ιт's мεαит тσ вε..

[Jo Giggles]

Why had he done it? Why hadn’t he just pushed her away like he should have done? That would have solved everything right from the begging. Why had he acted the way he had? Draco didn’t even understand it. Maybe he was attempting to tell himself something that he didn’t understand or was even going to fully understand for a while. He was just a teenage boy. The blonde hadn’t thought of girls as anything, but bothersome. Though something about that one kiss changed something inside of him. Maybe they weren’t that bad. Oh what was Draco thinking? That was just it. He wasn’t thinking. He was trying to push it to the furthest part in his mind.

Now why was he deciding to stick around in the same classroom as Anna? All he wanted to see was how she was going to take what he had told her. Yet the way she acted about it wasn’t the reaction he was expecting. In reality he wasn’t expecting anything. All Draco did was listen to her as she walked towards him and then out the door. In the end he just shook his head an let out a small sigh. ”Women.” They were all the same. Dramatic and overreacting over everything. Now that that was done with he stood up and headed out the door himself. The blonde was not looking forward to when he would run into Pansy. That female was not going to be happy about anything. No matter what he was going to say she was going to whine and yell about what had happened earlier. He was going to have to find a way to shut her up.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets he headed straight back to the Slytherin Common Room. The others were all going to give him weird looks when he walked in. Draco was almost sure of it, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that. Then as soon as he walked in he was being pulled out. Eyes narrowed into a glare as he pulled his arm from his captor. ”What in the world are you doing?” He hissed scanning the area to see if anyone was around them. There had been enough involving Draco for the rest of the year that he didn’t need anything new to come up. At least not all in one day.

Lips pursed Pansy looked straight at Draco trying to see if anything had happened the moment that he had left until now. It seemed that he was all in one piece and not even a hair was out of place. ”Me? What about you?! What were you doing with…with her!?” She asked hand clenching into fists rather irritated with what everyone was talking about on the inside. It was almost nonstop and anywhere she turned they were all talking about the kiss. Asking her if the two were going out. What a bunch of lies. The two were doing no such thing. Pansy had made sure that he never get near her and now just one time she was gone all her hard work was thrown out the door.

This was the very thing that the blonde had tried to avoid. He didn’t want to talk to Pansy yet, but it seemed that fate had something different in mind. ”Does it matter? Last time I checked you weren’t a big piece in my life.” With that he turned on his heel and left here standing there. It was more than obvious that she was going to follow after him and still whine if that didn’t shut her up for a moment of two. Draco wasn’t going to start a scene again in the common room. There was enough going on in there.

”Draco! Draco! You can’t be serious!?” She yelled after him trying to get him to turn around and somehow acknowledge her. As he got further from her without saying anything she could feel the tears stinging in her eyes. Pansy wasn’t going to lose to Anna and she wasn’t going to give up on Draco. Running after him she took a hold of his arm to pull him back once again.

Feeling the tug on his arm he narrowed his eyes again as he turned to yell at the female once again. This was all the cause of just one kiss. It hadn’t meant anything. At least he thought it didn’t. So maybe another could just end it all. Before Pansy could say another word he pushed her against the wall as his lips pressed against hers for what was just a brief moment, but felt like a forever to him. His hand finding their way to either side of her face against the wall. Pulling away he whispered her lips. ”She means nothing. Leave it at that, Pansy.” Draco didn’t want to hear her whining and this would probably be the only way to keep him from it. ”You could, no can mean something. Just keep it between us.” His hand moved from the wall to cup her cheek his thumb brushing gently against it.

God, how he wished to just go up to his room and just sleep. Yet this seemed to keep the female happy and if it was going to shut her up than he'd do it for the time being. Draco didn't want to listen to her whining, but just because he got her to shut up now didn't mean that others were going to leave him alone about it. Surely some others would make Pansy feel insecure and she had a good reason to feel that way. That was the last thing he'd tell her. Draco would have to find a way to avoid all of them since Pansy would surely want to cling to him the whole next day and he didn't want to drag her around or talk about the events that happened earlier.

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Leslie could see were Remus was coming from, but she still couldn’t agree with him. ”No, Harry doesn’t have special circumstances. He is a gifted boy, but none the less still normal. I will tell him of his parents if he wishes me to, but he will always have family.” She paused for a moment to look out the window then moved her gaze back to her friend. ”He may not have his parents in person, but they will always be watching over him in his heart. He also has friends. They are his family. You can’t tell me you didn’t consider your friends family while you were at Hogwarts?” She didn’t know why she felt so touchy about the subject on Harry having special circumstances. Maybe Leslie was a little jealous that he at least knew who his birth parents and after so many years she still had no clue who hers where, yet she didn’t let it get to her as much as before. For she knew that they had given her up for a reason and it made her who she was and for that she was grateful.

The Dementors on the other hand Leslie would never get used to them. She would go crazy if she ever got sent to Azkaban. There weren’t any plans for that to happen ever in her lifetime. All she could say in response to the Dementors was sigh. If she could do something about them she would, but she didn’t have authority over what happened and she trusted Dumbledore, yet even he was allowing them in reluctantly. Now there had to be a reason for that. ”I wouldn’t trust them.” After all who would? They almost had mind of their own. One which probably none of them could ever control.

A small huff slipped her lips as he chuckled at what she had to say. A rather small pout forming as she listened to what he had to say on the subject. Yet she didn’t want to say anything on the subject about her being married. The thought had crossed her mind a few times, but nothing ever happened. Not that he needed to know anything about it. Coincidence. Now that was something she had hardly ever heard throughout her life. Then again most of the time it was spent with Muggles and they believed they had control over their whole lives, well most of them did. ”When you say things like that it makes it seem as if we have no say, but you have a point. It’d be a great and very long adventure.” She couldn’t say that without a smile as she thought about it. Being with the one you love for the rest of your life must be rather nice.

It was funny how easily anyone can stray from what they originally planned on talking about, but it was nice to know that there would be a lot that there would be able to speak of. It was better than having silent moment were it just felt rather awkward. Now those were very common with Severus since he didn’t enjoy talking at all. It made Leslie feel uncomfortable, but she knew that he wasn’t much of a talker even when they were younger. ”Aw, no interesting stories? You didn’t cause any trouble or anything? Geez, what happened to that troublemaking spirit of yours?” It was rather surprising that he hadn’t done more than he had said he had done. She had half expected something better or even bigger for her friend. He was very talented. Though on the subject of her she had quite a bit to tell. Yet that could have easily been the girl inside of her that enjoyed to talk. ”Me on the other hand stayed with her parents for a good year. Worked with Muggles. That was rather fun. I ended up saving enough money to travel for a bit and ended up staying in France. There I actually found a permanent job for a publishing company for both Muggle and Wizarding Books.” They hadn’t been too happy with her quitting and going to Hogwarts, but they had understood her reason for leaving. ”I actually ended up starting to study on all the subjects here at Hogwarts with the thoughts of putting together a textbook. Dumbledore somehow found out and decided that if I came to help here at Hogwarts to teach it’d help me see which subject would be suited for me. I ended up being indecisive between, well you know, and here I am.” That reminded her that she hadn’t actually started to work on what she was supposed to be doing.

A knock was heard throughout the office causing Leslie to look over her shoulder wondering who it could be. They were in Remus’s office so it was surely for him, but since it was a weekend she could only believe that it was one of the other professors. Once the door was open Leslie noticed that it was one of the Weasley’s the eldest one at Hogwarts. Percy, a seventh year and Head Boy for Gryffindor. ”Professor, have you…” He paused as he noticed Leslie in the room along with Remus. “Oh Professor Cavender, you’re here. I was just going to ask Professor Lupin if he had seen you. Professor Snape asked me to tell you he’d like some papers by tomorrow.” It seemed as if the Head Boy didn’t even know what the papers were about. It was a surprise that he was even asked to do such an errand considering he was from Gryffindor, but maybe Severus felt that his own Head Boy was too busy to be bothered.

A small sigh escaped Leslie’s lips as she gave a small nod. Now she had forgotten those papers as they had ended up being buried under a few textbooks on her desk. At least she knew where they were at. ”Thank you Mr. Weasley. Was that all?” He gave a small nod and excused himself leaving the office soon after. Being a Professor students thought that they had easy, but even they had homework. It was called grading their work which was exactly what Leslie was given to do. Severus had said it gave her the full Professor experience. Oh boy, was that going to be true. ”I hate to cut this short, but I should attend to those papers. I wouldn’t want to get on Severus’s bad side.” The brunette didn’t think that was even possible since they were supposed to act professional when it came to work. There was no reason for them to hold any grudges and they were just papers.

Standing up she moved towards her friend and gave him a light hug and a small peck on the cheek. It was a habit that she had picked up in France. “I’ll see you later. This conversation isn’t over.” She said with a small smile as she headed for the door with a small wave as she walked out. Going back to her office she picked up the books on her desk that she had been reading from setting them back into their place on the shelves. Working on the papers she only took breaks to get something to eat, but she found it interesting to see what the students wrote on some of the essays on Potions. Though there were a few that she felt were rather rushed.

As it got late Leslie left the last few ones to work on in the morning and headed off to bed. The brunette work up a little earlier than normal to finish up her work and headed off to get some breakfast before going to Severus’s office to deliver the papers. Finding him there she gave him a small smile as she set the stack of essays on his desk. ”Here you go. They are all done. Sorry I didn’t get them to you earlier.” She felt a little bad that she hadn’t gotten them done earlier. After all she was so good with deadline with all that she had worked with over the years.

”It’s quite fine. You got them in sooner than I expected.” Leslie could easily hint some sarcasm in his tone of voice, but disregarded it as she gave him a small farewell and left the office. Since it was Sunday she decided to wear some simple jeans, a semi-long sleeve black and white checkered blouse, gray scarf, with gray flats. It wasn’t too cold out, but this was the kind of weather she was used to as she wandered off towards the lake. It had been so long since she had seen it so close.

Nearing the lake she squatted down to run her fingertips over the water. It didn’t seem that any of the other students were around. ”Still as cold as when I pushed Sirius in and he pulled me in along with him.” She said to herself with a small smile as she wiped the bit of water on her hand on her pants. Leslie remembered that memory as clear as day as if it had only happened the day before. Standing up she slipped her hands into her pockets as she just stared at the lake remembering that day.

”No, no, no, and no! Sirius I already told you Benjamin asked me first and I said yes. So stop asking and following me around.” Leslie hissed as she found her balance climbing on a rock trying to get a good view of Hogwarts with the lake. The last thing she wanted was to slip into the lake.

It seemed that Sirius wasn’t going to give up as he followed after her not caring if she told him to leave her alone. ”Oh come on! Tell the git you changed your mind!” This caused Leslie to sigh as she kept on moving along starting to get annoyed that he was following her since right after breakfast and it was almost lunch.

”I already told you no and I don’t care if you don’t have a date. It’s not my problem.” She wasn’t going to let him guilt her into it either. He had a way with words and she wasn’t going to let it get to her. Now she had told herself if he asked just once more she was going push him into the lake.

”Please? Just go on the date with me?” It sounded as if he was attempting to sound innocent and that was the last thing that Leslie would think of him. Turning she placed her hands on her hips as she stared at him and he gave her the puppy dog eyes. No, she was not going to fall for that no matter how convincing they were. It was as if he pulled them off perfectly.

”Black, I already told you no. So go away.” She ordered moving towards him placing a hand on his chest and giving him a push over the ledge. Light brown eyes widened as his hand got a good grip on her wrist as he pulled her into him and over the edge straight into the lake. A loud splash sounded around them as Leslie pushed Sirius away from her and swam up to the surface. He was right behind her as he let out a laugh and grinned at her. The brunette on the other hand was speechless as she was glaring at the male before her and then moving her gaze to see if there was anything nearby to help her pull her out. Finding nothing she let out a sigh as she started to swim to the shore. ”Sirius Black! If I get sick, oh, I will not speak to you! Again!”

Drenched Leslie made her way back to the castle and towards her dormitory gathering plenty of looks from those around her especially as Sirius continued to follow her. ”So can I take that as a yes?!” He yelled after her as she had gotten a head start. The only response he received was an irritated scream.’

