Nobody's Fool

Fall back, take a look at me and you'll see I'm for real

I feel what only I can feel and if that don't appeal to you

Let me know, and I'll go

'Cos I flow better when my colours show.

~

A gasp. Adara's heart pumping, she awoke with a start. Her eyes flashed open as a trickle of sweat ran down her face, and her hand instinctively grabbed at her chest. She felt her heart hammering away as her mind wandered back to what had awoken her. Her thoughts wandered into the depths of her dreams, along halls of memories, then she remembered.

She was young, very young. Her parents were in this pond, with its crystal clear water, somewhere in the wilderness. They were paddling, and had allowed Adara to wander too far. She was wading, the water's level slowly gaining on her small height. Then something had grabbed at her foot, she had been dragged under. She fought furiously, but the creature gained, and as bubbles escaped from her mouth, her consciousness escaped from her body. The water around swirled into a mass of black, and she was gone.

That was the last time she was with her parents. She had awoken to find herself in hospital, with her new parents, explaining to her how she was going to be staying with them for a while because her other ones were going away. She didn't care. With her old parents, she had almost died. Who cared who they were, or where they were going?

She slid her feet to the floor, and pushed the strap of her singlet top up that had slipped off. Her heart had slowed, but her mouth was dry. Pouring herself a glass of water, she checked the time on her watch by the moon's light. 3:24am. She sighed. It was going to be a long morning. She knew that sleep wouldn't come now; it was hopeless trying. She grabbed the latest book she was reading and traipsed downstairs to the Common Room where she could pass the time in comfort.

Thankfully it was empty, with the usual fire burning. She wondered why; it was summer and absolutely sweltering. Dragging a chair to the nearest window, she flung it open, draping her feet across the windowsill the hang outside. Here she stayed for the next three hours, until footsteps indicated life. She continued on the page she was on, however keeping one ear open to any distinct sign as to who it was.

He sniffed. She knew. She smirked.

He padded across the room, her back to him. Suddenly, the footsteps stopped.

"Oh great. Just who I want to see."

"I'm wondering if I should turn around and see you in your pyjamas so I can laugh, or simply read my book."

"Please do me the favour of turning around. At least I can have a good start to the day seeing you in yours."

She sighed. Pulling in her feet and closing her book, she stood up. And turned. Then laughed.

"I love the whole satin thing. It really gives the 'I'm a sleazy Slytherin look.'" She crossed her arms.

His eyes looked her up and down. "Nice rack."

She uncrossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Bite me, Malfoy." She grabbed her book and stormed passed him, heading for her dormitory.

"Oh please let me. You know what?"

She didn't stop.

"You're not half as threatening without the makeup."

She kept thumping up the stairs, ignoring the taunts. Flinging open the door, her sleepy roommate rolled over.

"Do you bloody mind? I'm trying to sleep."

"Get over it." She grabbed her clothes and necessaries, heading for the bathroom.

Once inside, she showered and dressed before heading to the mirror. She brushed her hair, not that it needed it, so that it lay once more in a shimmering, black curtain. Then she applied her makeup, with her accent on the black eyeliner. Once finished, it was 7:30, and time for breakfast. She returned to the dormitory, her roommate still snoozing.

"Get your ass out of bed Abbie. It's 7:30. Besides, your little boyfriend is downstairs. I'm sure he'll be wanting a pre-breakfast make-out." She tore of her bed covers, before grabbing her bag and heading off to breakfast.

She passed a now dressed Draco downstairs, who gave her a satisfied smirk. "I really like your makeup today, it's so...different." The sarcasm dripped of the statement.

"I really like your sense of humour, Draco. It's so... not funny." She stalked off in search of a cup of coffee. That was what she needed.

The Great Hall was milling with the usual early birds. She eyed the hall for coffee, and finding only one canister, she set off for it. Fortunately, it was at the Gryffindor table, between two twittering girls. One was pouring it, and as she sailed past, she swiped it swiftly.

"Hey! I was using that!" The two girls stood up angrily. Adara walked away, her back to them, and took a seat at her own table. The girls said nothing as she poured her own cup, and calmly placed it on the table.

"Well. Feel free. I'm not using it." She took a sip and the girl, rolling her eyes, stomped over to retrieve it. As she did, Adara grabbed her wrist. Her voice lowered, and her eyes narrowed.

"Never speak to me like that again." She pushed her away, the girl's eyes wide with fear as she stumbled back to her overly concerned friend. They instantly fell into a deep whisper, throwing sidelong looks Adara's way.

Like that bothered her. She had a nice, fresh cup of coffee in her hand, and nothing could spoil that.

The next half an hour was filled with sleepy students milling in, exchanging their greetings, of course none with Adara. Abbie finally showed up, poorly dressed and groomed. Adara rolled her eyes.

"Malfoy hold you up for that long?"

"I wish. He friggin ran off somewhere. Where's the coffee?"

A pot shot through the table, freshly brewed.

"Excellent." A smile breaking upon her face, she poured herself a cup. "Ah," she said as she sipped it. "Substance of life."

Adara flicked through the Daily Prophet that had just landed upon her table, mildly interested. She threw it behind her, hitting some disgruntled Ravenclaw in the head.

