Snow Angels

Light crept into the Slytherin Common Room, crawling on the walls, chairs, and on Draco Malfoy's face, who was snoozing next to Keiko. They were cuddled next to each other. The fire that started to whole thing the other night had turned to ashes, and morning had come to wash away everything, and start all over again.
Draco opened his eyes, as a ray of sunshine hit his flushed face. Careful not to wake Keiko, he got up and looked around, hoping to find a watch or something that could indicate the time.
Since he couldn't find anything that could help him out of his problem, Draco rushed toward the chair, and woke Keiko up, who groaned.
"Wha?" she asked yawning. "Breakfast?"
Draco looked anxiously around the room. If someone found out they spent the night downstairs, togheter, his reputation would already go lower than possible, and Keiko's would completely collapse.
"Up, up, up," he mumbled, and lifted Keiko.
She staggered then looked up at him.
"Good morning."
She moved in to give him a kiss, but Draco stopped her, by grabbing her shoulders.
"No time, you have to go upstairs quickly, before someone sees us!" he said quickly, looking up at the stairs and at the door. "Quick!"

"No reason to," answered a voice coming from the staircase. Keiko and Draco turned around to see Pansy Parkinson sitting on one of the steps. She looked particulary tired. "Take your time. Just pretend I'm not here. Like you always do," she said to Draco lazily.
"Parkinson? Here? Come on, what're you doing here, spying on me?" growled Draco, shaking his head.
Pansy gave a small derisive noise.
"I came back from the hospital wing and saw you," she said slowly, waving her hand impatiently. "Besides, everybody came down to see what had happened after Snape had left. I would have thought you had more of a brain, Draco. I mean, seriously..."
She jerked her head with disbelief toward Keiko, then finished her phrase by muttering "Sleeping with a Gryffindor."
Draco's cheeks became very red. Either with anger or embarassement, Keiko couldn't really tell. Her head was spinning too fast to realize that she was almost about to hit the floor, when Draco walked up the stairs toward Pansy, and grabbed the girl's arm.
"She's not a Gryffindor," she heard him mutter, as she went upstairs, leaving Keiko with Pansy.

Pansy glowered over at Keiko, who grabbed her sweater, and headed up to the girl's dormitories. She almost made Pansy fall off the stairs as she slammed into her, then closed the door to the dormitory, and sank in her pillows. She started crying softly, being very careful that every sound was muffled, so that the blonde couldn't hear that she was completely falling apart.

**

Draco appeared on Prefect duty in the Great Hall. He sat down and had breakfast, summoning his two troll friends to sit next to him.
He realised that he didn't need any distractions. In fact, he had no idea what had happened last night. He did say he thought he loved her, but he hoped that she hadn't heard it. But if she did...did she feel the same way?
But this feeling...This feeling he had had the moment he stepped into the compartment, and just saw her...And talked to her...Just her.

He had scoffed before at the talk of love at first sight. It seemed pointless and stupid and just not Slytherin like...But still.
They were humans too, they had the right to love, to feel, to hurt, even if their reputation was a bit shaken by the fact that they had never seen one of their group cry or show emotion of any kind. It felt strange though. It felt different. It didn't belong to the group of feelings he was used to. That feeling he had felt, everything he had felt the other night, wasn't supposed to be there. It just didn't.

He woke up from his momentary daze by a nudge in the ribs who was produced by none other than Blaise Zambini. He had a big bandage around his head, but his eyes were still brilliantly green. He sat down next to the empty seat in which Keiko was supposed to sit, and smiled. Draco stared.
How can he still smile like that after what I did to him? he thought curiously. And is that...lipstick?
Draco stared up at Blaise's cheek, who was smeared with light pink. Blaise looked confused for a moment, but caught up pretty fast.
"Oh, this," he said slowly, and wiped the pink quickly away. "Nothing, just marmelade, I ate some earlier, in -"
"Spare me Zambini," he said lazily, waving his hand. "So you're with Parkinson. Big deal," he said slowly and took a gulp of pumpkin juice. "You could have told me."
Blaise's eyes flashed.
"I am NOT seeing Pansy," he said dangerously.
Draco laughed.
"Right. And Weasley's my best friend," he said sarcastically, throwing a furtive look toward the Gryffindor table.

