Decimus smiled to himself after his encounter with Tabitha Potter that morning. Images of her piercing green eyes taunted his memory.
‘So what,’ he thought. ‘I happen to like Harry Potter’s daughter? Why should I care if my father doesn’t like it? It’s not like he has ever done anything for me.’
He rounded a corner, and ran smack into Trenton Potter. ‘I seem to be having a problem with running into the Potter children today,’ he thought.
“Watch it,” demanded Trent, his brown eyes narrowed in disgust.
Decimus snorted. “Why should I have to watch where I’m going? It takes two to tango.” Decimus’ mouth curved into a smirk as he watched Trent turn red with anger.
The red in Trent’s face disappeared and was replaced with a knowing smile. “How’s your dad, Malfoy? What’s the matter? Aren’t you allowed to write to Azkaban?”
This didn’t irritate Decimus in the least. He didn’t care if people insulted his father. In fact, he did it all the time.
“Look at the time! I really must dash. Oh, and by the way, your sister says ‘Hi’.” Decimus brushed past the eldest Potter child, and was not surprised when Trent’s well-trained arm hooked onto his shoulder.
Trent looked furious.
“What have you been doing with my sister?” he demanded.
“Nothing, but I must say she has quite a talent for kissing. I assume she got it from you?” With those words, Trent hurled Decimus up against the wall.
“If I find out you’ve been doing anything to Tabby, I’ll-“ Trent started but was interrupted by a stern voice in the corridor.
“Potter. Malfoy. May I ask what you’re doing here?” asked Professor Cook.
“Nothing,” replied Trent and Decimus in unison and Trent reluctantly loosened his grip on Decimus.
“Well then! Mr. Potter, if you’d be so kind as to walk me to my office, I need to discuss Quidditch tryouts with you.” Professor Cook said. Trent turned his back on Decimus, and followed the old man down the hall.
Decimus sniggered. He couldn’t quite believe his luck. He had an inkling of what Trent would do if he caught him and Tabitha doing anything... and it would not be pleasant.
Decimus strutted by a group of first years, and remembered the first time he ever saw Tabby....
*
Decimus was running as fast as he could to his next class. If he was late again he’d get another detention from Professor Cook. The one last night caused him to miss the Sorting the previous night.
He stopped as a red-head crawled around on the ground, looking for all the items she dropped. He sighed, sometimes his soft side annoyed him.
He dropped down next to her. “Here, let me help,” he said in a soft voice. The first year looked up at him and Decimus’ heart stopped. The girl had the greenest, most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.
“Thanks,” the girl mumbled then continued down the hall. Decimus had to run to catch up to her.
“What class do you have next?” he asked her. The girl’s almond shaped eyes looked surprised. She gave him a cautious look then mumbled, “Potions.”
Decimus gave her a grin then said, “I know a good shortcut we can take. I don’t want you to be late.” His kindness towards the girl surprised him. He silently told himself that the eyes had found a way to control his mind.
“What year are you in?” asked the girl in a soft voice. Her green eyes gave him a questioning look, and Decimus found himself stuttering an answer, something very unlike him; he always knew what to say and when to say it.
“S-second,” he replied.
The girl nodded her head as if she understood. They walked like that for a minute or two, asking each other small questions and giving short answers. They stopped when they were in front of a painting of a very pretty angel.
“Here,” Decimus said shortly, and he poked the angel in the eye.
“Ow!” the angel exclaimed and the painting slowly opened, revealing a hidden staircase.
The red headed girl looked surprised. “Why did you poke her in the eye?” she asked, and she looked back at the painting in worry.
Decimus laughed. “I don’t know why, but that’s the only way to get her to open up. It took me all of last year to figure it out, but I finally did.”
The girl gave a hesitant laugh then asked, “Aren’t you going to be late for your next class?”
“It’s okay if I’m late,” Decimus lied. “I have special privileges,” he added with satisfaction. Lying was something Decimus was very good at, but that’s what you get when the first words you ever said were lies.
