New Allies or New Enemies

"So your cousin?" Draco asked Blaise, while sitting on the train to Hogwarts, grateful that Pansy was nowhere around them. "Where is she now?"

Silencing the compartment so that nobody would be able to hear them speaking, Blaise leaned in closer to him. "I spoke to her Uncle Bruce, and she's here at Hogwarts. Dumbledore agreed that this would be the safest place to protect her from the Dark Lord."

Not for long though, Draco thought with guilt, allowing his already pale skin to become even more paled. Not once I succeed with the Dark Lords plans, suddenly grateful but also guilty that he didn't tell Blaise the Dark Lords plans for him to reclaim his family's dignity, Draco swallowed spit, "Have you spoken to her yet?" he asked his friend in a dry voice.

"She hates me," he shook his head.

"But you're the only family she has," Draco pointed out in confusion.

"It was my mother who got her mother murdered," he shrugged his shoulders. "Railah and I used to be so close. Of course I knew that nobody could know we were talking, but we used to always write letters to one another. I knew her mother was a traitor, but I also knew that my mother and her mother were extremely close, so I didn't think it mattered. Until that night; the Dark Lord came to our house and Mother started to tell him about her. Not only did she tell him about Aunty Letitia, but she also told him all about Railah. At once, all the death eaters appeared and he sent them after them. I betrayed them that night," he shuddered as he remembered the Cruciatus Curse that the Dark Lord placed on him while his mother laughed.

Nodding his head, Draco also shuddered. He remembered that night. "Father came home that night looking beaten," he spoke aloud, but mostly to himself. "Saying that he had to kill an old friend of his. Mother asked him about it, but he stayed more silent than usual. She also went silent when she heard the woman's name. I'm sorry mate. I didn't know she was your aunt at that time."

Blaise stayed silent for the rest of the time, trying to stop his tears from showing. A Zabini never cries, he could hear his mother's voice drilling into his head. Growing up, he always envied his cousin. She wasn't forced into Hogwarts, and she wasn't forced into doing things she would later regret. He remembered their excitement when she received her letter into Hogwarts, and his disappointment when she wrote him back that very same night, saying that she was forbidden to go. Her father felt she was a freak and her mother didn't want to chance her being discovered. Death eaters were looking for her and she knew they would murder her daughter once given the chance. They fell apart over the years, but he still continued writing to her. Once in a while, he would receive a letter back, but she kept it short. It was as if she starting to hate him. Then that night happened. And he ran upstairs so quickly, sending an owl to both Bruce and to his cousin. He wanted them to run. He thought he would be murdered for doing so, but because his aunt was successfully murdered, he was only tortured for two days, but then something worse than death happened to him. You are now a death eater son, his mother's shrilling voice whispered into his ears as he held back his tears. Consider yourself honored young Blaise, the Dark Lord also whispered into his ears. You have betrayed me and I still treat you like my own.

Railah felt awkward sitting there next to Harry. The fire headed boy sat across from her with a black licorice hanging out of his mouth while his light blue eyes stayed focused on her. He hates me, she told herself, while trying to smile politely at him. The brown bushy haired girl with the wide brown eyes sat next to him, poking him all the while and telling him he was rude.

"I'm sorry," Hermione Granger kept repeating over and over to Railah, apologizing for Ron Weasley's rudeness. "His mum taught him up rather polite, but Ron can be a bit of an arse at times."

Throwing a piece of bread from inside of his coats pocket at Ron's head, Harry began to laugh. "Ron didn't your mum ever teach you it's not polite to stare?"

"What is that on your face?" Ron asked Railah suddenly, pointing at his own lip.

"Honestly Ron," Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "It's called a Monroe piercing. A lot of muggle girls have it nowadays."

"Did it hurt?" he asked her.

Laughing, Railah shook her head. "It felt like being pinched," she assured him.

In the beginning, she was so sure that Harry would hate her, ignoring her and forcing her into the arms of her Slytherin cousin, but he surprised her. He wrote an owl to his friends, telling them that she was coming to Hogwarts with them this year. He explained to them her situation- that she was a Zabini and her mother was a traitorous death eater. She thought they would hate her. They do hate me, she repeated in her mind, but Harry assured her that they didn't, they pitied her instead. Even Ginny pitied her. Railah stuck out like a sore thumb, a phrase that not even she understood. How does a sore thumb stick out? This was her first time meeting them, and so far they hadn't hexed her.

