Ah super fast update! Hopefully this will make up for me having not updated in so long…
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The ride to King's Cross Station was fairly long, Ron kept elbowing Hedwig's cage on accident and she kept screeching at him; by the time they had unloaded onto their trolleys it was twenty till 11:00.
Ministry officials were waiting for them at the entrance, disguised as muggles of coarse, assigned to guard Harry until they arrived on the platform, and led them through with a few "oohs" and "aahs" from some of the wizard kids at the sight of Harry.
Hurriedly they made their way through the masses of muggles and onto the platform with less than four minutes to spare, by which the officials had dispersed themselves, Harry breathed a sigh of relief. And while Ron and Hermione were receiving farewells and instructions on Harry's safety from Molly, Harry took the opportunity to pull Mr. Weasley out from the crowds and into a semi-secluded space.
"Hey now Harry what's wrong? No need to be anxious I'm sure you'll be treated very well," Mr. Weasley said as Harry turned to him.
"Well yes and that's all fine and all but I really need you to do something for me, well both you and Kingsley if you both can manage it."
"Oh? What is it?" Arthur asked him curiously.
"You see I ran into Lucius Malfoy the other day, at Flourish and Blotts."
Mr. Weasley's ears turned a shade of red at the mention of Lucius, his long hated work associate. "Well I should suspect he wouldn't be one to play by the rules but does he actually think that his son will win you over?" he said half to himself.
"So you know about Malfoy being in the competition?" Harry inquired as Mr. Weasley's ears turned even more tomato-red.
"Well you really aren't supposed to know yet, but Draco Malfoy is in the competition representing our wizarding world."
Harry nearly blanched. "But I thought there would be no 'official' competitor for the wizarding world."
"Well yes normally there wouldn't be, not that anything about your situation is normal mind you, but you see there was a formal meeting where all the participants signed a magical contract saying that they would abide by the official rules and Dumbledore mention that there should be one. The minister declared that Malfoy would serve as the best human representation of our world, but if you ask me I believe Fudge panicked and said practically the first name that came to his mind."
"Draco isn't the type to put up with creatures," Harry stated.
"Well he may not be however believe me when I say that you are the most valuable thing on this planet right now and well worth the Malfoy's trouble. But it's best you keep your eye out. If I know Lucius they'll try anything to gain the advantage, or get you alone, you best keep Ron and Hermione with you at all times."
"Actually that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about Mr. Weasley. I was wondering, Lucius told me that the ministry will decide on who I'll marry if I don't choose anyone, I need to know if he was lying to me or not."
"Marry you off? Without your consent? I haven't heard anything like that around the office, but if you want me to I'll keep an eye and an ear out for you and I'll ask Kingsley to do the same. If we hear of anything I'll contact you."
"Thank you sir," Harry said gratefully as Arthur gave him a pat on the shoulder.
Mr. Weasley led him back to where Molly, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were; he hugged Mrs. Weasley goodbye and they all boarded the train.
The train carts were nearly full by the time Harry, Ron, and Hermione had gotten to them, Ginny ran off to sit in her usual cart with Luna, but eventually they found an empty one and loaded their trunks onto the top compartments.
They hadn't settled down for five minutes when Neville, along with Seamus and Dean opened their compartment door and peered inside.
"Harry, Harry is it true?" Seamus asked eagerly trying to move the other two out of the way.
"Yeah Harry tell us," Dean added as he pushed past Neville.
"What?" Harry asked as he saw poor Neville being squished in between his rowdier roommates.
"You're an Ancient, is that right?"
"Yeah that's right," Ron interjected as he stood from his bench. "and I'm in charge of protecting him." Ron looked so proud in front of his roommates.
"Oooooh, so I guess we all have to watch out for you now ey Ron? Gonna beat us up if we go near Harry?"
Ron looked down at them and was opening his mouth for a comeback when Hermione got their first. "Yes we're in charge of looking after Harry now if you all don't mind he's got a lot of things to think about at the moment so he doesn't need you all badgering him."
"Well actually Hermione it kind of helps a bit," said Harry.
"Yeah, lighten up 'Mione," Ron agreed.
"Oh, oh alright," Hermione agreed, "but just one of you can stay, Harry's gotten enough attention now and he doesn't need to draw anymore; that way he can fill you all in later."
"I'll stay," both Seamus and Dean tried to say at once.
"Well that settles it," said Hermione, "the person who'll stay will be Neville."
The two in the doorway reluctantly stood by and let Neville into the compartment. Neville, thankful to have some breathing space, took the bench opposite Harry, next to Hermione.
Just after the two had left, mainly due to Hermione's threatening glares, something like a smoke bomb exploded down the train hall. Immediately Ron and Hermione stood, instructing Harry to stay where he was, much to Harry's irritation.
"Look after him Neville," Ron said as he and Hermione both dashed out of the cart to settle the commotion. They may have been Harry's guardians, but they were still Hogwarts prefects and were therefore in charge of the safety and well being of the smaller students.
Not two minutes after they left the sound of footsteps resounded in the hallway leading up towards Harry and Neville's cart.
Neville, believing it to be Ron and Hermione returning, nearly leapt out of his seat when the compartment door swung open suddenly to reveal a Pansy Parkinson and two gorillas Crabbe and Goyle.
"Hello Potter," Pansy smirked as she sauntered up to him.
"What do you want Pansy?" Harry asked irritable, getting up from his seat.
"Oh I just wanted to register my congratulations on being an Ancient, they are the most rare and powerful beings of all," she said as she moved her body directly into his personal space. "and, to give you some advice."
At that moment Neville moved, but before he could even get off his chair he found himself pinned by the arms of both Crabbe and Goyle.
"Oh?" Pansy looked back at the struggling Neville, "It seems like our presence isn't wanted in your little, precious, Gryffindor gang. Good then I'll keep this short. You see, Harry, that Slytherin House and all the purebloods in it support Draco Malfoy, and we're here to… persuade you to choose him. However," she said now so close to Harry she was practically straddling him, "if you were to, say, 'become friendly' with another," her nails reached up to Harry's collar bone and raked them harshly down his chest, "you might just find that we are more than capable of taking what we want by force."
Harry reached up and snatched her hand mid-scratch, "And I believe that you'll find out that we Gryffindors are more than capable of taking care of ourselves."
Pansy giggled slightly before suddenly slapping Harry in the cheek, hard enough for the Gryffindor to let go of her wrist.
"Don't shoot the messenger sweetheart, I was just relaying what Draco told me to tell you. Well you Gryffindors did have no manners, or sense." She turned towards Crabbe and Goyle who were now holding a very red-faced, struggling Neville, "come on you both, it seems our generosity in delivering the message is clearly not welcome here."
As if on command both Crabbe and Goyle slammed Neville into the back of the seat making his head flip back, and followed Pansy out of the compartment and back towards the Slytherin side of the train.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked Neville as soon as they were out of earshot.
"Yeah, neck hurts a bit but I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm fine as well," Harry held up his hand to cool the red mark left on the side of his cheek.
"Geez Harry, are you going to be alright this year?"
Harry looked out the train window to see the castle's loom come into view, and then at Neville's face and for the first time felt a certain uncertainty was over him, "I don't know."
This I think is a pretty good chapter, I tried to explore a little bit more into Pansy and her inner bitchiness… Hope you liked the quick update =)