AN: This is so long overdue. I doubt I have readers at this point but still, I'm going to send some of the old fans a message. I'm sorry I let this go. I loved writing it. I loved re-reading it so that I could continue it, and therefore I want to finish it. I hope other people can enjoy it just as much.

After two steady weeks of Draco and Harry's refusal to call some kind of truce Illy started to head across the lawn towards the field. The two were fighting more and more often everyday, and while it kept Harry from getting violent with herself, she could help but think that if it didn't come to an end soon she just might collapse. The wind on the quidditch field was whipping through the spectators as much as it was going to whip through the player's brooms. As the Slytherin team slowly made their way down to the field, shouting insults at Ravenclaw, they were all internally panicked about the conditions they were facing, well everyone except maybe the beaters, who were too thick to think about much at all; but Killious put on her best game face and got ready for the pre-game psychological warfare that Slytherin was so famous for.

"Leave my team alone Malfoy!" The captain bellowed at Draco, who had just been telling the opposing team that if they resigned he was sure he could get the teachers to give them more homework as a reward.

"Aw, are you playing hero?" Draco taunted.

"It looks like someone over there is more than just a walking encyclopedia!" One of the boys on Slytherin shouted along.

"Yeah, well we're about to give you the definition of victory in a minute." Another one of the Ravenclaw's let out, this time it was the girl flanking the captain to the left. The Slytherin's howled with laughter. Illy smiled and put her hands up to calm her teammates,

"Calm down guys, she can't come up with anything herself, she's got to get all of her jokes from books." And the Slytherin's continued to laugh at the girl, who was now bright red.

"It's ok Stella." The captain comforted her with a hand around her shoulder.

"Yeah don't worry Stella, you two can go look up comfort sex later." Draco said in a falsely sympathetic voice.

"Don't talk to my girlfriend like that!" A taller brunette student who was trailing just behind the team screamed.

"The captain or Stella?" Illy asked in a voice that perfectly faked genuine confusion. At this point Stella was crying and both the Captain and Stella's boyfriend were bright red in the face.

"Alright, that's quite enough from you. Go to you're lockers." Cho commanded authoritatively.

"Yes Ma'am." Christian said with a wink and a salute that made Cho blush.

Just before the last three players of the Slytherin team, being Illy, Draco, and Christian, who were still laughing, made their way into the locker room to get ready Matty Melrose came runny towards them, face bright red with traces of her normally reserved nature, shouting,

"I'm rooting for you Illy!" She winked before turning to find a seat, and the three burst out laughing once again.

"Wow, Melrose's got it bad for you Illy" Draco started.

"Get fucked Malfoy." Illy said flatly before Christian could say something as well.

"She's still pissed at you." Christian taunted. Illy smiled and took the turn towards the girl's lockers.

"She won't be helpful at all this game will she?" Draco asked.

"Not to you." Christian replied.

The frozen blows of the wind lashed out against the players as they approached starting positions, only adding to the worry that the looming black clouds caused. The dark sky threatened more of the sleet-like rain that had suddenly poured down the day before, and as such most of the spectators had rain slickers on. Illy glanced towards the Gryffindor section of the stands to catch a glimpse of her friends, noting that only Harry was sitting on the bench they often occupied, looking angry and frustrated more than anything. Curiosity got the best of her and she took a glance over towards her own section of the stands just before mounting her broom and rising into the air; Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Ginny, Dolan, Jackquinn, and Matty all sat together holding a large banner reading: "GO KILLIOUS" in sparkling green print.

Killious chuckled to herself and started after the quaffle with speed to match the wind.

"Illy is in possession of the quaffle even though she got a late start there. Catching a glimpse of that lovely banner a suppose, it's too bad her boyfriend Harry Potter isn't there to support her"

"Lee, focus on the game!" McGonagall shouted.

"Right-o, Miss M. Illy's getting a little bit of trouble from Rodgers, but he's been hit by a bludger from Goyle on Slytherin. It seems that Draco has yet to catch sight of the snitch, and the same for Cho."

Illy dodged a bludger from Stella and weaved in between Christian and the Captain of the Ravenclaw team, who were both expecting her, though the captain didn't seem to be expecting Christian.

"She's going for a score, she's lining it up, no bludgers headed her way!" The last bit of the commentary seemed to be a way of imploring someone from Ravenclaw to stop Illy before…

"She's gotten the first points for Slytherin, went straight through Harkins on Ravenclaw's team and had him ducking to avoid being hit in the head! That thing must have been going two hundred miles an hour! It looks like she's working out a bit of anger on the opposing team this morning."

"And now the bludgers come! One from the left almost hits Illy but she's ducked it, only to get side winded by the next one, as gives a good hit in the stomach."

"Crabbe's got hold of a bludger himself now and has sent it towards Cho, who just caught sight of the snitch. It's made contact with the back of her broom, Miss Chang has spun out of control! She safe, but she's lost sight of the snitch, as it appears Malfoy has as well. "

The winds picked up brutally as the game wore on and on, tossing players back and forth with sudden gusts, which for some reason only served to pull the Dementors closer to the field. After an hour and thirty minutes of struggling against nature the score was in favor if Slytherin by ten points and heavy sheets of sleet began to pour from the sky. Chilling the players to the bone and weighing their clothing down with frozen water.

"This game is really no fun anymore we're all freezing; so someone catch that snitch!" Lee-Jordan begged the players as they continued to do their best in the bad conditions. Illy could hardly hold onto her broom, her mind was getting cloudy again, and as much as she tried to shake of the feeling and focus she could tell what was coming. She could feel it in her gut as she did her best to swallow down the black tar-like vomit she had thrown up before on one or two occasions.

