Acid Pop Junkies

Chapter 08-- Bleu Nuit

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Bones, sinking like stones,

All that we fought for,

And homes, places we've grown,

All of us are done for.

And we live in a beautiful world,

Yeah we do, yeah we do,

We live in a beautiful world.

Here we go, here we go

And we live in a beautiful world,

Yeah we do, yeah we do,

We live in a beautiful world.

 Oh, all that I know,

There's nothing here to run from,

'

Cause everybody here's got somebody to lean on

Don´t Panic--- Coldplay

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    Sirius Black had not once in his life needed hope. While he was in that hell called Azkaban, he didn´t sit around twiddling his thumbs and hoping someone would find him innocent. To survive, he needed a certain amount of courage and will. But now things were infinitely different. He always knew his freedom would come with a price, but really... Being stuck with six temperamental teenagers? It was like a bad joke that died and then got resurrected by a hack. "Recalled to life" if you want to quote a fancy author. What made it worse is that he had no idea why it was him. The kids had said that they had survived because they were all in the same room when it happened, but that didn´t explain his own survival. Sirius took another book from the endless shelf and riffled through it idly. He would have felt much more at ease if there was another adult around, but then again, children were more understanding... And that girl with the eyes... She couldn´t seem to leave him alone. Always walking around flirting and batting her eyelashes while that boy with the unfortunate name mooned over her. Sirius chuckled. Pollocks. That was it. He pitied the boy. In fact, he pitied everyone here. Harry because he´d suffered yet again and Hermione because she always tried her best but it didn´t do a bit of good. The three Slytherins were a completely different story. They didn´t seem to care that their families and friends had disappeared, they might even be enjoying it. Lucius´ son was more of a little bastard than his father. He tormented everyone, complained and didn´t work. It took all that Sirius had not to lose his temper with the little monster. Dante, what a name. He wasn´t too much trouble as long as he wasn´t chasing after the girls like Malia did with the boys. Then again he was a little strange. He often made bizarre conversation and used words out of context or simply made them up. Yes, there was nothing worse than having to baby-sit sixteen year olds. Thankfully Malia had gone to Blackpool with Malfoy and he finally had a break from her come-ons. He may have contemplated killing a man, but he´d be damned before he would ever become a cradle robber. He looked up. Dante was flipping pages of a book, probably looking for pictures... Hermione was staring at extremely small print with her book two inches away from her face. Harry had stopped reading and was taking time to stretch. Pollocks´ seat was empty, he had just gone to the bathroom.

    "Well," Sirius said cheerfully as he rubbed his hands together. "Has anyone found anything interesting?"

    There was a chorus of "No´s" and Sirius fell silent once again. Hermione spoke up instead.

    "It would really help if we knew why you were here, Sirius."

    Sirius sighed.

    "I know, and I have no idea, but that brings me to another question. You say you were all in Dumbledore´s office when it happened?" Everyone in the room nodded. "Then why were you all in different places when you woke up?" Harry looked thoughtful, but stumped.

    "I know!" Hermione cried as she raised her hand out of habit. "Sorry. I just got so excited, this is the first thing I´ve been able to figure out in a long time. It sounds like a case of auto-apparation." Harry leaned into the conversation the same time Dante yawned. Hermione took a deep breath before continuing. "Auto-apparation happens when large quantities of loose magic are in the air."

    "Sounds like a bad pop song," Dante cackled.

    "Anyway, I´m pretty sure the spell Harry cast combined with the exploding of the... um, phoenix, made a kind of unfiltered magic which transported us into the castle and Hogsmeade even though none of us know how to Apparate," Hermione exhaled.

    "Way to go Hermione!" Harry said as his face lit up. Hermione sighed.

    "I see none of you have read Hogwarts a History. You didn´t ask me why we could Apparate on school grounds." Harry raised an eyebrow.

    "Do we have to?"

    "Don´t be silly!" Hermione said with a wave of her hand. "We were able to Apparate because the magic created by the spell surpassed the charm on the school." Hermione seemed pleased with herself, but Harry´s joy subsided a little.

