Chapter 11

Disclaimer; same as previous

The summer spent at the orphanage was the same as any other she had experienced in one way, but completely different in another as that had been when she hadn't known what she was missing. She did now and that made it lonelier than usual.

She was in the good books with the matron as her behaviour had never been better. She hadn't been in this position since she was four. This was because she put a lot more effort into her chores, trying to forget the letters she had sent just a few weeks ago.

Try as she might she couldn't get the hurt and angry replies from the people she cared for out of her mind. So she threw herself into her chores, and into her summer homework, which she finished in record time. She knew her old textbooks from front to back, along with any extra books she had or found lying around.

Every now and again she snuck out, but the matron was unaware of this. She walked aimlessly around shopping centres, stole into concerts and wandered around the busy city. She even went to the zoo once, but that only brought her memories she would have to block out.

The reptile house was dark and warm, most of the inhabitants were dozing when she had walked in. the closest snake, a rattle snake, caught her attention. It looked back at her as she stood before it.

"Hello" no reply. Why would it you lunatic, she told herself.Recalling her last visit to the zoo she tried again, looking the snake dead in the eye she repeated her greeting. To her utter amazement the snake had bowed its head in reply and winked. Not a complete lunatic after all!

Sitting on her bed, Amy turned over the bland birthday card she had received from "the staff" once more. It had done nothing to raise her spirits. She was used to birthdays like this. What had she been expecting? She thought of Harry whose birthday would be in a couple of weeks and imagined him receiving presents and meaningful cards.

Suddenly, two owls swooped in through the open window. They jostled each other in order to give their package first. She took both from them and they swooped out. First the handsome eagle owl and then the owl she had recognised immediately as being from the school. She jumped as another school owl swooped in and landed gracefully as it could, owing to the fact that it carried a large, heavy-looking, rumpled package. It too, left as she took its cargo.

Curious, she opened the first letter. It was, of course, her school booklist. She was surprised to find that most of the books on the list were written by the same author; Gilderoy Lockheart.

As she read the second letter she couldn't help but smile. It was the one delivered by the handsome eagle owl.

Dear Amy,

I'm writing to you to wish you a Happy Birthday.

I hope you like the gift, though it is only a small trinket really.

I am looking forward to seeing you on the first of September, though I wonder if it would be possible for us to meet up in Diagon alley to purchase our school things together on the 30th of August.

Hoping you are well,

Draco Malfoy.

Enclosed in the envelope was a small velvet pouch. Opening it she discovered a silver chain within. She examined the charm attached to find that it was a snake. The tiny silver serpent had a green stone for an eye. It was beautiful and obviously expensive. She hadn't expected birthday wishes from anyone, let alone Malfoy. Maybe this year at Hogwarts wouldn't be as bad as she had thought it would be.

She opened the last envelope after putting on the necklace, arranging the delicate charm that gleamed in the little dip of her collar bone carefully

Dear miss Prince,

I hope you are having a pleasant summer.

My present will, I hope, be a useful one. I have not forgotten that we shall be spending some evening's together working through your extra studies. Hopefully this shall give you a base upon which we shall build.

My best wishes on your birthday,

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

She practically ripped the shiny red paper off the big, oddly shaped parcel that the last letter had been attached to and gazed down at the two items within; the first was a very old book titled; Guide to Advanced Occlumency by Maxwell Barnett, and the second a chocolate frog.

She opened the second first, catching and biting the head off the delicious chocolate frog before it could escape and reading the card within, which had a picture and description of Merlin. She then wrote a thank you letter to the headmaster, expressing how much she was looking forward to the Occlumency lessons and then took out another sheaf of parchment, thinking carefully about her words before writing;

Dear Draco,

Thank you for the kind wishes and the present. It really is beautiful. I love it.

I'm looking forward to seeing you. I can't wait to be free of this place for another school year,

It would be nice to do our shopping together. Shall I meet you in the leaky cauldron?

Amy

She sent her owl off with both letters and got ready for bed before getting under the covers and opening her new book to the first page.

Ron's point of view

"I don't believe it! Harry, look! Look who Draco's with!" Ron had looked out the window of the apothecary only to have seen Draco Malfoy strolling around with none other than Amy Prince! He ran over to Harry and dragged him to the dusty window.

