Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters – they're all property of J.K. Rowling. Anything you don't recognize probably belongs to me, unless stated otherwise. The only thing I can take credit for is maybe the plot.
Updated as of 1/2/08: I've revived this story, hopefully. It's been bugging me for a while, and I recently did a page and a half of outlining, so for once I actually know very clearly where I'm taking this. Please, please, read. There's going to be a lot of exciting conflict, some romance, some depression, some joy, lots of danger, but most importantly, lots of Draco! (: I should mention that this is AU, because I take some (rather large) liberties with the timeline, but I will do my best to keep the characters all in-character, make sure they have a good reason to act as they do.
Author's Note: For the sake of brevity, I'll only say three things here. One: Stick with this story. I know some of it seems to be a bit too good to be true, but trust me, that good fortune won't last long. It will start getting really interesting the next two chapters (and after that, of course). Two: If you want to learn more about the characters, I'll direct you to my profile. They're actually all Rowling's creations – but I'll let you read that for yourself. Three: This story takes place during HBP.
Thanks for reading!
CHAPTER ONE
She hadn't been able to give him the potion for almost a week now, and it was starting to show.
Tracey Davis sat next to the window of the train compartment. Usually, they would have argued for the seat (although he always let her win), but today he just shrugged her off and motioned impatiently for her to sit. If she had been in any other relationship – a healthy, normal relationship – she would have asked him what was wrong. But she knew, and she knew what she had to do to fix it.
Theodore Nott was leaning forward in his seat, arguing with a seventh-year Slytherin about the finer points of something-or-other. Tracey was too busy looking for a window of opportunity to put her plan in motion to pay close attention. Millicent Bulstrode sat across the aisle from Tracey, looking just as nervous and bored as Tracey felt.
A group of underclassmen, still looking for an empty compartment, stopped in front of their door. One of them was about to open it, hoping to claim a portion of one of the wide benches, when his friend stopped him. They whispered quietly to each other and looked back inside. All conversation had stopped, and everyone in the compartment was staring back at the group of students, openly hostile. They started and walked quickly away down the hallway.
Ah, the perks of being a Slytherin.
Soon after the underclassmen scurried off, the boys started talking again, and the atmosphere of the compartment slowly returned to the previous level of anxiety.
A sharp but muffled noise from outside in the hallway prompted Tracey to sit up straight. She listened carefully; yes, there it was. The tea trolley. She could hear the woman that, year after year, made the rounds, selling the Hogwarts students such delicacies as Chocolate Frogs, Cauldron Cakes, and finger sandwiches.
She jumped up quickly. "Anyone want anything? Some pumpkin juice? Theo? I'm thirsty myself." Her heart was beating in her ears; she might have been yelling, for the looks that everyone gave her. Her mind was quickly formulating a plan for what she was about to do. When Theo didn't answer her, she said again, "Theo, want any pumpkin juice?"
He disengaged himself from his conversation slowly, to show her how much it annoyed him that she would interrupt. "What was that?"
"Pumpkin juice. Want any?"
He shrugged sharply. "Yeah, sure. I don't care."
Tracey didn't bother asking either of the others for their orders. She pulled out her purse from her bag and walked slowly down the swaying hallway. She waited patiently as the woman sold some packages of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and Drooble's Best Blowing Gum to some students Tracey didn't recognize.
The sale completed, the woman turned to Tracey. "And what would you like, dear?"
"Two pumpkin juices, please."
The woman smiled and took her money. The bottles were as cold as ice in her hands. She gripped the necks of the bottles and squeezed against the wall to let the trolley cart by.
Deliberately, she walked a few steps down the hallway and stooped over suddenly as if to tie her shoe. She made sure that no one was watching and opened both bottles. From the inside of her jacket, she produced a warm, blue-tinted glass vial, half-empty. When she uncorked it, the hallway was filled with the scent of strong spices, soap, and something she couldn't quite place, but that reminded her of Hogwarts for some reason.
Careful not to spill, she poured out half of the remaining pearlescent liquid into the bottle on the right. Then she stoppered the vial, slipped it back into its pocket, and walked back to the compartment as fast as she could without spilling the drinks.
"Took you long enough," Theodore observed as he scooted back in his seat to let her by. "The trolley's already been here and past." He treated her with the same disdain as he did with underclassmen and Mudbloods. It hurt her to see him like this.
"Sorry, I got held up. Here." She handed him the bottle in her right hand.
He took it and turned back to his conversation.
He drank it slowly during the train ride. The change came over him just as slowly, but Tracey noticed every shift in his attitude toward her.
When he was half done with his pumpkin juice, and when he was finally eyeing her again in a more than friendly way, there was a sharp rap on the door to their compartment. Without waiting for a response, a blond-haired boy stuck his head in. Tracey instantly recognized him to be Draco Malfoy, even though he had never said so much as four words to her, three of which were unkind.
"Nott," he said, sliding the door open. He took a moment to survey the others in the compartment. His eyes merely glossed over Tracey and Millicent in the corners, then returned over the seventh-year and back to Nott. The only Worthy in the room.
"Malfoy," Theodore said. He had stiffened considerably, and his drink rested loosely in his hand, still half full. Their words to each other were nearly always cool and measured – and carefully friendly. "What are you doing here?"
"Making the rounds." The seventh-year moved over on the bench so Malfoy could sit across from Theodore.
