Easter Holiday crept along slowly for Lorelai. For Joan and Hermione it seemed to fly, but without Harry and Ron’s company, Lorelai found herself lacking something. It didn’t exactly help that Draco was gone from the castle. Perhaps if he had been around she might have been able to find some solace, and least for a few physical moments anyway.

Using what seemed like enormous amounts of free time, Lorelai dove back into her Charm work, and began back on her counter-curse studies. But one thought began to plague her mind. For long periods of time, she would find herself, staring at the picture of her father which she had packed into her things at Christmas, before they ventured to Diagon Alley. It really was remarkable how much he looked like Sirius, except for the hue of his hair, and comparing herself, how much Lorelai resembled him. There was no doubt as to her Wizard lineage; she was definitely a Black.

Her mother on the other hand, nearly her age in the picture she was looking at, didn’t look much like her at all, except for their hair; they had the same color hair. Her eyes were large and brown, and her nose was short and rounded. Lorelai’s, on the other hand, was long and sloping, and came to an almost upturned point. She had always figured it was a genetic throwback, but she kept staring at the picture anyway. Lorelai wasn’t built like her mother either, who was very short and dainty. Lorelai was by no means a large girl, but she wasn’t exactly tiny, either. She had broad shoulders (which she was very fond of), and large hands and feet. Her legs were quite long, and she had good hips, not large, but not non-existent. Lorelai would have loved to have known what her Paternal grandmother looked like, and as tall as both Sirius and her father were, it would be no surprise if Lorelai looked like her grandmother.

Questions about her family had always plagued her. All she had growing up was her mother, and after she found out she was a wizard after all, like her father, all she still had was her mother. It was hard to watch all of the pure blooded witches at school; who had large families and many cousins; who could trace their line back for centuries. Even after Lorelai found out she was magical, her father was dead, her uncle was in Azkaban, her grandfather was dead, and her grandmother wouldn’t have anything to do with her. But now the questions about her family were attacking her; now that she was an orphan. It was quite hard to be alone, save Sirius, and that’s why having Harry angry at her was bothering her so: it was because Harry was the one other person around who could really understand what it was like to be an orphan.

It just so happened, that on the Friday of Easter Holiday, Lorelai had been working on her charms, and set down her wand. It was worn, though in quite good condition, she thought, for how much it had been used. But she found her thoughts wondering back to her parents, and reached across to her bedside table, grabbing the picture of the young couple. After staring at her happy, smiling parents for almost two minutes, she set the picture down on top of her notes, her wand right above it. Suddenly, her line of sight moved up to it, and she had an epiphany.

She quickly got properly dressed, pulled on her cloak, and started towards the window, a satchel of galleons on her belt. Just as she was about to take off through it, Hermione and Joan opened the door to the dormitory. Lorelai feared instantly that they had found out her secret; that Ron or Harry could just not stand it anymore, and told them. But they were both laughing, and Lorelai knew she was safe.

“Where are you going?” Hermione asked.

“Just for a flight.” Lorelai lied, and took off. She swiftly flew towards Hogsmeade, and once out of Hogwarts grounds, landed safely and Apparated. She knew it was dangerous business; that there were quite a few Ministry Officials whose entire job was to track down illegal Apparators, but she also knew that they had better people to track. She also knew that sneaking off of school grounds, even if it was Easter Holiday, was very much against the rules. She was a prefect after all, and if she had caught someone doing what she was doing herself, she would have given them a very harsh detention. But Lorelai also knew that getting permission, especially in this atmosphere, was very difficult and time consuming. As long as she was careful, and took care of herself, she would be safe.

She was new to this Apparating business, and had simply practiced on random Saturday mornings in Hogsmeade, using her Animagi form as an excuse. It was perfectly fine for a legal, Animagus to go flying in the morning.

She opened her eyes, to see Diagon Alley spreading out before her, and that she was standing around the corner, just between a shop’s wall and cages piled up next to the Magical Menagerie. She walked forward, and to her left, heading towards Ollivander’s.