"Draco and Cho have lost sight of the snitch all together; they're both now just sort of mulling about and looking for it. Even worse is how the sleet has rendered the bludgers as only a mild irritant seeing as everyone is frozen numb! So it's up to the chasers to take this game, it's too bad that their vision is being blocked by the lack of sunlight and they keep running into teammates. Enquirous still has the quaffle but she's not making a whole lot of progress, it looks like she's slowing down quite a bit." Illy did her best to hold the ball in her hand tightly and fly straight but her dizziness was getting worse by the second, things were turning a blotchy shade of black, she passed to the nearest Slytherin, regardless of their actual position and held tight to the broom handle,

"That was an odd move for Illy, she dropped the quaffle down to Malfoy who passed it on to Fortunato, but now she's practically sitting still. Malfoy's flying up to check on her…"

Illy could hardly think fast enough to avert her face from the wooden paddle that was aiming for an oncoming bludger. The hard surface cracked across the back side of her skull, she sat still only for a moment before the small metal ball followed up the paddle by flouncing lightly into her head, and then she started to spiral down towards the ground.1

"But Illy's attentive again. Look out!" As Lee shouted virtually the whole stadium pulled in a breath of air, "Crabbe's sent a late bludger towards Stella, and Stella has just almost hit Killious in the face with a paddle, but she managed to catch in a take it from her, she's steadied herself now and…Dear Merlin! She just hit the snitch like she was playing baseball, and Malfoy's caught it!" The crowd was jumping up and down with excitement over the sequence of events.

"That was incredible! In a matter of seconds Enquirous got it together enough to steal an opposing team member's paddle, escape injury, and hit the game winning snitch with it right into the hands of her team's seeker! It's totally unheard of! I think we might have found something that trumps Potter's amazing catch of a snitch with his mouth!"

The teams both grateful headed towards the ground to shake hands and be off, everyone in Ravenclaw seemed happy enough that the game was over to overlook their defeat. As the players started to leave the field the rain only picked up, making it impossible to see someone more than a few feet from your face. Slytherin's team members walked in a tight group of one another, shouting and talking excitedly to one another. Draco was left a spot next to Illy; his team was still for the most part, unaware of their feud.

"Illy that was amazing." Draco whispered to her.

"I was aiming for you head." She said coldly. "And now I think I'm going to go take a shower." She finished as she rubbed her temples and started towards the back exit from the stadium, to avoid the crowds.

"I'm sorry ok! It was wrong and stupid and I'll never, ever do it again!" Draco shouted through the sleet to her, even though she was only a matter of feet from him. Illy stopped walking and turned to face him. Draco stepped closer to her, wary that the look he saw on her face might only be a cruel trick.

"That's all I needed to hear." She assured him, before throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

"What's this on the field? It looks like Potter's girl is in the arms of another man! Good luck with that fireball Mr. Malfoy!" Lee sang out,

"Put the wand down Lee, the game is over!" McGonagall scolded.

"Are you two coming to shower off?" Christian asked after the little announcement. "For your sake I would want to take as long as I could before I had to deal with Harry." He suggested as they started to walk towards showers.

"I think we gave half the school pneumonia." Draco said lightheartedly as they approached the split for boys and girls. "So, before Harry sweeps you away, how did you manage that insane play?" He asked her. Christian stopped to listen in,

"I saw it coming ahead of time…kind of cheating in a way I guess, but whatever, no one else will ever know, and that paddle was going to de-broom me and send me down to break my neck, so who cares?"

By the time Illy finished showering off and changing Draco and Harry were already fighting. She considered for a moment running from the whole scene, maybe the twins would save her, or possibly Dolan and Jacky, bloody hell in all honesty she should probably go ahead and talk to Snape about her little experience on the field. She could hear them just outside the door, shouting muffled curses at one another savagely. 'Oh well, no way to avoid it without jumping out a window' she decided before pushing through to the other room.

"Keep your hands off of her Malfoy!"

"We didn't do anything wrong! It was only a hug and just because Lee-Jordan thinks that everything is a joke doesn't mean he's not making things up."

"Some fucking hug! I know about you, you just want anything you can't have!"

"Bullshit! You think I'm trying to take her from you? She'd be with me if that was the case. But I'm not going to manipulate her just to make her do what I want."

"You couldn't even get Pansy to do what you want."

"Let me just drop a quick reminder that I had you on your knees Potter!" Draco finally let out. Illy immediately glanced around to see in any of the other players were still in the room, but they weren't. It sounded like the place was abandoned, save for the three of them. By the time she turned back Harry had already pulled his fist back, ready to give Draco a black eye in a second.

"Take it back!" He demanded through gritted teeth.

"Say please."

"I won't ask you for anything."

"Well you were begging then." Draco said as he narrowed his eyes and prepared himself for the punch. Harry released his fist, but to the shock of everyone in the room Draco caught his fist and shoved it back towards Harry. Harry tried the other fist, only to have Draco catch and hold it this time.

"Let go of me Malfoy!"

"Stop trying to hit me."

"You deserve it."

"I guess you think she deserves it too!"

"I've never even thought about hitting her!"

"I guess thinking about it might make you want to stop so I understand your conundrum." Draco said coldly. Harry sent the next fist forward suddenly, connecting it with Draco's face awkwardly, as Draco had managed to react with a punch to Harry's gut at the same time.

