In case you didn't know ahead of time, this is the sequel to my first fic, A Summer in the Life of Draco, but I think that it could read nicely as a standalone. I haven't written fiction for a few years, but I really hope you enjoy this latest venture. There was an old sequel by another name on Schnoogle, but I reread it and it honestly made me cringe because it was so terrible. So please, enjoy this story. I'm playing a bit with how to format it and expect to see different perspectives throughout the story... if that makes sense. I hope you laugh and cry with my characters, and that you fall in love with them as much as I have.

Ella Stone walked nervously into the Great Hall and waited uncomfortably in line. She was easily a head taller than all the new students standing around her, seeing as she was six years their senior. Standing on her tiptoes she attempted to scan the room around her looking for any trace of Draco. What house had he said he was in, exactly? Something to do with a snake? When she realized that there was a banner on the far left side that included an emblem of a snake, she decided that must be it.

The students were being sorted one by one. It appeared that all they had to do was put on a hat, and the hat would tell them where to go. Ironic, really, that the fate of her last year of schooling would be determined by a hat. What could a hat possibly know about her life, huh? She began humming a tune and when a group of the young boys who were waiting to be sorted began pointing at her and whispering, she shot them a look, said "boo" and they immediately appeared to shrink into themselves. Ella smiled, laughing silently.

Suddenly, her name was being called by a pointy-faced, uptight looking woman wearing glasses. All she could do for a moment was stare because she was unsure that she had even heard her name. She awkwardly walked up on stage and sat down on the three-legged stool. As the hat was lowered onto her head, she crossed her fingers in her lap. The stool was obviously meant for younger students because she felt herself trying very hard to sit comfortably. As soon as the hat touched her head, she heard it muttering. But was the hat really doing this? She hadn't heard it do this for anyone else. Could the other students hear it as well?

"Now what on earth are you doing here? You're a little old for a new student. I haven't had to place one for some time now. Finished with school at Durmstrang? Surely Hogwarts is far superior. But they appear to have taught you well, you're a bright young witch with a need to prove yourself in many aspects. A Quidditch player, and a talented one I'd wager, Hogwarts could always use one. But where in your heart do you wish to be? My dear, your heart is purer than I'd like to place you in Slytherin but your mind is wandering to that part of the room and surely I must try and do what will make you happy and as much as I'd like to have you in Gryffindor it surely has to be…

"Slytherin!"

Ella released the breath she had been holding in her chest. She smiled widely and walked over to the table underneath the snake banner where the rest of Slytherin was cheering for her. As she made her way in front of the student body, people were whispering behind their hands and craning their necks in order to catch a glimpse of this new student. Boys were nudging each other, girls were glaring, and Ella felt herself blush as she tried to make herself appear tall and confident. When she finally had finished walking the gauntlet, she took the first open seat she came to. She had been one of the last to be sorted and by the time she had collected herself the headmaster had risen to speak.

Albus Dumbledore had been kind and understanding in his response to her request to attend Hogwarts this year. He had assured her that because of her right as an English citizen she was always given a place at this school, but he was concerned at the haste of this decision and made it clear that Durmstrang's six years of education was enough, surely, and wouldn't she prefer a trade school? She had immediately purchased her school things and left home after scrawling a quick explanation to her parents. Two days ago her father had managed to track her down at an inn in London. When it all came to blows, he was not content with her decision but would accept it for the time being. And now, here she was.

"The sorting is a spectacle every year, and frankly, it always works up an appetite!" the old headmaster said.

He clapped his hands together and magically the golden plates in front of her on the table became full of food. Immediately, she tried to find the stuffed peppers. After a few moments she realized that she was no longer in Bulgaria and that sacrifices must be made, including her favorite comfort food.

Ella looked down the table and spotted Draco's blond head. His gaze was fixed on a point that seemed to be on the other side of the room. He would not look her direction, despite the fact that every other male seemed to be. She took a deep breath and kept glancing at him from the corner of her eye. He never even moved. Ella was suddenly startled by what she supposed was a sort of greeting from a brown-haired boy across the table from her.

