Salem felt different around Harry Potter recently. While when they first met it was intensely awkward, they quickly got over that and he'd learned to accept her sarcasm and jokes. But the past few days have felt odd, he didn't realize she'd noticed but Salem wasn't nearly as dumb as people made her out to be, she could feel the different energy. She missed talking about nothing in particular or when he'd even asked her to trick Draco Malfoy, but now all he could seem to talk about was her Grandfather.

"Merlin, Harry Potter. If you ask me one more question about my dear grandfather i'm gonna have to pull your ears off and then feed them to you." Salem spoke as the two walked together, heading for meals that morning. While Salem wasn't much of a morning person as it was, Harry wasn't making it any better.

"I'm only curious." Harry defended himself, lying of course, but he couldn't bare to tell that to her, "I don't have a grandfather."

Though he was lying, only needing more information on Slughorn after Dumbledore had spoken to Harry about who he'd brought the professor back, he couldn't explain that to her. He didn't want it to seem as if he was using her, only be-friending her for this reason only. Harry didn't know Salem very well yet, but he'd picked up on her taking things rather personally even if she didn't express it.

Like when she mopped around the castle after Draco mocked her in the library.

"Listen, what if you just come with me tomorrow night? I'm sure you've heard of what he's planning for a few students, it's impossible for that man to keep a secret." Salem said with a tiny laugh, pausing in the walkway, looking at Harry who stood about the same height she did. His hair was still messy from the sleep he'd had, while Salem's looked neat and perfect, like she'd put hours into making herself presentable.

Though Harry didn't think much of it, because he didn't understand, Salem did indeed put work into making herself look the way she did. She hated the way people looked at her so nasty as if she was a terrible human for not continuing her mother's legacy, while maybe she was, that didn't make the nasty looks and horrible whispers feel any better. Salem though, a horrible though that would be stuck in her mind forever after late last night after her encounter with Draco Malfoy in the library, that maybe if she looked perfect people wouldn't care that she was sorted into the wrong house and couldn't say her spells correctly to save her life.

Though she did pass one of her test after Draco pronounced the spell better for her last night.

"What, like your date?" Harry asked with a clear of his throat, shuffling on his feet as he shoved his hands into his pockets. It maybe had seemed like she was suggesting it, the way her deep eyes stared into his lighter ones while offering him to come with her to a small event her grandfather was putting on, that was until she opened her mouth again.

"Don't flatter yourself, four eyes, you're far from my type." Salem said a she punched his shoulder while the two walked into the large area that had all four houses lined with students eating the variety of breakfast options.

Unaware of a certain platinum blonde boy who was listening to every word they spoke, knowing who needed to know exactly where Salem was every step of her way.

"So, tell me, Cormac, do you see anything of your Uncle Tiberius these days?" Slughorn questioned the boy next to him who stole glances at Hermione every few seconds. The table was small but fitting for the couple of students gathered around, eating away at the sweets with napkins around their necks. Harry was beyond late, annoying Salem to no end after she'd bragged about how her dear friend Harry Potter would be her beloved companionship for the evening.

"Sorry i'm late." Harry suddenly spoke as the doors swung open, he seemed out of breath from running through the halls, fixing his jumper around his shoulders. Salem rolled her forbidden forest eyes as he gave a grin to her grandfather.

"Non sense, we've just began, take a seat." Slughorn smiled as Harry gave one back, a more forced and happier one then what he usually did, annoying Salem even more as he took a seat next to her.

"This should be good." Hermione mumbled to herself under her breath after already having to hear about how "oh so humiliating and forever traumatized" Salem was.

"Got caught up in the studies." Harry said over toward Salem as she peaked over at him, staying silent. Harry found it odd that she was when usually she'd take the first chance to talk his head off, the way her lips were tight is what gave it away that she was annoyed though, maybe even mad at him.

"I said sorry." Harry defended himself in a whisper while the rest of the table payed attention to Cormac who was answering Slughorns previous question.

"You're a lousy companionship, Harry Potter, I looked like a complete fool infront of all these lovely people after speaking so highly of my date." Salem snapped at him in a whisper, her words dripping of dramatics which confused him to no end despite the fact that the idea of girls in general confused him.

"You said it wasn't a date." he shot back at her, leaning closer so his words made it to her ears which were decorated in small, silver earings that sparkled when the caught the light.

"Not anymore it isn't, you bet your scrawny a-" Salem began before she was cut off, probably for the best or her next words would surely offend her dear friend Harry Potter who of course didn't realize that not a date did mean a date in Salem's eyes.