"STOP IT!" Illy shouted from behind the boys. Draco didn't seem bothered by the small red spot on his face, but Harry immediately doubled over.

"Illy, get your friend under control." Harry pleaded.

"You're the one who was taunting him." She responded with a roll of her eyes. Harry stood up and focused on her, dropping the act of horrible pain he had taken up.

"I said, 'get him under control'…now!" He commanded.

"I can't get him to do anything. Hell, I send a snitch into his face and he apologizes for being a jackass. You think that I have any control over him?" She asked with a grin and a wink in Draco's direction.

"We should go talk to Snape." Draco said firmly to Illy.

"Are you trying to tell my girlfriend what to do?" Harry asked coldly.

"Stop being so protective dumbass, she doesn't have to go now, but she should go, and I wanted to take her to his office." Draco snapped. "If you don't mind…" He added after catching a glance from Illy.

"We'll go now." She said cheerily as she picked up her gym bag, that was now dripping with the wet quidditch uniforms of the whole team. As she started to sling the bag over her shoulder Draco reached out and took it from her.

"I would hate to get her wet." Draco explained to Harry, as the three of them started to walk towards school. "Because then there'd be one more thing she'd be screaming my name for." Draco whispered to Illy.

"Shut up!" She giggled before shoving him a few steps to the left jovially. Harry groaned.

"I'll tell Ron to stay up so we can go sneak food I guess…"

"I think we're going to have a party in the common room." Draco informed.

"I'll come with you and Ron around eleven ok?"

"Fine." Harry said spitefully before turning to head for the stairs.

"So, why don't you just have the houselves wash these things again?" Draco asked Illy while they walked down towards the dungeons.

"Number one, they have enough clothing on their hands to worry about without adding our grass stained, sweaty, dirty uniforms to the mess, and two, I think that hand washing them is good luck."

"And where do you get that theory?"

"After our first game I did a reading with some tea leaves, it said that I should do things by hand and the uniforms were sitting right there. And here we are, with another victory."

"Right." Draco laughed a little before knocking on the door to Snape's office lightly.

"Back to yell at me some more Mister Malfoy?" Snape asked as he opened the door.

"Oh…Ike." He swallowed as he looked down at her and then back at Draco. "What can I help you two with?"

"I opened an oblivion gate in the girl's bathroom and I can't get it to go away." Illy said in perfect seriousness.

"You did what?" Snape asked with wide eyes.

"Just kidding." She said with a smile as she pushed past him and made her way into the room. Draco followed with a little chuckled and took a seat next to hers.

"What are you here for then?" He asked again, though not as wearily this time. Illy reached across the desk and picked up the silver framed picture of the blond girl, just as Snape took his seat behind the desk.

"Illy had another vision during the game today." Draco explained. She was silent as she touched the photo lightly and stared intently at the figure posing for her.

"What was it about?"

"What was going to happen next in the game; it saved her from getting hit in the head with that paddle Stella had." Draco explained.

"Is that true?" Snape asked Illy.

"You know…She kind of looks like she bruises the same as me." Illy said absentmindedly. Snape snapped his fingers to make the picture go black.

"Can we focus?" Snape asked sarcastically.

"Oh yeah…what Draco said." She dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"How long did the vision take in reality?" Snape asked Draco.

"A good minute maybe…"

"And how long did you see it for Ike?"

"Right around three minutes" She answered as she set the frame down again.

"I'll talk to Dumbledore, you two have Hogsmeade tomorrow, get some sleep." Snape instructed before dismissing both Illy and Draco from his office and sending them in the direction of the dorms.

"Are you going with us today?" Christian and Dolan asked Illy excitedly as she came out of Jackquinn's room.

"Promised I'd go with Harry and the twins." She explained.

"You went with the twins last time." Christian said crossly.

"Mostly I'm going with Harry."

"He doesn't even have permission to be there!" Dolan countered.

"Look, I don't know how he gets there, but he does, so what do I care?"

"Fine, but we're calling your birthday weekend." Christian decided.

"And I'm coming too." Jackquinn said suddenly from behind. Illy turned around to face him,

"Good morning Jacky, sleep well last night?" She asked mischievously. Illy averted her glance from the currently shirtless Jackquinn just long enough to notice the horrified look on Dolan's face as he swept his hand across his neck in an "cut it out" symbol, as an attempt to get her to shut up.

"I was sleeping fine until you came in with your little brat friends at two o'clock in the morning." He complained with a roll of his eyes.

"You needed to apologize to Ron. The Weasley's can single handedly beat my Slytherin friend's in numbers, so it's best if you're on good terms with them."

"I'm still not apologizing to that piece of shit boyfriend of yours." He said determinedly.

"Fine, I can live with that." Illy decided. "But in all reality I'll probably end up ditching Harry later today, so keep Draco with the three of you and I'll just tell him when I can meet up with you."

"Is he going to freak out and go on some vendetta to get us all expelled or anything?" Dolan asked with feigned and real seriousness.

"If he does it'll probably be on kidnapping charges and he'll need my testimony for it, so you'll be fine for now." Illy informed with a sweet smile. "And now, I vote we go to breakfast because Draco is dragging his ass making himself pretty." She suggested as she led the group towards the door.

"Actually…He's probably pretty tired from last night." Christian spoke up.

"What was he doing last night," Illy asked, without thinking about it too much. "Having makeup sex with Pansy?"

"We were sort of hoping you might know." Dolan sheepishly started.