"What exactly are you doing here?" he said. Ella smiled sheepishly and looked away. No, wait. She looked up at him again and stared. At his hair.

It was PERFECT.

Never in her life had Ella seen hair that perfect. It was not humanly possible. She glared at him with envy and then realized that this look must seem very off-putting. She shook her head and tried to control herself. She smiled and managed to choke out "Um, going to school."

"Well, obviously. It's Ella, right?" He smiled and started eating his potatoes. With his mouth half-full, he managed to continue. "I'm Glenn, by the way. Rutherford. Sixth year, pureblood, Chaser on the house team." Ella's ears perked up when she heard him mention that he was a Chaser.

"Oh really? I'm a Chaser as well."

"Where abouts?"

"Well, I was at Durmstrang."

Glenn choked on his potatoes. After drinking from his goblet he looked at her, seeming to disbelieve her previous statement. Ella was glad he had choked. That's what he deserved for doubting her with his mouth full.

"Yeah, and I play for England on the weekends," was his response. Ella felt a flush rise to her cheeks. She never really got used to those sorts of reactions, even though she had been listening to them for nearly four years now. Eager for something to keep her occupied, she nibbled the edge of a turkey leg and kept glancing nervously at the far end of the table at Draco. His plate was full but he didn't seem to be eating anything. A girl on his right with a severe black bob was laughing and trying very hard to get Draco to pay attention to her. A stab of jealousy made her stomach turn. He had to have seen her; he had to have received her owl. Right?

He didn't look too different since the last time she'd seen him. His hair was longer, he had lost weight (or perhaps grown?), and he had a more severe look about him. Ella couldn't stand it any longer and directed her attention towards Mr. Perfect Hair.

"Glenn? Do you know everybody in this house?" Ella asked Mr. Perfect Hair. Even though her ego was wounded, he was currently her only acquaintance at Hogwarts.

Well, her only acquaintance that would acknowledge her existence.

"Everybody but the new firsties. Looking for someone?"

Ella chewed on her lower lip and tried not to look in Draco's general direction. She fidgeted in her seat and rested her chin on her palm and tried to seem very nonchalant about her inquires.

"Well, there's this guy."

"I'm a guy." Ella rolled her eyes. He smiled at her and she couldn't help but give him a look that communicated both her annoyance and amusement.

"But I'm not looking for you."

"Maybe you should be. This could be the moment when you say 'Where have you been all my life?'"

"Not quite. Now seriously, there's this guy-"

"Who isn't me-"

"Yes, who isn't you. Draco Malfoy. Ring a bell?"

Glenn smiled once again, leaned back in his seat and shook his head. He was laughing while he did this and Ella didn't think her request was worth laughing at. When he began to eat again without answering her question, she lost her patience. She picked up a dinner roll and threw it across the table at him, hitting him on the side of the face. He looked back up at her. When he noticed her obvious distress he dropped his fork and looked down the table at where Draco was sitting with pug-nosed Pansy Parkinson. Without taking his eyes of them, he addressed Ella's question with another question, getting them nowhere and making Ella want to overturn the gravy boat all over his head of perfectness.

"Why are you looking for him?"

That was a good question. Ella had left Malfoy Manor after the wedding, confused about her feelings. Was it a summer fling, and only a summer fling? Had it all been an illusion of love? Would they both walk away, filled with happy memories and never see each other again? She had spent her last year at Durmstrang confused about their relationship. He had written her so many letters. She couldn't bring herself to respond. What do you say to somebody that you had experienced so much with? That's why she was here. She needed answers. That's why she needed to find him.

"I need to speak with him. It's very important that I find him," she practically pleaded. Glenn leaned in towards her across the table. Ella took the hint and leaned in as well.

"See the guy down there with the prostitute-blond hair sitting next to the bitch that looks like she lost a fight with a wall?" He didn't look away from her. Ella looked where she knew he was sitting. She nodded and looked back at Glenn. "That is Draco Malfoy. Sitting next to him? Pansy Parkinson."

