Disclaimer: Much as I'd like to, I don't own Draco Malfoy, or any part of the magical world that J.K. Rowling has all the copyrights to ... please don't sue me. There are some parts of this story that are quotes from the book - it can't be helped - events are the same as in the book, but Draco's opinion of these events may vary from Harry's.
Author's Notes: I needed to do some re-writing, after reading OotP. I have made some minor changes to this chapter, mostly spelling and grammar.
How many of you thought this part was going to be last chapter, when you read the title of it?
Chapter 2 - Once Was Enough, Thank You Very Much
The morning of September 1st went by very quickly, and before I knew it I was getting onto the Hogwarts Express, being given a goodbye hug by my mother, and waving as the train pulled out of the station.
I found Theo, Blaise and Cat in one compartment, and settled myself in there. Theo's hair had returned to its normal colour (brown) although it must have taken all summer - there were a few blonde bits at the tips, still. At least it didn't look as stupid as it had done. Blaise was happily reading a copy of the Monster Book of Monsters, and I wondered how she'd managed to make it behave. Cat was sitting in the corner looking very miserable and forlorn, and staring out the window with the sorry-for-herself look that only the truly depressed can manage.
Seconds passed before Crabbe and Goyle showed up, and I told them to go sit with Pansy and Milli, who I knew were just in the next compartment to ours. With them out of the way, we were free to talk.
"What's wrong, Cat?" I asked immediately.
"Nothing, nothing." she said too-quickly. "Just this whole thing about an escaped murder on the run has got me a bit nervous, is all." she lied. Whatever was bugging her was definitely not making her nervous, that's for sure - it was making her miserable.
"Tell the truth, Cat." I said softly. She looked up at me like a rabbit in headlights.
"Promise you three will keep this a secret ... you won't tell anyone?" she asked.
Blaise nodded silently.
Theo nodded, "I promise."
"No way I'd tell anyone your secret, Cat - you know too many of mine." I replied.
Cat smiled weakly at my comment - she knew I was kidding about the reason why I'd not tell. "Remember I told you guys that my dad was in Azkaban for joining Snake-face and killing a load of Muggles?" she asked, looking at Theo and me, specifically. Theo's jaw dropped as he figured it out - it wasn't hard for me to work out what she was getting at, either.
"Sirius Black's your father?" I asked. Cat nodded silently.
"Wow." Theo whispered in awe.
"It's nothing for me to be proud of, Theo." Cat said darkly, "He betrayed his best friend to Snake-face, killed another one of his friends and twelve Muggles that got in the way. He was sent to Azkaban without a trial, but there's no way he could have been innocent."
"Who did he betray and kill?" Theo asked, with a degree of morbid fascination that only he could achieve.
Cat glanced at me in a way that says she thought I'd not like the answer to that, before saying, "He betrayed the Potter family, and killed Peter Pettigrew."
"The Potters. You mean scar-head's parents?" I asked.
"No - all of them." Cat corrected, "Told Snake-face where to find them when they were hiding under a Fidelius Charm. It was thanks to him that they were murdered, and it was that night that Harry Potter became famous for surviving."
"In a way he did us all a favour, setting that into motion and getting Snake-face disposed of, then." Theo noted.
"If you can look at it that way." Blaise said quietly, "But he was still a traitor."
Cat nodded, "And the popular theory is he wants to finish off Potter, thinking it'll bring Snake-face back." she noted.
"It wouldn't, would it?" Blaise asked fearful of the possibility.
"I doubt it." I said. If you think about it logically, it shouldn't.
"I just said that's what people think." Cat said tetchily, "I know it doesn't work that way, but that's the way panicked Ministry people think escaped madmen think."
Theo snorted at her wording, but tried not to show it. "Hey, you hear the Weasleys won a load of Galleons during the summer?" he asked.
"No, I didn't know that." I replied.
"Well they did - they got their picture in the paper, and all - blew the whole lot on a holiday to Egypt, too." Theo informed me.
"Stupid idiots." Blaise muttered.
"Aren't they just." I said, with a grin.
