Chapter Four
Later that evening, as Rayna turned a corner on her way down to the Slytherin Common Room, she came upon a clique of other Slytherin girls. The dark haired girl, whom Rayna knew as Pansy Parkinson, headed up the group. Pansy stepped up, blocking Rayna.
"It's the girl from the train, everyone, run!!" Pansy mocked, rather stupidly, I might add, trying to get her girlfriends to laugh along. They all did, which just showed Rayna how dense they were. Pansy continued, "You may have been able to piss off my boyfriend, but I'm not as soft..." to add an effect to her words, Pansy stepped up to Rayna. Pansy stood somewhat taller than she did, but Rayna knew she had the advantage of brains over Pansy.
"Pleasure to meet you too, Parkinson." Rayna simply stated, before passing Pansy's shoulder and getting on her way.
"Hey now, you don't just walk away from me like that! You don't know who you're talking to!"
Rayna paused, not turning around, slowly pulling her wand from her robes.
"Tell me, Parkinson, do you like birds?"
"I...what?"
"Do you like birds?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess."
"Good, because I have a gift for you. I hope you will accept my apology for pissing off Malfoy. Will you?"
"Um, I suppose...?"
Spinning around Rayna pointed her wand at Pansy while thinking, Avis Oppugno!! A small flock of tiny birds flew out from the tip of her wand and attacked Pansy, pecking at her face. She screamed in fright and pain, as Rayna continued,
"What's the problem, Parkinson? They're just little birds, and besides, I thought you said you weren't as soft as your boyfriend...you should be able to handle them without him...or me. Goodnight, Parkinson." With a smirk, Rayna turned on her heel and walked down to the Dungeons, and the Slytherin Common Room.
When she went in through the portrait hole, she found Malfoy in a big armchair, staring into the fire. There was a relatively disturbing look on his face that Rayna translated into an irate look. She went to sit on the couch.
"Looks like someone's in a bad mood." At her voice, Malfoy's head shot up, his eyes wide. Rayna chuckled. "Oh I'm sorry, did I startle you?" His face went sour when he realized who it was.
"What's your name again?"
"I never told you my name."
"Fine, if you want to get technical: What is your name?
"Rayna Lauren. And I never caught your first name, Malfoy."
"Draco. So what're you doing here, Rayna?"
"Well, in case you haven't noticed, Draco, I too, am in Slytherin." She gestured to the emblem on her cloak. With one glance at it, Draco rolled his eyes.
"Oh, great, whoopee..."
"What? Scared that I might beat you up again?"
"Hey, back off, all right? No one does that to me and gets away with it, got it??" Rayna put her hands up defensively.
"Tsk, tsk, a bit sensitive, are we? I think I have just the thing to cheer you up..." Rayna grinned at him, and he looked at her weird.
"I bumped into your girl in the hallway."
"My girl??"
"Pansy Parkinson?" His eyes widened again, and he shook his head vigorously.
"Oh, hell no, she is not my girlfriend. She just thinks she is, and so acts like it. But I don't like her. Ew, no..." He shuddered at the thought.
"Well, about cheering you up..." Rayna counted down on her fingers. "Three, two, one..." At that moment, Pansy burst in through the portrait hole, her gang stumbling in after. The birds were still harassing her.
"Draco!!!!!!!!!! Help!!!!! Dra—Draco!!!!!! Get—get them away from me!!" She ran over to him. Her face was somewhat bloodied up.
Draco had been laughing his head off ever since she came in, and he saw her predicament. He sat up, clutching his stomach. He pointed to Rayna.
"You, are a genius!!" I stood and took a bow.
"Thank you, thank you very much..." Malfoy caught his breath.
"And, as much as I'm loving watching this, I think you should call the birds off. You'll get in trouble." Pansy yelled,
"To hell you'll get in trouble!!" Rayna rolled her eyes, and pulling out her wand, she waved it in Pansy's direction. She thought, Protego oppugno!
Immediately the birds stopped attacking Pansy, and flew over to perch gently on Rayna's wand, as there were only four or five of them. Draco, his laughter dying down, though he was still chuckling, stood up.
"Come on, Parkinson, I'll take you to the Hospital Wing. Later, Rayna."
I guess he's forgotten that he hates me. Oh well, he doesn't seem like that bad of a guy, and if he can live with it, so can I.
As the two left, Rayna kicked back on the couch having removed her shoes. Well, that was eventful.
She fell asleep with a smile on her face.
The next morning
"Rayna? Rayna! Rayna wake up!!" Rayna slowly opened her eyes and found herself eye to eye with Draco. Apparently, he had been sitting on the table, bent over her, trying to wake her up. She gasped, having been startled, and moved back a bit.
"What is it?"
"Breakfast is about to be served...and, you probably want to, uh, freshen up..."
What is he talking about? Wait, screw that, how did he get in here??
She sat up and looked around, and found she had spent the night on the couch in the Common Room, and so had not changed.
Oh, I thought I was in the Girl's Dorm...
