A/N: My fifth chapter is up! It's twice as long as the others but it's really good. enjoy!

Chapter 5: Meeting Malfoy


The first thing that J.D. heard in the morning was Hermione's voice.

"Rise and shine, sleepy head!" Hermione said sounding way too energetic for that hour of the morning.

"What? Oh, Hermione it's way too early let me sleep!" J.D. complained.

"If you don't get up, you're going to miss breakfast." Seeing that this had no effect, Hermione tried a different approach, "Come on J.D., we have classes today. It's Care of Magical Creatures, Transfiguration, and Divi–" Hermione stopped. Knowing how J.D. felt about Divination, that probably was not going to get her out of bed. "Of course, I could just pour water on your face and pull you out of bed and then I would have to-"

"Alright, alright, I'm up. Sheesh! You English sure get up at the crack of dawn." J.D. said, stifling a yawn.

"And you Americans sleep forever, besides it isn't that early." Hermione waited as J.D. pulled on her new black Hogwarts robe.

"What's for breakfast?" J.D. asked as they walked down to the Great Hall.

"Oatmeal." Seeing the look on J.D.'s face she added, "Don't worry there's other stuff too."

When they finally got there, J.D. took the time to look around. She was very intrigued by the ceiling which, when she asked, Hermione told her was bewitched to look like the sky outside.

"And you can call me Herm, lot's of people do," she said.

"Nah, I don't like the sound of that. I'll call you Mya. You know, her-mya-nee." she said pronouncing it slowly.

"Well no one's called me that before, but I like it. Are you ready for classes? We have Care of Magical Creatures first. Oh, and we have it with the Slytherins, so be careful."

Of course, any mention of the Slytherins made J.D. think about Crystal. She was sitting next to that blond boy again and her eyes never left his face. J.D. didn't like that at all.

"Whose that blond boy over at the Slytherin table? The one next to my sister?" she asked Hermione.

"Oh, that's Draco Malfoy. You'll meet him in Care of Magical Creatures, but you'll probably wish you hadn't. He's the worst of all Slytherins. He's the Slytherin seeker, so he plays opposite Harry in Quidditch and no one from Gryffindor can stand him. He's really very nasty."

J.D. was dazed. This was the boy her sister was mixed up with? They may be in the same house, but J.D. was sure she did not want her sister associating with him. She decided to try and get her sister alone and talk some sense into her.

"So J.D., how do you like Hogwarts so far?" A boy who introduced himself as Neville Longbottom asked her.

"What? Oh, it's fine, I guess." J.D. wasn't really paying attention to the others.

"Do you play Quidditch, J.D.?" One of Ron's twin brothers asked her, she wasn't sure which one.

"Quidditch? Yeah I was Keeper at my old school." J.D. replied. 'Now how do I get Crystal alone,' she wondered.

"That's great!" Harry exclaimed, "You can try out for Keeper on the Gryffindor team."

"Huh, what? Oh, Quidditch, here? No that's okay, I'd rather not."

While J.D. was busy staring at the Slytherin table, Seamus Finnigan whispered to Harry and Ron.

"That new girl is weird. She's not even listening to us." said Seamus.

"She is a bit different. Just give her time, it's a new place for her," Harry whispered back.

"You have to admit Harry, she is not normal. You practically offered her a spot on our winning Quidditch team and she said no!" Dean Thomas remarked, "She has to be out of her mind."

"So she doesn't want to play, what's the big deal?" Harry asked.

"Most of the kids in this school would sell their soul for that opportunity!" exclaimed Seamus.

"You guys are making a big deal out of nothing. We'd better hurry or we'll be late for Care of Magical Creatures."

The Great Hall started to clear out and the students went to their classes. On her way out, J.D. made her way over to her sister.

"Crystal can I talk to you for a minute?" J.D. asked.

"J.D.? Sure, but make it quick, I've got Transfiguration." Crystal replied.

J.D. pulled her sister off to one side.

"Look Crystal, I'm not sure it's such a good idea for you to be hanging out with that Malfoy boy."

"You mean Draco? Why? There's nothing wrong with him and he tells the funniest stories."

"Crystal! He's bad news okay? Just stay away from him."

Crystal suddenly turned very cold.

"J.D. you can not tell me who I can and can't hang out with. That is not your job. Just stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours!"

