BLOOD TRAITOR [HARRY POTTER - BOOK 1]

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world; all rights go to J.K Rowling. I do however own my original character Nova Malfoy and her background.

Nova,

The view across from the Shrieking Shack is beautiful in the late afternoon. Try 3pm.

Snuffles

Smiling the young witch pulled out her wand and muttered Incedio, watching as the letter burned before her eyes. The flames illuminating her warm grey eyes as the ashes drifted into the wind like the seeds of the dandelions that she used to wish on as a child; ballerinas dancing across the breeze, weaving in and out of each other in perfect synchronisation. A soft smile graced her pink lips, deepening the dimples on her cheeks.

"Do you burn all of you letters?" A voice rung out from behind her causing her to spin round to face the owner. Nova shook her head and her smile grew before Harry spoke again, "You haven't heard from Sirius have you? He's been silent since I told him that I didn't want him to come to Hogsmeade..."

"No, I haven't." The Malfoy girl lied expertly as she frowned slightly, feigning concern. Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously as his friend maintained eye contact, almost willing him to challenge her.

"Are you coming to this meeting Hermione organised?"

Nova watched as he stepped closer to her, leaning his elbows on the bricked ledge and turning to look at her. She could almost feel his anxiety; it had been almost three weeks since the group had spoken about Harry teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts and Nova didn't envy the pressure Hermione was putting on the boy.

"Do you want me to?" She finally answered, softly returning his gaze. She watched as he thought for a moment, looking away from her and towards the snowy horizon before nodding slightly. "Then of course I will be there."

The pair smiled fondly at each other as they descended into silence, their eyes scanning the peaceful surroundings as they leant against the opening on the brickwork wall. They appreciated each other beyond explanation, they understood each other much deeper than anyone else and they relied on each other much more than either of them knew.

*

The snow crunched beneath their boots as the quartet trudged their way into Hogsmeade. Hermione and Nova waltzed slightly ahead of the boys, talking and laughing about one of their numerous secrets. Ron watched his best friend smile as the girl with the long dark curls threw her head back laughing, it was a smile that the Weasley boy had learned was reserved only for her and as much as it pained him to admit, he was beginning to warm to the girl despite her relation to his family's enemies.

"Did you hear that there was a break in at the Ministry?" Hermione spoke having just remembered something important, "It was in the Daily Prophet."

"I thought you stopped reading that rubbish?" Ron scoffed in response, knowing full well that the newspaper had notoriously slandered Harry, labelling him a liar. "But yeah, Dad was saying it was the Department of Mysteries. Second attempt but they never took anything."

The news brought Harry back to his nightmares, he knew that this was Voldemort and as it happened, so did Nova. The look they shared went unnoticed by their friends who had entered a heated discussion as they took the lead. The young Malfoy had a dozen questions on her lips as the cogs in her mind spun at one hundred miles per hour.

"Do you think..." the witch began as she fell in step with Harry who had slowed down to put a considerable distance between Ron and Hermione and himself and Nova.