Chapter 3- Analiza

Analiza

Without reading the letter I quickly folded it back up and put it in my bag. I slammed my mug on the counter and hurried out of the cafe. I felt nauseated. He knew I was there the whole time! I ran across the street and into the the dark ally. I wasted no time checking for surrounding muggles before I aparated.

I appeared outside my apartment building. I ran up the stairs to floor three, eager to get to my room for some privacy. Just as I opened the wood door to the familiar smell of vanilla I loved to have burning, Analiza grabbed me.

"Great!" She said, a dimpled smile spreading across her face. "You're home! Get ready!" She pushed me through the small living area and toward my bedroom.

"For what?" I said confused and in no mood for games.

"We're going out!"

That's when I noticed that she was wearing a short pink dress and had on giant heals. Her long black hair was down to her rear in glitter and black eyeliner fancily outlined her green apple eyes.

"No," I said shaking my head and pulling my arm from her grip. "I can't."

"'Moine!" She whined. "I haven't gone out for ages!"

"So go by yourself." I opened the door to my bedroom. It wasn't that I didn't like going out with Analiza, it was just the places she like to go to. By the way she was dressed I could tell she wasn't planning on heading to the library.

"I can't go to the club by myself!" She exclaimed, following me to my room. "You're my wing-man!"

I rolled my eyes. I hardly thought she needed a wing-man. When she goes to clubs she drinks, a lot. And when she drinks she gets really talkative and 'friendly'.

"I just don't feel like going tonight." I got out a towel and my silky purple robe to take a shower. Truth be told, I never felt like going to the club, but tonight I was stressed out by the letter in my bag and I didn't want to have to worry about something else, like Analiza stealing alcohol from the bar right in front of me. Yes it's happened.

Analiza was a nice enough person and a great friend, but she was a little crazy. She did everything. She'd been to every bar, drank every alcoholic beverage, snogged every guy who approached her, you name it. But for all the things she would do, there are three things she would never do: Refuse a dare, take no for an answer, and leave her friends. Maybe that's why I put up with her so much, because I knew she wouldn't betray me.

"Pleeeeaaase!" She begged, following me to the bathroom.

I sighed. Like I said, she never takes no for an answer.

"Ana, I can't! Besides, I don't even have anything to wear." The closest thing I had to party clothes were black pencil skirts for work and I doubted she'd let me go out in that.

Analiza smiled. "Well then, it's a good thing you have me right?" She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward her room. She opened the door to an absolute pigsty.

"Ew!" I said looking at all the dirty laundry on her floor. Her bed was buried in clothes and trash along with dirty dishes I'd been looking for. "Where do you sleep?" I asked dumbfounded.

She huffed at me and took out her wand. Waving it, the dirty clothes floated to her hamper, the dishes went out of the room and toward the kitchen and the bed fixed it's self with deep purple blankets.

"Is that better?" She asked sarcastically.

"A little." I said.

She threw open her closet doors to a colourful wad of clothing. She had so many clothes, it seemed it was all she spent her money on. Analiza currently waited tables at The Leakey Cauldron, which didn't bring in much. After I arm-wrestled her share of the rent from her, I hadn't the foggiest where the rest was going.

"Absolutely not!" I exclaimed as she pulled out a teeny-tiny black dress.

"What?!" She asked looking at the dress, clearly unable to see what was wrong. "It's cute!"

"On a five-year-old maybe. If you're going to force me to go out with you, I'm wearing something I'm comfortable in!" I huffed and crossed my arms

"Hermione, I don't have granny clothes." She teased.

"I do not wear granny clothes!" I protested.

She rummaged around in the closet and threw out clothes and onto the bed so she could look better. Her sleeping space started to look just the same as it had before.

"Here, try this on." She threw a yellow dress at me.

I held the dress by the hanger at arms length in front of me. It was a light lacy yellow. It was sleeveless but it had a modest neckline. And it didn't look that short.

"Fine." I walked to the bathroom and slipped into the dress. Checking myself out in the mirror I noticed that the bottom rested a quite a bit above my knee. It was a little short for my liking, but it was okay.

"You let her sway you again, didn't you?" I asked myself in the mirror. Maybe I could use a night out. I thought. I'd been pretty stressed after seeing Malfoy at the cafe for the first time, and I couldn't keep from thinking about it. Why had he been there? Why was he so nice? Why was he so different from what I remembered?

I swiped on some red lipstick and rouge on my cheeks. I used my wand to fasten my hair into smoother curls that bounced like springs when I shook my head.

There was a knock on the door. "'Moine? Are you done yet? Le'me see!"

I sighed as I turned to open the door.