    "Still doesn´t explain Sirius..."

    No one could think of any response to this. Hermione looked a little hopeful.

    "A-at least none of us got Apparated to China or splinched."

    Harry laughed dryly.

    "I wouldn´t mind if Malfoy got splinched, but then there would be two of him!"

    The three laughed at this, but then realized Dante was staring fixedly at them. Sirius cleared his throat.

    "Yes, he´s not the most pleasant person in the world, hell, I guess now he´s the most unpleasant person in the world, but he´s not the one I´m worried about." Hermione nodded.

    "Me neither."

    Sirius continued.

    "I think the one who´s having trouble is Pollocks Rocket." Hermione made a slight cooing noise.

    "I know what you mean, it´s just awful how Malfoy treats him and you can tell just by looking at him that he won´t be able to handle it for long." By now everyone was completely absorbed by the conversation. "And the way he looks at Malia, it´s sort of... pitiful. If she just gave him a chance-,"

    "AHEM!" Dante interrupted. "Unless my fondest wish has come true, I´m still in the room." Hermione snorted.

    "It´s not like you were in a real relationship or anything. Rumor around the school was that you two were just... having a good time."

    "Don´t mind if I do," Dante said as he pulled out his lighter and clicked it happily.

    "Anyway, we shouldn´t be talking like this. Let´s get back to work."

    Hermione and the others retired back to their volumes of magic spells and solutions. Pollocks, meanwhile, sat with his back against the library door and his knees against his chest. He had caught most of the conversation and was busy dealing with the after affects.

    "Pitiful..."

    He felt like he was being crushed slowly and excruciatingly.

    "Won´t be able to handle it for long..."

    Like his friends, his breath was coming up short and he felt like he might run out at any moment. His eyes watered, he ripped his big, black glasses off his face and wiped his eyes with a closed fist.

    "This sucks," he sputtered. "I didn´t even get a "you deserve better than her anyway," or "she´ll come around." He punched the ground fitfully. "Because I don´t and she won´t." He sniffed and looked through the little pane of glass into the library. A strange sensation spread across his chest and made him clench his teeth. Something was dancing on the tip of his angry tongue. He urged himself to let it out. After a few seconds of this he bit his lip and pulled a black marker out of his small, bright yellow schoolbag. With messy, temperamental scrawl, he wrote "I hate you guys," across the door. It was hard to see against the dark mahogany of the door, but it was there. Pollocks capped the marker and strode off.

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    Draco had a lot of thought in him. He almost wished he could say them all and someone could quote him so it would stop.

    "Where´s Rita Skeeter when you need her?" Draco said without question in his voice. He was sitting on the big gray rock where Malia had been sitting not two hours ago. He had stuck around mainly to watch the last few explosions, but also because any conversation with Malia would be awkward and she might try to make him apologize. The house was still ablaze. The whole second floor was gone and some of the first was collapsing.

    Draco ran his hand over the bumpy surface with something like appreciation. He remembered it specifically because in second year he had tried to levitate it. He had only managed to get it about an inch off the ground, but that was enough to crush the cat´s tail and make it scream like a banshee.

    "Ahh, big rock. We had a good time torturing the cat. Yet, I can´t help wonder why you´re here. I mean, a great bloody rock right in the middle of the front lawn? Sweet Jesus, I´m talking to a rock!" Draco rubbed his temples wearily. His left hand wandered to the spot on his head where Potter had pulled out his hair. Draco willed his hand away. He picked up the black book that lay beside him. Looking at it, he reflected that it was the only thing that he would not be able to replace and that somehow made everything worthwhile. Maybe not completely worthwhile, he could´ve done without the burns on his clothes and Catley being mad at him, but it definitely justified his actions. He opened the book right to the middle. Three quarters of the pages had a big hole in the middle rimmed with dried blood and ink. The others were untouched. Draco closed it, put his right hand on the cover and swore never to lose the book.