The conversation soon turned to other topics. Who's the new DADA teacher? None of us knew. Who'd win the World Cup next year - my bet was still on the Falcons, who had made it to the British finals to be decided that week, while Cat was adamant they'd lose this match and the Bats would go to the internationals. Who'd win this year's school Quidditch Cup - Slytherin, obviously. When the snack trolley arrived, the topic obviously became what to eat - Theo got a handful of Blood-pops, again (Blaise looked sick when he actually started eating one of them - I swear there is something not right about that boy) - Cat got four chocolate frogs and hoarded them - Blaise and I both got Cauldron Cakes and Every Flavour Beans. Then the topic of discussion soon became whether or not Potter had missed the train this time and if he had, would he find another flying car? Eventually, I got tired of the debate on whether he'd fly a taxi, or a motorbike. Cat was adamant that a flying motorbike would be, and I quote "So cool" - it was my opinion that that very fact would mean that he wouldn't do it. I stood up, and made to leave the compartment.
"Where're you going, Draco?" Blaise asked.
"To see if he's actually on the train." I answered.
"What're the odds?" Theo asked, and proceeded to take bets from the girls on whether or not Potter was present on the train, where he should be.
I, meanwhile, walked down the corridor to the next compartment, to find my bodyguards. I peered in, and Pansy immediately spoke, "Draco, when are you going teach your thugs to buy their own food? I had to pay for those frogs and beans they scoffed!"
"Next time I have to pay for it, but thanks for postponing that for me, Pansy." I replied coldly, "Crabbe, Goyle, follow me." I snapped.
Both stood up and did as I said, "Where we goin'?" Crabbe asked.
"To see if Potter missed the train again." I said, grinning. They sniggered at that and then followed silently as I walked down the train, peering into each compartment we passed. I was just beginning to think that Potter really had gone and missed the train again, when we got to the last compartment and there he was, along with his pet Weasley ... and Hermione, of course. She looked at me with an expression of surprise, while the other two looked mightily annoyed that I had made an appearance ... don't really blame them, since we have a mutual hatred of each other's need to inhale and exhale. "Well, look who it is. Potty and the Weasel." I said, mildly surprised they were here. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered idiotically, behind me. Sheesh, they're easily amused. "I heard your father got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?" I asked ... now that one was supposed to be funny - why didn't the Daft Duo laugh?
Weasley stood up, snarling. Someone in the corner, who I hadn't seen and who was obviously asleep, snorted. The offending sound came from an adult male, probably in his early thirties, but going grey already.
"Who's that?" I asked, startled.
"New teacher." Potter growled, standing up to join his Weasel in threatening me. "What were you saying, Malfoy?" he asked, knowing damned well that I was not stupid enough to start a fight with a teacher in the room. I ordered the Two Twits (Crabbe and Goyle) to follow me again, and left, very much pissed off.
I abandoned the Brainless Boys in the compartment they had originally inhabited, and rejoined Theo, Cat and Blaise. "Potter's here - in the last compartment of the train, with his little gang, and a teacher to boot." I said, "So who won the bet?" I asked.
Cat grinned, "I won. Pay up, Theo."
Grudgingly, he did. Then we returned to the randomly shifting discussion. Our new classes. How Blaise managed to tame that book - she never did tell us. Why the train was suddenly slowing down - far too early. Why the lights went off ... now that could not be good.
"Maybe the train's been drained." Blaise suggested. "Lost its magical energy - there's some magical creatures can do that, you know."
"It's raining outside." Theo said, glancing out the window, "And someone's getting on the train." he added, in a confused and wondering tone.
Cat frowned, "I've got a bad feeling about this." she said nervously.
"I'll see what's going on." I said, stepping out into the corridor. I turned towards the front of the train, where I saw something I'd hoped I'd never see again - a Dementor. My eyes widened in fear, and I backed away. I vaguely heard Theo asking what was wrong, but after a few seconds I came to my senses and bolted into the nearest compartment, closing the door behind me.
"Well, well, well, look who's here." a Weasley twin said - both red-heads were holding lit wands, and glaring daggers at me.