Running her hand thought her slightly curled locks she let out a small sigh. The very next day after being in the lake they had both gotten a fever. Yet Leslie still spoke to him afterwards despite what she had told him. Moving her gaze from the lake to the small pebbles she kicked them into the lake knowing very well what happened after they had left Hogwarts. She couldn’t believe he would do such a thing. Sirius couldn’t have done that to James. They had been like brothers and known each other for more than seven years, yet it happened. ”Why did you do it?” She asked as if he was standing there beside her. That was an answer she wished she could ask him, but at the time she wanted him as far away from Hogwarts. There was no reason to put the students in danger and Dementors were all over the place.

{ o.o.c. This is what's she's wearing in case your wondering <3 }

[Akira.S]

Ah, fine day Sunday, well weather like yes but the fact that there was class the next day wasn’t the most exhilarating thought. Anna had been in solitude for most of Saturday, coming out early in the morning to do homework in some far off corner in the Library or cubicle trying to avoid her friends and Evan if possible. It wasn’t bad enough she got looks from the other houses but the looks from her own houses were frightening enough. Still, the girl was proud, confident, and remained as such on the outside, but on the inside she felt a strange sort of lack of confidence and wouldn’t know what to do if she was approached by anyone. That Sunday morning, Anna was wearing a dark olive green short dress with black inner linings, long silver necklace, and short grey boots with slight heels on her petite feet. It was a little chilly for early fall but she was staying inside so it wouldn’t be such a problem. While hiding in the library trying to get a Potion’s Essay done her mind couldn’t help be distracted by thoughts and flash backs of Friday Night, she often stopped and put down her quill to pace a little bit, or would try to read some reference books to clear her mind but nothing helped.

Anna had never felt so frustrated in her life, I was just one kiss, and so what if she was using him, it was only that one time…did it really have to hurt and bother her so much?
”It doesn’t really sound like my problem so I don’t know why you brought me into it.” She scoffed and turned, sitting back down in the cubicle to write her paper, trying to block out Draco’s voice from her thoughts,”You’re a Slytherin…You should learn how to deal with your problems on your own. We don’t protect each other.” It seemed to be no use, his voice was just so distracting and every time she thought about it an empty feeling in her heart would form, how she just wanted to punch someone in the face right about now. ”We aren’t pansies like those Gryffindor. So next time deal with your problem on your own.” Shutting her reference books, packing up her pieces of parchment, quill, ink and Potions textbook she decided to leave the Library in search of another hiding place, lord knows where that would be, she doubted she’d find peace and quiet if she didn’t resolve things with Draco. But what was there to resolve, she had already apologized…it was just that one time…so why was she acting so frantic about it…why was it such a big deal? Maybe she was being stupid; maybe she was over thinking things.

Suddenly, down the hallway she had just entered she heard a call that snapped her back into reality. “Anna!” Two of her friends were wandering about the castle, a notebook or two in arms, running towards her with enthusiastic smiles. Great this was just what she needed, her friends to bother her even more on the subject. “There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you! We thought you’d gotten sick what with you staying in your room all of Saturday except for meals, and then disappearing so early!” One of her friend exclaimed while clinging to her arm and walking with her, “we went to check the Hospital Wing but you weren’t there, so we wandered around and well here you are.” Her other friend walked by her side, both of them just glad to be back with her. It was like Crabbe and Goyle to Draco; except these two were smart and they actually could keep a conversation for more than two words.

“I thought I should get down to my homework since it’s due tomorrow, I didn’t want to disturb anyone so I left early to catch up.” She sort of lied but she wouldn’t tell them that she couldn’t get much sleep over this whole matter – they would have thought she actually like Draco Malfoy. Oh…wait a second that was what everyone thought! Who knew one kiss could change so much in just two days? She’d never hear the end of it now. “Oh? well we figured you were off snogging with Draco.” The two girls giggled while Anna turned a bit pink. SNOGGING! WITH-WITH THAT POMPUS ARROGANT-, “Snogging? Why would I be doing such a thing with him?” she tried to act like it was nothing, well of course it was nothing but for the rumours to be spreading so fast she wasn’t surprised her friends thought the two of them were dating.

“No but of course you wouldn’t, you can do so much better! After all he came back to the Common Room, Pansy Parkinson threw a bit of a fit and what do you think he did? He kissed her! And then went off to his Room.” Well, that was a bit of a shock. For some odd reason that empty feeling in her chest returned to haunt her once more. What did she care that Draco had kissed Pansy, he meant nothing to her, they were just housemates, part of the Slytherin House Team and nothing more…he can snog whoever he pleased it made no difference to her. “Did he now? I don’t see how this is any concern of mine, he can snog whoever he chooses. I care not for such little things, besides…I just wanted Evan to stay away from me, I have no interest in dating him or Draco.” At least she got some of her confidence back, there you see? Now that Draco had kissed Pansy of his own free will he would have nothing further to say to her nor would she have anything to say to him and that was that – done, end of story, and no more conflict there. She would much rather not hear his name or see him for a very long time…oh wait, they had class together and they were on the Quidditch Team together DRAT!

“But Anna! Evan’s so dreamy…he’s perfect! And so attracted to you he can’t sleep!” More rumours, just what she wanted to hear. Turning around to face her friends the dark haired girl sigh to herself and adjusted her book bag while eyeing them, “girls I really would rather not talk about this I have some studying to do and would rather do it alone.” Turning away she scurried down another corridor, taking a couple of turns and such, hoping they wouldn’t follow, looking up to realize she had made it to the Astronomy Tower. No one would be in there on a Sunday, what was the use other than to spy on students.

Hurrying up the stairs she opened the door to the main viewing chamber and closed it quietly behind her as she dropped her books on a stone ledge and walked over to the balcony to look over the sun, somewhat covered by clouds but it’s rays shining down on the school grounds. Crossing her arms on the railing she leaned on, she looked out to the Black Lake and the Dark Forest with a relieved sigh, her long onyx coloured hair flowing within the slight fall breeze. She’d never realize how beautiful the view was during the day since she’d only really been up there in the evening, and was glad she could look out onto the world and calm her mind down. “At least I can hide up here for a while…” she muttered to herself just looking out onto the beautiful scenery.


((This is kind of what Anna is wearing, just follow the description ^^;;; well and the fact that her hair is straight, black and not curly lol ))

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“Troublemaking spirit? No my dear that was left behind when we graduated and the war started. It was our turn to start acting like adults and fight the good fight. No, I…I haven’t thought of causing trouble since James and Lily’s death.” Thinking about them was always such a sad topic, especially since they’d all become close during their last few years together. It was sad that sacrifices had to be made…he just couldn’t believe that it was Sirius – James’ best friend turned on him and told he who must not be named about where the Potters were living.

Hearing her life story and what she’d been doing these many years after they graduated Hogwarts and the whole First Wizarding War against he who must not be named, it was good to see her happy and enjoying life like she should. It was far better than running away from yourself and trying to stay as sane as possible. She seemed to have far more adventures than he did which seemed a bit troublesome but as long as she was happy that was the important part. Remus had to admit that he was always a little jealous of his friends who were privileged to have normal lives while he was…well different. “You’ve done well to keep yourself extremely busy over the years Leslie, but like I said before it’s good to have you here and I hope your book becomes a great success…when you’ve taken the time to write it that is.” He smirked playfully his head turning to the door when he heard a knock. “Come in.”

Standing at the doorway was Percy Weasley, fifth in the line of Weasley’s, Head Boy this year with a talent in every class. Even though Remus had only been teaching him a week he certainly enjoyed the boy’s enthusiasm and wonder for the D.A.D.A. “Hello Percy, nice of you to drop by.” He greeted the boy while he explained his reasons for being there. He was actually in search for Professor Cavender which was a surprise as it was a request from Professor Snape. Remus wondered why Snape hadn’t asked one of his own students at the time and tried not to think too much on the subject. After he’d conveyed his message he turned and quickly left the two without another word.

It seemed that a little assignment had slipped Leslie’s mind and she would be in deep trouble if she didn’t get it done as soon as possible. “Please don’t apologize Leslie it’s quite alright. I’m sure we can continue this conversation later.” He stood with her to escort her out of his room and out of his class as a gentleman should. Walking around towards him she gave him a light hug and pecked him on the cheek gently, a friendly gesture he was sure as he too embraced her patting her on the back lightly. When they released each other, Leslie took it upon herself to head out alone, while Remus stayed behind to put away his tea set but not before taking a sweet cake from the tray and taking a bite out of it, gazing out one of the windows in his office. “First Sirius escapes from Azkaban, I’m called to teach and Leslie is asked to be an Assistant Teacher? What are you thinking Dumbledore…” it was like a little reunion that wasn’t planned, however he was sure the events would soon unfold over time and decided not to think too hard on the subject until that time came.

Remus had spent almost all of Saturday thinking of a lesson plan that would help Leslie and would keep him on track with his students, he had spent most of his hours in his office, in his classroom or in the library looking upon old teaching methods that were used, when finally he had a plan he had dinner and quickly passed out on his bed. Who knew teaching could be so hard? If he knew how much teachers thought about their lesson plans maybe he would have paid more attention in class – though he did listen in D.A.D.A quite a bit he did slack off every now and then. Since he had worked so hard and so long on Saturday he decided to take a break and wander about the grounds and maybe head into Hogsmeade for a butterbeer.

While walking around he decided not to take the secret passages from way back when and walked around casually, greeting some of his students and having a few moments of pleasant conversation with the other teachers. Surprisingly, despite his unkempt exterior he was very well liked during his first week which was a good thing and he hoped to keep it that way. He liked to wander, wondering what things were different and what were the same. While leaving the castle grounds he headed down to the Black Lake, oh how many memories he had there, teasing Snivellus, sitting under the sun, wading in the water….more teasing Snivellus, those were the good old days where everything was just so casual and fun. While he was walking down the large hill, dressed in a casual suit like he did every day, a thin black cloak to keep him warm from the fall chill he noticed a figure all the way down on the edge of the Black Lake, standing atop a large rock.

From a distance it looked like a student but as he approached he noticed it turned out to be Leslie on a very casual day. Coming up behind her he noticed her to be very still and almost in a reflecting state of mind as she looked out to the lake and the mountains across from it. What could she possibly be thinking about he wondered…not wanting to disturb her, Remus kept a safe distance before wandering over to a rock and sitting down on it, and gazing out with her. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” he asked quietly while he too seemed to be reflecting about all the times he spent with his friends here…hopefully it would be a time that he wouldn’t forget.

[Jo Giggles]

After leaving Pansy behind Draco headed straight back up into his room. He didn’t want to talk to anyone not even his roommates and for once he was glad that they weren’t there. Changing into his pajamas he slipped under his covers tossing and turning for a good hour before he actually fell asleep. Yet in the morning he didn’t feel any better. Having fallen asleep early he ended up waking early. Before Crabble and Goyle. He actually felt glad for that. Now he didn’t have to listen to their incoherent talk. Sometimes they didn’t even know what they were saying.

Channing into his usual clothes he left behind the tie and the robe. All he needed was the white button up shirt, gray vest, black slacks and usual black shoes. With that he was out the door. The last thing that was on Draco’s mind was homework. He wasn’t going to bother with it despite knowing that he had to get it done. One way or another it’d find it’s way to the teachers desk. In reality that was all that mattered to him as he walked through the almost empty halls in Hogwarts. It was too early for anyone to really be awake. Yet as he walked into the Great Hall there was already breakfast set out. Not bothering to sit down he just grabbed a bagel and spread some cream cheese on it before chugging down a glass of orange juice. He didn’t want to go through the day without eating.

Walking out he munched on what he called his breakfast as he slipped his free hand into his pocket deciding to just wander around the castle for the rest of the day. On Monday he’d end up dealing with what everyone had to say about the events of the previous night. Surely it was going to spread among everyone in Hogwarts today of what happened. Like he had told Anna they had to deal about their problems on their own since no one else in their house would help them with it. Instead they would make it harder and if anything more difficult. Which was exactly what was happening.

Right now Draco wanted to get as far from the dungeons as he could. That’s where it had all ended up starting. Climbing up a few stairs he finished his bagel and let out a rather loud sigh as he heard a familiar voice. ”Draco~!” Pansy was the last thing that he needed. After last nights events he knew that he had given her some sort of spark of hope that they could get together. It was too late to take it back now. Running a hand through his golden locks he tilted his head over his shoulder as he stopped walking to look over towards her. Only she wasn’t alone.

