Love Made Us Blind

Breakfast had been a very quiet matter between Alice, Harry, Ron and Hermione as the first snow of the season fell. Alice had hoped very much that Hayley would be still in the dormitory when she woke up. Unfortunately, after seeing her empty bed, she had to go down to the Great Hall with Hermione since Draco and her had agreed on spending the day separately due to his prefect duties which fell in just fine since she had DA meeting tonight. Ron and Harry quickly joined them. They had not spoken since the trio left to visit Hagrid and Alice was still a little furious at Harry for hurting Draco. But the blond seemed to be feeling fine at the Slytherin table and seemed to be in great shape yesterday.

"So Hagrid's class is probably going to be inspected this morning, isn't?" Ron asked them as he took a bite of his toast

"Most probable." Harry responded grimly

"And how are the classes going to be different than those of Grubbly-Plank?" Alice didn't have Care of Magical creatures last year since it wasn't one of her required classes in Beauxbatons but decided to take it due to the fact that Draco was in that class.

Neither Hermione, Harry nor Ron had the time to answer as a beautiful eagle-owl interrupted them, bringing a huge package. Alice recognized Majesty, the Malfoy's beautiful owl and beamed. She detached the package, shared some of her toast with the bird and watched as it flew away before opening the package. Inside she found a beautiful pair of fur boots, sweets and a letter addressed to her.

"She's so sweet." Alice said after reading the letter, smiling mostly to herself. " There is supposed to be snow falling anytime soon and I couldn't remember whenever you packed appropriate boots. Hope you are enjoying Hogwarts. She's also going to bring me shopping as soon as I come home for the holidays, some girl time with her! No way, is that Yeti fur?!" Alice exclaimed touching the warm inside of her boots. "She shouldn't have, those must have cost a fortune!"

"Your mum is really thoughtful." Hermione said

Alice laughed a little shaking her head.

"My mother?" Addie repeated highly amused. "Those are from Narcissa... Draco's mother." Addie clarified "I don't care much for my mother but Narcissa... She's like a mother to me and I love her for it"

"You can't mean that." Harry said. If he'd be raised by his mother, he'd never let anyone replace her. He couldn't understand how a person who has the chance to know their mother would simply let another woman replace her.

"It's because you've never met her." Addie tried to explain herself seeing that she was receiving judging stares from all three of her friends. "She's horrible and only thinks about herself. I wasn't allowed to do anything with her around. My best times were when she'd leave me under the care of the Malfoys. Narcissa cared about me, asked me how I was feeling, if I needed something. She also let me breathe, something my mother never allowed me doing. Ladies don't play Quidditch, Marie-Adelaide. You've already worn that robe last week, go change. Don't laugh too much, not at the dinner table. It was the Malfoys who bought me my first broom toy when they bought Draco's, it was Mr. Malfoy who told me my father was a brilliant beater and Narcissa who got my the equipment and never yelled even when I'd hit Draco unconscious. She'd let me be a child and have fun. My mother never knew nothing about me, while Draco's mum knew me as well as she knew her son. Actually, Harry I would have thought that you'd understand me."

"I don't have parents because Vol-"

"That's not what I meant." She cut him before he could say his name "I meant your aunt and uncle. Don't you hate them even though they are your family?"

"It's not the same, they hated me, treated me as if-

"You were a burden, unwanted? Never asked what you wanted, listened to your opinion? I bet they were happy that you came to this school."

"No. They didn't want me to come to Hogwarts at all."

"Same here. My mother sent me to Beauxbatons instead.

"No it's not! They wanted to chase the magic away from me."

"My mother wanted to chase the English away, anything that reminded her of my father! She took my name away, everything! Anyways, some of these sweets are for Draco so I'll see you guys later."

Alice left the table with her boots and cloak, in a terrible mood as Harry let out an annoyed sigh.

"I thought you were going to give up arguing with her." Hermione said

"I'm not arguing. I just think she's wrong to appreciate the fact that she has someone who cares for her."

"Harry, Addie might be mistaken about a lot of things but you have to look at things through her eyes. After all, who do you see more as a parent? Your uncle or Sirius?"

Understanding Hermione's argument, Harry looked over his shoulder and saw Addie sitting besides the blond he hated so much. It took Draco by surprise to see his girlfriend coming to sit beside him.

"Alice!" Rachelle greeted her with enthusiasm

"Hi." The black hair witch responded with a smile before giving a peck on her boyfriend's cheek. "I know we said we'd be off today but your mum sent me this and I believe some of these sweets are yours."

As the couple were busy separating the candy, Rachelle and Pansy were staring at the beautiful boots that were in the open box.

