"Go for the girl you want
or else she'll soon be someone's else's to flaunt."

Mia could NOT afford to be late to Ancient Runes again, and she ran as fast as her legs could carry her through the moving staircases.

Oh, how she hated them. Changing and all when she had places to be. It was as if they purposely tried to make her late every day. Speaking of which, the staircase she was running down started moving. So, she daringly sprinted and jumped, the stairs moving as she was in midair.

She had intended to land gracefully, but instead slammed into a tall figure, completely knocking them over. She was laid on top of them and they both groaned in pain.

She noticed faint smell of apples and a voice grumbling, "Smith, if you don't get off of me in five seconds I'll push you off of this five-story ledge."

Mia brought her head up from the person's chest, gasping when she realized who it was. She scrambled to get up and squeaked, "Draco! I'm so sorry! Let me help you-"

"Screw off, klutz." His voice was quiet and gruff as he slowly got up. The books of the two were sprawled out and the Hufflepuff quickly tried picking them up. Draco's eyes flitted to her and widened, an idea coming to mind. "Stop! I've got it!"

"But-"

"You've done enough," he said coldly, handing her belongings to her shortly after.

Mia gingerly took them, muttering appreciation and another apology. He silently gave a nod, walking off, and she noticed a sight she'd never seen before: his cheeks were tinged with pink.

'I just made Draco Malfoy blush...' she thought, smirking before rearranging her school items. But, she noticed something out of the ordinary...a sketchpad. 'What the...?'

Mia stood there and set her stuff down, forgetting that she had a class she had to go to. As she flipped through it, she recognized something...they were all her drawings, except for one.

"Holy shit..." Her eyes widened so wide, it was a surprise they didn't pop.

The picture before her was absolutely beautiful. It was a girl, her hair up and decorated with flowers, her eyes lined with perfect makeup, her skin glowing and just the right amount of pale. Her lips were full and her eyes were squinted slightly as if the girl were really alive and laughing.

The girl was Mia Smith, oddly similar to how she looked at the Yule Ball last year. And in the corner, the initials D.M. were scribbled.

But why'd he draw her? Mia wondered.

~._.~

After a dreadful detention with Professor Bathsheda Babbling of Ancient Runes, she headed to lunch, giddy as could be.

Sure, she had to suffer her free period serving a detention for tardiness, but she couldn't care less as she walked into the Great Hall, her eyes locking on Draco Malfoy.

She took a deep breath and walked over to the green-clad table, sketchpad in hand.

As she approached, a bit of fear filled her gut. The Slytherin house as a whole was known to dislike Hufflepuffs. Although she didn't usually believe in stereotypes, she knew many of them did, in fact, hate her house. She also knew Draco was going to most likely deny making that drawing in front of his friends and, on top of it, be an ass about it. Mia tried to put her doubts to the back of her mind.'He clearly has some heart if he could draw something so amazing,' she thought to herself.

Regardless of her doubts, she strutted over, head high and grin wide, occupying the empty seat next to the platinum-haired boy. "Hey, Draco!"

"M...Smith?" he asked, baffled. His eyes went wide for a split second, but he quickly recovered his rude attitude and gave a scowl. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I..." She looked down the table and saw people whispering and snickering at her. Her heart sank a bit, and she decided against pulling out the notebook. "I just wanted to say that your work...it's good."

"I have no clue what you're talking about. All that I know is that you better get your prissy-"

"You know, and so do I," she said.

He felt a slight nudge and looked down, seeing the sketchpad. He merely rolled his eyes and turned away, but she grabbed his arm. "I just want to know...why'd you choose me?"

Draco avoided looking at her, clenching his jaw. He hoped she didn't remember what she'd said on the train.

~

The two polar opposites sat in the train compartment together. Term hadn't even started and they were already arguing.

Draco had just called Mia's artwork 'merely decent' and she was practically twitching in annoyance. The fool always had so much to say but nothing to back it up. So, she had challenged him to beat her in the one talent she thought she had: drawing.

Unable to come up with any more excuses, the boy just sighed and said, "Okay, fine, I'm perfectly capable of doing this. Any suggestions on what to draw, Miss Know-It-All Smith?"

"Hmm...not sure, there's lots of things you could choose. I would suggest drawing something you look at a lot or is pretty. Both of those aspects could make it easier, I guess."

"Then it definitely won't be you," he grumbled.

Mia just rolled her eyes. She knew his near-decent attitude wouldn't last long. It never did.

What she didn't notice, though, was that he was subconsciously already soaking in her features as she looked out the window.

~

The boy felt completely stupid and confused...why did he choose her? Sure, she was attractive, but he felt odd flattering her in any way. So he came up with a lie, afraid she would suspect something, "I did it to shut you up."

Mia didn't understand the logic in his statement. How would that work? "But...wouldn't this just get me talking even more?"

"I-"

"Come on, this is amazing!" she exclaimed, and at this point, everyone was looking at the two of them. She lowered her voice. "The detail...you had to have looked at me a lot to draw this."

Mia really did not understand why Draco was finding it so hard to credit for his work. It really and truly was magnificent yet he was nearly trying to pass it off as something that took two minutes to do.

"Don't be ridiculous. Smith, you're full of yourself. I don't like you and never will-"

Mia found it a bit funny that he always felt the need to defend this. When did she ever suggest such a crazy notion? It's not like he really had ever shown even proper interest in her in regards to a dating relationship, or one with anybody for that matter. "I never said you liked me, I'm just saying-"

"Get. Out." Draco's tone was cold and so were his steely grey eyes. "As much as I'd love to chat with someone as low as yourself, you don't belong here. Leave."

