Hey everyone this is my first shot at a story so forgive me if it's not the best. I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. My bestie (LoverOfEveryone) owns Rori and is letting me "borrow" her for his story. I do however own Raylan, and any other characters that aren't normally in the books or movies.

Chapter 1:

I'm pretty much your typical 16 year old. I have piercing gray eyes that I'm known for (well at least around the school when I was just a first year someone started a rumor that if you looked directly into my eyes I would be able to read all your lies and true feelings like a book, pretty ridiculous ikr? anyway….) and my hair is dark brown with some natural orange highlights that got added during the summer. Some people around the school call me Goth but honestly I'm not, I just like darker colors because I feel more comfortable in them, so back off with the name calling alright? Anyways I'm not a perfect little toothpick either I can fill out a size 6 with no problem what so ever. Another thing about me is that I'm about 5' 8" so I'm pretty tall. What happens when you mush all of these characteristics? You get me Raylan Knole spunky, and full of attitude and not afraid to dish it out. I'm in Slytherin so I guess that's where my personality comes into play. Just wanted to give you a little background about myself before we started into the story, but now that I'm done here we go….

Oh joy the first day of school after a long relaxing summer of fun. The sound of the big metal beast of a train pulling up to the platform was NOT what I needed to wake me up this morning. To celebrate the last night of summer me and my best friend Rori (short for Aurora) pulled an almost all-nighter to just catch up with gossip and organize everything that we needed for the first day of school but we had just had a horrendous day beforehand so we crashed around 5ish and we had to get up at 6 to catch the train so, yea we were pretty tired. Speaking of Rori I looked down to see her sitting on one of her suitcases and leaning her head up against another, and she was almost out when the train screeched to a halt and jolted her awake. I laughed at she jumped up into a "wannabe" ninja pose as if she could do any harm to anyone when she had just woken up. Her thoughts must have cleared because the look of confusion vanished from her face and the look of disappointment replaced it. She rubbed her face and looked at me with her wide blue eyes.

"Whasss goin on?" She slurred as her first words of the day tumbled from her mouth.

"Oh nothing much you've just been dozing in and out of sleep for the past hour, honestly I would have woken you up but it was pretty funny to watch strangers' reactions when you talked to them in your sleep." I watched as her eyes widened in shock.

"Omg you didn't really do that to me did you? What if I said something embarrassing about me or hurtful to someone or something embarrassing about me?" She was almost to the point of flailing her arms until they would fall off. I just laughed and handed her, her cup of coffee we usually don't drink it but it works when you need to wake up and fast.

"Come on sleeping beauty we gotta get on the train before it leaves without us, again." She picked up her duffle bag and ran beside me pulling her two trunks along with her I would have felt bad about giving her another thing to carry (her coffee) but she was resourceful and cast a levitation spell on it so she could just grab it when she needed it. "Damn how slow can you be, come on!" I half laughed half snorted as I saw her struggling to hobble down the platform to the train entrance.

"Ok you know what last time was only my fault because I forgot my iPod at home and you know I can't live without that thing."

"And you couldn't do the logical thing and have your parents' owl it to you? Of course not your Rori the queen of hasty decisions." I looked back to still see her struggling with her luggage. I walked back and picked up her bigger suit case and started walking again.

"Hey wait up! Honestly I don't understand how you can move so fast and all you brought was one duffle, how the hell do you get all your shit to fit in there?"

"You want the truth?" She nodded rapidly, "I shrink everything down it makes it lighter and easier to transport." She opened her mouth to say something but I cut her off, "And before you ask why I didn't tell you about my little "trick" beforehand I did and your response was but won't that take a really long time? Which is why you just throw anything and everything into your suitcase at once and then complain how heavy everything is when you're done." She looked dumbstruck but quickly recovered.

"Well, well your just gonna rub it in my race now aren't you?" I smiled at her and slowed down to mach her pace it wasn't that I was more in shape than her or anything but if she tried to catch up with me I had an undeniable fear that she might fall and hurt herself she could be a bit of a klutz sometimes.

