The Sunrise of My Heart

As we entered the castle, many people were staring at Harry and whispering softly. He looked really uncomfortable so, giving them all challenging looks, I linked my arm through his and walked boldly forward.

"Head up, Harry. Let them know you don't give a rat's ass what they think. We know the truth, and that's all that matters."

"Sure," he said, sounding unconvinced.

When we made it to the Great Hall, I gave him an encouraging smile. "Remember, even if the whole world has turned away from you, you've got friends who will be loyal to you until the very end. No matter what, we're behind you. And I'll kick some ass if I have to. Now, go enjoy the feast." And so we went to our separate tables, him surrounded by his friends, me sitting next to Draco.

"Riley, do you have to have such atrocious friends?" Draco asked me as soon as I sat down.

"Evening, Draco. It's wonderful to see you too. My summer was great, thanks for asking, how was yours?" I asked, rolling my eyes.

"Hi, had a good summer, glad yours was good," he said, sounding bored, before continuing with his previous topic. "Your friends are awful. Do you even have any friends in Slytherin other than me?"

"Um, seriously? You're telling me my friends suck? Yours have the mental capacities of slugs! And they look like them too. No, I take that back. Slugs are cuter. Yours are like big, ugly, buffoon-gorillas. Talk about sucking."

He opened his mouth to respond, probably something snappy, but before he could say anything, Dumbeldore stepped up to talk, so he had to stay quiet. As was custom, Dumbledore gave his start-of-term speech, welcoming us all back, telling us whatever new things we needed to be told. Looking around, I noticed most people were looking at him differently than they used to. Usually, they looked at him with respect and honor. Now, though, almost every face held distrust, skepticism, and even contempt in some cases. I sighed softly, knowing this year would hold many trials.

"That's our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," Draco whispered to me, pointing out a stout, toad-like lady wearing all pink. "She works in the Ministry."

"Well, apparently there's no Department for the Destruction of Nauseating Clothes there, because her outfit is awful."

He gave me a dry look, and I smiled sweetly. "Honestly, Riley, is that all you think about? Fashion?"

"Actually, I don't think about fashion all that much. I just happen to despise the color pink. Especially in such large quantities." I looked back up at her, assessing her silently. She had what appeared to be a very sweet smile on her face, and was blinking kindly at Professor Dumbledore as he gave his speech. Her pink clothes gave her an air of someone with a very gentle, caring disposition, and her black bow gave her the appearance of an innocent young girl. All in all, she was a major fraud, and I had a feeling we wouldn't be getting along very well.

"Hem-hem," she said, interrupting Dumbledore's speech. Oh, that bitch did not! I clenched my jaw, immediately not liking her for that. She stepped forward to give a speech of her own, one that made my lip curl in a scowl. She began talking about how the Ministry was concerned about what we'd been learning here, what we were being taught, blah, blah, blah. In short, the Ministry was interfering, and most likely, our magical abilities within the school would be greatly restrained and limited.

"It's about time the Ministry did something about the way this school is run, don't you think?" Draco asked me later that night as we were sitting in the Slytherin common room.

"Maybe," I asnwered, mostly just to keep him happy. "But there's something about her that I don't like. Other than her insane obsession with the color pink."

"Hmm," was all he said about that, letting me know he disagreed. "I think she'll be good for this school."

"Heck, who cares right now? Let's not focus on her. Unless toad-ladies turn you on?" I asked jokingly.

"No, annoying girls with beautiful blue/gold eyes and unbearable personalities do," he answered, rolling his eyes at me.

I grinned at that, then hit him across the head with a pillow from the couch. He slowly turned to look at me, giving me a death glare. Without warning, he shoved me down onto the couch and sat on top of me, pinning me down and stealing my pillow.

"Riley Carson, you will pay for that," he told me, pulling out his wand and aiming it at my face. There was a devious smirk on his face as he picked his spell. "Rictusempra!"

I squealed and shook my head, giggling uncontrollably. "No! Not...the tickle...charm!" No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop laughing, and cramps were beginning to start in my stomach. I squirmed, and was finally able to get my wand arm -complete with wand- free. "Aguamenti!" I shouted, pointing my wand right in his face. Water shot out and soaked his entire face, distracting him from his spell so the tickling finally stopped.

