| Girl on Fire |

4

VERONICA'S POV

It's the first day of lessons. I don't know if I'm excited. I used to be. I used to love school. Now it just feels like another thing I have to survive. I showered and dried my hair with a spell. I put on some makeup. Thank Merlin for glamor spells. I had to cover the dark purple handprint bruise on my neck from Marcus last night. Then I got dressed. I put on my white button up and left the top 2 buttons undone. Then I tucked it into my black skirt. I put on my black thigh high tights and my boots. I tucked my wand into my robes and grabbed my bag. I walked to Allison's dorm and knocked. "Hurry up," I said. She rushed out fastening the last bobby pin in her hair. "I'm here, cool it," she said. We walked to the Great Hall and the boys were already there eating. I saw Mattheo sitting alone again. He looked at me and smirked. I looked away and sat next to Marcus. He kissed me and his hand grazed over my breast. I saw Draco clench his fist. We all started talking about our classes. "What do you guys think the new teacher is like?" Allison asked. "Nobody has had her yet so how are we supposed to know." Draco said. "Draco, do you have to be such a prat, she was just wondering." I snapped. "Oh yeah, I'm the prat here." he said. "Yeah, you are." I said. "Well at least I'm not the only one." he said looking at Marcus. I prayed he didn't see but he did. "Do we have a problem Malfoy?" he asked. "You know what, yeah we do." he said. "Draco, shut up." I said. I grabbed Marcus's hand. "Please Marcus, let's just go." I said. He pulled his hand away. He looked between me and Draco. "Fine, let's go." he said. He grabbed my hand and began to drag me out of the great hall. I heard my friends talking before I left. "What is going on mate?" Enzo asked. "Yeah, what is your deal with Marcus?" Blaise asked. "It's none of your business," he said. "V is my friend too, if somethings going on, I have a-" Allison started. "Shut up Allison." Draco spat. Everyone went quiet. Marcus pulled me into an empty classroom. He shut the door and slammed me against the wall. My head hit the wall hard and I saw stars."What did you tell him? And don't you fucking lie to me!" he yelled. My eyes watered. "Nothing, he doesn't-" I started. Then I felt the contact. His fist crushed the side of my face and I cried out in pain. "You fucking told him, didn't you?" he yelled. "I didn't mean to. I was just upset and it slipped out." I said. He chuckled darkly. "I'm just doing exactly what your precious father does, aren't I?" he asked. I blinked back tears. "Aren't I?" he yelled. I nodded quickly. "Please Marcus, I'm sorry." I said. "Veronica, I'm doing this because I love you." he said. I nodded. He wiped the tears from my face. "Clean yourself up. You don't want to go to class like this." he said. I nodded and he left the room. I headed for the girls bathroom. I stood in front of the sink and looked in the mirror. I wiped away my tears as I looked at my blackened eye. "What the bloody hell happened to you?" I whipped around and there stood Granger. "Get the hell out of here mudblood." I spat. She walked up to me. "Who did that to you?" she asked. "I said leave." I said. "Veronica you can-" she started. "It's Malfoy to you." I snapped. "Fine, if you won't tell me, I'll just go tell Dumbledore and you can tell him." she said. "Don't!" I yelled. She turned around. "If you do that, I'll tell that Weasel boy how obsessed you are with him." I said. Her face dropped. "What, I- I don't" she started. "Oh please, it's pathetic and obvious. You are always pining after him in quiet desperation. If he wasn't so dense he probably would have figured it out." I spat. Her eyes widened. "Bet you never thought his stupidity would have it's perks? Huh?" I asked. "You really are a bitch." she said. I forced a smirk. "Thanks, I pride myself on that particular quality." I said. She stormed out. "Have a nice day Mudblood" I called after her and she slammed the door. I quickly put a glamor spell on my black eye and headed for class. I rushed into potions and we all stood at the back. "Now, I will be assigning seats. Please listen for your name and pay attention to where I have placed you" Snape said in his plain old monotone voice. He began calling names and students sat down. "Veronica Malfoy and Mattheo Riddle" he spoke. I looked up sharply. Mattheo smirked and sat down. Marcus clenched his fists. "Professor, if I may, I believe Veronica may be more comfortable sitting next to me." Marcus said. Snape rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you would both love that unfortunately neither of you are in charge of seating. Miss Malfoy, sit down and Mister Flint sit next to Miss Parkinson." he said. I looked at Marcus and he looked smug as he sat next to Pansy. I knew him sitting next to Pansy was my punishment for being placed next to Mattheo. They immediately started flirting. I just sat down at my desk in the very back next to Mattheo. "Scared yet?" he whispered. I rolled my eyes. "Not even a little." I whispered. Snape began to drone on and one about what we'd be doing this year and stuff like that. I was taking notes when suddenly I felt a hand right above my knee. I looked over and Mattheo was staring straight ahead, smirking, again. I tried to pull away but his hand moved up slowly. "Mattheo" I whispered. His hand slipped under my skirt and his thumb rubbed my inner thigh. "Stop," I said. I grabbed his hand and threw it off of me. He just chuckled a little bit. "Now you're scared." he said. "I told you I have a boyfriend." I said. "Look at what your boyfriend is doing right now." he said. I looked up at Marcus. Him and Pansy were sitting close to each other. He was whispering in her ear and she was giggling. I clenched my fists and my nails dug into my palms. "Care to reconsider?" he asked. "Go to hell" I spat. He grabbed my wrist and held it tightly. I winced as I tried to pull away. "Be careful how you talk to me, remember who I am." he said. Then he let go. I went back to taking notes and tried to ignore my racing thoughts. Finally, class ended. I rushed out and to my next class. This one was with Draco. He was already sitting down. I didn't want to deal with anyone so I rushed over and sat next to my brother. "What are you doing?" he asked. I didn't say anything. "Ronnie?" he whispered. "Please just let me sit here and don't ask questions." I said. He sighed and nodded. Umbridge came in and let's just say class was quite eventful thanks to Potter. Class ended and I started to walk out. Draco stopped me and pulled aside into an empty hallway. "What do you-" I started. He drew his wand and pointed it at my eye mumbling a spell. "Your glamor spell wore off" he said. I could hear the anger in his voice. "Draco, wait let me just-" I started. "Explain?" he asked. "Explain what? I know what happened." he snapped. My blood boiled. "Yeah and it's your fault. If you had just left it alone, he wouldn't have known you knew. This never would have happened!" I yelled. He scoffed. "My fault? Seriously! Your boyfriend treats you like a punching bag but no hey it's ok it's my fault" he said sarcastically. "Just drop it Draco." I said. "You know, for how incredibly smart you are, you are acting really dumb." he said, then he stormed off. I skipped lunch and went to the Astronomy Tower. I just stared out at the vast forest and land. Eventually, I went back to my dorm. Allison was waiting outside holding a bottle of firewhiskey. We went to my dorm to get ready and dressed. I wore a short black dress and heels. Then we took a shot and headed to the party.