"C'mon hurry I want to go!" Pansy stood in front of me impatiently tapping her foot on the wooden floor.

"I'm coming! God it's only Hogsmeade! I just need to tie my shoes! You go I'll meet you out the front. I promise I'm right behind you"

"Ok but please hurry up, everything takes forever with you!" She threw a sarcastic grin in my direction before heading out the door.

Like I had promised I was quick to follow out the door, I was sure Pansy could only be a minute or two ahead of me but then just as I was about to head out the common room door a familiar blonde haired boy emerged out of the boys quarters.

"Oh! Hi! Where are you going?" I couldn't help but notice the far away glaze that had formed over his eyes. His stance more tense than usual and his fingers almost nervously rubbing against each other. "Are you ok?"

"Fine" His words were firm but not harsh, although the inability for him to look me in my eyes solidified my concern that things weren't 'fine'.

"Are you sure...you look a little-"

"I said I'm fine Ivy!" Once again not even a glance of his eyes reached mine.

"Well obviously you're not Draco, what's going on?" His jaw tightened, sending a piercing nerve to hit my stomach. As much as I wanted to walk over to him and reassure him with my touch, something held me back. Like a strong force pulling me back. "Draco? Are you going to speak to me?"

"Not right now..I just need some space for a while." He began bustling his way past me straight towards the main door.

"Excuse me! Do you not think you should talk to me? Maybe I could help?"

"When you wouldn't talk to me for days on end, when you snapped at me every time my mouth opened did me trying to talk to you help?" An intense guilt hit my body hard, resurfacing feelings that I'd pushed deep down.

"I-I mean"

"No. It didn't. So if you don't mind I just want some air and to be alone." His body swiftly exited the door quicker than I could comprehend his last words.

"This is what I mean! You take forever!" Pansy's face was covered in an 'I told you so' way.

"Sorry..I just-erm..doesn't matter...let's go."

-

"And I'm not saying I would do it again but I mean it wasn't...all too bad. Ivy! Are you listening?" My name quickly rang in my ears drawing my attention back to the room.

"Sorry! Erm what were you-" Before I could finish my sentence, the swinging door pulled my attention elsewhere again. Draco.

I felt my face scrunch up in complete and utter confusion before I could control it, why was he here? Was it to apologise for his ridiculous outburst...unlikely.

"I'll be one second Pansy I promise!" I didn't wait to hear her response I was already up on my feet to make my way to him. A small piece of excitement that bounced it's way round my insides suddenly dropped when I saw his face, it wasn't one I liked...it was one that I feared. The face that could make anyone feel on edge, scared, self-concious, intimated all these and a thousand more. It was one that I had forgotten how it felt to receive taking me back instantly to some of the first times he ever laid eyes on me.

The shock in itself froze any movement I thought I was ready to take and soon before I could fathom the strength to move my feet he was already making his way out of sight, through a large wooden door that I'd never noticed before.

"Ivy? What's going on?" I didn't need to look back to know that maybe Pansy was just as concerned as I was.

"I have no idea..but I'm going to find out." Before my first step had even hit the ground I felt her tight grip around my wrist.

"Do you really think that's a good idea..he didn't look...like...he wanted to talk" I didn't allow her sheepish sentence to hold me back...whatever this was..I wanted to know. No! I needed to know, after all I was just as deep in this as he was.

I snatched my arm away from her more aggressively than intended and made my way straight through the door.

A very small, dimly lit corridor was all that was here. Only three doors each side by side, like a gameshow I was left having to make a decision of which one had my prize behind, the prize I clearly was not meant to find. I made my way quickly to the end door only to find a dishevelled storage room, as I closed the door to click back into place a blurred figure shot past straight out of the first door and through back into the bustling tavern. It wasn't Draco, that I was sure of. Then once again another figure arose from the same room but now...this was Draco. His frustrated pace suddenly at a halt as if he'd hit an imaginary brick wall, shortly followed by a defeated huff which resulted in his shoulders falling from the their usual arrogant height, his chin down to his chest and his head in his hands.

"..What is going on?" I watched Draco nearly jump straight out of his skin and the moment his face caught mine it was as if he had seen a ghost.

"FUCKING HELL IVY! DON'T FUCKING CREEP UP ON ME LIKE THAT?"

"Like you can talk! This is how 90 percent of our conversations start with you creeping around! Now answer me...what is going on...who was that?!"

"No one.." Just like earlier his eyes couldn't even look at me for a second.

"No one? What so I'm fucking seeing people now am I? Who. Was. It." The silence was deafening. "It was her wasn't it...Astoria."

Clearly that had caught his attention by the almost painfully screwed up expression on his face. "Would you stop it with that! Do you here yourself?! Have you seen the lengths I have gone to just to be with you! Just to know that you are ok! Do you really think I would want anything to do with Astoria NO anyone for that matter when the only thing that I can even think about is protecting you! Is being with you! Do you not see that?! How many times are we going to go over this before it sinks in?!"

"Who was it?"

"FUCK!" His tensed fist suddenly slammed itself into wooden door beside him. "Did you not just hear everything I just fucking said! I'm trying to protect you Ivy...that's all I'm ever trying to do!"

"I don't need protecting Draco! I just need the truth! What is going on?! Who was that?!"

His piercing stare suddenly glazed over. "Katie Bell"

"What...what were you doing with Katie Bell"

"I'll explain but we need to go..now."