She had never been, and decided it was time. Lorelai pushed open the door, the sound of a small bell ringing somewhere near the ceiling, though there was no bell anywhere in sight. She heard footsteps hobbling towards her, and looked up to see a man with pale eyes and white hair, smiling at her vaguely.

“The last Black, then?” he asked. Lorelai smiled. She had heard tales of how creepy Ollivander was from other students, but she found him rather intriguing.

“I figured it was time I came in.” Lorelai said simply, and stepped towards the counter.

“Well then, let’s not keep you waiting any longer.” He said, turning towards a wall behind the counter, and running his finger along the small boxes. “Ah yes, Birch, Unicorn Hair, nine inches. This would be an excellent wand for Charms.” He said, handing it to her. Lorelai waved it around a bit, and was just about to try a charm, when he quickly snatched it out of her hands.

“What wand have you been using then, Miss Black?” he asked.

Lorelai licked her lips, looking over the endless possibilities of wands, “It was my father’s: Willow,”

“And Phoenix Feather. Quite pliable as I remember.” He said, reading labels, his fingers scanning them row by row. “Ah…” he observed, sliding a box out of the wall. “Give this one a wave, Phoenix Feather and Apple, might prove-” but he stopped just as soon as she got a hold of it. “Nope!” he said, and took it back. This continued on for at least ten minutes, and Lorelai assumed she must have gone through at least thirty wands.

He paused suddenly, and pulled a box out from the shelf. “Curious things have happened here before.” He said, and handed her the wand. “This is Yew and Dragon Heartstring, ten and a half inches. Excellent for the Dark Arts… or defense thereof.” He added, “But what is curious, is the tree. Only one other wand has ever been made from it.” He said, and handed it to her. Lorelai took it. It felt right in her hand; just as right as her Father’s wand had, but Lorelai could tell that this was not her wand.

Sure enough, Ollivander took it back, and turned towards the wall again. He looked up, than began to climb a ladder to the top. He carefully pulled a box from the top, and dusted it off with his hand. He climbed down the ladder again with amazing speed.

“This one.” He said confidently, opening the box for Lorelai. “This tree has only ever given one branch. Hawthorn, Dragon Heartstring, fourteen inches. A wand perfect for protection against curses, a very powerful wand indeed.” Inside, it was laying on a bed of green velvet. Lorelai took it in her hand, and it instantly felt warm. She could feel it spread quickly from her hand throughout the rest of her body. She moved it just slightly, sending green and silver sparks out into the air.

“I knew it would be this one.” Ollivander said happily, and started towards the register.

Lorelai followed him back, not wanting to let go of the new wand: her wand. “May I ask,” Lorelai began, “Who does the other wand belong to? The Yew?” She said, and Ollivander looked up at her, his face not as cheerful. “He who must not be named.” He licked his lips, and started again, “You see, I remember every wand I’ve ever sold.”

“Everyone?” she asked. He nodded gravely.

“Harry Potter.” Lorelai said; a challenging tone slightly in her voice.

“Holly and Phoenix Feather, eleven inches; a very special wand. Indeed.” He sighed.

“Albus Dumbledore.” Lorelai present another name.

A slight smile was on the corner of Ollivander’s lips, “Alder wood, fifteen inches, Phoenix Feather as well.”

“Jossalin Bones?” Lorelai asked.

Ollivander smiled slightly at her, “Yes, I remember hers too. How happy she was to be magical. Yew and Unicorn hair, fifteen inches. A very powerful wand. It only had two brother wands, but those were sold later to her sisters, Zinnia and Mika.”

“What about mine?” Lorelai asked, “Does my wand have any brothers?”

Ollivander looked at it, “Many, but only one other has ever sold. I was hoping that batch of wands would do better, as it was a very good batch indeed. The Dragon from which the Heart was taken, a Hebridean Black, very rare, was the only of his kind to give his heart. He was a very powerful, strong Dragon. But only one of the wands has sold. I remember the boy well, you see, as he didn’t come into see me until the very end. His mother came perusing through first. Then he strode in, all important, and waved a few wands. I didn’t care for him much, but I remember his wand; Ebony, 13 inches, and a Heartstring from that very same Dragon.”

