"To my friends, old and new," Luna toasted with her mug of butterbeer and gave a nod to Vega.  Five of them sat around the center table in the Three Broomsticks.  Neville had joined them, sitting as close as he could to the mystical blonde and stealing lovestruck glances at her any chance he got.  Padma, Arabelle, and a petite brunette introduced to her as Selina Frell sat around her.

Selina was the only one not drinking, opting for a glass of milk instead.  Vega, on the other hand, greedily drank up her butterbeer and finished before the others.  It was the first breath of fresh air and freedom that she'd been able to have since the start of term.  "Thirsty?" Neville commented with a small laugh. 

Vega shook her glass and it was refilled with the wave of a wand.  She blushed lightly and tucked her hair behind her ear.  "Neville, don't be impolite," Luna whispered slowly and shot her a smile.  

"Actually, I just never had this before.  It's delicious," she admitted.

"You've never had butterbeer?" Padma gawked at her as if she'd never heard of such a thing.

"They don't have it back in France.  Must be an English thing," she shrugged.

"So what do they have?" Neville leaned in curiously.

"Well," Vega recalled her time wandering the south of France with her mother, "the wine is particularly good.  I suppose I would drink that when I was out with my mom, but if I had to pick a favorite I would say it was this purple drink.  I never learned the name of it, but if you drank it, even just a sip, you'd get this...surge...this confidence."

They were hanging off her every word, genuine intrigue written plainly on all their faces.  "You don't know what it was called?" Luna checked.  "What did it taste like?"

Vega hummed in thought, "It was like candy, but not overpoweringly sweet.  Kind of like berries, I guess."

"A drink that gives you confidence..." Neville trailed off, looking down at his hands.  Luna gave him a subtle squeeze on his shoulder and smiled at him.  

"So what made you transfer to Hogwarts?" Padma asked to break the tension that had settled around them all.

Vega chewed the inside of her cheek.  "My dad.  He's the new DADA teacher."

Realization hit her and she smacked a golden hand to her forehead.  "I'm so stupid, of course.  Sorry, I don't have that class this term."

"Consider yourself lucky," she huffed.

It was Luna's turn to break the tension as she tapped Vega's shoulder and nodded in the direction of the bar.  "Look discretely, but someone hasn't taken their eyes off you since they entered."

Vega didn't heed her by any means, whipping around quickly to see the brown eyes of Gavin.  He was sat on a stool with a few friends on either side of him, his back to her, but his head craned to see her to his left.  He looked away when he saw her staring back at him, his cheeks tinging pink and giving her butterflies at his shy demeanor.  She sipped at her butterbeer with a giddy grin on her lips.  "Gavin," she explained.  "I met him on my way to the kitchens the other day."

"He's quite handsome, and sweet from what I hear.  You should go talk to him," she encouraged and Arabelle pursed her lips at the notion.

"Let him come to you," she insisted suddenly.  "Don't want to seem desperate."  

Vega mulled over her advice and decided to take it.  She stayed with the girls and Neville, gossiping about Professor Trelawney's odd classes and Filch's horrid cat.

"What's his problem anyway?  Why is he so hellbent on being an ass?" Vega asked with a mouthful of chips.

"He can't do magic," Luna informed her softly.  "He's jealous of us because we can.  Sad, really," she finished quietly.

"Still," Selina narrowed her eyes at the table, "he made my first year here a living hell.  I got caught throwing a piece of paper in the hallway and he made me sweep the entire second floor as punishment.  I can't stand him."  She folded her arms and groaned at the memory.

They all laughed together, letting the butterbeers begin to creep up on them.  Vega, who often dabbled in other means of relaxation, patted her pockets and remembered the tiny pouch she had smuggled out of the castle in her jacket.  "Hey, I'll be right back," she excused herself, standing up.  They were all too engaged in conversation to fully appreciate her departure, so she slipped away quietly.  

When she stepped out into the cold autumn air, she shivered violently as her eyes scanned her surroundings for a discrete place to go.  They settled on a patch of trees just beyond the second row of shops.  She tromped over dead leaves and cobblestones on her way to privacy and was glad to have the cover of evergreen trees blocking her view of the town for just a moment.  She used her teeth to pull off the black gloves that had served to protect her from the coldness and spat it out on the ground, fumbling in her pocket for what she wanted.  Her fingers brushed by the thin paper roll and pulled it out, along with her mother's jeweled lighter she had smuggled from her home.  Bringing it to her nose, she inhaled the earthy smell of the intoxicating herb with a pleased smile.