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    Malia was sitting on the Donally´s kitchen table eating a chocolate bar. "This is going to give me pimples," Malia thought offhandedly. It didn´t matter to her much. There were charms for that kind of thing, and these were the only charms Malia could do well. Before the incident she had planned to go into wizard cosmetics and disgrace the family. Well, she hadn´t really planned, just fantasized. She would´ve just married off to a rich, ugly man and lived a life of tedium and adultery. In a way, it was a good thing the world had been reduced. It was almost like a gift. Of course there were people she would miss. Klaus Montague, younger brother to Oskar Montague who, like his brother, was on the Slytherin Quidditch team. Klaus was a good person. That was the only way Malia could describe him. He was also her only friend. She had never considered Dante a friend. She did cry for Klaus and was ashamed to admit for her cat Lucifer, too. "Girls probably have less control over it," Malia thought as she crumpled her wrapper into a ball and flicked it off the table. Now that the taste of sugar was in her mouth she wanted more, but didn´t feel she could walk all the way to the store. The sound of the front door opening quelled her thoughts. She crossed her legs and straightened her skirt before Draco´s platinum hair made it´s way to the room. He looked the same as ever. Pale, bitter and pointy. His eyes were deep-set and eerie in their color. She wished he didn´t have to peer at people like that.

    "It´s about fucking time,-"

    Draco strode past her to the parlor.

    "I don´t want to fight with you right now," he said as he took a small bag of Floo powder from his robes and threw a handful into the fire. "We´ll talk at the school. Hogwarts!"

    Draco disappeared in a swirl of green fire and ash. Malia and threw her own Floo powder into the fire, grumbling slightly.

    "Hogwarts!"

    She lost sight of the room and was flying through a warm haze of smoke and fire. In mere seconds she was back at Hogwarts, bending over to make sure she hadn´t gotten any ash on her boots. Draco was looking around the room, trying to figure out where he was. Malia recognized it immediately as the side chamber where the Triwizard champions met. The portraits of former Triwizard Champions were now empty and gaping.

    "I´m going to the dungeons to get a new pair of clothes," Draco informed her. "These ones have burns on them."

    She looked down at her own clothes. They were not burnt, but they were covered in black soot.

    "Me too."

    Draco began to leave, only to stop in his tracks a few moments later.

    "I forgot, I have to go to the Holy Gryffindor tower to get my robes. I hope Saint Potter isn´t there. I might disturb his evening prayers," he said sarcastically.

    The two trudged up a few staircases, Malia always trailing behind.

    "Wait up!" Malia gasped. Draco sneered in return.

    "No. You might catch up with me."

    Malia straightened herself as best she could.

    "Don´t flatter yourself, Draco. Being a jackass doesn´t make you attractive."

    "Oh, and being a whore does?" Draco countered.

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    Sirius tore his eyes away from his book and cocked his ear to the side. There it was again. The faint sound of voices echoed through the halls. Sirius´ curiosity overtook him and he seemed magnetically attracted to the library door. Hermione saw all this and nudged Harry from his reading. Harry shook his head silently telling her to leave it to Sirius. Dante´s eyes followed Sirius until he left the room. He shook his head and chuckled softly. This one, he did not want to try to figure out.

    Sirius only had to walk down one hallway and there, at the top of the nearest staircase were Malia and Draco, screaming at each other and getting red in the face.

    "Maybe if you didn´t spend so much time fucking around, you would´ve passed for a decent witch!" Draco´s face contorted and cords stood out on his throat as he said this.

    "So what if I didn´t have good grades! There are more important things! Look at you, no girl would come within fifty feet of you because they think you´re cracked!" Malia´s old temper was flaring up again. Draco caught his breath and fought back.

    "I´m cracked?! Look at your dirty little boyfriend Dante! He looks like he spends all his time bending spoons!" Malia looked appalled.

    "Don´t talk about Dante. He´s not the one who BURNT HIS OWN HOUSE TO THE FUCKING GROUND!" Malia raised her fists in agitation and stomped her feet.

    "You burnt your house down?" Sirius asked in disbelief. Malia and Draco both spun their heads in his direction.