"His mum really does love you, doesn't she?" Rachelle exclaimed, taking one of them and examined it "You have to lend me them sometimes, I'm so jealous!"

"Not today." Alice said happily. "I have Care of Magical Creatures. Which by the way, we need to get to. Mind if I join?" Alice asked seeing as her Gryffindor friends have abandoned her

"Have I ever been able to refuse you anything?" Draco asked, accepting a kiss from his girlfriend who smiled widely.

Alice put on her new boots and cloak and followed the Slytherins to the Entrance Hall until they reached the gate. Once open, Alice was blinded by the brightness of the snow. She was also shocked by just how much it had snowed. The black haired witch was only expecting a tiny coat found out that there was more two feet of snow waiting to ruin her beautiful new boots. Draco was about to walk out with his fellow classmates but felt someone grab his hand.

"What's wrong?" He asked the girl he knew all his life

"Can you carry me on your back?"

"What?" He asked, not sure if he understood what she wanted

"I don't want to ruin the new boots your mum sent. Look at them..."

Draco looked down at the boots for a second, not understanding what was so special about them but the look his girlfriend made him cave.

"I need to learn just how to say no to you." He mumbled as she climbed on his back

"When you do, make sure you tell me how. There are way too many stuff that Rachelle gets away with." Blaise said as he passed them

The others took the lead as Draco walked slower with a person on his back.

"I hate you." He said mid-way there

"I on the other hand, love you so much."

"Oh, you love me, do you now?"

Alice giggled and kissed him on the head. When they finally arrived near the cabin, everyone seemed to have gathered near the forest. Draco put his girlfriend down and joined his friends, Alice by his side. Umbridge was nowhere to be seen which relieved Addie a lot. She hated that woman to whom Draco wouldn't stop sucking up to. She hated fighting with Draco because she didn't want to be liked by her and she knew that if Draco would do the littlest thing to mess up Hagrid's inspection, she'd hear about from the trio forever. Hagrid started taking the class into the forest after mentioning that whatever they were going to study preferred the dark.

"What prefers the dark?" Draco asked his friends before turning to his girlfriend a little panicked. "What did he says that prefers the dark, did you hear?"

Alice didn't understand what he was so worried about. It was only the forest and what was the worst that could happen in a class. Yes, he has been attacked by a Hippogriff but after having the story told by the golden trio; it seemed that her boyfriend left a lot of details in his version. Hagrid started telling the story about the reason they were here and Alice only tuned in halfway.

"Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britain who's managed ter train 'em." Addie raised an eye brow, very suspicious but she was not the only one. The whole class seemed uncomfortable and the only one who voiced his fears was the person standing beside Alice.

"And you're sure they're trained? It wouldn't be the first time you'd brought wild stuff to class." Now Alice was sure: Draco was worried about something, she could feel his panic. Everyone, except for the trio seemed to agree with him.

They were about to walk further as Alice looked at Draco. He was scared and she could feel it. She pulled on his sleeve. The blond didn't want to show to his loved one that he was scared coming into the forest. The last time he entered here he was eleven and crossed paths with a hooded figure drinking unicorn blood. He looked at her sweet face and saw that she was nervous.

"Draco, I'm scared. Can you please hold my hand?" She asked

Draco took her hand into his which comforted him a lot. He had no idea that Alice wasn't scared in the slightest of walking here. She knew he was and wanted to calm him down and hold him. This way at least his ego would be intact and he'd feel better thinking he was protecting her. They walked for ten minutes until they were so deep, the trees were standing so close, it was dark without any snow on the ground to Alice's relief. Out of nowhere, Hagrid gave a weird, shrieking cry which could only belong to some kind of horrible bird. Alice thought Draco would start mocking the giant or laughing but he like everyone else looked too scared to do anything. They waited several minutes after Hagrid called again. Alice wondered why he didn't call again. She looked from Draco to others around her. Theodore had an expression of absolute disgust.

"Are you alright?" Alice whispered to her friend from afar. Theo shook his head

"I wish he'd use something different. Something that wouldn't remind me of her..."

Alice tried to look where Theo was looking but she couldn't see anything. The teacher asked who could see the creatures. She looked around. Everyone was as confused as the next person except for Theo, Harry and Neville who all put their hands up.

