This is technically a companion piece to my fic, A Different Kind of Malfoy, but it probably will still make sense if you haven't read it. A few things might be vague, though, so I advise reading the actual fic first. I know that its ridicuously short, but it was quite necessary to clear up some slight confusion about some things.

Of Trust and Regret

I was sitting at the Yule Ball quietly, when Rose Weasley broke the silence, asking me if I wanted to go outside with her to get some fresh air. Without even giving the matter a thought, I said yes and we both stood up and proceeded outdoors. It was quite nice. Soft, bright white snow covered everything in a thin blanket and the sun was just setting, emitting a reddish, pinkish, purplish glow. It was the kind of night where you didn’t expect anything to go wrong and I made the mistake of being tricked by the gorgeousness of the night. Its been said to ‘expect the unexpected’ but tonight that really wasn’t on my mind.

I suppose that I should have introduced myself by now. I’m Jordan Reilly, a fifteen-year-old guy who’s in Gryffindor at Hogwarts. I have shaggy, light brown hair that falls slightly into my chocolate brown eyes. I’m in my element when I’m on the Quidditch field, as I was blessed with extraordinary athletic skill, but I don’t mean to brag. People say that I’m a tad bit full of myself, but don’t listen to them. They have no idea what they’re talking about. Trust me.

Anyways, Rose and I were just strolling around, talking about whatever came to our minds. Now, I’m not always the person that you want to talk about random stuff to because I have an excessively strange (albeit imaginative) mind and pretty soon I was rambling on about a dream that I had had the night before that involved an exploding toaster, my dad wearing a very ugly suit, owls flying into windows, and cake being shoved into my face. Needless to say, Rose was a wee bit confused by this, but she didn’t have any time to speak as we saw a shadowy figure in the distance.

“Who is that?” she said nervously, gripping my arm so tight that the circulation was nearly cut off.

“I dunno,” I replied. Looking back, I’m pretty sure that I sounded like a complete idiot but, hey, it was the truth and I’m generally an honest person. We stood there, staring into the distance for a few seconds and then the mysterious guy cam closer. Rose must have jumped a mile. She turned toward me, her face almost as white as the snow beneath my feet, and said “Oh my gosh. It’s Viktor Krum.”

“What?” I said loudly.

She whacked my arm. “Shut up. He’ll hear you.”

“Oh, sorry,” I said. “But, what are we going to do? We can’t just stand here and let him break into the school.”

“I know,” Rose said. “And I have a plan.”

“And what would that be?” I asked. Immediately, my far-fetched plan of luring him off of a very high cliff popped into my head. “It doesn’t involve any, erm, cliffs, does it?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head vigorously. “Now listen. You’re going to go inside and alert the students and teachers about the problem. Bring some teachers with you when you come back. I’ll… um… well, I’ll…”

It took me several seconds to actually comprehend what she had meant for herself to do. All of the sudden, it hit me. “You, you, you…” I stuttered, disbelievingly. “You want to stay here all by yourself and try to hold him off?” She nodded her head slowly. “You’re mad!” I said. “He’s a grown wizard and probably a lot more powerful than you. I won’t let you do it. I’ll---”

Rose cut me off. “Jordan, I can handle it,” she said fiercely.

“No!” I yelled, frantic. “I can’t let you do that! I couldn’t stand loosing you.”

“Jordan,” she said firmly. “I can do this. Trust me.” I really didn’t want to leave her, but Rose is amazingly good at getting her own way, something that I lack big time.

“Okay,” I sighed, still not completely convinced, but I didn’t want to risk her lashing out on me. Rose can be rather scary when she’s mad. When she gets this evil expression on her face, you really don’t want to disagree or say anything slightly mean to her. She’ll…um… how can I put this? She’ll flip out. Go crazy. Inflict several wounds without meaning to (hint: this is a slight exaggeration).

I started to walk away, then turned around quickly. “Rose,” I began, but she interrupted me.

“Go!” she yelled. “Every second you waste is another second for Krum to advance. We don’t want him to take over the school!”

“Yep,” I said. Then I turned back around and ran as fast as I could toward the castle. Still, I wasn’t comfortable leaving Rose out there alone. Who knew what Krum could do to her? He is an accomplished wizard, after all. My instincts were screaming for me to turn back, to go help her, to try to prevent any harm, but I fought them back. Rose had told me to go get help and I trusted her. I trusted her with my life.

I pushed open the huge wooden doors with all my strength and bolted through them. Immediately, I spotted several teachers, sitting in a group and attempting to supervise the students. This, obviously, was not a success, as many of the younger students had become restless and were running around, going insane. One little second year had bewitched the bowl of punch to explode over his ‘friend’s’ head and they were now in what they thought was a big fight. I shook my head, trying to block out everything that was happening around me. “Concentrate, Jordan. Concentrate,” I told myself over and over again.

That was when I heard the scream. It was loud and rather high-pitched and sounded suspiciously like a certain Rose Weasley. I was sent into a small panic. What if Krum was torturing her and it was entirely my fault? Could I live with that? Somehow, I didn’t know the answer.

Picking up the pace, I headed over to the teachers. A blur of a figure with pale blonde hair whizzed past me and I realized that it was Scorpius. I would have tried to stop him, but I had more important things to do. I had to find some way to get Krum off the grounds and pausing to tell Scorpius not to go outside would simply be a time waster. I regretted this decision later.

In fact, I regretted the whole thing. If I had just stayed with Rose, none of this would ever have happened. Scorpius wouldn’t be lying in the Hospital Wing, gravely injured. His friend’s wouldn’t have to fear that he wouldn’t get better. It would all be different. I know that I shouldn’t blame myself entirely, but I did. To me, it seemed like I could have prevented the whole thing and I felt like I would have to carry the weight of that guilt forever. There was no way I could escape it.

~~~~~~~

So there you have it. I've always wanted to do a thing from Jordan's point of view and this seemed like a perfect oppurtunity. You can leave any comments/suggestions that you have for me here on my regular feedback thread. Thanks.