"He's been out every night for the last two weeks." Christian explained.

"And he doesn't get back in until three or four in the morning." Dolan continued. Illy was quiet, racking her mind with explanations as to what on earth Draco could be doing from eleven or twelve o'clock at night until four AM.

"I really have no clue guys…we weren't really talking until yesterday." She finally said.

"Can't you just ask him?" Christian urged.

"He tells me virtually everything, so if he hasn't mentioned it yet, the chances are, he's not going to tell me if I ask."

"But you said yourself that you haven't been talking for the last two weeks." Jackquinn interjected.

"I can give it a shot." She agreed as the group approached the breakfast table.

"Good, because he's coming in the door now." Christian pointed out.

Draco smiled groggily at Illy and pushed his hair out of his face, drawing attention to the fact that it was totally unbrushed so far.

"Draco, your hair is a mess." Illy said as she too smiled and started to try and help him get some of the straggling pieces out of his eyes.

"When I came down you guys were already gone, so I ran to catch up." He explained as he motioned towards the black pajama pants he still had on.

"Jacky didn't even remember to put a shirt on until we were almost out of the dungeons." Dolan said with a roll of his eyes.

"I actually threw mine on just before I got in the door." Draco said as he stifled a yawn.

"That's something I wouldn't mind seeing." Jacky whispered in Illy's ear. She laughed lightly as she started on an English muffin.

"So love, what's on the agenda for today?" Draco asked.

"She's spending the day with Harry." Dolan answered before she could.

"Actually, I'm probably going to ditch him after a while. I'll write you when I get a chance and we can meet up then." She corrected.

"So what, we're just supposed to hang out and have a little lonely sausage fest until it suits you?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"Not too lonely, I'm bringing Pansy." Christian said with a big smirk on his face.

"Fuck that, I'm not spending my day with the wench." Dolan exclaimed.

"I feel the same." Jacky affirmed.

"Sorry but if I want to spend my day off with a whore I'll pay one." Illy said dryly. Everyone turned to look at Draco who was now silent.

"What? I can't be much meaner than that. She's just going to spend the afternoon trying to make me jealous, so no." He finally said.

"We put up with her when you were the one she was screwing." Christian said bitterly.

"Yeah, but Draco didn't actually like her, he just used her. It was a different relationship." Dolan explained.

"Exactly. She's different around me, I promise, she's not irritating at all. I mean, she still mean and all, but that's just Pansy."

"We're only taking Pansy if you want me to bring Cho." Draco proposed.

"You're with Cho Chang now?" Illy asked in confusion.

"And in that case I'll invite Claire." Jacky said with a shrug.

"You're with Claire? Since when?" Dolan asked, sounding obviously hurt.

"I'm not 'with' her, but if everyone else is going to have a date I'm not going alone. And if Draco gets to bring a Ravenclaw I'm taking a Hufflepuff." He said matter-of-factly.

"But then I'll be alone!" Dolan said in an outrage.

"Ok, ok, how about this, Christian, you take Pansy, Draco you take Cho, Jacky you take Claire, I'll take Harry, Dolan you can take Hermione, Fred can invite Magda, George can invite Christiana since it's a weekend and all, and that will take care of it." Illy decided with a grin.

"What about Ron?" Dolan asked flatly, clearly not happy about his date.

"Oh…shit…we'll just have him take Matty…or something." Illy mumbled.

"There's no way she's going to say yes." Dolan pushed.

"She will if I tell her it'll mean she can spend the day with me." Illy said with a devious smile.

"Fine, but this is going to take some doing…and who the fuck are Magda and Christina?" Dolan asked.

"Magda is a friend who lives in Hogsmeade and Christina is from America, but her Dad works here so he'll let her come." She explained.

"Now, Draco come help me organize all this shit." She said as she pulled him from his seat.

"Why do I have to help?" He asked.

"Because Jacky is sick of being my bitch in your absence." She explained.

"That I am." He said with a wink.

"We need to talk to the twins first, their dates will be the most irritating, then we'll get Ron and Herm…actually you go talk to the twins, since you met Christina and all." Illy suggested as they walked towards the Gryffindor table.

"Nice pants Malfoy." Harry teased as the pair approached.

"Nice scar Potter." Draco countered.

"Bloody hell, we haven't even made it through breakfast." Hermione complained.

"Just go talk to Fred and George." Illy directed.

"Of course." Draco said with a wink in Illy's direction, just to upset Harry further.

"Ignore him Harry." Ron told his friend.

"Ok, so here's the plan," Illy began as she took a seat. "We're going to all spend the day together, Jacky, Christian, Draco, and myself already have dates, Harry is obviously going with me, and Fred and George are being sorted out the moment, but that's where the two of you come into play." Illy said, directing her gaze towards Ron and Hermione, who both looked towards the ground and started to turn red.

"Stop blushing and listen; Hermione, Dolan wants to go with you, and Ron, Matty Melrose wants to go with you."

"But everyone knows she's loose." Hermione said in a condescending tone.

"I'm fine with that." Ron agreed with a smile. "Do I have to ask her, or can we just meet up in Hogsmeade?"

"You don't have to ask her, I'll take care of it."

"But Dolan is a complete pervert, so Hermione needs a new date." Ron asserted confidently.

"On the contrary Ron, I would be happy to go with Dolan, and since Ron doesn't seem to care about his own date's moral values he can keep his trap shut." Hermione said harshly.

"I was just trying to protect you from having some creep try to get a feel." Ron defended himself.