Harry and his friends were talking and laughing, looking at their timetables, complaining and eating. Draco sneered. His eyes gleamed with loathing.
Of course. He had forgotten. How could he have? Saint Potter. For a few hours, Harry Potter didn't even come to Draco's mind. He didn't even haunt his dreams, making Draco feel bad about what was going to come, what was, and what was still. The Dark Lord was slowly taking over the whole wizarding world, and he will soon be working with him. At 15 years was the official time to get the sign that would reside on his arm forever. An ugly skull with a snake. He shuddered.
A uneasy feeling rised in his stomach and he turned his gaze toward the Great Hall door. Keiko Chang came running into the Hall, and sat down at the Slytherin table, somewhat far from Draco at the very end.

Everybody looked at Keiko with unnatural loathing, which made Draco feel horrible.
"She isn't supposed to be treated like this," he thought savagely, as he saw Pansy and her girls talk rudely to her. "But how could I..."
Draco's expression lightened. He looked up at the Gryffindor table, and for the first time in his life, he smiled at the sight of Harry Potter. If Keiko was going to see him, then, her popularity would grow, and she'd probably get a lot more Gryffindor friends, and then, Draco could concentrate, because she would be with Potter...
"But then Potter would get what he want," he thought grimly. "Damn it, I can never have anything."

**

Potions with the Gryffindors was the first class on the timetable. It was time for Draco to try and put his plan into action, with a little bit of help coming from Blaise.
He told him about his plan, which gave a very good impression on his friend.
"Intelligent. That way she doesn't get rejected...But what do you get out of it?"
Draco shrugged.
"Peace and quiet, I suppose," he said quietly, watching Keiko dreamily. "Painful peace, and murdering quiet."
"Hey," said a voice. Keiko had just sat down between Draco and Blaise, and put her books down. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she looked marvellous.
"Hey," said Blaise, grinning toward Draco. "Lovely morning, isn't it? I love the smell of toxic potions in the morning..."
"Toxic?" gasped Keiko. "What, is he gonna poison us?"
Draco shrugged.
"Well, he would poison Potter over there if he could," he said lazily, a sneer appearing on his face.
Keiko didn't reply. She stared at Harry, who was laughing with Ron over a joke. She turned toward Draco, her big black eyes shining.
"Did he ever try to?" she asked uncentainly.
Draco chuckled as Snape moved toward the front of the class.
"Not yet."
Keiko turned to look at Harry again, who caught her eye. He smiled, and summoned her over. Keiko smiled back, then turned toward her two companions.
"I'll be back in a second," she said and walked toward Harry and Ron. Hermione scowled, and Ron did too, but Harry's face erupted in one of the biggest smiles yet.

Keiko sat down next to him, and realized that she wasn't very welcome. She wanted to get up as Hermione gave a small cough, directing her to leave, but Harry placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Stay," he said silently, glaring at Hermione. Ron's eyes widened.
"Harry," he said in disbelief. "She's a - "
He didn't finish his phrase, but started another. "She's with -"
Ron obviously couldn't admit that something was wrong with Keiko, even though, as Keiko guessed, Hermione told them what had happened in the empty compartement last evening. Harry seemed to be pretty forgiving, but Keiko couldn't guess why. She didn't quite enjoy the atmosphere around her, so left the table, murmuring a low "Bye," as the bell rang.

The class had been as boring as she had suspected it to be. The only exciting part of it, however, seemed to be the moment when Harry bewitched his dead slug to hang in mid-air, and start swelling quickly, until Snape saw and put an end to it.
Keiko had heard Harry mutter something rude as Snape finished barking that he had earned a detention, and stood looking sour for the rest of the class. Malfoy kept talking to Zambini, everytime Snape berated a Gryffindor's work, and, it seemed a tradition to snigger rudely everytime that happened.
As the bell for the end of class finally rang, Keiko got up and tried to make a run for it, but Draco grabbed her by the waist. He placed his head affectionately on her shoulder then waited until the whole class left for Charms.

As every single student left, and Snape hid in his office, Draco breathed in deeply, and let Keiko go. She was rather pink, and stiff-looking, but smiled softly.
Draco stared at her for a moment, then shook his head.
"Listen, I'm sorry for what I said," he said silently. "I didn't really mean it. I just got caught up in -"
"In the ambience and the mixed feelings, yes, I know," answered Keiko flatly. "Don't worry, nothing happened, nothing will happen, I'll just have to get that -"
"Keik, Keik -"
"Don´t even dare call me that," said Keiko threatengly. "My name is Keiko, and I shall be called that. Especially by you."
She glared at him with loathing, then took her things and stormed out of the class, just as the second bell announced the beginning of a new class.
"Plan A in motion," he said very softly, staring blankly at the open door. "Good luck Potter."

