"Draco, are you okay?"
All Draco could do was shrug. The feast in the Great Hall had begun for the new year. He looked up just in time to see Harry Potter stroll in. Draco couldn't help but smirk at the sight of him trying to stop the bloody nose Draco had given him earlier for spying on him on the train.
His friend and roommate of sorts, Blaise Zabini, sat down across from him and let out a whistle.
"Malfoy, have you checked out the new girl from the States? Nice looking woman. Rich as well. Looks familiar though."
Draco's head shot up at his friends words. Zabini smiled as he pointed to the woman he had seen at the service a few days ago, but there was no way that was…
"Name's Hazel Delaney." Another Slytherin student whispered to the pair. "Transferred from the States after her father disappeared."
"Wait, Hazel Delaney? Like the daughter of Kyle Delaney, the United States mediator for the Ministry of Magic?" Zabini whispered.
Draco's eyes were glued on the woman, who smiled a group that passed as she walked down an isle to find a spot to sit. Blaise stood up, winked at Draco, and offered Hazel a spot next to him. Draco tried to keep his eyes off of her as she sat down but failed miserably. She looked at him, smirked, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Malfoy." Zabini and Draco's "muscles", Crabe and Goyle, dropped their jaws.
"You two know each other?" Zabini groaned.
"As a matter of fact-"
"We grew up together." Draco grumbled and looked away from her.
Hazel couldn't help but smile. Apparently he hadn't told anyone about their parents' deal yet. Not that it upset her. She didn't like it any more than he did.
"Thanks Drakey."
She winked at him as he rolled his eyes. "Yes, we grew up together while I was in England. Then we moved to the States when my father's job took him there and we sort of…. lost touch."
"Well that sucks for Draco." Blaize snickered as he leaned a bit closer towards Hazel. "Better for me."
"So what are the States like? Which one do you live in?"
The questions seemed never ending to both Draco and Hazel. Just when Draco was about to snap, the headmaster Dumbledore stood on his podium.
He welcomed everyone to another year of school and had the first years and new students sorted. Quite a few people stared at Hazel when she didn't stand up with the rest of them. Hazel chuckled under her breath and said nothing. Apparently no one remembered her being there before, for her first year. That is no one remembered until Pansy Parkinson- Hazel's number two when she was last here- let out a loud gasp.
"Hazel? Is that really you?!" She shuffled low behind the table and fellow Slytherins over to where she was sitting.
"Hey Pansy." Hazel whispered and scooted on the bench to make room for her.
Pansy engulfed her in a hug and they heard a scoff come from Draco across the tale.
"Jealous of some girl on girl action, Drakey?" Hazel winked and Draco gave her his famous smirk.
"I can get that any time I want to, Delaney."
"So can I." Hazel whispered back and then leaned into Blaise. "Zabini, up for a threesome with Pansy and I after this?"
Draco's eyes narrowed with rage. The fire in his eyes grew when his best friend agreed with a wide grin on his face.
"Wait a minute." A student sitting next to Draco muttered to another. "Isn't she the freaky chick from first year who was always in the girls bathroom? The one that hung out with Moaning Myrtle?"
Whispers took over the table and Draco looked down and shook his head. Of course someone would remember that. But they also forgot about the time she had punched the Finnigan boy from Gryffindor in the nose because he made fun of her for her parents splitting up. Or the time she let off exploding paper balls that she hexed in Herbology and nearly gave the professor a stroke. Draco had remembered her being quite the trouble maker.
After the feast, students started leaving the Great Hall and went towards their dormitories. Hazel struck up an in-depth conversation with Blaise about American customs.
Draco walked behind them aways, glaring at his best friend. Although Zambini had no idea about the deal between his and Hazel's families and bloody hell if he could blame him for trying his shot at her… no matter how hopeless it really was. Hazel Delaney was definitely not the girl he remembered.
"Aye, Draco! We should go to one of these 'clubs' in the States. Find us some lovely escorts, eh?" Blaise winked at his friend.
"Now why would I want to go to a place bombarded with filthy, desperate Mudbloods?" Draco sneered and Hazel let out a chuckle, looking back at him.
