Draco Malfoy sat watching the crackling fire in the Slytherin Common Room. It was late and he was the only one still up. He couldn't sleep. Or so he told himself that.

The truth was he had noticed a particular absence that evening, and curiosity had made him remain seated on the leather sofa. It wasn't the first time Draco had noticed Rosie's absence in the evening. There was never a pattern, it was just one night here, one night there. He had a growing burning desire to know where it is she went to. So tonight, he decided to wait.

***

I was almost skipping when I returned down to the dungeons just after one o'clock in the morning. It was another late one but I felt joyous as I had almost conjured a corporeal patronus. It almost looked like a cat but I couldn't be sure.

With my mind still in the Room of Requirement, I stepped into the common room.

"My my my, who would have thought the Mudblood was capable of breaking the rules."

I jumped at the familiar drawling voice coming from the fireplace.

Draco Malfoy was sprawled on the sofa, his arms crossed and a sneer upon his face.

I tried to ignore him and head straight for the dormitory but Draco suddenly stood up and quickly moved in front of me, blocking my path.

"And where is it you have been, exactly?" He spat, his cold grey eyes boring into mine and his face too close for comfort. The last time I had been this near to him was the night of the party.

"It's none of your business." I spat back, trying to push him aside but he was stronger than me and stood his ground, his face getting angrier.

"Actually it is if your late night shenanigans give Slytherin a bad name."

"Give Slytherin a bad name?!" I laughed, "Christ Malfoy, that's rich coming from you."

I saw a muscle pulse on his jawline. His fists clenched by his sides. His lips curled further into a sneer. "You have no place in here, Mudblood." He hissed menacingly. "You never have and you never will. I will find out what you and your precious little friends have been up to and I will take great satisfaction in watching you wish you'd never been born."

My right hand itched to slap the sneer right off his face but somehow I managed to control my anger. Instead I just stood there glaring back at him, our eyes almost daring each other to blink first, as if we were in some kind of staring contest.

"Don't call me that." I lowered my voice in a dangerous tone.

Draco's eyes flickered and his sneer transformed into a smirk. It was as if he was enjoying the challenge.

"It's what you are. Mudblood."

Rise above it Rosie, just rise above it. I thought frantically to myself.

"Fuck off, Ferret face."

I gave him the hardest push I could muster and stalked right round him as he staggered back. I stormed into my dormitory before he could reply to my insult and slammed the door behind me, not caring if I awoke anyone.

***

Draco flinched as the door to the girls dormitory slammed shut. He sat down on the sofa and waited for his pulse to return back to normal.

She had rattled him. Rattled him in more ways than one. That girl really got under his skin and it drove him crazy.

During that intense exchange he really didn't know if he wanted to slap her or... or something else that he couldn't quite fathom.

One thing he knew though, was that he needed to stop obsessing about the Mudblood. It was unhealthy, he knew, the way his eyes would always seek her out when he walked into a room. He would often wonder what she was doing and who she was with when he couldn't see her. He didn't like the way it made him feel when she insulted him. It was unnerving.

If his father knew about this...

No. It needed to stop. From now on Rosie Carter didn't exist to Draco Malfoy.

***