Blue Eyed Girl

After a few more days spent in the hospital wing, Roxanne was finally released. The classes on that sunny Thursday afternoon had not yet been dismissed. Roxanne slowly made her way up to her room to take a shower and lie down for a while before dinner. She had a terrible headache at the moment. Madam Pomfrey had given her some sort of potion to relieve it, but its effects hadn't kicked in yet. Roxanne was sure it was caused by thoughts of all the work she had to make up from the six days she was in the hospital wing. She was just hoping her teachers would have pity on her, especially Snape, but she knew it was highly unlikely.

She finally reached her room, took a nice, hot shower, pulled on sweatpants and a t-shirt, and climbed into her bed. She was hoping to doze off rather quickly; however, this was not the case. Thoughts were racing through her head, things like school work, the Founder's Day Ball (now two days away), George, and the mysterious stranger who got her to the hospital wing. She wasn't sure why she was still obsessing over her unnamed guardian; she just had to know who it was. Eventually her thoughts quieted down, and she drifted off to sleep.

Roxanne was awakened by sounds of a few of her fellow Gryffindors in the common room. She looked at her watch and realized she was already ten minutes late for dinner, and she was starving, and actually planning on eating. When Roxanne was younger she had been a little overweight. One day, a girl at her old school commented on her weight, and then everyone else joined in. Roxanne was humiliated, and hasn't been able to get over it since. So, she crawled out of her bed, pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater, and made her way to the Great Hall.

"Hey, guys," Roxanne said as she sat down at her usual seat at the Gryffindor table.

"Hey!" Katie said, a smile spreading across her face.

"How goes it, new girl?" George asked with a smile equally as bright, if not brighter, than Katie's.

"As well as can be expected," she replied while serving herself some turkey and mashed potatoes. She filled her plate with as much food as it could hold, then began shoveling it into her mouth.

"Whoa, were they starving you up there or something?" Katie asked with one eyebrow raised as she observed her friend devouring everything on her plate. She didn't think she had ever seen Roxanne eat more than a piece of toast at the most. Fred and George had about the same look on their faces.

Roxanne swallowed what was in her mouth, smiled, and said, "Not exactly....all of the food had kind of a grayish brown tint to it, so I figured it would be best to stay away from it."

"Good thinking," Fred said, shoving some mashed potatoes in his own mouth. "I was there once when one unfortunate first year ate something that he had been served, and he grew an extra nose out of the middle of his forehead."

"That never happened," Katie said incredulously.

"Oh yeah?" Fred challenged her, "you ever hear of Nate Greely?"

"Nope," said Katie.

"Exactly," Fred said, pointing his fork at her while trying to make his point. "He was taken to St. Mungo's to get the extra nose removed, and his parents refused to send him back here."

"Whatever," Katie said, shaking her head and laughing slightly as she returned to her meal.

Roxanne laughed as well, as she looked around the Great Hall. She was really glad to be back. Her eyes landed on the Slytherin table, and then suddenly it hit her. She knew who got her to the hospital wing six days ago. 'It was Malfoy,' she thought to herself, suddenly losing her appetite. She remembered hearing Madam Pomfrey's voice, 'What happened to her, Draco?'

But how could it possibly be him? Why would he do anything to help her? He had been nothing but nasty to her since they first met in the library.

"Hello? Is anybody in there?" Roxanne's thoughts were interrupted by George who was waving his hand in front of her face. She blinked a few times and said, "What?"

"Are you alright?" George continued, "You look like you just saw Snape naked or something."

"Whoa, George!" Katie said, suddenly covering her ears, then her eyes. "Bad mental picture!"

"Get out, get out!" Fred was saying to himself as he hit the side of his head with his palm, as if he were trying to manually force the thought out of his mind.

"Sorry!" George exclaimed, holding his hands up in front of him, as if to say he was innocent, "She just had this horrified look on her face..."

"Aahh, don't EVER say that again, okay?" Katie said, shaking her head.

"Alright, okay, I'm sorry," George said.

This whole time Roxanne couldn't help but stare at the person who pretty much saved her life. Malfoy got up from his place at the Slytherin table and made his way out of the Great Hall.

"I gotta go, guys," Roxanne said as she got up to leave. "I'll talk to you later." She followed Malfoy out of the Great Hall. She just had to talk to him.

"Malfoy, wait up," she said as she tried to catch up with him.

He didn't slow down, or even acknowledge that he heard her. So, she tried again, "Hey, Malfoy, wait up will you?" He slowed and turned his head slightly to see who was following him. "What do you want, Mudblood?" he snarled at her.

Roxanne slowed down, "Yo, what was that for? I'm just trying to talk to you. And by the way, I am a pureblood, you know."

"You're an American," he said as he turned to face her, "It's the same thing."

Roxanne was getting pretty annoyed with all the hassle. She was trying to thank him! "I'm going to pretend you didn't say that," Roxanne said, only letting some of her annoyance show through.

"Do as you wish," Malfoy replied. There was a moment of silence before Malfoy said, "So, what do you want?"

"Well," Roxanne began. She paused for a moment to calm herself so she wouldn't flip out at him. "I wanted to thank you for...helping me out the other day," she said calmly and quietly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Malfoy said harshly as he turned and started walking swiftly.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Roxanne said as she followed closely behind him.

"I don't help Gryffindors, especially Mudblood Gryffindors," he scoffed, and continued walking briskly.

"Well, you did, so why don't you just suck it up and let me thank you for it!" she yelled at him. Merlin was he stubborn! At her words, he slowed to a stop and turned to face her. "Fine," he mumbled, looking everywhere but at her, "You're welcome." They stood silent for a moment. "So...why'd you do it?" Roxanne asked quietly after a minute. Malfoy seemed a little surprised at the question. "Well, you were lying in a whimpering heap on the floor...what did you think I was going to do, leave you there?" he said nonchalantly.

"Well...yeah," Roxanne said, puzzled.

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you thought you did," he said coolly.. "See you around, Mudblood," he said, and walked away.