"And um, who is she?" Ella asked, trying very hard to seem uninterested. Had Draco mentioned a Pansy before? Glenn got an all-knowing smile on his face.

"In her mind? She's Draco's girlfriend. In reality? He's her biggest obsession. She's been trying since first year to get in his pants and make herself a little blond-haired, pug-nosed, pure-blood heir to the Malfoy family fortune. A bit scary, if you ask me." He noticed the color drain from her face and added "But don't worry. He's just as scared of her as everyone else should be. No hope for her, I'm afraid." He returned to his plate.

Ella let out a sigh of relief. Finally, she felt ready to tackle the plate of food sitting in front of her. But to her extreme disappointment, her plate was now sparkling with no trace of the meal she never got to enjoy. Her stomach grumbled, but whether that was from anxiety or hunger she couldn't safely say.

Dumbledore spoke a few more words that Ella didn't notice. Suddenly everyone was rising from their seats and moving towards the entrance hall in one giant mob. Ella had no clue where she was going, but she knew she had to find Draco. The sooner this encounter took place, the sooner she could get on with her life.

Her life, it is worth mentioning, which she had completely reorganized to be here.

She had lost him in the crowd. You'd think a head of platinum blond hair on a six-foot wizard would be easy to spot but it turned out to be the opposite. Luckily, her new friend Glenn seemed to know where to go and took her by the arm.

"Let's go, Durmstrang."

Suddenly Ella felt herself being dragged through the mob of people down, down, down into the depths of the castle. She tried very hard to stare at the ground and trusted that Glenn would take her where she needed to go. People were looking at her and whispering things behind their hands. Glenn was getting shouts from boys who knew him asking who she was.

"New student. They need help, you know? New and all."

His grip would tighten on her arm and he would start walking faster whenever this happened. Ella wondered how many more stairs she would have to go down when suddenly Glenn was saying "bezoar" and she was pulled through a doorway into a stone-walled room.

The Slytherin common room reminded her vaguely of Malfoy Manor. It was completely stone, with a stone floor and dark tapestries covering parts of the walls. A grand fireplace was the focal point along one wall, with black upholstered leather chairs scattered around the room with purpose. There were desks and tables for doing work and rows and rows of leather-bound volumes contained within cases. The floor was covered in furs. She could see two stairwells that led, she hoped, to a bed with her name on it. Glenn's voice pulled her back from dreamland.

"You'll be going up the left staircase to… wait, what year are you, anyway?"

"Seventh."

"Alright, then up to the very top. That's where your dorm is. The right leads up to the boys dormitories. Anything else?"

Ella didn't really have any more questions Glenn could answer. She wanted to find Draco and at least get his reaction to her being here. She thanked Glenn for his help, and began walking through the room looking for Draco. Nobody spoke to her. Instead, she got the feeling that she was being glared at by every female in the room. She saw the black-haired girl with the pushed in face that had been sitting next to Draco at the feast. Ella accidently made eye contact and pushed her chin into the air and looked away. The girl rolled her eyes and whispered something to her friends, who began to laugh and look at Ella. She flushed and decided that the best thing at this very moment would be a bed and ran up the stairs on the left, taking two at a time.

When Ella reached the final landing, she yanked the door open and ran inside. The room was nothing special. Round, with six beds against the walls, draped with green curtains. She looked around for her trunk. She didn't see it and leaned, feeling defeated, against the wall and began to bang her head against the hard stone. There was one bed without a trunk and she assumed it must be for her. She pulled off her uniform and climbed into the sheets, grateful for a moment of peace before classes started tomorrow. However, she really did need her trunk.

When Ella woke up, the room was dark. She wasn't exactly sure what time it was. There were only stain glass windows letting in light. Deciding that it must be pretty late, Ella deemed it was safe to go looking for her trunk. It couldn't have gone far. She had delivered it here herself, seeing as she hadn't ridden the Hogwarts Express. Her roommates were sleeping so she gingerly stepped out of bed. She didn't feel the need to put her uniform back on, even though she was wearing only her bra and panties. Instead, she threw her school robe around her like a bathrobe and tiptoed out the door and onto the landing.