’Great, the very people I was trying to avoid.’ Though at the time being he had to put on a facade as if he was somewhat glad to see them. Soon Pansy was clinging to his arm like usual as the whole gang walked together. Most of the talking being done by Pansy as if nothing had happened the night before. It was better than her complaining. Draco knew better than thinking it wasn’t going to come up eventually. He just didn’t want to talk about it. He wanted to be alone for the rest of day. So there was one easy thing to say to get rid of them. ”Pansy, have you done the work for Potions?” He asked as casual as he could.

”Yea, I have it done! Why?”

Bingo. That was it. ”You wouldn’t mind doing mine would you? I just can’t seem to concentrate with everything that’s going on.” He said taking his arm from her grasp brushing the back of his hand against her cheek. Pansy was like putty in the palm of his hand. ”Right now I just want to be able to think. Your understand, right?” It seemed as if there was no way that she was going to say no to him now.

Pansy gave him a nod. She enjoyed his attention and it was rather obvious. It was like when he enjoyed the attention of everyone else when he was taunting Potter. ”I can do that if you want. Are you sure you don’t want me to be alone though?” He gave her a small nod as he pulled away from her and gave the boys a look that showed them that they weren’t to follow. They were rather obedient when they wanted to that’s for sure.

Once he was gone from them he rubbed his temples with his thumb and middle finger. As he walked through the halls heading towards one of the towers not really caring for which one as long as he get away from everyone. It seemed that even as he was attempting to get away from everyone they talked about him even when he was clearly only a few feet away from them. Geez, people really couldn’t keep his mouth shut and it spread like wildfire. Snogging two girls in one day and only with a few moments apart from each one.

Finding his way into the Astronomy Tower just pushed the door open as his eyes landed on the dark haired female by the window. ”Great you’re here.” This was the last thing that Draco needed. If anyone else showed up and saw them alone in the Astronomy Tower only would cause many more rumors to start up again and then he wouldn’t be able to shut Pansy up.

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There was just so much that was held within the castle. Memories roamed through every hall, every class, every corner of Hogwarts. It was almost impossible walking around without thinking of something that happened. They had spent seven years there and now they were another one, yet it wasn’t the same. It wouldn’t ever be the same. The brunette’s friends weren’t there and some would never see such a sight again. A small sigh escaped her lips as she started to fiddle with the edge of her scarf. Hearing a voice she glanced towards the source a small smile forming on her lips. ”It always has been.”

Hugging her knees to her chest Leslie’s gaze went back to the lake before them. ”What are you doing out here?” Leslie was quite curious to know what her friend was going to do. She didn’t think she was going to run into him this easy. Hogwarts was rather big, but she didn’t mind the company. It was rather nice. Especially with what she was remembering only a few moments ago. She’d rather not think about the male after what happened years ago.

Standing up she dusted off her pants before outstretching her hand to Remus. ”Lets go for a walk. If we stay here too long we’ll just end up living down memory lane for most of the day.” Now that would be the last thing that Leslie would want. She liked thinking of the past, but she didn’t want to live in it. She had important things to worry about now. The ones that were happening in the present and that was it. Focus had to be put into that.

[Akira.S]

While looking out to the mountains and the Black Lake, leaning against the railings of the Astronomy Tower, Anna heard a soft creaking noise from the door on the lower level and on the other side of the tower. ‘Great…now what…?’ she asked herself turning around to see who had come in. A teacher? A student who was taking Astronomy who’d left something? Well whoever it was, except for a teacher of course she’d definitely have to scare them off. The last thing she wanted was to be disturbed by anyone…and if necessary would hex the student who came her way. Her back leaned against the railing, her elbows against the top for support; she waited as the person who’d entered made their way up the tower stairs towards the viewing deck where she was.

“Draco.” Oh great…the last person she’d want to see right now had picked today of all days to run into her, especially when she wanted to forget all about him. Well, she wasn’t going to run away this time, she’d already done so too many times in a single week and wouldn’t be considered a coward just because she couldn’t face her demon. “Don’t sound so enthusiastic about my being here, you’re the last person I ever imagined would be up here as well…” she let her sentence drift as she walked away from the railing and toward the stone ledge she’d left her books on.

Sitting on the floor, the dark haired girl took out her pieces of parchment, quill and ink bottle and went back to her studies. Was it so odd for her to be doing homework in a place like this? It was quiet that’s for sure…at least until now. ‘Just when I thought I would be able to work in peace…well…if he wants to avoid seeing me he can just leave…’ Anna’s thought to herself while pulling long strands of her black hair behind her ear while sitting on the wooden floorboard and writing on her parchment in silence. The only thing was, if he didn’t leave things would get awkward, she knew it would and already it did. Things wouldn’t be the same between the two, she knew that much and there was no point in arguing about it for the rest of the year, especially if they lived in the same house, took almost the same classes and were on the same Quidditch team – they might as well try to get along, I guess.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” she began keeping her eyes on her paper while a cool breeze came in and caused her hair to dance in the wind, “you’re going out with Pansy Parkinson, that’s quite impressive to say the least, bet you’re congratulating yourself on your escape.” Anna moved her hair out of her eyes and turned trying to smile faintly at him, key word trying. “Hm, you must be very cleaver indeed to think of something like that. I’m sure she’s very happy with the arrangement.” Well at least they would be out of the way; Pansy wouldn’t look at Anna in a competitive way anymore now that she and Draco were going out. All seemed well and really everything seemed completely resolved, so why was she still feeling a little bit out of spirits?

-----

While watching the scenery with her, remarking on the beauty of the landscape, Remus’ eyes wandered to her when she responded to his question. Like the two had talked about previously, nothing about Hogwarts had changed other than the faces of the students. Some of the younger teachers yes but other than that everything had remained the same and he hoped it would stay that way. While sitting on the rock, allowing the cool fall breeze to brush against his cheeks, feeling the chill run down his spine he turned over to his friend when she asked what he was doing out here on a day like this. Remus looked down, smiling before standing on top of the rock, picking up a smaller one and skipping it across the waters before he answered her simply and honestly, “I could ask you the same question Professor,” he teased a moment before turning to look at her, “I just decided to take a walk around the grounds, remembering things like it was yesterday, I can only assume you’re doing the same.” He stepped on closer to her to keep her company as the two gazed off, just watching the lake and the sky pass by.

Although the two weren’t doing that for very much longer. It seemed that Leslie wasn’t the type to reminisce for a long period of time, maybe because there were things she didn’t want to think about or wanted to forget. Standing up, she held a hand out to Remus and decided that she wanted to take a walk, knowing that if they thought about the past for too long they’d waste the entire day away. Smiling, he took her hand and helped her off the rocks before linking arms with her and heading down a pathway wondering where they should go. “Why don’t we head into Hogsmeade for a butterbeer? It’s been ages since I’ve been in that little village and it’ll be nice to be back.” He suggested while walking along the path with her, hoping it would cheer her up slightly.

Remus led her down the path towards the village, he wondered if there was anything bothering her since she seemed a little bit out of spirits. Though it wasn’t his business to ask, it was his business as a friend to help if she needed it, “Leslie is there anything you’d like to tell me?” he asked, eyeing her just a little bit. He didn’t like to see his friends suffering in solitude and would like to help her if possible, however if it was personal matter she didn’t wish to discuss then he’d leave her to that.
Being a good friend as it was he wanted to try and cheer her up, teasing her slightly as they continued, “has Snivellus come down on you for those papers the other day? If you like I could talk to him about that.” It wasn’t right for Snape to be so serious so early in the year, especially to Leslie. Remus knew how much she wanted to treat everyone equally and start a fresh now that they were older, hopefully Snape had grown up and wanted to do the same.


((OMG so short !!!))

[Jo Giggles]

It was rather obvious that Draco wasn’t exactly welcomed since Anna was there, but he didn’t say anything to her as she moved from her spot and grabbed her things. A blonde brown rose in question as he noted that she was going to start working on her own things. ’Homework?’ It was rather unfortunate that she didn’t have someone wrapped around her finger like he did. At least Pansy was useful for something other than being able to cause him a headache. The girl had her perks, but there was no way that he was going to consider her more than just that. Of course he wouldn’t mind letting her believe that she really was more than that. If it kept her from being more of a pest it wouldn’t be too hard for him to do.

Stuffing his hands into his pockets he moved towards the spot on the viewing deck seeing the view of Hogwarts from somewhere up more higher. It looked different than from when he was on his broom. ”That just makes two of us. Yet here we are.” He sighed as he just watched the owls fly by going to their owners to deliver letters or just to fly by. There was only so much that they could do at Hogwarts and it was always thing that Draco didn’t very much enjoy. He couldn’t wait to be able to go to Hogsmaede for it would be better than being stuck in the castle.

Even if the blonde felt like leaving he wasn’t going to do so. He didn’t feel like having to find a new hiding spot from the rest of the castle. Besides there wouldn’t be anyone else showing up on the Astronomy Tower. He was almost sure that no one would show up. It’s not like there was even anything up here. If anything it would just be a nice view, yet many students wouldn’t want to come up here just for that. Draco sure wouldn’t. He was just doing so since it wasn’t like he had much to do anyway.

Going out with Pansy? Now that was a laugh, but Draco didn’t let that show. If the female wanted to believe that he was going out with her then so be it. It wasn’t like he cared about what she thought of him. ”Of course she’s happy with it. Better than her yelling that’s for sure.” He sent a glance her way as she worked on her homework. ”Though you should be happy. She wont bother you any longer.” It was true since Pansy believe that they were going out and so did everyone else. He had told her that he would consider it not once did he ask her to be his girlfriend.

Taking his hands from his pockets her gripped the railing lightly as he pocked his head out a bit to feel the breeze against his face moving his hair slightly tickling his skin as he attempted to see if anyone he knew was walking around below him. Maybe if he was lucky Potter would walk by and he’d be able to conjure something to make him seem like a bigger fool than he already was.

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These were the things that they all used to do. Just sit around the lake and mess around. Now it was just the two of them, but Leslie enjoyed it. It was nice to hang around even if they were just enjoying the scenery for a bit. ”Professor? You know you don’t have to call me that.” She said with a small laugh. It sounded almost foreign when he said it to her. She just wasn’t used to being called that not from him. ”Sort of. I wanted a bit of fresh air too. I can only stay inside for so long.” It was true. No matter how much Leslie enjoyed books she needed to be outside a fair amount. Being cooped up made her feel caged. Being claustrophobic did that.

With his help Leslie found herself walking down the path with Remus. Their arms linked as her eyes scanned the area they were walking down. Oh how it used to always be bustling with noise whenever they were younger. ”Hm, that seems like fun. It’s been a while since I’ve had a butterbeer.” She said leaning into him a little. There were places she wouldn’t mind visit while they were there. ”We have to stop at Honeydukes. Remember what we used to do on the train? Buy a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans for each of us and eat every single one of them no matter what.” She had done that once at the pressure of Sirius and James and hadn’t been able to eat dinner that night. Yet after that they had always looked for her on the train no matter if she attempted to hide to make sure she participated. Even though a couple of times Peter chickened out.

At his question Leslie nibbled on her lower lip. Was it really obvious that something was bothering her? She had hoped it wasn’t, but if Remus noticed it then maybe she wasn’t doing a very good job about hiding it. ”It’s not Severus and don’t call him Snivellus. It’s not nice.” The brunette never understood why they had to call him that. He had a name and they were to use it. Surely he didn’t appreciate the nickname. After all it came from those that he detested. ”Earlier I was just thinking about the time Sirius and I fell into the lake. Remember we both got a nasty cold.” Okay, they hadn’t fallen, but that was what she was going to go with. ”After all this time I still can’t believe he would do such a thing…and now he’s somewhere out there. I..” She paused unsure if she should even say what she was thinking, but she didn’t think Remus would think too bad of her if she did say it. ”I can’t help, but want to give him the benefit of the doubt. That he didn’t really betray them. You knew Sirius better than I did. After all those years does it really seem like something he’d do?”

The whole thing was a very touchy subject and Leslie knew it was, but now Remus was the only one that could actually answer that question properly. Peter, James, and Lily were dead so it’s not like she’d be able to ask them and Severus would just say he did it without a second thought.

