The common room was exceptionally hectic this morning ever since the other students found out Draco and I weren't actually being very...responsible with our prefect duties. I was of course, exceptionally agitated in regards to everyone's behavior. I wore my famous glare to go along with a beautiful red and black dress. The bottom was black and the top met the skirt with a red satin ribbon, and black lace covered the silky red fabric above the ribbon. Naturally I looked stunning, even with my bare arms.

"This is ridiculous," I said, walking downstairs with an air of superiority.

 "What do you rule the school or something?" Astoria snorted, walking down behind me. I glared at her, but the others chuckled. What the hell?

 "Yes," I said.

 "Well it's quite chaotic, why don't you use that position to shut them up?" she retorted.

 "They've decided that since we've given up prefect duties that they'll be complete idiots," I glared, snatching a fanged Frisbee from a new first year. He looked at me in fear and ran off in the other direction.

 "Feisty," Thane laughed.

 "Where's Draco?" I frowned.

 "Got up early; I don't know where he is now," Blaise slung his arm around me, walking up with a smile. However, I frowned deeply. This struck me as rather odd. Ariana wasn't in a cheerful mood either. God only knows why.

 "Let's go," Pansy said, pulling Blaise from my side and kissing him.

 "Oh yes, that's how I want to start my morning," I rolled my eyes. Thane walked up next to me and looked down at me from the corner of his eye. We shared a look of exasperation and I smirked.

 "Well where's your boy, huh? Go snog him," Pansy shot back at me.

 "I don't know where he is, I'm certainly not his mother," I said coolly.

 "He couldn't have just disappeared!" she scoffed as we left the common room.

 "Well he has!" I snapped and she looked at me curiously.

 "Is this about..." she trailed off, but I knew what she meant. Draco's Dark Mark.

 "I don't know," I said honestly. If it was, he's in big trouble because we're on this mission together.  We walked into the Great Hall and I met eyes with the trio as I sat down. The boys gave me stone cold looks, but Granger looked pleading. My eyes moved to Ginny as she waved and smiled brightly; I did the same.

 "Shoes, where'd you get them?" Claire asked, sitting down and pointing to them.

 "My trunk," I smirked.

 "Oh give me more detail than that," she smiled.

 "Claire, you're only a third year," I said as she admired my red pumps once more. She pouted once she realized I wasn't going to tell her more, and got up to talk to her own friends. Her empty spot was replaced at once.

 "Hi Leah," Ginny smiled.

 "Hi," I smiled back.

 "I hope you don't mind me saying so, but your Slytherin's seem a bit...rambunctious," she laughed.

 "Yeah, I know," I scowled.

 "What are you doing here?" Pansy sneered.

 "They're friends, love," Blaise said, enjoying eggs on toast.

 "Well yes but...!" she disagreed. Ginny met eyes with Blaise and gave him a small and reluctant smile, and then her eyes moved back to me.

"Ginny," said a tired voice and the two of us turned around.

 "Hello Draco...am I in your seat?" she asked.

 "Yes," he said and I could see conflict in his eyes.

 "I'm sorry," she said, standing up.

 "By the way, Leah, you look hot as hell," she laughed and I did too as she walked away.

 "I do, don't I?" I smirked.

 "Yes," Draco smiled and I looked at him.

 "Where were you?" I asked and he shrugged.

 "I couldn't sleep so I took a walk around," he said and I could tell he was lying. I turned away from him and ate my breakfast silently; since when do we lie to each other? Pansy's eyes were on me and Thane sensed it as well, but no one else did. After we all ate, Severus came over to give us time tables.

 "You will all get classes according to your O.W.L levels," he said as the sixth years were left for last. He went in alphabetical order and Draco got all the classes he wanted, seeing as he did rather well. It was my turn and Severus smirked.

 "I do hope you aren't planning on taking History of Magic," he said, almost teasingly.

 "I did rather well, considering," I said, standing a little taller.

 "Yes, but it seems you didn't pick that class. You have two free periods though," he said, giving me my time table.

 "Alright," I said, and then we were off to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

***

"You know, I would appreciate it if you could tell me the truth," I glared, sitting with Draco in DADA.

 "I- what?" he frowned.

 "I know you weren't on a walk this morning," I said lowly.

 "I just wanted to look at it, alright," he whispered back, taking my hand.

 "Alright," I accepted with a cool glare. Once everyone was in class, the 'fun' began. Snape walked into class and the atmosphere was already different than our usual defense class.

"I have not asked you to take out your books," he said as some of us pulled out our books; I was not one of them.

 "I wish to speak to you, and I want your fullest attention," he said and I lounged back. Speak on, Severus.

