A New Start,

Chapitre Un

Zabini Manor

"I mean, I get pissed off just seeing him once every few months at the parties... Seeing his arrogant face everyday... I could just rip him apart." I said, getting up marching from one corner of Zabini's room to the other, "I don't know how you do it, Blaise!..."

I didn't like the way every girl did everything just to make him stare for more than five seconds, the way they always dressed in silver or green thinking this would make him notice them. Of course he'd never notice me at the Pure Parties -elegant pureblood reunions- I usually stuck with the French kids anyways.

''He's not bad once you get to know him...'' Blaise said as he plopped down on his bed.

''Well those dumb girls don't know him and still slobber all over his beauty... like if that's all they need! Beauty isn't everything in life!'' I popped my hip and wiggle my finger as I said those last words.

"Well, he has much more than beauty Ellie!" Blaise said, immitating a girl like Pansy Parkinson.

"OH RIGHT !.. sry, I forgot.. he's rich!" I slapped my hand on my forehead, "Really, what do they see in the kid ?"

"Oh dear! Poor Ellie, she doesn't understand it," Zabini/Parkinson said, making a high pitch voice to match a girls one.

"Please do explain," I sat on the floor.

"Now, Draco Malfoy," fake giggles, " Is much more than a handsome rich boy.. He's arrogant, self centered and he's a bad boy.. isn't that to die for ?!" More fake giggles.

"Was this pillow expensive?" I asked, walking up to his bed and picking up a random pillow.

"Just as expensive as all the pillows in this house," He answered, his voice normal again, "why ?"

I threw it full force aiming for his head. He braced himself, laughing .. No, chuckling like the slytherin he is. Of course he didn't get hurt, its a pillow after all. But he did get the point of it: I wanted to hurt him.

"Oh, shut it Zabini," I got up and turned around to get some distance between us. Not a good idea, because when I turned around, the dark haired boy tackled me. Not as soft as a pillow. And the landing was really not as soft as a pillow. We landed on the floor, he pinned me down and laughed his guts out. I know how it sounds, but I've known Blaise Zabini all of my life and its NOT and NEVER will be that way.

"Not so tough now, are we ?" He asked as I squirmed under his grip.

"Let go! Blaise it was a pillow... a freaking pillow! It couldn't of hurt!" I said.

Taking advantage of his moment of thought, I kicked him where it hurts and it was my game, again.

"OW.. ugh, you twisted little rotten.."

We rolled around for a moment, acting like 4 year old children, laughing.
Then, the infamous Draco Malfoy walked in. He wasn't even that good looking... Okay, maybe he was. But it didn't change the fact that I hated his guts for being alive. His hair was too perfect anyway, it kinda got creepy how he moved and it didn't.

Then I remembered why I was rambling about Malfoy in the first place. We were to go shopping for my first year at Hogwarts. All together. The three of us : Zabini, Malfoy and myself. Draco's father, Lucius, had sent my parents a letter to let them know if they needed anything to owl to Malfoy Manor. My father was doubtful of Lucius' intention, he knew he was up to something. The explanation to the oldest Malfoy's kindness came when not long after a letter from Draco flew in. It was adressed to me saying the same thing, undoubtedly his parents idea for him to befriend me. My parents told me it would be rude to ignore young dashing Draco Malfoy's kind offer to help, so I had invited him to go shopping with Blaise and I… or rather requested his 'help'.

I didn't know anyone that went to Hogwarts and who better to go with than Blaise? We got along perfectly, but since Blaise and myself would probably end up goofing around and forget what we were suppose to do in the first place, I guess its almost a good thing Draco was tagging along.

"Don't you wimp out from our bet..." Blaise whispered to me, icognito.

We had a bet, Blaise and myself. He thought I couldn't last the whole shopping trip faking that I could only speak French. I didn't think it was a good idea, although I don't agree with Draco Malfoy's behavior and flat out don't really like him, I didn't want to make a bad first impression. Blaise had said whoever lost got to tell Draco and face his fury. I refused until he challenged that 'he though I would, since I probably couldn't pull it off'. I then accepted adding that the loser would have to do everything the winner wanted for a week.