Analiza gasped. "You look stunning!" She said happily. "Here, try these." She thrust a pair of silver heals my direction.

"Nope." I said throwing them back at her.

I hated heals. They were highly uncomfortable and accident prone. Flats were much better, more comfortable and less likely you would trip over your own feet and fall down a flight of stairs.

"I knew you would say that!" She said as she made a pair of white flats fly out of her room with her wand. "Here you are your majesty." She handed them to me. "Now can we go?"

"I just need to grab my book." I ran to my room and grabbed my book from my bag. The letter from Malfoy fell out and landed on the white sheets on my bed. I stopped and stared at it. I really wanted to open it. I really wanted to see what he said. But at the same time I really didn't. I reached for it and held it in front of me. Should I even look at it at all? Maybe I should wait until I have more time to read it, when I didn't have Analiza in the living area waiting for me to grab my book and come out. I held the corners and opened one fold. I took a deep breath. I can do this. I thought.

"'Moine, lets go!"

Just not right now. I dropped the paper back in my bag, grabbed my book and hurried out.

"I can't believe you have to bring that!" Analiza said pointing to the book in my arms.

She hated it when I brought a book because all I did was sit in a corner and read while she got friendly with the boys at the bar.

"Come on." She grabbed my arm. "Lets go confuse the muggles with our magic!"

Before I could tell her exactly how illegal that was, she was rushing me out of our apartment and down the stairs. As soon as she barged out of the door at the front of the building she aparated, dragging me along.

We appeared in an Alleyway next to a muggle bar simply called, Brain's Pub. The name was lit up on the front of the building in neon red lights. There was a deep repeating low bass that turned into actual music when some opened the door. Which happened quite a bit as it seemed to be a pretty popular pub. I group of girls in tiny dresses and high heels entered the bar in front of us as we walked around front. As the door closed I caught a whiff of smoke and alcohol which made me choke and cough.

"Ana, I can't go in there." I said between raspy coughs.

"Yes you can." She said. "You get used to the smell." She grabbed my arm and reached for the door again.

I started coughing again, but this time I did it on purpose. I started to feel like I really couldn't do this. I just wanted to be alone for some reason. Maybe it was because I really did hate pubs. Maybe it was because I was at a really good part in my book and I just wanted to read it in privacy. Maybe it was because I really wanted to do something with that note. I could feel it burning inside my bag all the way at the apartment. I couldn't get it out of my head! What was written inside? Should I just cut it to tiny pieces and burn it before the fateful words written inside destroyed my life for good?

Analiza patted me on the back. "Okay," She said. "I'll make a deal with you."

I looked up at her. Was I off the hook? Could I just go home without upsetting her?

"We can go home,"

I stopped coughing and just stared at her. Really?

"If,"

Ah, the dreaded 'if'

"You come inside while I have just one drink from the bar. Please." She added.

I rolled my eyes. Still, it was better than nothing. I still just wanted to go home, but I didn't want to upset Analiza. It was true, I hadn't gone out with her in a while and she was such a good friend, I felt like I owed her something. Maybe this was it.

I nodded. "Okay."

She smiled and opened the door to the crowed place. Again the smells hit me like a violent wave, but I tried to ignore them so that Analiza could have a fair time. She strutted inside and headed strait to the bar on the opposite wall. I turned to the right, looking for a table or booth on the wall. I saw what looked like an empty booth through the crowed of noisy people in front of me. I hugged my book to my chest and shimmied through the drunken bodies that were talking loudly and dancing oddly until I made it through the treacherous sea of people.

I jogged to the booth and sat heavily before anyone else could. I set my book on the table and looked at my surroundings, instinctively looking for exits in case something went wrong. I had gotten used to doing this during Harry, Ron, and my's search for the horcroxes. We had too many close calls and eventually we learned that knowing where the exits are saves you time and energy when something goes wrong. It had become a habit.

I watched Analiza slowly start to emerge through the haze of smoke and fog in the room. She had two tall glasses of bubbly gold in her hands. Making her way over, she nearly spilled them weaving around people and making angry faces at them behind their backs.

"Here you go." She said setting one in front of me and taking the seat opposite me.

"No thanks" I said pushing the glass away.

"No thanks?" She goggled at me. "Do you even realize how hard it was for me to get that?" She asked jokingly.

I laughed. Then it occurred to me. How did she get the drinks? She had no muggle money and we were at a muggle bar.

"Ana?"

"Ya?" She said taking a gulp of beer.

"You didn't steal these did you?"

She laughed. "Of course not!" She exclaimed like I had asked the stupidest answer in the world.

"Really?" I asked, testing her. "Because, you don't have muggle money."

"I have my ways." She said slyly over the rim of her glass.

