Chapter 3

"That good for nothing, little piece of filth! Who gave him the right to strut around this place like he owns it?!" Jennifer stormed into the room that she shared with Cathryn and their other friend Karina Cook.

"He's a guy, what else do you expect?" Karina replied, not looking up from her work. She was scribbling furiously, trying to finish her homework before the afternoon was up.

"What did Draco do this time?" Cathryn asked tiredly, putting down the magazine she was reading. Draco and Jennifer had been at each other's throats for the past couple of days. Draco's main purpose nowadays seemed to be to aggravate Jennifer as much as possible.

"What didn't Draco do? First of all, he turns up and gets the last chocolate chip muffin from the cafeteria, sits right in front of me and takes the longest time possible to eat it, smiling his annoying little smile, enjoying every last piece of my muffin. Then as I get up to leave, he trips me over by sticking his foot out. Everyone saw it and started laughing. Then I go out into the courtyard and find a nice place to sit and finish my homework, Draco comes up and 'accidentally' trips and spills his drink all over it!" Jennifer said in a rush, producing her homework from her bag, which was covered in orange soda.

She flopped down on the bed, got her pillow and screamed into it. Cathryn and Karina exchanged amused glances before Cathryn stood up and lay down next to Jennifer, who had finished screaming, but still had the pillow over her face.

"Why do you let Draco get to you like that?" Cathryn asked sympathetically, taking the pillow of her friends face.

"I dunno! It's just something about him that makes we wanna." Jennifer thought about it for a while, scrunching her face up trying to think of the right words.

"Kill him?" Karina suggested from her desk.

"And wring his neck and torture him!" Jennifer smiled at the thought of it. "That would be just lovely!" She added sweetly.

"And it would also be illegal!" Cathryn exclaimed, pretending to be shocked. The two girls started laughing and Jennifer hit Cathryn with her pillow.

"Oh c'mon! I'm trying to work here!" Karina exclaimed, turning around in her chair. "Hey Jennifer, I think you dropped something" Karina told her, glancing down at Jennifer's open bag. Jennifer jumped off the bed to find that half the contents had fallen out of her bag. She quickly retrieved her things and put them back inside the bag.

"What's this?" Karina asked pointing to an open magazine that Jennifer hadn't picked up yet. "Gringotts celebrates." Karina started to read.

"It's something my mother sent to me." Jennifer said quickly, retrieving the magazine and stuffing it into her bag.

"Gringotts. I've never heard of that word before!" Karina half asked half wondered. "Why would a magazine print a word that isn't even in the English dictionary?"

"Gringotts? I think you need a rest Karina!" Jennifer laughed. "Or maybe you should take a break from your work and go out for some fresh air!" All of the three girls started laughing and they were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Cathryn shouted.

"It's us!" Leon's muffled voice shouted back.

"Oh no!" Jennifer groaned. She flopped back down on her bed and put her pillow over her face again.

"Come in!" Cathryn replied, rolling her eyes at her friend who was groaning behind her pillow.

Leon, Draco and Henry opened the door and marched inside the room.

"What are you doing Jeje? Trying to kill yourself?" Draco drawled, noticing Jennifer with the pillow over her face.

"Don't call me Jeje!" Jennifer's muffled reply came from underneath the pillow.

"I'm sorry, what did you say, I didn't quite catch that" Draco said, pretending to be curious and walking next to the bed.

"I said. Don't call me Jeje!" Jennifer shouted, sitting up and pushing the pillow into Draco's face. Draco stumbled backwards, tripped over Jennifer's bag, which was left on the floor and went over Cathryn's bed. Everyone started laughing as Draco recovered from where he lay.

Draco had to use all of his will power to stop himself from getting his wand from his pocket and cursing Jennifer.

.::.How dare she make a fool of a Malfoy!.::.

But a little voice inside him said, 'Your not a real Malfoy though.' Instead, he just stood there, trying to laugh along with them.

"Ok then. We just wanted to know if you girls wanted to come eat with us." Henry asked, still laughing.

"Sure!" Cathryn exclaimed, and then glancing a look at Karina and Jennifer, she added, "Maybe we'll go by ourselves."

"No, I'll go! I'm starving, since I missed out on my muffin this morning!" and glared at Draco.

"Not my fault! You just weren't there early enough!" Draco said innocently.

"Yeah, whatever, but I'm coming to eat, definitely!" Jennifer jumped up and grabbed her bag as Cathryn went searching for her bag.

"Are you coming Karina?" Cathryn asked Karina, who was still scribbling furiously.

"Yup! Just one more second." She finished what she was writing and added. "Finished!" She stretched out in her chair and packed everything away. She grabbed her bag and said, "Let's go!"

The six of them trooped out into the hallway and down to the cafeteria. They ordered their food and went to sit outside in the courtyard, underneath their big oak tree. After awhile, they were sitting comfortably, chatting and laughing. The sun was high up in the sky, softly warming their bodies and soon, Draco started to feel sleepy.

