A/N: Re-uploaded for your enjoyment! Please review.

Halloween came, and Spark and I attended Sir Nicholas' Deathday party with Harry, Ron and Hermione. The trio had been including me more in their activities since that night in the Gryffindor Tower.

The Deathday party wasn't particularly interesting for us younger – and alive – guests. There were a bunch of ghosts we didn't recognize and hadn't heard of (much to their chagrin), rotten food and bad music. Eventually we managed to escape William the Wily – a ghost who'd been caught and executed for spying on his brothers' wife – telling us the tale of his death. Harry was bright red and Hermione looked faintly sick when we left him, and escaped the party. We'd left early, and were making our way up to the Entrance Hall when Harry stumbled to a halt, grabbing the wall and looking up and down the corridor.

"Harry, what's wrong? You didn't eat any of the food, did you?"

He shook his head, still clutching the wall. "It's that voice again – shut up for a minute."

"What voice?" I asked Hermione, but she shook her head, watching Harry intently.

"Listen!" Harry said, and Ron and Hermione froze, watching him.

"This way!" He called, beginning to run up the stairs, towards the Entrance Hall. We followed him, up the marble staircase to the first floor.

"Harry, what're we…"
"SHH!" Harry hushed us again. Spark began mumbling in my pocket about the movement.

"It's going to kill someone!" Harry sounded frantic, and ran up the next flight of stairs, taking them three at a time. Is this what being a Gryffindor was like? Running around trying to save people from hidden voices? No wonder Draco thought we were a bunch of lunatics. We ran around the whole second floor, until we came to a deserted passage, where Harry stopped abruptly, causing me to skid into him. He steadied me without looking, facing the corridor like a pointer dog on a scent.

"Harry, what was all that about?" said Ron, wiping his face. "I couldn't hear anything..."

Hermione gasped, pointing down the corridor. "Look!"

Something was shining on the wall ahead. We walked closer, slowly, peering through the darkness. Foot-high words had been daubed on the walls between two windows, shimmering in the torchlight.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.

I stared at the words, and a memory flashed before my eyes. Of lying on a wooden floor, being tortured for eavesdropping – about a monster at Hogwarts, and the Chamber of Secrets.

Spark continued to grow with each feeding, and was now far too big to fit in my pocket. However, he thought (and I hoped) that he would not grow anymore. He could also fly now, and breathe a sufficient flame. He followed me about the school flying near the ceiling, however it did prove to be difficult. Namely, exhausting for him. That was added to my list of worries as well.

Draco hadn't bothered me since Professor Snape talked to him, but that worry wasn't completely gone, because I was certain he was going to do it again. So that wasn't helping either.

And, of course, living with my parents' murderer. So, normal teenage stuff, you know? Mounting stress levels and I had a sinking feeling I was in over my head as I picked at breakfast one morning. Breakfast is what I was surviving on – one piece of toast and a slice of bacon, or something equivalent to that.

Draco had passed me a note, saying meet by the Slytherin common room again, without the threat. I went, to find him already there. He took me to a deserted classroom and sat me down on a desk. He pulled several items of food out of his pockets and set them on an empty desk. I looked from the food to him.

"No." I told him. "I'm fine."

"Please, Amy?" Draco asked. He looked seriously worried, and my thoughts went back to last year, before he started hurting me. As if reading my thoughts, he took my hand. "Please, trust me again." He looked imploringly at me, and his silver eyes melted my heart.

I sat there in silence, watching him. I wanted to trust him, but I didn't know if I could. My heart continued past melting stage as he continued to look at me. I loved him. Even after what he did, I still loved him. And even though I knew he was going to do it again, I still loved him.

My will broke again, and tears started streaming from my eyes. I pulled away from him, curling up against the wall. Almost immediately, he was there; his warm arms circling around my cold shoulders. He pulled me into him, into his chest as I cried. I didn't know what to do. After the tears stopped, I stayed there, pulled close against his chest. Although, eventually that had to stop as well, and I pulled away from him.

"Please eat something, Amy. We don't want to watch you fade away, but you won't let anyone in to help."

He was right. I didn't let anyone in. No one could find out about Spark; everyone thought dragon-lizards were extinct. If they knew, it would lead to awkward questions to how I got him. If I told them about the Chamber of Secrets, the Malfoy family would get into a lot of trouble. The same if I told about what Draco did to me. And if I told them about the Dark Lord… I didn't even want to think of the results. I knew it ended in a lot of pain for me. So I couldn't let anyone in. Not even the beautiful boy sitting in front of me, my friend who I wanted back so badly.

"I'm fine." I repeated. "I can't let anybody in, but it's okay. I don't need anybody." I lied.

"God damn it, Amy! You can't keep shutting people out like this!" his face screwed up as he frowned at me. "Just eat something. Just something little even."

"I can just keep people out." I retorted. "Letting people in just hurts. Letting you in…" I trailed off.

"I just want to help you." He whispered.

"You don't want to help me. Helping me would imply you cared." I sneered at him.

His fists curled, and he slammed his hand down on the desk next to me. I flinched away from him. "I do care about you Amy. But that will only get us both hurt."

"So I'm not worth it to you." Tears spilled down my face, betraying my feelings. I hated him seeing me cry, so I slid off the desk I was perched on, intending to leave.

He raised his hand again, and I flinched again. Hurt flashed across his face as he laid his hand on my cheek, stopping my retreat. As his thumb wiped a tear from my cheek, I noticed how close he was standing, and my breath caught in my throat. He tilted my chin up, and pressed his mouth to mine, wrapping his arms around my waist. His mouth was warm on mine, and a pang of sadness filled me when he finished the kiss, burying his face in my hair as he held me close.

"You are worth it, Amy." He murmured, almost too quietly for me to hear. "You'll always be worth it. But he's so hard to fight. I don't want to be like him." He released me, stepping aside to let me leave, wide eyed and exhilarated.