A/N: Here's another chapter. Enjoy:))

Chapter 118: Train ride

Harry followed Zabini to the fifth year Slytherins' compartment, where Draco was sitting next to the door with his head on Parkinson's lap and while she was playing with his hair.

The door almost closed before he entered but he stopped it with his foot. Seeing that, Blaise furrowed his brows and slammed it shut. Draco mirrored his look. Luckily, Harry had already entered and carefully climbed on the luggage rack, hoping that the cloak was still covering him fully.

"What did Slughorn want?"

"From what I could see, he is creating some sort of club with talented kids or those whose parents know famous people. Potter was there, both of them, as well as Longbottom, the Weasley girl, that Belby kid..."

"He probably didn't know that I was on the train too, or I'm sure he would've invited me as well."

"I doubt that Dray. Your father is in Azkaban, remember?"

"Still.."

"Never mind, let's just get back to what we were talking about." Parkinson said, jumping in a sitting position and looking really concentrated. Harry had never seen her like that before. (He also had never seen her next to Draco and not looking at him like he was the only person in the world, but that is besides the point)

"You remember what I told you about Draco's scar?" Zabini groaned loudly at that, hitting his head on the bench.

"Don't start again with the soulmates Pans, please!"

"I'm not starting again, since we never finished our last conversation. Now, as I was saying, you have to have had known that she was your soulmate."

"She isn't, I told you."

"But do you know who it is?"

"Of course I do. And it's not her."

"You can't deny that she had the same scar as you, and you know that this is how it works with your kind."

"It was just a coincidence."

"With it being in the exact same place and appearing at the same time? I doubt that."

"She isn't. C'mon Pans, just drop it. You've been nagging me since the end of the school year."

"Yeah, but now you're trying to tell me that that huge wound magically disappeared after Pomfrey said it wouldn't."

"Well, magic is...magical."

"I hope you know that I won't let it go until you tell me."

"I know, but now's not the moment."

After about half an hour spent in relative silence, while Parkinson and Malfoy talked about their OWL results(and Harry was surprised to found out that the pug faced Slytherin passed everything) and the others either read or talked, the blonde started scratching his left forearm vigorously.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it just hurts sometimes. And I don't really want to know why, because it's probably nothing good."

"Do you think she got it too?"

"Who?" Malfoy looked confused at the girl.

"Your soulmate." He clenched his jaw and Harry could tell he was trying not to snap.

"I don't know but you should probably stop talking now because you're really starting to get on my nerves."

"Oh, you think I'm afraid Draco? I'll shut up, but just because you're in pain now. Measure your words next time though."

The Gryffindor was gobsmacked. Parkinson was acting like a completely different person. Every time she was in public, she was walking after Malfoy, listening to him and you had to be blind not to realize the massive crush she had on him. But here, in their little compartment, with only Slytherins, she was just acting like a sister, arguing with him and nagging him while still very obviously caring about him. It was rather unsettling, but even Harry and his thick head could figured out in that moment that the girl had been just playing a role in order to keep other girls away from her friend. Well was she a protective friend or what?

"Why would she be nervous though? We're still on the train, school hasn't even started yet."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your hands dumbass."

Malfoy looked at his arms, and Harry saw blue spots peeking out from under his sleeves.

"Hmmmm" he said and looked upwards, and the Gryffindor wrapped himself tighter in the cloak.

Shortly after that, they arrived at the Hogsmeade train station.

"You go ahead, I have something to do."

"Okay." After all of them left, the boy turned around and looked amused at the luggage rack.

"You can come out Potter, they left."

Slowly, Harry got down from where he was and put his cover back in his pocket.

"Spying on me? Tsktsk, and I thought we were getting along."

"You may have been an acceptable human being over the summer, but that doesn't change the fact that I still don't trust you. I don't understand why my sister does, or why my friends or the Order do, but I still don't. You can't fool me Malfoy; we both know that you got the Dark Mark under your long sleeves and even if you didn't want it, I don't think you are really against Voldemort or what he believes in. Because I saw how you acted all these years. Hence my lack of trust."

"Don't worry Potter, I can't stand you either. And you better stay out of my way. There's at least something you got right. You don't want to see what I'm capable of."

A few angering words and a couple punches later, and Harry was sporting a broken nose and Draco a busted lip. But they didn't have any time to fix their faces, because the train started moving. Both of them managed to jump off the train before it left Hogsmeade though, and headed to the castle.

Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, Hermione, Ginny and Selene were staring at the door, worried, while Ron was, as usual, stuffing his face with food.

"Will-you-stop-eating!" Mione whisper-yelled, smacking her friend with a book "Your best friend is missing."

"Yeah, but Harry always gets into trouble, he'll come back." As if on cue, the boy entered the hall, heading straight for the place where his friends were seated. When he got closer though, they realised that he had a bloody nose.

"What happened to you? And why are you so late?"

"Malfoy knew that I was in their compartment. I don't know how, but he did. And we started arguing, one thing led to another..."

"At least tell me you hit him too."

"Busted his lip."

"Good."

"Ron, how can you say that?"

"Come on Mione, we're talking about Malfoy here."

"Well, Draco and Harry shouldn't have started a fight in the first place, and you shouldn't be happy that he got hit."

Said boy entered the room that moment, but his lip was healed, as if it never met Harry's fist at all.

"Smug bastard."

"I have to tell you a lot of things when we get to the common room. They had a really interesting conversation back on the train."