Who he is today is not who he wants to be -- December 1996

I walked into the Slytherin common room with quite an interesting piece of gossip.  I found Malfoy sitting by himself.  I sat next to him.  "You know about Bell, right?" I asked, surely already knowing the answer.  The school was speaking of nothing else but her attack.  it was quite entertaining personally.

I looked over at Potter.  Something about the kid made me uneasy -- perhaps it was because he was a Potter.  I hated the fact that Bell got so badly injured by the cursed necklace that was meant for Dumbledore.  It was just a good faith measure to show the Dark Lord I was trying.  I nodded but said nothing to him.

"Well," I said, wathcing Malfoy closely.  Peter told me he had heard some rumors about what Malfoy had to do.  I was sure this was his doing.  "She was apparently hiding a pregnancy -- I suppose it's not disgraced since she is married to Wood."

I nearly blanched.  "What?" I asked, turning to Potter.  "Bell is pregnant?" What did I do?  I felt so sick.  I could not have killed an unborn child.  It was bad enough that Bell got injured... let alone being pregnant.  No one knew or spoke about it...

I nodded at him.  "Apparently," I replied.  There was no reason to be so shocked by any means.  This only proved that Malfoy sent the cursed necklace to Bell.  "There have been some people saying she's fine along with the baby while others say she's on her death bed and lost the baby."

I could not believe what I was hearing.  I needed to know what the truth was.  How could I mask what I was feeling and act the way that was expected of me?  "Well... serves her right to be messing around with such objects," I said, just those words making me sick to my stomach.

I raised my eyebrows slightly at Malfoy.  I was a little curious as to what he would make of the whole thing.  How well could he lie?  No one really knew of my connection to Peter Pettigrew except, of course, Jetty.  And I made sure that people just wondered about my relation to the one and only Great Harry Potter.  "What do you think happened with her?  any theories?"

I shrugged, trying to ignore the nagging feeling in my gut.  "Just seems like she got mixed up in something dark," I lied, hoping I did not sound too questionable.  I wished he would just walk away and leave me be.  How could I find out waht really happened with Bell and the baby?  Maybe Juniper would know... she tried to hide it, but she still spoke to Potter, Weasley, and granger.

"But a Gryffindor get involved in some dark magic?  Sounds fishy to me," I said, lacing my words wtih my skepticism.  I still watched him closely for any type of reaction.

I hated Potter's intense gaze.  It was like he knew what was going on, but how could he?  There was no way.  I nodded slightly.  "That is true... I don't know.  I don't really care," I said, hoping that he would walk away from me.  "One less Gryffindor for us to worry about."  I wanted to stop speaking to Potter and talk to Juniper.  But June did not know what I was doing, either.  Everything was spiraling out of control.

He was good.  Almost too good.  I swear, Lucius must have had good influence on him in this way, anyways.  I sighed and stoo dup.  "I guess you're right," I agreed.  "At least their team got hit, too, along with the overall House." I looked down at Malfoy and wondered what all he was doing.

I was thankful he stood up to leave.  "Yeah, it's a good thing for that, too," I conceded.  I wanted to stop talking about all of this.  It was hard for me to be so indifferent about all of this when it really troubled me greatly.

I smiled slightly.  "You're up to something, Malfoy," I said simply.  "I know you had a hand in what happened to Bell."  I was plased at the reaction I received.  He stood up adn we were face to face, mere inches apart from one another.

I had stood up quickly.  It took all my power not to shove him against the wall.  I took a deep breath as I glared at him. "I was nowhere near Bell when she was injured," I warned darkly.  I knew better than to think he believed me completely or at all.

I chuckled darkly.  "You and I both know that you don't need to be close to someone to curse them," I replied coolly.  "Don't worry... your secret is safe ith me, Malfoy."  I took a step back and shook my head.