Draco Malfoy sprang back guiltily from Rosie and turned to see a smirking Theodore Nott, leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest in a cocky manner.

Shit. Draco wondered what it had looked like. He couldn't have Theo spreading rumours. If it got back to his father, or even worse... well, he didn't want to think about that.

He didn't know what had come over him. He hadn't intended to linger like that after healing her cheek, but something pulled him in. The smell of her shampoo in her hair, the touch of her face, her fierce blue eyes - he had been mesmerised by it all. And when her lips uttered his name, he thought he might lose himself completely to her.

But then, just like that, the spell had been broken. He blinked, remembering who he was and what he was for. He had to put an end to this right now, before things went too far.

"Just admiring Pansy's handiwork." He said, putting on his best sneer.

Theo focused his gaze on Rosie's cheek which, although was now healed, was sporting an angry red scar and residues of blood remained on her skin.

Draco watched Theo's expression carefully, praying that he hadn't picked up on any... tension.

But Theo simply chuckled, his eyes glinting.

"Nice job. That's our Pansy." He sauntered over to them. Rosie, still perched on the edge of the sofa, suddenly shifted uncomfortably. Draco glanced down at her and could tell she wished she could be anywhere but here. She flinched as Theo came to a stop in front of her and bent down to get a closer look at her scar.

"You healed it?" He stood up, now facing Draco with a quizzical look.

"It was either that or she goes to the hospital wing which gets Pansy into trouble." Relief flooded Draco as Theo seemed to buy this excuse.

"What she do to piss her off, anyway?" He enquired, smirking down at Rosie who was sat nervously still. Draco felt guilty that they were talking like she wasn't there.

"She doesn't have to do anything," Draco snarled. "She's a Mudblood." He stole a quick, guilty glance at Rosie.

"Yeah, well mate, you know what I think; they get what they deserve."

Rosie suddenly stood up, Draco noticed a fierce, cold look in her eyes as she rounded on Theo.

"Shut up. Just shut your stupid ignorant prejudice gob. I don't give a shit what you think, I never have and I never will."

And with that, she stormed over to the girls dormitories, not looking back. Draco and Theo just watched in an incredulous silence. When they heard the door slam, Theo guffawed. "Stupid bint."

Draco's fist clenched by his side which he quickly released again. "I'm turning in." He muttered to Theo, as he started to walk towards his dormitory.

"Don't forget to take a long hard shower."

Draco froze at Theo's words. "What?" He looked back at Theo's sneering face.

"Wash that filthy Mudblood off of you. Literally." Theo nodded disgustedly towards Draco's hands.

As Draco looked down at them he noticed they were covered in Rosie's blood.

***

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR FACE?!"

I shushed Harry, not wanting to draw attention to my cheek in front of the entire school.

"Sorry - are you ok? What happened?" Harry said, lowering his voice.

"Pansy."

I explained to Harry that we got in a bit of a tussle over a book, completely leaving out anything to do with Draco. He seemed to assume that Madam Pomfrey had healed my cut so I didn't tell him otherwise.

My face didn't look that bad anymore. Draco had done a good job of fixing it, and after a couple of days hiding away out of sight in my dormitory, the scar had faded slightly and was no longer an angry shade of red.

I hadn't seen Draco since that night. I knew it had rattled him having Theo walk in on us. That night was a harsh reminder of why Draco and I can't even be friends. I didn't hate him for it. It just made me feel really sad.

"Look, it's a Hogsmeade visit this weekend. Why don't you come with me? Ron and Hermione will be there too. We missed having you around last weekend."

So, the following weekend, Harry, Ron, Hermione and I all walked down to Hogsmeade together, battling the wind and the sleet in the freezing cold. We ended up sheltering in the warmth of the Three Broomsticks, sipping hot Butterbeers for the majority of our trip.

Too cold to do any proper shopping, we decided to traipse back to the castle. We followed Katie Bell and one of her friends, whose name I didn't know, out of the pub and back up the high street.

After a little while I noticed that Katie Bell and her friend had stopped up ahead and were having some sort of argument. As we neared, it was obvious that they were fighting over some kind of package.

And then to my horror, Katie rose into the air, her arms outstretched, as though she were about to fly. I shivered at the eeriness of it... her hair was being whipped around her by the fierce wind, her eyes were closed and her face seemed devoid of any expression.

And then I felt something plummet in the depths of my stomach as Katie let out a terrible scream. Her eyes flew open but whatever she could see, or whatever she was feeling, was clearly causing her terrible anguish. I stood shock still as she screamed and screamed. Her friend started to scream too, and seized Katie's ankles, trying to tug her back down.

We ran forwards to help but Katie had already fallen back to the ground, writhing around as we all tried to grab her but she thrashed and screamed seemingly unable to recognise any of us.

Hagrid came bounding to the rescue and carried her back to the castle, with Katie still writhing and screaming in his arms.

Hermione tried to comfort the friend, whose name turned out to be Leanne, as we followed back to the castle. Leanne explained that it was a necklace they were fighting over. She showed us the package it was contained in.

"I've seen that before," Harry said as we stared at it. "It was on display at Borgin and Burkes ages ago. The label said it was cursed. Katie must have touched it."

Leanne explained that Katie was given it in the bathroom at the Three Broomsticks and was instructed to give it to somebody as a surprise at Hogwarts.

"Malfoy knows about this necklace." Harry spoke. "It was in a case at Borgin and Burkes four years ago, I saw him having a good look at it while I was hiding from him and his dad. This is what he was buying that day when we followed him! He remembered it and went back for it!"

I laughed at the absurdity of Harry's claims. He was always so quick to blame Draco. But Harry remained certain and even told McGonagall of his theory when we arrived back at the castle. She quickly assured Harry that Draco had been in detention with her all morning due to failing to complete his homework and was definitely not at Hogsmeade to give Katie the package.

Harry, however, wouldn't drop his theory that it was Draco and, fed up, I passed on joining them for lunch in the Great Hall and decided to head down to the Slytherin common room where I knew it would be quiet at this time.

But when I stepped into the green tinted dungeon-like room, I realised someone else was already in there.

Draco Malfoy was on the sofa, head in hands and he was sobbing.

***