Draco Malfoy had said his goodbyes for the year to his father and mother and boarded the Hogwarts express for his second year. Though it felt like the hundredth time he had seen the bright crimson train.
The train had always been a sticking point with the young Slytherin. On one hand, it was a tradition for Hogwarts, having been in place since his own father had been in the school, but on the other hand, the steam locomotive was a muggle invention. Why was it that they had to use such slow means of transportation when magic could have gotten them there in less than half the time. He supposed that the real reason for it was to give the first years a chance to create some sort of bond before they reached the front gates, but that always carried the risk of them making friends with the wrong sorts and finding themselves on opposite sides when they finally managed to get to the school. For everyone else, it was an annoying and unnecessary commute.
Malfoy's normal cohorts, Crabbe and Goyle were two steps behind him, with Goyle holding onto Malfoy's luggage, as they moved through the hall of the train. They were early and there were plenty of empty seats, but the ones closer to the front of the train were the first to be visited by the snack trolly, and the sooner Crabbe and Goyle had something in their mouths the sooner they would keep quiet.
They were around four cabins away from the front and it was starting to look as though other had the same idea as them. Thus forcing Crabbe and Goyle to fall back on their backup plan; bullying someone out of there compartment and taking it. Malfoy went along with it, less because of personal caring then in order to maintain control over the other two.
The compartment they choose to target had a few small voices making a good deal of noise behind it. The guess was that it would be first years, gullable, oblivious and easy targets for pressuring. And while when the door opened, he did indeed see someone he didn't recognize, a probable first year girl with long orange hair worthy of a Weasley and shiny brown eyes, she was being surrounded by miniature fairy like creatures that the boy had never seen before, each one talking to the girl or arguing amongst each other as she smiled and watched them.
Hearing the door open, the girl turned to them and gave them a greeting smile and a bow of the head. "OhayĆ gozaimasu, would you like to join us?" She said. Malfoy frowned.
His father, being a politically important person, had been visited by Japanese people in the past, and as his son, Draco had to learn the common forms of respectful speech that they were to exchange, as well as how to properly address there compony. So he recognized the formal form of the expression, 'good afternoon', when the girl said it.
She didn't look all that Japanese. Perhaps she was the daughter of an ambassador and had simply learned the expression to the point of a knee jerk reaction, or she was half Japanese herself, she did have an accent. Though this wouldn't explain the small creatures that swam around the room.
"Hey!" Goyle said in his dumb voice in order to get her attention, it seeming not to have penetrated his thick head that she was already looking straight at them. Crabbe's eyes were looking with a sneer at the small creatures that flouted about. Malfoy supposed that he didn't like them. Understandable, since Malfoy himself hardly tolerated lesser beings unless they made themselves useful and stayed mostly out of sight, like the House Elf his family had. "What are you doing up here? First years sit at the back of the train. Didn't anyone tell you that?"
That was a lie of course, there was no such rule and by the way the boy was trying to make himself look even bigger, and by consequence stupider, it was clear to even the most passive observer that he was really just trying to throw the girl out.
That said, the girl herself seemed rather oblivious to this fact. "Really? I hadn't heard of that." She said tilting her head and putting a finger to her lips. "Was that detail supposed to be in the letters? I can't imagine the first year students could know about it any other way. Unless they had family tell them."
"Doesn't matter if you heard about it or not! Just get to the back! This is our compartment." Crabbe said, seeming to be unaware that all the small flying creatures were glaring at them.
The girl blinked at them but didn't stop smiling. Why the hell did she keep smiling? Girl must be destined for Hufflepuff. "Oh, I'm not a first year. I'm transferring into the second year. But if you want to sit here with me then there is plenty of room."
A transfer student? Such things were rare, but not unheard of. Her parents must have come from Japan and needed to stay in Britain for an extended time for such a thing to be necessary. Meaning it was probably something important. Either that or she was about for the cultural experience, though it was rare for anyone to seek magical training outside of there home country. Malfoy vaguely remembered his father discussing this point with other pure bloods who had jobs in education in France.
"Take a hint girly, this is our compartment, now how about you..." Crabbe started, taking a step forward through the door only to be dive bombed by three of the small creatures. He yelped as a girl one with pink hair kicked him in his oversized forehead while two male ones, a bold one and one dressed in black grabbed his ears and dragged him back out of the compartment.
"Why don't you guys just get lost if you don't feel like being friendly!" The pink one shouted, sticking out its tongue at the Slytherins. The others gathering up behind it so that the seven of them seemed to make a wall between the boys and the girl.
"Orihime-sama offered you a chance to be civil, but you clearly were not raised properly." The bald one said. Malfoy went from being only slightly peeved about the small creatures assaulting one of his groupies to standing stone cold still.
"Guys, you real don't have to." The girl said gently to the small creatures. "I'm sure we can all just be friends."
"Orihime-sama, you really need to learn to recognize when people are insulting you." A blond creature with a long pony tail said.
"Look here you little..." Crabbe started as Goyle recovered from the shocking attack. But Malfoy stepped in before he could say anymore.
"Crabbe, Goyle." He said sharply, signaling to both to shut up as he stepped in front of them. Then, looking past the sprites, he gave a bow at the waist to the girl, shocking his friends. "Gomen-nasai, I'm afraid that my friends are overly anxious about returning to our school. I hope that you can forgive their brash behavior." Malfoy said, thinking back to the lessons on Japanese edict he had.
The girl smiled again. "Its alright. I'm sure everyone is a little uppity right now. My old friends got this way all the time when they were about to go off on a job together." She said, her voice was still as reassuringly pleasant as before, as if she really hadn't noticed that the boys were trying to bully her. "Would you like to join me?"
"Thank you kindly for your offer, but I am afraid that my friend have forgotten that we need to meet up with some of our classmates before getting to school. But since we are all going to be in the second year, I am sure we will be seeing more of each other." Malfoy said before straightening up. "Until then, Himesama."
Malfoy grabbed Crabbe and Goyle and gave their robes a sharp tug, informing them that they were supposed to follow. He didn't notice the slightly confused look on the girl's face as he left. "Himesama?"
"Draco, why were you..." Crabbe said confused.
"Idiots... you idiots." Malfoy spat over and over again. "You just had to pick that girl's compartment didn't you."
"What's the problem? She's a nobody." Goyle said confused as to why they were getting such a reaction.
"A nobody? Did you not see the way she was dressed, the way she acted, did you not hear what those small creatures called her." Malfoy said quickly. "They were calling her Himesama, meaning Princess. That girl was Japanese royalty, you idiots!"
Both larger boy's eyes widened and their mouths loosely hung open. "I... I didn't know." Goyle managed to mumble.
"We can only hope that your bumbling hasn't caused irreversible damage to our families reputations." Malfoy said, he continued to steam about the encounter as he walked further and further away from the compartment in questions. He didn't even notice Hermione Granger and Genny, Fred, and George Weasley walking past him looking for seats.
"I wonder whats gotten into his britches." Fred said as he watched them go.
"I don't know, but I hope it stays there for a while. I do love to see him squirm." George commented as the twin red heads nodded in agreement.
I'm afraid I'm giving up on this challenge. I don't really like writing Orihime very much.
Someone else can try to continue if they want.