"What's going on, Malfoy?" the other twin asked.
I opened my mouth to answer, but the door opened and Cat bolted in, "Draco - what scared you?" she asked.
"Didn't you see it? At the front of the train?" I asked.
"I wasn't looking that way - I was looking for you." she insisted.
"Why did you bring those?" a twin asked, indicating the two chocolate frogs she had in her hand.
"Dunno - instinct said bring chocolate. My instincts are good - that's why I'm going to take Divination class." she replied.
"Your instincts were great, kid." the other Weasley said, snatching a frog from her.
"Hey! Mine!" she yelled, trying to take it back.
Just then, the door opened, and the Dementor I had seen moments ago entered. Cat shrieked, covering her mouth and backing into a corner. The twins gawped like idiots, also backing away towards the window. I backed into one of the seats, and climbed onto in, ending up sitting in the corner with my knees in front of my chest, biting my lips together and staring fearfully at the creature.
It looked to each of us in turn, making me sick to my stomach when it looked at me, and again giving me that feeling I had previously associated with the aftermath of the Cruciatus curse. Then it swept ominously out of the compartment, and proceeded down the train. After it left, the twins were the first to recover. "Blimey - that was freaky." one said.
"Hell, yes." the other added.
"They were looking for Black." Cat muttered, looking pretty shaken herself, "In case he'd stow-away on the train."
"Probably." I said, trying not to shake too obviously, "Do they have to terrorise students, though?" I asked.
"Why? Scared, Malfoy?" one Weasley asked.
"Like I'd admit it to you, if I was." I said coldly.
"That's a yes, then." the other twin said, trying to grin, but not doing a very convincing job of it.
Cat looked at the chocolate frog in her hand, then the one the Weasley had taken from her, and opened hers, bisecting it with a severing charm, and handing me a still-twitching half of it, "Chocolate helps." she said, as she took a bite of her half.
I took the offered chocolate, and ate it, trusting Cat enough to do so. The Weasley twins looked at each other before opening their stolen frog and devouring it. Cat glared at them, but let it go without retaliation.
Suddenly, the door opened again. I half expected the Dementor to reappear, but relaxed when I recognised the new teacher standing in the doorway, looking at us with concern evident in his pale brown eyes, "Is everyone all right in here?" he asked.
"Yes, Professor." I answered immediately.
"Professor?" Cat asked with great incredulity, as she looked at the man, "You're a professor?" she repeated, grinning.
"Yes, Cat - why? Does that surprise you?" the man asked, smiling faintly.
"Hell, yes." she said cheerfully. I stared at her in surprise - she had just used a swearword in front of a teacher - who was this and what had she done with Catarina Feral?
"Language, Cat - I am a teacher, now, you know." the man said in an amused tone.
"Yuhuh." Cat replied in a yeah-right tone, "How'd you get the job?"
"No one else would take it, and it is an essential subject." he replied, "I will speak to you later, Cat." he added in a warning tone, before leaving.
"You know him, Cat?" I asked, surprised.
"Yep." she said, smirking, "He's a friend of the family. Remus Lupin ... one guess what his Squib brother's name is."
The twins started sniggering, "Remus Lupin - what parents are cruel enough to call their kid that?" one asked.
"That's as funny as if Feral's last name had been Black -" the other twin said, grinning. Cat blanched at that statement, but not for the reason the twins must have thought, "- picture the Sorting, Feral."
"Black, Cat!" the first twin called out, trying to impersonate McGonagall.
"Very funny - don't quit your day-job, stand-up comics you will never be." I growled.
"Besides," Cat said, regaining her composure and actually smiling with the twins, "Feral Cat is almost as funny." she pronounced the name the way you'd expect: *Fer*al, while she normally pronounces it: Fe*ral*.
"Seriously." one twin said, "In mythology, Romulus and Remus were raised by wolves."
"And Lupin sounds a lot like lupine." the other finished.
"It'd be like one of the De Vils calling their kid Lucifer." the first twin noted.
