Lined Paper

Riley splashed the warm water against her face. The basin was a diluted, navy from the ink that had been on her face. She scrubbed with a hand towel that hung near the sink. Almost all of the ink was gone and her skin was red from the rubbing.

"Way to be, Riley." Riley muttered to herself as she dried her face and hands. What a way to meet the man of her dreams. That made Riley giggle.

There was no doubt in Riley's mind that the boy from her dream and the boy from her first class were one and the same. But who exactly was he? His class tie had been green and silver which meant that he was one of the Slytherin dormitory. She had two friends who were housed in Slytherin. Her next class was Potions with Professor Snape. Her tablemate was a boy named Casanova who was a year younger than her. He was one of the nicest Slytherin boys around. It wasn't normal for tablemates to be from different dorms. So when Riley and Casanova were paired, it was like Rosa Parks not moving from her seat. It was completely revolutionary. However, while everyone was freaking out, Riley and Casanova became great friends. Riley went to him for the tings she couldn't go to Stephanie for.

Now she was walking back to her Theory of Magic class to get her things. She walked in on the last ten minutes of class. To her horror, they had all traded papers while she was washing up. She looked to Stephanie who just gave her a look. Stephanie then looked over at a desk and then back at Riley. She shrugged and continued to read and edit the paper in front of her. The teacher, Professor Binns, looked up.

"Riley. Don't worry about the tardy. Stephanie told me what happened. We're almost done with peer editing. Just take a seat and stay quiet." He said and then returned to the paper he was grading.

Riley slowly walked to her table and sat down.

"Who ended up with my paper?" Riley whispered to Stephanie who was making her final editing marks.

"I doubt it will be anything but red marks when he's done with it." She murmured back.

"When who's done with it?" Riley hissed, annoyed. Stephanie opened her mouth to answer when Professor Binns cleared his throat, meaning it was time to share.

"Now. We will only be sharing one paper today. To determine the lucky paper, we will see which has the least editing marks." Professor Binns explained. He started with fifteen marks or less. Twenty-two hands shot in to the air. The count of marks continued to dwindle down along with the number of hands in the air. Within five minutes, the mark count was three or less and the number of hands up was one.

Everyone's eyes followed the elevated arm to the attached body. Riley found herself looking at the boy from her dream. Professor Binns smiled at him.

"Very good, Malfoy. You seem to have today's winner." He joked. He made a motion with his hand and "Malfoy" stood.

"'Many understand that, no matter how much they wish their thoughts were private, such is not the case,'" He began. Riley sat in stunned silence as Malfoy read the words that had flowed from her pen just hours ago.

The reading took only about three minutes, but it was like every person in the room was transported to the world of Occlumency and Legilimency. Malfoy's voice was majestic and followed the paper perfectly. It sounded just like how Riley heard it in her head when she had been writing it. Malfoy finished and everyone was silent. The last words rang in the air. Professor Binns clapped excitedly.

"That was absolutely brilliant! I've never heard such a take on Occlumency. And the execution! Just perfect!" Professor Binns looked around.

"Tell me, who wrote this?" He asked. Riley looked at Stephanie who nodded, eyes shining with encouragement. Riley opened her mouth to claim the paper when the bell rang. The rest of their class got up and left as quickly as they could. All the papers were placed on a table near the exit. Stephanie hurried off, pulling the "meeting with Harry before class" card.

Riley looked up after gathering her things and found Malfoy glaring down at her. Riley blinked and opened her mouth but he raised his hand to stop her.

"You know about Occlumency?" He growled. Riley simply nodded. He seemed to contemplate what he was going to say next. His eyes looked her over. He noted the length of her blonde hair and the sparkles in her ice blue/grey eyes.

"How are you with Oneiromancy?" He asked slowly.