Colour Me Slytherin

You couldn’t help but fiddle with the locket that was in your pocket, while you were doing your homework. It was something new, something exciting…. But who sent it? Fred possibly? It seemed like something he would do. Without hesitation you gripped Fred’s bead, ‘Fred Weasley, I have a bone to pick with you.’ you thought at him, remembering the firework display this morning.

‘Ron already told me you seemed angry about the morning post.’ Fred thought at you with a highly amused tone.

‘It’s not funny! The fact I was at your house for the break is supposed to be kept secret!’ you thought to him, obviously annoyed.

‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ Fred thought, still seeming highly amused.

‘That’s not the point, Fred!’ you yelled at him, in your head, getting severely annoyed. ‘It’s not fun and games all the time, you have to think of the consequences too!’

Fred didn’t think anything back at you, and for a moment you thought he ‘hung up’ on you.

You continued anyway, even though Fred hadn’t replied. ‘What’s with the tin, and locket you sent me anyway?’ you asked him.

‘Tin and locket? I haven’t sent anything like that at all….’ Fred thought back, a worried note to his voice.

‘Weird…’ you thought, more or less to yourself, than a response to Fred.

‘Alice, be careful….. Get rid of the tin and locket, it could be cursed….’ Fred thought, immediately becoming serious.

‘It will be fine, Fred. Don’t worry about me. I have to get back to my homework though. Bye…’ almost immediately the shining blue bead stopped flickering, and returned to its dull blue.

Fred had an uneasy feeling in his stomach, as he turned to look at his twin who was eyeing him with curiosity. “Somebody has sent Alice a tin, and a locket….”

George looked concerned as well, “Doesn’t she know about what happened to Katie Bell, with that weird necklace before the Christmas break?”

“Probably…” Fred responded, “I think it’s time for us to take action.”

George grinned a little bit, “right you are, dear brother.”

You packed up your parchment that was laying on the table, your essay was finished for Transfiguration. Stowing it in your bag, you glanced down at Shadow. “I should take you outside before I go to bed shouldn’t I, boy?” you asked quietly, your fingers brushing against the locket in your pocket. “Stay.” you ordered Shadow, as you ran up to your room to put your bag away.

Shadow barked happily, as you returned. He pranced around your feet, excited about being taken outside.
You smiled down at the dog, as you pushed the portrait hole open.

Shadow jumped and frolicked around the grounds, while you waited patiently by the fountain. After a half hour of playing fetch, you decided it was time to go back into the castle, and go to bed.

Calling Shadow, you made your way back towards the castle doors, your pup bouncing happily at your heels. Opening the great wooden doors just a crack, you slithered inside, into the warmth, and headed towards the prefect common rooms. You were surprised to find that the common room was rather empty, it was just Hermione sitting by the fire, doing homework. You nodded a greeting to her, and headed towards your own dorm room.

Draco looked up when he heard the dorm room door opening, and saw you appear in the doorway. He gazed at you for a moment, before turning his attention back to the night sky that he could see through his frosted window.

You casted a wary glance at Draco from the corner of your eye. He seemed much paler, and ill looking. Despite your better judgement, you couldn’t help but worry about him slightly, his skin had a greyish tone to it, and his attention seemed to be preoccupied with something.

“So how are the blood traitors?” Draco asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Even if it made you angry, he would rather have you hate him, then have this neutral attitude towards him, where you felt nothing for him. Insults, they were better than nothing.

You turned to stare at Draco, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” you muttered, smoothing your blankets over your bed, as you moved to your wardrobe to grab your pyjamas.

“Oh really, future Mrs. Fred Weasley.” he scoffed. Draco couldn’t help himself, the thought of you being with a Weasley had made such a strong rage and hatred for the blood traitor family rise up in him, that he wanted to puke.

You didn’t respond for a moment, unsure of how to answer. Your hand brushed over the locket that was in your pocket as you thought of something to say. “What’s it to you?” you couldn’t keep the annoyed tone in your voice from breaking through.

Draco said nothing, what was it to him, really? He may have an unrequited love for Alice, but she was with Fred Weasley, who had his own shop. What did he, Draco Malfoy have? Connections because his father, and a dark mark on the inside of his left forearm.

