Title: That Kinda Love Just Ain't For Us

Summary: What if Harry Potter wasn't the only weapon in The War against Voldemort and the Death eaters? What if Draco had a friend who cared more for him than the mask he wears? Would anything change at all?

Word count: 1,135

Timeline: Hogwarts first year

Genre: Friendship

Pairing: None yet

Rating: T

a/n: I've been writing this all 2016 whenever reality became too much to handle. There isn't any violence or sexual content in it. But there are a lot of Original Characters.

x-x-x

Cassandra shivered for the 136298366th time in an hour, internally cursing herself for her wardrobe choice. The light sweater did nothing to ward off the chilly draft in the train compartment. It was fine as long as she was walking along the roads of London. Then she boarded the train and suddenly the stylish cardigan seemed too flimsy. What the heck? Was it a rule that magic trains had to be cold and drab looking?

To top off her serving of misery pudding, there was no one sitting in her compartment. Her outfit meant to be stylish was completely wasted. She might as well have worn her blanket. She sighed. It wasn't just any other day. It was the day she would start attending the magic school! The post brought by an owl had startled her family into an uproar. Eventually they agreed to let her take a shot at it. She'd spent days dreaming, planning what she'd wear, how she'd style her hair, how she'd greet her fellow magician friends *gasp* and now? No one's in the goddamn room!

Her nails were turning blue. She wondered if she should wear that heavy woolen cloak of the school uniform. But it'd only been about fifteen minutes since the train started. Would it be considered weird to change into the uniform? She felt like tearing out her hair in frustration. If only there was someone else to talk yo. Venturing out of the room was out of the question. The mere thought made her want to faint.

"rrrrrriiiibbitttt!"

What the. . . She peeked under her seat. There sat the the ugliest thing she'd ever seen in her life.. A toad. . .

"Kyaaaaaaaa!"

Cassandra jumped as was at the opposite end of the room in a second. The toad innocently stared as her heart threatened to leap out of her throat. She heard footsteps outside, and then the compartment door rattled and open. A blur of blond tumbled in. Bright blue eyes found her brown ones. "Did you scream? What's wrong?" She wordlessly pointed at the toad sitting under a seat. He grinned. "That's Neville's toad!" he lunged after it. Before Cassandra could even blink, he was left sprawled on the floor and the toad had escaped through the door. "Aaa wait!" he scrambled off the floor. He made to rush out of the door, only to jerk to a stop and flashed her a big smile.

"I'm Darren Hayes, by the way! What's your name?"

"C-Cassandra Max." she spluttered. He nodded and headed off into a run without another word. Well, at least she got to see another student, Cassandra thought dryly as she went back to her seat. She looked under her seat to make sure there weren't anymore runaway toads, and sat down. Then she froze.

She'd thought only Darren had come into the room chasing that toad. Apparently, she was wrong. Somewhere in the middle of the fiasco, another person had entered the compartment and stayed in. He was now sitting across from her, entirely too quiet for her comfort. She coughed once, looking away from his hooded black eyes. "Hello, I'm Cas-" "Cassandra Max," he finished for her. "I heard." he said curtly. He was staring at her. Cassandra felt ridiculously relieved. At least she was dressed properly. "I'm Ethan," he said simply. "Are you a muggleborn?"

x -x-x-x-x

He watched as she stilled her fidgeting, a mask of calm shrouding her visage. "What if I am?" her voice didn't waver. He felt a smile creeping into his frown. He resisted.

"Hmm. . . Then I'd ask you to be careful."

"Of what?" She challenged. "You?"

He snorted, "Nah. I'm harmless."

"So you say."

Nice, he thought. She was looking on the verge of tears but not throwing the towel yet. The girl was weird. "It's just-" he stopped, searching for words. Just what? Would she panic if he told her? Would she regret coming to Hogwarts? She should know what being a muggleborn meant. He sighed.

"A lot of wizards don't approve of muggleborns, Miss Max." She blinked, expression loosening. "Why not?"

"Uh…" wow… she really didn't know about this, did she?

"You see. . . The Pureblood Wizards don't like the mugglborns because-" "Oh! OH! It's some sort of racism?" She grimaced. "Damn. So I'll be bullied and stuff?"

Stuff? "You'll most likely be bullied, discriminated, underestimated and ridiculed. Therefore, you should choose your friends wisely."

"O. . . kay? How do you know all this though?" She eyed him a little before hurriedly avoiding his eyes. "You look like a first year yourself."

"I've seen muggleborns being bullied by my- by people I know." By my own family, he wanted to say. But she'll be afraid of him, then.

"Oh my. . ." She was clearly worrying now. She didn't ask. He answered anyway. "You know, no matter which house you get into, try to stick close to the Gryffindors. They aren't very fussy about blood prejudice. And be wary of Slytherines." "What if I get into Slytherines, then?" She squeaked. He snorted again. "I highly doubt it." Mirth was quite evident in his tone. She didn't take too kindly to that.

"Which house would you be in, then?" She grumbled. His smile vanished. His family wanted, ordered him to be in slytherine. He probably would be placed amidst the green and silver, despite not wanting to. What happens then? Would he be treated like all the other slytherines, despised, hated like a bully? He forced a smile.

"We'll see."

x-x-x-x

Conversation tapered off and Cassandra found herself watching Ethan as he stared out the window. All evening she'd been feeling peculiar about him. Now she knew why. He didn't act like a typical 11 year old. He was too put-together, too neat in his demeanor, too... mature. Whereas she was clumsy, awkward and brash. It's like he emitted a faint glow of graceful youth.

A motherly woman pushing a cart of sweets moved past their compartment in a hurry. The clatter roused Ethan from his stupor. He straightened, yawning a little. "I should be getting back. Drac- Malfoy would be looking for me." She watched him move to the door.

"Friend?"

He smiled a little. "I guess."

You guess?

"Will I see you at the castle?"

"I certainly hope so. It was lovely meeting you, Ms Max." He made to leave.

"Cassie."

He paused. "Pardon?"

She looked away, a faint pink stain on her cheekbones. "Call me Cassie. Not Ms. Max or whatever."

She didn't catch his smile. And the softened look in his eyes. "Well then, Cassie. Feel free to call me Ethan. See you."

That's the last of her she would see him, till the sorting ceremony. . .

x-TBC-x