Chapter Five

"Professor, I'm here for my detention..." He looked up.

"Ah good. Come with me..." he led her to the Potions classroom. "Tonight, you will scrub every desk, chair, and the floor, with this..." with a wave of his wand, a mop, bucket of water, and a washcloth appeared. "You have four hours, and give me your wand." Rayna's mouth dropped to the floor.

"What?? It'll take me weeks to do that without my wand!!"

"It's not called Detention for nothing, Miss Lauren, your wand, please..." With a glare, she took it out of her cloak she had draped over her regular clothes, and handed it to him.

"You will get this back when you're done. I will come back in four hours..." he confirmed, before walking out of the room. Rayna examined the classroom, with a sigh of frustration. Picking up the washcloth, she drenched it with water, wrung it, then set to work on the desks and chairs. She worked as fast and as efficiently as she could, so that at the end of those four hours when Snape returned, she was exhausted, but he was obviously impressed. The second she had her wand back in her hand, Rayna bolted out of the room.

Back in the common room, the first thing that Rayna noticed was a motionless figure on the couch. With closer examination, she found Draco had fallen asleep.

He didn't wait up for me, did he? Look at him, he looks tired. I bet that spider did a number on him...

She smiled, chuckling inwardly as the look he had on his face passed through her mind.

He looks so peaceful though...the way his hair clouds his eyes, the way his chest rises and falls evenly...wait, this is my friend I'm talking about.

Are you sure he's just a friend?

Yes! I mean, we just met yesterday, and not on the best terms, I might add...

Well, you never know what may happen.

Nothing is going to happen, all right?

That's what you say...

All the while her thoughts were getting carried away with themselves, Rayna had been staring at Draco. Well, more into space, but her eyes just happened to be on Draco when she zoned out. Her mind was keeping her busy that she didn't notice he had woken up.

"Geez, Rayne. I know I'm sexy, but do you really have to stare like that? Not that I don't mind or anything, but, it's kind of rude..." he commented jokingly.

Rayna jumped as his voice brought her out of her reverie. When she realized what he said, she exclaimed,

"You? Sexy?? Ha! Don't make me laugh!! And who'd wanna stare at you, save pug-faced Pansy who drools over everything you say and do anyway! Now if you'll excuse me. I happen to want to go to bed." She turned on her heel, and walked toward the girls' dormitory. As she got into bed, her consciousness came back to haunt her. Not to mention she had forgotten to feed Shimsa, who was very cranky at that point. While Rayna went about getting her cat's food, her mind raced.

See what happened down there??

What?

You two flirted.

No, we didn't!! Friends don't flirt!!

Exactly!! So, Draco's obviously more than a friend now, eh?

Look, I'm tired, all right? I don't want to talk about this right now.

Fine then. I'll be back in the morning.

All right, goodnight!

Goodnight

Two weeks later, found Draco and Rayna seated in the Great Hall, for the choosing of the Triwizard Champions. They waited for Dumbledore to speak.

"The Durmstrang Champion is, Viktor Krum!" A boy stepped down from his seat, as his buddies congratulated him before he went down to a separate room. "The Champion from Beauxbatons is, Fleur Delacour!" As she stood, a bright smile on her face, her friends applauded her, and she walked down to the other room. "And finally, the Hogwarts Champion is, Cedric Diggory!" The entire Hall went wild as he got up, shook hands with Dumbledore, and followed suit as the other two did, walking down to the room.

What happened next, the students, nor Dumbledore, expected. The Goblet went haywire, spewing red fire, as a fourth slip of parchment was emitted. Dumbledore read it.

"Harry Potter..." no one said anything, shocked at the situation. "Harry Potter!!" Yelled Dumbledore. A few people down from where Draco and Rayna were sitting, Hermione pushed Harry from his seat and nudged him down the steps. He glanced around nervously, locking eyes briefly with Rayna. She gave him a look that said What happened?? He shrugged and continued on his way to the lower room.

The chatter died down, and most of the staff had left the Hall to investigate Harry's predicament. Draco leaned over to whisper in Rayna's ear,

"What do you think happened?"

"I don't know, but I'm not about to worry Harry by asking."

