1st September 1992
Draco Malfoy was fuming. All summer that house elf, Dobby, had done nothing but defy orders given to him and disappear whenever he was needed. House elves were supposed to obey, not disobey. And now because of that house elf's insolence Draco was being forced to return to Hogwarts with half of his stuff missing. At least his father had had a word with Professor Snape; and although he couldn't tell anybody yet Draco knew that he was going to be playing on the Slytherin Quidditch team this year. A little bit of money in the right places had secured Draco and the rest of the team brand new Nimbus 2001's. Again not that anybody knew this yet. Draco allowed himself a little smug smile at the thought of how sick Potter would look when he realised he was going to be playing against him. Not so special now are you Potter?
Draco had been keeping an eye out for Potter and Weasley all day; if for no other reason than to wind both of them up but so far he'd had no luck. He'd seen Weasley's little sister sitting with some other first years but she was no fun to wind up. As he prowled along the train with Crabbe and Goyle in tow, he spotted something odd. Yes he definitely wasn't seeing things. Granger was sat in a compartment all on her own. Where were Potty and the Weasel? Had they finally ditched her? He smirked, and slid open the door.
"Go away Malfoy," Hermione scowled at him with those dark brown eyes. He raised an eyebrow in a challenge as if asking what Granger planned to do about him spending some time with her. Not that he wanted too of course. He might catch some horrid Mudblood disease.
"Trust me Granger I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here. And whilst I love to annoy you it's Pothead and Weasel I'm looking for. Haven't seen them have you? Or have you just been sat here crying to yourself?" he exclaimed upon realising that her eyes were red and swollen and her cheeks had become blotchy. "You have been crying, haven't you? Jesus Granger there's no need to be such a baby just because your friends have ditched you. Actually there might be. It's not like you have any other friends is it?"
And with that he, Crabbe and Goyle all left laughing their heads off while Hermione twisted her fingers together and tried once more not to cry.
A/N: Pretty please read and review? I can't get better at writing without knowing where I'm going wrong.