I don't sleep that night, and by the next day, I'm a walking zombie, barely registering anything that occurs throughout the day. All of my friends comment on my strange aura, but don't press for answers when I mumble my response about sleeping poorly.

Cyril sits by me in every class, and I can hardly even panic about it, panic about the dead boy next to me. How did he die, I wonder, before my thoughts trail off again, and I wind up asleep, resting my head on my desk. My dreams are consumed with the images of men with hoods, chanting at me to join them, and I'm only jolted back awake by a very concerned Flitwick.

"Are you alright, Meiqi?" Draco turns to look at me during dinner, as I poke at my chicken breast with my fork, not eating any of it. My stomach hurts too much, anxiety pooling in it and causing my muscles to clench to the point where it's painful. "You seem off."

"I'm fine. Just tired." I force a smile, looking at him, at his sharp jawline and grey eyes that I adore so much. Who could it have been, that read his mind about me? I know next to nothing about mind reading, but I'm pretty sure you had to be thinking about something when your mind was read, for the mind reader to sense it. Did that mean he was thinking about me a lot? I'd be flattered, if I wasn't already maxed out on emotions. "Say, Draco, how is your dad doing?"

His brow furrows together. "My dad?"

I nod.

"Er, fine, I suppose. When I left our home, he seemed alright. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering." I shrug, and before Draco can push me to elaborate on my question, I shove a bite of chicken into my mouth.

After dinner, we return to the Slytherin common room, and while I want to go to my dorm and sleep off my exhaustion, I am cut off by Draco, grabbing my upper arm with a grip that is both gentle and commanding at the same time.

He doesn't say a word, but I know exactly what he wants. He wants to talk, and while I don't necessarily want to, I know it's futile to argue with him on the subject.

So, I allow him to silently drag me into a study room on the side of the common room, shutting the door behind us. It's a little bigger than a closet, with one chair and a bookshelf lining the wall. A window looks out into the Black Sea, and when a massive fish swims by, I jump in alarm.

"Meiqi, what's going on? I can tell it's more than just you being tired. You hardly even talked to yourself today."

At the little quip, I smile despite myself. "Cyril kept trying to get me to talk to him, but I wasn't in the mood. I'll apologize for blowing him off tomorrow."

He laughs to himself, and my heart soars. Oh Merlin, how I love that noise. The noise that proves Draco Malfoy is actually human, that he truly has feelings under the hard exterior he presents to everyone. Everyone but me, that is.

"I went to see Abe last night, to talk about what happened with Cedric a while ago. I figured he ought to know. Oh, and did you know that Abe is Dumbledore's brother?"

He raises his eyebrows. "He is?"

I nod.

"Well, they certainly resemble each other." Draco shrugs. "So, how did it go? What did you talk about? Did he have any answers to the whole Cedric thing?"

I shake my head. "It went deeper than that. He says…he says I'm in danger."

He pales. "Danger?"

"From your father. He thinks, if your father knows about my ability, he'll come after me. I don't know why he'd think that, though. Because I did run into your father - he was with some bloke, and-"

"Some bloke?" Draco cuts me off, his voice pinched. "What bloke?"

"I don't know. I couldn't see under his hood. It was a man though, I'm certain of it."

He lets out a breath - of anxiety or relief, I can't tell. "Right. Go on."

"I ran into your father and this other man, and they didn't try and hurt me, like Abe told me he would, though they were being quite strange. Acting all inconspicuous, you know? I didn't know what to make of it - I still don't, honestly. It was so bizarre. They asked me weird questions, and didn't want me to leave, when I tried to go back to the castle. Do you know anything about what that could've been about?"

Draco pauses for a moment, evidently thinking this over, his expression indicating that he's deep in thought. Eventually, he shakes his head. "No. I haven't got a clue. Sorry, Meiqi."

"It's alright." I give him a small smile that doesn't meet my eyes. Part of me has the urge to lean over and kiss him, knowing it'll make me feel at least a little better, but I resist the urge. After all, for all I know, it could've been a one time thing, what occurred over Christmas break. "I'm awfully tired, though. I reckon I should go to bed. Goodnight, Draco."

"Yeah. Goodnight…"

With a deep breath, I gather all the courage I can, before leaning over and pressing a soft kiss on his cheek. Fuck not knowing if it was a one time thing or not. If I want to kiss him, I'm going to bloody kiss him.

I feel his facial muscles stretch against my lips in what I assume in a smile, though I can't see him clearly through the dark.

"Was that okay?" I ask, searching through the near pitch black for his response.

I can very faintly see him frown, like he's confused as to why I'd ask such a question. "Yeah. Yeah, that was most certainly okay."

MASS BREAKOUT FROM AZKABAN

I scan the headline over and over, trying to comprehend what it is that I'm reading. The Great Hall is unusually silent, as I imagine everyone else nearby is reading the same article, feeling the same feelings that I am. Dread. Horror. Fear.

