FIFTEEN DON'T REMIND ME

"Merlin, there you are!" Diana exclaimed as she passed by the entrance to the hospital wing just as Xander was exiting. There were no visible wounds on the boy, but Diana seemed to think there would be as she placed her hands on his shoulders and began checking various parts of his torso to see if he was hurt. "People saw you cast a spell at Potter and he was chasing after you and then I didn't hear from you at all! I thought Potter hexed you or something! Are you hurt? Why are you in the hospital wing? Tell me everything!"

"I'm fine," Xander spoke, sounding more exasperated than he would have liked. His voice was hoarse, likely from exhaustion considering he was fresh out of a duel. A duel that almost killed Draco Malfoy. "I'm not hurt, I was helping Malfoy to the hospital wing. Harry almost... Harry almost killed him. If not for Snape -- and I can't believe I'm saying that. It was horrible, Di, I never wanna see something like that ever again. Just bloody awful."

The girl reassuringly wrapped her arm around his shoulders and gave him a gentle squeeze as they began to walk towards the common rooms. They had classes to go to, but surely any professor would understand given that Xander was rather shaken up. Thanks to Draco, nothing Harry had cast had actually hit him, but it was still a scary thing to go through. Xander usually avoided physical confrontation at all costs because it was one of his least favorite things.

"What the hell happened? What did Harry do that was so bad it almost killed him?" Diana asked, running a nervous hand through her blonde hair as they walked. Xander rested his head on her shoulder, thankful that Diana could always provide a feeling of normalcy and stability.

Xander sighed, "He cast some curse I've never even heard of before. I know for sure I haven't seen it in any spellbook. Draco was distracted because I had fallen and Harry got him and next thing I knew, Draco was on the floor and his chest was all sorts of sliced up and... and... there was so much blood. I-" He shivered.

"Oh, honey, I'm sorry you had to see that," Diana looked at him with a concerned expression as she pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. They entered their common room and Xander was thankful for the familiar warmth of a room that felt like home. He pulled off his Hogwarts sweater as he headed up to the dorms for a brief moment to put on a sweatshirt that Alecks had bought him from some thrift store back in California. It used to be hers while she stayed out there and now he wore it when he needed to be reminded of home. It helped that it was Hufflepuff colors so most people didn't bat an eye when he wore it. When he came back down into the common room, Diana was sitting, staring into the fire.

He sat down next to her but didn't say anything, just staring at the flame with her. She was the first to speak, asking him, "Why did you run after him? Draco? I mean, wasn't he running from Katie Bell basically him admitting guilt? Why rush to someone like that?"

"I wish I knew," was the first answer Xander could muster, "It's stupid, to feel so loyal to someone who probably couldn't care less about me. I know... I know he's not good. Still, no matter how many times I try and remind myself of that, I still go chasing after him. I'm an idiot, I know."

"You're not an idiot," the girl chided, looking over at the boy who still hadn't met her eyes. "We can't help it we're so blindly loyal. Seriously, you'd think more Death Eaters would have come from Hufflepuff considering we're probably the most likely to get involved in a cult, but that's beside the point. You like him, you can't control that, so there's no point bashing yourself for something you have no say in. I didn't know people being assholes attracted you, though, is that why we're such good friends?"

Her poor attempt at a joke was what finally got him to look over at her. He tried to make his expression look bored, but a smile still shone through because no matter what, Diana could always make him laugh. The two slowly burst into a full fit of laughter as he threw a pillow at her -- which the girl, of course, caught.

"You're the worst!" Xander exclaimed, but the boy's words were always empty when he made such statements. "Jesus, I wish I could stop liking the twat. He really doesn't have much going for him, but I can't stop! It's stupid! You know what he said? He practically admitted to trying to kill Dumbledore! He admitted to it! And I still tried to hex Harry like it was my job! It's getting ridiculous, really. In my defense, though, Harry shot arrows at me and I think that was rather rude. Draco did ask me if I was okay after, it was kind of sweet."

"Merlin, you're a mess," Diana said with a laugh as she threw the pillow back, hitting Xander square in the face as the pillow bounced off of its target and onto the floor. He gaped at her, but it only made the girl laugh, "Oh, he's a murderer! But he's so cute! That's how you sound, Xander!"

"He hasn't killed anyone, yet!" was somehow Xander's only defense. It was meek, he knew, and the conversation itself was rather ridiculous considering the subject of debate. Draco Malfoy was absolutely not someone worth Xander's time, especially considering recent confessions from the heat of the duel. Still, his arm still felt the ghost of Draco's grip and Xander let himself dream for a moment that things could just be normal. No murderous plots, no bathroom duels, no conspiracies. Just Xander and Draco. He knew it would never happen, but there was nothing wrong with letting his head roam in the clouds for a moment.

In front of him, Diana waved her hand in front of his face to get his attention, shaking her head as a small smile came to face, "Earth to Xander, sheesh. I love you, but you need to get a grip."

"I know!" he exclaimed, "I'm just scared... I'm scared for him, Diana. That's ridiculous, isn't it?"

The abrupt tone shift in his voice did not go unnoticed by Diana as her expression immediately softened. She closed the space between them to grab the boy in a light hug, "That's what happens when we care about people, we look past certain things. Besides, you're kind of right. He hasn't killed anyone yet, but I need you to be careful, Xander. I know, I know I sound like a broken record, but this is... this is different than anything we've dealt with at Hogwarts."

"I don't like being apart of it, I miss the good old days when we just got to hear about Harry's drama every year through gossip. Why do I have to live through it this year?"

Diana shrugged, "You're the one who decided to crush on the murderer who happens to be Harry's arch-nemesis."

Xander groaned, "Don't remind me."

this is a short chapter i know and I'm sorry but hey! we're five chapters out from the end of part one which is kind of crazy to think about considering i stared this fic just a little over two weeks ago. I'm gonna try to power through the end of part one, but for part two it's gonna be a lot of plot work and drama so I'm probably gonna chill out with the daily updates and put more time and work into the chapters to make sure I'm clear of plot holes and such