"Oh."

"Wait, you're not going to rack on me for calling Harry by his first name, or mentioning him openly as if I don't hate him?"

"No, why would I?"

"That day on the train, Hermione told me that up until this year, the three of them have been enemies with all of Slytherin...of course including you..."

"Oh, that...well that's the truth."

"But?"

"But what? There is no 'but'.

"I know for a fact that you right now, isn't you."

"Meaning?"

"What happened to the past three years of badmouthing all Gryffindors, or any other House for that matter? And insulting Harry, Hermione, and Ron non-stop? You've had millions of opportunities now, but not a hurtful word has slipped."

"People change..."

"Not this drastically, within two weeks. Those three have told me loads of stories of their past years, here, and how, from the start, you were sworn enemies."

"Something's, different this year..." Draco turned away, signaling the end of the conversation.

Later that week, in the library

"Rayna, come quick!!" Hermione exclaimed. Rayna looked up from her book.

"What?"

"Malfoy's been turned into a ferret!!" That caught Rayna's attention. Throwing down her book, she sprinted after Hermione. Once they were in the courtyard, Rayna pushed through the crowd to see Professor Moody levitating a pure, bright white ferret up and down. Malfoy's friends were standing about the small animal, not knowing what to do. Next to her, Harry was laughing.

"Harry, what happened?"

"Professor Moody turned him into a ferret for trying to cast a spell on me when my back was turned." Rayna kneeled next to the ferret, as the animal looked up at her. She reached out to pet him.

"Aw, you're kind of cute as a ferret..." Rayna stretched both hands out to pick up the tiny white furball. As she cradled the animal in her arms, it withdrew from Professor Moody's figure as much as it could, burying its face within the warm fabric of her cloak. "Maybe I should keep you that way...hmmm..." when 'Draco' shook his head vigorously, she laughed. "All right, fine." Before she put the ferret down though, she couldn't stop herself from placing a kiss on the top of its head. She could've sworn she saw the white ferret go pink. Professor Mcgonagall waved her wand at him, and the ferret was Draco again.

"My father'll hear about this!!" Draco spat at Professor Moody.

"Is that a threat?? I could tell you stories about your father that would curl even your greasy hair, boy! It doesn't end here!!"

Rayna was laughing as she slipped out of the crowd, before any of her Gryffindor friends could see where she went. She caught up with him in the corridor.

"Hey! You feelin' all right?"

"Of course! That was a just a minor incident...no dent on my pride." Draco replied. Rayna stopped, frowning, and Draco stopped with her. "What?"

"I don't like it when you act that way, all prideful and snobbish. That's the old you, remember? You said so yourself." His attitude suddenly changed, and he seemed pissed at her.

"You watch it, Lauren, or I might be forced to think you like me." He stalked off, as she stayed frozen on the spot. His words echoed in her mind over and over. "You watch it, Lauren, or I might be forced to think you like me...you like me...you like me..." He seemed really mad at me, plus he called me by my last name...the first time he's done that since he learned my name. I was foolish to think he could change... She shook her head furiously, and started talking to herself again.

"Wait, why do I even care?"

You like him don't you?

"No! We've been through this before, I do not have feelings for him..."

Or do you? I told you, you never know what'll happen...

"Yeah, but it's not like he likes me too..."

You know he liked it when you held him earlier.

"He was a ferret then...what else could he have done?"

If he didn't like it, he could've bitten you to make you drop him, but he didn't even squirm! In fact, he made himself comfortable

"Yeah, well--"

"Who're you talking to, Rayne?" Rayna must've leapt five feet before spinning around, coming face to face with Ron, Harry, and Hermione.

"Oh! Hey guys! What're you doing here?" Rayna asked nervously, trying to get them off the subject of why she was arguing with her self out loud.

"Just passing through. You?" Rayna let out mental sigh of relief that they didn't ask her about her face-off with her conscience.

"Oh, same. In fact, I probably should get back to my common room now, so, see you later!" With a wave, Rayna turned and ran.

Cautiously entering the Common Room, she half expected Draco to be on the couch again. But he was nowhere in the room.

"Draco?" No reply. With a sigh, she headed to the girls' dorm.