Disclaimer: Mina Machino is the only character belonging to me. All others belong to J.K. Rowling.
"Well, that was interesting." I said as Draco and I descended the staircase.
"Interesting? That was scary as hell!" Draco snapped. "I was half expecting you to argue with the Hat."
"I told you that I would let the Hat decide. Would you rather I had so that Bellatrix would have shown up?" I snapped back, confused by his behavior.
"Maybe. At least then I could get mad at someone."
"Why not be mad at Voldemort?" I asked, stopping dead in my tracks. "He's the reason we're in this mess in the first place." Draco looked at me with mixed emotions showing on his face.
"How much do you know?" he asked after a few minutes.
"More than I should." I replied flatly, not looking at him.
"Then why don't you just go help you precious Potter defeat the Dark Lord?" he asked, his voice like acid.
"Why don't you just kill me now?" I snapped, pulling my broom out of my bag and taking off, flying through the halls as fast as possible, not stopping until I was on the opposite side of the castle. When I stopped flying, I fell to the ground and cried because of the pain. About half an hour later, Dumbledore found me on the floor, still crying, and sat next to me.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his kind voice making me feel worse.
"I think Draco's mad at me." I mumbled after a while.
"And why would you think that?"
"Because," I told him, wiping my eyes, "he spoke to me the same way that the others do."
"Why does that matter?"
"Draco's always been there to support me. He's the only one that trusts me."
"Why doesn't anyone else trust you?"
"I see Voldemort for what he is, and I want to stand against him."
"Then why don't you?"
"He would kill Draco."
"I see..." Dumbledore said. We sat there in silence for a while, before I heard the tell-tale sound of him dissapparating.
"Mina!" I looked up to see Draco running down the hall towards me. "Mina! I've been looking all over for you."
"Why bother?" I asked, looking back at the floor.
"I'm sorry." he said, pulling me up into his arms. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I'm sorry." He kept repeating himself and holding me close. I stayed quiet, leaning on him and just letting his presence comfort me like it always did. When I was calm enough that I knew I could trust my voice, I put my finger on his lips to silence him.
"I know." I said when he got quiet, "I know you didn't mean it, but you don't know how much I wish I could help Potter."
"Why? The Dark Lord isn't that bad."
"Draco, Voldemort killed my friends, he killed my parents, and he's killed hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people in the past, and he'll keep killing until someone kills him."
"I'm sure he won't kill too many more, and we're better off without Mudbloods and Muggles. And it's not like he'll kill his followers."
"Won't he? He killed my parents Draco, and you know they were his followers. And some of my friends were Muggle-born."
"But you're not. You're a Pure Blood, so you're better than— "
"No! Being Pure Blood does not make me better than them, and neither are you." I cut him off. "You know that. Heck, if you were to duel the Granger girl, a Muggle-born, you'd lose and you know it. I'd even lose against her unless I used some nasty tricks I learned at that horrid girls' school."
"But..."
"There's no 'but' about it Draco. And just as fair warning, I won't stop being me." I said, and I could feel his defeat. "I wasn't forbidden the right to befriend any of them." Draco looked at me like I was nuts, but didn't say anything. We both got on my broom and he took us to the Slytherin Commons.
"It's about time." Snape said as we walked into the commons area. "Where have you been?"
"Around the castle." I replied.
"Around the castle?" Snape prodded.
"Yes sir, I just wanted to get a feel for it." I told him, glad that Draco had given me a little tour on the way to the commons.
"Very well, the others will be here tomorrow evening." he said, then he turned and walked out.
"The girls' dormitory is over there." Draco said, pointing at a door. "You should put your things up." I turned and hugged him.
"Draco, you know I can't pretend to be someone I'm not, and I'd never do anything to hurt you." I told him. He wrapped his arms around me and lightly kissed my forehead.
"I know, now go put your stuff up." he replied. I smiled and did as I was told, happy that he wasn't mad at me.
"People are going to look at Slytherin differently by the end of this year." I told myself as I made my bed. "I will befriend Potter, Hermione, and the Weaslys if I can." Once I was done setting my stuff up, I walked back into the common area.
"I'm going to the owl tower to send a letter to my mother." Draco said as I walked in. "Please stay out of trouble."