"Ten people…" Cyril breathes from next to me as he scans the newspaper. I'd never seen him in the Great Hall before, but maybe he'd been drawn to it, given the dreary energy radiating from it.

"Death Eaters, not people. Those people aren't human" I say before I can stop myself. Quickly glancing around, I confirm no one overheard me seemingly speaking to myself, before lowering my voice. "They're followers of You-Know-Who."

"I don't know who, actually-"

"Meiqi!" Daphne calls out my name, cutting off Cyril as she races into the Great Hall and takes a seat next to me. "Have you seen the Daily Prophet?"

I wave the newspaper I'm holding in response. "It's so fucked up. Ten of them - including Bellatrix Lestrange. She's completely mad, I've heard."

"She's also Draco's aunt." Daphne says, and my eyes grow wide. I knew his family had blood prejudiced values, but I hadn't a clue they were actually, well, evil. "Weren't you wondering why he wasn't here?" She continues when I don't say anything. "He's holed up in his dorm, Pansy is trying to coax him out, but he won't budge."

"Pansy is trying to get him out?" I can't help the strange pang of jealousy that runs through me, unlike anything I've ever felt before. The lack of love from my parents, who always favor Cho, doesn't compare to the weird sensation I'm currently experiencing at the idea of Pansy and Draco being alone.

She nods. "Don't act surprised. We all know she's after your boyfriend."

"He isn't my boyfriend." I roll my eyes. "He's just…"

"A boy you kissed?"

"Precisely. We haven't labeled anything." I rise from my seat, pressing my hands against the wooden table. "I suppose I should go check up on Draco, yeah?"

Daphne gives me a knowing smile, and I begin my journey out of the Great Hall, and towards the Slytherin common room. As I step inside, I notice the unusually glum expressions of nearly everybody that's inside, seated on the various couches, and whispering to their friends. How many of them are also related to the escapees, I wonder? I can't help but imagine how I would feel, if someone I was related to was evil like that, in a way impossible to comprehend the extent of. Oh, poor Draco…

I make my way towards the boys dorms, where I find Pansy outside of the one that leads to the 5th years, pounding on the door with both of her fists. "For fucks sake, Draco! Open your bloody door, or I'll curse it down!"

"Fuck off, Pansy!" He calls back in response, agitation thick in his tone.

"Move." I command to Pansy in a tone firmer than I intend, and to my surprise, she does as I say, sliding to the side and allowing me access to the door. "Draco, it's me. Meiqi."

No response. Better than telling me to fuck off, I suppose, so I'll take it as a good sign.

"I'm coming in." I warn him as I whip out my wand, and cast a quick alohomora on the doorknob. With a deep breath, I push open the door, and then shut it behind me before Pansy can attempt to step inside as well. I've never felt the sort of possessiveness that I do in this moment, but I try my best to contain it, and direct my attention onto my friend. More than friend? What the hell is he to me, anyways?

I find Draco seated on his bed, resting his head against the wall his best is pressed to, a book in his lap that he isn't so much as looking in the direction of. "Go away, Chang."

"Chang?" My eyebrows jump up. "Since when do you call me that?"

"Since now. You need to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere." I insist, and he doesn't try to argue with me. After a long moment of silence, I continue, "Daphne, she told me about the woman that escaped Azkaban - Bellatrix Lestrange. That she's your aunt. I'm sorry. I can't imagine how you must feel, right now."

He rolls his grey eyes, like he finds amusement in my words, in my pity. "I'm not moping about because of my aunt. It's insulting that you would think that."

"Why won't you leave your room, then?"

He shakes his head. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself with. Just go away, yeah? I don't want to see you right now. I don't want to see you ever, for that matter."

I wonder if that's how Knife-Neck felt, when the blade was shoved into his throat. The sudden lurch of your stomach, like you're about to throw up. The surprise, being caught blind sighted, completely off guard. The feeing that something bad is happening, and you can't do anything to stop it, except sit there and take it like a rag doll.

"I don't understand." I take a step towards the bed he's seated on, hoping he doesn't notice how hard I'm shaking, or the tremble in my voice. "If you aren't upset about Bellatrix, then what is it? What's wrong? How can I fix it?"

"You can fix it by leaving me the hell alone, Chang."

I frown, my forehead creasing together. "Back to Chang again. Why are you calling me that?"

"Because that's all you are to me, don't you get it? What happened between us - it can't happen again."

No, I determine, Knife-Neck never would've felt this way. This is far, far worse than any blade could ever inflict onto me. "Why not?"

He says nothing, though he refuses to look at me.

"I thought we had something." I continue, hoping the heartbreak I'm feeling isn't evident in my voice. Though, as I speak, I know it is.

"You thought wrong." He lets out a cold, dry laugh. "Now leave me the hell alone."

I don't have to be told twice, as I blink back tears and stalk out of his room, slamming the door behind me.