Alex nodded and turned his attention to the front of the class.

"Good morning class!" Professor Tonks greeted. "This term, we will be working on the Dark curse, Injurious. Can anyone tell me what Injurious does?"

Alex raised his hand and spoke. "Injurious renders the victim paralysed for a week, given the time to say the incantation. If you just get the wand movement, you'll break the victim's ribs."

"Very good Mr. Cartwright! Ten points to Slytherin!" She paused. "Would you like to demonstrate?"

Alex nodded, and walked up to the front. "Injurious!" He shouted. A silver-blue light erupted out of his wand and sped toward the wall. When it hit, the stone crumbled.

"Excellent! Now for the rest of the class, I want you guys to practice the Injurious curse...You may begin. And try not to hit anyone!"

Danielle was impressed with Alex's knowledge and skill. She had to admit... if it wasn't for sneaking into his brother's room, he wouldn't be as experienced in doing all sorts of spells. Everyone was given a block of stone to practice on. Danielle was afraid she might hit someone, especially Natalie since she was so close to her target.

ooc: I gotta go soon.. This would be my second last post. Then I'm off.

ooc:Me to.

Alex sat, watching the class, more particularly, Danielle. He wanted to see how she fared with his favorite dark curse.

Danielle got the wand movement right but it wasn't strong enough to break the block. It cracked though. She folded the sleeves of her robe and tied her long hair as it was blocking her view. Danielle tried again and a silver-blue light shot off from her wand, destroying the block of stone. She noticed that Natalie had a bit of trouble and so she went off to help her.

ooc: G'nite!

Alex clapped at Danielle's achievement. "That's an A plus if you ask me!" Alex shouted over the noise of the spells.

ooc:Sweet dreams.

Danielle heard Alex and blushed. Natalie noticed her reaction and smiled at her. By the end of the lesson, nearly everyone had been awarded with points and left the class feeling happy about themselves. As Danielle walked out of the classroom, Alex halted her.

"You were going to tell me something?" He asked, pushing his self-anger aside. "It was something I said, wasn't it?" Alex asked, looking at the stone floor.

"Uhh.. yeah. Right," she said, "In here." Danielle pulled Alex into an empty classroom nearby. They sat down at an empty row and she began to talk. "No, it wasn't something you said. Believe me, Alex.. If I was you, I'd do the exact same thing."

Alex was confused. "What do you mean? The same thing?"

Danielle looked down on the floor. "I would've told you..." she broke off. She kept looking at the floor as she wasn't too sure if it would be the right thing to do. She looked at Alex and said, "Alex, you're everything to me.. and I don't want you to get harmed because of me. If you say that you're brother is watching you as we speak then I won't say more."

"I won't get harmed becuase of you. I'll get harmed by my brother. Danielle, I love you! And if he comes near you, at any time, he's dead! And I hope he heard that, becuase that is a promise! I vowed from the moment I knew what was going on with Daniel and Set, that I would protect you from anything that gets in your way. I'm going to say it again, I love you, and no one can stop me from doing so...Well, except you of course. But no one else!"

"Yes you will! Death Eater or not, I don't want you getting locked up for murder!" she cried. Danielle leaned and whispered in his ear, "I don't want him to use me as bait. As something to lure you with. If it ever happened... if anything happened to you, I would never forgive myself."

Alex knew she was right, but couldn't admit it. He wouldn't admit it. "Well...Then, I'll conjure up some anti-apperation bindings, and send him to Azkaban. He can't stop me from being happy!"

"Oh sure.. like that would hold him," said Danielle, already in tears. "He can. He can stop you from being happy. He's a Death Eater, Alex! No matter how many times you've sneaked inside his room, he's still a Death Eater. There'd probably be millions of other curses that he'd use against you that you wouldn't even know about!"

Alex was up to his ears in this one. There was no way of escaping the truth. And Danielle was telling the complete truth. "Please stop crying...Please. I wont go after him, ,but Danielle, I can't ignore my feelings for you either. " Alex shrunk to the floor, the pressure of events weighing him down. "I can't take it any more. It's too much."

ooc:I have to go...See you later!

ooc: Yeah.. me too.. See you tomorrow or something. :p

Danielle gave Alex a small smile. "Thank you," she said. At that moment, she did something she had never done before. She hugged him.

Alex looked up from his hands at Danielle. "What was that for?" He asked, smiling.

Alex was searching frantically for something to say, but he could't find the right words.

"For not going after your brother, no matter what. But you have to promise me you won't," said Danielle, wiping away her tears.

"I promise...But if he gets to us, he's going to get what's been coming to him." Alex warned.

"Alright..." said Danielle. She pondered for a while then spoke to Alex again. "So.. Are we.." She had to ask him but couldn't find the right words to say. Somehow, hoping he'd understand.

Alex smiled, understanding what she was getting at. "If you want..."

Danielle blushed, "I wouldn't mind, really." She shook her head and straightened up. "What am I saying? Of course I do," she said, smiling.

Alex smiled. "Alright then." Alex then looked at his watch. "We're almost late to the next class! On the North tower!"

"Well, you are. I don't have a class next and I don't have Divination with you. So I'm probably will be heading to the library," said Danielle as they walked out of the empty classroom.