A/N Another chapter so soon? I shouldn't have;)

Chapter 21

It was safe to say Reece had gone temporarily mute. He had gone to Hogsmeade with Daphne, Tracey and Blaise but he had found no entertainment in the trip. Even when Hermione and Weasley passed the group of Slytherins he didn't feel the sense of excitement that he would usually feel when seeing her. Reece was scared, he was scared that if he said something to any of them he'd chase them away, and he was hesitant about trying to get closer to them, because they may end up leaving anyway. Daphne and Blaise had noticed the difference, and Pansy would have if she'd pay attention to him from time to time instead of obsessing over Malfoy. Yes, his current opinion of Pansy was a sour one. They had gotten along since their first year but the more she tried to get with Draco the more respect he'd lose for her.

He sat in the common room in an isolated chair, watching his housemates interact. Malfoy was seated arrogantly, speaking to Crabbe, Goyle, Nott and Pansy with a sense of authority. Daphne and Blaise seemed to be in their own bubble, and although they were not yet together they seemed to be flirting often. Some of his older housemates were seated in various places in the common room, some engaging in loud banter and others keeping to themselves just as he was. Reece wasn't Reece, he hadn't been since the confrontation with that boggart. The worst thing was; was that he knew he wasn't himself. But it appeared that he hadn't been himself for so long that no one had noticed that something drastic was up. Because no one had asked, Malfoy hadn't teased about it and even Granger hadn't given him her sympathetic look or her concerned glance.

"Everyone to the hall, immediately!" A seventh year prefect announced to the common room with a tone of urgent arrogance. Reece snapped out of his trance of self-destructive thought as people in the common room started to hustle and bustle, going to their dormitories to tell their friends and other students about the order. He rose from his chair slowly, joined the crowd, and blended into the sea of green as they hurried to the hall.

In DADA he sat at the back, in the corner beside Blaise as he observed the classroom through changed eyes. Zabini had smiled at him when he sat down, but they had not exchanged words. At the moment Reece liked it this way, acknowledgement but without speaking. It was the easiest way for him to stay silent and keep himself in the dark. He glanced around the room, noticing things about people that he hadn't before, and noticing that Granger wasn't anywhere to be seen. It worried Reece – ever so slightly of course – as she would never miss a lesson, and she would rarely be caught showing up late. Reece had barely noticed her showing up late, but when he did it was as if she'd appeared out of thin air. It most certainly intrigued him as the bookworm loved pretty much all of her classes, apart from the dreadful divination.

As the door flung open forcefully, Reece flinched as his bloodshot eyes darted to the familiar snapping of door hinges. In swept Professor Snape, his robes flying behind him as he took the sunlight away from the classroom and took up place at the front, setting up his projector quickly.

"Turn to page three hundred and ninety four." Everyone started to open their books as Snape began walking to the far end of the classroom.

"Excuse me, sir." Oh and of course, Reece sighed as there was never a lesson that didn't involve the great Harry Potter asking ridiculous questions or saying daft things. "Where's Professor Lupin?" Reece rolled his eyes, why did it matter? He just wanted the lesson to be over, because Reece just wished he could go back to his dormitory and curl up in his bed and forget about the homework that was due for tomorrow and erase the thoughts of losing people. Because he was hurting. And being around people only emphasised the pain.

"That's not really your concern, is it, Potter?" Well at least Snape had the same idea, he began to move away while giving those wondering a vague explanation. "Suffice it to say your professor finds himself incapable of teaching at the present time. Turn to page three hundred and ninety four." Reece looked over to see Weasley's book suddenly change pages as the screen lit up.

"Werewolves?" Ron questioned in surprise.

"Sir," All of a sudden Reece heard her voice, he turned his attention fully in that direction and noticed that she'd miraculously appeared, without even walking in late or getting lectured by Professor Snape. He couldn't help but stare at her, wondering how on earth she could be in multiple places at once so discreetly. "We just learned about red caps and hinkypunks." Why she felt the need to try and correct him, Reece had no idea. All he could see was that his very intriguing girl was digging herself into a hole. "We're not meant to start that for weeks."

