Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

This is a re-updated chapter, because there were many spelling mistakes in the last one. :)

From the first day I saw her, boarding the Hogwarts Express, I knew she was someone special. But when I found out she was a muggle born, I knew it could never be. I shuddered to think what my father would do to her. He ruined my childhood; he is not going to ruin her. Her brown eyes sparkled in the noon day sun, she was happy, joking with her parents; laughing. I can't remember the last time I was like that with my parents. It is probably because those occasions were slim to none. In the snobby world of the wizarding pure blood elite, such public displays of affection are frowned upon.

I turned away from her.

"Draco, now you must get the best grades in your year, or you will be punished," my father said in a harsh tone of voice.

Nothing new there, I thought. I gulped. A shiver ran down my spine. My father's definition of punishment usually meant being whipped for hours on end. I could still remember the last time I was whipped. The memory came back to me, all of a sudden.

I was being punished, because, I dared speak to my father, when he had company over. My father's friends are quite...intimidating.

I was trying to ask my father could I have dinner with them. The dinner our house elves were making was quite scrumptious and smelled fantastic.

It was my favourite meal. My father excused himself from his friends. I could tell from the look in his eyes what was going to happen now. His friends smirked at me.

They knew what was going to happen as well. Father's friends really are sadistic, I thought. It was almost like they could read my mind.

They told father to put all his strength into whipping me. My father turned around, with a scary look in his eyes. The look of it almost made me throw up, but I knew if I showed any sign of weakness, it would only make it worse.

Four hours later, after being tormented and tortured, my father stopped. He used the Cruciatus curse on me at least twenty times. Afterwards, I was shaken, weak and frightened. I stayed away from my father for two weeks, always scared he would suddenly go mental and start using unforgivable curses on me again. I was seven at that time.

I know I said that was the last time he cursed and tortured me. What I should have said is that was the last time it lasted so long. He cursed me on a regular basis. I think it would be too weird if he didn't curse me. Of course, I would love it, but it has been happening too long, for it to suddenly stop. It first happened when I was two years old.

Anyway, back to the present time, I hugged my mother when everyone was told to get on the train before it left. I didn't hug my father, but would you really blame me. I am always going to be wary of him. I'm sure more people have it worse off than me.

I got on the train just as it was about to leave the station. I tried to find a compartment, when I found my best friend Blaise Zabini, smirking back at me.

Blaise has always been there from me. He knows what my father does to me. He doesn't know his dad; I wish that were my case, as sound as it sounds.

Blaise and I got out of the compartment after I put my suitcase inside, puffing and wheezing trying to place the heavy case carefully onto the luggage bay.

Then, we decided to stroll around the carriages. Suddenly, I saw her again. The girl I saw outside on the platform, the girl with the brown eyes that were sparkling in the sun, the one who was laughing and joking with her parents.

She was poking her head into a compartment.

"Have you seen a toad? A boy called Neville has lost one," she said to the people inside the compartment.

We heard choruses of no. She sounded really bossy, whoever she is and she seemed very confident, compared to the other first years. She came back out and bumped into Blaise and myself.

"Oh, hello," she said in that same know-it all tone.

"My name is Hermione Granger. And what may yours be?" she asked politely.

"My name is Draco Malfoy and my best friend is Blaise Zabini," I said for the two of us.

Blaise is shy around new people. Hermione looked at me and suddenly I felt something weird in my stomach. Must be indigestion, I thought.

"Well, I must be going. I'm late," she said after a long pause.

She looked at me again and this time she blushed. She walked away and then looked back at us.

For a second, we gazed into each other's eyes. Then she turned around and walked away.

"We're on a train. What could she possibly be late for?" Blaise asked with amusement in his voice.

"I don't know and, I don't think I want to, "I said. We both turned around and walked back to our compartment, where we got dressed into our robes, awaiting our arrival to Hogwarts.

Please read and review :)