    "Yeah. And if it makes you feel better, I threw in an effigy of our God, Harry Potter." Draco spread his arms in a burlesque bow. Sirius could feel the white hot anger seeping into his brain. He stomped up the stairs and over to Draco.

    "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?!"

    Draco shrank back for a moment, but then caught himself and stood tall.

    "I don´t see what everyone is so worried about. It was just a fire."

    Sirius gritted his teeth.

    "It was not! It could have spread!"

    "There are no houses around the mansion!" Draco explained.

    "So what!" Sirius bellowed. "You put Malia and yourself in danger!"

    Draco scoffed.

    "In danger of what? The biggest danger I faced today was getting a paper cut in that shit hole of a library."

    Sirius couldn´t take much more of this boy. He was insufferable. The only will power left came from telling himself he had suffered hardships worse than this.

    "Boy, I tried everything. I tried to know you, to reason with you, I even tried to avoid you. Now I won´t take any more of this Malfoy shit! For all your talk you really never had that much to be proud of."

    "SHUT UP! " Draco screamed hoarsely. "YOU DON´T KNOW MY FATHER!" His whole face had transformed in a matter of seconds. His face was completely red, his hair was hanging in loose strands just in front of his eyes and his eyes shone wetly from dark sockets.

    "You think it doesn´t bother me, when you talk about him!? We have to tiptoe around Potter´s... parental loss, and then you insult my father because he didn´t die a fucking martyr?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK THAT DOES TO ME?!" Draco punched the air fanatically. His passion had no sign of subsiding, but then he bowed his yellow head and stilled. Sirius couldn´t get a handle on this. Things had spun out of control and if they ever stopped, it wouldn´t be because of him. He wiped his face with one hand.

    "Oh God," Sirius muttered with a hand pressing against his forehead. Sirius wanted it gone. He wanted everything to whisper away and not make him choose. He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping that something would come to him. Nothing. He was never the peacemaker, always the fighter. Right now he wished he could use his fists instead of his brain, but that was not an option. Sirius took a deep breath and a step closer to Draco.

    "I´m sorry. Your father wasn´t that bad."

    Draco didn´t move, only a bead of sweat rolled of his chin and hit the floor. Sirius didn´t know if he should keep talking so instead he put a hand on the boy´s shoulder. Draco felt the light weight on his shoulder and cringed. He could feel his face and mind working at the same time to form a picture of perfect hatred. With his new expression, he looked at the hand on his shoulder and then to Sirius. He looked extremely concerned, but Draco wondered which extreme was really in use.

    Draco felt himself jitter and shake with fury.

    " My,- my father had power. He could do anything, kill anyone who got in our way. He knew which priorities were really important, unlike some mudblood, muggle-loving fool. He knew a true leader when he saw one."

    Sirius´ had forgotten all about the hand that rested upon the boy´s shoulder. He was lost in the confession of a person who never knew the things that Sirius had known. Things that were definitely not on Lucius Malfoy´s famous list of priorities. Sirius became tongue-tied.

    "I´m sorry." Sirius repeated.

    "Fuck off, murderer."

    Draco spitting those words out like a foul poison had an immediate reaction. The corners of Sirius´ mouth drooped downwards, and the despicable hand left Draco´s shoulder and the man took cautionary steps backwards. Draco was halfway turned around when he saw out of the corner of his eye, Sirius and how close he was getting to the first stair downwards. The boy spun back around with such speed he felt a pain in his neck. Sirius´ last step backwards was on thin air and as he pin wheeled his arms, his mouth formed an "o" of surprise. Draco lunged and came within inches of one of those waving arms, but Sirius only managed to grab his scarf and fall backwards. That´s when the staircase started to move. The base came loose of the hallway and traveled slowly through the air. Malia screamed in terror as Sirius´ twisting body rolled of the last stair and plummeted two stories. A sickening crack resounded throughout the castle as what must have been Sirius´ skull hit the hard stone floor. Draco spotted the body from where he was standing. It´s limbs were splayed grotesquely and one of his legs were twisted. The blood thumping in Draco´s head drowned out the sound of Malia crying. Footsteps joined the noise as Harry, Hermione and Dante walked right up to where the staircase had moved from. Where Sirius was standing five minutes ago. Harry´s green eyes were the only thing Draco could see throughout the blur of sweat and hair in his own. The green flashed up to Draco´s figure, down to the sweet treat below and where they stayed. Hermione saw it and let out a bloodcurdling scream. This seemed to snap Harry out of his daze and he seized Hermione´s arm and ran down another staircase where Sirius lay.

