Disclaimer: Still not mine

Previously:

He fumbled around in his pockets until he found a handful of gold coins. He thrust it at Skye.

"Just stay away from Malfoy."

"Thanks Harry," Skye said sweetly. "I love you."

She kissed him on the cheek quickly and danced away.

"Yeah, yeah," Harry muttered. "I love you too."

"So tell me," Ginny took a seat next to Skye at breakfast the next morning. "How was the night with Malfoy in your special Common Room?"

"It was actually quite awkward," Skye said as she began loading food on her plate. "I mean, we barely spoke and he completely avoided me. And in a way, I guess, that's good but it still kinda hurts you know?"

"Sure," Ginny nodded. "You want him to at least acknowledge the fact that you used to date."

Skye shrugged. "It'd be good if we could be friends," she said. "But I know that that's not going to happen. I mean, we never were friends. We went straight from hating each other to being in l..." Skye trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"Love, Skye," Ginny finished. "You loved him."

"Still do," Skye whispered.

"Oh Skye," Ginny said sadly.

She hugged her friend tightly. She didn't know what to say. Skye had said she was over him, and she had believed her. Skye could lie quite convincingly when she wanted to. But still...Ginny should have realised. They were close friends after all.

"I'm sorry," Skye muttered. "I shouldn't put this on you."

"Don't be," Ginny smiled. "I..."

But what Ginny was, Skye never found out as at that exact moment Daniel Brady came up to the girls. He swung his leg over the bench, effectively straddling it, so he could talk to Skye more easily.

"Good morning beautiful," he grinned. "And your equally stunning friend."

Ginny laughed and raised an eyebrow at Skye.

"Are you Skye's friend?" she asked. "She never told me about you."

"Ouch," Daniel clutched at his heart. "I'm so hurt Skye."

"I've known you for all of a day," Skye defended. "I'm sorry for having other things on my mind."

Daniel shook his head sadly.

"And forget about me?" he asked. "Those other things must have been pretty important."

"What do you know about it?" Skye retorted.

"Ooh, feisty. I like it," Daniel winked at her.

"Who are you?" Harry's threatening voice came from above the trio.

Daniel looked up and his eyes widened.

"Brady," Harry's face twisted into a malicious smirk. "I should have known."

Daniel gulped.

"Now you listen here," Harry said dangerously. "You leave my sister al..."

"Get lost Harry," Skye snapped. "Remember our conversation last night?"

"Which part?" Harry asked politely.

"The part where I told you to leave me the fuck alone cause I can look after myself," Skye spat. "That part."

"I'm just..." Harry began.

Skye held up a hand to silence him, rolling her eyes. She knew exactly what he was going to say.

"You're just about to walk away," Skye said, forcing herself to be calm. "And I'll talk to you later. Okay?"

"Later," Harry repeated. "First class we have together and you've got a deal."

"Fine, whatever," Skye said. "First class."

Harry nodded and, with one last threatening glare thrown Daniel's way, stalked off to sit with Ron, Hermione and Lavender.

"Sorry about him," Skye said apologetically to Daniel. "He's still struggling with the fact I don't need him to look out for me."

"Hey, it's chill," Daniel grinned. "Everyone knows not to mess with Potter's sisters."

"You're kidding right?" Skye asked.

"Not at all," Daniel said. "He used to just look really threatening, so did Black and Lupin, but now...after what he did to Malfoy, we know he's not joking around."

"I'm going to kill him," Skye snarled.

"Let him go, Skye," Ginny warned. "You know how he is."

"ARGH!" Skye let out a frustrated scream, earning amused looks from both Ginny and Daniel.

"Come on," Daniel said to Skye excitedly. "I want you to come and meet my friends."

"Umm...okay," she said. "Are you coming Gin?"

"Nah," Ginny shook her head. "I was going to head over to say hi to Blaise."

"Oh, well say hi from me too," Skye said. "I'll see you later."

Skye followed Daniel over to the Ravenclaw table.

"Everyone," Daniel began. "This is Skye. Skye, this is everyone."

"Hey," Skye smiled.

"Hello," a girl smiled up at Skye. "I'm Padma."

"Oh, Parvati's twin yeah?" Skye asked.

"Yep, that's me," Padma replied.

"I've heard you were the nicer twin," Skye whispered theatrically.

"Ah well," Padma laughed. "You could say that. My sister's a bit of an airhead at times."

"At times?" Skye raised an eyebrow. "Try more often than no...oh my god, I'm sorry. That's your sister."

Stupid, Skye scolded herself internally. Padma didn't want to hear about how much Skye hated her twin.

"No, it's okay," Padma smiled reassuringly at Skye. "I know she's a bit of a slut. I mean, I love her and all, but I can see the bigger picture."

"Oh thank goodness," Skye breathed. "I was really scared I offended you. I'm really bad at thinking before I speak."

