Chapter 5

Bonjour, it's me again, Felicity. I was singing as I walked to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Nobody was in the corridor (but even if there were I would have been singing anyway)."I tooold the witch doctor you didn't love me truuue; I tooold the witch doctor you DIDN'T love me niiice; and-""FELICITY!"I froze in the middle of the empty Entrance Hall, and waited for Draco to catch up, without turning to look at he reached me, I noticed that he looked much better than he did last night—there was no sign of the bump on his head. "Why didn't you tell me she was a Weasley?" he demanded.I decided to play dumb. "Who?" I asked innocently, flipping my jet-black hair out of my eyes."You know who."I gasped dramatically. "You-Know-Who is related to the Weasleys?"

"Felicity" he growled.

I exhaled heavily. "Because I knew you'd be mad and start lecturing me."

At that moment, I spotted Montague coming down the stairs. Talk about a speedy recovery! I waved cheerfully to him.

He froze with a horror-struck look on his face, and then proceeded to run back up the stairs.

"What's up with him?" Draco asked me, curiously watching Montague flee.

I shrugged, trying not to snicker. "Beats-hehe-me."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Uh..." I floundered. "ANYWAYS, why were you all beat up last night?"

"Don't change the subject!" he barked, arms crossed over his robes. "I can't BELIEVE you didn't tell your OWN COUSIN that your BEST FRIEND is a WEASLEY!"

I looked down at the floor and assumed a look appropriate to a child who had just spilled their milk and was thoroughly ashamed of it. "... Sorry."

He sighed. "A blood traitor. I still can't believe it... MJ's a Weasley?" he whined again.

"And to think, I tried to ask her out!""YOU WHAT?" said a new -oh.

I was just going out on a limb, but I had a feeling things were about to get messy.

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Hi, Readers. It's MJ again. I winced as my cousin shouted. Talk about your rotten timing. Why did he have to walk me to breakfast? Why?

Flashback

I exited the Hufflepuff common room, singing, "Rising up! Back on the streeeet; did my time, took my chaaanceees. Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet, just a—"

I froze: For there was Ron and his friends from last night, waiting for me. I was pleased to see that they didn't bear signs of an epic fight (since I had missed it).

"Well, hi!" I greeted them.

"SOMEONE has some explaining to do!" Ron snarled angrily, crossing his arms.

I scoffed. "You sure do! I've been here for two and a half days, and you haven't even introduced your friends!"

His expression clearing, he turned to his friends, "Oh, well you see this is—WAIT A MINUTE!" he roared, whipping back around to face me. "DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!"

The girl shook her head and reached out her hand. "I'm Hermione Granger" she told me as we shook hands. She then gestured to glasses-dude. "And this is Harry. Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter?" I squealed. Then I realized how fangirl-ish I must have sounded. "I mean, uh… that's a nice name" I recovered. He looked amused.

"I'm MJ" I told both of them. "Just in case my DEAR cousin" I glared at Ron, "hadn't told you."

He stood there, arms crossed the whole time. "Well now that we've exchanged pleasantries" he snarled, "let's get down to—"

"Can we walk and talk?" I interrupted. "I'm starving."

"FINE!" he snapped.

So we started walking.

"I can't BELIEVE you didn't tell me she was a MALFOY!" he shouted at me as we meandered down the passage.

I sighed. "Can you yell any louder? I'm sure there are still a couple of people on the top floor that didn't hear you."

He glared, but the next time he spoke it went down a few decibels. "So why didn't you tell me when I met her last summer?"

"Because I knew you'd freak! Duh!" Hermione snorted beside me as we strolled on.

"Good call" she murmured.

I noticed that Harry seemed a bit tense. I'm guessing he hates Malfoy almost as much as Ron.

"Besides" I said treading along, "she's not really related to the Malfoys; her mom was a Black."

"Her mum is a Black?" Harry sounded really interested.

"Yeah" I told him. "She has three sisters, I think."

"Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda?"

"Yeah! That's it. And Narcissa is her mom's twin sister-" I frowned at him. "Wait, how

do you know so much about them?"

"Uh..." he suspiciously avoided eye contact.

"Most pureblood families are well-known" Hermione cut in.

"Really? I don't know a lot of them..."

