I didn't know how long it took me to fall asleep and I hadn't dreamt anything that Knight but it was the first night in a week that I had had a good night's sleep.

My body must have had a lot of catching up to do because I didn't wake up until twelve o'clock.

I had simply slept through breakfast, that never happened to me and Min hadn't woken me up either.

I spent the whole day in my room. I just didn't wanted to run into Malfoy, so this was the safest place.

Again and again my thoughts wandered to the piano in the Slytherin common room.

It had reminded me how much I actually liked playing and how much I missed it.

Maybe I should start playing again.


Min came in in the evening and we had dinner together.

It was a quiet and relaxing day, which I really needed after the last week.

I stayed in my room all day on Wednesday as well.


Only on Thursday did I dare to go out.

It had started snowing again and luckily it wasn't so freezing cold anymore.

I strolled through the countryside and enjoyed the fresh air that I had missed so much in the last few days.

I wanted to go to the Owlery but it seemed too likely that Malfoy could turn up there.

After all, he had already done so twice.

So I just walked around haphazardly.

Only when I started to get a little cold did I go back inside.

I walked through the big main gate and ran straight into Malfoy.

"Don't you have eyes in your head Harper?!", he hissed at me and it was like the last week hadn't happened.

"After all, you could have dodged", I retorted snappishly and wanted to keep going but I couldn't move my legs.

Neither could Malfoy.

"What the fuck?" he grumbled and I just shrugged.

"I have no idea what..."

I paused for a moment as I realised my mistake.

"Shit", I cursed.

"What?"

"Yeah well there's a bit of a problem," I explained sheepishly.

"I noticed that too."

He crossed his arms in front of his chest

"What's the problem?" he asked with a furrowed brow.

"There's a possibility that we can't move because there's a magical mistletoe hanging above us."

"A what?", it escaped him.

"A mistletoe", I repeated.

"It's not like I'm deaf Harper.

What's it doing here and how do I get out of here?"

"Yes, that's exactly the problem", I explained, folding my arms.

There had to be something wrong with the spell, it was supposed to work on loving or strong friendly feelings and neither of those applied to us.

Still, a kiss would be the only solution and afterwards I would remove the twig very quickly.

"The twig is magic, you can't leave until you've kissed."

"That's a bad joke."

Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid not", I said, shrugging.

"You've got to be kidding me.

What kind of fool hangs a thing like that up here and then doesn't take it down?"

I wouldn't tell him it was me.

"So?", I asked.

No answer.

"Malfoy?", I asked again.

"I wasn't going to stand here all day, either you ..."

I didn't get any further because Malfoy's lips were on mine.

I forgot to tell him that a kiss on the cheek was enough, was the first thing I thought of.

The kiss had taken me completely by surprise.

I had had my eyes open out of shock and had seen that Malfoy hadn't.

It was a brief kiss and before I could think much longer about what had happened, it was over.

We were able to move again and Malfoy stormed off in the direction he had come from, leaving me standing there completely perplexed.


My hands were shaking and my mind was racing.

I didn't know what to feel, anger, rage, hatred, horror, shock. I had no idea.

I leaned against the wall because my knees felt like pudding, took a deep breath and tried to sort out my thoughts.

Malfoy had kissed me, on the mouth.

It had been my first kiss.

I had never come close to kissing anyone, nor did I expect to anytime soon.

But it was too late for that now.

He hadn't even asked if the kiss had to be on the lips, he had just done it, he hadn't even asked.

And now I knew what I was feeling and it was anger. I was angry at Malfoy for stealing my first kiss.

That he had just done it without my consent and that he acted as if nothing had happened in the last week.


I stormed towards the dungeons, almost stumbling down the stairs, spoke the password to the common room and without knocking I rushed into his room where I suspected he was.

He was sitting on the bed and I wasted no time in rattling off what I had thought of on the way here.

"How dare you!

Just kissing me without asking?!

A fucking kiss on the cheek would have done the trick, but you don't think!

You're probably proud of it now, too!

Now you can tell your oh-so-great friends after the holidays that you took that silly little Hufflepuff's first kiss!

You had no bloody right to do that!"

He had stood up and was slowly walking towards me but I was far from finished.

"I saved your shitty little life multiple times and you don't even think about thanking me!

Instead you literally force me to spend the nights here and I'm so stupid and do that too!

And now you act like everything is the same as before!

It is not!

Face it Malfoy, you can't hate me anymore! Stop pretending!"

I took a deep breath.

That had really felt good.

Malfoy stood right in front of me and looked at me.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked and I raised my hand and slapped his face.

I turned my back on him and ran. Around the next corner I transformed and kept running.


I still knew the way from New Year's Eve and indeed, where there had just been a wall, a door opened, showing me the way to the Room of Requirement.

I hadn't explicitly thought about what I wanted from the room but it seemed to know what I needed anyway.

Because when I opened the door, I was standing in my grandparents' living room.

No one was there but there was a fire in the fireplace and it smelled like home.

I was not aware that the room could also produce smells but I was glad that it did.

Everything looked like I had left it at the end of August.

There were loads of books and notes on the dining table, the cushions on the sofa needed to be shaken out and Grandma's armchair looked as pristine as it did just after she died.

Even the pictures on the wall matched the original.