"Harry," entered a fourth voice from the compartments door. Looking up, they all saw the long red haired girl stop in her tracks. "Oh," she said, taking in the sight then smiling. "Hullo."

Shyly smiling, Railah knew that it may have looked like a compromising situation to anyone else, with her sitting fairly close to Harry and his arm over her shoulder. "Hi," she said, "I'm Railah. You must be Ginny. You're just as gorgeous as the picture Harry sent me."

Blushing so that her skin turned as scarlet as her hair, Ginny Weasley blushed. "Thank you," she smiled genuinely. "It's nice to meet you. Harry hasn't stopped talking about you from the minute I met him."

"Is anything wrong Ginny?" Harry asked, remembering the seriousness in her tone when she entered the compartment.

Turning her eyes back to Harry, Ginny nodded her head then blew out air. "Neville's lost Trevor again. We were wondering if you could help us look for him."

Chuckling, Harry nodded his head then stood up. "I'll be right there," turning to look at Railah, he could tell she was uncomfortable, "Relax," he told her. "You'll be fine, I'll be right back."

Ginny took in the sight of the nervous looking girl and gave her a sincere smile, "I'll bring him right back to you Railah, and don't mind my brother, after a while, you learn to just ignore him."

Then just like that they were gone. Railah wasn't used to being this nervous, but she knew how close the Golden Trio had been. Harry wrote to her all about it. She also knew how Hermione had a thing for Ron. It was awkward now as she thought about it. She could feel the both of them just staring at her; hating her for being a Zabini. She could see it in their faces. She wasn't one of them, and they knew it.

"I like your clothing," Hermione announced suddenly, trying to brush off the awkwardness.

Looking up, Railah took in the rosy blush on the girl's cheeks, and saw the confusion in the boy's face. "What?" Ron looked at Hermione as if she were daft.

Continuing to blush, Hermione tugged on the bottom of her own violet colored sweater. "Your top," she said meekly, "It's nice. I wouldn't be able to pull off wearing something like that."

"Umm thanks," Railah wanted to laugh. It was just a simple black tube top. "Of course you could. I have choke more if you want to try one," she offered.

"Choke?" Ron began to choke on air, "You want to choke Hermione? Just who the bloody hell do you think you are? Harry told us you were a Zabini, but he also said that you were a good one and that you weren't like your cousin, but here you are wanting to choke Hermione."

"It means a lot," she blushed, trying to sink back into her seat. I knew they hated me, she told herself; all because of my stupid Zabini blood. "I-it's how we speak in Hawaii. Did Harry tell you guys that I'm also from Oahu? We say things like: that was a mean pa'ina last night, a scrap even broke out so we had to dig 'cause choke pigs came down," when she saw their blank stares, she wanted to laugh at them. "It means, that was a nice party last night, there was even a fight so we had to leave 'cause there were lots of cops. Choke, it means a lot."

"Oh," Ron said, suddenly feeling a rush of guilt flood over him.

Slapping the back of Ron's head, Hermione looked apologetically at Railah. "See what I mean, a complete arse."

"It's cool," she told them, standing up. "I'm going to walk around the train for a bit and check it out."

Feeling to make sure she had her wand in the back pocket of her tiny jean shorts, Railah practically ran out of the compartment before they had a chance to stop her. She wanted to hate them, but she couldn't, even she hated the fact that she was a Zabini. Taking in a deep breath, Railah started to walk around. Maybe somebody would throw a hex at the new girl and she wouldn't have to worry about being a Zabini anymore.

Feeling like his insides were trying to rip their way out of him, Draco began to tug at his robes. There was only another two hours left of this wretched ride and he was beginning to suffocate. His mother warned him that when his Veela blood sensed his mate, he would start to feel funny. Like a faint buzzing sound is taking over his ears and his blood is pounding through his chest. Rolling up the sleeves of his dark grey colored sweater, Draco quickly rolled them back down as he remembered the marking on his forearm. Lifting his hand to his forehead, he felt the sweat soaking through his fingers and running down his wrist.

"I need to bloody breathe," he announced to nobody in particular seeing as how Blaise had been sleeping.

Railah had felt a little more calmed down now that she had time to think about things and walk around. Ignoring all the odd glares that came her way, she suddenly had an urge to return back to Harry and his friends. He should have returned by now. Making a quick turnaround, she bumped into somebody.