Lorelai’s face had gone pale, and she looked at Mr. Ollivander in some sort of shock, “Draco Malfoy?” she asked softly as he daintily put her wand back into its box for travel.

“Yes. Never forget a Malfoy.” He sighed, “This one though, this Malfoy was different from the others; worse somehow.” He said. Lorelai paid quickly and left, too shaken up to continue the conversation. She Apparated quickly back to Hogsmeade, then flew back in through the window.

Getting her very own wand hadn’t kept her from thought, but rather; provoked it.

Sunday came around, and though Lorelai had expected to see Draco at Breakfast, he was not there with the Slytherins. She hadn’t seen him anywhere, in fact, and his absence continued on through the halls. Every other student was back at school, and not seeing Draco around made her quite worried. She was scared that something might have happened, or been done to him outside of school.

Lorelai retreated to the Common Room again, and was finishing up an Arithmancy paper due the next morning, when Hermione and Joan came in looking flustered.

“What’s the matter?” Lorelai asked.

“Malfoy.” Joan spat, flopping down on the couch next to Lorelai. Her ears perked up.

“We’ve just seen him in the halls.” Hermione said, her tone equally dissatisfied.

“The great Prat, lurking about like some… reptile.” Joan said angrily, “I asked him what the hell he was doing on the seventh floor, and when he refused to tell me, I kicked him in the shin.”

Lorelai laughed, but quickly stifled it, “You kicked him in the shin?”

“It was the only thing I could think of.” Joan shrugged, but she seemed to realize the juvenile act was slightly amusing as well, as there was a slight smile on her face. Hermione, on the other hand, was beaming.

“Anyway, we’d better get to bed. Classes in the morning, you know.” She hinted heavily, and started towards the girl’s dormitory stair case. Lorelai had turned and looked at her, and in the firelight, her hair seemed to glow red around the edges, bringing out her big brown eyes. She had a slight nose, very dainty, and almost a button type end to it.

“Hermione,” Lorelai said, turning around on the couch. Hermione stopped and looked at her, like a teacher waiting for a student’s question. “You look very pretty today. I just thought you should know.” Lorelai said, smiling slightly at her. Hermione instantly began to blush, and smiled largely.

“Thank you.” She said, and started back up towards the dormitory.

“All Students, Please proceed to the Great Hall IMMEDIATELY.” Professor McGonagall’s voice echoed magically throughout the school, jolting the students out of bed. Lorelai opened her eyes and looked over, to see that Hermione had sat bolt up, while Joan had fallen out of bed with a surprised squeak. Lavender and Parvati were still asleep.

The five girls all stumbled tiredly down the stairs, Joan clutching her pillow and Hermione still pulling on her thick robe. They met Ron and Harry at the bottom of the staircase, and they all looked at each other confused.

“Anyone know what’s going on?” Ron asked, rubbing his eye as Harry sleepily pushed his glasses on. The three girls tiredly shook their heads, while Lavender, Parvati and Neville climbed through the portrait hole. Neville tripped, but everyone was too tired to laugh.

They all made their way down to the Great Hall, most of them only remembering this happening once, for a celebration feast nonetheless. But as the mass of yawning teenagers and preteens entered the common room, they saw nothing but.

The tables had been removed, and sleeping bags were stretched in rows as far as the eye could see.

“There you are, Potter.” Someone spat, and Harry, Ron and Hermione turned to look at Draco Malfoy, wearing pajama pants and an undershirt, with a thick black robe with an embroidered snake on it, “This got something to do with you, as usual?” he asked scathingly.

“Oh shove it, Draco.” Harry said, yawning and going into the Great Hall. He was much too tired to deal with him right now. He, Ron and Hermione passed on through, and Joan went next, Lorelai right behind her.

They simply stared at each other as Lorelai walked past Draco, slowly in the large crowd. They hadn’t spoken to each other since Saturday, since they had apparated to her flat in London. He didn’t seem to know what to say right then, but looked at her differently than he had before, his snarl not as vivid on his face.