"He'll do no such thing, I happen to think that Mr. Cook is a real gentleman." Hermione defended.

"I don't think I'd go that far, but whatever, as long as that's worked out, I'm going to go talk to Matty." Illy dismissed.

"We're in." Fred and George told Illy as they walked by. "We're running up to send Magda an owl, and we're going to steal some of your floo powder to talk to Christina." Fred called over his shoulder.

"It's underneath the white cardigan." She called back.

"What the fuck it a cardigan?" She could here George asking.

"It's like a sweater moron." Fred responded.

"Do you mean the one I bought you?" Draco inquired.

"He bought you more than just that dress?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I should really go talk to Matty, come on Draco. I'll see you in an hour or so Harry." She said just before turning and heading back towards her own table.

Illy grabbed a navy blue button up sweater to take with her in case the wind picked up before stopping briefly in front of the mirror to go over her appearance. Dark Khaki pants, white cotton scoop neck, and dark blue ballet flats, all compliments of Draco.

"You ready to go?" Draco asked, startling her with his sudden presence.

"Yeah, sorry I took so long." She apologized as she pulled her straightened hair into a pony-tail.

"Who says you took a long time? I was just checking on you."

"You need to learn to knock." She said as they made their way towards the common room.

"What's the fun in that?"

"I could have been changing."

"It wouldn't be the first time I saw you taking your clothes off." He said with a wink.

"And like always I would be scrambling to put them back on." She countered.

"You ruin all my fun."

"I thought I created all your fun…but then again I don't consider prostitution fun, so our definitions may be a little bit off."

"Tell you what, we'll hang back today and I'll help you get an idea of what I think fun is."

"You're not going to act like this while I'm with Harry today are you?" She asked as they made their way through the door and started towards the entrance hall of the school.

"That depends; will you be taking your clothes off?"

"I wasn't planning on it." She responded dryly.

"Well then, I guess not. But I still call for a rethinking of the plan."

"I'm sure Harry would as well."

"In that case, I like the plan, let's make it general policy."

"Shit, it's still wet." She complained as they started across the lawn towards their gargantuan party was waiting.

"And a bit cold, do you want my jacket?" Draco offered. "I can give it to you now before it causes problems." He suggested.

"I brought the blue one you bought me." She said as she slipped the sweater on. "Hermione!" She called as she waved to the brunette.

"Illy, I'm really not sure that most of the shops can handle a crowd this large." She said in a genuinely concerned voice.

"Nonsense. Now, how is Dolan behaving?"

"Actually, he's being really nice. It's driving Ron mad." She told Illy with a roll of her eyes.

"Well everyone seems like a nice person in comparison to Claire." Dolan explained.

"Stop being mean to her." Jacky interrupted.

"I'm not, she's just a snob. Which isn't surprising."

"Now I'm curious to see where this is heading, is it unsurprising because she's French, or because she's with me."

"Both."

"That's it. Illy, make him stop!" Jacky begged.

"Both of you cut it out. In all honesty Claire is a bit of a bitch Jacky, and just so you know Christian is trying to get in her pants because Pansy's not here yet," Illy started. Jacky immediately ran to rescue his date with an, "oh, shit." "And you, stop being so jealous." Illy finished in a half whisper. "Now, let's get moving, I'm sick of waiting for Pansy."

"Cho's here, so I'm ready." Draco said.

"Christina is going to meet us at the apothecary on Bailey, she needs some supplies, as long as you don't mind going there first." George informed.

"And Magda is waiting for us down by the gate." Fred continued.

"Matty's talking with Claire." Ron finished with a small groan.

"Ok, so let's just head for the apothecary, Harry should be getting in by now." informed as she started to guide the group towards the gate, noting that they were catching stares left and right from students shocked by the intermingled mob passing them by.

"If we're all going to try and eat together we're going to need reservations or something." Hermione told Illy.

"Yeah, guess so. I'll have Magda take care of it. Hey Fred!" She called towards the front of the group. Fred dropped to the back of the mob with Hermione and Killious just as the group approached the gate.

"What can I do?"

"We need Magda to tell us where we can get a table to seat this many people for lunch."

"Shite….this is a lot of bloody people I guess." He responded.

"Do we even want to attempt it, or should we just go ahead and let go of this group theory?" Hermione questioned.

"I can ask Mags, but my guess is sooner or later we're going to get separated anyway." Fred confessed.

"Should we set up a meeting place?" Hermione suggested.

"Why bother, we all know how it's going to go." Fred said with a half hearted shrug.

"I don't know how it's going to go." Illy interjected with some irritation at her plans falling apart before the day was even underway.

"You just haven't grasped the amount of segregation there is between houses yet." Fred explained.

"We're all doing fine right now aren't we?" Illy asked.

"Illy we're doing fine now, but pretty soon someone will start fighting and it'll just be a mess." Hermione said sympathetically.

"Almost everyone here is a good friend of mine, and so far none of them are fighting about house issues. Christian is flirting with everyone's date, Dolan is jealous, Ron's complaining already, Claire is being a snob, George is throwing snowballs and Pansy is late, but none of that has to do with houses. It's just the people they are, no one but us is even thinking about where they belong at school, they're just having fun. All this crap about what house you're in is almost as bad as worrying about your blood. Who cares anyway? None of my Slytherin friends give a shit what house your in, and if it's the 'courageous' kids who are going to start a fight just because they're not used to something you can all just go fuck yourselves, but we're not starting anything." Illy said heatedly.

