FicWad

Telling myself that I was not going to get distracted by whoever had just entered the common room, I rested my piece of parchment for my homework back onto the table and resisted the urge to throw it into the fire. It was a rather hard urge to resist. I wanted to see the shitty homework burn up and crackle into ashes. I was in a pretty bad mood tonight.

I attempted to concentrate on one particularly hard equation and still found that it seemed to be written in a foreign language. I had no idea how people could actually understand this stuff. You had to be like super smart in order to get all these postulates embedded in your brain. But now that I think of it, maybe it's not that. Maybe it's just that my brain is about the size of a pea.

With a loud sigh, I gave up on the problem and moved on to the next one, hoping that it would be slightly easier. Unfortunately, the next problem was just as hard as the first. The third problem was just as hard as well. Goddamnit, where there seriously no easy problems at all? Was this like the world's hardest homework ever or something?

Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, I heard the scrapping of a chair next to me. Hm, whoever had entered the common room earlier must've been taking a seat next to me. Oh great. That was just what I needed right now. I wasn't sure if I dared to see who it was sitting next to me or not. It could be a number of people really. Most likely, it was Walden. Walden was probably the last person on the planet that I wanted to see right now. Maybe he would go away if I just ignored him.

I tried this strategy out for a few minutes, but it didn't seem to be working. I still felt eyes on the back of my head. It was only causing my irritation to grow. The homework was making me feel like scream, long days without Lucius were making me go insane, and I was just really in a pissy mood. Whoever was staring at me was going to get my anger in full blast.

Dropping my pen to the table with a thud and without bothering to look up, I said in irritation, "Look, is there something you need? I'm kind of busy at the moment and you know, I don't really appreciate you just staring at me." My voice sounded loud and angry in the Slytherin common room. It didn't help that nobody else was in there except me and the stranger.

I waited for a response, but didn't get one. Wait...was there someone sitting next to me at all? Maybe I had imagined the whole thing and had gone insane. Needing to see if I was imagining things or not, I jerked my head up and turned to the left to see if there was someone next to me or if I had dreamed up the whole thing.

When I turned and saw dark, dead-looking eyes and a face that might have been pretty, I almost gasped in surprise. Natasha was sitting next to me! What the hell was she doing there? In the past, Nat had avoided me at all costs or had gone to all measures to instult me. It was just kind of creepy how she was just hanging out next to me in silence.

Feeling like I'd better apologize for snapping at her, I quickly backed down, "Oh, I'm sorry. I...uh...thought you were someone else." Natasha stared at me rather blankly. Feeling nervous and like I should say more, I started blabbing, "I thought you were Walden. He's got this thing with stalking me around the castle. It's quite annoying really."

I waited for Nat's response, having no idea how she was going to react to my reply. Would she curse me? Or maybe ignore me? I had no idea. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Natasha replied, "I could understand that. I was just looking over your shoulder. You seem to be having some problems with Arithmancy. Would you like me to do it for you? It would boost your grade up a bit. I could show you how to do the problems as well, but I think that would take much too long. Besides, I'm not much good at teaching. What do you think?"

I was shocked once more. So Nat was actually offering to do my homework? That was just kind of crazy. Why in the world would she offer to do my homework? I had stole her ex-boyfriend and had insulted her on several occasions. Why would she suddenly want to help me out with my homework? Feeling like there was more involved in this offer than she was telling me, I asked, "Um, is there something you want from me? You know, in return for your helping me with the homework?"

A small, thin smile crossed Natasha's lips, "No. I just want to help you out. Shall I do it for you?" Natasha picked up my Arithmancy homework and dragged it across the table so that it was lying in front of her. Hoping that this wasn't some sort of trick I was falling into, I watched Natasha carefully and said, "Um, sure. That would be great. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"No, not at all," Natasha replied, already scribbling on the piece of parchment. "I need something to do anyways." Natasha's quill continued flying over the parchment as she wrote notes and equations down at a rapid speed. I had no idea how she was doing it. Natasha was obviously far more intelligent than I had thought.

I was kind of feeling bad for how I had treated her previously now. I had kind of laughed in her face when I had first gotten together with Lucius. That had probably hurt her pretty badly. Waves of guilt started to drown me and I felt like I really owed Nat an apology. Clearing my throat, I began awkwardly, "I'm sorry about everything that went on with Lucius..."

Natasha finished the last problem on the parchment and shoved it back in my direction. A pained look came over her face and I suddenly had the impulse to hug her. Okay, I was really going insane now. Not meeting my eyes, Natasha replied, "It's not your fault. Lucius had split up with me before you got here. You just ended up being the replacement. I don't blame you. Lucius is beautiful, intelligent, and an amazin guy. There's nothing not to love about him."

I could hear the longing and pain behind Natasha's voice. I had always thought of her as a bitch before, but now I thought of her as a poor girl who had had her heart broken. She sounded like she had actually loved Lucius. To be honest, she probably had. I had just been blind before not to see that.

