At the start of his 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry, Draco Malfoy took his usual seat between Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. Immediately, his eyes strayed towards the Gryffindor table. Not that Draco liked to make it a habit of looking towards the Gryffindors, but this start of term was different. His eyes finally reached their target. Emma Potter was seated snuggly between her best friend Hermione Granger and her somewhat of a hero twin brother, was the less famous of the Potter siblings.
At the advice of Dumbledore, Emma was sent to live temporarily with muggles in America during the dark times when Voldemort was very much still in power. At the start of their first year, Harry was surprised and overjoyed to find that he had a twin sister. His lone living relative who also knew nothing of being part of this new world that was sprung upon them. Harry and Emma quickly bonded after being placed in Gryffindor. They made fast friends with the Weasley clan and Hermione Granger. The odd foursome had been through a vast array of adventures together during the past four years. Despite being Harry's twin, Emma bared some physical resemblance to the most famous Potter. She had her mother's (and Harry's) vivid green eyes. She had dark blonde wavy hair and relatively attractive features. Emma's muggle "relatives" quickly decided to have nothing to do with her after she received her letter at age 11. Therefore, much to the Dursley's outrage, they had another abnormal Potter living under their roof. The Dursley's needless to say were glad to be rid of Harry and Emma after sending them off to school for their 5TH year.
Draco continued to stare at Emma with an odd look in his eyes. He himself could not pinpoint the feeling. Draco and Emma had an incredibly odd and strained relationship with one another. Since their first year, they had bickered senselessly just as Harry and Draco had. They immediately clashed personality wise, yet somehow could not manage to avoid each other. They had been assigned to sit next to each other and ended up as partners in class a countless number of times. Despite their obvious differences, Draco and Emma shared an odd attraction to one another. This attraction did not go unnoticed by Harry. But Harry for the life of him, could not figure out the puzzle that was Emma and Draco. After assuring himself that his sister's attraction to Draco could not possibly be remotely romantic, he brought it to Emma's attention. Each time, Emma casually dismissed his remarks has "silly." She herself did not know her own feelings for Draco. She as always, kept them to herself. As the years continued, Draco and Emma managed to stay civil. This however was not true for Draco and Harry.
Draco and Emma had ended their previous year on an odd note. Draco and Emma had almost crossed the understood line between "being civil" and "having feelings for each other." "Feelings" of the nice sort were foreign and were never understood. An unknown feeling ran through him as he watched Emma laugh at a joke told by Ron that he was sure wasn't funny. He was frustrated by his feelings and was growing increasingly agitated by Pansy spooning more food on his plate and praising him for no reason at all. Emma had seen Draco staring the second she walked into the Great Hall. She was much more observant than Draco gave her credit for. At the end of last year, Emma had an odd encounter with Draco that she had feared for some time. Emma had after all worked hard to disguise her "feelings for Draco as annoyance and dislike. She had been sitting by the lake reading and was suddenly pushed from behind by none other than Draco. She began to tumble down the grassy shore and slipped right into the lake. Tangled in her robes and unable to swim, she felt strong arms grasp her and pull her to the surface. Draco, with a look Emma could not identify, stared into her eyes. Without a word, Draco placed her in the grass and walked away. Emma had a strange feeling about Draco she couldn't shake. Could he possibly have felt sorry he pushed her in the lake?
Emma could not decide what the look in Draco's eye was that day at the lake. Over the summer Emma decided to free herself from the games Draco liked to play and join Harry in believing Draco Malfoy was the scum of the earth in order to avoid confusing her feelings for him. With whatever feelings she had for Draco in her past, she walked out of the Great Hall without a passing glance at a still staring Draco Malfoy.