The Trials of Life, Love...and Mischief

Devian was halfway up the steps to her dormitory room to get ready for dinner when she found her path blocked by Hermione.

"So does anyone else know about you and Malfoy?"

"Only Ron...well he doesn't know about the makeout session in the library, but earlier he guessed that we like each other."

"What about Fred?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He doesn't know."

"No, I mean don't you think it will hurt him when he finds out?"

"Why would it hurt him? He should be happy for me. Come to think of it so should you...you do consider yourself my friend don't you?"

"Yes, of course, but that's not what I mean. Look, Fred obviously likes you, and ever since yesterday on the train he has been terribly jealous, even when you so much as look at Malfoy. Come on, you had to have noticed, everyone else has," Hermione finished impatiantly as she looked at the obvious expression of confusion on Devian's face.

"Wow, I just thought he hated Draco with a fiery passion. I had no idea about him liking me. Sorry, I guess I can be really dense sometimes. Oh my, what am I going to do about this?"

"I suggest you talk to Fred, before he finds out the hard way."

"Alright," Devian said with a sigh, "I just wish I were better at these things."

"It'll work out, don't worry. Just let him down easy, okay?"

"Yeah. Guess I better get it over with before dinner, I don't know how much longer this is going to stay a secret." And with that Devian turned and went back down the steps.

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Fred lie on his bed thinking about the class he had just come from. It had been double transfiguration, in which he sat next to Devian. He wondered why she had been acting strange all lesson, and where she had disapeared to halfway through lunch. Come to think of it, Malfoy had disapeared at exactly the same time, he remembered with a frown. He hoped they hadn't been together, he had almost begun to believe that there could be something between him and Devian, and he didn't want Malfoy of all people to ruin that. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Get that, will you Lee? I don't feel like getting up," he heard himself say, sounding half asleep.

He was suddenly wide awake as he heard Devian's voice in the doorway. "Umm... sorry to be a bother, but do you guys mind if I speak to Fred alone?"

George and Lee left as she walked in and sat down on the bed next to him. She looked somewhat nervous, and he had a feeling that whatever she said wasn't going to be good.

"What's wrong Dev?" he asked quickly, sounding alarmed.

In an instant he reminded her of the first day they had met. He had helped her when every other stranger had just passed by. He had cared about her even back then, she thought with a pang of guilt. Why is he making this even harder then I thought it would be? She took a deep breath and began.

"Look, umm... you've probably guessed by now that I kind of had a crush on Draco. Well, I talked to him today, we were in the library, he helped me find my book, and, then..."

"Please don't finish that sentance, I'm about to eat dinner," he said, coldly.

"I thought you should know ahead of time, before someone else told you."

"Why did I have to be the last person to find out about this? Who else knows?"

"Not many people that I'm aware of...just Ron, Hermione, and whoever Draco has told."

"My own brother knew before me? Why couldn't you have just let someone else tell me,since you obviously don't care."

"Look, I only thought it would be fair if you heard it from me. I think I owe you that much."

"You don't owe me anything. Now, if we're through, I'd like to go down to dinner," he said, with anger that surprised even him.

As Devian turned toward the door, looking hurt, he suddenly felt bad for her, and, also, for himself. "Dev, wait a minute," he said, walking up behind her. She turned to him with pleading eyes, hoping he was about to forgive her. At that point, he felt as if he had lost whatever common sense was left in him. He pulled her into a tight embrace and kissed her with such ferocity that even he felt dizzy for a moment afterward. "Just remember that, the next time you're with him."

He left without another word, which was okay with her, she needed some time alone to regain her composure. As she stepped out of the portrait hole, she found herself face to face with Draco again.

"Hermione told me you were in here. She also told me what you were doing. So, how did it go?"

"Err...well not as good as I would have liked it to go," she said a bit awkwardly, "but I'm sure he'll get over it."

"Well, I hope so,I can't stand competition," he said, taking her hand as they began to walk toward the great hall together.