"Quiet." Snape drawled, attempting in his own way to warn her not to speak further on the subject or any subject for that matter. "Now," He said as he began making his way back towards the front. "Which one of you can tell me the difference between an Animagus and a werewolf?" Reece focused his attention back on the lesson for the time being, as the concept of Animagus' greatly interested him to the extent of wanting to become one as soon as possible. Unsurprisingly Granger's hand shot up in the air as if it were a rocket, and as this topic hadn't been covered yet no one else seemed to dare guess the answer. "No one?" He questioned, his back still turned. "How disappointing."

"Please, sir." Snape's smug look disappeared within an instant as Granger began to answer his question. "An Animagus is a wizard who elects to turn into an animal. A werewolf has no choice." Severus for some reason decided not to stop her, and Reece just stared up at the Professor with a look of question as she continued. "With each full moon, when he transforms he no longer remembers who he is. He'd kill his best friend. Furthermore the werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind." And with that Reece had to roll his eyes as Malfoy made an obnoxious howling noise, much to the amusement of Crabbe and Goyle.

"Thank you, Mister Malfoy." Snape drawled as the laughter stopped abruptly. "That's the second time you've spoken out of turn, Miss Granger." Reece frowned as he picked apart the way that Snape was targeting her harshly. It wasn't the first time the potions master had done it, but it was still in Reece's opinion fairly unjust. "Are you incapable of restraining yourself or do you take pride in being an insufferable know-it-all?" Reece glared at Snape as he continued his relentless abuse of authority, putting her down because of her capability was just plain wrong, and he couldn't let her get attacked like this. But he had to keep his mouth shut, because defending a mudblood was wrong, and he wasn't allowed to do such a thing. "Five points from Gryffindor." He drawled as he turned.

"Oi what's the point in that? You asked a question and she answered it." Reece piped up, shouting from the back much to everyone's shock. Draco spun round and gave Reece what appeared to be an attempt of a glare and Weasley soon followed. Reece simply ignored their childish opinions and continued to glare at his head of house.

"I believe this would be a time for you to keep quiet mister Lestrange." Reece's jaw locked as Snape emphasized his surname, spitting the words as if to say remember who you are. "You do not need to get involved with what's not your business."

"Yeah and you don't need to take pleasure in embarrassing students in front of the whole class, so I guess we're both in the wrong." Reece muttered as Snape began lecturing and ranting about the homework he was setting. Even though he argued no further, Reece hoped that he took the heat off of her and put the class focus on him. Granger didn't deserve any of what Snape said about her academic abilities, and he hoped that she'd be grateful for him sticking up for her when her friends seemed to just put her down even further. As the class groaned in disappointment when Snape informed them of the due date, Blaise smacked Reece on the arm. "What was that for?" He muttered fiercely under his breath.

"You." Zabini snapped as he began taking notes on the topic. "You have a sudden fascination with red and gold and it's not going to end well mate."

Mr Yaxley had got it all sorted, and had arranged with Dumbledore that due to special circumstances, Reece would be picked up from Hogsmeade to travel to London for the tournament over the rest of Christmas break. Reece had always had an interest in duelling, he found the concept of taking others on in a magical battle most interesting. As the year progressed even further and white blankets of snow began to fall he found himself spending all of his free time in the library, reading up on spells and learning new ways to gain the magical edge over his opponents. The risk of losing was high, and Reece hated to lose. So much that he would've spent all night with his head in books if he could, isolating himself further and hiding away from Slytherins.

Granger seemed to notice. She noticed everything did that girl. On more than one occasion they'd bump into each other while searching for books, and Reece came to realise that she was in there as often as he was, and on few occasions they would lock eyes from their tables. He could see it, some sort of hurt in her warm whiskey eyes, and she could most likely see his too. But neither called each other out on such hurt, such isolation that put them in the library so many times a day. It brought a slight feeling of comfort to Reece, seeing her relaxed and calm although her eyes told a different story. He knew something was up, but it wasn't his place to ask. She had other friends that could listen, he hoped, but then why was it so obvious to him that she hadn't confided in any of them? Perhaps it was them, the bleeding idiots never appeared to treat her the way Reece considered she deserved.