But who could ever know that? Who was smart enough to know when she said not a date it really did mean a date.

"What about you Miss Granger? What exactly does your family do in the muggle world?" her grandfathers words made Salem turn away from Harry to focus of Hermione now, curious herself considering she had barley any interaction with muggles for months.

"My parents are dentist." Hermione spoke as awkward silents fell over the table, all giving her odd looks at the new term.

"Could you explain the definition?" Salem whispered to her, curious to the new word she hadn't heard of, beyond thankful she wasn't reading it and instead hearing the right pronunciation for it.

"They tend to peoples teeth." Hermione finished the sentence with a small nod, looking from Salem and back to Slughorn. She then saw the light resemblance in the shape of their eyebrows. While Hermione had seen many pictures of Emelia Slughorn in the hallways of Hogwarts and saw the same deep and vial eye color, she couldn't held but see more of Monroe Manfestion in her new friend, not knowing many people who looked more like their fathers then mothers, especially for a girl. She also wanted to ask Salem why her father took her mothers last name when that had never happened before, but decided it was beyond rude to question her dead parents.

"Fascinating. And is that considered a dangerous profession?" the older man went on with curious eyes, holding a look of admiration Salem had seen all to many times. For example, yesterday when she'd announced she'd finally passed one of her spell test, leaving out the fact that someone had told her the correct way of saying it.

"No. Although, one boy, Robbie Fenwick, did bite my father once. He needed ten stitches." Hermione laughed as everyone turned to her in the slightest bit of shock. Salem laughed though, a snort leaving her body as she looked down at her lap to hid the way her face scrunched while she laughed. Hermione was thankful someone laughed to ease the tension.

"Sorry." Salem apologized as she hid her laughs as she clasped her hand over her mouth, catching Blaise give her a eyebrow raise before looking away. The opening of the door took the attention off Hermione as everyone turned to see the youngest of the Weasley siblings walking in.

"Ah. Miss Weasley, come in, come in." Slughorn said to the girl who slowly walked in, a look of sadness upon her features. Salem noticed so many family resemblance between the Weasleys, others then the red hair that was. She noticed how similar all their smiles were.

Beautiful and contagious.

"Look at her eyes. They've been fighting again, her and Dean." Hermione whispered over to Harry and Salem as the two looked at Ginny as she hurried over. Salem did see the slightest of blood shot in her eyes from crying and her nose rubbed raw. Though her and Ginny weren't the closest of friends, it pained her to see something that's suppose to be beautiful and loving turn to something so sad and heart pulling.

"I'd be terrified to ever be in a relationship." Salem spoke in a hushed tone as her grandfather began to talk to Ginny as she sat down.

"I told you I was sorry." Harry said to her with a flushed face of embarrassment, thinking she was referring to his terrible date that wasn't a date.

"Not you, idiotic boy who deserves to eat slugs." Salem said to him, though her words seemed mean her tone wasn't and Harry had learned to not take any of her words personal at this point, "I'm talking about Dean and Ginny. Even the nicest of people end of getting hurt by the other, I couldn't imagine loving someone over and over if they hurt me so much."

"Love makes you do crazy things, they say." Hermione said with a knowing look as Salem bite the inside of her mouth with a small shake to her head.

"I solemnly swear to never ,in my years of living ,fall in love." the Slughorn girl promised herself along with Hermione and Harry as the two best friends shared a look behind her back.

Salem couldn't sleep that night, she'd woken up with a huff as the dreams of her mother and father took over her mind. She didn't feel safe once she dreamt of them, she rarely felt safe anymore anyways. Their deaths happened before her eyes, three years ago when she was only nearly thirteen years old. She could remember it perfectly, clouding and haunting her memory ever second of her day.

While you'd think sleeping would give her a break from it all... you were wrong.

Salem tried not to cry over her parents any more, she'd done it so much she wanted to believe she wouldn't do it anymore. But even three years later, even finally moving on from their deaths... she couldn't stop herself from crying every now and then.

And tonight she did.

Maybe it was because of the hard time she'd been having at Hogwarts, the endless feeling like she wasn't good enough and was constantly being talked about no matter what she did or didn't do. Maybe that's what set her over the edge because she knew if her parents were here her mother would never put up with it while her father would be the only person to truly comfort her the way she needed.