"Last week of school. Thank god."

Adara nodded. "You going home, right? No holidays?"

"Nope. Parents have something to do that doesn't involve me, as usual." She flicked through her own paper.

"You coming to that party, first night back?"

"Um..."

"Don't pull on me now."

"It's just that I kind of promised Draco I'd..."

"Great. So you're just dumping me for him. I get the point." She gulped down her last mouthful of coffee before storming off. Abbie's footsteps echoed behind her, and she grabbed her when they were outside. Adara spun around.

"What?"

"Stop being such a primidone bitch. Draco asked me if I waned to stay with him for the first week of the holidays, but if it means my life will be a living hell, I'll cancel."

"A whole week? You guys are strange."

"No, we just happen to like each other. But don't worry. I'll tell him I'll come after."

"Good."

"Gee, don't get a conscience."

"Oh I won't. Don't worry. Bring me some food will you?"

"Go in there and get it yourself."

"No! I just did the dramatic storm out. I can't walk back in. I'll see you in the Common Room." She walked away, knowing that she would follow her orders. It's not like she bossed Abbie around. It's just that they had an understanding. They knew each other, and what they were like, and they didn't make mistakes.

She sauntered back and sat down in an armchair, opening her book. Abbie would take a while; she always did. She glanced at her watch. 8:10. 50 minutes to fill in, and only a few pages left of the book.

In a short ten minutes, the book was finished and Abbie returned with food. A few pieces of fruit and some toast, but food. She took some fruit for later and had a few slices of toast now, before repacking her bag.

"I'm off. Seeya round."

"Seeya." You had to give it to Abbie. She was the only person smart enough to not ask questions, because there would be no answers.

Adara sauntered off to the Library, where she grabbed a new book, this time on curses. Madam Pince raised an eyebrow, as always, but received in return an insolent 'what'? What rule was there against reading the book? After all, if it was in the Library, it was meant to be read.

She set off for a deserted part of the castle, where she could read in piece. After 15 minutes or so, she finally found a deserted hallway. No students, no teachers, no sound. Nothing. She slid down the wall underneath a torch, plopping her bag down next to her. Opening the book, she began to read.

For 5 peaceful minutes, she covered a fair amount of pages, with no distractions. Then, from a distance, footsteps could be heard. They grew steadily closer; she only wished they would branch off somewhere else. But the sound kept straight for her, until they stopped near her. She kept her head down, pretending to read.

"Hello there. I'm River. Who are you?"

She stayed silent. The footsteps moved closer.

"Hello there. I'm River. Who are you?"

"Please River, just keep flowing."

He sat down. Just great.

"Are you lost? Can I help you with something?" She looked up, and barely stifled a laugh. Sitting opposite her was a boy, around seventeen, who looked practically normal apart from the fact he had a guitar slung over his shoulder.

"Is there something funny here?"

She calmly closed her book. "Just that I run into a lot of annoying people in my day, but none of them have had guitars slung over their shoulders. Which makes you the most irritating person I've met for this week. Catch my drift?"

He shrugged. "I'm used to getting slack off people. I don't play for entertainment; only for myself." Even with the taunt, his voice remained calm and cool, almost soothing.

"Right. Well if you don't bugger off, I'm either going to curse you, fight you or sing. Either way you're going to leave."

He reached over and grabbed the book she had been reading. He flicked through it, mildly interested, before handing it back.

"Do you mind?"

"No. It's just that if you were going to curse me, I'd rather have a rough idea of what you're going to do first. If you're going to fight me, I'm stuffed. But I dare you to sing."

She crossed her arms and stood up. "Don't think I can sing?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Why don't you show me?"

She sat back down. "Because that would be doing you a favour."

"Oh, I get it now. You're one of those Slytherins who never does anything for anyone else unless they don't want you to do it for them. Plus you hate the world."

Her temper was flaring. " And you're on of those Ravenclaws that think just because they're smart they can figure everyone out with one look. So you just judge me by my house, right? Just because I'm a Slytherin, you think I hate the world; I want to be an evil dominator and eventually wipe out mankind? Right, well you know what I think? I'm thinking I'm pretty sick and tired of all your little standards. Why can't people just judge us by who we are, not who we're with?" She shook her head. "I can't even believe I'm having this conversation with you. Argh!" She started to storm off, but paused as he muttered behind her.

"I don't think that at all, I'm not judging you. Have you ever thought that maybe it's people like you that give Slytherin a bad name?" He pulled out his guitar and began to strum it softly.

She turned, a few metres away. "So I suddenly become the 'let's-all-be-good' Slytherin symbol, and they miraculously change into little Harry Potter's. Right."

He slowly strummed, picking up a beat. She shook her head. "Can you even play that thing?"

He nodded. "Of course. I'm a Ravenclaw, I can do anything."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a tape. "Here's real playing." She threw it into his lap the label side face up. It read 'Adara Fworlien-2002.'

"Thankyou, Adara."

"Whatever." She walked off, with only five minutes to get to her first class. Cursing that imbecile for almost making her late, she decided to jog. And good decision too, as she made it with seconds to spare for Transfiguration.