"I guess we know now what she meant by her own kind," He said bitterly, glaring out at the two Slytherins.

"Ron," Harry said, "Do you really believe what she said in her letters?"

"Of course I do! Don't you? All that crap she wrote seemed real enough to me."

"Crap, yeah. Maybe it was all crap. I don't know about you, Ron, but I don't think she meant any of that stuff. I think..."

"What? What do you think?" Ron asked sceptically.

"I think she was scared of something. What if she said all of that because something, or someone, made her?"

"What?" laughed Ron, "Do you think Malfoys put a spell on her or something? Hah! She said what she said because she's a Slytherin. It's like I've said from the very beginning. You just can't trust them."

"Maybe," said Harry. Ron went back to looking at all the foul ingredients lined up on shelves around the poky room. Secretly, he hoped he was wrong.

Amy's point of view

Amy waited for Draco in the inn on the morning of the 30th of August. She had gotten there early because she couldn't wait to prove to herself that the last year was not a dream or a hallucination.

When he walked in, she was surprised at how tall he had gotten. They made their way over, Draco with an air of veiled excitement, his father with disinterest.

"Amy," said Draco, "you remember father?" He said formally once she had stood to greet them.

"Of Course, it's nice to see you again Mr Malfoy." She said politely.

"Charmed Miss Prince." said Lucius, looking her up and down. He turned to hi son.

"Shall we?" Draco nodded and they left.

Mr. Malfoy left soon them to go down a side street and Draco seemed to relax slightly.

"So, where would you like to go first?" He asked.

"Gringotts?" She replied, as they walked by the apothecary.

After they went to Gringotts, where Amy went in as Draco already had his gold, they went into Madam Malkin's for Draco's new robes. (He really had become quite tall over the summer.) They then called into Flourish and Blotts. The shop was full to bursting point.

Gilderoy Lockheart, the man who had wrote most of their school books for the year was signing his works. Amy grabbed everything she needed while Draco went to the further bookshelves, looking for something in particular. Instead of waiting in line to get her books signed, Amy went straight up to pay and hurried to find Draco.

"I have to get out of here. The noise is awful. I'll meet you across the street?" Draco agreed and she left. She went over to the broom shop across the road where a couple of young boys were gawking in the window. She stood on her tippy toes to see what they were staring at.

It was beautiful; sleek, shiny, black and silver, the nimbus two-thousand and one. She just had to have one.

Dreamily, Amy walked into the shop and up to the counter. She put down her shopping and turned as the door opened behind her. Mr. Malfoy nodded to her and she returned his nod greeting with a small smile and turned back to the shopkeeper, who asked her how he could be of assistance.

"Could I see the new nimbus please?"

"Of course," He said, going to the window and taking the broom from its mantle, "Do you play Quidditch, miss?" He asked her, making conversation.

"I've never played, but I would like to." She replied. She had excelled in her flying training at Hogwarts. Madam Hooch had praised her balance.

Just then there was a resounding bang coming from the shop next door and the shopkeeper ducked. Items flew off shelves and Amy jumped onto the broom and managed to catch most of them; two broom handles, a tin of polish and a round red ball Amy recognized as a quaffle.

The dust settled and the shaken shopkeeper appeared from behind the counter again.

"Impressive." Came a silky voice from behind her. Lucius Malfoy didn't look like a man who was easily impressed.

"I wish to place an order for seven of these," He said to the shopkeeper with an air of authority, "Including one for Miss Prince."
"Mr. Malfoy, I really couldn't accept..."

"It's nothing," He said, cutting her off.

Outside the shop next door there was a slight commotion. Seamus Finnegan was standing there, looking startled. His face was black with soot. Amy suddenly knew what had happened. She suppressed a giggle as she overheard him say to Dean Thomas;

"For Merlin's sake! My eyebrows only just grew back! How could that have happened when all I did was drop it?"

Mr. Malfoy went to join Draco in Flourish and Blotts. Amy walked to the ice-cream parlour to wait. She couldn't believe she was getting a broom! She was really happy for what felt like a long time.

When the Malfoys appeared again Amy was surprised at what she saw. They looked as though they had been in a fight.