[Akira.S]

While Anna kept her glance down at her paper, she couldn’t help but stop every now and then to clear her mind or to try and refocus on what she was trying to write. Truthfully he was distracting but she’d never say such a thing out loud. She was surprised that Draco hadn’t decided to leave; she was so sure that he wanted nothing more to do with her after the previous night so why was he bothering her now? Not that he was really bothering her in a sense, just his presence was distracting and she didn’t know why.

Sighing heavily while deciding she was definitely not going to get anymore of her thoughts written down on paper, she put away her pieces of parchment, packed away her things and leaned against the stone ledge while Draco continued leaning over the railing, looking down at the scenery. He seemed pretty pleased with himself for what it’s worth…maybe he was really was congratulating himself on escaping a most embarrassing year of gossip. At least everyone knew he and Pansy were close and the two of them going out would benefit them in a way. That just put Anna back at square one and as soon as she could be found by Evan there was no way of escaping his clutches.

On the topic of Pansy and Draco going out however, he seemed rather proud in his achievement of keeping Pansy away from Anna, not that the girl really bothered her. It was more like a one sided hate, Anna had never really hated Pansy nor did she have reason to, it was she who found Anna a threat though it was for reasons she didn’t understand…at least until last night when Pansy seemed to get upset over the fact Draco and Anna were snogging. “Please, don’t flatter yourself thinking you’ve saved me from her. She wasn’t really bothering me to begin with, a dirty look here and there but that’s it.” At least she wasn’t as annoying as Evan was, at least from her point of view, to Draco she was probably nothing but persistent. “Besides I didn’t ask for your help now did I? or were you deciding to be charitable in dating her to rid me another nuisance in my life?” how could she think nothing but ill of Draco after the way he treated her the previous night, speaking nothing of the Slytherin code and how they were all supposed to act.

Just being by Draco made her so angry and so flustered on the inside she didn’t know what his problem was, walking around so arrogant like, proud, and toying with people’s feelings. Leaning against the stone ledge, the dark haired girl tilted her head back to look up at the stone ceiling, closing her eyes to take in another breath of fresh air. It seemed like neither of them would speak another word to each other, both so very stubborn, another Slytherin like quality no doubt. To be honest Anna preferred silence, not awkward silence though but if he refused to talk to her that was the way it was going to be.

While she sat back, closing her eyes as if trying to rest a thought came to mind. A thought she had overlooked made her question the third year’s motives, causing the girl to look out towards him while he looked down at Hogwarts from their high and lonely tower. “If you are going out with Pansy…why exactly are you avoiding her?” the thought had never really occurred to her until just now. Clearly he was hiding something, or he was clearly so heartless as to drag the girl into his own affairs using her the same way she had used him except it was something a little more permanent.

-----

Remus was glad he could put a smile on her face and tease her like he used to, anything to keep her spirits high while she was still here. He had to admit being back here and thinking of what had happened brought him down a little bit but that was no reason to be down all the time. While helping her off the rocks, at the mention of calling her ‘Professor’ she refused the title even though he thought it suited her very well. “Well Leslie you are a Professor after all, you should get used to the title, I might be the only one around to call you by your real name.” he smirked while leading her down the empty path. This time of year there weren’t many students heading into or leaving Hogsmeade but he was sure as the fall turned colder and then into winter and spring there would be more students than they could handle. For now it was nice to just take in the old scenery and reminisce.

While entering the edge of the small village, Leslie suggested the two go into Honeydukes for some Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans. A little childish perhaps but the idea was still fun, he’d lost his liking for them after they all graduated but now that they were back it wouldn’t hurt to have…just a couple of sweets for old time sake. “I remember that quite well, we all got sick from that at some point although some more than others…” he remembered Leslie not being able to eat dinner at the opening feast, even on the train James and Sirius had a hard time keeping composed. How he missed those carefree days, and how he’d never be able to be with his friends again. The two continued to walk through the village, being greeted every now and again by merchants and residents of the village, heading down to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer like Remus suggested.

On the way there Leslie seemed, almost reluctant or had gone rather quiet when she thought about Sirius. She reminded him of the time the two of them fell into the Black Lake and had a nasty cold for a few days, of course there were more memories but that was probably what she was thinking about while she was there. Sirius was particularly affectionate to Leslie one way or another during their childhood; he’d either tease her, purposely cause trouble, and on more than one occasion asked her to go out with him. Remus and the others thought he was just teasing but the way Leslie was talking about it, it seemed like she had some affections for him. Maybe not in the same sense but she still liked him as a friend.

Pausing a moment, Leslie continued on thinking about Sirius, wondering if he really did betray the Potters and sold them out to he who must not be named. The reason she asked was probably because she didn’t know Sirius well enough to figure out if he really would do something like that. Remus paused in the middle of the lane to think about how to respond before putting a hand on Leslie’s shoulder and leading her to the side of the street where their conversation wouldn’t be so out in the open.

“Leslie I want you to listen very carefully to me. People, change over the years as you’ve well noticed. I would like to give Sirius the benefit of the doubt, but all the facts are there. He was the only one caught at the scene of the crime, killing Peter and leaving nothing but a finger behind.” Remus sigh and looked away from her into the distant horizon wishing such things weren’t true. His eyes glazed with the look of remorse wondering what was going through Sirius’ mind when he thought about selling his best friend’s to the dark lord. “Believe me Leslie, I’d do anything to prove Sirius’ innocence…he’d never betray his friends…” Remus was very touchy about this subject but she deserved to know the truth, after all she was a friend, maybe not a close one but she was still a friend just the same.

Though he had wondered why she would bring it up, not many people would give Sirius the benefit of the doubt in this situation. He was after all a Black, and the whole Black family was supportive of the Dark Lord, Bellatrix, Narcissa, Regulus…okay everyone except Andromeda and Sirius but maybe something inside him snapped. “This isn’t the sort of conversation I thought we’d be having,” reaching for her shoulder, he placed his hand over it and caressed her gently, “but enlightens me my dear, why do you believe Sirius innocent, well it at least sounds like you do, probably one of the only few who do.” He was curious to know her motives, obviously his escaping Azkaban was bothering her but to what extent…she wouldn’t try to meet him if he did come to Hogwarts would she?

[Jo Giggles]

As he continued to lean over the rail Draco couldn’t spot anyone. They all looked like a specs of dirt from so high up. Oh well so much for that idea. Turning around he leaned against it instead as he stared up at the ceiling. It was a boring scenery, actually it isn’t a scenery at all, but there was only so much that he could do in the Astronomy Tower. Not like there was much he could do if he was just going to try to avoid everyone. Turning his view from the ceiling towards Anna with a light frown on his face. ”Oh please, I didn’t do any of it for you. Though you should really be thanking me. If I hadn’t done it she’d be yelling at you today.” It was rather true. Pansy wouldn’t have let it go so easily if she didn’t think that Anna wasn’t a threat. Which for now he wasn’t if she thought she was dating Draco. ”Besides you started this whole thing and I ended up having to fix it all.” If she had never kissed him they would have never been in this predicament.

In reality, Draco didn’t really care what other thought of him. It wasn’t like many of those in Hogwarts already didn’t detest them. This would only get them to talk about him for a while, but he didn’t want to be questioned about it by those that he got along with. No, he wouldn’t necessarily consider them friends, but they weren’t completely useless. They all had their purpose just like Pansy did. While she was off doing his homework he would be doing as he pleased. Thus deeming her useful. Anna on the other hand was so far nothing, but a nuisance. At least to Draco.

Sliding to the floor Draco continued to lean against the rail resting the back of his head against it. At her question he rolled his eyes. ”Hm, I’m not avoiding her. She’s just busy at the moment.” Which wasn’t a lie. She was busy. Busy doing his work because hew as being obscenely lazy to do it himself. ”Besides, what’s it matter to you?” It was a rather odd question to be asked by someone that had really nothing to do with them other than she was a part of their House. Yet the curiosity was starting to get the best of him. There had to be a reason for her to ask or she wouldn’t have bothered with it at all. The blonde sure wouldn’t have.

If Anna was going to ask him questions about him and Pansy it wouldn’t hurt to ask questions about her, right? It was fifty-fifty the way he saw it and yet again his curiosity took the better of him. It was as if it was unavoidable. Which really it wasn’t. Everyone was curious about things. ”What about you? Are you trying to avoid Evan? Or everyone in general?” Draco didn’t know what was so bad about Evan. It’s not like he knew him personally, but from what he’s heard he was a rather charming man. At least with the ladies.

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Walking down the path into Hogsmeade it seemed just like everything else. It didn’t change. Gosh it really did seem that the only thing that had changed was them. It was as if they had gone back in time. The only difference were some of the Professors and that really wasn’t such a big deal since many of them had just resigned and they took in their position. Well not so much for Leslie since she was just an assistant and nothing more for the time being.

Yet at the mention of all of them getting sick at one point she laughed a bit. It was true. It was almost impossible to not get sick off of eating those beans. Leslie sure didn’t want to even know how they were made. Some of them were just very disgusting. It was a miracle that none of them ended up vomiting especially after having one that tasted like vomit and Leslie was sure she had ended up eating a few of those. They weren‘t very tasty either. ”Who even thought up of doing such a thing? Now that I think about it none of us were actually thinking when we agreed to do such a thing.” Leslie had a good idea that it all started as a dare until everyone ended up doing it, but that was a memory that she hadn’t quite wanted to remember and didn’t actually remember it which was good on her part until now.

After telling Remus on her thoughts about Sirius she expected him to not even think about it and just say he had done it and leave it at that, but as he lead her elsewhere to where no one would easily hear what they had to say she thought different. Maybe he had more to say than he let on. Listening to what he was telling her she closed her eyes and just gave a small nod. She knew all that very well. Leslie didn’t want to think of Sirius that way. That’s just how everyone thought of him. Yet she kept to herself on what he had just mentioned. It was hard for her to think that he’d be like that. That he had changed after they left Hogwarts and would really sell Lily and James to the Dark Lord.

Leslie couldn’t find her voice to say anything as she just continued to listen to her friend. Though once the question was directed to her she took in a deep breath to compose herself. ”The whole time I saw him with James he seemed so loyal to him. Sirius didn’t seem as if he would even think of doing such a thing, much less actually go through with it.” Nibbling on her lower lip she could feel her eyes start to water as she tried to hold them back. She didn’t want to cry. There had been enough of that when she had received the news all those years ago. ”You said he would never betray his friends, so then why or better yet how did it happen? What if he was there just at the wrong time and someone else did it? We’ve been in those situations before.“ Leslie knew how that was being caught in something that had nothing to do with her. One of the other students had told her that Professor Slughorn was looking for her and when she went to go speak to him his office was in shambles and she ended up getting detention for it. Even after she attempted to show and even prove that she hadn’t done it. She had been there so obviously it was her. “None of us know exactly what happened and we all just wanted answers. It was easy for everyone to just blame him and leave it at that.” Shifting on her feet slightly she wrapped her arms around herself moving her gaze from Remus. ”He didn’t even get a trail. None of us got to hear his side of the story.” She whispered.

Shaking her head she ran a hand through her hair. ”How about we just forget about it all? I shouldn’t have even brought any of it up.” She gave him a fake smile as she glanced over her shoulder. ”Lets just have a good time.”

[Akira.S]

Listening him talk about himself was a constant drag; everything that came out of his mouth was such an annoyance. As if she couldn’t handle Pansy on her own! Please, that girl may have been annoying but that didn’t mean Anna needed rescuing. Besides, wasn’t he the one who told her Slytherins didn’t help each other and that they had to deal with their own problems? Talk about controversial, and then Mr.High and Mighty decides to blame the whole thing on her! Saying that if she didn’t kiss him none of this would have happened – that he wouldn’t have to fix her mess. There was no problem to begin with, really if he just played along with it instead of being all proud… the two would be able to resolve it.

“You’re completely daft! Blaming me for all this, and don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it!” now he was really getting annoying, she even had to stand up and try to expel all the angry he was causing her by pacing. “If you had just done what I said and played along, even for a few days we wouldn’t be in this situation….If you had just consented to even act like we were going out it would have never come to this. Do you have any idea how many guys would kill to have a date with me? I don’t exactly see the ladies lining up for you…” Turning around she crossed her arms and fixed her hair since she was so flustered. Arguing with him was like, well like arguing with herself, both of them were stubborn and proud, but she knew she wasn’t in the wrong; she wouldn’t let him get away with blaming her for all of his misfortunes.