"Does helping you carry your heaviest suitcase sound like rubbing it in your face?" She smiled and laughed. We threw our belongings into the pile sitting next to the train, and we climbed aboard the train and made our way to our usual compartment. Rori was a Ravenclaw, but no one judged us on our friendship, they knew better, she was basically put into Ravenclaw because of her brainpower, she was probably one of the top 3 smartest people I knew. We sat down on the cushiony seats across from each other and let the motion of the train beginning to move rock us into relaxation. Rori pulled out her iPod within the first 5 minutes of what had to be about a 3 hour ride and fell asleep within seconds. I envied her because she had always had that quality even when we were kids. The only time I had ever fallen asleep during the day was when I had literally no sleep for at least two nights prior or if I was in a moving car which lucky for me I had convinced my body that the train was just a jumbo car, even though I could fall asleep it took me a little while longer. I lied down on the seat and put my earplugs in, I had charmed them to block out every noise, but I had also put a charm on them so that when they were in my ears I would here the buffeting of a ceiling fan. Before I knew it I was out cold, only to be woken up later by Rori shaking me awake.

"Ray you gotta get up! Come look Malfoy and Potter are at it again! I think it might be serious this time!" I ripped out my ear plugs and jumped off of the bench. I didn't take time to ask questions I just followed her out into the main hallway of the train that was charmed to be much larger on the inside than it was on the outside. When we got there a circle of anxious onlookers had already gathered and Potter had a "to be" black eye, a torn cheek, and a bloody nose, Malfoy only had a busted lip so it was pretty clear who was winning the fight so far.

"Come on Drakie, you can take him! Do it for me!" Pansy yelled from across the room. Crabbe and Goyle were busy watching the fight and stuffing their faces at the same time I couldn't decide who was more disgusting.

"Just do us all a favor and drop dead Potter, the wizarding world would be so much better with you gone! To be honest I'm just waiting for the day that I get the orders to kill you myself!" The fight seemed to slow and the room quieted down. From nowhere Potter whipped out his wand and aimed it at Malfoy.

" Petrificus totalus." Malfoy saw it coming and moved out of the way and when he did the spell ricocheted off of the reflective glass door I thought it was coming right for me but it turned out to be just enough to the right of me that it hit the person standing next to me that person was Rori. I watched as she collapsed on the floor into an unconscious heap. Rage filled me and I had my wand out in two seconds flat. My target was Potter.

"Stupefy!" My spell hit its target and he went flying across the room into a crowd of people. "Fights over! If you can't control where your spells are going to land then don't cast them you grade a bastard!" I was filled with so much rage and my words came to with just as much hate as I wanted them to or maybe even a little more. I knelt next to Rori and pulled off my hoodie and put it beneath her head. I knew she would be fine later but the fact of the matter is that we had promised that when we were little to always protect each other and that's what I intended on doing. I saw Potter and his two friends walking away back to their side of the train and Malfoy trying to peel Pansy off of him while his two goons congratulated him on how cool he looked. A small crowd of Ravenclaws crowded around asking if she was ok and then I saw a boy that Rori had been crushing on, Mark, was also in the small group that had gathered. I could tell that he was concerned and I looked at him with pleading eyes, I needed the group to clear and if I opened my mouth it would not be pleasant for anyone. He seemed to understand.

"Come on guys she'll be fine everyone just back up and give her some space. Go back to your compartments and she'll talk to you later." Everyone seemed to listen and they slowly retreated back to their rightful places on the train. I let out a sigh of relief and tried to regain my thoughts. I looked into his big brown eyes.

"Thanks Mark, I really appreciate it I would have flipped out on every last one of them and regretted it later."

"It's all good don't worry, I know you only have her well being in mind, even if you go about it in a slightly crazy way." I smiled and I playfully punched him in the shoulder.

"Well I have one more favor to ask of you."