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The week had passed pretty well uneventfully. You decided to wear the locket the next day, but nothing happened. Nothing at all happened the whole week, and now it was Saturday, a time for relaxation, and catching up on homework.

You were starting to think nothing interesting was going to happen with the locket, as you pulled your hair into a ponytail. Putting the finishing touches on your makeup, you squeezed through the doorway of your dorm, with Shadow following closely behind, and made your way into the great hall.

Upon entering the great hall, you had noticed a crowd of people around the Gryffindor table. Curious, but unwilling to mingle with such a large crowd, you decided to go to your table and watch what was happening from afar.

The crowd parted, and a tall red-headed boy made his way towards the Slytherin table, followed by his twin brother.

Your mouth nearly dropped to the floor when you saw Fred and George walking towards you. Praying they would gain some common sense, and turn around. However, they didn’t.

Fred just had a huge smirk on his face as he approached you.

You groaned, feeling the immediate urge to bash your head onto to table to knock yourself out.

Fred took a seat at the Slytherin bench, and draped his arm over your shoulder.

Draco watched Fred and his twin strut over to the Slytherin table, and drape his arm over your shoulders. Rage and jealousy, yet again, bubbled up inside of him. His eyes narrowed, as he stared down at Fred and George. “Blood traitors are not welcome at the Slytherin Table.” he hissed viciously.

Fred looked up at Draco. “Alice has no objections to me being here.” his eyebrow raised slightly, as he stared down Draco. A small mischievous smirk graced his features when he saw Draco’s eyes dart from Alice’s face, to the arm around her shoulders, then to Fred’s face.

Draco glared at Fred, standing up, he drew his wand and pointed it directly at Fred. His hatred towards the filthy blood traitor, touching something that ought to be his, was too over powering.

You looked between Fred and Draco, not liking where this was going. You couldn’t help but feel worried, not only for Fred, but for Draco also, he seemed so angry, but looked so frail and ill.

George stood back, watching how his brother was going to deal with the situation, with interest. Normally he would have been at Fred’s side to deal with something like this, but he felt that Fred wouldn’t need his help.

You were gripping Fred’s cloak sleeve, trying to keep him from standing, a bit of worry etched into your features.

Fred could feel your grip on his clothes, and gently tugged his arm away from you. “It’ll be okay love.” he said loud enough for Draco to hear, “this won’t take long….” he bent down, and tilted your chin upwards towards himself, and swept down and brushed his lips against your softly. Breaking away from you only after a few moments, he turned his attention to Draco, whom had a look of pure murder on his features. Drawing his wand, he yawned lazily.

Within moments, spells were being shot at Fred, who deflected them easily, and then returned fire at Draco, who also deflected them with a shield charm.

You watched the duel progress to steadily worse hexes, jinxes, curses, and charms. As if something had pushed you, you jumped onto the table at the exact moment both Draco and Fred fired a spell at each other. You could feel your flesh being ripped apart on your left shoulder, and an insanely painful burning and ripping sensation in your back, as you were hit from behind with a Confringo curse, and hit from the front with Sectumsempra. You stood for a moment, between both Draco, and Fred, both who stared at you wide eyed. Almost immediately, you collapsed onto the Slytherin table. Blood, your blood, was seeping over the edges of the table, and dripping onto the floor.

Shadow was whimpering on the bench, after watching his owner collapse onto the table. Gently he nudged Alice’s foot with his nose, trying to keep her conscious. Jumping up onto the table, he curled up around her head, to try and help keep her warm.

Draco stared wide eyed at your body, panic was rising up in him. Had he really just killed you? You were laying there on the Slytherin table, dying. And he wasn’t doing anything, his body was in too much shock to be able to move.

Fred was in complete shock, he stared at your body on the table, as your blood oozed out of you from his Confringo curse, and the spell Malfoy had casted.

George stared wide eyed, before rushing forward. It had appeared that Fred was in too much of shock to realize how badly you needed to go up to the hospital wing. Carefully George pulled your body towards himself, despite the snarls and growls from Shadow.

Professor McGonagall had rushed forward, giving death glares to Fred and Draco. “Fifty points from Slytherin.” she hissed as she rushed past Draco, to help George with your body that was growing colder, and colder. Pulling out her wand, she rushed beside George, uttering complex spells, no doubt, in order to keep you alive.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared wide eyed, just like the rest of the great hall. In complete silence. Had everybody really seen, what had just happened? Had the Alice Smat, they had all known to be cold and spiteful, just intercepted two spells that could easily kill on their own, to protect somebody?