"What happened?" She asked, shocked by their dishevelled appearances. Lucius didn't answer but kept walking. He called to Draco over his shoulder that they were leaving.

"Yes, father," Draco said, before turning back to her.
"Potter really does love himself. He got himself a new buddy today."

"What?" She asked, immensely confused.

"Never mind," He replied. He was absolutely seething about something.

"We're going. Come on."

She followed him down the long alley towards the brick wall that was the exit. Anger was coming off of him in boiling waves. She thought better than to say anything at that moment. But she was incredibly curious as to what it had to do with Harry.

She headed back to the orphanage by taxi after a brief goodbye to the Malfoy's and, once there, packed her trunk with all her new school things, dumping out the rubbish and old things that had built up over the past term.

The train ride to Hogwarts seemed to take forever. Amy sat with Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. She had noticed that Crabbe didn't like her very much. He glared at her a lot. Draco didn't seem to notice, though. He didn't notice much about his cronies.

She had gotten into the compartment when it was empty and didn't really expect anyone to interrupt her solitude. But Draco had. After trying to start a conversation a few times he gave up and went for a walk with his bodyguards. Amy supposed they were off to bully the new first years.

She was quiet and subdues because she was worried. While getting on the train she noticed Hermione sitting alone. She had suppressed the strong urge to ask her where the other two were.

There was still no sign of them as she watched Ron's parents say goodbye to the rest of their children and stand looking up and down the train. They looked worried too, she had noticed. Her stomach dropped when the train's whistle had blown.

As soon as the three boys had left, she took out parchment and a quill from her trunk and wrote a quick note.

Dear Sir,

Harry and Ron not on train.

Amy.

She rolled it up and took Winnie from her cage. The owl swooped gracefully out the window.

The ride up to the castle was tense. She almost fell out of the invisibly drawn carriage as it pulled up at the large front doors. Running through the crowds of fellow pupils, she barely heard the complaints and shouts as she nearly knocked a few fifth years down.

Amy was one of the first to reach the Great Hall. Dumbledore was seated in his usual throne-like chair, along with the other students. Hagrid hadn't returned yet from bringing the new first years across the lake. She caught the headmaster's eye and he held her gaze for a moment then broke it and nodded to Snape who was also looking at him. Her uncle got up and walked out a side door next to the long teachers table.

Dumbledore looked back towards Amy and if her eyes had not fooled her, gave her a slight wink. She walked to the Slytherin table and sat in her usual seat, next to Draco. She spent the rest of the feast watching the door, waiting for Harry to come through it. He didn't. Hermione looked as worried as she felt.

It was a horrible feeling to have to sit in the middle of a pack of sneering Slytherins in Potions class, as they sniggered while Snape tormented various Gryffindors, particularly Harry and, to a lesser extent, Neville.

She was miserable. Her friends hated her. This self-sacrificing thing was definitely hard. It was driving her mad. She was becoming even more of a bookworm and spent most of her spare time in the library, reading, while avoiding Hermione. Amy had always liked to read, the intricate plots of her favourite books had provided her with an escape from her mundane existence in the orphanage. The matron had strongly approved of her hobby and encouraged it by taking her to the local library to become a member.

That one small, happy memory of entering the big, quiet building for the first time mixed with the terrible loneliness she felt brought a tear to her eye. As it rolled silently down her cheek she looked up to find that three people were watching her, with three different reactions; Draco, staring with worry, his face paler than usual, Snape, his black eyes on hers like dark tunnels leading the way to a terrible and ancient pain and Harry, his green eyes bright with interest behind his round framed glasses.

Amy locked eyes with Snape and for a moment she couldn't look away, until he broke the gaze, seeming slightly out of breath...He soon went back to his taunting, but with less commitment than before. How embarrassing. She was just glad more people hadn't noticed. She swiftly wiped away the solitary traitor from her cheek and looked down at her notes. She felt her cheeks flushing red.

Snape's point of view

The poignant memory he had seen through her eyes had been very moving. Dumbledore obviously hadn't taught her occlumency yet, as he had promised him he would. It was too easy to break into her thoughts. They drew him in.

