The Hogwarts Express rolled across the European landscape with haste and intention, grinding against the tracks below it with an angry rhythm. It was raining but the heat of the summer still clung to the air, causing the windows to fog with precipitation. Inside of the cabins students with magical abilities prepared for another year at the academy that trained them for the use of witchcraft and wizardry. Without quite realizing it, they were beings that existed on the fringe of perceptible reality, able to draw from the energy of the universe around them.
The back of the train was mainly inhabited by the most uncouth of them all. The Slytherin House typically clustered there to send resentful sneers at each other and toss around snide remarks.
Draco Malfoy had his head planted firmly against the glass in isolation, watching the green landscape slide by. He was without a doubt in an aggravated mood. The school had conformed to new standards released by the Ministry of Magic, which bluntly required an extension of educative curriculums, meaning he had to stay at Hogwarts until he was almost twenty. The decision of the academy to push it's number of school years to nine had been unbelievably unfair, in his opinion. He'd almost been finished when they'd announced it in his sixth year, now he was starting his eighth year.
The large open cabin at the back was rowdy and obnoxious, consistently distracting him from his thoughts. It had been a long and defeating summer at the Malfoy Manor. With the dark lord slowly rising back to power, he'd been forced by his family to join the Death Eaters in order to protect the entire household and appease Voldemort. The scalding dark mark on his arm never seemed to be forgiving of the pain, and no matter what efforts he made to remove the ink he was unsuccessful and burdened with it. As a result, he was under immense pressure to find ways to make Harry Potter vulnerable to failure in his fight against the dark lord.
On top of this he was under additional scrutiny to marry Astoria Greengrass, whom his father had selected as an appropriate pureblood choice to unify their families and produce an heir to the Malfoy Manor. She was to visit him at Hogwarts regularly in order to present opportunity to seal the deal. The entire affair produced feelings of hatred and resentment in him, as he could hardly stand her personality. She was needy and desperate, tended to scream when she was displeased, and acted immature in general. The idea of spending a lifetime with her in the Manor was horrifying at best.
It seemed for all the world that he would never find any form of true happiness. Everything was set, planned, organized for him far in advance and with none of his approval. He'd been raised like a sheep, groomed into a demonic and cruel character. His entire life was a cage.
The unnerving feeling of eyes on him suddenly drew his attention to the side. A girl with long blond hair that flowed in waves was peering at him over the top of a book that vaguely suggested how to translate French to English. Her golden eyes were fixated on him, running down his figure. When she looked up and caught his narrowed gaze, she dramatically blushed and buried her face behind the text. He simply dismissed it as arbitrary and returned his eyes to the foggy window, feeling lifeless inside.