Blessed With A Curse

Chapter 4

"Miss Walker," Hagrid called his attention being diverted from me. My eyes instantly searched for who the intruder was. Of course, it was her. Was she following me or something? She took a glance at me for a second, shock swept her face as she saw me saddling the creature. Ha. Bet you didn't think I was capable, more fool you.
"I think I left my book earlier." She sang. Those big bold eyes looking up at Hagrid. She had always been small but stood next to the giant it shrunk her even smaller, vulnerable was my first thought. Hagrid helped me get off the creature before grabbing the book she happened to leave.
"Thought it might have been you." He smiled handing her the growling pages, they silenced once being positioned in her cradling arms. "How are you finding your first few lessons." Hagrid went on, I guessed this was my cue to leave. She looked up at me for a second and then back at Hagrid.
"Startling." She slipped the words. "I guess in a good way." She concluded tilting her head. I wondered what she was thinking.
"Have you gotten use to your surroundings?" He questioned further. When she came here, her hair had been tangled in the wind, beads of sweat appearing on her forehead, I guessed it must have been a task trying to find her way to Hagrid in the first place.
"Not really." She shyly admitted, her cheeks blushing ruby.
"Would you mind taking Miss Walker, show her around?" Hagrid asked me, my face instantly folded.
"Isn't that a job of a prefect." I hissed. Would I ever get a minute to myself or would I be bossed around all day?
"It's okay-"she began but Hagrid interrupted her.
"Draco will give you a tour. Sometimes the prefects miss a lot out, it will be a lot clearer coming from someone of your year, you share the same classes, don't you?" He asked and she simply nodded her head. I hadn't even noticed her in any of my classes, only in positions because she was sat next to me. I didn't think it would be so easy to miss a face like hers, a face that irritated me so much. But it was finalised, I would have no choice but to take her around. The only good thing to happen from this was that I had the excuse to skip Defence against the Dark Arts, Lupin had already picked his favourites and I wasn't one of them.
"Fine." I broke the silence. "You'll have to excuse us from Professor Lupins class, I might know the school well but not well enough to show it all in the fifteen minutes we have left." Hagrid just simply nodded writing out a slip in case anyone questioned us.

Showing her the school wasn't what I had in mind, more like picking at her brains. I eyed her, compelling her to follow me as I made my exit out of the woods. She stuck behind me, keeping a fair distance. Either she really hated me, or she was scared of me, I liked the idea of both. I hadn't even started on her yet, no rude comment, she was judging before we'd even had a proper conversation.
"You're abrupt." She said out loud, snapping me away from my thoughts, I knew better to look behind, curiousness biting away at me.
"What makes you say that?" I questioned.
"I thought you didn't like Buckbeak." She referenced to the bird, completely ignoring my question. I didn't hate the bird, in fact I didn't even hate Hagrid, I was more butt hurt that I was never chosen even if I did show interest, the teachers here never gave me a second thought.
"I don't." I lied. She stuck behind me, closing the gap slightly.
"You seemed happy up there."
"Look!" I turned toward her a scowl on my face. "You'll soon come to learn I'm someone you shouldn't mess with, sooner rather than later." I spat, who was she to tell me how I felt? How would she know? She didn't have a clue about me. "Drop it, alright?" She was silent for a few seconds as I took her around Whomping Willow. Maybe I should explain the history, but I didn't care too much, the only reason I was here to was to miss class.
"So, what is it about Lupin you dislike so much?" She asked, she sounded like she was standing on eggshells and she was.
"Aren't I the one who should be rattling your brain?" I cocked a brow to her. She drew closer so we were side by side, I had to tilt my head lower when looking at her, she kept her eyes on the ground.
"You haven't asked me anything yet." She sounded hurt. I guessed I was the only person who wasn't desperately interested in her life, we'd never had a student transfer before, she was everyone's new favourite toy. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in finding more out about her, but my intentions differed to the mouth-watering idiots that lined up for her attention.
"Well where are you from?" I kicked at the loose branch under my foot as we began to walk further away from the trees and closer to the Quidditch pitch.
"I was travelling around Europe." She reminded me. "My parents are collectors; they have an eye for beasts." She smiled at the thought of her parents, I could imagine how much she'd missed them, I guessed this was the first time she'd been away from them. I remember my first week at Hogwarts, I missed my mother dearly, it hit hard when I knew she wouldn't be there to pick up the pieces. Since then it's never been the same, we grew more and more distant, my father being the headline act.
"So that's why you like Buckbeak?" I concluded and she nodded her head.
"It's colder here." She tucked her hands under her cloak. It was only September, she still had a lot of colder months ahead. "We usually stuck to the Mediterranean Sea." She gave more information than what I was asking for.
"That explains your complexion." I took another look at her olive skin, the undertones matching her earthy eyes.
"Do you not get out in the sun much?" She looked up at my pale skin, icy compared to hers.
"I've never travelled." My words came out cold and I didn't mean for them to, I was giving off too much. Somehow, she'd managed to turn the questions back on me. "Do you enjoy Quidditch?" I gestured towards the pitch and she shrugged her shoulders. "I play." I gleaned, still feeling proud to be a part of Slytherins team, the seeker at that. "I'm the seeker."
"Do things like that not scare you? Aren't you afraid of being hurt?" She looked concerned, her face flinched as she imagined herself up there on the broom.
"No." I said sourly. I was a competitive person and I was with a strong team, even if we did play dirty at times. I laughed at the thought, remembering how I managed to get us out of playing against Gryffindor this week, the weather forecast for being wet and dark. Not that we were scared of losing but we preferred not to play in bad weather conditions. "Gryffindor will be playing, will you watch?" I said suggesting to her house.
"Will you be there?" She asked, weighing up her options.
"I'm sure I'll be on the scene somewhere." I chuckled. Me and the boys had planned on playing a little trick on Potter, it would be a laugh.