"Why did you even bother to wake me?"
"Well, soon this place is going to be filled with all the remaining students in Slytherin who haven't gone down yet, and I thought I might do them a favor by getting you out of here." He replied, half-serious and joking.
"Oh, right. So, are we friends...now?" He had to think about that.
"Are you a pureblood?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I can't promise you anything, but I can say we're..." he paused, searching for the right word, "mutual."
"Okay then...I'll be right down." Rayna went to shower and change. 30 minutes later, she and Draco were making they're way up to the Great Hall. He seemed a bit surprised to see students from other schools there. But the thing that caught his eye was the large goblet that stood on a platform on one end of the Hall. From the goblet spewed a blue fire. Rayna noticed his look of confusion as they sat down to eat.
"If you hadn't left when you did yesterday, you would know why that's there."
"And, why is that there?"
"That goblet will be choosing contestants for the Triwizard Tournament."
"Triwizard Tournament?"
"'An event that brings together three schools'" replied Rayna, quoting Dumbledore, "...to endure three different tasks...see those boys in brown sitting at the end of our table?"
"Yeah..."
"And those girls in blue at the Ravenclaw table?" She waved at Celeste.
"Yeah..."
"They are from Durmstrang Academy and Beauxbatons Academy of Witchcraft."
"I see. So when is this to occur?"
"In two weeks, the goblet will pick. But, you have to be 17 and older to enter."
"Oh bull."
"You can never be so sure, because the way Professor Dumbledore described it, it sounds pretty tough. He kept emphasizing things like 'If chosen, you can't back out,' and 'once in, you're on your own.'"
With that explanation, breakfast continued. Afterward, Rayna and Draco were making their way to their first class of the day.
"Miss Lauren, may I please see you in my office?" Rayna and Draco turned to see Professor Mcgonagall.
"Okay..." Rayna gave Draco a look that said, Here we go... Draco grinned, and bit his lip to prevent himself from bursting out laughing. He bent down to whisper,
"Good luck with that."
"Mr. Malfoy, you will continue on to class." Professor Mcgonagall instructed. Just as Draco walked off, Ron, Harry, and Hermione exited the Great Hall. They hadn't seen Rayna with Draco.
"Hey, Rayna, you coming to class?"
"Um, I'll be right there..." she replied, gesturing to Professor Mcgonagall, letting them know she had to go to the office.
"Oh, right, well, see you there then."
Rayna followed the Head of Gryffindor to her office. Upon entering, Rayna saw that Pansy was sitting in one of the chairs. She immediately noticed all the little scars Pansy had, decorating her face. Rayna snickered; she couldn't help herself.
"Gee, Parkinson, I knew you needed a facelift, but seriously, who did you go to? Because with that new look of yours, you could easily be hired for a job as a scarecrow..."
"That's enough, Miss Lauren," Professor Mcgonagall demanded firmly, "now, I know you're new here, but attacking another student like this will not be tolerated. Detention tonight, Miss Lauren. Your Head of House, Professor Snape, will deliberate that. Now go, you're both late for class." Rayna nodded and did not have to be told twice to leave. She was out the door years before Pansy. She finally found the classroom she was to be in for Defense Against the Dark Arts. The Professor looked up.
"Ahh, a late comer. Have a seat in the back, will you?" Rayna did as she was told, spotting Draco in a seat a few rows in front of her. He turned around to give her a smile. Over to the other side of the classroom where all the Gryffindors were, her eyes came across Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Looking back to the front, she noticed the board.
Moody. Professor Moody. Unforgivables. Wait, we're studying the Unforgivables??
"Now, can anyone give me a curse? Mr. Weasley!!" Ron's head shot up.
"Yes??"
"Stand!!" Ron did as told.
"Give me a curse..."
"Well, there's the Imperius curse..."
The Professor took a spider out of a jar. Pointing his wand at it, he enlarged it, then Imperiused it. He caused it to land on various students and Rayna found herself not paying attention much, until she noticed the spider had landed on Draco's face. After that, the look he had on his face, never left Rayna's mind. She laughed, as one of Draco's friends tried to bat the spider away. The events after that, Rayna couldn't remember, as she probably fell asleep. Apparently Professor Moody's 'all-seeing eye' didn't work that well.
That evening
"Hey Rayne, where're you going at this time of night?" Rayna turned to see Draco coming from the boys' dorm. She couldn't help but notice his pajamas. The top two buttons of his shirt were undone. She shook her head to clear her mind of the image.
"D--detention. W--with Professor S--Snape." She found herself stumbling over her words.
"Oh, I'm sorry...good luck." He grinned evilly. Rayna rolled her eyes.
"Thanks, Draco," she said sarcastically. "See you later."
"If you come back, that is..." he mumbled to himself.
"What??"
"Nothing! Just, go..." he said hastily, hoping to escape her moodiness. With one last glare, Rayna turned on her heel, and marched out the portrait hole. She made her way to Professor Snape's office.