**

Lunch came rather quickly, and Draco wasn't even there in Charms. Keiko had made friends with a red-haired Slytherin named Janice, who seemed to be pretty nice, compared to all the other girls. She told Keiko all about the teachers and the classes, and invited her to meet her friends at lunch.
Keiko accepted modestly, and was now walking quickly, with the girl next to her. They sat down at the very end, and waited until four other girls came towards them.
"Kaitlin, Cassidy and Jo," Janice said, and gestured toward each of the girls as she spoke. "Girls, this is Keiko."
"Hey!" smiled Jo, and reached out to shake Keiko's hand. She was a very cute-looking blonde, with bright green eyes, and small freckles on her nose. Kaitlin was a little tougher-looking, with big black eyes, and a very stiff smile.
Cassidy ressembled Janice, only she seemed to be distant and colder. She had brown hair and brown eyes, and kept throwing furtive looks toward the boys.
Keiko recognized her as the girl who had hugged Blaise earlier.
"Are you dating him, Cassidy?" she asked, and jerked her head toward Blaise. Cassidy's eyes widened.
"We don't date here," she answered coldly. "We just do it casually."
Keiko frowned.
"Do what casually?" she asked. All the girls started laughing. Cassidy and Kaitlin's expressions enlightened, and made Keiko feel better.
"We don't do anything," said Janice, looking dreamily at Draco. "We just dream. Unlike them," she added, gesturing toward the other end of the table to Parkinson and her blondes. "They do anything for attention."
Keiko blinked.
"They do?"
"They see, they want, they get," said Kaitlin quietly. "Far too crazy for our taste."

Keiko smiled, and took out her timetable. She scanned it for her next two lessons. Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Astronomy. The bell rang, and Keiko looked up. The girls were still chatting happily, but she caught a glimpse of Draco, who was hurrying toward the Gryffindor table. He was talking to Harry. Ron was clutching his wand, and Hermione ran off.
For a second, Keiko thought they were going to shake hands, judging by the look on both faces, but they just scowled at each other and walked away.
"Wonder what he's up to," she thought darkly, staring as Draco left the Hall, his bag dangling from one shoulder.
"Hey Keiko, you coming?" asked Jo, as they were getting up to leave.
"Yeah," she said slowly, then turned to them as Draco was out of sight. "Yeah, let's go."

"Potter!"
The passing Gryffindors turned around and scowled as they saw Draco Malfoy hurry towards their table, looking particulary sour.
"Potter, I need to talk to you," he said silently, as he came next to Harry, who had just gotten up to leave. He eyed Draco suspiciously.
Hermione stormed out of the hall, as though the whole library had just been announced on sale.
"What?" spat Ron, balling his fists. "You have no buisness being here, wha - "
"Let Potter speak for himself Weasley, he doesn't need a bodyguard and a secretary," snapped Draco, his eyes glinting. "Shut up."
Ron was about to pull out his wand, when Harry raised his hand slowly to stop him.
"What Malfoy?" he said calmly. "Need anything?"
Draco scoffed silently. He was about to say yes, when he spotted Keiko frowning at him from the Slytherin table.
I can't have this talk here, he thought bitterly, as Keiko looked away.
"Hallway, 10 o' clock. Need to talk to you about something."
He turned to Ron.
"Alone," he added, sneering. Ron growled. Harry raised his eyebrows, and gave Malfoy a very searching look.
"Why?" he asked seriously. "Honestly Malfoy, no pranks."
Draco waved his hand impatiently.
"Damn it Potter, I'm a Prefect, I'm not going to kill you, no matter how big the urge gets!" he hissed. "It's about someone, you might be interested in."
Before Harry could answer, Draco whispered "10 PM, this Hallway. Don't be late, or I'll leave. I swear."
He threw his bag on his shoulder and left the Hall. Before exiting he glanced toward Keiko, who was packing her things, and leaving with her new friends.