Professor Snape, had rushed forward, beckoning Draco and Fred towards himself, he lead them into a room that was once used as the room the Champions for the tri-wizard tournament met with their parents. Snape turned on the two of them, and in a low and deadly voice spoke very clearly. “The two of you, may have very well just killed Alice Smat.” his tone was very severe, and tense.

Both Draco and Fred remained silent, both of their guilt was overwhelming.

“How…” Snape drawled on, his tone still very tense, “Do you plan to explain this to her parents?”

Fred looked up, now just realizing that he would in fact, have to talk to your parents. On top of that, deal with his own mother.

Draco stared at his feet, clearly ashamed. He let his emotions get the best of him, and that was not good, especially with the task he had to do for Voldemort. Was he really ready to kill Dumbledore? Was he even skilled enough to kill Dumbledore? Draco was wrenched from his thoughts, as a firm grip pulled him from the room.

Dumbledore was now entering the room, where he would talk with Fred about the grave situation now.

The door closed behind Dumbledore, and Draco could see no more. He wrenched his shoulder out of Snape’s grasp.

“Draco, I can help you with this.” Snape uttered to him, casting a glance around to make sure nobody was listening.

Draco turned, “I don’t need your help.” he sneered, walking away from Snape, who seemed to have a look of disappointment on his features.

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Over the next few weeks, Ron seemed to have joined you in the hospital wing. The tale of how he was poisoned in Slughorn’s personal office had reached the whole school.

You sighed, annoyed at all of Ron’s moaning and groaning, and then being interrogated by Lavender Brown every time she came into the hospital wing, and he pretended to be asleep.

“Did he ask for me? Has he been dreaming about me?” Were her two favourite questions, to which you only responded with a sneer and death glare.

You had enough trouble trying to stay conscious, not to want to have the few moments you did actually have, surrounded by her, nearly every day, asking questions about Ron. You were actually surprised about the amount of visitors you seemed to get, Harry and Hermione had come up to visit you a few times, under the invisibility cloak. No doubt Dumbledore had warned them that it was a great risk to be seen with you on friendly terms.

Fred had come also holding Lily’s, your favourite flower, and apologizing profusely. He also made sure Shadow went outside for exercise, and bathroom breaks, since you were unable to do so.

Shadow whimpered at you every now and then, almost asking if you were okay, and expressing his concern for his master.

“I’m alright…” you lied, resting your hand on the dogs head. Madam Pomfrey had told you many times not to let Shadow up on your bed, and how dangerous it would be, if you had gotten infected with something dog germ related. However, you didn’t mind, you knew Shadow would go crazy just laying on the floor whimpering, so when Madam Pomfrey wasn’t around, you let him up on your bed for a while, or at least, until she came back.

You looked up when you heard the doors to the hospital wing open. Harry was being carried in by the quidditch team, his head split open. You could hear Madam Pomfrey bustling around him, as he was laid out on the mattress.

Ron caught your eye for a moment, and the two of you watched, wondering what had happened.

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A few days had passed, but yourself, Ron, and Harry were all discharged from the hospital wing.

“Miss Smat. Can I have a word with you?” Madam Pomfrey called, as you reached the doors of the hospital wing.

You turned, and half jogged back to her, “yes?” you asked, eyeing her suspiciously.

“If you have any troubles, you are to come directly to me. Do you understand?” her tone was tense, and sounded strained, almost as if she expected there to be other issues.

You nodded, “of course.” and with that, you turned on your heel, and strode towards the great hall doors yet again, Shadow at your heels.

As it was past dinner time, and you weren’t feeling particularly hungry, so you decided to go back to your room. After what seemed like forever of wandering the halls, you finally made it back to your room, and collapsed onto your bed. Thankfully the next day was Saturday so you could sleep as late as you like, in an attempt to regain some of your energy and strength. It was almost instant, you laid down on your bed, and Shadow jumped up beside you, and you fell asleep. You didn’t even notice the door creak open a half hour later.