"Shoot, wacha need jelly bean?" I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"One: promise me that you'll never say that again, and Two: I kinda need to get her back to our compartment." I gave him a hopeful look along with a dash of the puppy dog face and it worked like a charm.

"Well ok if you don't like the way I talk that's cool I guess," He smiled "And I think I've got the other request covered too." He bent over and gently slid his and under her legs and around her back and he lifted her off of the ground with ease. I bent over and picked up my hoodie and directed Mark to where our compartment was I opened the door for him and watched as he gingerly laid her down on the cushioned bench. I also noticed that he maybe have stayed bent over her longer than needed, but I didn't say anything. He stood up and faced me but didn't make a move to leave.

"Um, hey Mark we will probably be to the school soon and I was just wondering if you would do me a huge favor?" I said as I reached for my carry-on duffle sitting on the shelf above me.

"Sure what do you need?" His eyes looked hopeful and I did all I could to hide my smile.

"Well she's still out cold and I was just wondering if you could maybe stay here with her while I go change into my robes. I know we still have some time but I would really like to get it out of the way and it would be so nice if you could stay with her because I wouldn't want her to wake up and be all alone because that just would not be fun no matter who you are." I took a moment to catch my breath and waited for his response, which came in no time.

"Sure no problem, anything to help out a friend." He was a little too eager to answer with a yes but I thought it was cute and Rori would love me when she woke up because she had been crushing on him for the longest time. I jumped up with my duffle on my shoulder,

"Wow thanks you're a life saver." I said a little more enthusiastic than needed. Mark sat down on the bench across from her and just looked out the window I walked out of the compartment and down the hall to where the bathrooms were. As I was walking down the hall towards the bathrooms I heard loud hissings of discomfort and anger. I rounded the corner I bumped into Draco trying to push Pansy away from him without hurting her too much.

"Drakie come on you know you want me just give up already, you know you want to be with me." She tried to maneuver her way around his arms that were holding her at bay.

"No Parkinson I can honestly say that you are the last person that I would ever want to be with on this entire fucking planet, get away from me!" Pansy then started to whisper and say Malfoys name which I'm guessing was supposed to be sexy but I couldn't help but laugh out loud, I actually has to hold onto the wall to support myself. Two pairs of eyes shot towards me one was thankful and the other was angry.

"Jesus Pug can't you see that he's repulsed by you? Why the hell do you think that he's never taken you to bed? You are so ridiculous; seriously just stop my stomach hurts from laughing so hard." Malfoy let out a small burst of laughter only to be followed by an outraged shriek from Pansy. She stepped forward and looked me dead in the eyes and then she made a move to slap me across the face. I grabbed her wrist and threw her hand back down to her side. "Don't even think about it bitch." I looked back at her with disgust. "This is another reason that he doesn't like you, because you try stupid shit like this when it's just gonna come back and burn you some day. Now beat it." She looked like she was on the edge of tears and then she pushed past me and ran down the hall before she turned I heard her burst into tears. I looked at Malfoy and instantly knew that the awkward silence was not only in my imagination. He made the first move,

"So, um thanks for finally getting her to leave me alone." He looked uncomfortable even a little shy. I thought it was extremely strange considering his reputation.

"What was that I heard? Did the infamous Mr. Malfoy just thank someone?" His look went from shy and somewhat grateful to slightly embarrassed and enraged. He stepped up to me and when I was right next to him I noticed that he towered over me, him being at least 6' 2" and me only at 5' 8". I looked up into his face and stood my ground, even when he seemed most threatening.