The fifth year Gryffindors all grabbed a section of sleeping bags, pulling them away into a corner, as most of the other groups of friends did. Though Joan demanded that they be particularly close to the door, in case they were needed for some reason. She had fallen back to sleep immediately, and didn’t wake up again for a while. Harry was dozing, though he stayed awake, simply wondering what had gone wrong that meant all the students had to move to the great hall. Last time that happened, Sirius had broken into the school.

Ron and Hermione were trying to carry on a conversation, though it was punctured with frequent yawns, and they eventually gave up, falling back to sleep. The hall was alive with whispers and murmuring.

“Can I talk to you?” Lorelai looked up to see Draco standing there, his arms behind his back. Harry looked up, not completely asleep, and Lorelai stood slowly, taking her pillow with her.

“I’ll be back in a moment, Harry.” She said to him, and for the first time all week, he was looking at Draco a little bit more venomously than he was looking at her. She was holding her pillow in front of her tightly, as she lacked a robe. Draco had seen her in nothing but her bra as far as her chest being revealed to him, but now she was braless, and only wearing a tank top for pajamas. In fact, their sleeping clothes nearly matched exactly, as Draco was no longer wearing his black robe.

They walked quietly, Draco leading them back towards the three sleeping bags he had pulled aside with Crabbe and Goyle. They were sleeping noisily, looking too large for the sleeping bags they had.

Draco stopped, leaning against the wall, crossing his arms over himself and looking at her for a long moment before he spoke. “What are we?” he asked coldly, though his voice sounded like he was forcing the emotion out of it, and he looked honestly curious.

“What do you mean?” Lorelai asked, clutching her pillow tightly to her.

“You know exactly what I mean.” This time his voice was frantic, though there was a slight tone of annoyance there as well. “Boyfriend and Girlfriend? Fuck buddies? Just Friends? What’s going on?”

Lorelai was quiet for a moment, “Are you letting me call it?”

Draco nodded silently, his gray eyes digging into her.

Lorelai cleared her throat, “Well, I suppose we’re friends. I’ve told you things it took me forever to tell other people. And I imagine the same for you. So we obviously trust each other with our own secrets.” Lorelai said, her eyes automatically flicking down to his forearm, which he was openly showing, and there was nothing there.

“Glamour.” Draco said, looking away from her and pulling his arms tighter across him.

“Really?” Lorelai smiled.

“You taught me.” He said.

“I know.” Lorelai smiled again. They were quiet for another moment.

“So that’s it then?” he asked. “Just friends?”

A menacing smirk spread across Lorelai’s face, “You like me.”

Draco snorted in disapproval, “I do not.”

“You like me more than you wanted to.” She teased, hitting him lightly with her pillow.

“Knock it off.” Draco said, unfolding his arms and walking away from the wall. She reached up, hitting him a little bit harder than the first time.

“You want to date me.” She sang melodically.

“Will you shut up?” he hissed, though she could see and hear in his voice that he was fighting hard to suppress a smile. She hit him again, and started to hum in the same little tune she had used to taunt him only moments before, and started whacking him more frequently with the pillow.

He turned around to say something, but Lorelai hit him just then, when his balance was off as he was turning, and sent him tumbling over a girl on the floor. This of course, drew the attention of all those awake in the hall, and woke up the sleeping girl he had stumbled over.

Lorelai looked wide eyed, hiding a silent giggle with her pillow, though her large blue gray eyes were smiling at him over the top. Draco was sitting on the floor awkwardly, his arms out behind him, and his legs up over the girl. He reached over, grabbing her pillow from underneath her head and standing back up quickly.

“Hey!” she yelled, giving a mad swipe for it but missing, as Lorelai and Draco began to beat each other playfully with the pillows.

Then, suddenly, someone else whapped Draco on the side of the head from behind. He turned around, to see the girl he had fallen over, with another pillow in her hands, “That was mine.” She said, and hit him again, though Lorelai hadn’t stopped.

Rather quickly, the pillow fight spread, and people were being woken by the noise, and quickly joining in. Within a minute, the entire hall was filled with laughter, feathers and playful shouts.

Lorelai found Draco again in the confusion, and whacked him particularly hard on the top of the head. He turned around, looking almost angry, and a smirk spread across his lips when he saw that it was her. In a fencing type manner, he backed her away from the center of the room, towards the doors.