I used to go to Beauxbâtons, but the school closed due to lack of students and we were all seperated into different schools. The smartest girls were sent to Socrate, an old wizarding school in Italy. As I was not a straight A student I got to go to Hogwarts. I didn't care, really. Hogwarts is a very populated school, not so private as Beauxbâtons. Maman was french, father was english. We resided in France, but my father always wanted to live in England, so it was the perfect oppurtunity... For him. He got a job at the ministry and we moved in a small house of 16,000 square feet with a never ending landscape. It wasn't too bad.

"What's going on here?'' Draco asked not seeming to care much for an answer, ''Nevermind. Get up, both of you. It's time to go, stop fooling around." Draco ordered like if he was the boss. I looked up, innocently, adding to the act.

"C'est temps d'y aller ?" I asked, getting up and dusting off.

"Oui, et puis-je te présenter un de mes amis: Draco Malfoy," Zabini had an awful accent, "Draco, this is Elisabeth Daragon,"

"Ellie," I corrected Blaise as I walked up to him holding my hand out.

"Nice to meet you," He shook it, his hands were freezing, they matched his gaze."She doesn't understand english?" The question was addressed to Blaise.

"No, not a single word, hopefully she'll learn throughout the year," He said with a smirk.

"Well, you were right, french girls are..." He eyed me, and I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at him.

"Save it for yourself Malfoy," Blaise looked like he was going to jump him.

"On iva? J'aime bien vous ecoutez parler l'anglais mais j'aimerais bien en finir…" I said pretty fast. This was enough talk with Malfoy, I wanted to go!

Malfoy lifted an eyebrow, not sure what I just said and looked at Blaise who was struggling to figure out what I just said. Oops, maybe that was too fast?

"Umm... Je comprends le francais, mais c'était trop vite," Zabini said.

"Ah bon, alors oooonnnnnnnnnn iiiiiiivvvvvvvaaaaaaaaaaa?" I slowed it down exageratedly.

"Oui, lets go, do you have your list Draco?" Zabini answered and asked.

"Yep, oh and mum said hi to both of you, she wishes miss Daragon here a good stay in England," my head shot up as he said my name. I was about to answer when Zabini cut in.

"Um, la mere de Draco vous... eh... wishes you... la bienvenue in Enlgand," Malfoy laughed at Zabini's difficulty to express himself, "Hey, don't laugh, you can't even speak a word in french."

"Oui! Non! Atleast its better than you...'' Malfoy mocked, ''anyway, she wrote it down, I just lost the damn piece of paper..." Malfoy turned his attention to me again.

"Ok, on iva? Nous sommes probablement déjà en retard! Allez, oust!" I pushed the boys out of the room and let Zabini guide us through his grand mansion. Zabini's family wasn't very big, just him and his gorgeous mother. His family was also not very well known for their wealth, they weren't really known at all actually, they've been quiet until now. Its rather mysterious how she was widowed seven times, and everytime she was left with all the riches of her former wealthy husbands.

It was a silent walk, although you can't really blame us, while Zabini was walking at an incredible speed, me and Malfoy were struggling to keep up. He took lefts and rights and went up and down flights of stairs... I practically lived here this summer and still couldn't find my way to the bathroom!

"Blaise, seriously, how fast can you walk?" Malfoy asked, taking a short break.

"If you can't keep up : your fault." Blaise took longer and faster strides. I stopped, took Draco's arm and pulled him along with me.

"Nous ne pouvons le perdre! Je te promets qu'on ne se retrouvera jamais, j'ai déjà essayé et les résultats... moi au milieu d'une grande salle assise à terre, toute seule," I said, knowing he wouldn't understand. He looked at my lips so carefully like if looking at their movement would make him understand.

"French is so beautiful… Wait where's Blaise?" Malfoy spun around as we reached a four way corridor intersection and no sight of Blaise.

"Ah, maudit..."

"What the... What are we going to do?'' Malfoy looked just like a lost puppy. '' Blaise! Zabini come back!'' He screamed for Blaise to come back. Nothing. ''Great I'm stuck here with imported fresh meat and she can't even speak english and obviously won't be any help..." He kept on rambling. I looked up at him with my eyebrows furrowed in confusion, its not like if we were going to die I mean we just lost Blaise. He was acting like a over dramatic little girl.

Draco Malfoy was panicking like a fish out of water. And it was hilarious.

