Chapter 4: To Forgive or Not to Forgive, That is the Question?

I was sitting in the cozy library with Draco. I could hear him muttering something to me, trying to explain what he had written about the Aguamenti Charm that he found in a library book, but my ears wouldn't let me listen. I was distracted with my thoughts about the quarrel I had just had with Harry.

He called me foolish, an imbecile, a bloody moron. Where does he get off insulting girls?

I have to associate with Draco because he's my partner for Charms- Harry needs to open up his bloody eyes. I can't be judgmental because Harry doesn't like the guy and neither did I when I first met him. But if Draco is a Death Eater he would have killed me by now, right? And Draco has done nothing wrong, so far…

I slumped further down into my seat and began fiddling with the quill in front of me while I was in a trance. It was a habit I had obtained from my father. I would always watch him at the dining table, eating his meal while scribbling down some notes he had just thought of with his quill and parchment. Except he would always tap the quill on the table first and if he was lost in thought he would begin to fiddle with it trying to solve the mystery of his new theory. I would always watch how serious his face looked. It would always scrunch up and if he was able to figure out the solution he needed, his face looked satisfied and relieved, and this always amazed me.

Whenever he finished his meal he would say good-bye to me and call me his monbellebebe. This in French means my beautiful baby. Every time he called me that I would grin and run to hug him. Except on that night he forgot to salute me and our routine was perished. Each time I think back onto that day I wonder why he never said good-bye. And out of all the days it just had to be that precise one. I remember the blast that burned with the flames emerging down the stairs. I was lucky that granddad was there on that fatal night to save me. I remember him calling me, screaming for me to stay by his side. That was the day he first called me Sabrina not Rina. He was hugging me as I watched the stairs burn. I remember shouting out for my father to know if he was alive. But I never heard a reply. Granddad gestured me to follow him. I was tailing by his side. But I had this hope that my father was waiting for me to help him. If only I was right. Ifonly.

Before granddad held on to me and apparated us to his house I was able to grab my treasured toy that was a teddy-bear my mother had knitted for me while she was pregnant with me; that was sitting on the living room lounge. I can recall watching granddads face. His eyes were wide with fright but still stern- to be in control.

When we arrived at granddads house, I remember seeing Hagrid there, and I rushed over to hug him. I had my two dearly loved teddy-bears with me.

I could feel the watery tears burning in my eyes; trying to emerge. But I clenched my teeth, my jaw hardening to let the emotion seep away back inside of me where I could keep it locked away.

I stared at Draco. Did he really have a Death Eater mark? My eyes scanned over his arms that were covered by his sleeves. I wondered if that blank inked pattern of death and a snake was embedded there.

He caught me staring, "So explain to me what you have done in the essay so that I can start combing mine with yours," I said.

He glanced at me one more time, his eyes watching me, "Here," he said pushing the parchment closer to me.

I glanced down at it and began to read.

The Aguamenti Charm creates a jet of clear, pure water or a fountain from the caster's wand…

It was a nice and simple start but I had more information to put in. So we both stayed in the library until our curfew of 10:00 p.m. was over and we had to leave the familiar library and go to bed. Before we departed Draco notified me that we were still going to finish off our homework after his quidditch practice on Saturday. During our time in the library, I didn't explain to Draco what happened between Harry and me. It was my business and he didn't need to know. But it partly was his business because Harry was accusing him of smashing his face on the train, and calling him a Death Eater. But it wouldn't do Draco any good.

For Harry's safety I didn't say anything. I didn't want to see a fight occur between them. Boys were dimwitted. But was it appropriate because we were living in Dark times?

When I got inside the Gryffindor common room I put my work down on one of the tables and collapsed on the crimson sofa; lifting up a comfortable pillow and placing it on my face. I exasperated out a big breath and heard footsteps clot down the stairs.

Then suddenly somebody snatched the pillow from me and sat next to me.

"Gallopin' Gorgons Hermione!" I spluttered out touching my chest in relief that it was only her.