"We're not going to start anything, but I wouldn't put it past Draco. You heard what he called Hermione the other day." Fred reminded her.

"Why does everyone think Draco is going to start shit? Look, he only said that to Hermione to piss Harry off, and he even apologized. He can be an ass, but none of it is personal, you have to realize that he says whatever he thinks will upset you most, regardless of what it is. His family didn't exactly teach him that there's any option other than winning whatever fight he's in. Harry would be more likely to mean something like that than Draco." She defended.

"I'm wif Killy'us." Magda said brightly.

"Magda!" Illy and Fred said in unison, before taking turns giving her a hug.

"Mags, this is Hermione, she's one of little Ronny's friends." Fred introduced.

"Nice eh meet ya." She said with a warm smile.

"You too." Hermione replied shyly.

"Where's Dolan? Shouldn't he be back here making Ron jealous?" Illy asked suddenly with a mischievous grin.

"She's as bah as me." Magda said with a wink at Fred.

"She pulls the kiss on the cheek trick too." Fred told her.

"Tha' boy gets cher'y red dun he?"

"It's even worse in public." Illy told her. "Dolan, your date is lonely." Illy called to Dolan who was talking in a hushed voice to Jackquinn up ahead.

"Sorry Hermione." Dolan apologized once he was back by her side. "I'll make it up from here on out." He said sweetly before taking her hand in his own and starting up a conversation.

"So, where is Harry?" Fred asked as he put an arm around Magda's shoulder.

"He should be here by now…" She mumbled.

"Do you want to just meet us at Bailey?" Fred offered.

"I guess so. I'm gonna go check Honeyduke's, maybe he just needs someone to make a scene so that he can get out of the basement."

"Ok, I'll just tell everyone we'll meet you there."

"West Bailey Apothecary right?"

"Yeah, just past the antique book store."

"Ok, I'll go fast." She assured Fred and Magda before turning back and jogging towards the treat shop.

Illy was half way to the shop when she noticed Snape heading her way with a small grin on his face. "Shit" She breathed to herself when she realized that few things could make him smile quite like that.

"Are you having fun bringing together the houses for a student rally?" He asked sarcastically.

"Well I was, but you're smiling so I guess it's about to come to an end."

"It's not my fault that your boyfriend got caught trying to sneak into Hogsmeade without a signed permission slip." He said as she joined him on the other side of the street.

"Harry was trying to come?" She asked in a shocked voice.

"Don't play dumb."

"Fine…I told him how to get into Hogsmeade without using the front gate." She admitted. Snape's face stiffened. Illy only smiled to herself, her little lie was just enough to throw off Snape's plans for whatever sort of punishment he had pictured.

"You told him how to get here?" He asked gravely.

"I most certainly did." She said with a knowing smile.

"You're lying, he used that cloak of his fathers." Snape accused.

"I may be lying, but I doubt you can prove it."

"Ike, you've got to stop being on his side. He breaks the rules and he's going to get punished for it."

"I break the rules too. And for that matter, so do you. Hell, you help me break the rules every now and again. So what if his family won't sign? His parents are dead, have some mercy on the poor kid."

"Your parents are dead too, does that mean you should get away with everything?"

"I already get out of everything, but not everyone can talk their way out of problems like I can. He's had a tough year with the Sirius Black stuff just cut him some slack this once." She pleaded.

"If I give him a break now it's just going to make you think that you can do whatever you want."

"I'm not asking you to let him walk away entirely, just be nice. Lenient is the word really, but it would in fact be very nice, especially to me, if you could be lenient."

"I'm not going to help him out. I don't even like that you're seeing him, why would I put both of you in a better mood."

"Because you're the bigger person and you need to prove that you aren't exactly the kind of jackass he thinks you are. Harry isn't exactly keen on you, and I really think if you would just give it the tiniest shot you two could call a truce on the little war you've got going."

"I hope he can't stand me. It serves him right."

"Sins of the father syndrome? I really thought that you of all people could get over something like that."

"If he wasn't exactly like his father then maybe I could."

"He's not like his dad. He's a lot nicer. You don't see him bullying other kids do you? He's not jinxing kids left and right, or throwing their books on the ground, he's the underdog if anything."

"He's doing worse than that. He's bullying you, and he's jinxing you, and he's throwing you on the ground. I now it just like Draco does."

"Draco doesn't know anything. You have to stop thinking that he's so well informed."

"The point stands that he's just like James was."

"James was an ass, that's a given, but come on. If you can't let things with him go what hope is there for me huh? You even said that my dad was a totally hopeless, defenseless looser, and if I have my facts right Severus you weren't exactly Mr. Popular." While Illy spoke, Snape visibly began to look more depressed.

"I shouldn't have let you think that, that was all there was to your father…There was more to both of your parents than most people were aware of."

"Were you friends with them?" She asked. Snape chuckled lightly.

"You could put it that way. I wanted you be with your mum… Your dad, that idiot, spent most of his time at Hogwarts chasing after Lily Evans. They were from the same neighborhood and he almost lost it when she stopped being friends with him. He was close to your mum by then, but he was too scared of her to try and ask her out. So one day James was picking on him in the courtyard and your mom told James to leave her boyfriend alone, then she gave him a kiss, and they were inseparable. Simple as that."

"Who's side were they on? Were they Deatheaters or what?"

"We'll talk about it later. Go catch up to your friends."