“Really?” the girl said, her eyes getting wide with admiration.
Decimus simply nodded then grabbed her arm and led her down the staircase to the right; it was hidden in the shadows, and if he wouldn’t have guided her she would have gone completely the wrong way.
He led her up a straight staircase and to the back of another portrait, this time of a demon-looking thing. He pushed the painting open, and they appeared in a busy hallway full of running students.
Decimus groaned when he saw Trent heading towards them, a determined look on his face.
“Watch out for Mister I’m-too-good-for-anyone-because-my-dad-is-famous-Potter,” he hissed at the girl.
The girl gave him a shocked and hurt look, and he didn’t quite understand why she had given him the look until Trent said, “Malfoy, I think I can show my sister around without your help.”
*
It had been a year to that day when Decimus had met Tabitha. He didn’t understand that in all the questions they asked each other, and all the talking, they didn’t happen to catch each other’s names.
Tabitha was shocked when she found out Decimus’ surname, but that didn’t stop her from trying to be friends. She bugged him for a week, running up to him and asking how his day was until he got tired of it and yelled at her, “I CAN’T BE FRIENDS WITH A GOODY TWO-SHOES POTTER! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?”
Tabby gave him an annoyed look when he said it, then she replied calmly, “Fine. I just thought we could put our fathers’ differences aside and be friends, but if that’s how you feel....” her voice trailed off, and she spun on her heel and left him.
Ever since then they never said a nice thing to each other.
It wasn’t her father that made Decimus scream at Tabitha like that, it was more the fact that she scared him. He had never felt love in his whole life. Not from his grandmother, grandfather, or his father, and now he found himself having new, and yet wonderful feelings for a red-haired girl.
Not just any girl- the daughter of Harry Potter.
Decimus hissed the password to the portrait, and the portrait swung forward.
“Decimus,” he heard a voice say, and he looked up from his feet.
Krystal Connolly was looking at him, her icy blue eyes glaring at him. Decimus often called her the Ice Queen because her eyes and her white blonde hair gave her the look of a... well, an Ice Queen.
Her white skin“ so white it’s almost blue“ also helped.
“Where were you?” she asked.
“I had a run in with Potter,” he replied.
Krystal’s pretty face twisted into a disgusted look. “The boy or the girl?”
“Trent.”
Krystal sneered. “Lucky you.”
Decimus snorted. He looked over to a large boy sitting over in a corner. The boy was pretending to be reading a book, but he kept peering over it.
“Runt,” Decimus called across the room. The big kid looked over when his name was called. “Are you still doing that essay? You’ve been working on it since dawn.” It was true; Runt woke up at dawn and has been faithfully working on his homework ever since.
“I’ve been trying to help him, but the moron’s mind can’t process anything,” Krystal said, and her eyes turned bright red. Krystal was a very impatient person, and whenever she was mad or irritated her eyes turned red. They changed color because Krystal was a Flammeus Paetuic, or a person with amazing eye power. A Flammeus Paetuic could read a sign five miles away.
“They are extremely rare,” she assured Decimus when he first found out about her multi-colored eyes. “But most Flammeus Paetuics have been in my,” she poked herself in the chest, “bloodline.”
“Calm down,” Decimus told her when he saw her eyes. Often when her eyes turned red things around her broke.
Krystal took a deep breath then said, “So. Deci, are you gonna tell us about your run in?”
AN~ Now, for dedications. As some of you know, if I review a story I ask the author to please read and review my story. So this chapter goes to Islander and ForbiddenLove for responding to my plea. People, those two are really great writers, and I strongly suggest you check out some of their stories.
I’d also like to thank butterflykisses (that’s her name in the forums, and I think her name on MNFF is nymphadora08) for being my wonderful beta.
The Thoughts of Tabitha by mugglegurl
Chapter Notes: Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, but it took my beta a while to edit (not that I'm bashing my beta, she'e awesome). Here it is, hope you enjoy!