    Harry couldn´t see well, things were almost two dimensional in his panic. He descended the last stair and tripped. His body hit the ground with a thump and he tasted salty blood as he bit his tongue. He was a foot away from Sirius´ face. The sight of his Godfather´s blood was like a slap in the face. The shock made him gasp and gulp great mouthfuls of air. Hermione stood on the other side of Sirius staring at Harry with tears streaming down her face.

    "HERMIONE!" Harry screamed. She jumped to life. "DO SOMETHING! DO MAGIC! MAKE HIM BETTER!" Harry choked on air and heaved great heavy breaths. It felt as if someone had dropped a Hippogriff on his chest. Hermione shook her head remorsefully.

    "I can´t do that kind of magic yet! I h-haven´t learnt..."

    Harry grabbed fistfuls of his own hair and felt his own tears pouring down. Hermione closed her eyes for a minute.

    "There´s only one thing I can do, Harry," she said sadly. Harry felt his last fragment of hope rise up. Hermione took Sirius´ thick wrist her her gentle palm. With the other hand, she placed two shaking fingers on the veins lining the white underbelly of Sirius´ wrist. Harry shut his eyes tightly and grasped Sirius´ other arm. It was still warm. He pictured his Godfather as he could remember best. Laughing , smiling at him in pride and standing beside his father on his parents´ wedding day. After three agonizing seconds, he felt Hermione let go of the arm.

    "He- he´s dead."

    Harry felt part of his mind jerk away from Hermione´s answer and he clenched his Godfather´s arm tightly. He rocked back and forth and sobbed quietly. Harry couldn´t think through the pain. He opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the trickle of dark blood still flowing from Sirius´ open mouth. The whole world swam in front of his eyes. Harry turned away and vomited. Hermione didn´t know if he would feel it, but she put a hand on Harry´s heaving back and whispered to him. She tried not to look back at Sirius, knowing all she would see was a dead body with open eyes. Not a good man who devoted his life to his godson. She starting sobbing with Harry and pulled closer to him. Nothing would ever be like this. Nothing would ever compare.

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    Draco ran as fast as his legs could carry him, which was about as fast as the time he went into the forbidden forest with Harry Potter and seen a beast. Now he was running from a different beast. He sprinted through the front doors of Hogwarts, through the grounds and halfway through Hogsmeade before he skidded to a halt in front of Quality Quidditch supplies. Sweat pouring from his brow, he reached for the only broom in the display, a Comet two-sixty. He mounted it as quickly as he could, and shot up in the sky. It took him a few seconds to steady the temperamental broom, but once he did he was able to scope out his location and how long it would take him to get out of the Godforsaken town. Suspected murderer or not, he had always wanted out. He didn´t care where he went as long as he could get away from Harry Potter and his filthy little halfling. But mostly it was just... Draco put it away. He blocked it with a mental brick wall, a shield if you will. Thoughts were always messy, wriggling things and he wanted to make sure this one never came to the surface. Draco found the right path and was about to follow it when something hard clipped his left ear.

    "Bloody hell!" Draco swung his broom around to confront his assailant. It was of course, Malia, shouting at the top of her lungs with a handful of rocks.

    "Draco! C´mere!"

    He didn´t want to come down. She might try to make him stay, or take her with him. On the other hand, he didn´t want to go out there and find there are no other female survivors... He swooped down in front of the girl, making her hair fly about. Her face was pale, but lively, and her mascara made black marks all around her eyes. She dropped her ammunition and ran to him. Draco put his broomstick in front of him for protection. She kept her distance.