"Excuse me." Draco said in a disrespectful voice, one he'd never use to another teacher "What exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"

Hagrid didn't respond but only pointed the dead cow he'd brought with him as bits of flesh were stripping itself from the cow and vanishing. Hagrid finally explained that Hogwarts actually had a big heard of Thestrals, a creature that could only be seem by people who seen death. Hagrid was doing okay with his class and Alice listened carefully to what he had to say until the inspector showed up. From the start, she put him in a tight spot and treated him as if he was disabled and couldn't understand proper English. She wrote on her clipboard, reading out loud the words which weren't a comfort to the teacher. Draco was so entertained and pleased he didn't care that Alice cuddled up with him even in the presence of her least favourite teacher. As the class continued, Umbridge mocked Hagrid more and more, Draco and Pansy were having a hard time not to explode while laughing silently. Umbridge soon walked up to the Slytherins, ingoring Alice as if she wasn't even there and asked a couple of questions to Pansy who could barely respond because she was laughing too much.

"Do you find that you are able to understand Professor Hagrid when he talks?"

"No, because it sounds like he's grunting..." The pug faced witch responded as she wiped tears of laughter.

Hagrid tried to continue with his lesson, to which Alice was paying attention instead of her boyfriend. For a little moment, Alice wished she could see them because they sounded very useful. They could take you anywhere as long as you told them where to go.

"Assuming they can understand you of course." Draco said loudly as Parkinson started laughing again

"Draco!" Addie let out, unable to hide her frustration.

But Draco didn't even look her way. He was too satisfied with the smirk that appeared on Umbridge's toad like face before she continued her harassment with other students, picking on Longbotton who had to reveal that he saw his grandfather die. She left right before the class was over but Alice was in no hurry to leave with her boyfriend. Draco left with the group, Crabbe and Goyle by his sides and didn't even realize that Alice stayed behind. The girl was concerned about Theodore who didn't move. He kept staring at what seemed to be nothingness.

"What do they look like?" Alice asked, approaching Draco's housemate

"They're scary looking. Ugly, black and they have wings. I hate the sight of them. I saw, my mum... I was young. They remind me that she's..."

"I'm sorry." Alice said, hugging the poor boy. She wasn't exceptionally close to him but he was one of Draco's friends that she liked. Besides she hoped that one day he'd end up with Isabella so that their future children could play with hers.

"Thank you." He said as soon as she pulled away. "You shouldn't let him get you down for not being in Slytherin. You're a really good person, Alice."

"I still wish I was." She said quietly and sadly

"Don't. He wouldn't like you if you were like Parkinson or Greengrass. Hurting people's feelings just for the hell of it. You can make him smile in a way they never could." Alice stared at him, in awe. How did he know all this, did Draco talked about her? "Well at least I think so. That's what attracted me to Bella, what Blaise loves about Rachelle... You girls are nice, kind. It would have been something that both of them would do, check up on me... Pansy and Daphne just walked passed me, not caring."

"Thank you Theo."

They both walked out of the forest together and realized that they weren't that far behind. Alice automatically spotted her boyfriend's blond head gaining up on the trio Alice called friends. After saying bye to Theo, both thanking each other again, she ran after them. Draco had already passed the Gryffindors so Alice ran right through them and jumped on Draco's back, making him fall.

"You little minx. What do you want now?" He asked as he rolled her so she was lying in the snow, on top of her. But Alice wasn't done; she rolled back on his chest and kissed him

"I want to talk."

"Here?" The boy asked, feeling his cloak getting wetter and wetter because of the snow.

"I just want to tell you, I'm going to join the Gryffindor Quidditch team." Alice told him and saw his smile fall a little bit

"Why?" He finally asked after a short silence between the both of them

"Because there is a vacant place for a Beater after last game. I've always been a good Beater, remember when we'd agreed that we'd be on the team. You'd be the Seeker and I would-"

"Yes but we'd also agree that we'd be on the same team."

"I can't help it if you're not in Gryffindor Draco." Alice said as she stood up. Alice already started walking away when the boy got up, in shock from what he just heard

"What is wrong with you?" He asked

"Nothing is wrong! I just wish you would have said, I hope you make the team. Why does it bother you so much anyway that I play for my house?"

Draco knew better than to answer her question. Seeing his girlfriend would remind him yet again that she was in Gryffindor, a thought he had been very successful in hiding. She didn't wear the scarf and got used to not looking at the crest on her robe. As far as he was concerned, she was still in Beauxbatons and didn't belong to any house. If she'd join her team, it would make it very hard for him to keep ignoring the truth.

"It doesn't bother me at all." He lied instead "It's just that, with our practices, my duties and our days off, which I remind you, is supposed to be today, when am I going to see you."

"We'll find time, I swear. I will always make time for you." Alice responded kissing him, falling on an idea that will make him very happy. "The Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff game is in two weeks and I'm sure my common room will be deserted. I think it's time you came to visit."