Chapter 4: Self-fulfilling Prophecies

The door to the girls' dorm opened again only a few minutes after I had thrown myself down on top of my bed. Looking up, I expected to see Gemma walking in to check on me. However, I was disappointed when it was just Abigail Banvard, who normally couldn't be bothered by any of my problems.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked as she made her way over to her own four-poster.

"I'm just tired," I insisted, although I couldn't have fallen asleep then even if I wanted to.

My answer seemed to be good enough for her, seeing as she didn't say anything else as she hid herself from view behind her green curtains. Truthfully, I knew she wouldn't have had the patience to listen to me complain. Abigail just didn't seem to care most of the time. Even Gemma, who seemed to get along with just about anybody, would say Abigail was a bitch if anyone bothered to ask her.

When no one else entered the dormitory after a few more minutes, I pushed myself up and made my way out the door. I hoped to find Gemma in the common room as I stepped out, but instead I found Scorpius playing Wizard's Chess with none other than Norman Anthony.

"I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment," Scorpius said as one of Norman's bishops took out one of his knights. Norman turned in his seat and looked rather uncomfortable when he saw it was me that Scorpius was talking to.

"It's not you that I wanted to talk to anyway."

"Well, he's a bit preoccupied at the moment, too," said Scorpius, looking between Norman and I. "Can it not wait?"

"It'll only take a minute, you prat. Then you can go right back to getting your arse kicked."

As one of Scorpius' pieces took out Norman's queen, he replied cockily, "Sorry, but I'm under the impression that I'm the one doing the arse-kicking."

Then Norman finally spoke, looking up at me, "You're going to ask me to be your Potions partner again, aren't you?"

"No," I said, noticing that Scorpius suddenly looked rather curious, "I was going to ask you why you didn't want to be my partner anymore."

"Oh… well," he looked uncomfortable again, "well, what did you expect, Rainee? I mean, I was lucky to get away without any scarring."

"Scarring?" Scorpius asked, "Merlin's beard, Rainee. What did you do to him?"

"I didn't do anything to him!" I said, "It was the damned potion we were working on together."

Snorting, he said, "Rainee, maybe Potions isn't your thing. Maybe you should just drop it. I mean, you could become a curse-breaker with your friend Gemma… I'd hate to think what would happen if you actually had to brew a potion for a patient."

I couldn't think of what to say, so I just glared at him for a solid minute. Before doing anything else, I flipped their chessboard. The pieces went flying everywhere, pelting them in the face and scattering on the floor. I tried not to step on any of them as I turned and stalked off, but I wouldn't be surprised if I smashed a few of them on my way out of the common room again.

I was certain that everyone in the common room watched me leave, seeing as it fell silent after I flipped the board. But I didn't care. Scorpius had crossed a line with that last comment. In the past he had always been supportive, like Gemma, but now he was acting more like… like James, of all people.

And Scorpius hated James Potter more than I did.

Speaking of James, he happened to be wandering the dungeons after I left the Slytherin common room. I happened to see him before he could see me, so I did my best to avoid him. I even hid behind a suit of armor at one point, when I was certain he would see me if he turned around. And he did turn around shortly after I had hidden there.

After silently counting to thirty I stuck my head out from behind the suit, but found myself being watched by him as I did. Tilting his head, he said, "What are you doing behind that suit of armor?"

I shrugged at him after stepping out from behind it, and he stepped toward me. "What are you doing down here?" I asked as he stopped right in front of me.

He held out his hand then, and I realized he still had my quill. "I thought you might want your quill back."

Taking it from him, I said my thanks strangely, confused by his behavior. Then he smiled at me... He smiled at me. I studied him closely, but couldn't see any trace of his usual smirk. I couldn't help asking myself what the hell was going on, but I couldn't come up with an explanation.

"No problem," he said cheerfully, without missing a beat. "Anyway, I was about to go up to dinner… Do you want to come with?"

I stared at him. When I stared at him so long that his face fell, I finally asked, "Okay, Potter, what the hell is going on?"

"Rainee, I already told you – I think it would be good if we got to know one another better."

"And how, exactly, would that help us to get along better?" I asked incredulously, "How? Because I'm confused, James... I don't see how getting familiar with you and your pratty ways would help. I really, truly don't. So please, by all means, explain it to me."

"You know what, Rainee," James started coolly, "I just might surprise you if you gave me the chance, but you have this really obnoxious habit of always expecting the worst from me. And, if you want to know why I volunteered to be your partner, then I'll explain it to you right now: I wanted to help you. And that's all there is to it."

It was James' turn to stalk off as I just stared after him, totally bewildered. This was maybe the first time he had ever said something so seriously to me. I didn't think I was being unrealistic by always expecting the worst from him, seeing as he seemed to consistently give me a hard time. Yet, this obnoxious voice in my head, which sounded remarkably like Gemma, said 'It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy, Rainee. You always expect the worst, so you always get the worst.'

But, I reminded myself, if you were to look up the word 'prat' in the dictionary, James' picture would be there.

In addition, I couldn't wrap my mind around him wanting to help me, either. I mean, why would you want to help someone who hates you?

"HEY!"

I jumped and turned to see Scorpius running toward me. Groaning, I asked, "What do you want?"

Stopping in front of me, he explained, "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"I'm fine," I grumbled, starting to walk in the same direction James had left in. Unsurprisingly, Scorpius kept pace with me.

"Good, good," he said, "You crushed two of Norman's chess pieces, by the way. He seemed to be pretty upset when I left."

"Well, at least I didn't ruin his face."

To my surprise, Scorpius sighed audibly. "You know, you're going to have to let that go. He seems to be over it already, and it was his face."

"Oh shut it, Scorp. I don't want to talk about it right now."

A/N: So this chapter is a bit shorter than my chapters usually are, but I have to admit that I can't see myself adding anything more to it. Maybe the next chapter will be longer ;) I guess we will see!

Until next time... please review!

P.S. Sorry it's taken me nearly a year to update! I'm not sure when I'll update this again but the wait will definitely be shorter this time.