"It didn't work," she said.

"What didn't work?" I asked, narrowing my eyebrows.

"Between Ron and I. He didn't start the conversation in the empty classroom. I had to. And then just as I was about to tell him my feelings I stopped myself. Because I realized he was still a boy. He behaves like a boy. And he thought I stopped talking because I was nervous and he tried to kiss me and I leaned away. He got embarrassed and picked a fight with me. Said I was flirting with Cormac McLaggen because we're in the Slug Club together. And that's when I attacked him about Lavender."

"Really?"

"I need a man," she mumbled under her breath signing.

"Don't worry, you'll find one soon enough."

She looked at me, her eyes swelling up, "But I still want Ron…"

"Oh Hermione," I said, patting her back. "Come on," I said getting up, "let's go to our room and talk there. I need to talk to you about something too."

"There's no point in going to our room."

"Why?" I asked with a questioning face turning around. She was still sitting on the couch.

"Well, Lavender and Parvati are playing truth or dare with some of the other girls. I got fed up with the game and left. Watching Lavender giggle was just…unbearable?"

"Why can't we just tell them to go play their game in another room or here in the common room?"

"They don't want to, they want privacy."

"That is bloody pathetic! It's our room too, and we want ourprivacy to talk and go to sleep," I protested stomping up the stairs.

I was a girl who right now needed to talk to Hermione about Harry and Draco and needed her beauty sleep to wash away the day's events.

As I stood in between the door to my room I saw five girls sprawled on the floor giggling over something.

"Oh, hi Sabrina, we're just playing truth or dare, care to join us?" Lavender asked with a wide smile giggling in the process.

"Sorry girls but not today, I need to talk to Hermione and we both really want to sleep, could you move your game to another room?" I asked.

"Aww, come on Sabrina, don't ruin our fun and bail on us. It would be nice to get to know you better."

"I've had a long day and all I want to do is rest, as well as Hermione here," I said as Hermione just came from behind me and was now standing next to me. We were both strongly determined girls who would not cease to stop until we got our way. Persistenttobeexact.

"Only on one condition," Lavender challenged, tilting her head back. I could tell she thought of herself as the leader of the girls.

"What? Do you want me to tell you my secret desires?" I asked sarcastically while putting my hands on my hips. All the other girls were watching with curiosity.

"No, but that would be quite interesting actually. The condition is this. I want you to go to the boys' dormitories and steal somebody's knickers and you mustn't have your wand with you. It would be cheating," she said.

"Are you serious?" I said looking disgusted.

"Of course I am, and to make it more interesting I dare you to steal Ron's."

"Eww!" I could hear all the girls laughing but Hermione next to me didn't say a word. She swore under her breath. I stared at Lavender who had a wicked smile on her face.

"Sabrina if we can't beat them we should just join them," Hermione indicated, whispering to me.

"Fine, I'll do it. But you have to come with me Lavender," I confirmed with a smirk.

"I thought you would never ask," she said touching her heart giggling.

All the other girls laughed once again. I was amazed at how confident she thought of herself to be.

Hermione looked at me disappointed and upset. Looking in her eyes she knew that Lavender was head over hills for Ron and it disturbed her to know that perhaps they could get together. I gave her an apologetic look.

"Hey, I bet five sickles his knickers are red," Lavender proclaimed showing me her coins.

"Sorry Lavender, I don't bet on anything, I only bet with my grandfather."

"Ten sickles they're black," a voice said beside me.

"Alright Hermione," Lavender said, shaking Hermione's hand.

Parvati got up from the floor and motioned for the girls to give her their coins, and she put them inside a silky bronze bag that was only six inches long, and placed the bundle on her bed-side-table.

"Come on, Sabrina, let's get into the action."

Great.Justgreat.IfIgetintroubleforintrudinginsidetheboysdormitoriesI'mdoomed. Granddadwouldkillme.Notreally,morelikelaughatmeandwhatIwasdoing. Thinking of that gave me queasiness in the pit of my stomach.