"Yeah, well, maybe it's a British thing!" Ron suggested, much too cheerfully; he was repeating my explanation I used whenever he said something weird. I saw Hermione and

Harry wince out of the corner of my eye.

Before I could say anything, we were in the Entrance Hall and Malfoy was yelling at Lis.

"MJ's a Weasley? And to think I tried to ask her out!"

"YOU WHAT?" Ron -roh.

This was going to get really ugly really, really, really fast.

"I'm... going to go to breakfast," I said trying to sneak away but Ron grabbed me by the collar, his face turning a gorgeous shade of rage red that clashed with his hair.

"He-asked-you-out?" he asked, his voice quiet, which made it sound even scarier than when he yelled.

"Uhh..." I tapped my two pointer fingers together repeatedly, "I don't recall the situation to which you are referring. Perhaps breakfast will jog my memory?"

I gave a nervous laugh although nothing was funny. Aw nuts, this was going to be more horrific than Jason finding out that the 13th was shoved over to Saturday.

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The next thing anyone knew was that Ron had tackled Draco and was beating him to a bloody pulp. A crowd of late-rising Hufflepuffs swept Hermione and Harry away from the fight, so they were unable to stop him.

MJ looked over at Felicity as Ron was punching a hollering Draco (who was actually doing a good job of blocking most of the said punches). "Maybe we should stop them before they really hurt each other?"

The two friends looked at each other, then shook their heads as they shrugged simultaneously, saying "Nah!"

They continued watching the two boys brawl, and it wasn't long before Felicity was commentating.

"And look! Diesel Weasel has got The Dragon in a headlock! What will happen next?" Draco was punching Ron in the gut, but to no avail.

And then it wasn't long before MJ had joined in.

"Oh my golly gee, Lis, I don't think anyone could've predicted this turned around! The

Dragon is really fighting back now!" Draco had somehow pinned Ron to the wall, then he kneed him where the sun don't shine. There was a collective groan from the small crowd that had gathered; the boys were the loudest.

"Ooh! Did you SEE that punch thrown by Diesel Weasel? What form!" Felicity cried as

Ron gave Draco a punch that would surely result in a black eye.

"I think the Dragon is going to have a tough time recovering from that one!" MJ agreed.

Harry looked at a horror-struck Hermione and said "Blimey, they're worse than Fred and George" as Felicity and MJ gave up their commentary and took to chanting, "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" as loudly as they could, and the crowd soon joined in the cry.

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Yes, it's Draco again. What did I do to deserve this? Weasel attacked ME! Just because he found out about me asking MJ out. So technically, it is HER fault. And my idiotic cousin's. She should have told me in the first place that MJ was a Weasley. THEY'RE not in McGonagall's office getting yelled at. As soon as she turned up in the Entrance Hall, Lis yelled "SCATTER!" and they cowards.

And I have decided that this is the last time I go anywhere without Crabbe or Goyle.

"YOUR BEHAVIOR WAS DESPICABLE! MUGGLE DUELING? I MEAN, REALLY! I-"McGonagall was cut off when that Umbridge woman and Snape entered. "Hem-hem.

Minerva, you really shouldn't have started without us" the toad-lady simpered. I don't like her much, although I heard she gave Potter detention yesterday, so she couldn't be ALL bad.

"What is the meaning of this?" McGonagall sputtered as they joined her on the other side of the desk that had been keeping her from lunging at Weasel and I as she berated us.

Snape raised an eyebrow at her. "As Draco's Head of House, I do believe I have a right—if not a duty—to be here, Minerva" he drawled.

"Well of course! But why is Professor Umbridge here?"

"Please, Minerva, call me Dolores" toad-lady said. "And I am here as an eyewitness."

Oh. I hope she didn't see me knee Weasel in the groin… I squirmed uncomfortably in my seat.

"Well then, what happened, Prof-Dolores?" McGonagall grudgingly asked.

Before Umbridge could clear her throat with her usual Hem-hem, there was a timid knock on the office door.

McGonagall sighed. "Who is it?" she called impatiently.

"A few more witnesses" a small voice said.

"We don't need anymore" toad-lady told them. "But thank you for your concern."

"Run along!" McGonagall called through the door.

Once the sound of footsteps had faded away in the corridor, Umbridge cleared her throat ("Hem-hem!") and began.

