"Take care of yourself now darling," mother placed a goodbye kiss on my cheek and pushed me gently towards Draco who was waiting a few feet away from us, throwing the first years intimidating looks.

"For Christ's Sake, could you puh-leeeese hurry up!"

"Oh God, I'm already hurrying!" I scowled. "It's just that my trunk is really heavy! Plus, I have to carry Iggy's cage and all her shit!"

"Well it would have been lighter if you didn't pack so much of that nonsense you bought for that demented Potter bunch," he spat out the words like venom.

Dramatic roll of eyes.

"Okay," he said as he placed the heavy trunk into an empty carriage, "see you later at dinner."

And a smirk.

Innocent smile in reply.

I stepped outside and as if on cue, I see Harry struggling with his trunk towards me. Upon seeing him, I burst into a wide smile and I think he felt it too cos I saw his head snap up and try to peer over taller students, looking for a familiar face in the crowd.

"Over here Harry!" I waved my arms and tip-toed. As soon as he was near enough I carried Hedwig's cage and placed it beside Iggy's. The two owls hooted serenely.

"So how were your holidays Em?" He fluffed up a pillow and propped up against it.

"Wonderful. I went back to France to visit my aunt. Elsie's been taking me out shopping every single day! Yeah & I got these for you, Ron & Hermione. Speaking of which, where are they?" I opened my trunk carefully and pulled out 3 big bags of French goodies.

"They were chosen as prefects, I thought you knew," Harry opened his bag of goodies.

"Oh yeah. Draco got chosen too you know," I'm sure Harry saw the sudden pink tinge on my cheeks because he gave me a look before starting on how much he hated that ass kissing git.

"Oh come on he's not that bad," I open the carriage door to buy a few sweets from the cart lady passing by. I gave her a gracious smile. Today was such a smiley day, I love it. (:

Harry snorted. "You say that only cos you've known him for years!"

12 years, I thought silently, letting Harry insult Draco more. I, Emilie Liane Mallory, have known Draco Lucius Malfoy for 12 years exactly. That's pretty long. And yet, I remember that day we met so vividly like it happened yesterday morning.

12 years ago…

It was late summer. The sun was being extremely vicious that day and I sobbed into my mother's skirt as she led me up the path to our new home. It was such a lovely house, so magnificent and bright, although not as big as the one next door. I wondered who lived there, or whether anyone lived there. It looked quite gloomy and guarded.

"Emilie, Elsie, could you two start baking the cakes and cookies now? I would really like to invite the next door neighbours over for some afternoon tea," and with a flick of her wand, the ingredients appeared onto the table.

I looked at Elsie, she pouted. Apparently, she'd rather be having fun with her twin, my brother Evrard, than babysitting me for the rest of the morning. I kept quiet. I didn't want to get hurt. My sister's slaps are really painful, and I made a mental note not to annoy her or cause any trouble.

As soon as mother left the room to unpack with Evrard and daddy, Elsie stomped her foot on the ground and slammed her fists on the table. Her usually pretty face was contorted with rage as she hastily picked up the white powdery stuff, eggs and some yellow blocks of butter and started stirring.

"Do something useful you prat!" she spat and threw me the cake tin and a piece of butter. I wiped the tin with the butter in silence, listening to Elsie muttering under her breath. Her mood only took a turn upwards when we opened the door of the oven, to be greeted by a lovely aroma of vanilla wafting out.

"Look Em! We baked a cake!" She carried the cake out of the oven and placed it on the kitchen table, admiring it. I realised it was safe to smile so I nodded my head gingerly while a sheepish grin spread slowly across my face.

"Haha, I can't wait til next week when Mum will bring me to Diagon Alley to get my first wand. Then off to Hogwarts I go," a barely audible sigh escaped her lips. "I was hoping I would be able to go to Beauxbatons with the rest of my friends instead…"

I looked at Elsie's delicate face. Was she crying? I stepped closer to her and attempted to give her a comforting hug. Surprisingly, she welcomed it and carried me onto her lap. "C'mon squirt; let's decorate the cake beautifully for the Malfoys."

Malfoys? Are those our neighbours? I placed fresh strawberries that Evrard brought from our old home in France onto the top of the icing. "Are you done Em?" Elsie was just putting a batch of cookies into the oven. I nodded earnestly.

There goes the grandfather clock in the hall, what? It's 12 o'clock already? Mother came running into the kitchen, herding us upstairs where she pushed us into the bathroom to freshen up. She had a new dress which made her look absolutely stunning and her hair was in delicately loose curls around her neck. The doorbell rang. Daddy's laughter could be heard from our room.

Mother helped us both tie our hair into loose French plaits, and warned us about our manners. Then she brought us down to meet the Malfoys.

The Malfoys.

A father, a mother and a small boy. All three with light blonde hair. How lovely. Mrs Malfoy smiled down on me and commented on how cute the children were. I smiled at the boy instead. Draco, they said his name was. I wasn't very good at making new friends, but I decided I'd try.