"Hurry up will you?" Draco complained to his cousin as she perused the shelves of Flourish and Blotts bookstore eagerly.
"I'm sorry Draco, but I can't help it; I love books." Replied Regan in her sing song welsh voice, her nose now set firmly between the pages of a thick book, a hand toying gently with a lock of her golden hair; darker than her cousin's by a long shot. His eyes she had but her hair was verging on brown.
"You better not be like this at school." Moaned Draco pulling her up the stairs to more shelves. "And you better be in Slytherin. Malfoy's have always been in Slytherin."
"Yeah, and that's turning out great for the family isn't it?" she snapped back catching him off guard suddenly. His cousin had a way of flaring up suddenly like this. Usually she was quiet and introverted, with her nose buried in some book or other, but beneath the surface lived a temper that had a habit of lashing out when you least expected it to.
He watched her in silence as she slipped a book into her shopping basket and then a smaller one into her rucksack. "What's this? I didn't think you were capable of being bad."
"Everyone has that capacity. Ever heard the saying 'It's always the quiet ones'?"
"There's one girl who is completely incapable of being the least bit naughty."
"Ah." Was all Regan said.
He looked at her sharply. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"This girl wouldn't, by any chance, be a bushy haired muggle-born who hangs out with a certain boy who lived and goes by the name Hermione Granger, would it?"
"How do you know about her?"
"Oh, Drake, you really are immensely thick. Someone with a brain like mine need only pay attention to the signs."
"What signs?"
"Firstly you haven't stopped talking about her all summer. Your letters last year were full of her. And thirdly, I read it in your diary." She flashed him the famous Malfoy smirk over the top of a green bound book on hexes.
"I d-don't keep a diary." He stuttered.
"Oh really? Then please tell me what this is." Casually and without looking up she pulled a little green and silver notebook out of her rucksack and flipped open the title page. It read 'PRIVATE; Draco's Diary'.
"Hey! Gimme that!" he made a lunge for his cousin who calmly ducked and grabbed him before he hit the bookshelves. She then directed him away from her and dropped the diary into his pocket, without even glancing up from her book.
"How do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"See things, without physically seeing them."
Slowly she looked up at him. "Sensory awareness. I have trained myself over many years, to take note of subtle changes in the atmosphere around me. I am remarkably good at reading people and I can tell by feeling them and their emotions what they are going to do. This way I am able to stay a step ahead of my surroundings."
"Can you teach me how to do it?"
"Sorry." She turned back to her book with a slight smile. "Boys are incapable of learning it. Nothing personal, but they lack subtlety."
Draco huffed and sniffed, but she knew that he was just trying to win sympathy from her so she ignored him. He wandered over to the rail and looked over. "Oh look, the Weasels are here. Observe them if you will." Regan shut the book with a snap and went to stand beside him. "These are the people we will spend the next six years tormenting. Looks to me like the youngest is going to school. She'll be in your year. You will have ample opportunity to pick on her and make her your enemy as I have done with Ronald Weasley."
She turned her back on him and opened her book again. "I have no wish to spend my time tormenting anyone." She said primly. A movement behind the bookshelves nearby caught her attention. Whilst her cousin was watching the Weasley's, she slipped off to investigate.
A little along she found another young girl. She had long blonde hair and looked up at her with blue terrified eyes.
"Don't worry. You don't have to be scared of me." Regan said gently crouching down beside her.
"I wasn't. But I am of him." the girl nodded at Draco.
"Draco?"
"He's a Malfoy, and his family do not like ours."
"What's your name?"
"Luna Lovegood."
"Ah yes. Lovegood's and Malfoy's have been feuding for centuries."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Regan Malfoy. Yes I'm a Malfoy, but I'm not like my cousin." Regan said quickly as Luna almost jumped up in fear and anger. "I promise. I'm from a different section of the family. My mother is descended from Rowena Ravenclaw. I think I am destined for her house, not Slytherin's."
"I believe I shall also go to that house. My parents were in it long ago. It is the house I should like most I believe."
"I like you. You've got a decent head on your shoulders. Do you like reading?"
They sat there and talked for a long time until they heard raised voices coming from downstairs. They hurried to the rail and saw Draco confronting the Weasley's, Harry potter and Hermione Granger.
"Oh no." Regan sighed and hastened down the stairs and put a hand on Draco's arm. "Draco, don't engage."
"Stop telling me what to do!" he whirled around and shrugged off her hand.
"Who's this?" Hermione asked.
"I'm his cousin. Draco, you mustn't pick a fight with them."
"That's what I do." He said delicately.
"Let's just leave them alone."
"Rae, what's going on?" Luna said from behind Regan.
"Nothing, Lune. C'mon, let's get our books and get out of here. I don't know about you but I could murder a sundae."
Draco put himself in her way. "Regan, what do you think you're doing. This thing is a Lovegood."
"Her name is Luna. Get out of my way before I have to make you. You have the trace on you, I don't yet. I could hex you so bad, you'd still feel it next week." She swept past the Weasley's with Luna in tow.
"Who is that girl?" Ginny asked curiously.
"If she's coming to Hogwarts next year, I'd say we're in for an interesting year." Ron said smirking at Draco who was still glowering at Regan's retreating back.