“Attention Students!” Professor McGonagall’s voice boomed across the school once more, the pillow fight pausing immediately, “You may return to your dormitories.”

As soon as she finished, the fight erupted again, as well as cheers. Lorelai took another swing at Draco, her pillow bursting at the seam and spilling feathers into the air. A few of them got stuck in his hair, which wasn’t slicked back as usual. Almost exactly then, Lorelai backed into the doors, right at the meeting of the two, pushing them both open as she stumbled into the Entrance Hall behind her, filling the air and floor with feathers out there as well. She was laughing, and Draco was smiling madly, still taking a few swipes at her with his pillow, though not as fiercely. Now there was a different kind of twinkle in his eye.

He dropped his pillow, in the same instant that Lorelai hit the stone wall behind her, and he nearly crashed into her as he frantically began to kiss her. He wrapped his arms completely around her waist, pulling her tightly up against him. She nearly lost her balance, and would have fallen if her shoulders hadn’t been pressed up against the wall. Lorelai had her arms underneath his, and grabbed fistfuls of his undershirt.

Draco was kissing her anxiously, deeper than he had ever done before. Lorelai assumed it was much like she had kissed him in America. His mouth was warm and needy, and he was kissing her as though if he tried hard enough, he might be able to somehow get closer than that.

He pulled away suddenly, one of his arms tightly around her waist still. “Come on,” he said, looking over his shoulder at the sea of students and feathers spilling into the Entrance Hall. He opened a door on his right and pulled her into it quickly. No sooner had he closed it, than he was pinning Lorelai against the wall again. Or rather, she was against the wall, and had pulled him close to her.

Draco nearly stumbled into her, but they were both smiling as she wrapped a leg around his waist, and he began to kiss her again. After a moment, Draco grabbed her hips, pulling her away from the wall, and spinning her around quickly before they bumped into the other one. He picked her up around the waist with surprising strength, and she wrapped both of her legs around his waist, letting her shoulders rest against the wall behind her for support.

His tongue was frantically moving, and so were his hands, up under the back of her shirt, pulling it up until the cloth was resting just underneath her breasts. And it wasn’t exactly like Lorelai was keeping her hands to herself either. Up over his chest, along his shoulders, and back onto his neck and into his hair. She particularly liked it when it was natural, left down and hanging in front of his face.

They finally broke away, their breathing too heavy and needing to catch a few gasps. Lorelai tilted her head up, and he snatched the opportunity to have a go at her neck. She closed her eyes lightly, a faint smile on her face at the sensation of his lips against her skin. She suppressed the hope that he might bite lightly, and to distract herself, took one of her legs off him. He pulled his mouth away from her neck, letting her back on her own two feet. He looked slightly surprised, but Lorelai waved her hand over a part of the broom closet behind him, and the buckets and mops silently moved away, rearranging themselves neatly in another corner.

“What’s the matter?” Draco asked, holding one of her hands lightly by the fingers.

“Shh.” Lorelai scolded, even though no one could possibly hear them over the clatter of all the students laughing, screaming, and running up the stairs. She dropped his hand, and sat down quickly, grabbing his pants, and tugging them quite a few inches below his waist.

He looked at her a little perplexed, and she looked nearly annoyed with him, “Will you get down here?” she finally hissed, and he dropped to his knees, leaning in over her while she leaned back onto the floor, though her head was laid on a pile of clean towels, neatly folded against the wall. She grabbed clumps of his already tight undershirt, pulling him down into another eager kiss.

After a long moment, she began to tug at the bottom of his shirt, so he resentfully raised up, not wanting to escape her lips, and hastily pulled it off. He quickly moved to dive back in, and shoved one hand underneath her shirt, to rest on her bare stomach. He was moving his hand deftly and swiftly upwards, when all of the sudden, he felt her hand clasped around him again. He had been meaning to kiss her again, but was too surprised, and she used her free hand, her left hand, to shove his hand back down and out of her shirt. He was slightly angry, well, as angry as you can be at a person who has you half naked and their hand down your pants.