Her face crumpled, she seemed unhappy for some reason. We walked across the river, past the ruins that crumbled into the soft floor.
"What things make you happy?" She asked, her voice slightly toned but the question seemed innocent. It caught me by surprise, people didn't usually care much about how I felt, and the truth was I didn't know the answer to the question. Picking on Harry and his friends seemed to draw a kick out of me now and again, but I wouldn't call that happiness it just filled an empty space. I thought back to my mother and remembered how I use to be happy with her, but again in the recent times I had no happiness from her either. I guess playing Quidditch made me happy, but it was all the more disappointing when we lost.
"I don't know, not much." I shrugged.
"That's sad." She whispered more to herself than it was to me.
"This School is doomed, it sucks any type of happiness away anyways, I'm happy at home, away from all these fools." My arms wavered in the air as I lied.
"You don't fill me with much confidence." She breathed.
"Maybe you should go back to home schooling then." I huffed. If she didn't like it here at least she had else where to go.
"Is that what you want?" She asked and I cocked a brow up at her. "I'm sorry you're hard to read." She admitted. Then I thought back to what Goyle had said, it was rumoured she could read minds, I wasn't even aware gifts like this existed, I had completely forgotten about keeping my thoughts vague just in case she was.
"So, it's true." I smirked. "You read minds." She looked back at me, our eyes finally locked since being on our dreaded tour. Her smile grew deeper, she was amused.
"And if I could I wouldn't be telling you." She giggled.
"You've answered my question for me." I said cockily.
"Then maybe you should keep your thoughts clean." She threatened playful, I couldn't help but chuckle along with her. It wasn't impossible that she could, the school would be in ruins if she could, all its secrets oozing out. Sure, Dumbledore wouldn't invite someone who could expose his every thought, it seemed extremely unlikely. But still I felt uneasy about thinking how I really felt around her, best to play it safe.

As we crossed over the bridge she looked down at the slashing water as it pounded against the sharp rocks. Her fingers slid down the cold stone banister. She looked deep in thought as she watched the water fall up and down, the wind making it more violent than the usual flowing stream. The same wind flowed around her hair, the nape of her neck exposed, her silver chain hanging loosely around her. I couldn't help but allow my fingers to trace around the metal. My touch sent goose bumps across her stone smooth skin, I pulled at the chain, revealing out of her shirt. She looked at me, a whirlwind of emotions planted on her face, shock, confusion, even defence, as I pulled the pendant placing it in the palm of my hand. My eyes flooded the small pendant, the green gem was shaped into a cat it's curled tail rapping around its sharp facial features. I dropped it from my hand, letting it fall back on her chest. It wasn't your usual pretty necklace, it had some deeper meaning to it and for some reason I felt more intrigued. She stood there frozen her emerald eyes sinking into my pale blues. It seemed like I had dazzled her, I had confused myself on my abrupt movements but shrugged it off either way. It wasn't long until we met the courtyard, we stayed in silence. We were close to both our common rooms now, lessons were coming close to an end and I was eager to meet with Crabbe and Goyle, or maybe I was more eager to escape her presence.
"Thanks for the tour." she leaned against the courtyard wall. I guessed she was just as eager to get away from me to. I simply left her with a quick nod before disappearing inside.

I rushed inside, five minutes till the end of class. That gave me approximately ten minutes until Crabbe and Goyle would be here, therefore I needed to settle my thoughts, clear up the unwanted confusion I wanted. I couldn't make up my mind if I liked her or if I hated her. She was a Gryffindor after all, heavily annoying, stuck up and a smart arse but she didn't seem to dismiss me like the rest had. I gave her reason not to like me, but she seemed find her way hanging around, maybe that would be her biggest mistake. I couldn't fight down the urge I had to figure her out, I played it off as though it was just the mind reading, I was bothered about, that would settle my nerves until I figured out what else is could possibly be. I wasn't about to jump on the newbie bandwagon.