Theodore's eyes drifted to Malfoy's robe. "You're not prefect this year?"
He glanced down quickly and picked at the spot where the pin had been all year long the year before. "Not this year, no. I have much better things to do with my time than babying Firsties."
"Better things?"
Malfoy didn't respond, but glanced around the compartment again. His eyes narrowed when he reached Tracey. "What the hell are you doing here, Davis?"
Tracey sat up, eyes widened. Millicent across from her sank back into the seat. "I–"
"I told her to come, Draco."
Draco's gaze snapped back to Theodore, who was staring back at him coolly and unblinking. "Told her to come?"
Theodore said, "I don't think this is why you stopped by to talk, Draco."
But Malfoy didn't hear him. "Fraternizing with half-bloods, Theodore? I would have expected much better from you. What would your father say if he knew?"
Tracey worried that he would throw his bottle at Malfoy's head, and that he would spill the rest of the potion she had worked so hard to make. She could smell a fight coming and made herself as inconspicuous as possible.
Theodore stood very slowly, his bottle gripped so tightly in his hand that his knuckles were white and his pale blue veins stood out beneath his thinly stretched skin. "My father doesn't know, and he doesn't ever need to know. He will never find out. Are we understood?"
Malfoy had his back pressed up against the seat, his arms crossed defiantly. But he was smiling, a pleased sort of smirk that made Tracey's insides turn. At least he seemed appeased for now. He wouldn't tell, so long as he knew that Theodore was ashamed of what he was doing. Shame is much more powerful than lies.
Theodore sat down with a heavy thump. He drank what was left of his pumpkin juice, leaning back and closing his eyes. His mood seemed to improve after finishing his drink, because he turned his head and stared at Tracey for a good minute or two. Out of the corner of her eye, Tracey could see Draco staring at them in disgust; but she didn't dare brave his stare head on.
At a jerk of the train, Theodore sat up again and said, "Listen, Draco." Malfoy stared at him with a guarded frown. "I don't give a flying fuck what your opinion is on my love life. If it bothers you then you can just go run back to your mistress Pansy and piss and moan about it until you feel better. But don't take your discontent with your own life out on me."
The guard went down, and for a moment, Tracey saw pure hatred in Malfoy's eyes. But he stood suddenly and stalked out of the compartment and down the hall.
They were all silent. The seventh-year broke the silence. "Damn, Theodore. That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen you do. He's going to have it out for you this year; your life's going to be a living hell."
But he just shrugged. He was staring at Tracey again, smiling. "Let him have his fun complaining about me. Sure, he'll spread rumors; sure, he'll be an ass. But he's too much of a coward to really fight me, to say anything really bad to my face. Everything will be over in a few weeks, and then we'll be back to usual."
And with that he spread out on the bench and laid his head in Tracey's lap. He smiled up at her, before curling up and falling asleep. Tracey stared down at him in surprise, but it was nothing compared to the faces of the other two Slytherins. She hesitantly smoothed down his hair to avoid their stares; he didn't move.
"Have you two…" Millicent trailed off, staring at the back of Theodore's head. "Have you two been seeing each other long?"
Tracey shook her head. She would never tell her – she would never tell anyone – how they had really met. She had seen him at Hogwarts before, of course, but he had never been as accessible as he had been that summer. Then again, she had worked hard to make him so accessible – convincing her parents to let her "stay at a friend's house" in Bristol, paying for the cheapest flat she could find, casually running into him at a café she had seen him in before, finding all the ingredients to the potion...
She worried, now that they were returning to Hogwarts, that someone would ask him why he had fallen in love with her in the first place, when, where? She knew for a fact that he wouldn't be able to answer, or his answer would only make people suspicious. Nothing good could come from that.
But looking down at him, so completely relaxed, his mouth curled into a slight smile, she couldn't worry. That could wait until they reached Hogwarts.
The compartment was quiet after Malfoy left and after Theodore fell asleep. The still-unknown seventh-year left without saying good-bye, and Millicent pulled a book out of her bag and read. Tracey watched the damp green and rolling landscape as it raced by her window and eventually fell asleep to the rocking of the train.
Millicent woke her up again when she lost hold of her trunk. "Shit!" It fell and hit the seat next to Tracey hard; the latch opened and spilled the contents on the floor. Millicent scooped her clothes and books together and quickly stuffed them back into the trunk.
Theodore woke up with a jolt and sat up quickly. Millicent hunched over further and kept her head to the floor. Tracey could see that her ears were pink.
Theodore rubbed his left ankle which had been hit by the falling trunk. "Damn it, Bulstrode."
She didn't say anything, just locked her trunk again. She already had her robes on. "You should get dressed," she said, addressing the floor. "We're almost there."
Theodore leaned over Tracey's lap to look out the window. It was nearly dark outside, but they could see Hogwarts silhouetted against the still-lit western sky. Light shone out of hundreds of tiny windows. "Looks like they're expecting us," Theodore said.
He helped her take her trunk down from the overhead rack, and they both changed into their school robes. It was a little awkward changing into the uniform with Theodore in the room. Luckily, she had enough foresight to wear the standard white shirt, so she just had to quickly slip out of her jeans and into her skirt. The robes helped a little, giving her something like curtains to change behind. Her back was covered, but in the window ahead of her, she could see Theodore openly staring at her reflection.
They were all standing and waiting at the door when the Hogwarts Express finally came to a halt.