 "You have had five teachers in this subject so far, I believe," he said and I crossed my ankles. I've only had two, not counting Snape. Moody and Umbridge were my only teachers, and Moody wasn't even himself; it was Barty AKA my right hand man.

 "Naturally, these teachers have all had their own methods and priorities. Given this confusion-"

 "Remember all the things that you and I did first? And now you're doing them with her. Remember all the things that you and I did first? Now you got me, got me like this!"

The class gasped in surprise and all snapped their attention to me as my phone went off. I stared wide eyed at Severus and then jumped slightly, digging in my bag for my phone.

 "Now you're taking her to every restaurant, and everywhere we went, come on! And now you're taking her to every restaurant, you got me, got me like this!"

 I grabbed it and hit a million buttons before it turned off. I peeked up and saw Severus looking at me with obvious fury in his gaze. I winced and immediately felt bad; he's never looked at me like that before.

 "I am so sorry professor!" I yelled out in a rush.

 "Detention with me tomorrow night, Riddle," he said, his furious glare still burning through my eyes. I nodded once and sunk back down into my chair, feeling utterly ashamed. I dared to glance at the message and saw that it was from an random number.

"I know what you're up to."

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm sitting in DADA, I don't consider that as 'up to' something. They probably have the wrong number, I suppose. It's probably some muggle who got my number by accident, but still, that's pretty odd. Maybe it was Astoria, the little prat. I sat there, biting my lip in thought until Draco nudged me.

 "We're pairing up," he raised one eyebrow and I looked around to see everyone standing. I stood up as well and turned on my heel.

 "For what?" I frowned.

 "Silent jinxing," he said and I rolled my eyes.

 "I'm not doing this," I sat back down and Draco shifted.

 "I can't do it very well...I need to participate," he said and I waved him off. I put my hand under my chin and rested my finger tips on my lips so I wouldn't bite it raw.

"Are you feeling alright?" Draco worried and I looked up at him.

 "I'm okay," I nodded. Draco sighed and looked around for a partner. I listened carefully as silence filled the room and people attempted spells. I zoned out and was brought back to reality when something slammed down in front of me.

 I looked up in shock to see Severus looking down at me with a burning intensity.

 "What are you doing besides nothing?" he hissed.

 "I'm watching them fail miserably," I said.

 "Get up and practice!" he snapped and everyone looked back over.

 "Relax, professor, I can do this already," I said. He glared down at me and I realized I was hurting his pride. He'd wanted this job for years and now one of his very own favorite students was disrespecting him on his first day.

 "Get. Up." He said and I immediately did so.

 "If you are so good at nonverbal spells," he said and everyone was deadly silent, "then let's have a go."

I knew Severus was a great wizard, but I also knew I was better. One thing that kept nagging me was that I didn't have the Power of the Phoenix, and I wasn't at the top of my game. I turned around and faced Severus square on and he just looked at me.

 "You need a wand, you insolent girl," he glared and his words stung.  He's never called me that before.

 "No, no I don't," I said and he scowled, raising his own wand. A jet of light shot at me and I deflected it with an easy swish of my hand. I shot my own spell which he deflected, and then we were going at it, back and forth. We went on for a while, and then suddenly he threw a quick lash of fire at me. I went to take it in my own hands and manipulate it back, but just as I did, it caught my hand and I drew back, giving a shout of pain.

 "Dammit!" I yelled, and people gasped. I can't even use a simple spell for fire anymore! Severus dropped his wand and nudged students out of the way to see my hand.

 "Go to Madam Pomfrey, you'll be fine. Maybe next time you won't be so cocky," he said and my temper flared.

 "I was doing amazingly until you had to go throw fire at me! Not only was I silent but I was wandless! What the hell is wrong with you?" I screamed and more people gasped.

 "Miss Riddle I will not tolerate your behavior!" he snapped, but I wasn't done.

 "You knew! You knew I couldn't do anything with fire! Why are you trying to torture me?" I yelled, cradling my hand and hot tears of anger rolled down my cheeks. Severus was staring at me in slight shock and I gave him my fiercest glare.

 "I hate you, you're such a disgusting excuse for a professor!" I raged and then turned on my heel, running out of the room. I sprinted down the stairs and into the prefects bathroom, slamming to door shut and locking it. I cried now, not because of anger, but because a man who I considered my second father is being unexplainably cruel to me. I don't know why, but he was, and it hurt me more than anything my real father could've done to me. I expect such things from him on occasion...but never from Severus. I slid to the floor and cried, staring bleary eyed at my burnt hand. I stood up, gave a scream of anger, and the pipes burst, spraying water everywhere. I picked up a piece of pipe and looked at it before looking up into the mirror where I saw my angry and desperate expression. I drew back, throwing the pipe at the mirror and shattering it, along with every other mirror as magic coursed through the air. I was soaking wet at this point and took off my heels, rocking back and forth slightly.

