Draco Malfoy Promises To Be A Good Boy This Year

Part Three

Slytherin Shame

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Early on the morning of September 1st, I was dragged out of bed by an unseen force. "Gerroff me…lemme alone…" I was so intelligent in the morning.

It was Ron. "Get up, you bloody git! We're going to Hogwarts." He dragged me out of my bed and I landed with a thump. Maybe he was glad to be getting rid of me. Well, that's what he thinks! "Mum wondered if you could go wake up Ginny. She's anything but a morning person and we're all afraid she'll kill us." He grinned at me.

"So you want me to get killed instead?"

"Hey, you're the one who's going to be waking up next to her for the rest of your life!"

I flushed and picked myself up off the floor, trying to regain some of my lost dignity. "Very well, then." I sauntered haughtily down a flight of stairs and into Ginny's bedroom. Once I was there I lost all my class. I lay down on the bed next to her and practically begged her to get up. "Sweetie…wakey wakey time!" I was a desperate man. This woman did not want to budge.

She groaned and tried to shove me off. It was going to be a long seventy years.

After sweetly coaxing for about seven good minutes, I was ready to start the day. "Okay Gin, as fun as this is, I'm going to do this the hard way." I threw off her covers, hauled her into my arms the best I could, and proceeded to head out of the room and down the stairs. I'm surprised I hadn't fallen down the stairs by now, despite how little Ginny was. "I'm going to dunk you in the tub!"

"You wouldn't dare!" she squeaked. At least I had her attention now.

I ended up dumping her on the sofa and sitting on her. "Good morning, sunshine."

"Grrrrr…" she glared, which turned into a giggle. Thus, the princess awakened.

The rest of the morning is nothing much to mention. We ate breakfast, double-checked that our trunks were packed, made sure Ginny didn't have anything that once belonged to Tom Riddle in any shape or form, and stopped Nathaniel from eating my socks. Maybe he had Ron's intelligence and not Hermione's.

Somehow, we all piled into Mr. Weasley's new Muggle car and we sped off for King's Cross Station. We were stopped at about four red stoplights on the way. At this point, I leaned out one of the windows, pulled out my wand, and prepared to blast the irritating specimen of Muggle existence.

Mrs. Weasley pulled me back in the car. "That will be enough of that! If we can make it to the station without destroying something I will be a very happy woman!" She already had to stop Fred and George from trying to transfigure a squirrel as we drove through a major metropolitan area. Her nerves were becoming shot. We were all a little magic-happy, having not been able to use any since last term.

" 'Top Light!" Nathaniel yelled.

"That's right, Nathaniel! 'Stop Light'!" Mr. Weasley loved Muggle things.

Somehow, even in the wake of chaos, we managed to make it through the barrier to Platform 9 ¾ and onto the train. There was a very teary exchange as Ginny held onto Nathaniel for dear life. "Nattie! Will I ever see you again?" She was a bit over-dramatic, but I knew how she felt.

Nathaniel let us all give him kisses, but burst into tears as soon as Ginny and I were on the train. "Gin! Dra!" He howled. Poor Mrs. Weasley. Just when she thought she was getting rid of all her kids.

Ginny leaned her head out of the compartment window and her mother and father both kissed her. "Be a good girl, Pumpkin," Mr. Weasley said. "Remember to avoid anything suspicious!"

"I will, Daddy!" She tearfully waved goodbye to them as the train started to pull out with a long blow on the whistle. "Goodbye Mum! Goodbye Daddy!"

I put an arm around her and waved too. "Thank you for everything!" I had this sinking feeling that I might never see them again.

*****

We settled into our compartment. This was very odd for me. The last time I was on this train, I was lying in the hallway outside the 'Potter And Company Compartment' with spines all over my body, completely out cold. Now I was on the inside, Ginny's head on my shoulder. She was still sniffling a little bit. It was hard for her to leave home. Ron said she always had a hard time, especially her first year. And now she was leaving Nathaniel. I stroked her hair. "Don't be so sad, Gin. We'll see him a lot. There's always the holiday breaks. And your mum said she would bring him by from time to time. You're still his mum."

Hermione shook her head. "I still can't get over that…" She was sitting awfully close to Ron. I quirked an eyebrow. What was up with those two? They were two of the weirdest characters I had ever met.

I sighed. I often got caught up in domestic bliss. It was such a strange and warm feeling for me. But I realized that Nathaniel was not exactly ours. We were just kids and we were supposed to be having fun and not worrying about some baby brat. I smiled. "Cheer up, Ginny. We're going to school, where we're almost completely free!" Not completely free…the only place I ever felt free was in the Chamber of Secrets. NO! We would not go down that road again.

Ginny sat up and smiled at me, brushing away tears. "I'm happy, really. I love Hogwarts. It's just been a strange summer."