After calming down a moment she knew arguing would get them nowhere and sat back down on the hard wood floor and sigh apologizing for that obscenely uncalled for outburst of anger. It was rare for a Slytherin to show such vivid emotions, most of the time Anna was composed and defined, but just thinking about Draco and how rude he was acting towards her just made her so angry. What exactly did she see in him? How could something inside her have sparked when she kissed him? Well that was all for naught, it would all come to nothing since he would definitely be the last person on the planet she would ever consider dating.

When Draco began to explain how he wasn’t avoiding Pansy and that she was just busy, Anna rolled her eyes to herself highly doubting his claim. Pansy would almost never go anywhere without being by Draco’s side – although there were those rare moments she’d go off for a minute or two to use the lu or to grab something on her own. If everything was resolved and that dating Pansy was the only way out of their mess why was he avoiding her? Shouldn’t he try to be as close to her as possible to remove any suspicions people might have had about him potentially dating Anna? She was an eligible bachelorette as she claimed but most guys were far too beneath her to even dare ask her out, and that’s where Evan Rosenfelt came in.

Just as she had questioned him about Pansy, Draco took the opportunity to question her about Evan. He was just like one of her friends, curiously wondering why she wouldn’t go out with the boy. He was handsome, charming, polite, smart, another eligible bachelor like herself…the simple fact was he just wasn’t her type. Even though he was pretty much a very desirable Slytherin, she didn’t want to go out with him. It was expected people like them got together, considering their situation in life and their pure blood…ness but to her, there was just no attraction to Evan at all. “If you must know I’m here to avoid everyone…and Evan, because some of us aren’t so fortunate to have people at our disposal.” Anna actually had respect for her friends and wasn’t going to treat them like tools like Draco was.

Really she was mostly up here to avoid Evan but she’d never admit it, she really didn’t want anything to do with him but knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid the acquaintance forever. “Anyway I don’t see why this is any of your concern, you have no reason to be hiding from society since your social ranking has been preserved thanks to your dating Pansy. Clearly your motive for being here is to cause me complete and utter vexation.” For a second there it sounded like Anna was slightly….jealous or at least held a grudge but no, that wasn’t possible, maybe she wasn’t jealous, instead she was probably envious that Draco could get out of the mess so easily while she was back to where she started – except maybe now she’d build up the reputation of a flirt…that would seriously damage her social ranking which she didn’t even think about until now.

-----

Thinking about the things they did when they were younger Remus had to admit that the majority of the time they were causing trouble around the school they really weren’t thinking about what they were doing. They were mostly doing it for the sake of having fun, which is what a teenager was supposed to do; he just didn’t realize how foolish he was and just how it was possible that he and his friends weren’t thinking. Chuckling at the thought he smiled to himself, adding a statement to Leslie’s about thinking before agreeing to do anything, “do you think we or any other self-respectable student back then every really thought about what they were doing before they did it?” maybe the smart ones like Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw SOMETIMES thought before they acted but definitely not Slytherin and definitely not their branch of Gryffindor. It was funny how they were able to pull Leslie into a little bit of fun every now and then since she was a prefect and all.

Soon the conversation changed from cheery to…well not so cheery, especially since they were now talking about Sirius. A topic of conversation most people liked to avoid if they were able to. But being his friends of course they wanted to know the truth behind what happened all those years ago and if Sirius was really innocent or not. Remus sincerely didn’t want to believe Sirius had done it, they were all too close friends to really betrayed each other to the Dark Lord. Even with all the facts it still seemed hard to believe Sirius didn’t do it…which was the sad part. If in the end Remus had to admit Sirius was the one who did betray the Potters, he wanted to hear the words come out from his best friend’s mouth.

Apparently he wasn’t the only one who wanted to see Sirius be proved innocent, but even with her claims of him being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, or being far too loyal to turn the Potters in, there was no evidence to back that statement up. Remus waited for her to finish before allowing himself the chance to speak and to explain to her what was explained to him every time he asked anyone anything about Sirius. “Even if what you say about him being in the wrong place at the wrong time were true, there was no one around during the time the Potters were killed. Everyone who was there was killed, no doubt by the Dark Lord or by Sirius himself. Even Peter who tried to stop Sirius was brutally murdered, along with innocent muggles. I’m sorry to say it Leslie but all evidence does point to Sirius, and of course they wouldn’t hold a trial for him…having done so much bad in one day what was the point?” Remus hated speaking so ill of his friend but he wasn’t going to sugar-coat the situation for her. If she was going to get over it she’d have to do it on her own terms and get over it herself like he had to over the course of twelve years. “Believe me, if we could hear Sirius’ side of the story it might save him…or break him.” He motioned her off so they wouldn’t get looks from those passing by on the street, wondering what they were talking about.

For the time being it was good to, as Leslie said to forget about such sad topics and just move on for the time being. It wasn’t her fault that she wanted to know and Remus wasn’t going to blame her, but this particular conversation was best served in small doses…
“Don’t worry too much about it, I’m glad you came to talk to me…believe me it eases the pain one suffers after being alone for so long.” He led her into the Three Broomsticks and found them a nice quiet table in the back – more Wanted Sirius Black posters everywhere, as if there weren’t enough of those hanging around already.

[Jo Giggles]

Oh, now that little outburst was the last thing that Draco expected, but it cause a little smirk to form on his lips. It just proved that he was even getting to her. Of course he wasn’t even happy about what she had said about him, yet making her snap. That was something that people had talked about around Slytherin. Anna wasn’t a girl to get easily angered, much less just yell. It seemed that she was always rather composed in any situation. Though this time it didn’t seem as if it was going to be that way. It made him almost shrug it off. Keyword almost. The blonde wasn’t going to take it sitting down at least figuratively. He was going to have some say in what she throwing at him.

The trick of it all was to show that it didn’t bother you. Draco had learned how much that pushed other peoples buttons. It even pushed his own buttons when Potter and his disgusting friends didn’t get bothered by what he said. ”Oh, please, you really think I enjoyed that? Pansy is a better kisser than you are.” What an outrageous lie. He couldn’t help himself. He was going to admit to such a thing not after her little outburst. It’d make him seem as if he’d want her and that would be the last thing on his mind. ”Your thinking rather highly of yourself. Guys lining up for you? I don’t see it happening.” He taunted. There was just something about that that just feel good. ”As for the ladies, well they don’t know what they really want. At least not yet.” Draco was being rather self-centered to think that the ladies didn’t want him yet. As those words left his lips they felt true. The blonde came from a rather wealthy family that had quite a few connections in the wizarding community. Ones that were used rather often. They were all used to their advantage either in Hogwarts or amongst those in the Ministry for Magic. It was always worth it. He just didn’t go about bragging unless it was to Potter and a few of his fellow friends. They always made for rather interesting stories.

Once she finally sat down and apologized Draco started to play with the cuff of his shirt as he started to fold it up. He merely shrugged it off. What was an apology going to do now? It was too late for all that had already occurred. Nothing was going to change it and make it all just disappear. It wasn’t like they had anything that would take them back in time to stop it from happening. As soon as his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows he placed his arms behind his head making himself rather comfortable. There was no way that he was going to leave anytime soon. Not matter what anyone told him.

Even if he was dating Pansy it didn’t mean that he was going to have to be with her twenty four seven. Draco was not the kind of male that enjoyed being clung to. He enjoyed the attention, but he didn’t want someone literally dangling off his arm unless the time for it was proper. Now wasn’t that time. Maybe sometime later in the year. It was too soon for that and he had enough of it for the first week of it on the first day when she wouldn’t let got of him. It was as if she was his babysitter and Draco Malfoy didn’t need one.

Upon hearing her reason he let out a scoff. It was sort of the same excuse he himself had though the last part was a bit sour on his part. People at his disposal. There could have been another way for her to put it. It didn’t have to go like that exactly, yet he kept his mouth shut about it. For he knew that it was true. At least that’s how he treated them. Like nothing more than tools that could easily be disposed of if the time came for it.

”Now, did I got about reading your mind to find out you were going to be up here?” He asked. There was no way he was doing this to just bother her. Draco had no idea that she was up here. The blond had though that he would be alone up here. Actually, he had just allowed his feet to lead him wherever they wanted to go. Somehow he had just ended up here. If it bothered her, she was just going to have to deal with it. For he wasn’t going to leave just because Anna wanted him to.

There was something that made him want to take it a bit further. At least see just how far he could push Anna‘s buttons. ”Maybe your right. I should be in the Common Room discussing with all the males just how bad of a kisser you are. They obviously wouldn’t mind hearing about that. After all I’m with Pansy.” It was harsh, but Draco couldn’t help it. Her reaction would be rather priceless. ”At least they’d be able to have a shot with you, but I don’t know how much they’d want to after that.” They were all just thirteen years old. Draco wasn’t really even interested in dating the only reason he went through with it was because it was to his advantage.

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The conversation of Sirius made Leslie just want to drop it and leave it be. As if it had been better to just keep her thoughts to herself, but she did feel better that she had told someone else about what she had been thinking of for so many years. Either it was still rather hard to believe that their friend could do such a thing. All the evidence did lead to him and there was no one there to say otherwise, but she still felt that she wanted to hear what Sirius himself would have to say. Even if it ended up being exactly what she didn’t want to hear. She’d rather know that he did it. Then maybe she’d find some closure. To know that he really did belong in Azkaban just like everyone said he did. The brunette couldn’t find herself to say anything as she gave a small nod.

Of course she’d go to Remus to talk about these sort of things. Who else would she be able to turn to? It’s not like her parents knew of anything that happened in the wizarding world and if it ever came up they’d just rather not know. It kept them safe and sane. Or so they said. ”Thanks. It’s hard to talk to anyone these days.” Leslie may have had a few interesting trips and kept herself busy after Hogwarts, but the price of it had been that she closed herself off to the world. She learned that if she kept to herself that there wouldn’t be any disappointments unless they were her own.

Taking her seat she fiddled with her bracelets as she didn’t want to see the posters of Sirius. There were just way too many of them. Leslie understood that if he really was a threat that he had to be returned to Azkaban, but really was placing so many pictures around going to help find him? It was worse that wizard pictures moved and it scared her to see her old time friend be like that. That would have been something she would have never wanted to see from any of her friends. ”Do they really have to cover everything with wanted posters? Isn’t a few enough..” The question wasn’t really meant to be answered. It just showed how the posters bothered her, but it was normal, right?

Leslie didn’t even know why they bothered her so much. Was it because it wasn’t a picture she’d like to see of him? Or because she felt that he didn’t deserve the treatment that he was getting? There really could be so many reasons for her to feel the way that she did, but whatever it was she didn’t like it. It was disturbing to see him that way. Closing her eyes for a moment she let out a small sigh. It suddenly bothered her that she couldn’t remember the last memory she had of him. Was it when they all left their separate ways at the end of their seventh year? Before? After? Not knowing made her want to scream in frustration, but she held it back not wanting to think about it anymore. This wasn’t the time to be worrying about such things.

Moving her gaze from her bracelets to Remus she gave him a small smile. ”Did you have anything planned out for today?” Even if she wanted to discuss a little more on Sirius, it was enough for the day. The brunette didn’t want to end up having him wander though her mind all day. It’d end up causing her a headache. Even though he had already invaded her thoughts for most of the day. Some pleasant and others not so much. A day in Hogsmeade would hopefully clear her mind especially with a friend like Remus around. That’s what she needed for once. To just have fun.

[Akira.S]

Listening to all his insults, all his childish remarks about her, practically humiliating her in every way possible Anna still decided not to show her anger so freely again and decided to just sit there and take it. As if she didn’t get enough of that at home she just had to get it here. She wasn’t sure how she was going to survive a whole year knowing he was in her house…much less the next four years, oh how dreadful. Well, while leaning against the stone ledge the dark haired girl sigh to herself, letting his insults go in through one ear and out the next. Maybe it did bother her slightly but she just laughed quietly at herself shaking her head, “you’re the definition of the word childish, do you honestly believe you can attempt to anger me with insults like that?” She began rolling her eyes, although not as much as she’d like, “you fight the exact same way every other Slytherin fights their battles, which is why I have no interest in listening to your mindless chatter. I’ve already apologized for my rude behaviour and yet you continue… insufferable fool.” She chuckled to herself still leaning back and gazing up at the ceiling while the afternoon light shined down on him.

