Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, though I wish I did.
I own Roxanne Garniar and this specific plot.
French Translations are located at the bottom.
Chapter One: Reopening
Draco Malfoy sat by himself in a closed compartment on the Hogwart's Express. He had come alone, said his awkward hellos to those he had once considered friends, and found an empty compartment to lock himself in.
It had been nearly six months since the Second Wizarding War had ended and Hogwarts was finally reopening. Many of the students who had fought in the War chose not to come back and Draco didn't blame them. He himself did not want to be here but his mother had forced it upon him. He watched out his window as the train pulled out of King's Cross and began its journey through the country.
Draco jumped when his compartment door suddenly slammed open. He snarled and grabbed his wand. I locked that for a reason. He almost spat the words out when he looked up at the foolish person who had broken into his compartment.
It was a girl he didn't recognize, which in itself was odd because she seemed to be his age. She had a fragile looking face with long light brown hair. Her blue eyes were wide and framed with thick dark lashes. Her cheeks were flushed.
"Bonjour." She said with a quick smile. "Can I sit with you? Everywhere else is full."
Her accent was very clearly French. Draco leaned back, a little shocked. "Yeah, I guess."
"Merci." She slid into the compartment and tossed a small leather backpack onto the seat across from him. She sat down with a little sigh, looking a bit more relaxed. Her wand, which was pale in color, was tucked into her boot top.
Draco frowned. "Why are you dressed like a Muggle?"
She frowned. "Who is this Muggle?"
Irritation flickered in Draco. "Someone who isn't a wizard. You know, humans with no magic."
"Oh." She blushed a bit, running her hands over the denim of the jeans she wore. "It is more comfortable than those big robes. Besides, aren't they prettier?" Her eyes sparkled.
Draco shrugged and turned his face back to the window. He wasn't about to admit just how attractive the girl sitting before him was.
The girl frowned. She reached into her bag and pulled out a small, but thick, book. She rifled through it and then looked up at him. "What is … bothering you?"
Draco looked at her. He noticed the French-to-English dictionary with a small smirk. "I don't want to be here." His answer was short and cropped.
She didn't seem to notice. Her bright eyes swept over his features. "You are a Malfoy, are you not?"
A muscle in his jaw jumped. His scowl darkened. "Who are you to recognize a pureblood by his features?"
She raised one eyebrow in a challenge. "A Garniar."
Draco smirked. "A French pureblood? What on earth are doing on the train to Hogwarts?"
"Going to school." It was her turn to speak in a cropped and guarded tone.
"Really? I wouldn't have thought that." He meant it as an insult but his heart wasn't in it. The War had left him broken and nobody could fix him.
The French girl smiled warmly suddenly. She held a hand towards him. "My name is Roxanne."
Interesting. Draco thought. A Persian name for a French pureblood? "Draco." He said, shaking her hand briefly.
He noticed the heavy sapphire ring on her finger.
She noticed the heavy emerald ring on his.
Draco turned his face away. Roxanne kept her eyes on him for a moment, pity he didn't see in her eyes. We are both too young to be the heads of our families. Then she laced her fingers together and looked at her lap, thinking about the boy who sat in front of her.
She only knew what the gossip said about Draco Malfoy and his family. Voldemort had forced the boy into trying to kill Hogwart's Headmaster. His father was loyal to the Dark Lord, and his mother was desperate to save her only son. Lucius Malfoy was sent to Azkaban. Narcissa Malfoy was fined, her punishment cut back because of Harry Potter's request. Draco was also saved from a harsher punishment because of Potter. It was said that Draco Malfoy had changed after the war. No one really knew how, the Malfoys had avoided being in the public eye very well lately.
Then and there, Roxanne promised herself that she would learn how. We are, she thought wryly, almost exactly the same anyways.
Draco's mind was blank. He wasn't thinking of anything. He didn't let his thoughts wander to his mother, who he had last seen nearly a week ago, or to his father, who made him queasy even in memory, or to the pretty pureblood witch sitting across from him, who would have pleased his father greatly.
The train reached the school faster than either of them expected. Draco didn't seem to notice at first. Until Roxanne tugged on his tie, he was staring unseeingly out the window.
"What?" He snapped, looking up at the girl. She had changed into her school uniform and the clothes only made her look more attractive.
Her eyes hardened. "Do not speak to me like that!" She said in a low hiss.
Draco flinched away from her.
"We are at the school." She said in a gentler voice.
He stood up. Roxanne took a step back. He was lean and tall sitting down but she didn't know how tall he was exactly until now. She just barely reached his shoulder. To her, the compartment suddenly felt a lot smaller. She grabbed her backpack and slung it over a shoulder.