With that Crystal ran off down the corridor, leaving J.D. standing all by herself. She slowly started walking until she realized that she had no idea where to go. What had Hermione said, Care of Magical Creatures was first, but where was it held? She kept wandering until she had reached a door that said, 'Staff Room'.

'Oh, thank goodness. Maybe some one in here can help me.' she thought.

Just as she was about to knock on the door, it opened and a man with dark greasy hair and a sallow complexion came out. (A/N: Come on, you knew that was going to happen, didn't you?) He stopped and stared at J.D. as if she was some kind of alien who had just beamed down from the mothership.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he asked nastily.

"My name is J.D. Miller, sir, and I was looking for my Care of Magical Creatures class. I'm new here you see and I do not know where it is held." she said all of this calmly and straightforward. J.D. could tell that this man was trying to intimidate her and she was not about to let that happen.

"J.D. Miller? I'm afraid that I am not familiar with that name. It wouldn't be Jasmine Miller, would it?"

"My given name is Jasmine, sir, but I go by J.D. However, I expect you are required to call me Miss Miller, which is also acceptable. I apologize in advance, but I refuse to respond to Jasmine. Now, could you please tell me how to get to my class, I am already late."

J.D. could tell that the man was both a little impressed and a lot annoyed by her speech. Some what at a loss for words he then said:

"Go out of the castle and across the grounds. The class is held at Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest," he regained some of his composure and said, "I assume I need not remind you, Miss Miller, that the Forbidden Forest is exactly as it sounds- forbidden."

"No sir you need not remind me. Thank you very much," J.D. walked away leaving the teacher somewhat stunned.


* * *

Harry, Ron and Hermione were starting to get worried. It was already a quarter of the way into Care of Magical Creatures and J.D. still hadn't showed up. They were just about to ask Hagrid if they could go look for her, when they saw her come running towards them.

"Ah, J.D. , there yeh are!" Hagrid greeted her cheerfully.

"I'm, sorry, Hagrid," she said gasping for breath, "I got lost."

Some of the Slytherins laughed. Ignoring them, J.D. walked over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione and took her place in front of a large box.

"Alright, J.D. we've been workin' with Kneazles. Now Kneazles are cat-like creatures an they are intelligent, independent, and occasionally aggressive."

"No wonder Hagrid likes them," Ron whispered to Harry. He nodded and the both turned to look at Malfoy, who as usual wasn't listening. Harry caught Hagrid's eye and sort of turned his head in Malfoy's direction. Hagrid got the idea.

"Malfoy! Are yeh listening? Last time this happened yeh were attacked by a Hippogriff and even though Kneazles aren't like Hippogriffs, I'm not takin' chances. If yeh aren't goin' to listen then you can't participate. That means, Malfoy, that yer grade is goin' to drop."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all grinned. It was still enjoyable to see Hagrid put Malfoy in his place. Malfoy was actually looking flabbergasted that he had been spoken to in that way.

"Where was I? Oh yeah, Kneazles can make great pets, if they take a likin' to yeh. They make excellen' guides if yer lost an' they can act as alarms, because Kneazles can detect suspicious behavior in people." With that sentence most of the Gryffindors turned to look at Malfoy, "Anyway, as yeh can see Kneazles have a strange lion-like tail which, when owned, the owner's got to shave off because they're unusual lookin'. Itll tell you all about Kneazles in your Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Now, I want everybody to pair off an study the Kneazles, an there'll be a prize for the pair who can list the most characteristics."

Harry and Ron teamed up over one Kneazle and J.D. and Hermione teamed up over another. They were just starting to describe the creatures, which were actually sort of cute, when Malfoy came over.

"What was the big idea, Potter? Are you trying to get me in trouble? You should know by now that that isn't a good idea. I'll get you back, and it'll be in a class where you aren't the pet." Malfoy said.

Knowing that Malfoy was referring to Potions, Harry could only swallow. A couple of hours in a dungeon with Snape was torture enough, but add to that a roomful of Slytherins and it was a nightmare.

Malfoy turned his attention to J.D., "Your name is Miller, right?"

"Yes." she replied.

"I've heard a lot about you from your sister. Why would you want to hang around with this bunch of losers? I've heard things about you, Miller. I could be your friend. You may be in Gryffindor, but you don't have to hang around with them. I could show you power."