"One day you'll see that people can be different than their parents." Illy promised as she gave him a quick goodbye and headed down Bailey Street. Snape stood still at the entrance to the ally-like street, watching her disappear around the corner with an expressionless stare.

"I sure hope your right Ike." He finally said before he turned around to head back to the castle and let Harry out of the four month detention he had been signed up for.

"Where's Harry?" Ron asked as Illy walked into the apothecary.

"Snape caught him, he's going to be stuck at the castle, but don't worry about it. Did Pansy arrive yet?"

"Yeah but she left when she saw that Draco had a date." Christian said in a small voice from his spot beside the door.

"If you ask nice I'll be your date." Illy offered with a grin.

"He doesn't need one, he stole my date." Draco told Illy as he walked over to Ron and Illy.

"Wow, he bested the brat." Illy teased.

"And Matty left with Pansy." Ron complained.

"Lovely, anyone else not show up?" Illy asked.

"Nope, Fred and George are set, Christina practically snogged George's tongue right out of his mouth when she showed up." Ron said dryly.

"Hermione and Dolan are doing fine, they're next door, and Jackquinn is helping Claire find some stuff she needs around the store to help with potions."

"Where is Cho?" Illy asked Christian.

"Looking at a new cauldron, but she's going to ask me to come help her decide in the back room in a minute." Christian answered with a wink.

"So it's just the three of us on our own." Ron said with a sigh.

"I'd choose the two of you over Pansy and Matty any day." Illy told them as soon as Christian had left for the backroom.

"Same." Draco admitted.

"Guess I can't fight with you there." Ron agreed.

"Let's go ask the owner to show us what cauldron's he had in back." Illy suggested with a wicked grin. Draco raised his hand into the air,

"Excuse me Sir, can you show me what you have in back?" He asked the owner.

"Or better yet, why don't we all just have a little look." Ron suggested to the old man who nodded heartily.

"It's so good to get all of this business." He told them. "Over this way everyone." He called out to the group as he pulled open the door to the back room. Cho shrieked. Christian grinned and started to wipe the lip-gloss off of his face. Everyone else was in hysterics, except Christina who led George towards the door at the first chance she got to play copycat, which made everyone laugh even harder, including the shop owner.

"I'll make sure I drop by this summer if I can." Illy told Magda as she turned to drop everyone at the front gate as dusk.

"The boys'd 'preciate et I'm sure." She told her.

"I'll be back in thirty minutes with George." Fred promised. "We'll just walk Magda home and drop Christina off."

"Don't get in trouble you two." Hermione warned.

"Who? Us?" They asked innocently before they departed.

"I told you it'd be fine." Illy said to Ron.

"Yeah, I guess it wasn't so bad; Even if your friend Dolan is a jerk." He admitted.

"Dolan is a perfect gentleman; I don't know how he doesn't have a girlfriend." Hermione objected. Illy just shook her head and kept walking silently towards the castle.

"And let's not forget that I was good." Draco said triumphantly.

"You managed to pin the whole restaurant tab on Lupin just because he ran into us. I wouldn't call that could." Hermione scolded.

"I would call if bloody perfect." Ron said with a smile.

"And besides, it was mine and Jacky's idea; Draco was just the only one the waitress would believe looked a thing like Lupin's kid." Illy informed.

"I have to admit that Jackquinn's not that bad." Ron said with a small grin.

"I don't really look like Lupin do I?" Draco asked in sudden distress.

"Of course not. You're much better looking, I promise." Illy assured him. "Well, I'll see you guys in the morning, I'm going to finish up my homework." She told Ron and Hermione as the split for the stairs or the dungeon approached. "Tell Harry I'm really sorry he didn't make it."

"We will." Hermione promised.

"Tell Potter I hope that he trips and breaks his face." Draco said equally as cheery as Illy.

"He'll probably slip on all those milk duds you're having Hedwig deliver." Ron laughed.

"You're sending him candy?" Illy asked with a smirk.

"They spit chocolate at you, and so Draco sent him this huge bag of them. They're going to get dropped on him by a bunch of owls in the morning." Ron said with a proud smile.

"I take it you thought this up?" Hermione asked Ron in a harsh tone.

"He needs a little something to cheer him up. And you know, Lupin says nothing cheers you up more than chocolate." Ron defended himself.

"And I'm supposedly his son, so how can we go wrong?" Draco laughed. Illy just shook her head as Hermione continued to scold Ron all the way up the stairs.

"So when are those two going to admit they're in love?" Draco asked Illy as they made their way past Snape's classroom and towards the common room.

"Not sure, but their kids will have some crazy fucking hair." Illy replied with a laugh.

"When are you going to ask Snape about your parents?"

"I'm not sure I want the answer to my question. I have a feeling that whatever he says isn't going to be what I want to hear, so why ask?"

"Still…it's got to be important to you."

"How important is it to you?"

"Ok, I get your point. But still, your parents weren't necessarily bad people."

"There's no way to know that other than to ask. And if you had the choice of not knowing about the things your father has done, what would you do?"

"You're not nearly fucked up enough to have a dad like mine." Draco mumbled angrily.

"Neither are you." She half whispered in response. Draco stopped in the hall and turned to face her.

"Thanks." He whispered in her ear as he pulled her to his chest. "You have no idea how much that means."

"Draco…"

"Yeah?"

"Where have you been going at night?" She inquired softly. He pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head.

"Do you promise that you won't get mad or anything?"

"I promise."

"I've been trying to find out where she went. I have dreams about her too, but not like yours. She just keeps showing up, barely out of my line of vision, or in dark corners, and I always try to catch her, but she's too fast." He explained as he released her and they continued into the common room.