I snorted, but quickly hid my amusement, "Right, well, we're leaving." I said, dragging Cat away from the twins, and back to our own compartment.
* * *
End of chapter 2
Author's Notes: I needed to do some re-writing, after reading OotP. I have made some minor changes to this chapter, mostly spelling and grammar.
How many of you thought this part was going to be last chapter, when you read the title of it?
Chapter 2 - Once Was Enough, Thank You Very Much
The morning of September 1st went by very quickly, and before I knew it I was getting onto the Hogwarts Express, being given a goodbye hug by my mother, and waving as the train pulled out of the station.
I found Theo, Blaise and Cat in one compartment, and settled myself in there. Theo's hair had returned to its normal colour (brown) although it must have taken all summer - there were a few blonde bits at the tips, still. At least it didn't look as stupid as it had done. Blaise was happily reading a copy of the Monster Book of Monsters, and I wondered how she'd managed to make it behave. Cat was sitting in the corner looking very miserable and forlorn, and staring out the window with the sorry-for-herself look that only the truly depressed can manage.
Seconds passed before Crabbe and Goyle showed up, and I told them to go sit with Pansy and Milli, who I knew were just in the next compartment to ours. With them out of the way, we were free to talk.
"What's wrong, Cat?" I asked immediately.
"Nothing, nothing." she said too-quickly. "Just this whole thing about an escaped murder on the run has got me a bit nervous, is all." she lied. Whatever was bugging her was definitely not making her nervous, that's for sure - it was making her miserable.
"Tell the truth, Cat." I said softly. She looked up at me like a rabbit in headlights.
"Promise you three will keep this a secret ... you won't tell anyone?" she asked.
Blaise nodded silently.
Theo nodded, "I promise."
"No way I'd tell anyone your secret, Cat - you know too many of mine." I replied.
Cat smiled weakly at my comment - she knew I was kidding about the reason why I'd not tell. "Remember I told you guys that my dad was in Azkaban for joining Snake-face and killing a load of Muggles?" she asked, looking at Theo and me, specifically. Theo's jaw dropped as he figured it out - it wasn't hard for me to work out what she was getting at, either.
"Sirius Black's your father?" I asked. Cat nodded silently.
"Wow." Theo whispered in awe.
"It's nothing for me to be proud of, Theo." Cat said darkly, "He betrayed his best friend to Snake-face, killed another one of his friends and twelve Muggles that got in the way. He was sent to Azkaban without a trial, but there's no way he could have been innocent."
"Who did he betray and kill?" Theo asked, with a degree of morbid fascination that only he could achieve.
Cat glanced at me in a way that says she thought I'd not like the answer to that, before saying, "He betrayed the Potter family, and killed Peter Pettigrew."
"The Potters. You mean scar-head's parents?" I asked.
"No - all of them." Cat corrected, "Told Snake-face where to find them when they were hiding under a Fidelius Charm. It was thanks to him that they were murdered, and it was that night that Harry Potter became famous for surviving."
"In a way he did us all a favour, setting that into motion and getting Snake-face disposed of, then." Theo noted.
"If you can look at it that way." Blaise said quietly, "But he was still a traitor."
Cat nodded, "And the popular theory is he wants to finish off Potter, thinking it'll bring Snake-face back." she noted.
"It wouldn't, would it?" Blaise asked fearful of the possibility.
"I doubt it." I said. If you think about it logically, it shouldn't.
"I just said that's what people think." Cat said tetchily, "I know it doesn't work that way, but that's the way panicked Ministry people think escaped madmen think."
Theo snorted at her wording, but tried not to show it. "Hey, you hear the Weasleys won a load of Galleons during the summer?" he asked.
"No, I didn't know that." I replied.
"Well they did - they got their picture in the paper, and all - blew the whole lot on a holiday to Egypt, too." Theo informed me.
"Stupid idiots." Blaise muttered.
"Aren't they just." I said, with a grin.