"All right, all right. Truce," he said, wiping off his face with his shirt. He leaned down and kissed me, a smile in his eyes, making them bright and cheerful. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him back, happy to be alone with him, and also glad that he didn't care what his dad thought anymore. There would be no more sneaking around for us. We were going to make our relationship public soon, a thought which I enjoyed.

The next day, I woke up and dressed quickly, then hurried downstairs, hoping Draco would be waiting for me. To my dismay he wasn't, so I headed to breakfast alone. As I was walking down the hallway, someone wrapped their arms around me from behind, spun me around, and kissed me deeply. That someone was none other than my very own Draco Malfoy. There were wolf-whistles from everywhere, and it was then that I noticed we were in a very crowded hallway.

"Best way to tell everyone we're back together," he said once he pulled away from me.

I laughed softly and nodded. "I'd certainly agree. Now come on, I'm starving." I looked down the hallway and saw Ginny, who smiled at me and nodded, and then saw Professor McGonnagal, who looked stern and scary.

"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Carson, that is inappropriate behavior for school, and especially to be doing in the middle of the hallway."

"Sorry, Professor," I answered. "It won't happen again."

"Honestly, the last time I saw someone behave so inappropriately with PDA in this school was when Sirius Black was a student here, and he was always smooching his girlfriend, Roxanne Dove." She gave me a stern look, making me put my hands up defensively.

"Sorry, Professor McGonnagal," I repeated. "I assure you we in no way wish to beat or even equal Sirius Black in his notorious public make-out sessions." She gave me another hard look before walking away. "What we do in private, however, is our own business," I said to Draco with a wink.

He smirked at me and wrapped his arm around my waist. "Come on, didn't you say something about needing some food before you go to class?"

"Yes, yes I did. Let's go, oh boyfriend of mine! Tell me, what will daddy think of you dating me 'again'? He probably won't be too happy about it, but will he really take you away?"

"No, I think he'll let me stay at Hogwarts, even if I'm dating you," he answered, looking a bit distracted at those words.

"Okay.... Come on, spacey, let's start walking before someone runs into us from behind."

So we walked on, going into the Great Hall. Once we got there and sat down together, the whole Slytherin table began whistling at us. Apparently they'd been wanting their precious prince to get back with me. Hey, I wasn't complaining. At least the school supported our relationship.

I looked up at the staff table, hoping they weren't too annoyed by the racket. Snape simply looked at me and nodded infinitesimally, McGonnagal pursed her lips but said nothing, Umbridge raised her eyebrows at us, tilting her head ever-so-slightly, and Dumbledore gave me a kind smile. I smiled back at him, then turned to my food, grabbing random things that smelled good and sticking them on my plate.

"Riley. There's a note for you," Draco said, nudging me to get my attention.

"Hmm? Ooh, pretty bird, who do you belong to?" I grabbed the note, then poured some pumpkin juice into a glass and pushed it over to the owl so it could drink. Opening the letter, I discovered it was from Remus.

Dear Riley,
Snuffles is in a bit of a state. Ever since you and Harry left, he's been more moody than ever. Honestly, he's acting like a menopausal woman. Which I've told him. He just grumbles at me and holes himself up in his mother's room with Witherwing. I've tried to tell him you'll all be back soon, but he just won't listen. You always seem to know what to say to cheer him up. Any tips or suggestions? He's completely unbearable in this state.

By the way, your mother wrote me. She says you stopped writing her soon after you arrived at Snuffles' place this summer, so she figured she'd write me and make sure you were okay and hadn't been eaten by the big bad wolf and his dog side-kick. Perhaps you should write her and assure her you're alright.

Hmm I have to go now. Snuffles is wailing my name. The mongrel probably wants me to bring him water or food in a dog bowl so he can eat it easier. Be good this year. Things are very dangerous.
Your ever loyal friend,

M

"Is that your mom?" Draco asked me.

"No, it's an old friend of the family," I answered, choosing not to lie to him about my letter this time. "He likes to check in on me sometimes. He's as close to me as if he were my favorite uncle or something."

"That's nice," he answered. And then we had to gather our bags and head off to class, joining in with the rest of the swarm of students headed off in various different directions. School had officially begun.