I looked around the room but I didn't find a single thing that was different from what I remembered, which made sense because the room accessed my memories.

I sat down on the sofa and snuggled under my favourite blanket.

It was as soft as I remembered it and it felt like security.

I breathed in the smell and for a moment I was able to forget what had happened in the last few days and especially the last hour.

I layed down and suddenly I was infinitely tired.

I closed my eyes and actually fell asleep without thinking about my problems.


An alarm clock jolted me out of sleep and showed 8 pm.

The alarm clock didn't belong here but my inner clock wanted to warn me that Min would be back from the office soon and would then check on me in my room.

If I wasn't there, she would come looking for me and then I would get a telling off.

And I could really do without that at the moment.

So I rolled out of the blanket and went on my way but I wanted to take the blanket with me.

But as soon as I left the room, the blanket disappeared.

I would have liked to stay longer and I promised myself to come back tomorrow.

Min actually stopped by my room and asked if everything was all right.

I lied and said that everything was fine, even though it wasn't.

Nothing was fine, but Min was not the person I wanted to talk to about it.

The only person I wanted to talk to was dead and that made a conversation like that very difficult.


I dropped onto my bed and stared at the ceiling.

I wasn't tired, not one bit. After all, I had just slept in the Room of Requirement.

So I crept out of the room on quiet cat paws and enjoyed the silence in the corridors of the castle.

I strode through the empty corridors until I reached the courtyard where the avalanche had gone on me a few days ago.

The large pile of snow under one of the towers was a reminder of that.

I was about to go further when I heard footsteps.

I forgot that I was a cat and hid behind one of the pillars.

There weren't many people here in the castle, actually only three and Hagrid but he was in his hut.

I had hoped a little for Mr Filch because he was still the better alternative to the tall light blond boy who now entered my field of vision.

Malfoy walked past me straight towards the snow mountain.

What was he doing there?

I followed unobtrusively at a sufficient distance.

He was now standing in front of a hollow in the snow and staring at it.

The light of the moon fell on his face and I noticed how unhealthily tired he looked.

He had deep circles under his eyes and I couldn't remember seeing them today when we met.

His hair also looked different from usual. Normally it was neatly combed back and almost looked like a helmet but now it fell untidily down his face.

"This is all my fault", he said quietly, seeming to speak to the snow.

"I was an idiot, an arrogant bastard, worse than any mountain troll."

I almost had to laugh.

He was right, he was all that.

Except I would replace the word 'was' with the words 'I am'.

He preyed down to the snow and took a handful of it in his hand. He pressed the snow into his ball and threw it with a lot of force against the tower where it shattered.

Someone was angry.

Although I didn't know why he was angry.I clearly had more reasons for it.

And I was still pissed, I had calmed down a bit but it could boil up again at any time.

"Fuck!", yelled Malfoy and I cringed.

I hadn't expected him to shout so loudly.

Of course I also heard everything louder than a normal person and I wanted to cover my ears if I had Fingers but I had nö fingers right now.

Malfoy fell to his knees banging his fists on the snow.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck", in time with his punches in the snow.

This situation was bizarre and even more bizarre that I was a witness to this scene.

I should leave. I had no business being here, besides I was still mad at Malfoy, so what was I still doing here?

Just as I was about to leave, he stopped swearing.

It became quiet in the courtyard and I could hear the snow crunching under Malfoy's knees.

He stood up again and looked me in the eye.

Shit, I hadn't been paying attention and had gotten too close.

He wouldn't recognise me, that was clear, but still I should have been more careful.

"Hey, little one", he said softly, crouching down.

"Did someone leave you here alone?"

I took a step back and stood up my fur.

"Easy, I won't hurt you", he said still gently, holding out his hand to me.

Pah, don't make me laugh Malfoy. I'm not a fool.

You can tell yourself the lies but no one here will believe you.

I hissed at him.

"You're a real riot, aren't you little one?

I don't blame you, I could be hissing at anything right now."

He had better stop calling me 'little one'.

And if he came any closer he would find out how sharp my claws were.

Now that I could look at him even closer, I saw how bad his sleep really was.

The rings under his eyes were obvious and I wondered how I hadn't noticed them before.

Don't start feeling sorry for him, I ordered myself, reminding myself what a bastard he was.

"You remind me of someone", he said softly and I felt a chill run down my spine.

He couldn't know, no one here knew.

There was nothing about me that connected me to my human form, except the fur/hair colour but it wasn't special and... my eyes.

Damn, he could recognise the eyes.

I quickly backed away a bit more and looked at the ground.

Cats didn't do that but I wouldn't risk him getting suspicious any further.

"You're just as feisty and have the same green eyes."

Okay, this was the moment I should run.

I was pretty sure he couldn't get the idea the cat could be me but he was already way too close.

I turned around and jumped back into the corridor.


I rushed back up to my room and didn't turn back until I had locked the door behind me.

I took a deep breath.

How could I have been so careless? This never happened to me before.

It must have been the stress today, it was all too upsetting, I just hadn't been careful enough.

He hadn't recognised me, how could he? But the thought alone that he might find out scared me to death.

I had toyed with the idea of telling Neville the truth about me at some point during the year but not yet and I certainly didn't want Malfoy to know.

I threw myself onto the bed and despite the endless thoughts buzzing around in my head, I eventually fell asleep.