The conversation soon turned to other topics. Who's the new DADA teacher? None of us knew. Who'd win the World Cup next year - my bet was still on the Falcons, who had made it to the British finals to be decided that week, while Cat was adamant they'd lose this match and the Bats would go to the internationals. Who'd win this year's school Quidditch Cup - Slytherin, obviously. When the snack trolley arrived, the topic obviously became what to eat - Theo got a handful of Blood-pops, again (Blaise looked sick when he actually started eating one of them - I swear there is something not right about that boy) - Cat got four chocolate frogs and hoarded them - Blaise and I both got Cauldron Cakes and Every Flavour Beans. Then the topic of discussion soon became whether or not Potter had missed the train this time and if he had, would he find another flying car? Eventually, I got tired of the debate on whether he'd fly a taxi, or a motorbike. Cat was adamant that a flying motorbike would be, and I quote "So cool" - it was my opinion that that very fact would mean that he wouldn't do it. I stood up, and made to leave the compartment.
"Where're you going, Draco?" Blaise asked.
"To see if he's actually on the train." I answered.
"What're the odds?" Theo asked, and proceeded to take bets from the girls on whether or not Potter was present on the train, where he should be.
I, meanwhile, walked down the corridor to the next compartment, to find my bodyguards. I peered in, and Pansy immediately spoke, "Draco, when are you going teach your thugs to buy their own food? I had to pay for those frogs and beans they scoffed!"
"Next time I have to pay for it, but thanks for postponing that for me, Pansy." I replied coldly, "Crabbe, Goyle, follow me." I snapped.
Both stood up and did as I said, "Where we goin'?" Crabbe asked.
"To see if Potter missed the train again." I said, grinning. They sniggered at that and then followed silently as I walked down the train, peering into each compartment we passed. I was just beginning to think that Potter really had gone and missed the train again, when we got to the last compartment and there he was, along with his pet Weasley ... and Hermione, of course. She looked at me with an expression of surprise, while the other two looked mightily annoyed that I had made an appearance ... don't really blame them, since we have a mutual hatred of each other's need to inhale and exhale. "Well, look who it is. Potty and the Weasel." I said, mildly surprised they were here. Crabbe and Goyle sniggered idiotically, behind me. Sheesh, they're easily amused. "I heard your father got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?" I asked ... now that one was supposed to be funny - why didn't the Daft Duo laugh?
Weasley stood up, snarling. Someone in the corner, who I hadn't seen and who was obviously asleep, snorted. The offending sound came from an adult male, probably in his early thirties, but going grey already.
"Who's that?" I asked, startled.
"New teacher." Potter growled, standing up to join his Weasel in threatening me. "What were you saying, Malfoy?" he asked, knowing damned well that I was not stupid enough to start a fight with a teacher in the room. I ordered the Two Twits (Crabbe and Goyle) to follow me again, and left, very much pissed off.
I abandoned the Brainless Boys in the compartment they had originally inhabited, and rejoined Theo, Cat and Blaise. "Potter's here - in the last compartment of the train, with his little gang, and a teacher to boot." I said, "So who won the bet?" I asked.
Cat grinned, "I won. Pay up, Theo."
Grudgingly, he did. Then we returned to the randomly shifting discussion. Our new classes. How Blaise managed to tame that book - she never did tell us. Why the train was suddenly slowing down - far too early. Why the lights went off ... now that could not be good.
"Maybe the train's been drained." Blaise suggested. "Lost its magical energy - there's some magical creatures can do that, you know."
"It's raining outside." Theo said, glancing out the window, "And someone's getting on the train." he added, in a confused and wondering tone.
Cat frowned, "I've got a bad feeling about this." she said nervously.
"I'll see what's going on." I said, stepping out into the corridor. I turned towards the front of the train, where I saw something I'd hoped I'd never see again - a Dementor. My eyes widened in fear, and I backed away. I vaguely heard Theo asking what was wrong, but after a few seconds I came to my senses and bolted into the nearest compartment, closing the door behind me.
"Well, well, well, look who's here." a Weasley twin said - both red-heads were holding lit wands, and glaring daggers at me.
"What's going on, Malfoy?" the other twin asked.