Another wave of anger took over and I looked up to see a stained glass dome as the ceiling, and took my aim, throwing the shoe right into it. It all came shattering down in a rain of glass, and I felt it sting my skin. My knees finally buckled and I collapsed to the floor in a wet heap, crying my eyes out. Not even Moaning Myrtle came to see what was wrong, and I knew I was alone. I felt it all around me; no one cared about me anymore. Draco was even lying to me.

I looked around and found an extremely sharp piece of glass, which I picked up. It was so sharp that it cut my fingers, so this was perfect. With a shaky hand I raised it to my neck and pressed slightly, beginning to slit my throat.

 Then the door was blast open. I heard shouts and tried ignoring them, but then I was grabbed and the chunk of glass was forced from my hand. I screamed and protested, struggling madly against their hold. Someone was yelling orders and other people were yelling in a panic, but I was throwing around profanities.

 "Leah, stop!" someone yelled and I tried breaking free.

 "Leave me alone! Why don't you people ever let me be? Can't you see I want to die? You don't even care, so let me do what I want!" I cried. Tears and water from the pipes were running down my cheeks, my hair was sticking to my cheeks and neck, and my dress felt heavy.

 "Leah, please," Draco said, suddenly in front of me.

 "Stop," he whispered. I cried even more and he took my face in his hands.

 "You can make it through this, Leah," he said quietly and my sobs echoed through the room.

 "I don't want to," I said pathetically and I heard someone else crying.

 "Please, please," I begged, "make it stop."

 "I will, I promise sweetie. You have to keep going though, it gets worse before it gets better," he said, and the person restraining me stepped back. I swayed there by myself for a second before throwing my arms around Draco and crying even harder than before.

 "Are you going to stay with me, Leah? You won't leave me right?" he whispered, stroking my now dripping wet hair.

 "Yeah," I managed to choke out.

 "I love you," he said and I just cried. Somehow I ended up with a towel around me and Draco was carrying me out of the bathroom. I was clinging to Draco, whose shirt was now completely soaked as well, and I knew students were out of class now, watching this pathetic scene. All because Severus had a moment of cruelty. I noticed Dumbledore was walking next to me, and I reached out, touching his arm.

 "Who found me?" I asked, my voice thick.

 "Mr. Potter did," he said, giving my arm a reassuring squeeze, and sure enough, when I looked behind me, Potter was there. I didn't have any energy to say anything more, so I let my head fall onto Draco's shoulder as we walked into the infirmary.

 "Lay her down here, make sure she has a lot of blankets," Pomfrey instructed. The first thing she did was heal my hand and fingers. Then I realized the warm liquid running down my throat was blood, not water. I touched my throat and pulled back my hand to see scarlet blood, and more than I expected. Pomfrey took my hand away and cleaned it up, and then she healed my throat.

 "Mr. Malfoy, clean up that blood, I need to get her a potion," she instructed and Draco did as he was told. As he was doing so, I saw Pansy, tears streaming down her cheeks, though she was no longer crying. Once Draco stepped back I held out a hand to Potter, and he slowly walked over. I pulled him closer so he could hear me and I smiled faintly.

 "Thank you," I whispered, bringing myself up to kiss his cheek.

 "I owe you my life, Harry Potter," I said. I meant it, too.

 "I'm so sorry Leah. For the way I acted towards you," he said quietly and I just nodded, leaning back heavily on the pillows that propped me up.

 "Well Minerva, cancel all classes for the day, the students will never pay attention," Dumbledore said and McGonagall nodded briskly. I looked around and saw that only Dumbledore, Pansy, Draco, Potter and Pomfrey were here...and then to my surprise, Astoria. She was looking at me with slight annoyance and slight relief. She was also cradling her own bloody hand.

 "You took that glass away from me," I said, my voice still thick.

 "Yeah," she nodded. I frowned slightly in confusion and then looked at Draco. He was pale and worried, but most of all, I saw that he had been crying. I instantly felt terrible for doing that to him. I went to say something, but Pomfrey cut me off by handing me the potion.

 "She needs to rest and relax for now," she said to everyone and I took Draco's hand weakly. My vision began to blur slightly and Draco knelt down.

 "I wanted to tell you...that I really...I really real- I..." my mind was becoming jumbled and pretty soon, I lost all sensible thoughts.

 "Sh, it's okay," Draco said, smoothing my hair back and his face was the last thing I saw before falling into a deep sleep.

***

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