---
The last day of summer was no different to Draco than the other days; it was spent in his house, alone, the only change being that, upon entering his room before dinner, he found that all his Hogwarts things were packed neatly in an open trunk lying at the foot of his bed. When he walked over to his desk to add a few items (a book on curses and a few of his favorite quills), he saw that his mother was stepping out of his adjoining bathroom.
She looked startled at his appearance, but quickly collected herself.
"I've packed all your school things," she told him, interlacing her fingers and standing up stiffly-straight. Draco didn't respond. He tossed the book on top of the perfectly-folded clothing that his mother had packed for him. The starched shirts and folded pants rumpled as he tossed his belongings on top.
His mother pretended not to notice, but watched silently as he began to open and close the remaining two drawers of his desk.
"I was talking to your father last night," Narcissa told her son, as she seated herself gracefully on the neatly-made bed without wrinkling the expensive quilt on top of it. Draco glanced up, but continued to burrow a handful of glass vials between what had been his neatly-folded school clothes.
"He said he spoke to Philip awhile ago," Draco's mother continued, smoothing the quilt on his bed as she spoke, as though she wasn't truly paying attention to him. "It seems as though Marie will be joining you sometime at Hogwarts."
Draco looked away, unaware of his sudden sullen expression. He hated the way his mother had phrased it. He hated the way his parents thought they could play matchmaker for him. But most of all, he hated the way that he couldn't truthfully not like her; he knew that he couldn't be cruel to her just to upset his parents.
"When?" he finally asked, and he could have sworn his mother almost smiled. However, her face was porcelain-smooth and her voice did not betray the slightest hint of a smile when she replied, "Your father says the plans haven't been exactly worked out; but, Philip mentioned that he wanted Marie to have as complete a school year as possible."
Sensing that his mother was done, Draco stood up and walked to the door.
"Draco," his mother called to him, "keep an eye out for her."
---
While the Black Mansion was filled with chaotic, last-minute packing and assorted red-haired people running around and skidding, sock-footed, on the shiny wooden floors, the Malfoy Manor was as silent as ever. About a half-an-hour before the Hogwarts Express was to leave Platform 9 3/4, Draco padded silently down the stairs, his face as blank and bored as ever, his trunk hovering behind him. When he reached the fireplace in his foyer, he lit the logs there once more, took a pinch of Floo Powder yet again, and disappeared into the green flames. A few moments later, his parents followed him down the grand staircase, and there was a popping noise as the two of them Apparated.
On Platform 9 3/4, the three of them met up. For a moment they stood on the platform, staring at the train as it stood, wreathed in smoke. The silence of the three of them was lost in the loudness of the platform, as children hurried towards the train, first years tearfully hugged their parents, and owls hooted in the din.
Draco could have sighed in frustration at his family's silence, but he kept it to himself. He shifted his trunk so that he was hold it more carefully, and began to walk towards the train. When he was a few paces away, he turned, and in response to his glance, his father nodded, as did his mother, both their faces without the hint of a smile.
As he stepped onto the train, he glanced back to see them standing near each other, the only two unmoving figures in the bustling station. Although he wasn't sure, he thought he heard his mother call, "Watch out for her, Draco!"
---
While other students spent the train ride discussing their summers and entertaining each other with stories, Draco spent his gloating silently. While his home was a place where his parents controlled him and dictated every moment, school was a place where Draco could be in control. True, teachers did try and tell him what to do, and there were rules that he had to pretend to obey, but the other fifth-year Slytherins, namely Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson, listened to not the Headmaster or school rules; to them, Draco was the leader, and he made the rules.
As the train rushed past muggle homes and sweeping landscapes, Draco reclined in his compartment, smirking, soaking up each moment of remembering that in this situation, he was the one with the power.
"Had a nice summer, Draco?" simpered Pansy Parkinson, finally glancing at him with idolizing eyes and not staring at her perfectly-manicured red nails.
"Yeah, Parkinson," he replied lazily, a half-smile making his gray eyes sparkle with a wicked twinkle. Pansy grinned when he addressed her. She didn't realize that he wasn't smirking because she had spoken to him; he was glad because he had finally escaped it all – his parents, their rules, and for the moment he had even forgotten the dreaded event his parents were dragging him to.
---
They were about half-way to Hogwarts when Harry saw a familiar face outside his compartment. He slid back the glass door and suck his head out, staring, confused, at the bright pink hair and the disheveled form walking down the corridor.
"Tonks?" he asked as they passed. "Professor?"
"Potter," replied Mad-Eye gruffly as a greeting.
"What are you two doing here?" asked Harry.
"This was your idea," Tonks reminded him, and she winked. "Just pretend you don't know anything that's going on."