"I..." she trailed off, but just sighed when his gaze got colder. "Okay. Sorry for bothering you...thanks for this though. I really do mean it when I say you did an amazing job."

As she walked away, her heart sinking, she wondered why she even bothered with Draco sometimes. He was always negative with her when near his friends but nearly a slightly different person when in lone company. Even so, the insults and sly remarks were always there, always rude, and always one-sided. Mia didn't understand what she had done wrong; all she had done was compliment his work. It wasn't like she had insulted it any way or made fun of him for doing it. She didn't judge people and he, along with everyone else, knew that.

He watched as she got up and walked away, keeping her eyes down. Mia was obviously feeling offended and let down, but she didn't speak another word of it as she headed over to her table.

A pang of guilt tapped at Draco's gut, but he ignored it, scoffing and piling food onto his plate.

"So, Malfoy, you're going after Hufflepuffs now?" asked Damien, bringing him back to reality.

He turned to his dark haired friend, whose dark blue eyes were sparkling with mischief.

Draco felt a slight urge of panic in the pit of stomach. He really hoped the whole table had not overheard himself and Smith's conversation and gotten that impression. Him chasing Hufflepuff's was definitely not the case and an assumption as such could really ruin his reputation.

"Of course not, you dense git."

"Good, that'd be a stupid idea. You'd be better with Pansy-"

"Or nobody." Draco's eyes snapped to Balise's, giving a glare. The mere thought of being with Parkinson gave him the urge to vomit. "I'm not interested. Everyone here is dull and barely average-looking at best."

"Then you must've never looked at Little Miss Smith over there. Speaking of which..are you interested in her or not?"

"Never, Damien." Draco felt a slight twinge in his gut as he said it and couldn't quite figure out why.

"Then I shall make my move," Damien said, a grin appearing on his face as he stood up. "Watch and learn, as this is how you treat a lady."

'Arse...what the hell is he playing at?' Draco wondered. Damien had never given any indication of liking Smith before and Draco couldn't understand why he was only now deciding to act on it. It slightly irritated him that Damien was trying to teach him how to treat a lady - the platinum-haired boy knew very well how to do so. It just so happened none of the ladies of Hogwarts were worthy of such kind attitude from him, in his opinion. 

The Slytherin boy went over to the Hufflepuff table, plopping down next to Mia, who was set by herself since her friends had already eaten and left. The girl's head whipped towards Damien when she heard his voice, greeting her. She wondered why he was there. Mia hadn't really spoken much to him in the last five years and was quite surprised by his sudden notion to do so. 

"Hi Damien...um, what are you doing here? Not that I mind, I'm just-"

"Calm down, Smith. I just wanted to say that you're awful brave coming over to our table like that," he said with a smile. When she didn't respond, he continued on, "So...what was that all about? Do you fancy-"

Seriously, Mia thought. He had come over to ask if she fancied Malfoy. Wow. That's a ridiculous assumption. "Malfoy? Nope."

"Heh, actually, I was going to ask if you fancied anyone at all, not just Draco." He gave a chuckle as she cringed.

The blonde mentally slapped herself...why'd his name come to time first? She felt like an idiot. "I, uh...just assumed you were-" No. Explaining wouldn't help. "I mean, no, I don't like anyone...why d'you care?"

"Well, a pretty girl like you has to have at least some interest if not a boyfriend."

Mia felt her cheeks slightly tint red from embarrassment. She also felt surprised by his level of kindness.

"I...um..." she gave an awkward chuckle. "No I don't, thank you though."

"Isn't that a shame. Well, I should get going. It was nice talking to you, Mia." Damien gave a smile and nod, and she found his voice pleasant.

It was soft and nice and not condescending in the slightest.

She had known him before, given that he and Kat went to the Yule Ball the previous year, but she never really talked to him.

Mia had to admit, though, that he always interested her, and she never understood why he was in Slytherin. He was just too kind. And attractive. And smart. And...well, everything good.

As he got up and started walking away, she called, "Wait!". Without turning, he stopped. "I...I'm just wondering why you asked or even brought this up."

"No reason. Why? Did you think something else?" he teased, finally facing her. "Just make what you'd like of it." And with that, he left.

Mia felt slightly confused at the conversation. What had Damien meant? She watched him go back to his table, but couldn't hear what he was saying to his friends. She noticed, though, that Draco didn't look pleased in the slightest, and his glare at his friend was persistent.

Mia accidentally made eye contact with the rude Slytherin and quickly turned back around.
She remained confused. Why had Damien talked to her? He was one of the most popular and attractive guys in the whole school. He was the perfect mix of bad boy and intelligence and kindness...or so it seemed. Then again, she didn't know all that much about him, but she wouldn't mind finding out.

Mia dared another glance at the green table and saw Malfoy storming off. He gave her one look and shook his head before leaving the Great Hall.

She didn't understand why Draco looked so put off.

The more Mia thought about it she began to think why would it matter what Draco thought? It's not like he was interested in her anyway, so why should that give him a reason to be annoyed?

Something in her felt that something was a bit off...but in this moment she really didn't care.

~._.~

Author's Note

Hey everyone! I don't have much to say except for sorry for the late update and slow climax. I promise, though, that things will happen soon! Hopefully the next update will be on time, but I'm super busy with finals and end-of-school stuff!
Anyway, thanks for those that read...I can't wait until the good stuff comes and the reads get high; it's such an exciting thing!

Question of the chapter...
(Not really hp related, but whateves, it's kinda related to the chapter)
~"What talents do you guys have?"~
My best is probably music. I love playing flute!

Thanks for reading!
~Lumos