“Why won’t you let me-” he started to ask, his voice airy as he tried to catch his breath, though her well placed hand wasn’t exactly helping in the oxygen department.

“Draco.” She cut him off firmly. The stern tone in her voice was so new to him that it quickly made him stop in the middle of his sentence, and look her straight in the eye. “Shut up.” She demanded, and kissed him once, quickly, just as she began to move her hand back and forth.

Draco had just started to break a slight sweat on his silvery blond hairline, and his breathing, or rather panting, and shifted up a gear, when Lorelai suddenly felt something in her stomach. It was a quick flash or pang, a sudden onset of emotion, and she feared what it might be. Wanting to keep this as physical as possible, as she couldn’t risk becoming too attached to him again, she quickly blurted out the only thing she could think of right then.

“Are you going to kiss me or not?”

Draco didn’t look as surprised at this as she hoped he would, but cocked a smile to one side, “If you want me to.” He answered breathlessly.

Lorelai, however, was the one taken by surprise, and was quick to sift through her thoughts, “It’s your call.” She hastily replied. Draco’s smile got just a little bit bigger, and he leaned in to kiss her again, his lips taking on the same rhythm as her right hand.

Draco’s back arched slightly, and he inhaled deeply through his nose. Lorelai tightened her grip around him, hoping that would do the trick, and sure enough-

“Ech!” Lorelai said.

“Sorry!” Draco said simultaneously, and Lorelai looked at him for a moment; she had never heard that word escape from his mouth sincerely. They both paused for a second, as though Draco had come to the same realization. He gave a quick, boyish and nervous grin, and rolled over to her side, laying flat on the floor with his head on the same pile of towels.

Lorelai on the other hand, got up quickly, not thinking about what she was doing exactly, or rather, who she wasn’t facing, and peeled off her pajama pants, exposing her string bikini black lace underwear. When she did realize, and quickly turned around, Draco had his legs stretched out and his ankles crossed, with his hands behind his head, a satisfied smirk on his lips. He had pulled his pants back up, but Lorelai could see from the look of things he could probably go another round.

Lorelai brought her pants up to eye level, to see how large the spot actually was. “You’re just a little too good at that.” Draco said, his voice calm and relaxed as he stared at her; half naked. Lorelai suddenly realized her wand was in her robe, which was still in the Great Hall.

“Will you, uh…” she paused, only because Draco had already hoped to his feet, and pulled his shirt off the floor.

“With pleasure.” He said, quickly pulling back on the white under shirt and stepping out of the broom closet. He returned quickly with her robe and wand, as well as his own, dragging a few white feathers in on the bottom of his feet. He handed it to her, and she quickly used a vanishing charm, and pulled her newly clean pajamas back on.

He opened the door again, sticking his head out and glancing both ways first, before he stepped completely out in the Entrance Hall, waving his hand behind him to let her know the coast was clear.

Lorelai turned around to shut the door quietly, and when she looked back at Draco, he was looking towards the dungeons. She grabbed his fingers, drawing his attention back to her, and he looked back with a playful smirk on the corners of his mouth. He grabbed her hips with his free hand, and backed her up into the wall again; the same spot. He leaned his face dangerously close, while pressing their groins together again.

“Don’t you ever stop?” Lorelai scoffed with a small chuckle, feeling that he was as ready to go again as he had been earlier in the closet. She had seen that he had calmed down when he brought back her wand. But now he was full steam ahead again.

“You do?” he asked back, equally joking. She couldn’t remember having ever heard his voice that happy sounding before. Except once. Except the summer before, in Washington DC, when he had first spotted her at the hotel. Lorelai smiled to the side, thinking that the only two times Draco had ever sounded happy had something to do with her.

“Well, I have to sleep sometime.” Lorelai said, a teasing smirk on her face. Draco smiled and put his fingers down the waistband of her pants, and under the side strings of her underwear.

“Well who wouldn’t want another go with a girlfriend as pretty as you?” he asked, though his voice surprisingly lacked the oily quality Lorelai was expecting in it.