"Sorry," she quickly began, "I was just trying to return to my friends."

What the hell is this? Draco thought, before even looking up. He flew his hands to his forehead because the buzzing seemed to stay stuck in there now. Apples and honey, he questioned, sniffing the air a little. Why the hell do I smell apples and honey? "Next time-" looking up, his jaw slacked a little. His vision blurred but came much clearer. It was as if he forgot to breathe.

"Watch where I'm going," she finished for him, nodding her head. "Got you."

Realizing that she was about to walk around him, Draco quickly reached his hand out to her. Once his fingers touched her skin though, his whole body began to blush; Skin on skin, lips on lips and fingers running over bodies, so many forbidden images began to run through his mind. It's her, he realized, She's my mate. But who is she?

"Malfoy," entered a hissing voice.

With blackening eyes, Draco turned around to see who would dare interrupt him and his mate. "Weasley," he hissed back at her. The girl Weasley, he would kill her later.

"Don't you have others to be harassing," she rolled her eyes at him, pulling his mate into her arms. Normally such a sight of two females touching each other would arouse him, blood traitor or not. He was a male after all. But this time it was different. The only hands that belonged on his mate were his own. "Like Parkinson," she suggested, but not before pulling his mate along with her.

"That was Malfoy?" Railah questioned, turning back to look at him one more time. Why are his eyes black? She questioned. Why did he suddenly freeze up in the middle of insulting me? Harry warned me that he's an insufferable git. Whatever a git was, something that she knew was an insult. Why was he still watching her? Why did she have a sudden urge to run to him right now?

"He's more of a git then my brother is," Ginny nodded her head then sighed. "I will admit though, he is rather fun to look at, but nonetheless, a complete git."

"Right," Railah nodded her head, finally turning away from Draco's view. "Harry warned me about him in the letters."

Something was wrong. Ginny could hear it in her voice. "Are you alright Railah?" when she saw the girl still staring off into nothing, she sighed again. Her brother could be a complete arse at times. "Sorry about Ron. Hermione told us that he went off on you like that and Harry is infuriated with him. He even knocked him in the head a couple of times."

"Oh no," Railah quickly shook her head, "I didn't mean for that to happen. Oh poor Ron, I'll apologize to him once we return."

"You're going to apologize to him?" Ginny asked with curiosity. "After what he said to you, you're going to apologize to him?"

Nodding her head, Railah said, "Yeah. He didn't mean anything wrong by it; I would've had the same reaction as him. You would think that with all the summers I've spent in Britain I would be used to the language difference by now."

"But you stormed off," Ginny reminded her.

Chuckling, Railah looked up at her. For a girl a year younger than her, she seemed like a giant. She was taller than Harry as well. "I'm not used to being in such small spaces for such a long time. I went for a walk to try and get some air."

"Oh."

"Blaise," Draco said, about ready to throw his sweater off completely. Running into the compartment, he kicked his friend awake, "Blaise, you bloody sod wake up."

Feeling the pressure connect to his shin, Blaise jumped up, "What the bloody hell mate?"

"I met her," he began pacing around. "Her… my mate. I met her. She's beautiful. I was walking around because I couldn't breathe. This bloody buzzing sound took control inside my head and I was trying to abandon them, then I bumped into her, actually bumped into her. Apples and honey, it took over me. Then she walked away, but when I reached out to stop her, I saw it. Me and her. It's her, I know it's her. She's the one. She's my mate. I need her right now, I can sense her. I need to be with her right now. I need her against me. I feel like I can take on the world right now. Then that bloody Weasel, the young one, she came and she took her away from me. My eyes went black and all I wanted to do was murder her for touching my mate. Who the hell does she think she is, touching her like that?"

Blaise listened as Draco went on and on about finding out who his mate was. He's heard the stories of Veelas and their mates before. He was proud of his friend for finding his mate, especially since now he wouldn't die. "So the youngest Weasley was holding this beautiful girl and you wanted to murder her," he teased with a raised eyebrow and shaking head. "You really have changed mate. I would've jumped them both if I were you. Weasley isn't all that bad looking, for a blood traitor."