There was definitely a difference in maturity, either that or they were both interested to see how far they could well – piss each other off so to speak. A conversation like this between two Slytherins would definitely go on forever, which is why Anna made it quite clear she didn’t want to take part in it just by simply ignoring him. That was the difference in maturity, Draco was still a playful child although he seemed to have hit puberty his mind was scarcely developed…while Anna had matured greatly over the summer, body and mind as well. Of course Anna was too proud to ever say such a thing out loud but it was true, she wouldn’t give Draco the satisfaction of getting to her, no that right was clearly reserved for people she respected and thought highly of and he was definitely the last.

Continuing to giggle as the blonde tried to anger her she stood up, fixed her dress and flipped her hair behind her shoulders while packing up her bag. Slinging her messenger bag down one shoulder she walked to the ledge and looked out to the beautiful scenery once more…oh how she would have liked to have enjoyed her afternoon here but unfortunately under the circumstances she’d be the first to arrive and the first to leave. Standing under the sunlight she looked rather pretty, her deep onyx coloured hair glistening in the light, her lightly coloured skin glowing and her deep emerald green eyes sparkling. Turning towards the blonde from the edge of the railing she stopped when they were parallel to each other, Draco facing one direction and Anna the other. She shook her head slightly and tilted it so she was turned towards him slightly with a slight smirk on her face, “you can’t possibly beat me at my own game Draco Malfoy…if you were so confident in your methods you could go down to the Common Room and tell the others how horrible I am at kissing, but it just make me that much more irresistible…” her tone of voice was very quiet and rather seductive. She really did know how to play his game, and with that final statement she began to walk down the higher platform, and down the stairs exiting through the tower’s only entrance.

If he could understand the meaning behind what she meant that would have been impressive. She may have been the first to leave but she was triumphant in getting the last word in. Even if he did tell all the males about how much a horrible kisser she was, one kiss to any other Slytherin would revoke that statement and turn it into a lie, causing him complete and utter humiliation. But, being Slytherin, Anna knew he was much too proud, he wouldn’t sink that low now would he? She was saddened that she had to leave her entertainment for the day but at least she told herself that she definitely did not have any feelings what so ever for the boy and left it quite contently at that.

~~~

The days started to get much colder as the evening grew longer. But what did come with the later weeks in fall were the third year’s first trip to Hogsmeade. All were excited and eagerly handed their permissions slips in to Mr.Filtch before heading off to the little village. Among the large group of third years of course were the Slytherins, Draco with his friends and Anna with hers. The two hadn’t spoken much outside of academic related activities like class if it was absolutely necessary, and Quidditch which was a must since Flint wouldn’t allow them to bicker on the field during practice.

Anyway the students were briefed about what there was to do and shown the path so they wouldn’t get lost – like they could anyway…once they were all set to go they spread like wildfire to the village. All of them were much too excited to have sweets at Honeydukes, check out the jokes at Zonko’s, have a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks and whatever else the village’s delights were. The village was quite small but still it seemed difficult to catch wind of where other students were since they were all over the place. Slytherins doing what they did best enjoyed themselves by causing misery to others, of course some more than others. However there were the select few that came to the village purely to have fun. It would take a little while to weed them out but it was definitely possible.

-----

As relieved as Leslie was to be able to talk about Sirius with someone who wouldn’t think she was completely daft, Remus also felt relieved to be able to speak of his old friend in the same manner, even if one thought he was innocent and the other thought he was guilty. Remus didn’t want to think so lowly of his best friend but all the evidence was there, everything except a testimony from Sirius himself and since there were no surviving witnesses it was impossible to prove his innocence. It was quite a frustrating topic to say the least and he too tried not to think about it often but how could you not when you had one side of you thinking about the good old days and the other side picking at you with wanted posters everywhere? That in itself was frustration.

After situating them at a table, a waiter bringing them two butterbeers as requested, Remus took his spoon and decided to savour his first drink after a long time of being away and hoped Leslie felt the same. Taking a bit of the creamy like foam from the top and tasting its sweetness, he put down the spoon and lifted the cup to make a toast if it was appropriate. “A toast my dear, to us…and our return to this wondrous place that seems to want to haunt us and bring us fortune.” He smirked while the two cheered before taking their first sip. It was definitely like being a child again except you were older…if only James, Lily, Peter and Sirius could enjoy this together with them. They’d never know that pleasure, sitting in front of a warm fire and talking about the good old days, having tea with your old friends and sharing memories, but that was the world they lived in there was nothing they could do about that.

While sipping his butterbeer, not sure of what pleasant conversation to have with Leslie since both were a bit dragged down, he noticed she looked up at him with a smile and asked if he had anything left planned for the day. Truthfully none of this was really planned; both of them just sort of went with it as they went along, Leslie out for a walk and Remus out to reminisce but now that they were together it was probably a good idea to stick together and cheer each other up. “No, not in particular. But if you’re not doing anything for the rest of the day I was hoping you and I could spend the rest of the afternoon here.” It seemed like a good idea, hopefully a little bit of fun would keep their spirits high. He definitely didn’t want to go back to the castle looking so down, so it was best he cheer himself up here with Leslie and head back around supper time – hopefully they’d both be feeling better and ready to teach during the upcoming weeks.

~~~

During Leslie’s first week with Remus he had been so fortunate to plan a couple of great and fun lessons that seemed appropriate for third years. Moving all the desks to the sides of the class he presented them with a large…rather ordinary looking cabinet. The only thing was, was that it moved, it shook and it rumbled, startling the students slightly as they wondered what was inside.
“Today, Professor Cavender and I will be teaching you about Boggarts. Now can anyone tell me what a Boggart ‘looks like’?” he opened the floor up to anyone who could answer, although most of the students were either too petrified to think or were far too focused on the cabinet door to make sure it wouldn’t burst open.

“No one knows, a boggart takes the shape of what a person fears the most.” Hermione Granger spoke up from the crowd of students; of course she’d know the answer. Remus was very much impressed but after hearing the rumours about her intelligence one was no so easily surprised.

“Very good, yes, luckily there is a simple spell to repel a boggart. Repeat after me –Ridikulous” he had the class repeat it to make sure they were saying it correctly, enunciating every syllable properly. “Well, so much for the easy part but what really finishes a boggart off is laughter. Professor would you like to take over from here?” he asked motioning Leslie towards the front of the class so she could resume half the lesson. Unlike Snape he was definitely willing to give her a chance instead of just standing there most of the time plus he was confident that her methods would be just as good as his. It was a fairly simple lesson and a very fun one at that, hopefully she wouldn’t be so nervous and forget all their training and all that they had planned during the week.

[Jo Giggles]

Listening to what she had to say to him for once he actually kept his mouth shut. Which was a rather surprise since Draco was one to easily speak what was on his mind, but somehow he couldn’t come up with anything to say. Why should he? If she was just going to end up retorting something back at him. He could easily say something back. In the end Draco could find better ways to get back at her than to just insult her. Those just weren’t going to be mentioned out loud. If Anna insulted Draco she would suffer his wrath. The way he wanted and there was going to be no say by anyone, but him. The dark haired female had no idea what she was getting herself into. For now he was just going to allow her to think that he was just going to take it.

Just cause they were both Slytherins’ didn’t mean that they had to get along. There were a few that just never did. It was just the way they were. People just couldn’t get along with everyone. To think this was all because one girl couldn’t give him the satisfaction that he wanted. It would have been rather easy if this had just been left with that. The blonde would have never bothered her again. Studying her he could see just what she meant especially when the light hit her the way it did. It was tempting, very tempting to just take that challenge and tell all the common room of the kiss. Just to see how she would react to it. Instead of just Evan after her it’d be all of Slytherin. Would that be what she wanted? He didn’t think so as he just gave a shrug with a light grin on his face. She didn’t know what she was getting herself into with him.

As she left Draco stood up dusting off his slacks as he turned to look over the railing once again enjoying the breeze against his face. It felt nice to finally be alone to sort through his own thoughts. Draco wasn’t going to let some girl win this. Oh no, he wasn’t. He was going to do something about it and it was going to be the end of it. Anna would end up realizing that she should have never kissed him in the first place.

Moving a few strands from his face as he watched those below him move around. They all seemed happy and oblivious of what the real world carried on for all them. They were lucky that the Dementors weren’t around or else they would certainly not be feeling very happy for the time. None of them would be that’s for sure. After spending a few hours up in the Astronomy Tower Draco made his way down for dinner and headed off to bed after talking to Pansy for a bit in the Common Room. The following weeks were going to be rather interesting. With Quidditch practice and the holidays quickly coming up. Along with the first visit to Hogsmeade.

As soon as their permissions slips were handed to Mr. Filtch they were off to the village. Draco slipped his hands into his jacket as he could feel Pansy starting to cling to his arm as they walked along. Just where were they to start off this little trip? They all had suggestions. Pansy wanted to spend the day with him alone and he really didn’t want to. So he managed to get Crabble and Goyle to join them without as much as a peep from his girlfriend. ”How about we start off with the Shrieking Shack? See if the rumors are true.” He suggested and he could already tell that Pansy wasn’t too happy about that, but Crabble and Goyle didn’t seem to mind it one bit.

”I don’t want to go there. Why not the Three Broomsticks? Or even Honeydukes?” The whining was only about to begin. Draco could already tell. He didn’t want to deal with it. Surely her friends wanted to go there so why didn’t she stick with them. Let the boys do what the boys wanted to and the girls to do whatever they wanted to do. They were all so annoying in his book.

A small sigh escaped the males lips as he looked away from the female that was clinging to his arm. Placing a hand on her shoulder he pulled his arm from his grasp. ”Pansy, you go with your friends and I’ll go with mine. We can meet up at the Three Broomsticks later, my treat, kay?” He said giving her nose a slight tap. It seemed that was effective. Everything was with her. Though as she gave a nod and placed a chaste kiss on his lips he forced a smile. She knew better than to show such actions in public. Especially after the incident, but it didn’t seem that she cared.

As she left a frown adorned his features as he slipped his hand back into the warmth of his jacket and lead the way towards the Shrieking Shack. Hopefully no one else would be there with them. It seemed that there was going to be a dance or so he had heard. One for Halloween and a bunch of the girls were starting to get all excited about it. Draco already knew that he was going to have to end up going with Pansy despite the fact that he’d rather just not attend at all. There was no point in such a silly little thing.

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Having her butterbeer Leslie stared at it for a bit before she gave a nod to his toast not having anything to add to it as they cheered and she finally took a sip of the liquid. It was just as delicious as he had known it all those years ago. With everything she did miss having it each time she went out and instead had to settle with another type of beverage. It’s not like she found butterbeer everywhere she went. While living in France she had gotten quite accustomed to drinking wine, but it would never beat the sweet taste that was left in her mouth at the moment.

Remus’s response made her slightly happy. The brunette wouldn’t want anything other than spending the rest of the day with him. It would be nice to have each other to lean on at this time. All the talk about Sirius was bringing both of their moods down. They needed a pick me up and what best one than actually spending most all day in Hogsmeade? ”Sure, I’d love that.” It was going to like old times sake only with just the two of them. If any of the other students had seen them they would have thought that there was something more between them. Even if they were just friends.

The rest of the day was good for the both of them. Being out an about in Hogsmeade. It was as if they were teenagers once again. It was just the sort of thing that the both of them needed. Though everything had to have an end. Even something like this. Soon they were back into their Professor mode as they prepared the lessons for the following week. Which Leslie was rather excited to work upon. Remus was going to have a little more hands on with the students than Severus would ever allow. After all he had been rather reluctant to the proposition when Dumbledore had brought it up, but only agreed to it, because it was Dumbledore who was asking him to do so.

Now was the time for the lesson and Leslie felt in the slightest nervous about the whole thing. She was unsure of how she was going to do, but she pushed it to the back of her mind as she watched her friend start off the lesson. A small smile appeared on her features as she took in the way that he thought. It seemed as if many of the students enjoyed it. They way he actually had them do something instead of just jotting down notes. It was nice to see the difference between Remus and Severus and like usual Hermione would speak up whenever a question was asked. Only instead of being reprimanded for it she was congratulated. Yea, Leslie was going to enjoy her time in Remus’s classes.