"Two out of three ain't bad, Malfoy. You're almost correct." Both of the boys seemed confused, making Hazel chuckle more. "We're only slightly filthy. You should see how some of us Americans can get down."
Zambini and Draco, along with quite a few other boys in the hallway, stopped to watch as Hazel swung her hips in a way that reminded Draco of a snake.
"No wonder she's in Slytherin. Only the devil can move like that." A Hufflepuff student muttered behind them and Draco looked at them as if he were ready to use an Unforgivable Curse on them, making the two boys take off in the other direction.
"Awe how sweet, Draco. There's no need for that, defending my honor or whatever. I'm not your girl so chill out."
Draco walked up to her and looked her straight in the eye and gave her his infamous smirk that had always given her the chills.
"I will never want you as my 'girl,' as you put it, Delaney. Don't forget that I actually know you."
"Feelings mutual, babyface. But I digress because you're boring me. What I was trying to say is that there are also many desperate people of [b]both[/b] genders, but not everyone. There are people like me who actually go to dance. And, finally for your information, Draco Lucius Malfoy, it's a Muggle-free zone. One hundred percent wizards. Just because my father was a Muggle correspondent for the Ministry of Magic does not mean that I help with research." She stuck her tongue out at Draco, who sneered as Blaise smiled when Hazel wrapped her arm around his. "Zambini, I do believe that this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. I'll have to make you my dance partner one night."
"I'm definitely in. It would be my pleasure." He smiled wider as they walked up to their door.
Blaise spoke the password and bid farewell as he descended towards another group of Slytherins.
Hazel went to walk into the dorm when a hand grabbed her am and dragged her down the hall. Draco ducked in a between two pillars and looked around to see if anyone was around and looked directly at her, not bothering to look anywhere else.
"Is this where you have your way with me? Don't think I haven't heard the rumors."
"What are you doing here for real?"
"Well you're the one that grabbed me."
"Hazel."
Hazel let out a sigh and looked around.
"I'm here because Dad's boss, my grandfather, doesn't want me on my own back home. You remember how he is. He's just like Lucius."
Richard Delaney was the second in command at the American branch for the Ministry of Magic. He was hard-headed with a short fuse and hell bent on Pure-Blood traditions, just like Draco's father.
"He dropped me with Mum and made sure I was always protected since Dad 'disappeared.' You really think I want to be here? I was doing great back home. But no, my father decided to join your idiot father in his tasks."
"Don't you dare talk about my father that way!" Draco hissed.
"You of all people are defending your father? I seem to remember a time when you were –" Draco covered her mouth with his hand.
"My father is a great man. Something you will never understand, Hazel."
"Oh I'm sure." She mumbled through his hands before biting his finger so he would remove it from her face. "Why do you care anyway? I didn't come here for you. I didn't come here to interfere with your objective."
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't think I don't know, Draco. Honestly, I don't care. You have to do what you have to do for your family." She started to walk away when he pulled her back to him again.
"How do you know about that?"
Hazel looked towards the hallway and saw shadows coming towards them. She hesitated before grabbing his robes and pulling in closer. She cringed a bit before pushing her lips towards him. Pulling the both of them to the wall behind her, she attempted to hold them there while a pair of female students passed and glanced over at them.
Draco had no time to react as his childhood friend kissed him and pulled him closer. His thoughts swirled as he deepened the kiss and wrapped one arm around her waist and the other to steady himself against the wall. [I]What the hell was she doing? What was he doing at that?[/I]
Hazel pulled away from Draco to glare at the girls gawking at the two of them, causing Draco to stumble forward a bit and focus back at the girls he never noticed was there.
"Can I help you girls?" She growled, sending the girls on their way whispering to each other.
She smiled and looked back at Draco who was still in shock from what she had done. She licked her lips and sighed, standing up on the balls of her feet so she could get close to Draco's ear.
"I know just about everything, Draco Malfoy. Don't forget. I know you." She whispered and kissed his cheek before scooting away from him and looking around the hallway and walked back towards back towards the Slytherin corridor.
Draco was left standing there, in between two pillars in the hallway. Hazel Delaney was definitely not the girl he remembered.
