Chapter 3: Weasel Brat

Stupid Weasley girl. He'd tried to be nice, hadn't even insulted her or her family. This was going to be a lot harder than he'd thought. The girl just had to be so stubborn.

Draco headed toward the carriages scowling at anyone who looked at him. He stopped suddenly at the end of a long line and Blaise walked into him.

"What the hell Draco!" Blaise said angrily stumbling backward.

"There's a line." He said simply looking over the heads of the third years in front of him trying to see what was causing the hold up. Another ministry wizard with a clipboard was standing at the front checking off something and sending students to different carriages. "I think we have assigned carriages too."

"Great." Blaise said sarcastically. But Draco had a sudden inspiration. If he could just be in the same carriage as Weasley, then it would give him more time with her. He had to try harder this time, perhaps some polite conversation.

The line moved quickly until Draco was standing directly in front of the ministry member.

"Name." The man said in a bored, dull voice.

"Draco Malfoy."

"Carriage twelve." The official said scanning the piece of parchment in front of him. Draco walked off glancing at each carriage until he came to the one with the number twelve on the back.

Once again he found Weasley sitting with Nott, who had left the train before him and Zabini. He took the seat right across from her and was followed in by Blaise.

"Same arrangements as the train I guess." Blaise said settling himself into his seat. Draco just nodded as the carriage took off pulled by the large black thestrals. He risked a glance at the Weasley and saw that she was determinately looking away from everyone else. He decided to put his plan into action.

"So Weasley how was your um...summer..?" He asked, unsure how she was going to respond to him. She just looked at him with a slightly disgusted look on her face.

"Not that it's anything to do with you Malfoy, but it wasn't the best summer I've ever had." She replied carefully an interesting gleam in her eye.

"Why not?" He asked feeling stupid as soon as the words left his mouth. She gave him another look somewhere between pity and annoyance.

"I think that's my business." She answered simply turning away from him.

Draco frowned and looked around at Blaise who was smirking slightly looking at Ginny. He balled his hands into a fist inside his robes. This wasn't working out how he'd planned.

The rest of the ride took place in silence until the carriage bumped down outside Hogwarts. Mentally scolding himself for his failed attempt he climbed out and walked into the entrance hall. He took his normal seat at the Slytherin table next to Crabbe and Goyle. Blaise and Nott took the seats across.

Draco's eyes followed the Weasley as she hugged a few friends smiling. He watched her until she had taken a seat next to Longbottom and the crowd blocked her from view. He was just at the point of shifting in his seat, trying to get a better view of her, when the people around him fell silent. Glancing up he noticed that Professor Snape, the new headmaster of Hogwarts, was standing up in front of the school.

The start of term speech sounded different coming from Snape. Not bothering to pay attention, Draco spent the time looking around the Great Hall which was much different then he was used to. There were quite a few people missing from the Gryffindor table, even more missing from Ravenclaw and the most by far were absent from Hufflepuff. Only the Slytherin table appeared quite untouched.

When the plates had been magically filled and everyone began to eat Draco did not join in the conversations going on around him. He spent the rest of dinner staring over his plate at the littlest Weasley.

After dinner he headed to the Slytherin common room going straight to the seventh year room. He was followed in shortly afterward by Nott and Blaise. They both changed and went to bed, by the sounds of their breathing he could tell they had both fallen asleep.

Even if he wanted to he doubted he would've been able to fall asleep. He needed to give this a more serious try. He would have to set aside his disgust of the blood traitor, it could be worse, she could be a mudblood. Tomorrow would hopefully bring with it a better chance.

*****

After a restless sleep the prospect of the entire day ahead didn't appeal to him. Shrugging off the blankets he changed quickly before heading up to breakfast. The great hall was full of students when he entered. Casting a dark look over at the Gryffindor table, he took a seat next to Goyle.

He spotted Weasley next to a dark haired girl about halfway down the Gryffindor table. She was chatting away to the girl, seemingly happy. Just like the night before, he didn't bother joining in the conversations going on around him, absorbed as he was watching the Weasley. He was therefore suddenly surprised to find Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle staring at him expectantly.