"Can you help me? I do not know where I am to go."
He shrugged and opened the door to push into the hallway. A small hand grabbed the back of his shirt. Taken aback, he looked over his shoulder. Roxanne looked at him with her wide blue eyes. Someone bumped into her hard. Her head snapped around, her nervous expression disappearing at once, and Draco saw her foot snake out. The girl who had slammed into her fell forward. Draco smirked and kept walking; Roxanne followed close behind.
Halfway to the school and Roxanne still hadn't released Draco's shirt. Annoyance finally pushed him to the edge. His arm went up and grabbed her wrist.
"You won't get lost, relax a bit."
She sighed and swung her arms by her side. "What are these houses that everyone is talking about?"
"They didn't have them where you came from?"
"No. Beauxbatons didn't have them."
Draco ran a hand over his thin and tired face. "There are four houses. Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw."
"Odd names." The girl muttered.
Draco ignored that. "There are rivalries between the houses, mainly between Sytherin and Gryffindor. They compete in Quidditch, classes, social standing, and anything else."
"What house are you in?"
"Slytherin." Funny how I used to be proud of that.
"Which house will I be in?"
"I suppose that's for the Sorting Hat to choose."
"The what?"
Draco scowled. "You'll see in a bit, do you always have to ask questions?"
"Were you ever fun?"
Once upon a time, yes. Draco didn't answer.
Roxanne's shoulders slumped. Guilt made Draco sigh. He still wasn't used to that emotion. Guilt. His father would have been very disappointed.
"Sorry." He mumbled.
"For what?" She hadn't known Draco before the War and didn't find his apology odd in the least, though anyone else would have fallen over in shock.
His guarded expression filled his features at once. Even so, he looked wounded and sad. Roxanne felt a bit bad.
"You are the first one to be kind to me here. I won't forget that." She went on her toes to kiss his cheek warmly before stretching out her legs and striding away from him.
Draco watched her leave sadly. It seemed everyone here was set out to shun him. Besides, he was the only Death Eater to return to Hogwarts after the War and nobody wanted to be associated with that. Not even a hopelessly pretty French girl wanted to know Draco Malfoy.
He couldn't have been more wrong. As Roxanne walked away, she felt her heart tug her in the other direction; back to the sad boy she had just walked away from. The rumors had said that Draco Malfoy was snarky, conceited, confident, sarcastic, and a lady's man. The young man she just walked away from seemed broken, sad, and pitiful.
"If I were you, I wouldn't speak to Malfoy." A voice that purred said in her ear.
Roxanne looked up to see a girl about her own age with sleek black hair. Her face seemed to be pushed up and back like a pug's. Her makeup was heavy and she looked like a courtesan to Roxanne.
"And who are you to be telling me who I should talk to?" Roxanne asked coldly.
"Pansy Parkinson. Slytherin."
Roxanne sniffed, for all in the world a snobby pureblood. "Seeing as I come from a purer family than you, I should be telling you who to speak to." Her anger was boiling quickly. The rational part of her mind was shoved aside. "Et je dis que tu ne me parle pas et si vous dérange pas Draco, je n'hésiterai pas à faire de votre vie un enfer."
The girl bristled at once, despite not knowing what the French girl had said. "Don't think too highly of yourself, pathetic slag."
Roxanne's hand flashed out, but suddenly a large hand grabbed her wrist. Roxanne looked back to see Draco standing behind her. His gray eyes were wary.
"Pansy, leave the girl alone."
"Why don't you crawl back to your father's cell, Death Eater? It's where you belong!"
Draco recoiled slightly. Roxanne noticed that he didn't try to retaliate. The French girl grabbed her wand with the other hand. "Langlock!" Pansy's eyes widened. Roxanne wasn't done. "Locomotor Mortis!"
Pansy stumbled backwards. Assured that both her silencing and binding spells had worked, Roxanne twisted her hand and laced her fingers through Draco's, strong and reassuring. She tugged him forward.
"I told you, I would make your life hell." She called back to the girl. "I will give you l'une more chance."
Draco kept his eyes on the girl leading him away. She had just stood up for him? "Why?"
"Hm? Ce?"
"Why did you just stand up for me?"
"I was standing already." She said, not understanding what he said.
"I meant, why did you protect me?"
Her blue eyes were fierce. "Because somebody has to do it."
"Draco Malfoy!" A loud voice made them both jump. A huge man strode forward. His beard was a wild tangled mess. Roxanne shrank back against Draco's side.
"Hagrid. This is Roxanne Garniar. She just transferred here."
