Halle's POV

"What is it Ally?" I demanded.

I had no idea what she would want with me at such a late hour....

"You know," she said, slyly, " I just thought that we should talk out what happened that day, in a few months it will have been a year since that day, and I thought that since we are so much more mature now, we should talk things out."

I laughed, "No way, you're just trying to get me out of talking James into seeing what a monster you are..."

"No... me? A monster? Please... I would never be something like that..." She did a small laugh while staring at her perfect nails.

"Really..." I said matter-of-factly, "Then why were you the way you were to me? Why did you treat me like that? And why, while we're on the topic, that every time I ask you this question, you just ignore me?!"

"Please, Halle, I haven't ignored you once this school year..."

"Of course, how could I forget! you've only been trying to steal the one person that means something in my life!"

"Oh, Halle, if only you can see how far you've fallen since we were friends."

"What do you mean..."

"Back then, you were kind and good-hearted. You cared about other people, even when they were using you, and you cared what they thought of you. Now you just don't care, it's why you don't have any friends."

"I do have friends!" I said, attempting to stand up for myself.

"Do, you? Or do they just pity you? Think about that. If you think you figured it out, we should talk again. I think we could be great friends again and do wondrous things together."

She walked away as briskly as she came.

What struck me, was that she was right. People like Ally tried to just say little baby lies to strike their victims, and yes, it hurt. I was proof of that. But, what hurts, even more, was that she didn't need to lie. She had the truth, and nothing pained me more than the truth about myself.

Dominique's POV

"She should be back by now," I told Gracie.

Gracie told me everything that happened, and that Halle was needed in McGonagall's office. The issue was that no one knew where she was.

"Why did you leave her with Ally! Of all people!" Gracie shouted.

"I didn't think that Ally would hex her or anything!"

"She didn't hex her, Dominique."

"Then what! Why isn't Halle here now?!"

"When has Ally ever tried to hurt Halle by hexing her? That's not how she is. She tries to hurt her with words, and I think this time she probably succeeded."

I thought for a moment.

"I guess that's probably true, but, where would she be if Ally 'attacked' her?"

"I have no idea..."

Our problems were saved for us when she walked into the hall that led to the Bronze Raven.

"Halle! Where were you!? What did Ally do to you?!" I squealed at her.

"Nothing... It doesn't matter... Hey Gracie, I'll see you guys later..." she mumbled.

Just from that, I could tell there was something wrong with her...

"Halle, we need to go to Professor McGonagall's office..."

She looked at Gracie, "You told on James, didn't you."

Gracie shuffled her feet around, looking guilty.

"No matter, let's go."

No matter? There was definitely something wrong. Gracie telling on James was no matter? When would Halle EVER think that James getting expelled was no matter? And besides, Halle never talks properly around us unless she is really upset.

We walked down the halls at a brisk pace, until we arrived at the headmistresses office. The eagle was already unspiraled, and we walked right in.

"Thank you for joining us Ms. Swan, Ms. Weasley. Please have a seat."

Halle's POV:

Everyone here is giving me THAT look. The look that means where were you, you're a terrible friend. You weren't here to support us like we were to support you. Well I'M SORRY I'M the one who has to be the PERFECT one. YOU are the ones that HAD to take pity on me and bring me here.

I glared at everyone and sat on my seat. This was going to be just GREAT.

A Few Weeks Later...

James POV:

I ate my lunch in silence. So did she. Halle has definitely changed since we went into McGonagall's office. The good part was that I didn't get expelled. Professor said it was an honest mistake, and that she would send a letter to my parents, and it would be fine as long as I never did it again. I got more house points docked, but that's not the bad part. The bad part is that Halle is now a totally different person. She now wears almost leather everything. Black, knee-high, leather boots, black skinny jeans, and a black, tight leather jacket. We hardly spend any time together now. She mostly hangs out with Ally, for some reason that I totally do not get. Halle stood up and said,

"Well, it was sure nice to... enjoy food together, I'll see you guys later?..."

Ugh, I can't even recognize the girl in front of me. I heard her heels fading in the distance as Dom spoke up.

"We have got to do something about her, just the idea of her now just repulses me."

I mumbled my agreement, not that I knew what repulse meant, it's probably something bad, and that's the new keyword in Halle's new nature. Yet, I got to admit though, she really does look good in leather though...

"James!"

"What are you doing!" Dom snapped.

"What do you mean?"

"You're looking at her the same way you used to," Gracie sighed.

"And your thoughts are going the same way too," Louis added.

"Why is that a bad thing?" I asked.

"Think of what she's done in the past few weeks," Louis pointed out.

I guess she had done some rather nasty things in the last few weeks... She'd beat up a small first year, somehow managed to drown a perfect in the Black Lake, and lost Ravenclaw countless points, among other things.

"It's not her that's doing it though!" I cried, "It's Ally controlling her!"

Everyone looked at me in the 'really...' way.

I sighed in defeat, we all knew it wasn't Ally controlling her. She was doing this if her own accord. I felt the tears coming into my eyes and I heard my breathing go heavy. I felt a pat on my shoulder and saw Gracie giving me a small smile.

"You may just be an annoying cockroach, but for once, I can tell that you are being a genuine human being, and for a good cause as well."

I took that as a compliment, cause I don't know what genuine means either. I gave her a small smile back.

"We miss her too, James," Dominique said softly.

"We will do anything to get her back as well," Louis added.

I knew that in that moment, we would do whatever it took to get the one person I felt a true, growing connection with back to the right side. And I would do whatever it took to make sure that connection would never, ever break after we succeeded.