"I'll try." I told him, smiling and sitting down in a chair. He rolled his eyes and walked out. I waited a few minutes, to be sure he wasn't going to come back too soon, then pulled out a notepad and a pen. I wrote a quick letter to Hermione, after rereading the last letter I had received from her, with the details of my Sorting. Throughout the summer I had been writing Hermione Granger, after finding her address by mistake.
"Dear Hermione,
I can't wait to meet you in person. I got Sorted into Slytherin, as I feared, but I hope that won't affect our friendship. I really do hope to be good friends with you, Harry, Ron, and the others. I will be glad to meet you in the next few days at school."
I signed the letter and put it in an envelope. "Malinia porvotos Hermione Granger." I said, pronouncing each word with care and pointing my wand at the sealed envelope. I had learned that 'Malinia porvotos' meant 'send mail to' in an old, forgotten language while reading through a rather old book I found in a junk store one time, and then I turned it into a spell. I found it to be much more convienent than an owl, and quicker too. I heard a low pop behind me and turned around.
"Dobby!" I exclaimed, both surprised and excited.
"Mistress Mina!" Dobby replied. "So it is true, you are here! You are here at Hogwarts!"
"Yes, and I plan to make it an interesting year." I smiled.
"Dobby believes that, Miss Mina always makes things interesting."
"Dobby, could you arrange for me to meet your friend Harry Potter?" I asked the house elf. "I would really like to meet him and his friends."
"Maybe, but why does Mistress want to meet them?" Dobby asked, suspicious.
"Because, I want to be friends with them. I will find a way to help them." I looked at my letters from Hermione.
"Mistress has been writing Harry Potter's friend?" he asked, his large eyes getting larger when he saw the letters.
"Shhhhh! The others can't know." I said quickly, glancing towards the door.
"Mistress' secret is safe with Dobby." he promised.
"Thank you Dobby, now go. Draco's coming back." I told him as I bundled up my letters and put them away. Dobby disappeared and moments later Draco walked in with a letter in his hand.
"Mother and father say congratulations, but Bellatrix is a bit put out." he said as he sat down on the couch across from me.
"Of course she is, she hates me." I replied, moving over onto the couch next to him. Draco looked ready to argue, then changed his mind.
"Do you have an owl?" he asked.
"No, I don't have need for one." I answered. "If your parents want to send me anything, they'll most likely send it with something for you."
"Oh, I guess you don't have anyone else to write." Draco said, quietly. I shrugged.
"It's ok, I'm used to it." I said, laying my head on his shoulder. He put his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap, holding me there.
"Your parents never wrote you?"
"If they did, I never saw the letters." I sighed a little and cuddled up close to him. "It was against the rules."
"Seriously?" Draco asked, surprised.
"The Headmistress said it was a distraction from our studies. All we ever did was study..." Draco held me close and rubbed my back. "What else did they say?" I asked, yawning.
"Nothing really, it was just a short note." he said, tensing and speaking a little to quickly. I looked at him.
"Draco?" I asked, accusingly.
"I'm sorry, mother said not to worry you."
"With?"
"One of the Ministry goons is being sent to teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts class." Draco sighed.
"So all theory and no application...lovely." I muttered.
"Mother said you wouldn't take it well."
"I'm fine. The application will be provided." Draco looked at me dumbfounded.
"Not with the Ministry in charge."
"Ministry, Sministry." I replied. "The Ministry only wishes they were in charge. The last thing they'll do is kick Dumbledore out, and if they do the students will chase them off."
"Putting more faith in Potter?" Draco sneered.
"No," I answered, standing up, "I'm putting faith in the loyalty and intelligence of the students here at Hogwarts." With that I turned and walked to the girls' dormitory, pausing at the door and looking at him. "Good night Draco, get some sleep."
"I will..." he replied, seeming troubled. I walked into the dorm and listened through the door until I heard him get up and go to the boys' dormitory.
"Well then," I told myself as I got ready for bed, "this means I'll have to be extra careful. Snape will be watching me, as well as the Ministry poking around. Fun...better make the best of it Machino." I sighed as I crawled into bed and went to sleep.