“So that’s it then?” Lorelai asked, sliding her hands around the waistband of his pants, to rest in the small of his back, though underneath only his black robe. “You’ve decided, we’re boyfriend and girlfriend?” she didn’t think the idea sounded to bad herself.

“Yes.” He said firmly.

“I thought you were letting me decide.” Lorelai said.

“I changed my mind.” He said smugly, sticking his nose just slightly in the air, as if mocking himself. It was so out of character for him that she giggled, and he laughed at himself just a bit as well.

“All right then.” Lorelai said, planting one last large, open mouth kiss on him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said, raising an eyebrow playfully.

Draco smiled the broadest she had ever thought she’d seen him smile. “Sounds wonderful.” He said with a smile, and put a quick, light kiss on the tip of her nose and started toward the dungeons.

Lorelai stood there for a moment, reminding herself that he was, in fact, actually Draco Malfoy. And he had, in fact, actually just kissed her nose. She smiled to herself, and laughed just a bit, before she turned and started up the Grand Staircase. She was nearly to the top, when she heard something she had never thought she’d ever hear, echoing up faintly from the dungeons; he was singing.

The last thing Lorelai was expecting, and most definitely the thing she had been dreading was waiting for her back in the common room. She had just stepped through the portrait hole, when her instincts saved her, as she barely ducked a hex. She stood up and looked behind her at the scorch marks on the back of the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Malfoy!” Joan screamed. Lorelai looked at her with wide eyes and a beet red face. “MALFOY!” she screamed again, and Lorelai was sure that whoever wasn’t in the common room at that very moment, had heard her screaming. Lorelai looked around at the rest of the faces in the room. Fred looked somewhat angry, though Lorelai could see a lot of hurt behind his eyes as well. George looked scornful. Hermione looked completely confused, as if positive this had all been a very large misunderstanding, but Harry’s jaw was set again, and Ron was just as angry as before. They hadn’t been talking to Lorelai for days, and that had been hard enough. Neville Longbottom looked the angriest she had ever seen him, which granted, was a lot for Neville, but it was the betrayal in his eyes that made Lorelai’s stomach fall. The Creevys were down as well, and so was Lee Jordan, the rest of the Quidditch team, and Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas.

But standing in the front of all of them, her stance defiant and her face livid, was Joan, with her wand out and ready, and Lorelai cautiously put her hands in her pocket, her hand wrapping around the handle of her wand, just in case.

“Malfoy!” Joan roared again, taking a step closer to Lorelai, and she took half of one back. “You’re shagging MALFOY!?!?!!!??” Joan screamed, her voice hoarse.

“We’re not shagging.” Lorelai said quietly, looking around all the hurt, but mostly angry faces in the common room. She calmly repeated what she had told Ron.

“Any other Slytherin,” Joan said, shaking she was so angry with her, “I could have accepted, but Malfoy? Draco Malfoy!” Lorelai simply looked at Joan, not sure what to say, if there was anything she could say that wouldn’t get her hexed. She certainly didn’t want to tell the Common Room that she was thinking of using Malfoy. That was the last thing she wanted to get back to him.

“You don’t know him the same way I do.” Lorelai said.

“What? Biblically?” Ron asked. Harry cast a disdainful glance at the side of his face, though most everyone else seemed to find it amusing.

“I told you before, Ron, I-” but Lorelai froze when she saw the look on both Joan’s and Ron’s faces. Joan spun around on Ron, who uncrossed his arms, not looking so certain in his anger.

“Before?!” Joan screamed at him now. “You knew?!!!”

“They didn’t know anything, Joan, leave them alone.” Lorelai said, taking a brave two steps forward towards her. But Ron looked suddenly angrily at Lorelai again.

“Will you shut up!” he yelled, and Lorelai realized she had just incriminated Harry as well, and the look in his eyes had changed, sending Lorelai’s into a guilty lurch.

“They?” Joan asked, her voice still raised. “You knew too Harry!?” Harry looked like he was just about to answer, but Hermione jumped to her feet first.

“No, Joan, I did.” Hermione lied, and Harry looked up at her in shock.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Joan voice was low and angry, though still shaking violently.

“We were afraid you might kill her.” Ron answered truthfully, though he was still looking at Hermione like he might never understand her.

