Hi HP peeps,

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Thank you so much to WizardMockingJayWithABox for your review for chapter 2. Your support means a lot!

Mischief Managed,

Angelic-Bitch

Chapter 3: Roses, Near Kisses and Violence

Padma was thankful that George was not in her year level or in her house because the last two times she had interacted with him she ended up going over and over it in her head for hours. Her mind just kept wandering back to him.

He is good looking, she could admit that to herself, but he was horribly arrogant. The way he spoke to her and looked at her meant that he only thought of her as a piece of meat. That was what disgusted her.

What she hated the most was that a small part of her actually found it exciting. This is exactly what had happened with Cormac. His attention flattered her and she became someone she couldn't respect. She promised herself that whatever George Weasley did, she would keep him at arm's length – even if she felt a little excited by his attention.

He was clearly a man-whore and she didn't want to have anything to do with him. Cormac was enough to deal with.

Even though George Weasley had ruined her morning, she refused to let him ruin the rest of her day. She was thankful to not have bumped into him in the halls throughout the day and she had breathed a sigh of relief when he hadn't shown up in the Great Hall during dinner as well.

That evening Padma settled herself at a table in the Library towards the back. The library always comforted her. If she felt like being alone she would gravitate to the tables at the back of the library that were surrounded by bookcases and the smell of parchment. However, if she felt like being in an open space she would study at the larger group tables towards the front of the library.

That evening she wished she had chosen a table at the front of the library because if she had, George Weasley would not have tried to pull a typical man-whore stunt on her.

She had been immersed in her revision for her Herbology test when about half an hour later she realised she needed another text book for some of the information. After she returned to her table with the book she saw a single long-stemmed rose laying on top of her study notes.

Without thinking she picked it up and brought it to the tip of her nose. Its scent was wonderful.

"Do you like it?" asked a deep voice from behind her.

Padma whipped around to find George Weasley in his Quidditch robes, standing quite close to her, looking happy with himself as always. Oh god, he looks so hot in his Quidditch uniform. He must have been at Quidditch practice during dinner.

Padma made sure to plaster a look of disgust on her face before she answered.

"I prefer Tulips," she answered as calmly as possible as she threw the rose back to him. He caught it easily, not caring about the thorns in the stem because of his Quidditch gloves.

"Roses are so generic and meaningless," she continued and folded her arms.

George didn't seem perturbed by her reaction at all, he simply smirked at her. She wanted to slap him. Why did he have to be so tall? His frame was intimidating. And why did she find the way he held himself so bloody attractive? She wondered what it would be like to be close enough to him to place her hands upon his chest. She wondered what it would be like if he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Tulips huh? I'll remember that for next time my beautiful Indian goddess." And to Padma's surprise he closed the distance between them and brought his hand up to tuck a loose dark tendril of hair behind her ear. The gesture was gentle but the look in his eyes meant that he was playing with her.

She quickly lifted her foot to take a step backwards only to find that she was trapped between him and the desk. She swallowed nervously as he looked down at her like an eagle ready to devour its prey.

He leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"Can I kiss you Padma?"

Padma could not help the obvious shiver that passed through her body as his hot breath caressed the hairs at her temple. A jolt of electricity went through her system and her heart began to beat fast.

If it were possible his smirk grew at the effect he had on her.

"You know you want to."

It was those words that snapped her out of her trance. Cormac had used the same words to convince her to do certain things she was unsure of.

George did not anticipate the power of Padma's anger. Her hands pushed at his chest as hard as she could. He was obviously a lot stronger than her but he stumbled back in surprise. She did not hesitate to act at this opportunity and she drew her hand back and slapped him hard across the face and moved away from him.

"You make me sick!" she almost growled. "What is this? Did you run out of 7th year and 6th year girls to mess around with? Are you now trying to make your way through the 5th years? Merlin you are such a sleaze. It's disgusting!"

George was rubbing his left cheek surprised at the stinging sensation. Her slap had had quite a force behind it.

"Hmm, you're quite a feisty one aren't you sweetheart?" George chuckled as he looked Padma up and down. She was panting slightly in her fury and her cheeks were red.

"You have no idea how beautiful you are," he stated.

If it were possible, her cheeks would have deepened in colour. How was she supposed to respond to that?

"What's going on here?" came Madam Pince's stern voice as she appeared between bookcases. "I heard yelling."

Padma was relieved that they were no longer alone and she quickly began packing her things into her book bag.

"I'm so sorry Madam Pince, it will not happen again," Padma apologised.

"Padma Patil, I am surprised at you. You're a prefect. You know the rules."

"I-I know, again I am sorry." She began to fiddle with the buckle on her bag. It wouldn't close. She just wanted to get away from him.

Madam Pince turned her attention to George and saw the rose in his hand. Her expression softened. She clearly thought this was some kind of lover's spat.

"That's pretty," she commented. Her entire tone had changed.

"Not as much as the girl I tried to give it too."

Madam Pince turned her attention back to the Ravenclaw.

"Oh Padma dear, when a man wants to give you flowers, you accept them."

Padma couldn't believe her ears. She clicked her book-bag buckle into place, slung it around her shoulder and scoffed.

"Man?" she questioned as she looked into George's eyes. "Try man-whore!" And she slipped past both of them and headed straight to the exit doors. She didn't turn around or stop until she was safely in her dormitory.

As she got to the room she shared with four others she was glad that they were still in the common room or elsewhere because she could feel her body vibrating with anger. She wanted to break something. Slapping him had given her no satisfaction because he didn't care, in fact, he had said that she was beautiful.

Was this going to be her life? Was she going to be targeted by egotistical jerks who wanted to use her? Would she never find someone who actually valued her?

Padma felt the sting of tears in her eyes as she remembered her reaction to his advances. She had been close to giving in to him. Did she have such little control over herself?

At that moment two of her roommates Mandy and Sue came in giggling about some frivolous matter but when they saw their friend's face they stopped immediately.

"Oh my gosh, Paddy what's wrong?" Sue asked and practically leapt over everything to wrap her arms around her friend. Padma began to cry. "What's happened?"

Mandy stood by the door. She wasn't sure what to do in these situations.

"I-I've just had a really bad day. I don't really want to talk about it." She broke away from Sue's comforting embrace.

"Do you want us to get Parvati?" asked Mandy.

"No I'll be ok." The last thing Padma wanted was George Weasley overhearing that she was crying and needed her sister.

Another one of their roommates opened the door and entered not realising the fragile scene she had entered into.

"Hey Padma, Luna gave me this to give to you. She said some guy in 7th year wanted you to have it." Lisa was holding out the same rose George had tried to give her.

All three girls gushed at this and began to pepper Padma with questions. Padma took the rose and placed it on her bedside table.

The questions stopped as soon as she began plucking all the petals out. They also watched in horror as she used one of her small knives that they used in potions to chop the stem up. They watched very confused as she placed all parts of the damaged rose into an envelope, sealed it and placed it back on her bedside table.

She turned to her friends who were all looking at her like she was deranged.

"The guy who gave it to me is an absolute jerk. I'll send it back to him tomorrow morning. I don't want to talk about it ok?" And with that she gathered her things to take to the prefect's bathroom. She could use a good bubble bath.

I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I hope you enjoyed reading it. It would mean a lot to me if you reviewed.