Then it dawned on me. She did have her ways... of stealing from me.

"Ana! I've told you a hundred times, you can't steal from me! I need that money for when I shop for my muggle things!" I exclaimed.

"Hermione, it's not stealing if I give it back."

"And how do you plan on giving me back muggle money when you have a wizard job?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows at her because I knew she had no idea how she was going to do just that.

She opened her mouth to defend herself, but before she could get a word out, a muscular man in a red tee shirt and jeans sauntered over to our table.

"Hello, ladies." He said, a beer in his hand.

I looked at Analiza and rolled my eyes as she giggled. I grabbed my book and stuck my nose in it, very aware that that was rude, but I hardly cared. I wasn't in the mood to flirt with some wide-eyed, handsome muggle man who was probably highly intoxicated and wouldn't remember anything the next morning.

I vaguely noticed as he sat in the seat next to Analiza and took the drink that was meant for me. I hardly realized what was going on in my book either. I still couldn't get my mind off that stupid letter. Every time I thought about it, my stomach tied in knots. I wanted to get home and open it so bad, but I was so afraid that what was written inside would ruin my life. I was afraid it would changed the way I felt about and looked at things. But I was afraid that by not opening it I would go insane.

I tried to imagine all the possible things that could be written inside. I wondered if this really was Malfoy or if someone had gotten their hands on pollyjuice potion. I tried to imagine what had happened to Malfoy, if it really was him, that would make him act so differently.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I had to stop thinking about this, it was driving me crazy. I peeked over my book at Analiza and her brown-eyed company. He was staring at her in amazement as she made her glass float into the air with her wand that was probably in her lap or under the table. I glanced around the rest of the pub nervously, making sure that no one was paying too much attention to her magic show. It always made me nervous when she did this. I mean, it is funny to watch the muggles' confused faces as they try to figure out just how you set fire to that piece of paper in your hand or how you could refill a glass of water without even touching it, but it's so dangerous. That's probably why Analiza loves doing it.

I looked back to the pages of my book. The words were a little hard to see in the dim light of the pub, I had to really bury my face in it to see what it said. I became thankful for this a couple of minutes later, when I realized that Analiza and that man were locking lips across the table. I blushed with embarrassment because I felt like a little kid spying on her older sister and her boyfriend.

I decided to wait them out and then ask Analiza if it was okay if we went home now. But they were really going at it. The smell of smoke and alcohol hung heavy around my nose and mouth again and it started burning my lungs. I could hear them snogging even over the noise in the pub. I let out a heavy sigh, trying to rid my lungs of the stench, and slammed my book shut. Analiza managed to tear herself away from the brunet man to glance at me and see that 'one drink' was long over.

"I've got to go." She pecked the man on the lips a last time and scooted past him out of the booth.

"Can I have your number?" He stood up.

"I don't have a phone." She said.

He seemed dumbfounded, like he thought it was impossible for someone to not have a mobile.

"Okay?" He frowned. "Will I ever see you again?"

I glanced at Analiza, fully aware of what she was about to do. She smirked at me and flashed me her wand inside her purse.

"Oh ya!" She said smiling at him. "You'll see me."

He suddenly snapped upright and stood stock still for a moment, like he was extremely frightened and had no idea what was going on.

"But you won't recognize me." Analiza smirked.

The man looked at her. "I'm sorry." He said. "Who are you?" He looked around, quite puzzled.

We left him there, to wonder who he was just talking to. When we got out of the pub and into the dark ally beside it, Analiza turned to me.

"What's the matter?" She asked.

I glanced at her. "What do you mean?" I said.

"Hermione, we live together! I can tell when something is bothering you!" Her eyes wrestled fiercely with mine.

I looked away to the dirty dumpster behind her. No way could I tell her about Malfoy. I shook my head. "I'm fine." I said, trying to look like I really was fine.

She looked away from me. It was quiet for a moment. I could hear the repeating bass of the music in the pub and the soft laughter of party-goers inside. The air was crisp and fresh, like it always was on a early autumn night.

Analiza spoke again. "Whatever it is." She looked at me again. "I think you should do it. You'll regret it if you don't"

I looked at her shocked. Was it possible that she already knew? No way! How could she?

Before I could say anymore, she aparated. Her sudden absence made me realize that I had been holding my breath. I let it out in a whoosh of air and covered my face in my hands.

I stood there and thought about what Analiza said for a while before I really realized what she meant. Thinking back to the letter, eating it's way out of my bag, I came to a decision. I'm not sure if Analiza made me realize what I should do, or if I had came up with my decision on my own, or if I already knew what I should do. Whatever way, I knew now. I knew what I was going to do with the letter. I was going to burn it. I'll regret it if I don't.