"Um…what?" He asked unsure of what was going on. Blaise rolled his eyes and answered him.

"I said, Are you okay? You seem a little distracted."

"I'm fine." He replied simply, glancing around the table for a distraction. "Looks like Professor Slughorn's handing out class schedules."

He nodded toward Slughorn who was indeed hanging out schedules a few people down from where they were sitting. As soon as he reach them he cleared Draco for Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions and the new Dark Arts class. While Slughorn moved on to Crabbe, Draco examined his classes. His first class, Charms, was followed by double Transfiguration and something he'd never seen on his schedule before. Usually, Hogwarts students were giving free periods in which to do their homework and relax. This year however, he had a class labeled Study in room 214.

This new class appeared several times on his schedule over the course of the week. Not to worried about this unusual study period, he headed off to Charms not bothering to wait for Blaise.

Most of the seventh years who had continued onto Charms were already in their seats when he arrived. He took the chair next to Nott leaving the seat on his other side for Blaise, who entered the room five minutes after him.

All this class time seemed useless to him. He needed to talk to the little Weasley. Only one thing during the class period caused a smile to erupt on his face. Parkinson entered the class looking highly expectant. When she saw that all the seats near him were taken she frowned and was directed into a seat next to a Hufflepuff by Professor Flitwick.

Their next class, Transfiguration, wasn't any better. Professor McGonagall wasted no time in having them attempt the large object conjuration spell.

"Now focus clearly on what you wish to conjure, careful to hold your wand away from yourself." Her voice rang out through the silent classroom. Draco's head buzzed numbly and he hardly listened. He wasn't sure when he'd see Weasley again. Meal times weren't nearly enough and what would the other Slytherins say if he was seen heading to the Gryffindor table to often?

The bell rang and the class began filing out. Hurrying to gather his things and pull out his schedule, Draco headed off to room 214. He was pretty sure it was on the first floor. Sure enough number 214 was shining above a door a little down the hall.

He pushed the door open to find the classroom already half full. There were several small tables around which were placed four chairs.

"Hey, Draco!" He turned to find Blaise waving at him from a table in the back. Blaise gestured toward the seat next to him and Draco took it. "Assigned seats, again."

Across from Blaise, Nott had a roll of parchment out and had already begun his charms homework. Nobody else entered the classroom though and Draco sighed. Luck just wasn't with him. He pulled his charms homework from his bag and started working on it. Ten minutes into the class the door was pulled open and Ginny Weasley walked in. She was once again grumbling to herself and she slammed her books onto the table taking her seat next to Nott.

Draco stared at her, interested to know what was clearly very aggravating to her. She leaned back in her seat, tapping her wand against her knee, undoubtedly annoyed. Red sparks danced off the tip and disappeared.

"What's wrong with you, Weasley?" He asked before he could stop himself. She looked at him curiously and he didn't bother to hide his interest.

"Professor Snape thought it would be amusing to bully Neville, so I told him to get lost. Didn't go down to well with him for some reason and got me a detention with our dear professor this Saturday." As she said this her wand began emitting bright orange sparks mixed with the red. She noticed this, placed it on her lap and began tapping her leg with her hand instead.

Draco smirked a little and attempted to continue his charms essay. He couldn't write more than a few words before he became distracted by his thoughts. He pulled a book out at random and pretended to look up a fact. He stared at a page on Drought charms but taking nothing in.

So Weasley had already mouthed off to Snape. Not exactly the most clever thing to do. It did produce amusing results though. She was funny when she was angry. He winced slightly remembering a time when it had been less than funny; she was good at producing Bat-Bogey Hexes.

She'd already landed herself in a detention, no more than she deserved, the blood traitor. But he couldn't stop himself from grinning slightly at the thought of the fiery red head arguing with Snape. He was less than happy with the man and anything that caused problems with Snape right now was fine by him.

A/N: Hope your all enjoying it so far. Please leave a review! Next chapter will be up as soon as I can.