I burst out laughing. Not a chuckle, not a giggle. It was a good, crystal clear, loud laugh. I couldn't keep it in! And then the look he gave me for laughing at him was even more funny. I put my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. My whole body was shaking. I kept laughing as I saw his pale face go from panick to confusion. And stopped as soon as I realized I wasn't suppose to understand what he was saying and certainly not supposed to be laughing at him. I was about to rat out on our bet, I didn't want to lose, but I didn't care. Its just one of many bets anyway.

"Am I that funny?" He was annoyed and was putting his weight on one leg, hip popped out.

"Ok, I can't keep this up anymore!" His eyebrow lifted as I spoke my first english words, I squeezed a chuckle in, "Me and Zabini had a bet, he thought I couldn't last long enough faking that I could only speak french and I didn't..." I saw anger flash in his eyes. It honestly gave me an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"A bet? So what happens to the loser?" His voice stayed calm, he took a step closer to me.

"Well, I have to tell you about it... and, well do whatever Blaise wants me to do," I said, shrugging. I felt intimidated by his tall stature but did my best to seem indifferent.

"You guys are so weird," He sighed as he tugged on his sleeves and stepped away from me.

I didn't see his logic, how this didn't seem to anger him but when we lost Blaise he freaked out. As if he could read my thoughts he added :

"Nothing would cloud my thoughts of anger more than revenge," He smirked, starting to go in a direction. He turned around, shoved his hands in his black trousers and added : "Coming?"

"With you? Hell no," I started walking in the opposite direction, "If your planning revenge I rather not be with you," He chuckled and I turned around.

Damn, I'm so dead. Well, I mean we deserve it. I stopped after I took a left, looking around, trying to notice something that would tell me I'm going the right way.

I walked for what felt like twenty minutes before I found my way. Okay, maybe not twenty... but atleast ten. Malfoy had already found his way, since he was standing there with Blaise, looking straight in my eyes. I couldn't keep his stare and walk at the same time so I looked over at Blaise. He had a smug smile on his face.

"Wow, well... That took you less time that I thought it would," Blaise said. ''Ready to do whatever I want you to for a week?''

"About that part...'' I was irritated by their attitude. They looked all cool and I could tell they were itching to mock me because I took so much time. They were just two typical normal young wizards and they were acting like if they owned the place. Although Zabini did kind of own it...

''Lets go,'' Draco said lamely. Like if we were boring him already.

They started walking so I followed. We acted different in public, its the people you don't know that will judge you the most. Purebloods couldn't keep their high statuses if they were the only ones that cared about it. The Malfoys would even somewhat disown a family member if they would betray their blood line. That's how they kept their status, they were mean people. By degrading everyone they felt were unworthy they assured a high rank for themselves amongst the purest of purebloods.

My family is one of the oldest pureblood families with only little controversy on blood traitors. Although I consider us to be more nice and polite to unworthy blood lines than the Malfoys, they still disgust me. I can't help but scrunch my nose up at mudbloods, even though my moral is tugging on my conscious, reminding me they didn't choose to be born in muggle families. Its the way we've all been raised, stay away from the filthy blood to keep the hierarchie of the wizarding world functional.

I felt like I didn't belong with them. There they were, Malfoy and Zabini walking way ahead of me as I would trail behind. But when I had the chance, I caught up and stepped in and followed them by side. We walked in the muggle streets of London, watching everyone with disgust. A group of young pretty girls walked our way, but they stopped giggling once Malfoy pushed pass them. People get out of our way, we don't get out of theirs.

"I really hate muggles," Malfoy stated, in case we couldn't tell by his expression.

"You don't say?" I said, he looked at me, like if no one has ever talked back to him.

"So, Daragon, how's your grandmother?" She's dead. She was a sweet woman that never supported the death eaters... They made sure the rest of her family understood what would happen if we were to take the same route. I didn't answer. I knew he knew. How low, who brings up dead relatives to get back at someone?

"How's your dad." Blaise stated, it wasnt a question, but it was directed at Malfoy. I don't think he appreciated it, although I did. I let Blaise see my vampiresque teeth by smiling at him.

''Here we are.'' Malfoy held open the door to the greasy-looking bar and motionned us to go in. I followed Blaise into a chiminey, we went by floo together and Malfoy went after us.