"Nice to meet you, Miss Garniar." The man smiled at the girl but frowned at Malfoy. "You know what the Headmistress said. One step out of line and you'll be on thinner ice than you already are. You're already late. The sorting's starting."
"Je suis desole, sir. It is my fault that Draco is late. I was… having a problem with a certain Miss Parkinson." Roxanne tugged Draco's arm. "We will leave at once."
"Well, alright then. But don't let it happen again, Miss Garniar." Hagrid said gruffly. He found Pansy Parkinson just as annoying as anybody else and he took a liking to the French girl at once; she was pleasantly polite.
The two of them walked forward quickly. At first, Roxanne was pulling Draco along. At some point, Draco gained a little more confidence and led her into the castle. She gazed in wonder at the space around them. Draco halted in front of two large shut doors. He dropped her hand quickly, as if just realizing he held it.
"You can go in. The first years are being sorted. You'll most likely be sorted after them."
"And what about you?" Roxanne's frown didn't make her any less pretty.
He shrugged. "Not there. My own house doesn't want me. Nobody wants me here." His eyes were glazed and faraway.
Roxanne slapped him hard. He focused on her, anger in his features. She smiled sweetly. "I'm glad that you can still feel anger. I want you there! You're my ami, my friend, and I'm so nerveux now that I feel sick! You are going to grow some strength and walk in there with me!"
Draco stared at her. He felt thoroughly scolded though she had called him her friend. A small buzz of warmth shot through him.
A friend? Even after what he had done? Despite his past and his family?
His jaw suddenly flexed. He nodded shortly and pushed one of the doors open. Roxanne smiled at him triumphantly and walked in before him. Draco walked in after her. She stopped dead in front of him. Draco halted at her shoulder.
"Dieu m'aide." She said softly under her breath.
The entire hall fell quiet. The first years had been sorted but the stool still sat near the front and the hat sat on top of it. A kind, though stern, looking woman stood when Roxanne entered.
"Roxanne Garniar. It's nice of you to join us. Please, come forward."
Roxanne looked at Draco, who shrugged and walked to a far table. He sat alone, his housemates moving to avoid him. Roxanne felt a pang of guilt as she walked away from him.
"Come and sit." The woman said. "It is my pleasure to introduce Roxanne Garniar, our recent transfer student from Beauxbatons in France."
Roxanne felt all eyes on her as she walked confidently forward. She sat on the rickety stool as if it were a throne. The woman placed the old frumpy hat on top of her hair.
"Hello there, Roxanne Garniar." A voice said softly enough for only her to hear. She flinched in surprise. "I've been expecting you. I'm sorry about your parents, they were great people and we all feel for their absence. Now, let's see what I have to work with here. Hmm. You're strong, very strong. Extraordinarily clever. Plenty of courage. Gryffindor would serve you nicely."
A hiss escaped Roxanne's mouth. No! I want to help him.
"Hmm. You're kind as well and you wish to help the Malfoy boy. You would do well in any of the houses. Smart enough to be in Ravenclaw. Brave enough to be in Gryffindor. You are much too troublesome to be in Hufflepuff. I wonder, though, how you'd be in Slytherin, considering your… history."
Vous avez obtenu d'etre putain plaisantez! Just put me with Draco! Put me in-
"Slytherin!" The hat shouted.
Roxanne smirked and hopped off the stool, handing the hat to the woman. "Merci. Je suis honore d'assister a votre ecole."
She walked towards the table Draco sat at. The pug-faced girl glared at her. All others applauded, seemingly happy with the new addition to their house.
Why wouldn't they? The Garniar family was one of the richest in Europe. The Malfoys weren't even as rich as they were. And for all the Slytherins knew, Roxanne Garniar was just your average pureblood witch.
Of course they'd be happy to have her in their house.
That happiness did not last.
Author's Note: So this is my very first chapter of my very first fanfiction. I hope you liked it! Please rate and comment, I'd appreciate so much!
French Translations: (Sorry if some of them aren't right, I used Google Translator seeing as I am not fluent in French.
-Bonjour: Hello
-Merci: Thank you
-Et je dis que tu ne me parle pas et si vous derange pas Draco, je n'hesiterai pas a fair de votre vie un enfer: And I say you do not talk to me and if you bother Draco, I will not hesitate to make your life a living hell.
-L'une: one
-Ce: What
-Je suis desole: I am sorry
-Ami: friend
-Dieu m'aide: God help me.
-Vous aves obtenu d'etre putain plaisantez: You've got to be fucking joking.
-Je suis honore d'assitera votre ecole: I am honored to be attending your school.