Draco shook his own head as he tried to think about it. None of it made any sense to him. His insides were practically clawing at him right now. He wanted to find her. He could smell her right now; apples and honey. She was exactly thirty one compartments away from him. She wasn't alone either. She was with Potter, Granger and the two Weasels. Who was she? Why hadn't he noticed her before? Suddenly he gasped. What if it was Loony Lovegood? What did she look like? She had long blonde hair to right? But no, this was definitely not Loony Lovegood. This girl was too beautiful to be her. And his gut told him no, this was a different girl. Another one from another house that he had never noticed before. She was too important to be Lovegood. But who was she? The face of an angel, a hurt angel, he noticed. He would never hurt her. Releasing a growl he vowed to murder whoever it was that hurt her like that. Angels aren't meant to be hurt, especially not his angel.

Blaise noticed the way he was concentrating hard. Draco looked as if he were about to explode. "Well at least now we don't have to worry about it being Pansy that you were supposed to mate with," he laughed, trying to take away some of his friends tension.

"Railah," Harry said, jumping up and taking her into his arms. "Are you alright? I thought you were lost."

"Yeah," she chuckled, pulling away from him, but glad to know that he still cared for her. "Cause you can get lost on a moving magical train."

Hearing the joking tone in her voice, Harry knew something was wrong with her. She only jokes around when she's trying to hide something. "Thank you Gin," he said, kissing her lips when she moved by him.

"Malfoy was harassing her when I found her," Ginny announced, taking the seat next to Railah, and allowing her to sit next to Harry. She could sense that Railah had been on edge and so far Harry was the only one she trusted.

Feeling the heavy thud on the back of his head, Ron began to rub it and looked up at Hermione, "What the bloody hell Hermione?"

"If you haven't yelled at her like that, she wouldn't have run off and she wouldn't have been harassed by that ferret," she scolded him the way a mother would a child. Then her concerned eyes landed on Railah. "Are you okay Railah? Did he offend you? What am I saying, he's Malfoy, of course he offended you."

Chuckling, Railah shook her head, "I'm fine. I was walking when I bumped into him, we didn't even talk much before Ginny found me," looking over at Ron, she looked at him apologetically, "Sorry. I didn't think me going for a walk would get you hit. Harry knows that I'm claustrophobic, he should've known that I wasn't going to be able to stay in here for too long without going insane."

"Oh right," Harry said, avoiding Ron's glaring eyes and scratching his head while looking down on the floor.

"Ouch," Ron shrieked again, "What the bloody hell Hermione?"

Shining a bright grin, Hermione seemed contented with that final slap to the back of his head, "Next time, don't yell at her. This is still your fault."

"So Railah," Ron spoke up after about five minutes of silence, "Do you know what house you're in yet?"

Shaking her head, she said, "Dumbledore came to my godfathers house last week, and told me that the sorting hat would seat me along with the first years. I would be a sixth year of course, but sorted along with the first years."

Sensing her nervousness, it was Ginny who gave her hand a squeeze, "Don't worry Railah," she smiled at the older girl. "There are four other houses at Hogwarts, and you don't seem like a Slytherin, but even if you were, you'd still be a part of us."

"Right," Harry grinned, squeezing her other hand, "You didn't abandon me when I was growing up in a cupboard, and I'm not going to abandon you just because you're a snake."

"Besides," Ron added, trying to make her feel better, "Harry always talks to snakes anyways," feeling the connection once more, he screamed again. "Hermione, for the last bloody time, OUCH!"

Hearing the train's announcement that they were coming to a stop in a couple of minutes, the five of them quickly began to change into their robes. Watching all of them pull the scarlet and gold colored robes over their ordinary clothing, Railah began to feel a sense of longing. Dumbledore gave her plain black robes for the moment, which would change colors once the house sorted her into her housing. She noticed the robes didn't really cover that much.

You could still see the beige colored jeans with the violet colored sweatshirt that Hermione was wearing poked out from the opened robes. Ron had on blue jeans with a plain white shirt, while Harry wore blue jeans and a green sweater, and Ginny wore black jeans with a pink looking tank top. It all showed through her robe. Looking down at her tiny white jean shorts and her black tube top from beneath her own plain black robes, Railah felt out of place. What was I thinking? I can never fit in with them?

A/N: I tried to make it small kind funny. What do you think? How about Draco's reaction to Ginny taking away his mate? What do you thinks going to happen once he learns she's Blaise's cousin? Please review!(: