Love Made Us Blind

As they promised each other, Draco and Alice spend one day without hanging out together. With the exception of class where they had a habit of sitting with each other or close to each other, they ate at their own tables and would spend the evening with their respected friends, no questions what the other was doing. So Alice accepted to be dragged by Hayley to hang out with her own friends. The black haired girl was a little disappointed that Rachelle wasn't with the other Ravenclaw girls. The only familiar face it appeared was Pansy's, whom since she began publicly dating Draco, didn't seem to like her at all.

"So you and Draco hitting another rough patch, Alice?" She asked, trying to sound innocent "I didn't see you two talk all day."

"Everything is fine between us Pansy. Thanks for worrying." Alice responded sarcastically "We actually agreed that one day a week separately would give us a healthier relationship."

"Oh is that so? Well then, maybe I'll catch him next week to hang out with him and we'll see where that will lead us. Spend some time with him since you're capitalizing all of his free time. It's so generous of you to finally share him with his other friends."

"Thanks Pansy. I'm sure hanging out once a week with a girl he doesn't wants to kiss will do Draco plenty of good. Who knows, maybe it will prevent more of these..." Alice said, showing subtly her hickey that had yet to disappear

"You only got lucky. If you would have come one year later, Draco would have already been taken by me. Everything was going great until you showed up. He was already falling for me."

"Well then, you couldn't have matter that much to him if he forgot you the moment I came back into his life, now could you?"

Pansy drew her wand as Alice imitated her, out of precaution, but it didn't attract too much attention.

"Watch what you say Lestrange." Pansy said through her teeth.

"Or you'll do what exactly? If you fancy Draco so much and wish to remain on speaking terms with him, I advice you that it's not the brightest idea to threaten the girl he loves."

"I really hope he'll see you for what you are. Don't underestimate friendships between Slytherins. We're connected in more ways than you think."

"He knows me the best Parkinson. And he's still with me whenever I'm in Gryffindor or not." Hayley finally realized that the conversation her house-mate and the Slytherin girl was anything but friendly and shifted slowly towards Alice, keeping it subtle to understand what is going on

"When's the last time you spoke to Suzanne? I really liked her. You do realize that I was the one who ruined your friendship. Don't think I can't do it again."

"Really Parkinson? Don't you think if you were actually able to do that, you would have succeeded?" Hayley jumped in, saving her housemate from a lot of trouble since she was just thinking of the best spell to use against Pansy "All those Prefect duties nights without any results?"

"Oh Rosier, I forgot you existed."

Hayley has always been a little background girl. She was never in the middle of the attention and rarely spoke to anyone except her friends. Being with her cousins' groups made her feel sometimes at ease but not always. She finally found a housemate she could identify with and understood just how strong house ties truly are. Hayley had grown up expecting to be put in Slytherin so when the hat yelled Gryffindor, she was shocked. She never bothered to care about Houses after that but being brave as she was; she was going to stand up for her friend.

"Well then, a little reminder will do you some good Parkinson. Don't you ever threaten my friend or her relationship ever again; understand?"

"There's not much you can do Rosier. And Lestrange; watch out." Pansy said as she walked away

"I just don't understand why you don't talk to Draco about it." Hayley asked her the following day as they walked to Transfiguration.

"Because every time I say anything about Pansy, he gets all defensive that she's his friend and starts asking me why am I feeling so unsecure and that I should trust him that he'd never do anything with her. I don't want him to think I'm jealous."

"But she-"

"He would only respond that she's trying to get under my skin because I'm a Gryffindor. Guys are really clueless when it comes to realizing that girls have crushes on them."

They stopped with the subject as they entered Transfiguration. Hayley sat right behind Alice besides a girl from Slytherin while Alice sat beside her boyfriend.

"Good morning." She said to him as she kissed him, sitting down.

"Miss Lestrange?" Alice heard the teacher say. McGonagall walked to the girl's bench and smiled warmily. "I was hoping if you can tell me how you like it here at Hogwarts after your first month." Her kindness took her a little by surprise

"I love it a lot." She managed to reply

"Everything is to your liking. Are you fine with all your classes?"

"Yes, everything is good."

"I'm very happy to hear that. Making sure my students are happy. Remember if there's anything that's wrong, don't be shy to come to my office."

"Thank you very much Professor." Addie responded smiling to her head of house.

Alice maybe didn't want to be placed in Gryffindor but found that it wasn't such a bad thing. She liked most of her house mates and her head of house was very nice to her. Transfiguration was going to be the second class inspected by Umbridge, the first one was Divination. Umbridge stepped in and Draco greeted her with a smile and nodded curtly with his head. Alice turned back to Hayley and mimicked slicing her wrists with her hand making the auburn hair girl giggle. She wasn't a fan of Umbridge either.

"Watch McGonagall own her." Hayley whispered

"You think so?" Alice asked quietly, hoping her Gryffindor friend was right

"Oh hell yeah." Hayley responded smiling to her friend before Draco nudged Alice to look front, annoyed by the anti-Umbridge talk and refusing to get caught in it.

Hayley believed it was going to be one hell of a class, she knew McGonagall was not going to get bullied. Unlike Trelawney, McGonagall didn't acknowledge Umbridge and started with her lesson right away. She began to explain what the students would be doing as everyone heard Umbridge's signature hem hem. Alice expected the Head of her house to react but totally ignored it, making her smile and Umbridge mad, and making her repeat the annoying little sound.

"Yes?" The Transfiguration professor asked, annoyed

"I was wondering whenever you received my note telling you the date and time of your inspec-" She started but was caught off soon enough

"Obviously I received it, or I would have asked you what you are doing in my class room." Alice's mouth dropped as she tried not to smile too much at her teacher as she continued to say what she started before.

"Hem, hem!"

"I wonder…" Professor McGonogall started, turning to Umbridge once more, frustrated "How do you expect to gain an idea of my usual teaching methods if you continue to interrupt me? You see, I do not generally permit people to talk when I'm talking."

Alice turned to Hayley who had a huge smile on her face. Umbridge didn't say anything for the rest of the class and left quickly once the class was over.

"I have never been so proud being in Gryffindor until now." Alice said to Hayley still smiling "Did you see the look on her face?"

"You bet I did. I told you McGonagall would put on a fight."

"It was a little stupid." Draco added himself in the conversation "Before you know it, Umbridge is going to be allowed to sack any teacher she wants and I think McGonagall is first on her list now."

"That's stupid. She's a good teacher who refuses to get bullied. She can't sack her for that!"

Draco and Alice did not speak as they walked to Care of Magical Creature and to Alice's dismay; Umbridge was there, yet again. They all gathered around Professor Grubbly-Plank, waiting for their class to start. Alice was listening to her boyfriend as he talked to Crabbe and Goyle. He was planning on making sure Umbridge would know just how much the oaf is incompetent. She looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione who were on the other side of the crowd. Hagrid was their friend after all… Harry looked Alice's way as she smiled to him; something that didn't went unnoticed by the blond standing beside her. Draco put his arm around her and brought his girlfriend closer to him, kissing her on the side of her head.

"What's that for." She asked, almost aggressively

"A peace offering."

Alice decided to use this to her advantage, kissing him on the lips just as she knew Umbridge would look this way. Draco only smiled, too concentrated to think about his plan to even care or notice.

"Care to tell me where Hagrid is. Dumbledore must have told you, didn't he?" Umbridge asked

"Partying with giants." Draco whispered so that only Alice and his two goons could hear. Alice noticed that Harry glared right here, at her boyfriend.

Umbridge didn't disturbed much, only asking questions time to time. They listened to their Professor was Umbridge took notes on her note pad, just like she done with the other classes.

"Well you seem to know what you're doing." Umbridge said at the end of the class to the teacher before turning to the students. "Now, I hear there have been injuries in this class."
Alice felt being gently pushed aside as Draco stepped up a half of foot, putting her slightly in the background. Draco had told her all about the attack and knew it was not good news for Hagrid.

"That was me." He said, in a voice so fake that Alice barely heard "I was slashed by a Hippogriff."

"A Hippogriff."

"Only because he was too stupid to listen what Hagrid told him to do."

Alice opened her mouth as she heard Harry's voice. Bad move. She wanted to say but refrained. All the attention shifted to him.

"Another night's detention."

As they were walking back to the castle, Draco glared at Harry's back.

"Who does he think he is-." Don't say anything, don't say anything. Alice kept repeating to herself.

"He got what he deserves. Can we talk about anything else, please?"

But the couple didn't say anything. Needless to say, Alice was so relieved to find Rachelle sitting at the Slytherin table this supper.

It was late in the Gryffindor common room as Hermione, Ron and Alice waited for Harry to come back from his detention. They had prepared a bowl with a solution to help mend the wound he was getting from writing those lines. Alice was finally done with Umbridges essay after working on it for the last two hours.

"I don't even know why I bother?" She said, throwing the parchment aside. "I mean Draco will do his in half an hour, write bogus and still get a better grade then me."

"I reckon it's because he can't keep his trap shut that Harry is in detention tonight."

"Really that's odd because I'm positive it was Harry's words that got him punished not Draco's. I mean the fat toad wanted to know who got injured…"

"It’s neither fault. Umbridge is just…" Hermione started "She's the worst! I'll settle for Lockhart at this point."

"We need a different teacher period." Alice said "Someone who can teach us to defend ourselves and most importantly pass our OWLs."

"It's so true, what are we going to do at the examination…"

"Priorities…" Ron whispered, in disbelief "Who-Know-Who is out there and you two are worried about OWLs…"

Alice wanted to point out that she didn't have to worry about the Dark Lord since her father was in his very good graces but refrained from saying anything

"You're right." Hermione agreed. "We need a teacher understands the danger, someone who's got experience in fighting him, someone like… Harry." Both Ron and Alice turned, expecting to see their friend but found the common room empty. "No you, guys I mean someone like Harry. Harry can be our teacher. He can teach us spells and how to duel and he can teach whoever would want to join.

"But like who?" Ron asked "I guess we know a couple of Griffindors who would be interested

"I'm aiming bigger. They all have to be trustworthy. From our house Dean, Fred, George and your sister… I bet she can invite her boyfriend and his Ravenclaw friends. Ernie and Hannah will probably love the idea too! Cho would maybe show up if she learns that Harry is giving the classes. Anyone who's against Umbridge will probably be in. Anyone in your mind Addie?" Hermione asked

"Not anyone I know. Obviously Draco would murder me; Rachelle would blab it straight to Blaise who would go Draco and Hayley..." Alice paused for a moment glancing at the dorms. Alice liked Hayley a lot and she knew she hated Umbridge just the same. But how much did she really know her "She's got friends in Slytherin and I don't know just how close she is with them..."

"So I get some people, we meet at the Hoghead, we need some place deserted where students usually don't go to." Ron said, happy with the plan

"Two problems: we need Harry's approval and I have a date with Draco in that very same bar."

"How romantic" Ron said sarcastically

"We went there on our first date." Alice explained "But I have three weeks, I'm sure I can convince him to change the place" That is if it's not still awkward between us, she added to herself

"Okay, you be in charge of that. We'll tell you all that you missed that day. You need to keep Dra- Malfoy away from there and his Slytherin friends." Hermione said

"But guys... we still need Harry to agree to do this." Alice said "And look at that he just walked in"