We were now standing in the middle of the common room. I was following Lavender up the boy's dormitories staircase, heaving in each breath slowly. I had changed into my pajamas before we left to make it easier for me to move, because my uniform would have been uncomfortable, and it would be easier for us to run back to our room and pretend to be asleep if McGonagall came to check on us.

We had finally reached the flat floor boards of the boy's dormitories and Lavender started perkily searching for the right dormitory. ShewasmoreintoherdarethanIwas. When she finally found the right room she beckoned me to follow her.

As she slid open the door I could faintly smell the aroma of old wood, mixed with the scent of odour from the boys. The room felt warm and comforting to be in. Once we stepped in Lavender closed the door behind us gently to not awaken the sleeping boys. I looked around searching for Ron's bed so I could get this bloody dare thing over and done with. While I was looking around I could see high, narrow windows and five four poster beds. I stepped closer to one bed and saw Neville sleeping peacefully. He was really clumsy but he was nice to me. Suddenly I noticed that there was drool underneath his mouth.

Disgusted by what I saw I moved on to the next bed and peered down at Dean who was cuddling his sheets tightly over himself. Him, Seamus and Neville were very good mates with Harry and Ron that I had learned about during the week. Thinking of Harry I found his bed and saw his sheets pulled up, covering his head. I reached out to the book that was on his bed-side-table. I opened it up gently and guessed that I saw the faces of his parents and himself when he was a toddler. His mother was really beautiful and his father looked handsome for his age. I could tell Harry resembled both of them and I flipped to the next page revealing his parents dancing around together with happy smiles at a park. Tears were brought to my eyes looking at them, knowing that when they were dancing they had no clue of what their destiny had drawn them to. Death…

I cringed at the thought and lifted one hand up to clutch the golden necklace around my neck. There was a heart locket that was attached to the necklace and inside were moving pictures of my mother and father, my father and I, and my granddad and I. Granddad had given it to me on my 11th birthday. I had always thought why he had never put in a picture of Grandma and him. I had never met my Grandmother and Granddad hardly spoke of her. I couldn't recall anytime if my father ever spoke about her either. Granddad only said that she loved my father dearly and when he was wedded to my mother she was proud of him and welcomed her into the family. He even said that she loved and was glad when she heard of the news that my mother was pregnant with me. But I knew that wasn't the full story, and one day I promised myself to find out more about my grandmother and the history of her and my grandfather and where she was today.

"Sabrina, get over here and stop day dreaming, we need to get the knickers, I found Ron's trunk," Lavender whispered with a tone of stubbornness. Shewasveryimpatient.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," I whispered back annoyed as I put the photo album back down and tiptoed over to Lavender.

I could have sworn I didn't see Harry's glasses on the table. He must have put them away in one of the draws. Howpeculiar.

Lavender lifted up Ron's trunk and gazed inside. We could see clothing, socks, some old withered books and much more. While our eyes were examining inside of the trunk I had quickly grabbed a pair of Ron's knickers. In the dark I couldn't really tell what colour they were and I motioned for Lavender to shut the trunk.

We both crept back to the wooden door and Lavender had snatched the knickers out of my hands. She hugged them snugly to her cheek and I almost puked. What sane person would do that? But a small smile seeped onto my lips and I covered my mouth with my hands as I held in a laugh. Lavender poked her tongue out at me childishly and tossed the knickers to me. I caught them and opened the door rapidly and suddenly I was face to face with Harry.

We had almost face collided into each other if it wasn't for our stunned reflexes. I could tell Harry and Ron were shocked to see me and Lavender in their room. I blushed from embarrassment when they both peered down and looked at what I was holding. My face was burning pink and I quickly brushed the knickers behind my back while Harry looked at me skeptically.

Unexpectedly Lavender grabbed my arm and pushed through the startled boys and she began running down the stairs with me following obediently behind. When we finally reached our room we slammed the door behind us and took deep breaths of air as if we had never felt more relieved in our lives. We looked at each other startled and began to laugh. It was quite funny if you thought about it. We were both humiliated but in the end we were laughing at the flabbergasted boys and the astounded looks on their faces.