"You could be expelled for that." She dropped the joint into the leaves at her feet and spun around.  

"What do you want?" Vega's eyes slanted as they landed on Draco, just entering the trees.

"What are you doing out here?" He ignored her question, instead posing his own.

"I was looking for a quiet place away from people, but I guess that's out of the question," she spat.  The butterbeer was making her head swim a bit, but she still remained in control of her actions.  She bent down to sift through the leaves, searching for the lost item.  Draco didn't make a sound as he went to kneel down beside her and helped her look.  His slender white fingers held up the joint, and a triumphant smirk crossed his features.

"Were you going to smoke this all by yourself?" He cocked a brow at her.

"If you must know," she reached for it, but he held it higher, "I was going to only smoke a little.  I was saving the rest for later."

"Later?  Do you sneak into the forest often to get stoned?" His voice held a vibration of amusement as she reached once more for the joint, only to grasp air as he lifted it higher again.

"Knock it off," she hissed.  She jumped a bit off the ground, but he stopped her with one hand on her chest, pressing her back against the tree.  Flashes of the last time she was in that position with him ran through her mind and her breath hitched.  "D-Draco..." she stammered.

Cold steel swept over her face, drinking in her hesitance and seeming to revel in it.  "Scared, Candlewood?" 

She swallowed, the motion of her throat betraying the false bravery in her voice as she spat, "You wish."

Something twitched in the hollows of his stormy orbs at her words.  He took his hand off her and allowed her to breath normally again as he pulled out his wand.  She would have been lying if she said she wasn't a bit afraid of what he had planned to do with it.  His eyes moved to the joint in his fingers and he popped it into his mouth, wetting the end slightly, and whispered, "Incendio," so quietly that his own wand barely reacted.  It produced just enough flame to light the tip.  

He brought it to his lips and took a deep drag, blowing out a few smoke rings that dissipated when they splashed against her shoulder.  He handed it to her and she took it with a nervous hand.  Keeping her eyes narrowed and trained on him, she accepted it and smoked slowly.  He watched her movements, the ember from the joint illuminated hellishly in his stony gray eyes.  They were like a canvas that reflected whatever was presented in front of them.  She tore her gaze from his once she realized how long she had been staring.

With a decisive breath, she handed the joint back to him and turned to leave.  "Where are you going?"  She didn't answer, walking briskly to the edge of the trees.  "Vega!  I'm talking to you!"  The anger was evident in his voice, but she didn't turn.  "Vega!" This shout was different, desperate, and chilling.  Her feet betrayed her, stilling in the breeze.  "Don't walk away from me."

"Or what?" Vega whipped around to glare at him, but the wind whooshed from her lungs when she found him standing right behind her.  The confidence faded as she swallowed hard, looking up at him towering over her with a look of rage.  That vein on his throat ticked and flexed beneath his ivory skin.  One hand reached out to take hers, the anger never falling from his face, and she felt the joint being pressed back into her palm.  His breath fanned her face and she smelled the alcohol overpowering his cologne.  

"You're too much of a coward to find out," he murmured to her.  Her chest rose and fell faster the longer he stayed there, until he ripped away from her and stormed back inside the Three Broomsticks.  She felt the air fill her once more and leaned against a tree to catch her breath before rejoining her friends.

"You smell like smoke," Arabelle wrinkled her nose when she sat back down beside her.

"Sorry," she muttered absentmindedly, watching Draco from across the room.  He and Blaise had chosen a table in the very back corner and she felt positively exposed at her own central spot.  His stare burned into her flesh, but she was jolted from her thoughts when a large hand clapped gently onto her shoulder.  Draco's gaze hardened.

"Evening, Vega," Gavin grinned down at her with glassy orbs that gave away how many drinks he'd had.  

"Hey, Gavin," she returned the greeting.

"You should come join me at the bar.  My friends have all gone, I'm all alone over there," he pouted dramtically.