Sitting on one of the many desks her feet dangled in the slightest as she even repeated the spell a bit herself. It had been a while since even she had used it. After all it’s not like she ran into a boggart every day that’s for sure. They were usually found in dark places and she didn’t have many of those. Then blending in with muggles made it even better since there weren’t many magical creatures around. It made her life a lot easier. Once she heard Remus suggest that she take over even if it did sound like a question to the rest of the class she got off the desk dusting off her robes as she made her way to the front of the class. ”If you don’t mind.” She said with a small smile as she noted that all eyes were on her. It was odd as she was used to small groups that only consisted of five to ten people.

”Now as Professor Lupin said what finishes a boggart is laughter, but it will get to you through fear, your greatest fear.” She stated as she scanned the students faces. It seemed that some were starting to get a bit edgy knowing now what they were going to end up against. ”Don’t worry everyone will be fine.” She reassured them. It’s not Leslie wanted to see her worst fear either, but if it was to happen it would.

Spotting a familiar face amongst the front she smiled. ”Neville Longbottom, right?” She asked as the boy gave her a small nod. It seemed that he was scared that she had picked him out of all of them. ”Tell me what do you fear the most?” Hearing him murmur something she blinked as she hadn’t quite caught what he had said. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring squeeze. ”I didn’t catch that. Don’t worry no one will laugh.” They all had fears. Even If many denied it the boggart would always tell different. Some more common than others, but they were all there.

It seemed that was what Neville needed as he spoke up, albeit reluctantly. ”P-professor Snape…” Oh, now that was something that Leslie wasn’t expecting. She could already hear a few comments coming from the back, but they were hushed. She knew very well that the Severus picked on poor Neville, yet she had never suspected that would make him the thing he was afraid the most.

Nibbling on her lower lip she tried to think of something that would make it rather humorous when he cast the spell. Though nothing came to mind, at least not appropriate, since everything she could think of were pranks that were pulled on the male when they were younger. ”Hm, well you have to picture something humorous happening to Professor Snape. Something ridiculous like the incantation. Does anything come to mind?” Even though she couldn’t exactly think of something for the boy to think of she could see that he was thinking about it.

{ o.o.c. I didn't want to get too far with the lesson. I hope this is okay. }

[Akira.S]

Their first trip to Hogsmeade was a nice sort of….cloudy overcast day, cold winds, leaves falling off the trees. Not the happiest first trip but it was fall, what did you expect. Now that it was getting colder, students were wearing much thicker layers of clothing, especially when they went out. Although, where Anna was coming from it was much too warm to say the least. She was walking down a pathway outside the village towards the Shrieking Shack with her two sidekicks walking behind her and Evan Rosenfelt, arms linked as he was determined to be right by her side at all times.

Seems as though her little conversations with Draco sparked an interest to at least give Evan a try…She was regretting every moment of this day, especially when she thought going to Hogsmeade was going to be fun. Of course Evan was everything every girl ever wanted, but to Anna he was plain, ordinary, and unamusing to say the least. While going to Hogmeade meant you were allowed to wear casual clothing Anna stuck to wearing skinny black jeans, a white thick long sleeve sweater, a black cloak, and almost knee high dragon hide boots. Thinking that she was far too under dressed Evan even wrapped his Slytherin scarf around her neck to make sure she was warm enough…now isn’t that sweet? Sweet was the last gesture she was thinking about. The two of them sort of had a strange air about the way they walked together, it was definitely the perfect couple sort of air – pushing away students that got in their way, giving people dirty looks, it really was only Anna who couldn’t see them as a perfect couple but decided to put up with it for the time being.

Anyway, the four decided the first thing they wanted to do was check out the Shrieking Shack and that’s what they did. Walking through the forest, downhill past the trees they came into a clearing where a fence was placed around the house that stood alone in the distance. It was marvelous! Everything a haunted house should be – too bad there weren’t any Gryffindors they could hex into it or something, that would have been a laugh. While admiring the English architecture of the building, wanting to move up a bit closer, Anna was pulled back gently by Evan’s grasp, his brown eyes displayed a look of worry and concern. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” He was all for visiting the Shack but not entering it. Not that he was scared or anything. “You’re such a child…” Anna muttered to herself, while she and her friends continued on conversing amongst themselves about the Shack and its rumours, but mostly about how cute a couple Anna and Evan made. She wished they didn’t make such a big deal out of it and she wished she’d never consented to going with him – but why did she in the first place?

Turning around, feeling a little bit chilly she decided they should head for the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer and to warm up by the fire before they continued their excursion. While the four were heading back up to the village, Anna’s friends noticed a trio coming downward toward the shack.
“What’s he doing here?” One of them asked as Anna turned her attention from the pathway, up to where Draco, Crabbe and Goyle were walking. Evan, who by the way had a serious distaste for Draco since what happened between him and Anna, seriously wanted to avoid them and tried pulling on Anna’s arm to motion them up another path back to the village.

However Anna wasn’t going to run away, it’d make her look weak, or too scared to face him and scared she was not. “Evan please, you’re causing a scene…” Anna muttered just as the four approached Draco and his friends. “Afternoon boys, I see you’re short a member today.” She couldn’t help but point out that Pansy was once again not by Draco’s side. Evan once again decided to take the defensive side and glare at Draco and his friends, giving them the dirtiest look possible while keeping his arm firmly linked with Anna’s. He thought she was trying to be polite and start conversation but Anna had other plans in mind. Of course she wanted to speak with Draco but she’d rather do it alone instead of in this little crowd.

-----

Remus decided to watch from the window by the old record player at how Leslie conducted herself in class, she seemed very natural with the students, hopefully she'd get enough information for her book through this teaching experience – except the only problem was she wasn’t with them constantly so she didn’t know them very well unless they were in Snape’s classes this term. He hoped she'd have this much confidence during the year, especially those days where he'd need to take a week off for personal reasons - he'd rather the students be taught by her than Professort Snape or anyone else. Anyway, noticing she called on Neville Longbottom first he smiled at what a perfect example this would be for the rest of the students. If Neville could get over his fear of Professor Snape here then maybe there was room for improvement in real life – although that was a bit improvement indeed.

Neville seemed to have a bit of trouble thinking about what to do to Professor Snape, and was having a hard time focusing. So, walking from the side of the class, Remus decided to join Leslie and Neville for a moment. “I understand you live with your grandmother yes?” After all, Neville and Harry were one of the prophesized children that could eventually take out the dark lord, and since he knew Alice and Frank Longbottom, he knew all about Neville. “Y-Yes but I don’t want that Boggart to turn into her…” Neville said rather fearfully looking at both Professors oddly. “No, it won’t…now here’s what I want you to do Neville…” Remus looked at Leslie and smiled, motioning the boy aside for a moment whispering something in his ear, “Can you do that? Of course you can.” He motioned him back to Leslie to take over the rest of the class.

If Neville could properly conjure up the spell to stop this boggart anyone could, which was why he was a perfect example. Hopefully the others would see it the same way and enjoy their hands on lesson. He allowed Leslie a chance to take over, readying Neville before he opened the closet door. Some students still looked upon it nervously – wondering what exactly was behind it and what it would look like when it came out. In Neville’s case would it look exactly like Snape or some odd….monstrous version of him?
“C’mon Neville wand at the ready, and don’t forget to picture the image in your mind.” Remus gave the boy another little push of encouragement, waiting for Leslie to signal him to open the cabinet.

[Jo Giggles]

Walking down the path through the trees stepping on countless of leaves. The only sound among them the crunching of the leaves as they stepped on them. None of them had anything to discuss as nothing had happened. Nothing of importance. Though as the blonde looked ahead of them he blinked spotting who he knew was Anna and her little friends coming towards them. ”Ignore them.” Was all he said to Crabbe and Goyle and they gave a nod. It was best to just leave it how it had been. Ignore each other without a single word. It had worked for him so far and Draco wasn’t about to change it. They only spoke when they had to. Which was rare in any of their classes or even on the Quidditch pitch.

Draco smirked in the slightest as he noticed that Evan attempted to take them up a different path. It seemed as if he was afraid of being near him. He didn’t have any reason for him to do so. Though he couldn’t help, but wonder why Anna and him had their arms linked. Had she finally decided to go out with him? He guessed that she did and it irritated him. Not for the fact that they were dating, but the fact that she had the nerve to kiss him to avoid being around the male and only end up being with him. It was certainly contradicting that’s for sure.

He had intended to just go right by them, but stopped as they were all greeted. The blonde knew very well what it meant, but he didn’t let it phase him. Why should he? Nothing the glare Draco shrugged it off. There was nothing that Evan could do to touch him. He was sure of it and he was going to make that rather obvious. ”Afternoon, ladies.” He greeted with a smile. “It seems you’ve added a member.” The smile didn’t leave his features as his gaze moved from all of them and landing on Evan for a moment as if he was daring him to do something about the greeting.

Crabbe and Goyle were confused as they had been told to ignore them, but Draco was clearly talking to them. They stayed behind him keeping and eye on Evan as they noticed how he was looking at Draco. They definitely didn’t enjoy the looks he was giving their blonde ringleader. ”If you don’t mind we shall leave you be. We have things to do and Pansy to catch up to.” With that he continued down along the path to the Shrieking Shack with his two followers right behind him. Glancing back towards the group every now and then to see if they were going back to the town or coming down.

Not bothering to look back Draco walked up to the fence as he studied the old house. It seemed hideously normal. ”This is all that it is?” He was tempted to go straight up to the house and see if any of the rumors were true himself. It just seemed like any normal house. Nothing too special about it. All that it had were rumors and stories about it being haunted and noises coming from it, but no one had ever seen anything.

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Noticing Remus coming over to them she listened to what he asked out of Neville. What did living with his grandmother have to do with boggarts? It wasn’t going to turn into her unless he was scared of her. Though as soon as he pulled the boy from her and whispered something in his ear she raised a brow in question. Oh boy was this going to be something especially if it included Severus. Watching as Neville pulled out his wand and stared at the cabinet rather nervously. Leaning in a bit she whispered to him. ”You’ll do fine. Just picture it clearly in your mind. Remember Ridikulous.” Taking a few steps behind him and the gave a small nod for Remus to open the door.

As the door was opened none other than Professor Snape stumbled out with his arms crossed and looking down intently at Neville. Leslie was ready to pull out her wand if needed, but she believe that he could handle it. Pointing his wand Neville pictured exactly what Remus had told him to. ”Ridikulous!” With a poof Snape before them was wearing what Grandma Longbottom’s clothes and rather large handbag. This caused a good amount of laughter among them all including Leslie. It was hard to not laugh as this was something that none of them would ever see Severus wearing.

”Good job, Neville! C’mon whose next?” She said giving the boy a pat on the back as he moved towards the back and Parvati Patil moved up and soon Severus turned into a giant cobra. With a simple incantation it turned into a jack in the box. It seemed that everyone was doing fairly well and Leslie couldn’t be happier. Even when Ron went up and the boggart turned into a spider and soon it was having trouble standing up with roller-skates placed on it’s feet. The class was full with laughter at the events going on. It was nice to seem like that instead of worrying about what was happening in the wizarding world with the escape of a criminal. It even cleared Leslie’s mind of it for the time being.

Once it was Harry’s turn Leslie’s eyes widened in surprise to what the boggart could possibly turn into. The worst came to mind as she stepped in front of him, with her wand ready, before the boggart managed to change into his worst fear. Instead it changed into her worst fear, which surprisingly enough startled her. Sirius Black stood before her as the rest of the class let out a gasp and murmurs started to spread. Though the brunette didn’t hear any of it as she stared at the male or rather boggart hearing her heart pounding in her chest. She didn’t understand why he would show up. There was no way that she was terrified of him.

”I did it, Leslie. I killed them.”

Bingo. That made Leslie freeze. ’No..it’s just a boggart.’ She told herself as she closed her eyes for a moment to push everything away from her mind to picture him just like Neville had with Snape. ”Ridikulous!” With that he was pushed back into the cabinet as the door snapped shut. She could still feel her heart pounding and her eyes watering in the slightest as she turned giving the students a small smile ”If..if you all excuse me.” She managed to say above a whisper as she made her way through them all and out the door of the classroom.

The students may have not understood what he meant by that, but Leslie did and it terrified her to think of such a thing. She felt she needed to be alone, somewhere where the students wouldn’t be able to find her as she made her way up towards the stairs her eyes filled with tears not even sure of where she was heading. Most of the halls were empty thanks to the classes that were still in session. Making her way to the seventh floor Leslie blinked her tears away as she found a room that she hadn’t seen before. Not really caring she walked in finding exactly what she needed. A nice room with a couch, pillow, and blanket. Not questioning how it was possible she took a seat on the couch curling into a ball hugging the pillow to her chest and buried her face into the soft material.