_______________________________________________________________________

"Ok, so what posessd you to kiss her?" George asked as Fred finished explaining to his two roomates what had happened after they left.

"I don't know, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Well, I don't suggest you do it again, it lookes like they're pretty serious about this," Ron interrupted, gesturing toward the door, from which Malfoy and Devian had just emerged, holding hands. They all watched silently as the couple made their way to a secluded part of the Slytherin table and started conversing in hushed tones.

"Who asked you to butt into our conversation? And by the way...you knew about this, why didn't you tell me?' Fred asked Ron, angrily.

"Becuase I knew she would eventually tell you, and I thought you needed to hear it from her, not me. Besides, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone, and I'm assuming that included you.'

"Oh, so now your taking her side?" Fred gave his younger brother a mutinous look.

"I'm not taking any sides, Fred, this isn't a war. Look, you can't help who you like, you of all people should realize that right now."

Fred wanted desperately for this conversation to be over. He hated when his younger brother was right, and even worse, he hated admitting he was wrong.

Draco and Devian had decided to eat their dinner as quickly as possible, and go outside for a walk, mainly to avoid all the stares they were receiving, not only from the Slytherian table, but from the Gryffindor table as well. It felt rather uncomfortable to realize that they were creating a controversy between the rival houses.

As they sat under the tree in silence, her between his legs, leaning back against his chest, Devian couldn't help but think about the last thing Fred had said to her. And then there was the kiss. It had been great, there was no denying that. But did it mean anything to her? The stress of even thinking about it was too much to handle.

"You okay?" Draco asked, feeling her body grow tense against his.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, leaning her head back to stare into his eyes, as they shared another slow but passionate kiss.

Feeling content, she layed her head back against his chest and closed her eyes, trying to clear her mind of everything. Apparently, Draco had been as relaxed as her, because they both had fallen asleep.

They awoke some time later to find that it was dark out. Draco looked at his watch with mild surprise, "It's 1:30 in the morning. I think maybe we should go back."

The first step into the castle brought them face to face with Filch, who gave them quite a scare. He seemed delighted at catching them out of bed after hours, and assigned them both detention. As Devian lay down in her bed, she thankfully found herself too tired to think.

The next morning brought some confusion as to where to sit at breakfast for Draco and Devian. The Slytherian table was full, so they slowly walked over to the Gryffindor table, where only two seats remained, right near all of Devian's friends. Fred got up immediately and left as she sat down next to him. She had expected as much, and sighed heavily as she wondered if he would ever talk to her again. Everyone else had remained friendly to Devian, and all had tried valiantly to act civilized toward Draco. Everyone except George, who glared at them both. He hadn't said anything, but she had a feeling everytime he looked at her, the words 'traitorous bitch' came to mind. She expected this as well, after all, George was the closest person to Fred, and was probably feeling some of his pain.

As the week progressed, Devian felt more and more like she had lost her best friend. No one else was able to make her laugh the way he did. She found herself spending as much time with Draco as humanly possible, because she felt that the times when she was with him were the only times she was happy anymore. They were with each other at all mealtimes, in between classes, and were always to be found outside after dinner, walking around the grounds until it was too dark to see anymore.

The first weekend of the term meant detention for Draco and Devian. They made their way to the entrance hall at 8 o'clock, to find two other people there. "Oh no, don't tell me that on top of whatever Filch makes us do, I have to watch you two snog the whole night," Fred groaned, more to himself then the others.

The other girl was a Gryffindor who had been in all of her classes,and also was in the dorm room they shared with two other girls, but Devian could never remember talking to her before. "Hi, you're Devian, right? My name's Serenity."

"Hi...so what did you guys do to get detention?" Devian asked, looking anxiously at Fred.

"It's not like you care," he mumbled.

Serenity had obviously noticed the tension, and decided now would be a good time for her to talk. "I got into a fight," she indicated a bruise on the right side of her face.

