What Does This Feeling Mean

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A/N: Dedicated to smurphy! This one's for you love! Don't let the title fool ya! *wink* XOXO


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Eight - Knowledge, the Potion, and a Candlelight Kiss

The next few weeks went by pretty quickly. My days were spent teaching relaxation and focusing to my classes, and spending my spare time in the library. Draco's words sprung an obsession to try to find out if there was a way to stop the visions I had with him. The more I looked, the more the reality sunk in that it may never happen. There were potions for almost anything, but nothing specific for what I had. What do I have anyway? Professor Snape, the Potions Master, didn't know of anything, nor see the merit of him wasting his time to help me. I did get a break when I visited Professor McGonagall for tea this past weekend.

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"Oh yes, I remember she had the same problem," McGonagall stated after my question.

"Who did?"

"Cassie. She used to tell me how she couldn't let anyone of the opposite sex get close to her because of the visions she would have. She did tell me she found something that helped her, but what it was, I don't know."

I put my cup down in frustration.

"But she was really close with Tabitha. Professor Trelawney might know more than I would, being that it was her grandmother," she said, sipping some tea. "I wish I could've stayed in touch with Cassie, especially after what happened with her and her sister."

I shot up in my seat. She knows about that? Before I could say anything, she had noticed the look I was giving her.

"You don't know?" she asked baffled.

"No, my family never talked about Cassie having a sister. I had just learned about her from a vision I had before I came to Hogwarts. I was told she was killed by a death eater."

"That, I'm not sure of, but killed, yes. Right in front of poor Cassie."

"What?!" I exclaimed. McGonagall shuffled in her thoughts. "Please. Tell me what happened."

She took a breath, still unsure. "Well, I don't know anything more than what was reported at the time. After Cassie left Hogwarts, she met Jonathan Vablatsky. He was older than she was, but they looked so in love at their wedding. That was the last time I saw her. Some years had passed when I heard of the tragedy. Apparently, her sister had gone missing, and Cassie searched for her for days. The next news anyone got, was of how Cassie found her brutally beaten, and then killed in front of her."

"What happened?"

"Nobody knows. She was found injured, holding her dead sister. It was said that a section of the forest she was found in had been destroyed, and at the end of that destruction, her sister's killer was found, barely alive. Cassie never told of what happened to him, her, or anything after the death of her sister. As I imagine, it was probably too painful."

"What happened to the man who killed her?"

"As I understand, he was taken to Azkaban, where he died shortly after. It was said that his last words were that his mother would be avenged... whatever that means."

I sat in silent thought while finishing my tea. What happened that day? I thought back to when I asked my father about Cassie's sister. Do they know what happened? More importantly, why do I care so much? Cassie survived, and never seemed too upset, that I remember.

I thanked McGonagall for everything, and went immediately to see Professor Trelawney.

Luckily she was in the first place I looked, in her classroom. She was sitting at her table talking to her crystal ball.

"Professor Tre-"

"Sibyll dear, call me Sibyll."

"Okay, Sibyll. I came to-"

"Oh hold on!" she said walking closer to me, waving her hands in the air. "I knew you were coming, Jewel dear. You're, looking for something."

"Yes, I wanted to know-"

"Ohh you need to find something, something..." She was now trying to read my aura, which I'm sure told her I was getting mad. "Goodness, are we upset?"

I clenched my teeth. She always did this with me when she used to visit my family. "No. I just wanted to know if your grandmother-"

"Had anything of... or something... No. No. OH! I can see it!"

She stumbled over a few chairs, going to a small bookshelf she had in the back of the room. She rushed back, and held a book out. She acted like it was some sacred tome, and I took it slowly. I'm sure my look was priceless, but I opened the book immediately. It was an old potions book that had been written in. I sat down, and started searching for anything that would jump out at me. Finally one page did. Cassie's name was on the page, and a formula neatly written in the margin. It was called the Effusio potion, and what really got my attention, was the word success that she surrounded with little hearts. I gave Sibyll a look of excitement.

"You found her potion? I'd like to help you Jewel."

I became ecstatic. "Would you really help me?"

She smiled. "Oh of course dear! We've gotta keep that man of yours," she said looking at the page. "Malfoy is it? Yeah, this will fix you up good."

~~~

So now, after my classes, I go straight to her classroom to work on that potion. I'm so grateful that Sibyll is helping me. I've never seen a funnier sight than her getting a few of the potion's ingredients from Snape. The first time he asked her why she needed some of them, she started going into a trance like state, speaking of 'how the world could end if she doesn't make a special kind of potion to ward off the voices of those who will be...' and that's all she ever got out. Snape now hands her what she needs as quickly as possible, so she doesn't have to talk to him.

I had been working the entire weekend with Sibyll, and now it will be a month and a half until it is ready.

"Thank you Sibyll! I can't tell you how appreciative I am!"

"Oh not a problem dear! Now, you go get some sleep for your classes tomorrow, and I will let you know when it is ready."

I gave her a huge hug before I left her classroom. It had been a long weekend, and I was feeling it.

The halls were dim, only lit with a few flickering candles here and there. I looked down every area I passed on my way to the Ravenclaw rooms. As I glanced down a random hallway, I thought I actually saw something. I strained my eyes to see, gasped, and ran to hide in the darkness behind a connecting wall. I peered around the corner, and focused better on the scene.

Under one of the flickering lights, stood Draco, and a young blonde girl. She had her back against the stone wall of the castle, and he was hovering close to her. I watched in silence as her mouth joined with his. As much as this wasn't a new image for me, I found that I couldn't look away. How that must feel. I focused on him, discreetly. He didn't seem to be enjoying it, almost like he was bored. A little shocked, I focused in on her, and shivered from the contrast. I felt her heart jumping at his kiss, and her body swimming in the feeling. I closed my eyes in concentration, searching for more, and lost myself. Like a feather caught in a breeze, I danced gently within her, until she simply wasn't there. I could feel him. His warm tongue caressing mine, and his hot breath mixing with my own. I felt his hand on the back of my neck and the jolt his other hand gave me as he pulled my lower half closer to him. As my breathing became heavy, he suddenly stopped.

I snapped out of my trance, and without a second thought, I kept my eyes on them. He was just looking at her... what is he doing? She said something to him, and he turned his head in my direction. I put my hand on my mouth. I knew it was too dark where I was to see me. Why does it seem that he's looking right at me? He turned back to her, and abruptly started walking my way. I spun around quickly and ran over to the next hall. I hid behind a stone sculpture that luckily seemed to be there just for me. I sat in the dark watching and listening. I closed my mind as much as I could when I heard footsteps. Draco stopped before the hall and looked around, soon followed by the girl he was with.

"Draco! What is going on?" the girl asked catching her breath.

"Shh! Shut up!" Draco hissed, still looking around. After a while, he visibly dropped his shoulders and put his hands behind his head. "I felt her," he whispered.

I silently put my hand to my mouth again in shock, fighting not to think anything.

"Her? What the hell is going on Malfoy?!"

He gave her a ruthless look and started walking off. She followed after him, and I heard her questions slowly fade away. I got to my feet and ran the rest of the way to the tower. I sprinted to my room, and stood breathless behind the door that I slammed. I didn't know how or why it happened, but my smile never wanted to leave my face. He felt me.


TBC...