nudging her arm.

"Yeah?" she whispered back, keeping her eyes on her notes so Flitwck would think she was working.

"Can I borrow a piece of parchment?" Megan carefully extracted one and handed it to him, blushing when her hand made contact with his.

For the rest of class, Megan tried to concentrate, but found it hard to do with Draco sitting next to her. It wasn't that he was doing anything to her, because he wasn't. He was just taking notes. But there was something about his presence that made a fiery blush creep up and stain her cheeks. She looked over at him. Draco was concentrating intently on copying down the notes from the board. His pale blond hair looked just as perfect as always. He looked almost cute, with the sunlight glinting off of his hair. Then Megan mentally slapped herself. No. She could never call him that. She could never call him that, even if it was to save her own life.

-o-O-o-

"Megan!" Annie exclaimed at lunch.

"Annie, you're looking much better!" Megan commented cheerfully.

"Yeah. So, what did I miss in class?"

"Well, I had to sit next to Draco for all of Charms. Other then that, not much at all." Annie's eyes sparkled, but she held her tongue.

"Why did you have to sit next to him?" she asked instead.

"Professor Flitwick sent him to sit next to me because he came in late. It was more of a punishment for me then it was for him. How was the Hospital Wing?"

"Very boring," her friend replied, grimacing. The girls talked about meaningless subjects for the rest of the meal.

-o-O-o-

Inside the cool interior of the Library, Rose sat at a table, writing something. Megan approached her and sat down.

"Hi, Megan," Rose said serenely, putting away her parchment.

"Hi, Rose," Megan replied, smiling. "How was Christmas?" It took a while for the Slytherin to respond. When she did, it was only to say,

"It was alright. How was yours?"

"Fine." Megan watched as Rose's best friend Lily squeezed through the Library doors, wrinkling her nose at the smell of old books.

"Hi, Rosie!" she said brightly. "Hi, Abbott!"

"What's up, Lil?" Rose asked, grinning at her friend.

"Jules needs you in the Commons. Says it's an emergency."

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, concerned.

"Dunno. She just told me that she needed to talk to you about something."

"I'm on it." Rose slipped out of the Library, presumably in the direction of her Common Room. Now Megan was left alone with Lily. She chewed her lip nervously.

"So, Megan Abbott," Lily said. Megan jumped.

"Yes?" she asked, somewhat fearfully.

"Do you know a girl in third year named Leona Gryffin?"