He glanced up from behind his book of duplication spells subtly, checking to see if she was at her usual table as it was the day before Hogsmeade and it would be less likely for her to be there. But there she was, sitting with piles of books about all sorts stacked high on her table. Hermione sat in the middle of them, scribbling quickly on a large piece of parchment as she bit her bottom lip in deep thought. Reece couldn't help but watch. He didn't care about the book in his hand at this moment in time as he was more concerned about watching her pretty face of concentration. For a brief second Reece considered going to sit across from her, wanting to see how she was doing and if he could be of help, but when he looked around and noticed a couple of people in their area he knew it wasn't the best idea after the whole DADA outburst. Zabini was right once again, Reece noted as he snapped his glance away from Granger and attempted to focus back on his book. Then again both Blaise and Daphne were usually right, they both just knew him all too well. His attention stayed on the book for a mighty five seconds before his eyes drifted back to the Gryffindor golden girl. At least he had tried.

"Lestrange." Reece's eyes immediately focused back on his book as he heard his name called by a voice of pure arrogance. Malfoy swaggered up to Reece's table with his hands casually in this slacks.

"Malfoy." He mumbled in reply as he closed the book and dropped it onto the table. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" A few heads turned as Draco took a seat across from him, and Reece couldn't help but roll his eyes as he noticed Granger trying to listen in discreetly.

"Don't be so off with me." Malfoy drawled innocently as he rested his left foot on his right knee with casual snootiness. "I came to say hello, what's so wrong about that?" Just as Reece opened his mouth to reply they were both irritated by a violent shushing sound that came from behind some bookshelves. He eyed Draco wearily from where he sat, keeping his attention on the cunning snake but refraining from giving away his intrigue at the same time.

"You haven't said hello in quite a while Malfoy." Reece drawled as he took up the same seated position as Draco. "So I'm going to ask again. What do you want?" His tone was far from a friendly one, and Draco knew this. Malfoy could see too that there was a somewhat spit of resentment in the syllables as Reece spoke his mind.

"I've never known you to be this uptight Lestrange." Draco mumbled as the resident librarian swept by their table, sending a harsh warning glare to the two as she passed. "But if you must know, I, Crabbe, Goyle and Nott have noticed your absence as of late and well, I'm concerned."

"Concerned?" Reece questioned, almost choking on his words in shock. It was as if Malfoy thought he was stupid or something; they'd known each other for so long and yet he still thought that his manipulative techniques worked. "I highly doubt that you're concerned for anyone other than yourself, so this is the last time I'm asking, what do you need from me?" He appeared mildly offended by Reece's harsh words, but they wouldn't stop Malfoy from getting what he wanted. Nothing stopped him from getting what he wanted.

"Right, fine I'll tell you." Reece relaxed back in his chair and waited for Draco's request. "People are talking about you, I've heard all sorts of rubbish." Draco awaited a reaction, but Reece simply shrugged it off and quickly glanced at Granger. She'd buried her nose back in one of her books, but he knew that she was still paying attention to his conversation with Draco. "So you don't want to work with me to stop it? You used to jump at something like his Lestrange, the chance to prove people wrong and hurt anyone that believed different. We could do that again Reece. I've got your back."

"I'm not interested." He deadpanned in reply.

"God don't do this." Draco snapped in frustration. "You're ruining everything Lestrange, making me look like an idiot while you mope around the school ignoring us all." Reece looked him in the eye sharply and Draco glared back, the grey and the brown battling one another attempting to make the other back down first. "I'm sorry." That wasn't sincere. Reece knew he'd swallow his pride and say anything to reach his ultimate goal. "I shouldn't have snapped. You get where I'm coming from though don't you? If you don't want to stop the rumours that's your choice but can we at least be civil? That's all I'm asking." Draco offered his hand to shake, and Reece looked down at it for a few moments. He had enjoyed his Malfoy-free time but that time had to end sometime – and now was when it was to end. And then that was that, Reece and Draco shook hands. Malfoy smirked smugly in victory as they did so. "Have a good day, Lestrange." He got up to leave, not waiting for a reply, and Reece was sat alone again. He sighed in annoyance as he picked up his book, looking over at the Gryffindor golden girl as he did so. It turned out she was already staring at him, and when he caught her eyes she seemed to turn away quickly. Seemed someone was a tad shy in person.