Author's note: So this is my first Harry Potter fanfiction, but I'd thought I'd give it a go to see if anyone's interested. It's very short as it's the prologue and just a taster to see whether people will like it or not, so please give reviews and let me know what you think and don't be afraid to be harsh!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, sadly.
Prologue
She fell into a plush, caramel armchair by the window, fascinated by the sound of the rain pounding outside, on everything in its path. She had just ordered a warm cup of chamomile tea, a drink that she swore by. Twiddling her thumbs in a halfhearted fashion, she reread the letter she had received from Professor McGonagall, a mere three hours ago, for what seemed like the hundredth time since. Attached to it was a galleon-sized badge which she had placed at the edge of the table, somewhere so she could not see it directly. She closed her eyes and picked it up between her fingers, running the pad of her finger across the smooth, golden edge. Clenching her hands into fists, she felt the needle on the badge press into her palm, and instantly released it from her grasp. Tossing it like a dice across the table, she replayed the words, in her head, over and over. 'Head Girl, Head Girl, Head Girl'.
This was out of character for her, being awarded the honor of being the Head Girl of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, surely, she should be jumping for joy, owling her friends and researching the history of the school's heads to make sure she was up to scratch on the first day. It was wrong, the thoughts that were running through her mind were wrong,she couldn't help it, it was real, what she had dreamed of was becoming, wasreality and it had finally hit her and the feelings did not match up with the dreams. Why was she feeling like she did? She knew why, she was scared.
"Excuse me?" She looked up, at the sound of the voice. "Chamomile tea?" The waiter gave her a warm smile, and at her confirmation, placed a cup of steaming hot tea onto the table next to her letter. She stuffed the letter and the badge back into her bag and threw a half-smile back to the waiter.
"Thanks." She slipped off her shoes and tucked her feet underneath her, taking the cup into her hands. As she looked out the window at the vast expanse of sky; Hermione sipped at the tea, the apple-like aroma soothing her mind almost immediately.
"Number four..." Hermione tapped her quill on the edge of the table and bit on the corner of her bottom. Her eyes glistened as an idea popped into her head and she swiftly scribbled down the words before she regretted it. Dropping her quill into the jar of ink, she heaved herself off the chair and smoothed down her skirt, she picked up the piece of paper she had been writing on and surveyed it. "That's just not enough. Ginny can help… Ginny will help." She muttered to herself, slipping the letter in between two pages of 'Hogwarts: A History" and tucking the large book beneath her arm.
He had somewhat been expecting the very letter he held in his hands, the Headmistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Witchcraft; his school, had just owled him. Potter, had surprisingly, not been appointed Head Boy, and as he re-read the letter, this filled him with pride and well, smugness. Being an exceptional student at the school, he couldn't say it was a phenomenon that he had been granted the role, but he was positively astonished.
The sound of Narcissa Malfoy's heels on the marble hall leading up to his room could be heard from a short distance away. He listened to the steady rhythm of her footsteps before they came to a halt at his doorstep, and she knocked on the door.
"Yes." He asked as he slipped the badge into his hands and turned around in his chair, to be faced by Narcissa.
"What did McGonagall have to say?"
He suppressed a smirk as he reached out and opened his hand in front of her. Picking the badge up, she frowned, her eyes were wide, her mouth was agape, and her ruby-red lips parted to form an expression you would call 'flabbergasted'. "Oh my goodness!" she drew in a quick breath, holding the badge to her heart and looking at him for the first time since she arrived in his room. "Well, we'll need to celebrate, of course!"
It didn't take long for the house elves to cook up a stunning dinner for just the two of them. He sat at one end of the table, and Narcissa at the other. A beautiful arrangement of food was displayed before them, and continued to grow as the elves reached up and placed an array of marinated carrots and sautéed brussel sprouts on the little space left on the table.
"It's not Christmas," He muttered, disapproving of the overwhelming amount of food that had been cooked, simply for an event that had been assumed anyway.
Narcissa smiled, stabbing her fork into a piece of meat and slipping it into her mouth. Things had not been the same ever since Lucius had been sent to Azkaban after the war. The only sound that was heard in the large dining room of Malfoy Manor was the scuttling of house elves' bare feet as they adamantly threw questions at 'Master Malfoy' and 'Mistress Malfoy', checking that they were both okay and everything was adequate. The noise that Draco gritted his teeth and clenched his jaw at the most though, was the cutlery scraping against the plates destroying the pure silence of everything else. And he hated it. He hated what his Father had done to the family and the ruin that he had brought to the Malfoy reputation; his reputation. Draco Malfoy was frowned upon by almost all of the Wizarding community for his Father's actions during the war. Lucius Malfoy was nothing to him, he no longer considered him to be his Father.
A/N: Thank you to Pineapple246 for being a fabulous beta, too! Everyone go check out her beta-profile.