Not being able to breath in the tiny, private bed room, Salem found herself wondering outside of the water closet they called a room. She knew she wasn't suppose to wander at night, but Salem felt that if she spend another second in the crammed and lonely room she'd go nearly crazy. And Salem knew her way around the school by now, knew where the professors stayed so she was sure not to get caught in the act.

The sad and tired teen found the library, seeing as it was locked. The faint footsteps behind her made Salem turn and only become met with the empty hallway. Not thinking anything to it, she pulled her wand from her pocket, putting more then enough trust into her wand and herself in these moments. The spells exited her mouth quietly, not doing a single thing making Salem hurt even worse then she was in those moments.

Shutting her eyes to regain some sort of sanity she stuffed the wand back into her pocket, hugging the jumper she'd had for years closer to her body as Hogwarts seemed to get colder by the second, late at night. Walking farther down the hallway Salem rounded the corner slowly, making sure no one was there before she looked up at the many paintings and photos on the wall.

She saw her mother.

A picture of the woman, her eyes evil and dark like Salem's were, but they seemed to suit her more. She didn't smile, her gaze hard at the camera as she held a trophy she'd won.

First place.

Emelia was a looker, a sight for sore eyes. With her long, dark and straight hair paired with eyes so dark you couldn't even see the slightest of sparkle within them. She had beautiful skin, ivory and completely clear as if it was painted on and touched up to perfection. She was beautiful, beyond beautiful, she was easily the most stunning woman Salem had ever seen and she'd seen a lot of beautiful woman in her time.

Salem let a small cry leave her lips, biting her lip as it echoed in the slightest. She put her hand on the picture, almost being able to hear her mothers raspy voice scold her for smudging her finger tips. But Salem couldn't bring herself to care, not at all, because touching the picture somehow made her feel a little better though the few silent tears running down her face said otherwise. The foot steps she'd heard earlier speed up as they quickly rounded the corner so fast it didn't give Salem enough times to react, with a gasp she took a step back before she realized who she was.

Draco.

"You scared me." she found herself admitting even if the hand on her heart and the wide eyes didn't give it away. She suddenly felt self conscious about how she looked now, knowing her face reddened and swelled when she'd cry, not to mention she had woken from a sleep only thirty minutes ago. Salem probably wouldn't have felt that way if he didn't look the way he did, so perfect and well put together.

She wondered if he always looked that way or if he was off somewhere important. While she imagined he'd still look absolutely beautiful with messy hair from a nightmare filled sleep and could even manage to pull off raccoon eyes that were bloodshot.

She envied that.

"I hadn't noticed." he said, his voice calm and quiet like hers was but for once, Salem wasn't the one giving sarcastic comments but he was. Salem ignored him, tearing her eyes away to look at the ground and hope he hadn't seen the tears glistening in her eyes considering how dim lit the hallway was, "Don't tell me you're crying over your lack of power again."

"No." Salem met his snappy and annoyed tone perfectly, she'd sounded just like him actually which took them both by surprise, "I'm not in the mood for you right now if you could just leave me alone."

Draco let her comment slide, opening his mouth to call her dumb and say something about her mother. He would have if he didn't notice the photo on the wall she was standing so close to, watching as her hand pulled away from it once he rounded the corner quickly. Staying silent, taking Salem herself by surprise, he simply stood there, mainly because it's what Snape wanted him to do. Draco could hear the mans voice in his head after he considered leaving Salem alone to cry over her dead mother.

"Do not let Salem Slughorn out of your sight, she will be needed very soon."

"Are your parents alive?" Salem questioned Draco after nearly a minute of complete silents, knowing he probably wouldn't leave and the last thing she wanted was to sit in dead silents and end up crying just for him to mock her on it the next day.

"Yes." Draco answered simply, still leaning on the wall as he looked at her before looking away again.

Their eyes were so insanely different.

Salem thought his eyes resembles gas fire, the blue flame she'd be all to fascinated in when her grandfather would boil her soup when she had a cold. They were the same color in most lighting while right now they looked much darker, like the sky before a large storm was gonna hit and keep her up the whole night. Salem's eyes were the first thing Draco noticed about her, though it seemed thats how it was for everyone at Hogwarts. But he noticed them immediately when she crashed into him outside of the train, immediately connecting them to the night sky when there wasn't any stars out, just complete blackness.

It's exactly how he liked it.

"Mine are." Salem said before she realized he already knew that, before she realized everyone knew that already. She found Dracos presents easy to talk to when he was being silent, not taking every second of the day to make her feel bad about herself. Salem tried to keep that in her mind, tried to remember that he wasn't some person she should break down and confine in right now no matter how badly she wanted to, "You already know that though."