"It's no problem," Padma said. "Now come sit down and tell us about yourself. We've heard all about you from Dan of course," Skye raised an eyebrow at Daniel and he winked unabashedly back at her. "But we don't really know all that much about you."

"Well I don't know that much about you either," Skye said, taking the seat Padma offered. "I don't even know all your names."

"This is Padma Patil as you know, Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein and Michael Corner," Daniel cut in before Padma could say anything else.

"Michael Corner?" Skye questioned. "Didn't you used to date Ginny?"

"Uh, yeah," he nodded. "But how do you know? We had to keep it fairly secret cause of her brothers."

"She tells me everything," Skye waved a hand dismissively. "We're friends, what can you expect?"

"You didn't tell her about me," Daniel put in.

"I said I'm sorry about that..."

"No you haven't."

"I'm saying sorry now," Skye said. "I've just been caught up in other things. I've barely known you twenty-four hours."

"So pray tell," Daniel said. "What are these other things then?"

Anybody else and Skye would have told them to 'mind their own fucking business, thank you very much,' but the mischievous twinkle in Daniel's eyes gave away the fact that he was teasing her.

"Oh, you know," Skye said absently. "A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Head stuff, Malfoy..."

"Yeah, what is going on with you and Malfoy anyway?"

Skye glanced at the boy and remembered him as Anthony Goldstein.

"Dude, shut up," Daniel hissed, glancing quickly at Skye. "I told you not to mention him."

Anthony looked a little guilty but Skye smiled at him.

"It's okay," she said. "No really Daniel, it's fine. We broke up a long time ago."

"It was only at the end of last year," Daniel pointed out.

Skye shrugged.

"I've had a whole summer holiday to get over him," she said. "And how did you know we broke up anyway?"

"Oh please," Padma laughed. "Everyone heard about you dating. It was around the school in minutes after your little display in the Great Hall. The breakup was just as big. Parvati actually told me. She'd heard from Lavender who'd heard from Ron who'd heard from Harry who'd heard from Orion Black that you broke up."

"Wow," Skye said blinking in surprise. "That's a lot of people for it to go through."

"And then we saw what Black, Lupin and two of your brother's did to him," Daniel added. "God they can punch."

Skye flinched.

"Let's not talk about that okay?"

"Sure, whatever," Daniel shrugged. "He must've got in a few punches though cause his hand was all bandaged up."

"He hit a wall actually," Skye said.

"No way," Padma look surprised. "How do you know that?"

"You know Blaise Zabini?" Skye asked, waiting for the confirming nods of the Ravenclaws. "He's a friend; dating Ginny now actually. He told me."

"But what actually happened to break you two up?" Terry asked. "I wouldn't have broken up with you."

Skye laughed, not noticing the deadly look Daniel shot his friend.

"It was kinda mutual actually," she said.

"But why?" Padma complained. "You two were so good together. You were all the girls in this school ever talked about. Rumours were flying about how far you guys went together...but that's not the point. The point is why you broke up. Why would you ruin something that perfect?"

"It wasn't all that perfect actually," Skye said slowly. "Our families hated each other...god, we even hated each other. Our relationship was extremely complicated."

"You're not giving me an answer," Padma whined. "Come on, please?"

"I...I can't," Skye said. "It's complicated and I can't betray him like that."

"Betray him?" Padma asked incredulously. "You've broken up. You don't owe him your trust."

"Padma, just drop it," Daniel interrupted. "Who do you think is going to win the Quidditch House Cup?"

Skye shot Daniel a grateful look as the subject changed easily into a debate about the House Quidditch teams. Daniel smiled back, taking Skye's hand under the table and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"We're definitely in with a chance," Anthony was saying.

"No way," Skye interrupted. "Gryffindor will make you look like amateurs."

"Bullshit!" Daniel joined in the argument. "Our team's the best yet."

"That's not saying much," Skye smirked. "Ravenclaws are all a bunch of nerds."

"That is such a stereotype," Padma said. "We do so much more than study."

"Oh please," Skye scoffed. "Like you 'Claws know what a real party is. I bet you've never even celebrated a Quidditch victory. But then again, there wouldn't be much opportunity to. It's not like you win that often."

"You did not just say that," Daniel dropped his jaw open in fake shock. "You are going down Skye Potter."
"Oh yeah?" Skye raised an eyebrow. "At least I can fly."

"That's it."

Daniel leapt at Skye and she couldn't contain her small squeal of surprise. Daniel attacked her sides, tickling mercilessly.

"Stop, stop!" Skye giggled. "Please, I'll admit it."

"Admit what?" Daniel grinned.

"Ravenclaws are the best, I swear," Skye gasped.

"Thank you," Daniel sat back on his seat, completely pleased with himself. "I knew you'd come around. I can't help the fact Ravenclaws are just the best."

"We'll see who is really the best, Brady," Skye said, narrowing her eyes playfully. "We'll see."

A/N So, some more Daniel Brady...hmmm...Skye's new love interest? Review and find out!