There was a moments silence. Then J.D. spoke again in a voice like ice.

"I am only going to say this once Malfoy, so clean the junk out of your oversized ears and listen good. I will never be your friend. I will never help you. I want you to stay away from my sister, because like you said, just because you are in the same house doesn't mean you have to hang out together. I don't like you and I would prefer to spend the rest of my life alone then spend any of it with you."

Malfoy looked at her with pure hatred. "You're going to regret that. You and Potter made the wrong choices. You can not tell me to stay away from your sister. I will do as I please."

J.D. lost her temper. She didn't always have a good control over it any way, but the thought of her little sister hanging around a creep like that made her blood boil. She punched Malfoy with all of her strength right in the nose. He was totally unprepared for such an attack and fell hard onto the ground.

J.D. was lucky that the only people who saw her performance were Harry, Ron, Hermione and Malfoy himself. She might have been in real trouble if anyone else had seen. As it was, Malfoy yelling at the top of his lungs while his nose was bleeding heavily, was enough to attract a crowd. Hagrid came running over.

"Oh, not again. What happened?" Hagrid asked.

"Don't worry Hagrid, he wasn't attacked by the Kneazles. He just, uh, fell and hit his nose really hard." Ron quickly said.

"Oh, well we'd better get him up to the hospital wing, just to make sure he doesn't have a broken nose. Crabbe, Goyle, take Malfoy up to Madame Pomfrey."

"I'll make sure you're fired for this! I'll get that girl too--"

"Quit whinin'. It's only a bloody nose. Get him out of here." Crabbe and Goyle lifted Malfoy up and they made their way back to the castle.

"Alright, the rest of yeh, come on back to work, Malfoy'll be fine."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were staring, astonished at J.D. She smiled at them and went back to making observations. Knowing that they couldn't talk about it there without getting J.D. in trouble, they worked in silence for the rest of the period. Even Hermione didn't say anything; she had enjoyed seeing Malfoy with a bloody nose as much as anybody else.

* * *

The Gryffindors made their way to Transfiguration and along the way they discussed what happened to Malfoy.

"It was awesome!" Ron said, "He said something nasty to her and she just hit him straight in the face!"

"You mean he didn't fall?" Lavender Brown asked.

"No, J.D. punched him. It was a beautiful sight." Ron said happily.

"Hermione, you're a Prefect, maybe you should report it," said Parvati Patil.

"Are you nuts Parvati? This is Malfoy we're talking about. He completely deserved it." Harry replied.

"Did you really punch Malfoy, J.D.?" Seamus asked when she joined the group a few minutes later.

"Are Harry and Ron telling stories about me? Of course I didn't punch him." she answered.

"But we were standing right there--" Ron started to say.

"I said I did no such thing." J.D. said.

Harry and Ron exchanged looks. J.D. had punched him, why was she denying it? If the rest of the Gryffindors knew, they wouldn't turn her in; in fact she'd probably be their hero. They reached the Transfiguration classroom just in time. They went inside and took their seats, with J.D. seated in the back. It was almost as if she was trying to hide away.

"Hello class, I am very pleased to welcome one of our four transfer students, Miss Jasmine Miller. Now Miss Miller I assume that you are at the proper level, correct?" J.D. nodded and Professor McGonagall continued, "Good then I do not need to waste time reviewing. We are going to work on turning an animal into an inanimate object and then into another animal. For instance I will turn this hamster into a hat and then into a rabbit. Please watch closely."

As Professor McGonagall began instructions, Harry leaned over in his seat and whispered to J.D.

"What's wrong? Why did you lie to Seamus, Dean and everybody else?" he asked.

"Harry, shh! Look it doesn't matter. Just forget that the whole incident ever happened." said J.D.

"I will not forget it! This is important. Why did you lie?"

"It is not important and I'm not going to say anything."

"J.D. come on, just tell me!"

"Potter!" Professor McGonagall's voice interrupted them, "Would you kindly stop your conversation! Or do I have to take points from Gryffindor?"

"Uh, no Professor that's alright." Harry looked at J.D. but she was looking away.

When class was over, all of the Gryffindors started walking towards the Great Hall. They were talking and laughing, all except J.D.

"Are you feeling alright?" Hermione asked her.