"How'd they die?" Draco suddenly asked her, knowing no one truly knew aside from Salem and her grandfather. His mother and father had spoken about Emelia for years, he'd even met her a few times when he was a child and pre-teen. Then she suddenly dies, randomly as the two people who knew what happened didn't say a word to anyone... it didn't ease the pressure Draco was under with Salem being here, not with his father telling him every chance to figure a way to find out if he could.

And now she was vulnerable, best time for it.

Salem didn't say anything, she knew no one knew and she didn't wanna talk about it at two in the morning with a boy who'd only shown her kindness once and that was only because he thought she'd end up in Slytherin, "Non of your business."

Draco wanted to snap at her for the disrespect, call her a hurtful name or threaten her in a way. But the way the tear stains along her cheek bones and soft jawline, he decided against it just this once. Not because he felt sorry for her or because he didn't wanna hurt her more, because he told himself he didn't care, but because she'd surely walk away if he'd said something so rude to her and that would only leave him having to stay up later to follow after her to the next destination.

"Are you close with your parents?" Salem asked him now, wanting to leave but distracting herself by questioning Draco of all people was slowly making her tired meaning if she fell asleep as soon as she got back to her room, she may be able to sleep until it was time for school the next morning.

"Why?" he asked her, his eyebrows knitted together as his jaw clenched as if he wasn't doing the same exactly thing by asking about her parents. Salem shrugged her shoulders, not wanting to explain that she was only talk to him because she wanted to be tired enough and not be alone, "We're close in our own way."

"Could I-" Salem began before she cut herself off, knowing it wasn't worth asking, knowing he'd only snap at her for it and put her in a worse mood. Silents took over them again as he shifted on his feet, trying to hold himself back from asking what it was she was gonna ask.

"What?" he asked her, raising his dark eyebrows her way as a way of showing he didn't truly care but was only curious why she'd stopped.

"You're parents were Slytherin, weren't they?" Salem asked, though she couldn't imagine Draco growing up in a home of any other house.

"Do you honestly think i'd be sorted into a house my parents legacy wasn't brought into? I'm not like you, i'm not a traitor." there it was, the snappy and rude side she was use to. Salem grinned slightly, almost thankful he was being his self again.

"Have they ever mentioned my mother? She never wanted to talk about her years at Hogwarts and i've been to embarrassment to ask anyone else." Salem said as she looked at him for the first time since she looked away when he showed up, he looked the exact same, "But I figure you'd enjoy telling me everything i'm not so... go on."

"They have spoken about her a lot." Draco said, wanting to bite his tongue but he couldn't help the next words that fell off his tongue so naturally, "I've met her a handful of times myself."

Salem's eyes widened his way, her lips parted as she blinked in shock. Draco Malfoy was someone her mother would insist her meeting in her younger years, she'd always pushed Salem to befriend the tougher children they'd met, insisting it was her best way of getting through life, "You have? When?"

"It's been a while, you're nothing like her if you were wondering my opinion." he said as Salem shook her head, watching as he shifted on his feet again, messing with the ring on his finger as he began to regret telling her he'd known Emilia.

"I know that, she only passed a few years ago, Draco." his body shifted when she spoke his name, not always hearing in within her sentences so it came so off guard to him, causing him to stand up straight and look away from her even.

"She never once mentioned a daughter, not to any of us." Draco went on, knowing he shouldn't be saying any of this but he was trying to somewhat give Salem the satisfaction she wanted so she'd go to sleep meaning he could as well. Salem looked down at the words, making him sigh loudly and scold himself for saying it because now they were gonna have to talk about it, "No one even knew you existed until she died."

"So i've been told..." she trailed off, hearing it all to many times from mostly Slytherins, "Do you think it was because she was ashamed of me?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, and even if it did, it's not your business what I think." he said quickly, a glare along on his features while ice cold words flew through his lips.

"I guess not." Salem spoke as she gave one last look to the picture before looking his way, "Goodnight."

Before Salem couldn't get to far before Draco spoke again, not being able to stop himself as the annoying thought swarmed his brain ever sense yesterday morning, "You shouldn't go on dates with Potter, you're basically asking for disappointment."

•

kylie speaks.

oh, long chapter
filled with some
dralem that's slowly
getting a bit softer
over time.
anyways, drop
some comments!