I hadn't noticed that five curious girls were looking at us interested to hear the details of what happened. One,beingHermione. While Lavender and I calmed down the girls had walked over to us and began asking us nosy questions.

I put one of my hands up, defeated and explained to them what happened with Lavender elaborating on her emotions.

"So, what colour are the knickers?" Parvati asked looking at Lavender then me.

I still had the knickers behind my back and I breathed deeply, closed my eyes, and exposed the knickers to the girls as I opened my eyes. We were all shocked staring down at the knickers. I would have never suspected Ron to be wearing black underwear with shooting love hearts. I dropped the knickers on the floor appalled that I was still holding them and began laughing uncontrollably with the girls. Even Hermione was joining in, amused at what she saw.

"Well, it seems that none of you won the bet. It was a draw. So what should we do with the coins?" Parvati asked holding back fits of giggles.

"Well, since none of them won, I think we should owl them back to Ron with the coins explaining how we all got a good laugh out of it," Adrianna insisted. She was a really nice girl with an oval face and plump cheeks that stood out when she smiled. I was astonished that she actually thought of that idea.

All of the girls grinned with wicked smiles. I could almost imagine the look on poor Ron's face when he saw what he was holding and the note. I chuckled.

Finally after an hour the girls pulled themselves together and went to bed. I happily hopped into mine and closed my eyes until I remembered the look on Harry's face. I could see sorrow in his green eyes when I saw him. And looking at him made me wonder why we bickered with each other. Wasn't it all just in the heat of the moment? It was rather stupid but I was still upset with him. Thinking of him made me conjecture why he was outside creeping back inside the dormitories. ButIthoughtIsawhiminhisbedsleepingsoundly. Exactly, I heard no sounds. Why didn't I notice it before? And his glasses were missing. Why didn't it click with me? I knew it- he wasreckless! Sneaking around after hours- he was the imbecile not me! And he was with Ron. What on earth were they up to? And they were carrying some kind of material with them. It must have been his invisibility cloak he told me about. This means that he did eavesdrop on Draco…and that means Draco Malfoy did smash his face in and that he's a Death Eater.

"Blimey, did you see the look on Ron's face this morning?" Dean said.

"It was priceless, but it would never beat our spider prank last year," Seamus laughed while high fiving Dean.

"Rina, you and Lavender did a hell of a good job, nicking those knickers," Dean exclaimed.

"Yeah thanks. But I'm not that happy about it."

"Oh, don't sweat it. You haven't gotten in trouble yet, but the teachers all know about it," Seamus stated, making me bury my head in my hands.

"Fantastic! I'm doomed. Granddad will never let me forget this," I mumbled, poking at my lunch with my fork.

"So where are Harry and Ron?" Hermione asked Dean and Seamus. The boys were now scoffing down their lunch and tried to talk with their mouths full of scallops.

"We think they're off-" Dean began.

"Flyin' wround," Seamus finished.

"Gross! Cover your bloody mouths," I instructed, appalled with their behaviour.

Dean and Seamus both gulped down their food with a big swallow and one of them spoke.

"Well, you did ask us a question-"

"And we were only being polite by answering," they baffled while making puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, I get the picture. It's just that I haven't seen them since last night," I said gazing around the room.

"Don't you young ladies know where they are?" Dean asked raising an eyebrow.

"They've been avoiding us all day," Hermione said looking annoyed.

"More like me!" I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

"Speak of the devil!" Seamus said looking at the Great Oak doors.

We all turned and watched Ron stride towards us, while tripping over his own two feet and nearly falling.

"Err…hi."

"Where have you been?" Hermione inquired, furrowing her eyebrows.

"I was outside helping Harry with his homework," Ron replied pointing to the nearest window which showed the courtyard.

"Outside?" I claimed.

"Homework? The both of you?" Hermione almost choked, not believing a word Ron said.

