Sorry for the log delay! I knew how I wanted this chapter, but I couldn't seem to get it right

Anyway, here it is - enjoy!

Chapter 7

Tracey hummed to herself quietly as she tapped her quill on the parchment. Books were spread over the table in the library. She had been in here since she had dropped off her things from Hogsmeade in the dorms. She had been tapping her quill for the last ten minutes. It had got to the point were she was seeing the words on the page but not really understanding them. Her brain was on shut down. Looking round the room for a distraction, she saw a couple of fifth year Ravenclaw's pouring over their books a couple of tables down, and a lonely Gryffindor in the corner. So much for a distraction. Continuing with her humming of the latest Weird Sisters song, Tracey started to doodle leaves on the edge of her page. Stopping the humming she sighed.

"That's the new Weird Sisters song right?" she heard from behind her. Spinning round, she saw that it was no other than Harry Potter, who she had been trying to hunt down for the last week. He walked round the table and sat in the seat opposite. "Not much good is it? I personally prefer Celestina Warbeck and her song 'You stole my cauldron but you can't have my heart', cracks me up every time" he continued. Tracey felt herself staring at him with a frown on her face. Meanwhile Potter was in the process of checking the covers of the various books she had. Finding the ones on Transformation and Vanishment he proceeded to spin them towards him and skim the open pages. Tracey's frown got deeper.
"Could you pass me the notes you've done already?". This snapped Tracey out of her daze. Handing over the dozen or so sheets she finally asked "How did you know where to find me?"

"Greengrass" came the short reply, " Don't reckon she likes me much" he continued indifferently.

"Don't worry about Daphne, she's like that with anyone new. Anyway, more to the point what are you doing here? All week I've been looking for you so we can get started on this, so it's done before the start of October. But no, you had to go swanning off to Merlin knows were, leaving me here to do all the work!" Tracey felt herself getting more and more angry as the speech progressed. It wasn't fair sometimes. Why did she have to do all the work? Was 'mug' written across her forehead or something? Potter had looked up from her notes as she had started to speak to him. By the end his right eyebrow had moved half way up his forehead.

"Finished? I only came because you asked me too. " She scowled in response. Potter was now back to looking at her notes leaving Tracey with nothing to do. Staring at the table she proceeded to trace the lines of the varnished wood that was rough under her touch due to age. She could only concentrate on two things - 'Why was Potter here?' and the fact that she really needed a sleep. All of a sudden she felt really tired. Resting her arm on the table she leant on her hand and let her eyes become unfocused and her mind to wander.

She was snapped back to reality by someone clearing their throat. Refocusing Tracey found herself staring at Potter. He was smirking. Blushing Tracey snapped her head up and looked anywhere else but at the person sitting directly opposite her. A quiet thud sounded as her notes were tossed back to her over the table. From the looks of it Potter had made himself a copy of her notes as well as his own.

"There's a copy of my notes in there as well." Her assumption was correct then. "I haven't quiet finished yet so same time tomorrow?" Potter stood to leave. Collecting all the books he flicked his wand to send them back to their respective place on the shelf and then placed his parchment and ink back in his bag.

"Why are you doing this?" Tracey asked before she could stop herself. Potter frowned for a moment before replying in a bored voice,
"Lets just say your threat really scared me" Half a smile followed. He then turned on his heel , hoisted his bag up and walked through the aisles. Tracey threw her stuff in her bag and holding it in her hand as she half walked half ran to catch him up. She wasn't sure entirely why though.

She caught him just as he was about to cross the middle aisle. "Potter, wait a minute" she called. A sense of déjà vu washed over her, but however unlike last time Potter did stop by the corner of the bookshelf. A flustered looking first year rushed past Tracey almost whacking her with his bag. The first year then brushed past Potter, causing him to be on the receiving end of his bag resulting in him being knocked into the bookshelf. Pain flittered across his face as he turned round and yelled at the first year that was already halfway down another aisle. As Tracey continued forward to meet Potter she saw him absently rubbing the arm that had knocked the book case.

"Alright?" she questioned, concern colouring her voice
" I bloody hate first years sometimes" came the grim voice. Tracey came to a stop next to him. She caught sight of a brief flash of white under Potter's black t-shirt as he rubbed it. A million questioned popped into Tracey's head. She was inquisitive by nature but being in Slytherin she knew when to keep quiet. Potter saw her looking at his arm and immediately stopped the rubbing and yanked the sleeve down as far as it would go, while at the same time daring her to question it. Questioned burned inside her but she refused to give him the satisfaction of her asking them. She merely hummed disapprovingly.

"Shall we go then?" Tracey asked nodding her head towards the exit. She received a nod and the pair set off out the door. They were silent as they walked down the halls and stairs. As the reached the Entrance Hall, Tracey started to hum the song again. The corridors were lit by the torches and as the continued down towards the dungeons, not a soul passed them by, alive or dead. By the time they had reached the entrance to their common room Tracey had reached her fourth rendition of the Weird Sister's song. Entering the common room Tracey sighed in content as the warmth rushed over her. She hadn't realised how cool it was in the castle until that moment. Sensing that Potter was still next to her she suddenly felt a bit awkward, she hadn't heard him follow her into the common room . Facing him she questioned "Tomorrow right? " he nodded again. "Err well, er okay I'll meet you there then." Frowning at her sudden inability to talk normally she shook her head at her antics as she wandered over to the staircase leading up to the girls dorms.

As she lay in her bed that night she pondered the events of that day. How had she gone from issuing threats, albeit pretty pathetic ones, to Potter being relatively normal - nice even. Today had done little to answer any of her questions. In fact Tracey now had double the questions to the number of answers she had received. She frowned in the dark bedroom, the rest of her room mates already asleep, their soft breathing being the only noise in the other wise silent room.

All she could think about was tomorrow. How would Potter behave then? Hermione had once used the term bipolar to describe him. Tracey at the time hadn't understood what it meant until Hermione explained it to her. That word seemed to fit his character well. Then there was the question of the bandage, how had that got there. Tracey was sure he wasn't wearing one at breakfast. Not that she was looking or anything, she scolded herself. Tossing over onto her side Tracey stared into the dark, unseeing, as a million tiny things floated round her head space. She didn't sleep much that night.