    "You have to let me come with you," she urged adding an ineffectual pout. Draco looked into the road ahead and then looked back at her.

    "No."

    Draco walked a few paces south and started mounting his broom. Malia stomped after him.

    "Why not?" she asked the back of his head. Draco remained sober.

    "Because I just don´t need you."

    Malia was started to puff like a dragon. She looked around exasperatedly, searching for a counter statement. A sly grin came to her lips as she discovered what she needed. Just as Draco pushed off the ground it came to her and she grabbed to tail of his broom and pulled him back to land. He turned, around, revealing his incensed stare. Malia launched right into her reason.

    "You do need me. You need me because that broomstick is going to crap out on you a few miles down the road and then you´ll be stuck in the middle of nowhere and Potter will come find you and either torture you or kill you very slowly." Draco narrowed his eyes at her.

    "What does this have to do with you?"

    Malia smiled winningly.

    "I know a way that will get us out of here fast. I know how to drive a car."

    Draco looked torn between many decisions.

    "I don´t need a stupid muggle car!" Draco declared. "I´ll just go back to the shop and pick up a Firebolt." Malia shook her head.

    "That´s a racing broom, Draco. It can´t take you long distances at a time."

    Draco rubbed the familiar spot on his head where hair was lacking.

    "I could probably work a muggle car by myself. All their inventions involve flipping a switch."

    Malia laughed humorlessly.

    "Believe me it´s more complicated than that."

    The truth was Malia wanted to get away almost as much as Draco did. She feared the hatred Harry might have for her, the whispers and dark looks that could follow. Escaping another doomed future was almost expected of her. She didn´t even think about Dante anymore. He faded out like a backwards polaroid. She would go with Draco, she would be good for him and endure whatever sarcastic comments he made. If only he would let her...

    "Fine," Draco agreed grudgingly. "But now where the hell are we going to get a car?" Malia wrinkled her nose in thought.

    "I know! You can summon one," Malia suggested. Draco raised his wand.

    "Fine. Whatever. I just want to get out."

    She watched him concentrate on the spell and...

    "Accio, car!" Draco kept his wand up for several seconds. "It´s not going to come," he told her matter of factly. Malia ignored him and pulled her coat closer to her shivering body. It was November, and freezing. Temperatures had plummeted overnight and snow seemed to fall incessantly. She began drawing in the snow with the tip of her boot. She made a snake, her initials, and a star before they heard a sound from far away. It came from the left side of the intersection. Their car. Scratched pea green metal, thin rubber tires and a heavy layer of dust melded to make something all together old and hideous. Malia, who only knew a little about cars, could not recognize the make of it. It was very compact. There were only two doors, making the back seat almost inaccessible. Malia and Draco circled around the car slowly, taking in all the crucial facets of ugliness. Someone had written a message in the coat of grime that covered the windshield. It said quite plainly, "Muggles eat shit! Slytherin for the cup!" Draco ignored this entirely. He was even more pale faced than usual and he kept looking back towards Hogwarts nervously. Malia turned her attention back to the dilapidated car. She looked into the driver´s window, but could hardly see. Grasping the rusty handle, she pulled the car door open with ease. A sickly perfume puffed silently out. Malia tried to ignore the scent.

    "Cross your fingers," she muttered as she leaned over to the ignition. She breathed a sigh of relief which sent a cloud of dust on to the dashboard. Through some fortunate stroke of luck, the keys were still in place. "It was probably sitting in someone´s garage for years," she thought.

    Malia slid into the drivers seat and looked outside for Draco. He was nowhere to be seen. She began to think he had taken his broomstick and left when the passenger´s door opened and he flopped down in the car seat. Apparently he was too disturbed to care about the state of transportation. Indeed he looked that way. His eyes were cast darkly downwards and he clutched his wand tightly. His head whipped around at Malia and she jumped.

    "What´s wrong? Why aren´t we going?!" he asked. Malia blinked.

    "Oh- of course, just a moment." Malia groped for the keys. Breathing deeply, she turned them and shut her eyes. The engine crackled, rolled over and died. Malia withdrew her hand and put a hand through her hair in frustration. Draco searched her reaction with his eyes.