I opened my mouth to answer, but the door opened and Cat bolted in, "Draco - what scared you?" she asked.
"Didn't you see it? At the front of the train?" I asked.
"I wasn't looking that way - I was looking for you." she insisted.
"Why did you bring those?" a twin asked, indicating the two chocolate frogs she had in her hand.
"Dunno - instinct said bring chocolate. My instincts are good - that's why I'm going to take Divination class." she replied.
"Your instincts were great, kid." the other Weasley said, snatching a frog from her.
"Hey! Mine!" she yelled, trying to take it back.
Just then, the door opened, and the Dementor I had seen moments ago entered. Cat shrieked, covering her mouth and backing into a corner. The twins gawped like idiots, also backing away towards the window. I backed into one of the seats, and climbed onto in, ending up sitting in the corner with my knees in front of my chest, biting my lips together and staring fearfully at the creature.
It looked to each of us in turn, making me sick to my stomach when it looked at me, and again giving me that feeling I had previously associated with the aftermath of the Cruciatus curse. Then it swept ominously out of the compartment, and proceeded down the train. After it left, the twins were the first to recover. "Blimey - that was freaky." one said.
"Hell, yes." the other added.
"They were looking for Black." Cat muttered, looking pretty shaken herself, "In case he'd stow-away on the train."
"Probably." I said, trying not to shake too obviously, "Do they have to terrorise students, though?" I asked.
"Why? Scared, Malfoy?" one Weasley asked.
"Like I'd admit it to you, if I was." I said coldly.
"That's a yes, then." the other twin said, trying to grin, but not doing a very convincing job of it.
Cat looked at the chocolate frog in her hand, then the one the Weasley had taken from her, and opened hers, bisecting it with a severing charm, and handing me a still-twitching half of it, "Chocolate helps." she said, as she took a bite of her half.
I took the offered chocolate, and ate it, trusting Cat enough to do so. The Weasley twins looked at each other before opening their stolen frog and devouring it. Cat glared at them, but let it go without retaliation.
Suddenly, the door opened again. I half expected the Dementor to reappear, but relaxed when I recognised the new teacher standing in the doorway, looking at us with concern evident in his pale brown eyes, "Is everyone all right in here?" he asked.
"Yes, Professor." I answered immediately.
"Professor?" Cat asked with great incredulity, as she looked at the man, "You're a professor?" she repeated, grinning.
"Yes, Cat - why? Does that surprise you?" the man asked, smiling faintly.
"Hell, yes." she said cheerfully. I stared at her in surprise - she had just used a swearword in front of a teacher - who was this and what had she done with Catarina Feral?
"Language, Cat - I am a teacher, now, you know." the man said in an amused tone.
"Yuhuh." Cat replied in a yeah-right tone, "How'd you get the job?"
"No one else would take it, and it is an essential subject." he replied, "I will speak to you later, Cat." he added in a warning tone, before leaving.
"You know him, Cat?" I asked, surprised.
"Yep." she said, smirking, "He's a friend of the family. Remus Lupin ... one guess what his Squib brother's name is."
The twins started sniggering, "Remus Lupin - what parents are cruel enough to call their kid that?" one asked.
"That's as funny as if Feral's last name had been Black -" the other twin said, grinning. Cat blanched at that statement, but not for the reason the twins must have thought, "- picture the Sorting, Feral."
"Black, Cat!" the first twin called out, trying to impersonate McGonagall.
"Very funny - don't quit your day-job, stand-up comics you will never be." I growled.
"Besides," Cat said, regaining her composure and actually smiling with the twins, "Feral Cat is almost as funny." she pronounced the name the way you'd expect: *Fer*al, while she normally pronounces it: Fe*ral*.
"Seriously." one twin said, "In mythology, Romulus and Remus were raised by wolves."
"And Lupin sounds a lot like lupine." the other finished.
"It'd be like one of the De Vils calling their kid Lucifer." the first twin noted.
I snorted, but quickly hid my amusement, "Right, well, we're leaving." I said, dragging Cat away from the twins, and back to our own compartment.
* * *
End of chapter 2