"You see, Minerva, from my position atop the balcony over-looking the Entrance Hall, I observed Mr. Malfoy with a Slytherin girl. They were talking, and then Mr. Weasley here came in with Mr. Potter, Ms. Granger, and a Hufflepuff girl. Apparently, Mr. Weasley did not like something that was said, and he attacked Mr. Malfoy."

McGonagall pursed her lips and turned to Weasel. "Is this true?"

"Yes, Professor. But Malfoy—"

"I cannot think of anything he could have said that would have warranted such an attack,

Mr. Weasley" Umbridge interjected.

"But he—"

"Mr. Malfoy, do you have anything to add?" Umbridge turned to face me.

I shook my head mournfully, reaching up to hold my hand against my eye where Weasley had punched me. I figured silence might actually work for me this time. And my eye hurt so bad that I was afraid if I opened my mouth, I would vomit all over the rug.

"Very well" McGonagall sighed. "Mr. Weasley, you will be serving a week's worth of detention with me starting tonight. I will see you at 7 o'clock sharp."

Weasel groaned next to me. I would have smirked at him if I didn't feel so sick.

"You two are dismissed" McGonagall said. "I suggest the hospital wing for both of you."

Snape put a hand on my shoulder and went to lead me out. When he opened the door—

"ARGH!"

—in fell MJ Quarters and Lis, one on top of the other.

They looked up sheepishly. Snape raised an eyebrow. "Well?"

Felicity gulped. "Uh… Here, Starburst! Here, kitty, kitty, kitty! Um... " she disentangled herself from MJ and pointed at her. "She lost her cat?"

Oh brother.

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Saludos, it's Felicity.

Snape was glaring at me. "Uh… we came to escort them to the hospital wing?" I tried.

After glaring a few more seconds, he sighed. "Go right ahead. But I don't want any more fighting, understood?"

"Perfectly" I nodded.

I grabbed Draco's arm (he was limping slightly) and started down the corridor. MJ kept pace with us.

"This is entirely your fault!" my cousin muttered at me furiously.

"MY fault?"

"Well, it's both of your faults, really" he replied matter-of-factly.

MJ snorted. "How do you figure that one, Malfoy?"

He stiffened, and then muttered something under his breath. I caught something about MJ being too good-looking for her own good, and me withholding information.

Of course, he could have been talking about puking food that was molding in formation for all I knew.

Ron rushed to catch up, and grabbed MJ, dragging her ahead with one arm as he clutched his ribs with his other arm. "Leave my cousin alone, Malfoy!" he spat. "You know her dad was raised by Muggles, don't you?"

I winced. Draco froze. "No, I did not" he responded calmly. I knew he was inwardly appalled, though.

I was about to point out that she technically was a pureblood, even though she had a Muggle-born grandmother, when Ron spoke again.

"She's only a fourth year!" he added over his shoulder, as if hoping that, too, would put Draco off.

My cousin glared at his back as we started walking again. "Excuuuse me! I thought she was a sixth year!"

MJ stopped, causing Ron to stop too. "But you didn't make a pass at me until you found out I was a fourth year" she said confusedly.

I winced as Ron whirled around. "Not helping!" I told MJ.

Ron lunged.

I moved in front of Draco. "CUT IT OUT!" I yelled in Ron's face. "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again, alright?"

He glared at me, inches from my face. "I can't trust you either. Bloody Slytherin." He snarled.

I backed up a step. That really stung. I grabbed Draco's arm again and went around Ron, heading for the hospital wing.

"Lis!" MJ called.

"I'll catch up with you later, MJ." I ploughed ahead with Draco.

He looked down at me, almost sadly. He could tell I was hurt.

"Felicity…" he started.

"Don't talk, just walk" I choked out.

We went the rest of the way in silence. Before I left the Hospital Wing, he called to me, causing me to pause at the door.

"What?" I asked.

"Is... is MJ's father a Muggle?"

I sighed. "No, Drake. His mom was a Muggle-born, and when she died his grandparents raised him."

He frowned. "Oh. So MJ's-"

"A pureblood. But she's as big a 'blood traitor-'" (I made quotations with my fingers) "-as the Weasleys."

I then left him to Madame Pomfrey before MJ and Ron could get there. Proceeding to my first class, I realized just how hard this year would be as the best friend of a Hufflepuff.

End Chapter 5