"Listen to me Knole I was trying to be polite and if you're going to be a bitch about it maybe I should just thank you in a different way." He stepped closer forcing me to back up to the wall, my duffle bag slipped off my shoulder and onto the floor as I backed up. I let out a sharp breath when my back hit the wall and I realized that I had nowhere to go. He was only about a foot away not even and he kept pushing closer, and I could feel my pulse increasing with every step he took. Now that I saw him up close I noticed that he was in fact extremely attractive. I also noticed that he had dried blood on his lip and chin from the fight and the cut wasn't exactly bleeding anymore but it wasn't not either. "I think if your heart starts beating any faster it might just fly out of your chest. Am I making you nervous Knole?" He bent his head down to look at me and my breath caught in my throat. I looked him dead in the eye.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, and no Malfoy you don't make me nervous at all, so back off. Oh and by the way your lip is still busted open and dripping down your chin." That got him to back away and look in the reflection of a mirror hanging on a wall beside me, and I took that opportunity to catch my breath and push myself away from the wall. I picked up my duffle and put the strap back on my shoulder. He poked his lip only making it bleed more, what an idiot.

"Ugh fighting with that annoying little creature must have made me rip it open again." I didn't know what came home over me, but I had a sudden surge of pity and the want to help wash over me that I did something that was so out of character that I even stunned myself.

"Come on ferret boy." I said as I walked down the hall towards the bathrooms.

"What?" He looked at me puzzled.

"You want your lip to stop bleeding don't you? And besides you need to get it cleaned up or it'll get infected, now come on." I continued walking down the hall and was nervous until I heard soft footsteps following behind me.

"Ouch! Dimmit that stings cut it out!" Malfoy squirmed on the counter top as I blotted his lip with peroxide to clean it off.

"Stop acting like a baby and suck it up would you?" I threw away the last bloody paper towel and cleaned all of the first aid supplies off of the counter and put them back under the sink. I grabbed my duffle and headed for one of the stalls so that I could change into my robes. I heard Malfoy jump off the counter,

"Hey where are you going?" He asked confused.

"Um…..to change. We are gonna be at school in no time and changing on the train is just less of a hassle than changing when we get there." I walked into the stall and changed into my robes. I didn't expect to see Malfoy still sitting on the counter again waiting for me when I came out.

"I've been thinking." He said with a curious tone in his voice.

"'Bout what?"

"Your Slytherin insignia suits you extremely well, but your little act of kindness just now doesn't fit your personality at all. So my question is; what caused the change of heart?" His lips formed into the perfect smirk he always wore and it made a shiver run down my spine.

"You know not everything has another meaning behind it, I was just being nice." I tried to play it off as cool as I could but something about him was just so intriguing. I walked over to the counter that he was sitting on and started to fix my hair in the mirror, he jumped off and stared at my reflection. And with a quick movement he was pushing me up against the counter and holding my wrists at my sides.

"I don't believe any of that for one second. Nothing is just as it seems. For example if I were to kiss you write now you would run back to your friend and gossip to her about what it would mean and if that meant I liked you or not. Am I right?" He smirked and leaned in closer to me almost brushing his lips against mine. I let out a sigh and looked into his memorizing blue eyes. Then he leaned forward and kissed me it shocked me and I let out a gasp and jumped a little not that I had anywhere to move. He pulled away within seconds and looked at me with a smug and pleased expression. "That's what I thought Ray. I believe I'm the winner of this little debate wouldn't you say?" He leaned back but only the slightest bit I could tell he was quite pleased with himself but there was no way I was letting him have that satisfaction. I leaned forward and kissed him but just as he had kissed me only for a brief moment but it felt like every nerve ending in my body was on end. He looked at me stunned and I slipped out from under his arm. As I collected my duffle off the counter I said,

"See Malfoy that was nothing and you can be wrong." I walked towards the door but before I left I turned around to see him looking at me with a still shocked expression. Then at that moment I couldn't help myself when I said, "Hey Draco, who's the winner now?" I saw his lips curve into his infamous smirk as the door closed behind me. Too bad I had a smirk of my own to match his. And the one thing that he could never know is that he was right, and even that brief kiss did mean something and I would be replaying the scene over and over again in my mind until I couldn't think anymore, but he could never know that. As I walked down the hall thinking these things to myself I wondered why I had kissed him and what it meant to me. What was I feeling towards him? Could it be love?

A/N: Hey so please review! I'm dying to know what you think even if it's a bad critique, let me know what I need to fix or what you like reviews plz!