    "Is it broken?!" Draco demanded. Malia sighed.

    "I don´t know! Just don´t say anything for a while." She peered at the gas gauge frantically. It was running on a full tank. She rested her head against the wheel and tried to think.

            *    *    *    *    *    *    *

    Pollocks Rocket walked through the dark streets of Hogsmeade and whimpered to himself while trying to stay on course. About ten minutes ago, he had been sitting under the Gryffindor table trying to find his note book among the other contents taking up space in his school bag. A noise came down and a light breeze rustled his brown hair. Pollocks saw Draco running off with increasing speed. The blond boy flew right outside and a cold wind filled the Great Hall as he knocked the doors open. Pollocks didn´t take much notice. Draco Malfoy did a lot of things. They were mostly bad things, like being mean to him and making fun of his clothes. These were the things that made Pollocks afraid of him, but he did other stuff too. Draco Malfoy noticed important things, kept a calendar of the days since the disappearing and he made Malia like him... somehow. Draco didn´t like her though. Pollocks desperately hoped he was right. He was about to go back to his search when he heard a familiar clicking noise. Pollocks held his breath as he saw Malia´s green boots running down the aisle. For one brief moment he thought of going to see where she was going, but then he recalled he was under the table and thought that maybe that might look strange. Instead he waited until she was out the front door. He paused a moment and snatched his schoolbag off the floor. In his haste to run after the girl, Pollocks hit his head on the table.

    "Gahhh!" he yelled as he held his throbbing cranium. He shook his head and started running towards the door. He slung his bag over his shoulder violently and his bottle of allergy medication fell out and rolled across the floor. He glanced at it, bit his lip and took off. He could live without it. Anyway, there were more important things... Pollocks had never run so fast in his life. Which was not very fast, because he hadn´t had much practice save for running from bullies in elementary school.

    Malia was found at the entrance to Hogsmeade. The boy had to slow down and stay a little behind so she wouldn´t see him. He followed her like this for a while. At one point, she paused for a minute to try and figure out which way Draco had gone, giving Pollocks an opportunity to gulp air. She was running again in less than a minute. He clutched his chest in pain and followed. Finally, Malia stopped in the middle of an intersection of paths. Pollocks stayed and hid behind a lamp post, still to afraid to confront her. She stooped down low and scooped up a few pebbles. She then began throwing them madly. Pollocks looked up at her target. Malfoy. She must have hit him, because he came down and started to talk to her. Pollocks definitely could not come out now. He squinted to see them, but could not make out their expressions. He unzipped his schoolbag and fumbled around for his Omnioculars. He set the focus accordingly and watched from a distance. Unfortunately, he could not read lips, but he could tell that they were both very agitated and something was going on. Draco did a spell, and they both waited around awhile. Pollocks was beginning to get nervous. Suddenly, he heard a great crunching of snow behind him and a small car rolled down the cobbled road.

    Pollocks gasped and hopped into a doorway, flattening himself against the door. The car passed by him and went to Draco. Pollocks waited a few minute before peeking out. Malia and Draco were now in the car arguing with each other. Malia was trying to start the piece of junk without avail. But then, on her fifth try, the engine rumbled to a start and smoke puffed out the tailpipe. Pollocks panicked. She was slipping away from him to leave him all alone. Her. He could never deal with that. He didn´t even care that the others thought he was pathetic, if he kept trying something was bound to happen. He scrambled to stuff the Omnioculars in to his bag. Stealthily, he crawled over to the back of the car. As he crouched there, breathing in carbon monoxide, it came to him. The car looked old, so he launched a well aimed kick at the boot. It popped open gloriously and Pollocks lowered himself in. The car started to move as he pulled it shut. It was a tight squeeze, dark and smelled like dead animal, but Pollocks was more alive than ever. He couldn´t even feel his asthma through the happiness. The car hit a pothole and something black and gooey fell onto his face and Pollocks grinned. For once in his life he felt he was actually getting somewhere.