"What? Oh, yes I'm fine. I wonder what's for lunch. Something good I bet."

They all took their seats at the Gryffindor table and waited for the food to magically appear.
Conversation ensued. The table was filled with animated gossip. Most of the conversation was about the upcoming first Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff.

"Glad Angelina finally found a Keeper, I was getting worried."

"Yeah me too, but I've never even heard of the guy she chose."

"He's a sixth year isn't he? I heard his name was--"

"Steve Montalvo, yeah that's right. He's really smashing. He's a pretty nice guy too, only he keeps to himself a lot."

As usual J.D. was only listening to the conversation, not joining it. When she heard the news about the new keeper, she felt a little sad.

'Now it's to late to try out,' she told herself, 'but I know that I just could not do it. Being the Keeper would have messed everything up.'

Turning back to the chatter, J.D. noticed that Neville was trying to engage her in conversation. She liked Neville who, although he was very forgetful and accident-prone, was also a really nice guy.

"Do you like Hogwarts J.D.?" he asked.

Even though it went against her plan, J.D. felt that she could not be rude to this boy.

"Yeah, so far it's really great," J.D. replied.

"That's only because you haven't had potions yet," Neville said this with a laugh, but J.D. could tell something was wrong.

"Neville, are you okay? Anytime that someone mentions Potions you start sweating."

"Well," Neville's voice dropped to a whisper, "It's just that Professor Snape teaches that class, and, well, he scares me."

"Professor Snape, huh? Well don't worry about him. Anytime he scares you just think of something else you really enjoy. When do I get to meet this Professor Snape anyway?"

"Tomorrow, that's when we have our first Potions lesson of the year. Oh, we'd better get going. We don't want to be late for Divination."

"Of course not," J.D. muttered.

* * *

J.D. followed Harry and Ron up to the Divination classroom. Harry had already warned her about Professor Trelawney and she was definitely not looking forward to this class. She climbed up the ladder into the classroom and settled herself at one of the round tables. Looking around at the room that resembled an old, dusty, tea shop, J.D. thought she was going to be sick.

"Hello students, how good it is to See all of you again," the hazy voice of Professor Trelawney spoke.

"And yet," the voice continued, "We have a new face among us. I have seen you before in my visions of course, Miss Muller, but it is nice to meet you in the physical world."

"My name is Miller, Professor. If you've seen me before shouldn't you know that?" J.D. replied.

A few people in the class laughed. This was not the way J.D. meant for things to happen. Then she looked around and saw that the two girls in the front of the room, Lavender and Parvati, were looking scandalized. Which was it? Should she pretend to like this teacher or hate her? J.D. was confused. This class could ruin all of her plans; she had to get out of it.

Continuing as if she had not heard J.D. speak, Professor Trelawney said, "I received a message from your teacher at Tolblox, she said you had a vision during the test. Please share it with the class."

It wasn't really a request, it was more like an order. J.D. tried to stall for time.

"Vision? What vision are you talking about Professor?"

"Come now child, you know perfectly well what I am talking about. Please, share it."

"That's okay Professor, I'd rather not."

"Miss Miller, it would be such an excellent opportunity. Please share."

"No Professor. I refuse." J.D. said with a cold forcefulness in her voice.

For a moment it looked as though Professor Trelawney was going to fly into a rage, but she immediately calmed herself and continued on with the lesson.

"Very well dear. Now for the beginning of this year I would like to work with prophecies."

They passed the rest of the class in silence, stopping periodically to write something down as Professor Trelawney read the class some of the most famous prophecies. Her list included at least three which predicted Harry's death as a result of his encounters with Voldemort. Harry found Professor Trelawney's predicting his death very tiring, she did it every year and every class. When the period was over J.D. got up quickly and started moving towards the door.

"J.D. wait!" Ron shouted.

"I can't, we've got to get to class!" J.D. shouted back.

Harry and Ron caught up to her.

"No we don't, it's dinner now. Come with us I think we need to talk." Harry said as he led her up to Gryffindor tower.

* * *

Hermione joined them a few minutes later. As they all sat down in the comfortable chairs in front of the fireplace, J.D. had the weird sense of deja vu. She really did not want to have this conversation now, but they were determined. In a way it was kind of nice to know that they already cared about her, they hadn't known her for very long.