He leant his back against the rough bark of the oak tree and relaxed, looking up at the sky. He felt someone lean against the tree beside him and turned his head.

"Oh, it's only you" Draco drawled, and went back to looking back into the clear blue sky.

"Thanks, that makes me feel so wanted" Jennifer replied, rolling her eyes. "I hate lying on the grass, and this was the only place I could find that didn't require me lying on the grass." She added, matter-of-factly.

"There's always the other side?" Draco suggested, looking at Jennifer's face. Hoping she would get angry.

"I'm not going to get angry. I'm not going to let you get to me anymore" Jennifer said simply, letting Karina lie down on her legs.

"That's my girl!" Karina said, overhearing their conversation then closing her eyes as Jennifer started playing with her hair.

"Didn't your mum ever tell you not to eavesdrop?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"No, my dog did. And anyway, I didn't eavesdrop, I overheard" Karina replied simply and smiled, still with her eyes closed. Draco rolled his eyes and then closed them.

Jennifer looked around at the group and saw that almost everyone had dozed off already. Cathryn had picked up everyone's food wrappers and put them in the bin. She was now lying on the grass between Leon and Henry and they were trying to find famous faces in the very few clouds that were in the sky.

Jennifer laughed at herself and looked up at the sky.

"Why are you so mean to me?" Jennifer suddenly asked Draco.

"Hmm?" Draco mumbled, slowly opening his eyes.

"Why are you so mean to me?" Jennifer repeated.

"I dunno. You're fun to tease, and you look so funny when you get all mad" Draco said, smiling at the thought.

"Yeah, and you looked really funny toppling over Cath's bed!" Jennifer quickly replied, satisfied that she had wiped the smirk of his face.

"You're new, fresh meat" Draco pretended not to hear Jennifer's last remark.

"And what are you? You're not exactly an old student either" Jennifer inquired.

"I came before you. And who told you anyway?" Draco asked

"Cath. The first day I arrived, she told me that you were new and." Jennifer stopped, thinking that Draco might not want to know that they were talking about his 'Mystery' past. She glanced at him and realised he was smirking.

"You were talking about me?" Draco asked, raising and eyebrow.

"Ugh, you can be so obnoxious sometimes. You know that?" Jennifer said, with annoyance.

"All part of the Malfoy package" Draco smiled, then that little voice came back, saying "But you're not a Malfoy". Draco stopped smiling and went back to staring back at the sky.

"What's part of the Malfoy package? Losing train of thought in the middle of a sentence?" Jennifer asked.

"I did not lose my train of thought!" Draco exclaimed. "I was thinking of something" He added.

"That is the most pathetic excuse I have ever heard!" Jennifer replied, shaking her head in shame. They both then heard an almighty burp come from Henry.

"Sorry! Too much soda!" Henry apologized, laughing.

"You call that a burp?" Jennifer exclaimed. She then produced a large burp, but it wasn't as big as Henry's.

"Oh Jen! That was pathetic!" Cathryn shouted and she started to produce a large burp as well. After that, Cathryn, Henry and Leon had a burping contest.

"That was a charming burp. Your dad teach you how to do that?" Draco asked.

"My dad. He died when I was younger. He was pretty extraordinary though. Out of the ordinary" Jennifer reminisced. "How about your dad? Did he teach you those lovely manners you have?" she added.

"I'm not sure." Draco trailed off. He thought about telling Jennifer that he didn't really know his dad, and that he lived with someone who he thought to be his dad for the past 19 years.

.::.What am I saying? She'll probably just laugh in my face. Why did I want to tell her in the first place?.::.

"Draco?" Jennifer was waving her hand in front of his face to get his attention. When she saw that he had snapped out of his thoughts she said, "Back to earth? Or still back on your home planet?"

"Funny Jeje" Draco laughed at Jennifer's cringing face. She didn't seem to be able to come up with anything in reply so he leant back against the tree. He then saw something in the sky that made him look twice.

.::.Is that an owl? In broad daylight?.::.

He watched it and realised that it was either a weird shaped bird, or a very small owl. He watched the flying animal's path and realised that it was heading for the girls' open window.

.::.If that came from the wizarding world, it would have gone straight to the person, not their room.::.

He glanced around to see if anyone else had seen this mysterious bird. Cathryn, Leon and Henry were laughing and still trying to squeeze out as many burps as they could. He looked up again and saw that the bird had flown straight into the girls' bedroom!

Draco looked beside him at Jennifer and found her staring up at her bedroom window, completely shocked. Her hand was in midair, Karina's plait half done had fallen from her hand. Jennifer looked around and found Draco was looking at her.

.::.He didn't see the owl did he?.::.

.::.That's not her bird is it?.::.

Both of their questions were answered in each other's eyes. Jennifer quickly put Karina's sleeping head on the floor and Draco and Jennifer stood up at exactly the same time, not breaking the eye contact. They both raced off towards Jennifer's room, trying to get there before the other.

"Where are you two going?" They heard a voice call behind them. But they didn't stop to reply; they kept running towards Jennifer's room.