The stone was cold against her feet but she knew she had to go slow, or risk waking up the entire house. It was painstaking work, going that slow down a cold staircase with no pants on. When it proved to be too much, she decided it was time to just do it. She sprinted down the staircase and jumped from the bottom step onto the nearest fur rug and sighed with content in the warmth of the common room. How lucky was she that the fire was kept going this late?

Wait…

Ella realized that the fire should not be kept going this late. She pulled her robe tighter around herself and dreaded the moment when she had to turn around and face whoever it was that had been the stoker of the fire. After putting on an enthusiastic smile and fluffing her hair, she turned around.

Sitting around the fire was none other than her new friend Glenn, accompanied by a black boy with high cheekbones and two oafish looking boys with shaved heads. Leaning against the mantel was none other than Draco Malfoy.

Her faux smile fell from her face as she made eye contact with him for the first time since she had left Malfoy Manor over one year ago. He did not smile. His face did not betray any sign of emotion whatsoever. Instead, his steely gray eyes stared into her blue ones and she had to wrap her arms around herself to keep from shrinking under his gaze. She wasn't aware that four other pairs of eyes were eyeing where her bare legs were exposed, and the area above her breasts where the cloak was hanging loosely. Ella couldn't take it anymore and broke their stare for only a second. When she looked back he was already halfway to the staircase.

"Draco, wait!"

But it was too late. He had vanished and now she was left standing in the common room half-naked, and being ogled by grown wizards in the firelight. When she turned back to face them, she smiled again and let out an awkward sort of chuckle, making sure to wrap her robe tighter around herself this time.

"Uh, hi! I seemed to have, you know, misplaced my trunk. It's big, uh, leather? Any of you seen anything like that? Maybe in here, somewhere?" The boys shifted their gaze from the half-naked, rambling new girl to the trunk that was situated just to the left of the girl's staircase with a gold "EMS" etched into the purple leather. "Oh! Great! I'll be, um, going then. Enjoy your night!"

Ella began attempting to drag the heavy trunk up the staircase while holding her robe closed with one hand. She was failing miserably, and making a huge racket. She accidently let go of her robe as her trunk threatened to slide back down the stairs and flashed all the boys in the process.

"Hey, oh!"

"Bloody hell!"

"Shut up, alright? Are you guys wizards or mudbloods?"

It was Glenn. He had gotten up off the couch and was walking towards where she stood struggling on the stairs. He pulled out his wand, made the trunk levitate and pushed Ella gently up the stairs. Ella covered herself and felt instantly embarrassed. They reached the top landing and he dropped her trunk. She turned to face Glenn, who was staring at her with a tense jaw.

"Where the bloody hell is your wand?" he bit out.

"I-I didn't think anyone would be down there! It's late! And we're not supposed to use our wands outside of class! And there's a curfew, you know!" Glenn rubbed his hands into his eyes and let out a heavy, disgruntled sigh. He put his hands on Ella's shoulders.

"Ella, you listen here and you listen good. This is Slytherin. Nobody here is going to look out for you. Nobody is going to hold you accountable for your actions. We have no rules. The sooner you learn that, the easier your life will be here. Always carry your wand, and always be on guard. Do you understand me?"

Ella just stared at him. He was overreacting to be sure, right? She just nodded.

"Alright. Go to bed, be up and ready at eight. Please, carry your wand and wear clothes in the common areas from now on?" When Ella nodded to show that she understood, Glenn ruffled his hair (which fell back into place). "Alright. Goodnight, Ella."

The door creaked when she opened it. Ella placed her trunk at the end of her bed and crawled back into its warmth, uncertain about what would come the next day when she would undoubtedly see Draco. Whether she would get him to speak with her would be another story entirely.

And so it begins! There is more to come, and I hope that you will follow my characters on this journey. Let me know what you think! Really, your reviews motivate me to keep writing because it lets me know that somebody out there cares that I update. Thanks for taking a peek and I hope you enjoy the reworked sequel.

Emily S