The two of them looked ready to go, but Moody stopped Tonks from walking as though he had just remembered something.
"Potter, do you still have that map that Lupin mentioned?"
"Yeah," replied Harry.
"Could we perhaps borrow it?" growled Moody, his blue eye swiveling to look through the compartment door, perhaps trying to locate the map.
"Alright. . ." Harry replied. He ducked into the compartment, ignoring Neville's questioning glance, pulled down his trunk, opened it, dug through it for a moment, and finally pulled out the map. Upon returning to the door, he handed the folded, apparently-blank parchment to Moody, who thanked him. Without another word, the two of them continued down the corridor, then found an empty compartment. Harry heard the door close. Moody preformed a difficult charm, and suddenly it appeared, through the glass, that the compartment was empty. Harry sighed, shook his head, and returned to his compartment.
"What was that?" asked Neville, glancing up from his Mimbulus mimbletonia plant.
"Nothing," replied Harry, sliding the door to the compartment closed and sitting down. "I just thought I saw someone I knew." Neville nodded and returned to staring at his plant. Luna was silent, apparently absorbed in her magazine.
Harry sighed as he stared out the window, wishing that he could tell Ron and Hermione just how worried he was that his plan would go wrong at the expense of his friends. But they weren't there; the two of them had gone to the prefect's carriage, so he was left, sitting with Neville and Luna, dwelling on the possibility that his plan could go wrong.
---
When the train finally stopped and the doors opened, two boys, from opposite ends of the train, wearing opposite school colors, both looked upon the far-off castle gratefully. To both Harry and Draco, school promised something their homes could not; for Draco, a place where he made his own decisions, where there was the promise of excitement and adventure; to Harry, Hogwarts was a place where he belonged, where his true family lived. The two both entered separate carriages, and sat silently among their friends, savoring separate feelings of belonging and freedom.
---
The Sorting and the following feast passed without event, and afterwards the students went to their dormitories, thinking thankfully of the soft beds and thick blankets that awaited them.
Draco, however, wasn't tired. Although the clock of Hogwarts was chiming eleven o'clock, and most students, exhausted from the long trip, were heading to their beds, Draco finished unpacking, and then wandered to the Slytherin Common Room. Pansy and a few of her friends were lounging on the black leather couches in front of the emerald flames of the enchanted fire. She smiled at him, and looked prepared to leap up from her seat, mid-conversation, but Draco simply nodded in response and turned and left the Common Room.
As he was walking towards the exit, he spotted Crabbe and Goyle. They didn't notice him, and he preferred it that way.
He didn't normally walk through Hogwarts alone; he preferred to swagger around with the assurance of his safety from his two minion-like friends. But there was something calming about quiet Hogwarts. When he left his Common Room and stepped into the cold of the dungeons, he paused to listen to the silence. Smirking slightly at the power he felt as the ringleader of the Slytherins, he confidently began to wander through the school, feeling so indestructible that even the threat of finding Filch and detention or any other punishment seemed ridiculous and improbable.
Walking through Hogwarts was something so different and alike to walking through the Crooke House; both were littered with magical trinkets and both had an age about them, but it was Hogwarts that had a catching feeling of possibility, of endless adventures to be had and endless chances.
Unlike his house, Hogwarts was a place where Draco didn't feel like he was constantly insulting or embarrassing his father or his name. Hogwarts was a place of freedom to him.
As he was walking through the corridor, however, he suddenly heard footsteps. And just as quickly as Hogwarts had made him feel invincible and anticipatory, the sudden possibility of conflict abruptly returned him to reality.
As much as he hated to admit it, Draco was frightened; in the darkness of the hallway, the footsteps he heard could be those of Filch, waiting to catch him and put him in detention. He knew the caretaker, knew that he couldn't use his name or his influence to escape detention. Or perhaps it was another teacher, a muggle-loving one like McGonagall who wouldn't hesitate to take points away from Slytherin and make him feel, once again, a disappointment.
For a moment, Draco cowered in the shadows, disgusted at his own fear that fueled the rapid beating of his heart and made his breath sound hurried and loud in the silence. He stood, too frightened to move, fearful of being caught by his imaginary pursuer. However, as he listened apprehensibly, he suddenly heard a quiet, "Oh!" and then a loud crashing noise.
Confused, he strode down the corridor, his heart still beating quickly from his fear, and slowly opened the door at the end of the hallway. Looking out, he saw that the stairs were now covered with heaps of newly-washed girl's clothing, that was strewn across the stairs as though someone had just dropped their suitcase. As he glanced cautiously up the stairs to see who had been clumsy enough to drop their entire suitcase, he found himself staring at a girl whose presence surprised him and intrigued him.
"Marie?" he called, wondering if it was truly her.