She was glad for the distraction and smiled up at him.  "Sure," she agreed.  Turning to the others, Luna waved away her excuse and shooed her with a wink.  Gavin took her by the hand, intertwinging their fingers and lead her to where he had been sitting.  She was happy that she couldn't see the back corner anymore.  A set of stairs and a few pillars blocked Draco from her view, and her from his.  She felt her body relax onto the stool as he ordered them both another butterbeer.  "Oh," she shook her head, "I'm probably all good on the drinks for now." She laughed at how tipsy she was already feeling.  

Gavin chuckled.  "Nonsense,  its Friday.  Have you got somewhere to be this weekend?" 

"Actually, yes," she said imperatively.  "I'm going home for my mother's birthday.  I'll be gone all next week."

His face fell.  "All week?"  

"Afraid so," she nodded at the blonde waitress that set her mug down in front of her.  "I always spend a week with her every year.  Its the only thing she ever asks for anymore."  Rightfully so considering her days were spent locked up in their mansion, all alone, without a soul to talk to save for their house elf.  Her father forbade anything else, so he didn't balk when she began requesting her daughter for a week out of the year.  Vega leapt at the opportunity, eager to spend as much time as possible with her mother.

"Pity, the we only have tonight it seems," he clinked his glass to hers.

Vega sipped at it and giggled.  "It's only a week."  

"The castle will be significantly dimmer without your light," he gushed and she chewed her lower lip, wishing her cheeks would stop burning.  "Listen," he cleared his throat, "there's a party in the Hufflepuff common room tonight, around eleven.  Would you come?  It won't be nearly as boring if you're there."  He lifted his mug to his lips to take a drink, but he was shoved hard from behind and the butterbeer spilled over his front and splashed over her coat.  

"Sorry about that, didn't see you there Scotland." It was Draco.  

Vega leapt off her stool and flicked off the droplets.  "Are you alright?" Gavin looked her over with knit brows.

"Fine," she hissed, glaring at the white blond.  

Gavin whirled around, easily a head taller than Draco, and glowered at him.  "What the fuck is your problem, Malfoy?"  He shoved the Slytherin hard and had him stagger back a few steps.

Draco's face twisted into a devilish snarl, "How dare you touch me!"  Blaise and a few other croneys backed him up, fanning around him to enclose the lone Hufflepuff.  Gavin didn't seem to notice until Vega crept closer to him, gripping his arm tightly to draw his attention.  She saw him begin to take in the situation and step back once.  

"Still the bully as always, I see," he laughed in Draco's face.  "Can't face anyone without your little toadies behind you."  

"Gavin," Vega whispered urgently, seeing Draco's hand clasping his wand.

"Listen to your girlfriend, Scotland." Draco challenged him, stepping forward.

"I'm Irish!" Gavin barked.

"Boys!  Not in my bar!" The blonde rushed back over with her wand out and a motherly hand on her hip as though she were only scolding a couple of tantrum throwing toddlers.

Blaise and the boys backed down, retreating back to their table while Draco remained where he stood.  The vein was back, pulsing and growing under the taut flesh.  The woman must have assumed the situation was at an end and went back to her patrons, leaving the three to sort out the rest.

Her heart beat furiously as she waited to see what would unfold.  They both held their wands at their sides.  Draco was rubbing his thumb over the length of his wand, contemplating using it or not.  Gavin twitched his arm up and Vega leapt between them.  "Okay, enough," she hissed under her breath with a hand on either's chest.  "Both of you, whatever this is, stop it!"  

Gavin lowered his arm, tucking his wand away and giving her an apologetic look, ashamed of his actions.  "I've had a bit much to drink.  Sorry," he said to her earnestly.  "I think I'll switch to water so I'm not a useless lump on the couch when I see you tonight," he breathed out in embarrassment.

Draco rolled his jaw.  "What's tonight?"

"Hufflepuff party.  No Slytherin's allowed."  Gavin glared at him and ordered a water.

"Ravenclaws are permitted, I'm assuming?" He phrased it as a question, but the way his eyes bore into Vega's told her that he already knew the answer.

"So far, just this one." Gavin nudged her playfully, but neither she nor Draco laughed.

He scoffed and stormed away, leaving them both alone for the time being.