"Okay, start talking." Harry said.

"You guys are going to miss dinner and I bet we're having something good too maybe--"

"That's okay, we're not hungry. Come on, J.D. talk to us," Hermione said.

"What is it that's bothering you? I don't know if you've noticed, but you're kind of, um--" Ron hesitated.

"Kind of what? Unpopular? I know that." J.D. replied.

"You do? Why though? Why are you so unpopular around here?" Harry asked.

"You guys wouldn't understand," Seeing the determined look on their faces she sighed and continued, "Look, all I'm going to say is that I'm unpopular because I am trying to be unpopular."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked confused.

"What do you mean you're trying to be unpopular? How?" Ron asked.

"I suppose since you are my friends I can tell you, but I guarantee you won't understand. When you're unpopular, you don't have to worry about people following you all of the time, you don't have to worry about the safety of others, since nobody would hang around you. You are entitled to some privacy."

"You are making yourself unpopular for privacy?" Ron asked in a skeptical tone.

"Exactly. Look, Harry, you wouldn't get it. You're extremely popular; you probably don't realize that you have people around you day and night. Why are you popular? Because you're the famous Harry Potter and you're a nice guy to boot. Now me, I could be almost as popular as you are, if I wanted to. That's not a brag, it's a simple fact. However being popular does not fit in with my Purpose."

"Your what?" Hermione asked.

"My Purpose. Didn't you ever think that I was sent here with a Purpose? I'm the one who had visions about Harry. I know that something is going to happen here and I want to be ready for it when it does. If I was trying to be popular then I would be, I could have been Keeper if I had wanted to also. However if I was popular then people would want to be around me, talk with me, and know what I was doing. I can't have that happen. You three are the only ones who can know of what I do."

"Let me get this straight. You are purposely being unpopular so that if you want to go sneaking around the school nobody will get in your way?" Harry asked.

"Precisely."

"And how do you expect to pull that off without getting caught?" Ron inquired.

"Haven't you heard of an invisibility potion?"

"Nope, never used it. I have my dad's invisibility cloak." Harry said.

"Really?" J.D. eyes opened wide, "those are the best, but they're hard to come by. The potion works just as well, but it has a time limit and the ingredients are difficult to get a hold of. I might just have to buy me an invisibility cloak."

* * *

J.D. and Hermione went upstairs to their dorm, leaving the boys to play chess.

"Now remember Mya, no matter what I do or what I say you can't do anything that will get me popularity. And do me a favor: tell me if I'm about to do something that will make me popular."

"Well punching Malfoy would have made you popular with the Gryffindors if you hadn't denied it."

"Why do you think I denied it. Of course that made Malfoy my enemy, but I can handle myself. One question, how do I handle the Professor Trelawney subject?"

"That is a problem, isn't it? Most of the boys in Gryffindor, except maybe Neville, think she's ridiculous. Lavender and Parvati on the other hand worship her."

"Just Parvati and Lavender? That's simple enough. Around them I'll make fun of her, it won't be hard, and around everybody else I'll just pretend to adore her. That will take a lot of willpower though."

Hermione laughed and they entered the dorm. It was already occupied by Lavender and Parvati.

"Jasmine," Parvati said as if noticing her for the first time, "Why didn't you tell us you were a Seer?"

"Why would I have?" J.D. asked.

"Because we're Seers too! Well probably not as good as you, but still." Lavender replied.

"First of all my name is J.D., second I don't know where you got the idea that I was a Seer, and third I think Divination is ridiculous."

Hermione was smiling and nodding at her. J.D. hoped that she had done the right thing. If they really believed she was a Seer and wanted to hang out with her that would cause even more problems for her plan. And if those two nitwits were Seers then J.D. was going to start walking around the school stark naked.

Lavender and Parvati looked stunned. As if they were strung together they both turned at the same time and went to their beds without another word. Before going to her bed Hermione whispered:

"That was a perfect performance. To tell you the truth, I'm not too popular with the Divination Twins either. I make the mistake of constantly criticizing Professor Trelawney. Goodnight."

J.D. walked over to her bed and quickly undressed. She got in her bed, which felt a little more familiar now, and started to fall asleep.

'Well,' she thought, 'I have certainly made things interesting for myself. I just hope that I am up to the challenge. And that I know what to do when the time comes.'