**

It was about 8 PM, when Draco was sitting in front of the fireplace, sipping out of a goblet full of pumpkin juice. Two more hours, and things would get back to normal. Heck, Keiko might be transferred to Gryffindor, and she was going to be off his hands.
"Do you want her off her hands?" a little voice whispered.
Draco continued sipping his juice thoughtfully, ignoring the group of first year girls that were whispering and giggling from behind. No, he didn't want her off his hands, but he did want her to be happy.
"She seemed happy with Janice and all the other girls," he mused, and turned around as the exact same group of girls he was thinking about entered the Slytherin Common Room. They were all giggling and laughing, but Keiko didn´t seem to enjoy this as much as the others did. As she spotted Draco staring at her, she turned around quickly and whispered something to her friends. They all giggled shrilly, and pushed her toward the chair next to Draco, then went all upstais, still giggling.

The little first years left too, rather silently. Draco had the uneasy feeling that they were going to listen to them from the staircase.
"I still hate you," said Keiko slowly, looking at him. Draco nodded politely.
"I'm aware of that," he answered. "But I don't understand why it's such a big of a deal."
Keiko shifted uncomfortably in her chair.
"About?" she asked innocently.
Draco sneered weakly and stared at her, his eyes shining, somewhat palely.
"Do you like me, Chang?" he asked softly, still staring at Keiko.
Keiko frowned, and turned abruptly to look the other way.
"No," she answered, somewhat unsurely. "NO!" she repeated, louder.
Draco scoffed, got up, then walked toward Keiko's chair, kneeled down and stared at her. She frowned more deeply and turned on the other side. He sighed.
"I'm not going to play, Keiko," he said, in the same soft tone, and walked to the other side of the chair. He was happy to see Keiko didn't turn this time.
Instead, she closed her eyes, and groaned. A small tear rolled down her smooth cheek. She was about to wipe it away quickly, but Draco grabbed her hand, and put his own hand on it. He wiped it gently away, and placed his head on the chair's armrest, dangerously close to Keiko's face.
Another tear rolled down her cheek, followed by a whole river. She started crying softly.

Draco got up, wrapped his arms around her, placed his chin on her head and started comforting her the best way he could. It surprised him that he could be that warm toward a person. Maybe him being deprived of Crabbe and Goyle helped...
Whatever the reason was, he didn't care, because Keiko lifted her head, and wiped her tears away, then sniffled.
"Mind telling me why the little lake?" he asked tentatively, grabbing her shoulders. Keiko sniffled again.
"Because every...everytime I meet someone who...who...is perfect..." she sniffled, "...who I think is perfect, even though everyone says he's horrible I just know he isn't, but then when I think I might have a chance, he...he..."
She paused for a moment, as her eyes filled with tears again.
"Just forget it," she gasped, and ran toward the girls' staircase, without even saying goodnight.

As a door slammed closed, Draco threw himself back on the chair, and glared at the fire, although it was all its fault.
"I loathe my life," he murmured staring into the flames. "I loathe it."

**

Harry was completing some of his Defence Against the Dark Arts homework. Fleur had given them a very good first lesson, which was enjoyable, except for Ron's constant sighs of content, and ocasional drooling from the corner of the mouth.
As he was scribbling down the answer from Hermione's own sheet, making sure she wasn't paying attention, Harry remembered what Malfoy had asked him.
He peered down discretely at his watch, and blinked. It showed 9:30 PM.

He had promised Ron he wouldn't go, but he was curious. Besides, the invisibility cloak was still in his trunk. But the Aurors...They could see trough cloaks.
If only he could drink a potion that could wear off after a few minutes...But that would take too long.
Forgetting that he was supposed to be writing something, Harry stared into space. He really needed to arrive in the Hall. But it was surely going to be swarming with Aurors...How would Malfoy get there?
Harry scoffed under his breath. Of course. How could he have forgotten? Malfoy was a Prefect. Prefects were allowed to wander around...Which made Harry's eyes fall right onto Hermione's shiny badge. It was so simple: all he had to do was take it. But that would be stealing...
From your best friend, a little voice in his head added.
Uh, it's called 'borrowing,' retorted another one.
It's called stealing you stupid git.
Ah, shut up.

It was getting later, and Harry was waiting for the moment when he could borrow Hermione's badge...He could just ask, but he knew she was very fond of it. So he was going to wait until she and Ron fell asleep, so he could summon it.
Finally, Hermione dozed off by the fire, and Ron was snoring loudly, his head on a book by the table.
Slowly, Harry took out his wand and whispered "Accio badge," while the Prefect badge un-pinned itself gently off of Hermione's robes, and into his hand. He got his cloak from his trunk, and slid out of the Gryffindor Tower silently, heading toward the Great Hall.