Draco walked into the dorm room, expecting it to be empty, but was completely shocked to see you laying in your bed asleep. He could feel his heart beating in his throat as his gazed lingered on your body. “Alice…” he whispered, “I am so sorry….” his gaze lingered on you for a moment, before he decided to get himself ready for bed. Draco was just about to close the door to the bathroom when he froze completely, hearing you speak in your sleep.

“No Draco, don’t leave me……” you mumbled, your fist clenched the blankets around you, and tears were sliding down your sleeping face.

Draco stared, had he just heard you right? He walked around to the other side of the bed, which you were facing, and saw that you were still asleep, but with tears streaming down your face, and your hand was clutching the blankets. Gently, he wiped the tears away from your eyes, and put his hand over yours for a moment, until it relaxed. “Goodnight Alice.” he whispered, stealing another look at your features, he pulled the covers up to your chin, then went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

You awoke the next morning, feeling more refreshed and awake than you had for a long while. You heard a knock on your bedroom door, to which you gave a curious look. Cautiously opening the door, you spied Fred standing in the doorway, flowers in his hand. “Morning.” you said with a tone of curiosity in your voice.

Fred gave you a weak smile, “Ron told me you were let out of the hospital wing yesterday….” his voice trailed off and he handed you the bouquet of flowers to you. His eyes scanned the room and landed on a sleeping Draco Malfoy’s face. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he drew his wand.

“Fred.” you hissed warningly, putting your hand over his wand hand. You shook your head slightly. You decided to change the topic to draw Fred’s attention back to you, “How’d you get in here?” you asked, staring at him curiously, but you felt like you already knew the answer.

“Ron.” Fred said simply, shrugging. Stowing his wand back in his pocket, he took in the sight of you in front of him. Your messy hair, and your hospital clothes. Despite the fact that you had just woken up, you were still very beautiful. Fred’s cheeks flushed a very light shade of pink, and he felt butterflies in his stomach. “Alice, I’m sorry, I should have known better than to duel where you could be caught in the middle….”

You stared at Fred, apparently he had not noticed that you willingly jumped in between himself and Draco, to protect each of them from the other. You wrapped your arms around his neck, “It’s alright….” you whispered in his ear, before bringing your lips up and brushing them against his own lightly. Your face flushed, when you heard the unmistakeable growl coming from your own stomach. You had barely eaten during the time you were in the hospital, and hadn’t eaten since you left it.

Fred’s face grew into that all familiar smirk, as he closed the door behind himself. “Get changed and we’ll go to breakfast, love.”

You nodded, crossed the room to your wardrobe, and opened the doors. You were unsure of whether or not to go to the bathroom to change, but you had a suspicion that if you did, Draco would be cursed, so you decided to change behind the doors of your wardrobe instead. After a few moments, you stepped out from behind the doors wearing a pair of jeans that flared out slightly, and had rips in them, with a loose shirt, that hung off one of your shoulders.

Fred stood, and took your arm in his, and lead you towards the door, out of the prefect common room, and into the great hall. Many students turned to stare at the two of you, but Fred paid no attention, as he tugged you over to the Slytherin table.

Many of the Slytherin’s stared with narrowed eyes, as Fred took a seat at their table, beside you. However, neither yourself, or Fred seemed to notice, or care.

You pulled some toast and oatmeal towards yourself, while Fred just seemed to watch you eat. It was rather embarrassing having him watching you stuff your face, but you were too hungry to care too much. Sighing in a satisfied way, you put a hand to your stomach, and looked up at the sound of many owls flapping over head into the great hall. Your eye followed a hawk that swooped down and landed in front of yourself, a letter tied to her leg. You untied it, and unrolled it. The writing was unfamiliar to you, and you could feel Fred’s eyes watching you carefully. You decided for the time being, that you would not open the letter, but instead, turned your attention to Flo, who stared at you expectantly. With a small smile you held grapes up for her to eat, before she took off, to go to the wherever she went when you didn’t need her, once more.

“Who’s the letter from?” Fred asked, staring at you curiously.

You shrugged, “I’m not sure.” your eyes drifted over the unfamiliar hand writing once more. Picking up the letter, you knew you weren’t going to be able to get away without opening it in front of him now, so you tore the envelope open, only to be greeted by more unfamiliar writing, but the very familiar phrase ‘Cap ou pas cap?’ was at the top. Your eyes drifted down the page, and you stared, your eye slightly twitching at the next few words that followed.