[Akira.S]

There he goes again, with his…attitude and the way he carried himself, how completely rude. Then again Anna was sure she was being slightly…pompous on her side. Well she couldn’t help it if – well, she wasn’t better than him but she certainly didn’t like to be ignored and she was sure he’d do that if she did stop her group to at least greet him. She wasn’t going to be rude just because the two didn’t really get along, maybe Evan was being prejudice against Draco but Anna certainly wasn’t going to be. Draco seemed reluctant at first to say hello, but that didn’t entirely stop him. He greeted the four of them, obviously mocking Evan for his prissy perfect-ness that could probably only be described as womanly. As Anna had pointed out a lack of member in Draco’s group he couldn’t help but point out the addition in hers. It was fair game, she couldn’t help it if Draco was going to ignore his girlfriend and she wasn’t going to ignore her…boyfriend. “You sound surprised, surely this doesn’t come as a shock to you?” she asked with a smirk while tugging on Evan’s arm hoping he wasn’t causing a scene.

Anna hoped that Evan wouldn’t embarrass her, the last thing she needed was for Draco to give himself another reason to make fun of her and that she wouldn’t stand. She may not have liked being Evan’s-play thing but it would make her look bad if Draco hooked up with Pansy and she was left to hang alone. After everyone had exchanged glances; Crabbe and Goyle with Anna’s two friends, Anna, Draco and Evan exchanging glances as well, Draco excused himself and his friends from their party and continued down the hill, explaining that they had things to do and Pansy to catch up with. Surely he couldn’t mean that Pansy was going down to see the Shrieking Shack? If she had she would have passed Anna and the group and that definitely wouldn’t have boded well.

Leaving them to that, Anna’s girlfriends motioned her and Evan back up to the village, however Anna had other plans. Even though she was sort of cold she’d get over it eventually, and with that she decided to pull away from Evan and the girls, stalling while they headed up the hill. “What’s wrong?” Evan asked as he looked to her, wondering if she was ill or found Draco’s company rather hurtful. Shaking her head and letting her dark onyx coloured hair flow in the breeze she looked back down the hill and turned around, “nothing I think I forgot something back at the Shrieking Shack. Don’t wait up for me, reserve use a table I’ll be back soon.” She explained and waved to them while heading back down the path, not giving them time to stop her from going.

She hadn’t really left anything, of course she made it up, what she really wanted to do was spy and Draco and make his life a little more miserable than it was right now. Following him and his friends quietly to the shack she hid behind a couple of trees not too far up and then sat down on a couple of leaves and watched the clouds move in the distance and watched the few rays of light shine through the clouds onto the ground and towards the Shack. Unlike Anna, Draco seemed unimpressed with the house, probably wishing it was much more haunted. While sitting in the leaves, picking one up and twirling it in her finger she spoke up, loud enough for them to hear her.

“I’m sure it’s much scarier if you go inside.” Getting up, the leaf still in her hand she walked back down towards the three, stopping at the wall Crabbe and Goyle made before she could get to Draco. Anna rolled her eyes – as if those two could ever do anything to faze her. Blowing the single leaf into their faces she put her hands on her hips and sigh, “if you’re done putting each other’s feet in each other’s mouths I think Draco and I need to discuss some Quidditch details.” Also another lie but she really couldn’t come up with anything more cleaver than that. Well, she probably could but it wouldn’t have made sense.

Once Crabbe and Goyle were excused on Draco’s orders Anna sort of paced on closer before standing alongside him, wondering where to begin. “You seem pretty pleased with yourself not to be around Pansy once again.” Anna said with a faint smile while fixing her long black hair as the cold winds continued to breeze on by them. She obviously had to start her conversation somewhere, and where better than to remind him of how unmanly he was acting towards his girlfriend.

-----

The lesson seemed to be going swimmingly well as Remus opened the door from where he stood in the class, allowing the boggart to step out as Neville’s fearful teacher Professor Snape. It was an exact replica, it walked, glared and stood tall and proud like Snape did and Neville seemed rather petrified. Luckily, Remus had drawn a magical circle on the floor to bind the boggart into a fixed area so that it couldn’t approach the students and potentially harm them even more than it was mentally. “C’mon Neville focus.” And after a couple moments of concentration, the boy took out his wand and pointed at Snape casting the spell on him. In a moment Snape appeared to be wearing animal fur clothing and carried a red handbag. The students, Neville, Leslie and even Remus had a good laugh as the boggart version of Snape seemed horrified to their laughter.

As soon as Leslie called up the others Remus turned on the record player to ease the mood and enlighten the class. It seemed to be working so far- everyone enjoyed the boggart and turning it into something funny, the hard part was facing your nerves. However something happened that seemed to startle the entire class. Harry was up next, and Remus assumed he’d let the boggart take the shape of Lord Voldemort, but instead of allowing the boggart that chance, Leslie jumped up in front of him and allowed it to take the shape of what she feared most which was quite startling to say the least.

Standing by the windows, Remus’ eyes as well as the class’ eyes opened wide when the Boggart transformed into the adult form of Sirius Black in his Azkaban outfit, telling Leslie that he did it, and that he killed them. Murmurs started about the students, Harry just standing there wondering what Leslie had to do with his family’s murderer but before he could say anything and before Remus could react to the situation, Leslie cast the spell on Sirius and had him wear ridiculous clothing before shoving him back into the closet and locking the door. Remus quickly stopped the music and began walking over to see if she was alright. She smiled at the students and quickly excused herself, passing them by and exiting the classroom as quickly as she could – all of them still chattering away about what just happened.

“That’s all for today thank you, if you’d like to collect your books have a wonderful afternoon. Sorry, can’t have too much of a good thing now can you.” He explained to them while moving the cabinet to the other side of the class, waving his wand to put the desks and chairs back in place. Before he let the students leave he quickly stopped a particular one just before he went out to go after Leslie, “Harry!” the professor called, hoping to stop him before he left with Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger, “Harry, I’d like to speak with you after dinner if possible, here in my office.” He pat him on the shoulder and excused himself, leaving his class to find out where his friend had gone off too.

Heading out of the tower, he hoped he’d be able to follow Leslie to where she was going and so he did, up the staircases…all the way up to the seventh floor and into one of the teacher’s lounges which was what he called it anyway. Entering quietly he walked over to his friend who was sitting on the deep red coloured couch, her face buried in a pillow – Remus wondering if she was crying. “Leslie…” he sat down beside her and tried pulling the pillow from her face, “are you alright?” he asked calmly trying to look into her eyes and figure out where this sort of fear came from. It was hard to believe the thing she feared most in the entire world was knowing that Sirius was guilty of all those murders years ago.

[Jo Giggles]

The Shrieking Shack only had what others gave it. Stories, many which could be easily true or not. There was only one way to find out and that was by actually going up to the house itself. No matter how tempted Draco was to do such a thing he kept himself by the fence as he stared up at the empty house. This was one of the things that many of the Hogwarts students came to see and it was nothing exciting. It was purely a waste of time. ”What if we go inside?” He asked no one in particular. Any suggestions by Crabbe and Goyle were easily just pushed aside. They weren’t the brightest and wouldn’t know what the best choice would be. Though the incidents of what could happen if they did go inside ran through the blonde’s mind as he looked up at the old house.

Hearing a familiar voice come from behind them Draco didn’t bother to even turn around to look at Anna. He already knew it was her so why bother? Though he took her suggestion into mind. The inside would be a lot scarier, but was he really willing to go in there? Not that was something that even he wasn’t sure of. He would really have to think about that for a while. Maybe next time that they were in Hogsmeade he would dare to do such a thing, but for now just looking at it should be enough. All he let out as a response to the girl was a rather small sigh. It was as if she had no way of being able to leave him alone. He had believed that she was going with her boyfriend and her friends elsewhere. So why was she even back here? At the mention of Quidditch his eyes narrowed suspiciously. Really was that what she wanted? It could have easily waited for when they had practice. Glancing over to his two friends a slight frown etched itself on his face. ”Go, leave us alone.” He ordered as they gave a small nod and both Crabbe and Goyle left to leave them alone. Of course they wouldn’t be too far from them. Though far enough from them to not eavesdrop.

Once Anna started talking he rolled his eyes as he moved away from the fence to look at the female. It was starting to get on his nerves that everything that came from her mouth was one way or another about Pansy. Couldn‘t she have anything else to come up with? ”Why do you care what I do about Pansy? Besides maybe I’m not pleased that she’s not here by my side. After all she is my girlfriend. It seems to me that maybe your jealous.” He stated as his hand cam out of his pocket to run a hand through his blonde locks. Turning as he walked a bit away from her. ”You said you wanted to talk about Quidditch, yet here we are on the subject of my girlfriend. I don’t understand why you would even come back down here. You have friends. You have a boyfriend. Yet here you are. Now it seems to me that you are the one that’s pleased that you aren’t around Evan.” He pointed out. This was a game that could easily push back onto her. If she was going to throw such thing in his face he was just going to throw it right back. If she considered this fair than he was going to consider it as well. Not like it mattered. Anything he did was rather fair.

A slight smirk formed on his lips as he looked at the female. ”So tell me what made you come back down here? It couldn’t possibly be me?” That smirk didn’t leave as he watched her. It was the only reason that she could possibly come the house was uninteresting unless they were to go ahead and head inside of it. Though he wasn’t sure if that was something that she would want to do. Draco didn’t know too many girls that would do it. They all would chicken out or cling to him with dear life. That was something that he did not want to deal with. He had enough of that when they were in school with Pansy.

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’Why?’ Was all that rand through the females head as she hugged the pillow close to her. Leslie had never thought of the situation of confronting Sirius and him telling her that he had done what so many had tried to convince her that he had. If anything she had never thought of it as scary or even terrifying to her. It had never even crossed her mind that she would take a thing the way she did, but when the boggart turned into that it scared her. She didn’t know why. It just did. Something about it made her still be able to hear the ’ba-bump’ of her heartbeat in her ears. Just the sound of it brought back the same feeling she felt as she looked up at the male she had known for at least a good seven years. It made a bash of fresh new tears swell up in her eyes as they ended up being absorbed by the pillow. Her sniffles being muffled thanks to the soft cotton material in her arms.

She hardly noticed someone open the door and walk in. Much less someone taking a seat next to her. Leslie was too caught up in trying to figure out what it all meant. She didn’t even understand it. Maybe it was best if she just forgot. Though as she felt a small tug on the pillow she couldn’t help get a slightly tighter grip on it. She hadn’t wanted anyone to see her like this and knowing that someone was there just made her want to cry even more. The brunette easily recognized the voice as her grip loosened on the pillow and allowed him to take it from her. Instead she hugged her knees to her chest resting her chin on her knees. Leslie couldn’t look him in the eyes as she stared elsewhere.

Remus’s question barely registered in her mind as she tried to find her voice to answer. She just wanted to be alone, but she knew that he wasn’t going to leave her alone. He was going to be there for her just like a true friend. They were basically all they had and they had to stick together. ”I’ll be fine…” She managed to whisper her voice cracking slightly at first. The last thing that she wanted to do was talk, but there was just so much running through her mind. She couldn’t just keep it to herself. Things just sounded so much real when they were said aloud. Even when it wasn’t something anyone wanted to heard despite what everyone said.

Tears swelled up in her brown orbs as everything just smashed itself together in her mind. A lump formed itself in her throat, but she just gulped it away. ”…why…why did it have to be him?” It didn’t make sense. None at all. Not to her. Yet it felt as if a piece of her heart had been ribbed out. It was like the day everything fell apart. When she found out that the Potters’ were dead, Peter being killed, Sirius being sent to Azkaban for murder, and finally the Dark Lord was defeated. The cost for such a thing was too great and a poor child was left alone in the world. ”I…I don’t understand.” She paused as she shifted on the seat a bit and stared at her hands. ”Of all the things to turn into…it had to be…” Leslie couldn’t even finish her sentence as she buried her face in her hands. She felt ashamed that she was scared of such a thing. Was there more to it than she thought? Was she trying to tell herself something? Leslie couldn’t figure it out and it was starting to give her a headache with some help from the tears.