Hidden {Book 1} IN EDITING

Chapter 17

"You kissed Malfoy!" Hermione seethed.

Her and Alex had come to the dormitory after receiving my letter. But when they came in and saw me - clearly heathy - the questions began.

"No, he kissed me!" I corrected.

"Bella, do you not know how bad this is?" she scolded me. "The son of a Death Eater, I can't believe it-"

"Don't you think I know that?" I yelled at her. "God, Hermione, you're not even realizing I'm the victim here! You know what... I'm going for a walk. I needed my space and I wasn't even given that."

Pulling on a jean jacket over my uniform, I headed out the dormitory.

"You can't walk away from this," Alex noted, as I passed her by the door.

"Who said I was?" I snapped, closing the door behind me.

I let my feet lead me all the way outside. Most of the corridors were empty due to the current classes. Some students who were in their free periods would be sitting around talking to their friends. Outside, the only students who could be seen were those reading under the tree by the great lake. It was a little to chilling for a lot of kids to be out here doing their homework, but it was a nice place to be in order to get away.

Looking up in the sky, I saw one of those black-boned horses from the first day fly towards the outskirts of the forest. Curiously, I followed the thestral into the forest. There I found a heard of the creature. They were simply enjoying one another's presence as they roamed across the grass and dirt.

"Hello, Isabella Potter," greeted a familiar dreamy voice.

Sharply turning around, I saw Luna petting a younger thestral.

"Hey, Luna," I said walking over to her.

She watched the youngling fondly as I though back on my knowledge of thestrals. They had been a creature of dark omen, but I believe that they were simply given this reputation due to their stance in society. Thestrals could only be seen by those who had seen death.

"You don't have to answer this if you don't want, too," I began. "And I apologize if this is a rude question but, who have you seen die?"

"My mother," she sighed sadly. "She was a wonderful witch, intelligent as well. One day, I was watching her complete one of her experiments and it unfortunately backfired on her. I was only nine at the time, so I do feel very sad about it from time to time... but I still have Dad."

She gave me a depressing smile before petting the thestral. My eyes drifted down to her bare feet.

"Luna, aren't your feet cold?" I asked.

She shrugged still looking at the small Theresal.

"Just a little. I suppose nargles took them."

"Nargles?"

"Yes. They have a tendency to steal things," she explained, nodding her head.

"Ahh," I nodded.

I knew very well that they weren't real, but I couldn't make another person feel disappointed.

"I'm sorry," she suddenly told me.

"For what?"

"Your parents... they died fourteen years ago today."

"Oh, yeah," I sighed scratching my arm. "That's today isn't it... on Halloween. This is my first year actually knowing about their death... I'm a horrible daughter for not griving or something for fourteen years!"

I sat myself down on a overgrown tree trunk and buried my head in my hands.

Luna placed her hand on my shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault."

"Why do you say that?"

"Someone had put a type of enchantment on you. Tried to stop your powers from showing," she stated.

"How do you know that?" I questioned.

"Shaffles," she said, going back to her usual dreamy voice.

"Shaffles?" I asked, looking up and giving her a deadpan look.

"They are little flies that buzz around your body when a strong enchantment wears off you."

In the distance I heard a bell go off.

"That'll be the lunch bell," I sighed, bringing myself to my feet.

"I wonder if they have pudding," Luna said hopefully, skipping up to the school.

Sighing, I hugged my jacket close to my body as I made my way to the Great Hall.  In order avoid Hermione and Alex, I sat in-between Fred and George who sat with people in their own year.

"Not sitting with your possé?" Fred asked.

"No," I said quickly, grabbing a chicken leg.

"Are you guys fighting?" Angelina asked. She, Chloe and Alicia sat across from us.

"No," I said louder and quicker then before.

She groaned.

"What?" I questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"I feel like there has been no drama lately. However, whenever there is drama, it always has to do with the people in your group," she noted simply.

"Well, there is no drama," I grumbled.

"Bull," she breathed.

"When is the next DA meeting?" George asked, trying to change the subject.

Since the first Hogsmade trip, we had established that our little association would be called Dumbledore's Army - or the DA.  Ginny made it up at the first official meeting, which took place at the Room of Requirement. This was a large room that would change to accommodate the persons needs. Neville just so happened to have stumbled upon it.

"Tomorrow," I answered, picking at my salad.

We fell into an awkward silence as we are. I tried with everything I had in me to eat, but I just found myself flipping over pieces of lettuce. There was this nagging feeling that someone was watching me, and it wasn't Hermione, Alex, or Harry because they were preoccupied with actually eating.

Maybe, I thought turning my head slightly.

However, I snapped my head back forward and began to ignore the feeling. Yet, that did no help.

Eventually, I gave in and turned around to lock eyes with grey ones. Smirking, Draco winked in my direction, causing me to blush.

But his eyes suddenly looked to the side and rolled. He rested his head against his hand as Pansy Parkinson sat down next to him. She clung her arms around his neck, whilst giving him lovey looks. I felt a slight pang of jealousy course through my blood as I turned around. There I saw Chloe watching Fred fondly as he discussed work with George.

Either way, I couldn't have a boy that doesn't attract other girls. That was stupid of me to say. I would never consider wanting Malfoy... or do I?

How dare he put me into this situation of emotions. I was fine with just Fred.