"Wow, looks painful," Devian commented.

"Yea, but it's nothing compared to how the other girl is probably feeling... I'm pretty sure she's still in the hospital wing," the other girl finished, grinning.

Before the conversation could go any further, they were interrupted, not by Filch, but Professor Snape. "This detention will require you to work in pairs. However, this is not meant to be fun, therefore, I will be splitting you two up," he said, looking at Devian and Draco.

Draco's eyes widened in surprise; he had always found himself on Snape's good side, if you could call any of his sides good. But then, he supposed, it probably had something to do with Devian, everyone had been acting strangely about the two of them.

"Mr. Malfoy will work with the other girl, and you," he pointed at Devian, "will work with Weasley."

He then took them down to the dungeons where they were made to clean the entire potions classroom. As Devian and Fred worked side by side, she kept sneaking quick glances at him to see if his mood had changed at all. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, "Look, this isn't easy for me, either!"

He looked up at her in surprise, "What do you mean?"

"I mean I've had to spend the past week without my best friend. I miss you, it hurts me so much not to have you around."

"You have Malfoy," he said, turning back to his work.

"It's not the same. I can't talk to him the way we talk... I like him, but I love you," she said, only realizing it herself for the first time.

He absentmindedly reached up and rubbed a streak of dirt off her cheek. He knew he hadn't planned on staying mad at her forever, now seemed like a good time to talk things over. "Look, maybe I overreacted a little bit. If you like Malfoy, then I guess theres nothing I can do about it but be happy for you."

"Oh, thank you!" And with that she flung her arms around him and hugged tightly.

He hugged back. It felt so right, having her in his arms, why couldn't she see that? As she pulled back, their lips accidentally brushed together, and in that instant, she felt like kissing him. Of course she knew it was wrong, and pulled out of his embrace quickly.

"So," he started, grinning misheviously, "have you shagged him yet?"

"That's really none of your business," she answered, hitting him playfully.

"Well, I'll take that as a yes, then?"

She said nothing but turned back to her work,blushing furiously, while Fred laughed at her.

Meanwhile, Draco and Serenity were also engaged in conversation.

"I've seen you two around, you seem inseperable."

"Yea, I really like her."

"So what is it specifically that you liek about her?"

"Well, alot of things. She has nice eyes, a great body, she's a good kisser, that's always nice, and she's err...creative," he finished, staring off into space and obviously remembering one of their more intimate times together.

"Sounds uhh...delightful," she said, with an air of someone who has just recieved way too much information, "What about her personality?"

Draco tried to answer this question, but realized that he didn't really even know all that much about Devian. Sure they had talked, but never about anything serious.

"So its just physical attraction, then?" Serenity asked, correctly interpreting his silence.

"Yea, I guess it is," he said, sounding amazed.

"Those relationships don't ever last long, and trust me, that comes from personal experience. But then again, everyone is different," she finished quickly, seeing the look of worry on his face.

Finally, they were allowed to leave, and as Draco walked Devian up to the common room, they both seemed preoccupied with something. Suddenly, Draco stopped. He turned and led her in the opposite direction. "Lets talk."

"Now? About what?"

"I don't know, it just ocurred to me that we never really talk."

He led her to an empty classroom and shut the door. They crossed the room silently and sat at a table near the window. The moon had gone behind the clouds and all he could see of her was a faint outline. He tried to think of something to say, but nothing was coming to him. Finally, he gave up. "Umm...how about we just snog instead?"

"Alright then," Devian said as she wrapped her arms around him.

Meanwhile Serenity sat by herself in the common room thinking about Draco. He was definitely cute, and he also seemed like a nice person to talk to. The only problem was, he had a girlfriend. It was hard to hate Devian, she struck Serenity as the innocent type that would never hurt anyone. Although...she also had noticed Devian had seemed pretty close to that other boy who had been in detention with them. She had watched them flirt with each other the whole time. She wondered if Draco had noticed as well.