"Well…yes!"

"As if you would be doing 'homework'. That little bugger's been ignoring me because of what happened yesterday," I declared, getting angry.

"What? Did my ears deceive me, or did you do something to Harry as well?" Dean asked leaning in to hear more.

"No, and stop being nosy," I exasperated.

"I can't help it," Dean said innocently, then he poked out his tongue.

I glared at him. Boys were useless.

"Harry and Rina had a little argument," Hermione explained. I had told her everything about what had happened yesterday, this morning during our first classes.

"Hang on. What's going on between Harry and Rina?" Ron asked, while putting down the tongs that he had been using to help himself to scallops.

"Harry and I had a disagreement last night. If you could call it that."

"Whoa, did I hear that correctly, you and Harry?" Seamus asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes."

"You hear that Dean. Now your going to have to go skinny dippin' in the lake," Seamus teased.

"But they were getting along so well. I thought they would eventually give in to each other." Dean affirmed while getting up with Seamus.

"Teenagers, you can expect the unexpected from them." Seamus verified.

"Alright, but I was sure I was going to win, darn it. I had one more week."

"No worries mate, next time- Seamus patted Dean on the back sympathetically-"Roll up, Roll up. I have an announcement. Dean Thomas will be on show tomorrow at lunch, performing his new trick with our friend, theGiantSquid." And off they went surrounded by kids asking questions, making them the centre of attention.

I looked away and got back to the point of where our conversation had led to.

"Ron, didn't Harry tell you anything, about what happened yesterday?" I asked.

He looked oblivious.

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"Fine, I'm going to go talk to him," I announced, holding in my anger.

It was the reasonable thing to do.

"Oh, and Rina. Thanks for the mail."

I bit my lip. "Sorry about that, it was Lavenders idea to go pinch them and then-"

"Nah, don't worry about it. Thanks to that, Lavender and I kind of hit it off."

My eyes were wide with shock. Hedidn't?Ohhejustdid…

"You what?" Hermione asked stunned with what words just came out of Ron's mouth.

"We were able to talk and stuff."

"I knew it, I knew it. Gosh I should have known," Hermione muttered while getting up. "How could you when I was trying to talk to you yesterday about…about," she began but then looked at Ron, "Screw it," and walked away.

"Nice work Ron," I said displeased.

"What did I do?" I heard him shout, but the words just echoed away as I left the Great Hall, and walked outside onto the courtyard.

I followed the path to the lake which was lined up with pine trees. The trees glistened in the light of the day, but since it was autumn the leaves were turning orange and red, which brought a smile to my face. Orange was a beautiful colour. I could see fallen leaves, scattered everywhere, twirling around into everlasting circles.

As I walked further down I was getting closer to a huge beech tree on the shore which had red, orange, yellow and green leaves, making it look magical. While I was advancing to the tree I could see a figure sitting down. Noticing who it was I immediately spoke.

"What's your bloody problem?"

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked staggering to get up.

"You've been avoiding me all day!" I said walking closer to him, putting my hands on my hips.

"No, I haven't. I've just been…busy," he said standing tall.

Brilliant, he's now towering over me. Curse my height.

"Really? Like with what you were up to last night?" I pointed out, staring at him.

"I think the real question is what you were doing inside our boy's dormitories?" he declared looking at me sternly.

"You would have known if you were at breakfast this morning with Ron, but you weren't."

"Well then, tell me now."

"Why should I? If you're that curious, you can go talk to Ron."

"No, I would prefer to hear it from your mouth?"

I looked away and a smirk creased my lips. He wanted to know the reason why I was inside the boy's dormitories. How was I supposed to say that I went in there to nick Ron's knickers?

"Well, what about you, why were you out of bed?"

"Don't change the subject, why were you in our room?"

"Harry its quite obvious. Why on earth would I go inside a boy's bedroom?"

Harry's face turned a shade of pink. I knew that he was probably thinking of something else with his imagination. Boys!