He delved deeper; she was an outcast just like him. She had done exceptionally well in almost every test she had ever taken. He saw the other children tease her and it made him surprisingly angry. He saw her hiding from the other orphans and reading her books in her room. He saw her; much younger, chatting to a snake in a sunny patch of grass .She was a parseltongue? That was unusual...but not impossible.

The Dark Lord was the only one Snape had known of, except for Slytherin himself. Dumbledore would find that very interesting. At last, after seeing her in a broom shop, catching an array of falling objects, he drew away out of her mind. There was so much sadness; too much for any twelve year old to have to bear. He attempted to focus on the lesson, but he knew his taunting of the Gryffindors was weaker than before.

Amy's point of view

"You think I should try out for the Quidditch team?" she asked, incredulous. Draco had walked up to her in the common room, where she was sitting by the marble fireplace, finishing her Potions essay. He had whispered to her that his father had told him all about what had happened in the broom shop.

"So that's why he bought my broom." She had been wondering at the cold man's act of kindness.

"I'm trying out," Draco said importantly, "And you should, too. Father never exaggerates about talent. Believe me." And she did believe him. Not just because of the small amount of time she had spent with the man, but also because of the look on Draco's face when he finished the sentence. For a moment, he let his guard down and became vulnerable. In a flash, though, the shield went up again. Amy agreed to at least try out for the team.

She was early for try-outs so she sat on a bench and waited. She had finished her week's homework; an essay for Snape on the importance of beetle eyes as a primary ingredient in sleeping charms, mastering of a bubble charm for Flitwick, practising transfiguring a thimble into a sherry glass for McGonagall and a foot long essay on mandrakes and their magical properties for Sprout. And it was only Wednesday morning.

When everyone had arrived, the try-outs commenced. Amy was the only girl trying out for keeper. This didn't go unnoticed and she could hear the catcalls as she got onto her broom and rose into the air. As Slytherins in general are very competitive, the atmosphere was intense. There was no fooling around. Everyone meant business.

The same boys who had jeered at her and made rude comments, as she had risen into the air and flew over to the goal hoops, were now shouting insults and cursing as she caught the quaffle again and again. Marcus Flint, the captain, was especially vigorous in his attempts to score against her.

She felt invigorated. Powerful. She knew that Mr. Malfoy had bought Draco's way into the team with the brooms, and probably hers too, but he needn't have bothered. She watched as Draco got the snitch again and again.

She turned and looked into the stands to where some of the other Slytherins had sat to watch. They were all looking at the seeker try-outs, apart from one; Vincent Crabbe was staring at Amy with a look of pure hatred and jealousy. When she got back to the common room in her pyjamas after a long shower, she sat by the fire to let her hair dry, while reading ahead for transfiguration.

Draco came over and sat on the armchair closest to her. They sat in comfortable silence as she ran her fingers through her hair to get rid of tangles.

She wasn't aware of the fact that as she was engrossed in her text book he was watching the warm light of the fire set her dark red hair aglow. It made him feel peaceful to sit near her in such a peaceful moment.

The run in with Harry, Ron and Hermione a few days later was painful. Hermione had looked right at her when she had spoken about them buying their way in. she had felt proud of herself when she and Draco had been told they had made the team, even if it had something to do with the new brooms they all carried. At least Draco's father had gotten her onto the team because he had been impressed with her talent.

When Draco had called Hermione a mud blood, Amy couldn't help but react. Her sharp intake of breath and involuntary step forward had caught Harry's attention.

When Ron began to puke up slugs, she made to walk towards them in shock, not knowing what she was going to say or do, just reacting, but was stopped by Draco grabbing her arm. Harry was looking and his eyes narrowed as he took in what he saw. She wondered how he would interpret it and felt that she had messed up terribly.

Draco, while still sniggering at what had just happened, still didn't miss the opportunity to bring up her reaction once the rest of the team were walking a little further ahead as they headed onto the pitch.

"What was all that about?" He asked. "I thought you wanted nothing more to do with them?" she assured him that she didn't, making the excuse that she was reacting to Ron casting a spell their way and that she didn't particularly like the word he had spat at Hermione, letting a little annoyance seep into her tone.

She didn't think he believed her. He knew that she was more upset than she let on about severing ties with her former friends and he had immediately come to the conclusion that there must have been a bad argument from which she had come out the worse. But he was forced to let it go as practice began