"I'm really sorry about that," I replied, not quite sure what to say. I wasn't sure if I owed Natasha an apology or not. I was pretty awkward socially in these situations. Luckily, Natasha continued speaking so I didn't have to feel awkward, "It's okay. Well, actually no, it's not. There's nothing I can do about it though. Guys are cruel. They don't know what they're getting into with relationships."

Nat's sentence made me curious. She had said guys in a plural. Had she been hurt by a number of guys? I was just thinking about asking that when suddenly the door to the common room creaked open once more. At the sound, Nat jumped a mile and sprang to her feet like a nervous bunny. Fear filled those eyes which I had thought were emotionless.

Giving me a haphazard, frantic look, Nat started running towards the dormitory and called over she shoulder in a quiet voice, "I've gotta go." She disappeared before I could say anything in reply. Wondering what that was all about, I turned and looked towards the door to see who had just entered the common room.

Big brunette curls and a handsome, snake-like face entered the room. It was Bella and Tom. Now I was starting to see why Nat had run the other way! Before Bella and Tom could catch sight of me, I rose silently, grabbed my homework, and crept across the floor and away from the two people who had turned my life upsidown.

~ ~ ~ ~

The next day, I was still puzzling over Natasha. When I woke in the morning, she wasn't in her bed across from mine. I couldn't help but wonder what she was up to. That girl obviously had a lot of secrets. There were many layers to her. I hade made it my goal to unearth each layer until I found the real Natasha buried beneath it all.

I was in a terrible mood by the time Potions came around. I had just failed a Transfiguration pop quiz and had had an awful morning. I felt really sick to my stomach. Even the sight of food made me sick these days. Pain pulsated within me, but there wasn't much I could do about it. All I could do was troop through the day and pretend that everything was wonderful.

Something else was weird. I felt like I was being watched. Ever since three or four days ago, I had felt eyes on the back of my neck almost constantly. However, whenever I turned around, I couldn't detect a certain person watching me. It certainly wasn't Walden anyways. Maybe I was just being paranoid. But what if I wasn't?

As I trudged down the hallway in my crappy mood, I realized the eyes weren't on me for once. It was about time. I was starting to think I would never escape the unknown person's ever-watching presence. As I turned the corridor's corner to head off to Potions, something shot out of a wall and grabbed my arm tightly.

My first impulse was to scream. I mean, what the hell had just grabbed me? For all I knew, it was probably Walden. Nonetheless, my brain didn't react quite soon enough. Before I could get the scream over my mouth, a hand slapped over it and tugged me hard to the left. Partly because I was feeling shocked and partly because I was already pretty weak, I stumbled to the left and felt myself falling into some sort of room. I tried to catch my balance, but it was too late.

Totally off balance, I fell to the ground and found myself face to face with a dirty, dusty floor. Something about this little room was quite familiar. It was a broom closet, wasn't it? Before I had anymore time to think, I was roughly hauled back up to my feet. My messy hair fell into my face, blocking my view. God, that was annoying. I should wear ponytails from now on.

After I was hauled to my feet, I was pushed roughly up against one of the walls of the small broom closet. Shaking my hair out of my face, I finally looked up into the eyes of...wait...they were gray eyes. I had been expecting them to be glittering and sadistic. But no, it was Lucius here and not Walden. I was so happy to see him that I felt like screaming.

For some inexplicable reason, tears came to my eyes. They were tears of happiness though, which were so much better than my tears of depression and pain from the last week and a half or so. I reached out a hand and cupped Lucius' chin as I sobbed, "Oh my god, I've missed you so much. I thought you had abandoned me or something..."

"Abandon you?" Lucius raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Of course not. I just have to work around Tom now. I swear he is everywhere. This was the only way I could think of to try to get us alone." Lucius waved around at the cramped broom closet we were in. With a wry smile, he continued, "It's not the nicest place in the world, but seeing you again is worth it."

There were a lot of things I wanted to say, but the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "What did Tom say to you that night?" Lucius looked confused and stared at me blankly. I gave him more details, "You know, the night where he yelled at us for being together. He brought you up to the dormitory after that. What did he say to you then? Did he say something about me?"

Lucius' face filled with comprehension and he started to reply and then stopped and hesitated. Taking a closer look at my face, he replied, "It was nothing, Cissa. He just wanted to work on potions homework, that's all." From the way Lucius had hesitated and from the way he was avoiding my eye, I could tell he was giving me a half-truth.

Refusing to buy a half-truth, I shook my head stubbornly and said, "No, Tom didn't want to work on the potions essay. He's older than you and isn't in your class. Of course he wouldn't want to do potions with you. Now please tell me what he really did say. I thought we promised we weren't going to lie to each other anymore?"

"I'm only trying to protect you," Lucius replied with a slightly defeated look. He hesitated for a moment, prolonging my anticipation for his answer. Finally, Lucius sighed and looked me in the eye, "He threatened me. He doesn't want me to keep seeing you. I can deal with threats though. You're worth it."