"No, not like that. Gross! I was dared to go in by Lavender and snatch Ron's knickers. Happy! That's why I was in there. If you want more information ask Ron. Because it's embarrassing enough telling you this face to face," I looked away again and stared out to the lake, admiring the beauty of the water and nature of the land. It was very peaceful with the wind's breeze flowing beautifully and lifting my hair.

I heard a twig snap and I looked back to Harry who was now standing closer to me. He had a grin on his face, which surprised me. I moved the strands of hair that had blown across my face and spoke.

"Why are you smiling like that?" I asked, staring at him questionably.

"I'm just finding it funny that you actually went in there to nick Ron's knickers. I thought you were up to something else."

"And this something else was what?"

"Oh nothing," he said, turning away and beginning to walk past me.

"Hey, get back here. You can't just leave and not answer my question," I said, turning around and taking a step towards his retreating back. "My eyes are bloody wide open and you probably thought I was going in there to snoop for Draco ey?" And then suddenly the edge of the earth beneath me began to sink and out of nowhere collapsed and I slipped and grabbed onto his arm and fell into the water.

"Ergh!" I muttered when my head reached the top of the surface.

"You alright?" Harry asked me.

I looked over to him and saw that he was sitting in the water too. His hair was still ruffled but it was soaked in water and his glasses had tiny water droplets on the lenses. The water was freezing, and my teeth began to chatter. And then out of nowhere I heard a laugh.

"What's…so…bloody funny?" I asked trying to stand up and falling back into the water.

"Oof"

"Just the situation that were in. And you're dripping wet."

"Well so are you."

He smoothed his hair down with his hand but it just fell back into place. I laughed at him.

"Now what?" He asked, looking at me sternly.

"Oh, just looking at you and how funny you look."

"Well what about you, your hairs a mess, and you've got dirt on your nose," he protested smiling.

I rubbed my nose with the tip of my fingers and Harry just laughed.

"You bloody liar," I shouted and whacked the water with my hand, which hit him on the face.

We both laughed together and began splashing each other with water. He kept flicking the water in my face and I tried to get closer to him to grab his hands and make him stop. Finally after five minutes of our water game I stood up and offered my hand to him. I could feel my clothes clinging to my skin and sense the quick lightness of the water poor down and drip out from my soaking clothes.

Harry hesitated for a minute then grabbed my hand and I was abruptly yanked into the water again. Hearing a huge splash while the water smashed against my face and splattered me I fell on top of him.

"Bloody Hell! What was that-"

I lifted my head swiftly and suddenly I was gazing into these dreamy emerald eyes. Remembering the phrase that the eyes were the windows to the soul I couldn't help but notice the sincerity in them. I could feel my mind being pulled into a trance that had me feeling idyllically blissful.

Hearing a voice speak I shivered and miraculously moved my eyes down to the moving cerise lips.

"So…do you still want to go to the ball with me?" I watched his lips move slowly, whilst hearing the words escape his mouth so soundly and musically. The angry thoughts in my head only moments ago were washed away with the daze I was in.

Raising my eyes and staring back at his all I said was, "Harry isn't it a bit early to be asking me?"

But he didn't answer. I just watched his eyes glisten as I understood why he was asking me so early from the actual event. I felt his cold hand caress my icy cheek, making it warm with its touch. Feeling it brush against my skin I closed my eyes to savior the moment. Listening to my beating heart, and feeling the warmness in my blood, all I could do was smile cheeringly. Hoping that this moment would last forever.

As soon as I opened my eyes all I could see was Harry's adoring face leaning in and mine following compliantly. Slowly our lips brushed together and without a doubt my arms were entwined around his neck.

In just that one kiss I could sense the passion it resembled between us, making me even more jubilant. I couldn't believe that I was actually kissing Harry! Emotions were gushing through my head and this warm fuzzy feeling had formed in the pit of my stomach. Deeming over the stance I was in my lips inched into a smile while Harry's lips were embraced with mine.

Then suddenly I heard a twig snap.