"So where exactly have you been hunting for clues?"

"I've broken into the library to look up old records once or twice, but mostly I've been trying to get into Snape's office. When I was in there the other day I saw an envelope on the desk labeled 'personal' and I think he might have something in there."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Maybe he knows where she's buried, maybe he's kept in contact with her, or something." He shrugged, sank into a spot on the sofa, and motioned for Killious to have a seat.

"Do you think we could get your dad to take us up to the ministry with him one day over the summer?" She asked as she sat on the opposite side of the sofa so that he could lay down and put his head in her lap while they talked.

"I doubt it. But maybe we could find another way in. Do you think they'd have something?"

"I don't see how they couldn't. She'd be on file if she died, or if her parents ever tried to find her. Have you found anything useful in the library?" Illy questioned quietly as she began to play with Draco's soft white-blond hair.

"Not really, just something about my Dad being a Deatheater who got into a bit of trouble for trafficking muggleborn's, and then I just found a few books on some famous wizards and witches with telepathic abilities and such. Maybe you should take up lessons with Lupin. They couldn't be all that bad you know…and I'd come with you if you wanted."

"I guess I'll talk to him about it. But Trelawney can get fucked."

"Fine with me."

"Severus told me that when my mom met her she called her a paranoid imbecile."

"Hit the nail on the head." He said with a grin.

"My mum was an ESP officer…one of the best they ever had apparently." She told him while she softly scratched his scalp.

"I'll look her up."

"I don't know how. Snape won't give me her name, and he's the only one who knows."

"Why won't he just tell you her name?"

"He says that digging up the past isn't worth the pain, and that I should just know she was a good person, and that she would be proud of me."

"That liar."

"What, you think it's worth it?"

"No, actually I was thinking there's no way in hell your mom would be proud of your skank ass." He said before laughing. Illy stopped running her fingers over his head.

"I think she'd be more ashamed of the fact that I'm friends with a cock-up like you."

"She would be too smitten by my beauty to say a word against me."

"She wasn't blind you fucknuckle."

"Just shut up and keep playing with my hair." He said in his best snobby brat voice.

"Do you remember that one day at the beginning of the school year when I was playing with your hair and you freaked out and told me to stop?" She asked as she resumed her previous practice.

"I didn't freak out." He objected defensively.

"You acted like I was going to give you herpes just by touching you."

"Oh…that kind of freak out…well then I definitely didn't freak out." He muttered while she started to braid a little bit of his long bangs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked. Draco's cheeks started to turn a light pink shade. "Wait, you mean you weren't disgusted, you were just enjoying yourself and got embarrassed?"

"Pretty much. Stop braiding my hair." He complained.

"You're such a little snot." Illy told him while she undid the braids.

"Why does that make me a snot?" Draco whined. Illy rolled her eyes and slowly combed her fingers his hair one section at a time.

"Because I was certain that you never wanted me to touch you again, and really-"

"Really I was debating getting you drunk that night and taking you up to my room." He cut her off.

"That's fucked up." She told him with a giggle.

"That's why I didn't do it!" He shouted indignantly.

"Still…that's not a good place for your head to go first."

"What would you have suggested?"

"Send chocolates and flowers."

"You don't even like flowers." He reminded her sharply.

"Alright then, send chocolates and books." She suggested.

"That might have been a better plan." He admitted.

"Just maybe." She said sarcastically.

"So let me give this a try, if I promise you bring you chocolate in the morning, and I buy you a library, do you want to come sleep in my bed tonight?"

"Sure."

"What? Really?" He asked her in surprise as he sat up from her lap.

"Yeah, shake on it." She suggested.

"Deal!" Draco said excitedly as he shook her hand.

"Let me just go get pajamas and a change of clothes for the morning." She told him as she got up from the sofa. Draco spent the next five minutes staring at the entrance to the girl's dorm in disbelief, until Illy re-emerged with clothing and makeup bag in hand.

"Will it make you uncomfortable if I wear this?" She asked, pointing to her white girl's boxers with blue horseshoe prints and thin green t-shirt.

"You don't match, but it's not like it'll be on that long." He said with a shrug.

"Actually Mr. Malfoy, you agreed that we would sleeping in your bed, so these in fact will be on, as long we don't get hit by a heat wave." She told him as they made their way to his bed. It took Draco a moment before he realized what she said.

"Bloody fuck…you got my hopes up." He told her with a sideways smile. He really couldn't be disappointed though, he had known that she would find some way of getting his hopes up and crushing them, like she always did.

"Sorry." She apologized before she climbed into his bed. "On the plus side, you have really great sheets." She told him. Draco just grunted and slipped his pants, shoes, socks, and shirt off, before he slipped into the bed himself clad in nothing but boxers.

"I'm really not getting my money's worth." He whispered as he pulled her body to his and wrapped an arm around it.

"Ewww, are you sleeping in the same boxers you spent the whole day in?" She asked obnoxiously.

"Oh shut the hell up before I wake Christian up and let him rape you." Draco sneered. Illy giggled and rolled over, so that she could push Draco onto his back and rest her head on his chest.

"Do you mind." She murmured.

"Not in the least." He promised as he put both arms around her now and turned his face so that he could burry his nose in her hair.

"Goodnight Draco Malfoy."

"Goodnight Killious Quintessence."

1 Illy's second immediately fulfilled prophecy (Harry's fight with her under the tree being the first)