The Heart Is Not Black or White

Chapter 14

For five minutes I had been sitting in Professor McGonagall's classroom, where Filch had told Daphne and I to go for detention. So far we were the only ones there, along with McGonagall at the front of the room, correcting papers at her desk.

"Mr. Weasley," I hear McGonagall say.

Looking up I saw Fred sauntering into the classroom. No doubt he was here for detention too. The only question I had was where George was.

Fred sat down in the seat to my right, and Daphne was at my left. I sent Fred a smile and he sent me a wink. Of course, I could see Daphne shooting me a glance. This caused me to blush.

After a couple minutes of staring at nothing, I caught sight of another figure swaggering into the classroom.

My stomach dropped. It was Draco.

"Mr. Malfoy," McGonagall snapped. "You are late."

"I have a pass from Professor Snape," he smirked. "I had a question for him about a potion we were working on in class today."

I narrowed my eyes at him as he handed a piece of parchment to the Transfiguration teacher. First of all, Draco needed absolutely no help in Potions. He already knew everything that was needed to know about the subject. Second, he left right after class. I knew for a fact that he was not in the Potions room.

"Oh, I see," McGonagall muttered. "Now sit down, Mr. Malfoy. You must be silent at all times. None of you will be writing lines but you will be sitting silently. Detention will end-"

All of a sudden, from the hallway I heard the distant screaming of Peeves. He shouted, "WEEHAW!" and then there was the sound of an explosion.

I instantly shared a look with Daphne, then looked over at Fred. He was trying to contain a smile. Of course. Who else would be behind that kind of thing?

Professor McGonagall rushed over to the doorway and poked her head outside. Looking flustered she said, "Mr. Malfoy, go take a seat. I have to go deal with this... problem. Remember, no talking, or you will be writing lines."
At the speed of lightning, McGonagall fast-walked down the hallway shouting, "Peeves!"

As soon as she was out of earshot, I turned to face Fred and said, "How did you do it Fred?"

"Me?" he said, smiling and raising his eyebrows. "What makes you think that I'm behind this?"

"Oh, c'mon Fred," I said. "What did you put Peeves up to?"

"Fine." He gave up. "I charmed a gobstone to explode when you throw it on the ground. I gave it to Peeves to explode once I got to detention."

"It won't do any damage to the school, will it?" Daphne asked.

"Oh, no," said Fred. "There will be lots of green goo in that hallway, but it's nothing a professor can't fix."

"When McGonagall comes back, I'm going to tell her that it was you," Malfoy sneered from behind me where he had taken his seat.

Turning around to face him I said, "Malfoy, I know for a fact that you were not with Snape. If you don't want me to tell Professor McGonagall that your pass was a fake, I suggest you keep your mouth shut."

Malfoy sneered at me, but actually did keep his mouth shut.

"You better watch your mouth, first-year," Fred said coldly.

"Fred," I said, turning to him next. "He may be bloody git, but I'm a first-year too." His comment had struck a chord in me.

At this I could see Draco sending Fred a smirk. Fred looked back to the front of the classroom. He crossed his arms and tried not to show it, but he looked ashamed.

McGonagall walked back into the classroom and took a good, long, hard look at us. "None of you were talking, were you?" she asked us. Of course Fred, Daphne and I shook our heads vigorously. I wasn't sure what Draco was going to do, but he didn't speak a word.

"I'm afraid I have to let you students go," McGonagall explained. "It seems that Peeves has... damaged one of the hallways. You are dismissed."

Looking doubly flustered, she once again rushed out the doorway. I gathered my things and waited for Fred to do the same, but he ran out the door saying, "Bye, Issa!"

"Bye Freddie," I muttered, knowing he couldn't hear me. He was far out the door by that time.

"I have to go too," Daphne said. "For some reason Dumbledore needs to talk to me."

"Really?" I said. "Do you know why?"

"I don't know," Daphne answered. "But I'll see you at the feast tonight!" With that, she also sped out the door, leaving me and Malfoy.

I quickly grabbed my bag and hurried out the door myself, heading for the Slytherin common room. I was halfway down a corridor with numerous portraits on the walls when I heard a voice behind me.

"L'amare." None other than the infamous Draco Malfoy was behind me.
I stopped and turned around to face him. He once again swaggered down the hallway toward me with his signature smirk.

Crossing my arms and scowling I said, "What do you need, Malfoy?"

"I thought I told you to call me Draco?" he questioned me.

"I'll call you what I want," I said.

"I see the mighty Marissa L'amare is back to insulting me," he teased me. "What happened? We were getting along so well in Potions."

"What happened is that you opened your mouth," I retorted.

"You're lucky I didn't tell on your blood-traitor boyfriend Weasley!" he sneered.

"His name is Fred," I glared at him. "And he is not a blood-traitor... or my my boyfriend."

"I've heard about them from my father," Malfoy continued. "They're a pathetic poor family that's good for nothing except researching muggles. I'm surprised that you chose to be friends with them. You're only lowering your status, hanging with blood-traitors like them. You'll probably end up a blood-traitor too, living like a muggle-"

The anger built up inside me with every word he said. How dare he talk to me like that? How dare he speak of Fred and the Weasleys like that? As my anger built up, I clenched my fists and felt my body tighten.

"How dare you talk like that!" I shouted. I let go of my fists and felt an object whiz past me through the air. It was a portrait of an old Hogwarts professor. It flew through the air and crashed into the wall behind Malfoy. He looked at the broken portrait, then at me.

"How did you do that?" he asked me.
"I-I didn't do it," I stated. It wasn't me, was it?

"But who did?" he asked with fear in his voice. Draco Malfoy, afraid? Well this was a new concept.

"None of us are holding our wands," I stated. "It couldn't be us. It's impossible to do magic without them."

"Let's get out of here before whoever did it strikes again," Draco said.

I nodded in agreement, and we both ran off toward the Slytherin common room.