Harry and I abruptly turned our heads and I was stunned to see no one standing there. The realism of where I was came back to me and I gently let go of Harry and we both stood up, trying to help each other quickly. A smile inched onto my face as I looked down embarrassed but secretly exultant.

Harry climbed out of the lake and offered his hand to me again. This time I knew he would only heave me out of the lake not in it.

Once we were out I finally began wringing my wet hair whilst Harry was beside me ruffling his.

"So, was that a yes Sabrina?"

I looked up at him and smiled. That was all I could do while looking at his face and those shiny emerald eyes.

"Yes!" I said, surprised with my attitude towards him.

He placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. For a moment I thought I had seen a glimpse of something black in the bushes, but I was probably deluded. Harry began leading us towards the castle and all I could think about was if we both forgave each other for our both foolish behavior towards each other.

It was Saturday, around about 2p.m. Outside the suns ray's were still gazing down, bringing life to the land and smothering it with warmth, unlike the winter breeze that had begun for the change of season.

I was sitting in the library patiently waiting for Draco to come so we could finally finish our Charms essay. I was early as I was trying to avoid Dean and Seamus from teasing me. Its seems that somehow, someone saw Harry and I briefly kissing in the lake, some days ago, and it had spread around the school causing many rumors to emerge.

Some were 'PotterandDumbledorearehittingitoff'- many girls were snickering over that one, 'PotterandDumbledoremovedtothenextstep,' 'PotterandDumbledorewereseenmakingoutonthequidditchpitchwithenchantedrosesfallingfromthesky- many girls swooned over this one and came barging to me with questions saying "Aw how sweet is Harry, you're so lucky!" Though the funniest rumor was, 'PotterandDumbledoresodesperatetogetmarriedtheyhadaLakewedding,underneaththewater,inthemermaidsvillagesandgotthesquidtobetherewitnessforthemarriageceremony.'

Ever since these ridiculous rumors had spread I had been getting dirty glares from the girls, with them trying to find a ring on my finger, and whistles and stares of 'youwantmebadbaby' from the guys. How obnoxious can you get? Sheesh what was this school turning into. And still only in the first week?

My patience for Draco started irritating me and I began scribbling down notes on my parchment and observing the textbook with all the information that I needed. While I was intrigued on reading about a woman named Georgette who had been killed using the Aguamenti Charm against an attacker but it had backfired on her, knocking her out and being killed by her attacker, Draco sat himself on the left seat beside me.

I placed a bookmarker inside the book and closed it gently and smiled warmly at Draco. I thought he was looking at me grimly till I saw him smile and speak.

"So let's finish this off today," he leaned over and grabbed the notes I had written down and took some out of his bag and compared them together. He began skim reading the notes and drawing brackets over some sections.

"I think we should use this part of my notes and I like these parts in yours to finish off the essay, what do you think?" he asked indicating that he was talking to me and not talking to thin air.

I sat in my seat watching him. He didn't even ounce to look at me. He kept turning his head away, avoiding my gaze.

"Err, yeah sure."

He jotted down some more notes and passed them over to me. That's all we did in our time in the library. Writing and talking minimally to each other about the darn essay. I was getting frustrated and once we finished, I packed away my stuff, pushed my bag over my shoulder and walked around the table. Draco was doing the same though when he bent down to retrieve his bag and lifted his head up I saw a long gash on the side of his cheek.

"What happened to your face?" I asked him concerned, stepping closer to him so I could have a better look at it.

"Oh this -he covered the gash with his hand- a bludger got me in quidditch practice today, that's all," he swung his bag over his shoulder yelled out 'bye' and bustled out of the library.

I gazed at the place he was just standing moments ago and wondered what on earth had gotten into his mind. That didn't look like a bludger injury. Why was he acting weird around me now? Did it have anything to do with the rumors of Harry and me? Or was it an injury from seeing the Dark Lord? Was this evidence of him associating with Death Eaters? Was he a Death Eater?

I shoved my hands inside my pockets and floundered out of the library with questions flooding into my mind.