Chapter Two

Malfoy Meeting

Diagon Alley was packed with last minute shoppers. "Mum, d'you mind if I go with my friends?" Ginny Weasley asked her mother, and pointed to a group of girls admiring the Firebolt 2 in a window.

"Yes, dear, go on. Meet us as Flourish & Blotts in an hour, and don't be late. We don't need you missing the train." Mrs. Weasley said. "Well, then. Shall we go on?"

Ron and Harry went with Hermione to gather their books, and look around a bit before time to meet. "Oh, look, Harry," Hermione piped up, "There's news that.you-know-who.has fallen weak again." She reached for a copy of the Quibbler, but instead grabbed a hand that had reached for it as well. "Oh, I'm so-." Hermione looked up and gasped, jerking her hand away as she came face to face with cold, gray eyes staring down at her.

"Sorry, Granger." Draco said, not too coldly, but not friendly.

"Come off it, Malfoy." Ron said viciously, stepping up beside Hermione. "What are you playing at?"

Although Ron had grown a lot over the summer, Draco Malfoy had grown more. He now towered almost a good five inches over Harry, and at least three over Ron. His white-blonde hair, normally slicked back, hung loose in his face.

"I asked you a question!" Ron sneered, clearly not intimidated by Malfoy's size.

"Maybe, you might need to speak up," Malfoy hissed down at Ron. "I don't believe I heard you say a word." He glanced to Harry, then Hermione, and edged by them, without a copy of the Quibbler.

"Did he just apologize to you?" Ron asked Hermione after Malfoy had left.

"Lay off, Ron." She said, rolling her eyes and grabbing the Quibbler.

"What's his deal anyway?" Ron asked. "He didn't even insult Harry." He sounded disappointed at not getting a chance to tell Malfoy off.

"You were just looking for a fight, Ron." Harry said, stepping up behind Hermione to read the article on Voldemort. It was dull, with no real information.

"I was not." Ron protested, "I merely wanted to know why the git apologized and pretended to be nice to Hermione."

"Maybe," Hermione said, angrily folding up the newspaper, "he, unlike you, has matured over the summer." She turned and walked out, back into the alley.

Just as she was about to go back and apologize to Ron for over reacting, a familiar voice caught her attention. "Do you understand me?"

Just as she turned to confirm her guess of who the voice belonged to, Ron grabbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry Herm."

"Sh!" Hermione whispered.

"What?" Harry asked. Hermione turned and pointed to Lucius Malfoy and Draco, standing just inside Knockturn Alley, out of sight for most of the people in Diagon.

"I'm sorry, Father," Draco said shakily. "I just didn't see the point in insulting anyone at the m-."

Lucius's fist shot out at Draco, catching him across the jaw. Draco dropped to his knees before his father, his hair spilling over his forehead into his eyes. Hermione placed a hand on her own jaw, as just watching the impact hurt her. "Do not," Lucius sneered down at his son. "Do not follow me home."

"But, Father, I." Draco glanced up at Lucius, his eyes wide.

"Silence!" Lucius hissed. Draco looked back down at the ground quickly. "You're to go straight to Platform 9 ¾ and wait from the train to Hogwarts. I do not want to receive anything from you unless it is a reply to something I send you. I will be informing your mother of this. Do you understand me, Draco?"

"Yes." Draco said quietly.

"Pardon?"

"Yes, Father." Draco repeated. With that, Lucius turned haughtily, leaving his son on his knees. "Father." Draco started to stand up and follow his father back home, but stopped, staring blankly into the alley.

"The bloody git deserved it." Ron said, slurping a butterbeer.

"To be abandoned by his father?" Harry asked, surprised.

"No, the punch. He had it coming." Hermione let out a noise that sounded like an angry cat. "What?" Ron asked looking startled.

"You!" Hermione shot at him. "You are horrible, Ronald Weasley. The poor soul-."

"Oh, you're not gonna sit there and tell me you feel sorry for him? Not after all he's done to us." Ron asked, looking quite amused.

"That doesn't matter! To be treated that way.especially by your own father!"

"Hermione's right, Ron." Harry said. "It doesn't matter how much we hate him, that's not right."

"What? Are we going to drop spew and start S.A.G.W.D.I.?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"It's not spew," Hermione hissed. "And what is S.A.G.W.D.I.?"

"Shelter for Abused Gits Who Deserve It."

"Ohh!" Hermione growled. "If I had the nerve to use an Unforgivable Curse- ."

"Well, then!" Harry said, standing up. "Shall we meet your mother at Flourish & Blotts?"

Hermione stood up, knocking over her chair (and causing people to look) and went out the door ahead of Ron and Harry.

"Well, there you are!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed as Hermione, Ron and Harry showed up. "We'd better get a move on if we don't want to miss the train!

Both Harry and Ron were dismayed to find Draco Malfoy leaning against the edge of the barrier to platform 9 ¾. "Hey, now would be the perfect time to introduce him to S.A.G.-.ow!"

Hermione had stomped on Ron's foot. "Shut up, or I will gladly go to Azkaban for using illegal curses!" Hermione looked at Draco as they approached him, and smiled politely. The odd thing was that she thought she actually saw the corner of his mouth curl into an ever so slight replying smile before he disappeared into the barrier. She blinked rapidly a couple of times.

"Hermione, come on!" Harry tugged on her arm.

"Oh, right." She said, shaking her head. Of course he hadn't smiled back. She had imagined it. But if she did imagine it.why? She didn't like Draco in an any, shape, or form. Why would she fantasize him smiling back at her?