April 17th

Dear Amy,

I meant to write you yesterday, but I've been kept really busy around here. Some of these teachers just PILE on the work, I swear . . . Professor McGonagall I like, for all that she's really strict. Professor Flitwick is this tiny little man who teaches charms, he's all right. Hagrid does Care of Magical Creature -- he's huge, Ame, supposed to be half-giant, but he's really friendly. I have trouble understanding what he's saying sometimes, though.

My least favorite teacher is ABSOLUTELY Professor Snape, who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts (way more boring than it sounds, trust me). He's very broody and dark and he's a jerk to all the Gryffindors. He gave me a detention my very first class for "talking back", which apparently is his blanket term for all polite questions asked by his students.

But that wasn't why I started this letter. I have to tell you about the kids I've met. In Snape's class I got paired up with the famous Harry Potter, who's really very nice, not stuck-up at all, and kinda cute. I tried not to act all weird around him, since I bet people do that because of who he is, and he seemed to appreciate the effort. He's always hanging around with Ron Weasley and Hermione (isn't that a pretty name? Lots of people here have interesting names) Granger. Somebody told me that Hermione's the girl to see for all schoolwork help, so I chased her down when I got a little confused in Arithmancy. She's very nice too, SUPER smart (reminds me a little of you, O Human Dictionary). Eventually Ron and Harry showed up and I hung around with the three of them for awhile. They introduced me to some other Gryffindors, including Ron's sister Ginny (who looks just like him, all tall and red-haired). And the Irish boy, I bet you're asking? His name's Seamus Finnigan, but he's got a Hufflepuff girlfriend. Boo-hoo.

Oh yeah, you asked me about the blond boy in your last letter -- I'm getting to him. So all this happened on the third day. Someone in the common room (that's like a den, each house has one) made a crack about Slytherin House that had everybody except little ole me in stitches. Of course I didn't want to look like an idiot, so I waited till breakfast the next morning to ask Hermione what the deal was. She got pretty glowery and said there was bad blood between Slytherin and Gryffindor -- well between Slytherin and ALL the other houses, really, but especially ours. She started to mention Harry, but didn't get a chance to finish because the owl post came then. The whole matter slipped my mind.

Later that day, just after lunch, I saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione walking up the path to the school. I thought I'd go say hi, but then I noticed our Mystery Guy sitting by the lake, flicking stones at the giant squid. So instead I sauntered over to him and introduced myself.

He stared at me like I'd just sprouted wings. At first he was surprised, but then he got all hostile.

"You're in Potter's little clique," he said, practically spitting the name out.

"So?" I still had my damn hand out. You know how stubborn I am.

He started to look suspicious. "Is this some kind of prank?"

I put on my best Hollywood smile. "Nope. I'm Eva, and you're . . .?"

"Draco Malfoy." The way he said it, I think he was expecting me to recoil. When I didn't he said very slowly, as though I was very stupid, "Lucius Malfoy's son?"

I didn't know who that was and I told him so. He looked thunderstruck. "Don't know . . ."

I said I was sorry. I was still holding out my hand.

His lovely face broke into a sneer. "Leave me alone."

Undaunted, I replied simply, "No."

Draco stared at me again.

I looked down at my proffered hand. "Look, Draco, the meaner you are to me, the nicer I'll be to you. I can last for a long time, too. It took me weeks to wear my best friend down." (Sorry, Amy, but you've gotta admit that you were a bitch to me when we first met.)

He looked at the sky in exasperation. "If I shake your hand, you'll go away?"

"For now." I'm nothing if not accommodating.

He sighed and finally took my hand. You can tell a lot about a person from their handshake and I like his right away. We shook firmly (though he still looked pissed), he let go first, and I called "see you around!" over my shoulder as I walked away. I discovered that the Three Amigos had stopped dead and were also staring at me as though I'd sprouted wings, and grown a tail to boot. I was really getting sick of that look.

"If you keep it up long enough, your faces'll freeze like that," I told them seriously.

"What--" Hermione wanted to know.

"WHY--" Ron sputtered.

"How--" Harry started to ask. It looked as funny as it sounds.

I shrugged. "I like meeting new people."

"That's DRACO MALFOY," said Harry, his voice dropping ominously.

"So he told me, eventually," I said.

Ron shook his head. "Eva, Draco Malfoy is not new people."

"He's had it in for Harry since day one," Hermione explained.

"He's a jackass!" Ron shouted.

"Not just Harry, either -- he's mean to EVERYONE."

"His parents are Dark wizards, off following You-Know-Who--"

I couldn't help myself. I thought of how he'd been sitting all alone and I said, "Poor thing."

"POOR THING?!" Ron cried indignantly.

"Well, yeah. Obviously if he didn't go with his parents, he's not in You-Know-Who's gang." My magic tutor always said that to avoid something's name was to give it even greater power over you, but people get all scandalized if you say Voldemort.

Ron had clearly labeled me insane. "That's NOT the point!"

Hermione leaned close in a conspirational manner. "We think he's one of their spies."

"If you ask me," I said, "he seems like the all-talk and no-action type."

They thought a minute. Ron admitted grudgingly, "True, mostly he just talks. A LOT," he added venomously.

"We're going to be late for Transfiguration," said Harry suddenly. He'd been so quiet that I'd forgotten he was even there.

And that was the end of the Draco Malfoy conversation. Since then I've personally seen him being an ass, but I don't know, I paid attention in psych and he seems to be acting out way too much to mean any of it. And there's something else going on between him and Harry, something under the surface.

I swear I'll get to the bottom of this. Sorry this letter was so long. I'm about to fall asleep at my desk! Tell everyone at school that I said hi and WRITE BACK SOON!!!

Love,

Sleuth Eva

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Author's note: 1. I don't actually know if Ginny is tall, but I thought she should be.
2. I made Snape DADA teacher because, hey, I like him and I think he deserves it :)