“Well, you were right.” Joan said, her voice dripping with more malice than Lorelai had ever heard in Malfoy’s. She turned around as soon as she finished her words, raising her wand as she did, but Lorelai was faster, and she had drawn hers out first, aiming it straight between Joan’s eyes. They glared at each other for a moment, no one in the common room breathing.

“You don’t know what he’s really like.” Lorelai said calmly, though through gritted teeth, as she was tired of Joan’s lack of an open mind. She kept her wand up though, as she wasn’t sure she could trust Joan right then.

“I don’t need to know him, Lorelai. I know what a bastard he is without snogging him in some broom closet.” Joan said, her voice filled with hate.

“He’s not-” Lorelai started, but Joan interrupted, her voice in screams again.

“Do you not remember what he’s done to you? What he’s done to Hermione? And Ron? And Neville? And Harry?” Joan was livid, and her wand was shaking slightly, though Lorelai’s stayed steady, and still, no one in the room was breathing. “Don’t you remember what he calls Hermione every time he sees her? God, Lorelai! He makes fun of Harry and I for mourning our parents!” The room seemed to agree with her, and the tides were turning against Lorelai in a major direction. “He’s practically responsible for our parents murder!”

“You know he’s not.” Lorelai spat, starting to get angry with Joan as well. “He was tortured too, Joan. You remember.” Ron turned pale, and sat back down, so did Hermione, though she looked like she might cry. Joan’s face was motionless for a second, and Harry had his eyes closed. “You know he got it worse that anyone else that night.” She said, her voice low, and now hers was shaking too. “Have you even stopped to think of why?”

Half the room suddenly looked uncertain, like perhaps Joan was being too harsh on Lorelai. Some of them seemed to realize how far off the handle she had flown.

“You don’t know what it’s like,” Joan started, her voice shaking, half angry, half hurt, “To have your parents murdered by Death Eaters-”

“I found my mother!” Lorelai screamed so loudly her voice was instantly hoarse, and tears immediately streamed down her face. “YOU have no idea!” Lorelai’s voice broke, not at all trying to hide the tears that were streaming down her face. “You were lucky enough to only hear the news. You didn’t talk to her two minutes before. You didn’t walk in to see that giant, green skull glowing green and lighting the entire room. You have never-” Lorelai stopped, her lip in a snarl as she cried harder, “You never had to see your mother’s frightened, dead face, knowing it was too late, when you could have saved her.”

The room was silent again, and Harry suddenly didn’t look angry with her at all. Instead, he looked quite sympathetic; his eyes large and round, the brilliant green hue of them shining out from behind his glasses. He had been lucky enough to only be an infant when his parents were both murdered. He had only heard their deaths, but he never had to see them. He didn’t find them dead.

The rest of the room had a different tone to it as well. Everyone was still shocked of course, but Joan’s support system was not as sure fire as it had been when she walked in. Angelina Johnson looked like she might cry right along with Lorelai.

“Get out.” Joan’s voice was shaking, “Get out of here.” She spat, though she was shaking in anger again, not because she was hurt, and not because she was feeling sympathetic. “If you can still go with that scum, knowing…” and that was all she could get out, seemingly too angry to finish.

Lorelai’s lip was still pulled up in a snarl, but she turned, stomping out of the portrait hole again, wiping her eyes frantically as it shut behind her. She began to wonder aimlessly around the castle, still crying, not knowing exactly where she was going. She had just realized how cold her feet were, and looked down to see that she hadn’t taken her slippers with her when she also realized that she was down in the dungeons.

She found herself staring at a dank, plain strip of blank wall, and found that she had been standing there for minutes, simply crying. She suddenly felt very foolish, and extremely tired, and turned, not knowing quite where she was, but hoping to find the abandoned room Draco had spoken of. Within ten minutes she had found it, and conjured not only a blanket and a pillow, but also lit a large fire under the mantelpiece, and dragged the old couch a bit closer. She turned it slightly, so that the window would pour sunlight straight onto her face in the morning, as soon as the sun came up.

Home

Author(s) /

Ratings /

Fan Art