I squeezed her hand. "I'll say."

She suddenly brightened. "Draco! Introduce me to your friends, will you?"

I started. "My friends? You mean…the Slytherins?"

"Of course. I want to meet them."

Harry gave her a look. "You don't want to meet them." What did that look mean? He was looking at Ginny almost hungrily, as if he didn't want her out of his sight.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not like I would let them hurt her! But I'm not sure if you really want to meet them, Ginny. They might not really understand."

"Well, I'll make them understand! I'm sick of all of them pretending like they're so great and being so rude to everyone." She jumped up and headed out of the compartment, her hair flying.

Harry jumped, reaching out a hand at her retreating back. "No! They'll do something bad to her." He glared at me and I glared back. "You don't mean to tell me that you trust them?"

I shrugged. "Maybe you're the one I shouldn't trust." I got up to follow Ginny.

As I walked out I could hear Ron mutter. "You can never quite tell whose side that bloke is on…"

*****

I picked my way down the corridor, peering in at people through the doors, looking for Ginny or the Slytherins. "Hello. Oh, sorry there. Have you seen any of the Slytherins? Didn't mean to disturb. Pardon me." I received so many funny looks. True, I didn't sneer at them and I was polite, but was I that different? I wasn't always cruel just to be cruel. Was I?

I finally heard some kind of commotion down the way. I heard screaming. "Ginny!" I belted it down there and burst into one of the compartments. "Pansy! Let her go!" Pansy Parkinson was standing there, laughing her head off, while Millicent Bulstrode had Ginny pinned to the floor of the train. Ginny was screaming at the top of her lungs. I then saw that Millicent was twisting her feet. "NOT HER FEET!!" I screamed. I flung myself into the great ox of a girl and sent her sprawling off of Ginny. Ginny described my action later as 'Draco Malfoy, Human Torpedo'.

Pansy pouted. "But Dracie! She came bursting in here and tried to shake our hands and exclaimed that she wanted to meet all of your friends! The little Gryffindor was obviously lost, so we decided to remedy that." She pouted out a very pink lower lip. "After all, she must be insane. How could she think you would really be friends with such a little sprout of a girl?" She nudged the fallen Ginny with her foot. "She's a Potter Package. Send her on back." She crossed her arms and stuck her nose in the air.

I would have smacked her if she had been a boy. Even so, I still wanted to. "Have some manners, Parkinson," I seethed. "This one is off-limits." I pulled Ginny up and wrapped my arms around her protectively.

She gawked at me. "Have you snapped, Dracie?"

I gave her my best haughty look. "I would prefer being called 'Mr. Malfoy', if you please."

She shook her head. "To think I ever thought you were cute. You're a despicable excuse for a Slytherin!" Her eyes blazed. "You just wait 'till we get to school…you'll be sorry! No one leads me on and lives!"

"Lead you on? I didn't lead you on!" I was outraged.

"You took me to the Yule Ball, didn't you? You're mine now, Dracie, and you can't change that. So don't even try, or you'll be sorry!"

I smirked. "We'll see, won't we." I let out a cold laugh and turned to go, holding onto Ginny.

As for Ginny, she turned to them, and getting a little bit of that spunk back now that the pain had died down, she gave them a little wave. "Buh-Bye!" She took off down the corridor, limping slightly. Damn that Millicent for touching those feet!

*****

Once we were out of Slytherin range, we found an empty compartment of our own. I had her sit on the seat and I pulled off her shoes and examined her feet. "Did she hurt you? What were you thinking?"

She glared out the window. "I don't know. It was dumb…I just had this feeling that I would be accepted since I'm your girlfriend now. And they're your friends."

"Those ones are not my friends. Pansy is the one Slytherin you really have to look out for. The others are too loyal to me to ever do anything to you. But Pansy is ruthless."

"I'm not scared of her, Draco! I'm not a child! I'll be fourteen in November."

"I know. But you're small and good. They're large and bad. Even I'm afraid of Pansy," I admitted with a laugh. "And everyone is afraid of Millicent!"

She laughed slightly. "I'm not worried. I'll try to stay clear. I would rather not be killed. I was just trying to be friendly."

I lay down on my stomach on the seat across from her. "I like it when you're friendly." I gave her a naughty look. "Want to play Truth or Dare?"

"Shush it, Draco!" She rolled over on her seat, laughing at my expression.

I gave into the fun of spending time with Ginny as I tried to push bad feelings out of my head. It's just as well this happened, since it was inevitable and I wouldn't have to dread it now. Maybe Pansy would just leave Ginny alone. And the other Slytherins would be with me…right? I shook my head. Who cares, anyway? I'm being good this year, and that was a solemn promise made to the princess of The Burrow! I tackled Ginny. Hurrah for the new school term!

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