Elaine's POV:

I sat in the hospital wing all morning covered in burn cream that Madame Pompfrey gave me. By 12:30 I felt much better. The boils that burned all over my bright blue skin had disappeared. The only thing remained was my blue hair. Madame Pompfrey expected it to go away soon, but she still would keep me until dinner to make sure Goyle didn't place a recurring charm on me as well: it would cause my skin to flare up and burn again.

"Here's some lunch dear," Madame Pompfrey said placing a tray of food on my lap. I quickly sat up and began to eat. I hadn't eaten yet today so my stomach needed some love.

Just after I finished my food and Madame Pompfrey took away my tray, I heard the door hospital wing door open. My face broke out in a smile when I saw Draco standing there holding a box. "How're you feeling?" Draco asked, taking a seat on the edge of my bed. "Much better but I have to stay here until she's sure Goyle didn't put a recurring charm on me," I explained nodding towards Madame Pompfrey. "Listen," Draco started, taking my hand in the process, "I'm really sorry about what happened. I ripped Goyle a new one so he knows he'll be dead if he bothers you again." I smiled, looking down at my hand in his.

I knew at this moment I had feelings for Draco. They were strong and all I wanted was for him to keep holding my hand. But that didn't happen. Draco saw me staring at our hands and quickly pulled his hand away and into his pocket. I knew he did it to get a rise out of me, and it worked. "You know I can protect myself right?" I said nastily. I was upset...and I had a hard time hiding my feelings. I didn't mean to sound so nasty. "Right." Draco said plainly. "Bought you some sweets...see you around," Draco said, throwing the box onto the table beside my bed. He stood up and stormed out before I could even say anything.

I stared at the door Draco just walked of for god knows how long. My guess would be an hour or two. I was suddenly pulled out of thought when Hermione and Ron walked in through those exact doors. "Elaine!" Ron said with a smile. "How are you feelings?" Hermione asked. She was carrying what I assumed was the schoolwork I missed today. "I'm alright," I responded plainly. If I'm being honest...I'd take Goyle's hex again in a heartbeat rather than see Draco's face. I was so unbelievably upset with him. I knew he knew that I liked him...but he left me anyway. The last thing I wanted to do right now was get released from the hospital wing and see him. "You sure you're alright?" Ron asked after seeing my face. "Yea," I said, wondering if I should tell them that Draco was here. Before I could decide, Hermione asked me again if I was sure I was okay. "Draco came here...like an hour ago. He just made me upset," I replied, not wanting to tell them why I was upset. "I'll handle it," Ron said and immediately left the hospital wing. "He's foul...how dare he go out of his way to make you upset," Hermione scowled, dumping my school books on the table beside the bed. "I've written everything down that you need to complete. Luckily, there's not much," Hermione explained. She went through the list of things I needed to do and by the time she was finished, Madame Pompfrey decided to release me. "Let's take your stuff up first and then we can go get dinner," Hermione suggested, taking a handful of my books in the process. I swung my bag over my shoulder and put the box of sweets Draco gave me in the nearest trash bin before Hermione could see.

I didn't realize how long the walk was from the hospital wing to the Gryffindor tower. It felt like forever, especially since I had a huge bag of books swinging at my side. When we finally made it, we walked through the portrait hole into the common room and found Fred, George and Ron. It seemed that Ron just finished telling them what Draco did because Fred immediately shot up out of his seat, grabbed my heavy bag, put it around his shoulder, and offered me his seat. "Thanks but really...I'm alright," I said with a smile, trying to sound convincing.

It then hit me that I should be focused on the healthy and wonderful relationships I do have...and not the one I wished for. I know people like the Weasleys would be around for the rest of my life. They already loved me with everything they have and I haven't even known them for half a year.

When we went down to the Great Hall for dinner, Draco was no where to be seen. Thank goodness. Fred and George made it their number one priority to cheer me up as we ate. I laughed and smiled all throughout dinner. "Don't look," Hermione said as, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar blonde haired boy enter. "He's staring at you...like really staring," Ron said. I was facing the opposite direction of the Slytherin table so I couldn't see, but curiosity was about to get the better of me. "Yuck," Ron said, staring over my shoulder towards Draco, only causing me to want to look over at him more. Just as I was about to turn around and look at Draco, Fred put his arm around me and pulled me in. "You probably don't want to look," Fred said, squeezing my shoulder tightly.

I should have listened to Fred. I turned around and saw Draco was making out with who he told me was his ex-girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson. They're tongues were practically down each other's throats and the sight of it made me shudder. "And now I'm not hungry anymore," I said, pushing my plate away. It made my friends laugh, but I honestly wasn't joking. I was about to stand up to walk out of the hall when Harry walked in. "Hey guys!" Harry said cheerfully. "What's up?" Hermione asked, noticing his smile. "First Hogsmeade trip is this weekend," Harry said. I knew why he was smiling. Hogsmeade, according to Hermione, was the only non-muggle town in Britain. Hogwarts lets students third year and up go there on selected weekends to get a break from the castle.

Once we finished eating dinner, I got all of the work done I had missed during the day. It felt good to get that off my chest so that I could relax for the rest of the evening.

Around 1am, I found myself unable to sleep. Although I had class in the morning, I was restless and knew tossing and turning would do me no good. So, I quietly got out of bed and walked down to the common room. Expecting no one else to be there, I was surprised when I saw Fred doing what looked like paperwork. "Hey Elaine," Fred said, yawning with a smile. "Couldn't sleep?" he added. "Nope," I replied, sitting down on the couch next to him. "What's all this?" I asked. "For the store. Since Voldemort's Death Eaters are running rampant throughout Diagon Alley, we might have to close the store," Fred said, running his hand through his hair in frustration. "Hey it's gonna be alright," I said, gently placing my hand on his knee. He looked at my hand and then he looked right up at me. "Elaine..." he said quietly. We looked into each other's eyes and our heads slowly started to lean towards each other. Our lips touched. His hands cupped my face as we continued to embrace in a loving kiss.

Fireworks were exploding in my mind. All this time Fred was right here. When we broke apart, a smile erupted on both of our faces. "You have no idea how long I've been wanting to do that," Fred said as he leaned his forehead into mine. I gently placed my hand under his chin and lifted his head up, immediately kissing him again. When we pulled apart, I spoke. "Me too," I said, smiling. Fred, of course, was extremely handsome and I've liked him since the day I met him, but I always used to think he thought of me like his sister. He did, after all, tell me the day we met that Hermione was like his sister. I had just assumed that he thought of me that way too. Luckily, I was wrong.

"Can you please be my girlfriend already? I've been wanting to ask you for the longest time," Fred asked after we broke our kiss again, making me giggle. "Of course," I replied, pulling him in for another kiss.