Chapter 2

A/N: hey thanks Vi!!! *does the malfoyelf-rocks-and-is-happy dance* and sorry everyone, ya know, bout how the last chapter was so short and all. Will make this one longer, and longer, and longer, mwahahaha!! Well, good- sized anyway. Or maybe I won't.. *grins evilly again* well r/r!!

After only a slight incident on the train, the students exited and filed into carriages that only several students could tell were being pulled by strange creatures called thestrals.

"Um.Harry?" Ron said unsurely.

"What, Ron?"

"Are one of those umm. thestrag thingies-"

"Yeah, it's nibbling your cloak. But why? The only time I've seen one do something like that was when there was-"

"Blood!" Hermione screamed pointing at his back. "There on your cloak! Oh, Ron, are you hurt?"

"I didn't feel anything," he replied. Grateful he had worn pants under his cloak, Ron lifted it up and found something scratched on to his back, only deep enough to make it bleed. "I think it says something! Come here, Harry, read it!"

Harry walked over to Ron but also turned his back away from the now excited thestral. "It says 'Weasel King,'" Harry fell still, pure hatred grew in his eyes. "Malfoy." And just as he said these words Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson broke into laughter about two carriages up and one over.

"I'm gonna kill him!" Ron, whose ears had already turned red, had to be detained by his friends, but Harry silently agreed with Ron.

*He's going to pay for this,* Harry thought.

"Hey, Malfoy!" Harry looked up, curious to see what interrupted his daydream of feeding Draco to the giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest; it was Hermione. Malfoy turned, curious as well. "Malfoy, we beat you last year, remember?! And with three new players, too! Did you forget that, Ferret-boy?!"

Hermione turned, obviously pleased with herself. "What?" she asked her two surprised friends. "It shut him up, didn't it?"

But that didn't change the fact that Ron and Harry were still bent on revenge. Hermione had, on occasion walked into the common-room late at night to find that the heated discussion going on while she was descending the stairs had stopped suddenly.

"Oh, come on you two, you're so immature! I know you're planning something to do to get back at Malfoy, so get over it! Haven't you noticed a pattern over the last five years? Every time you attack Malfoy, or defend yourself from him," she added after seeing the look of indignation on Ron's face, "A professor gives you detention or takes house points, and yes Ron, it is usually Snape." She went back up to her room. *Why do they always act like this! They behave like kids!*

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The train got going and the snack trolley came along shortly after. Draco bought two chocolate frogs and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. He was not very hungry. Crabbe and Goyle could not say the same things about themselves. They each purchased several galleons worth of candy and it was gone in a matter of minutes.

After several disgusted looks towards his cronies, (*Why do I hang out with these pigs?* then with a quick look at Goyle's muscular arms, *Oh, right.*) Draco suggested they go find their good friend Harry.

They made their way through the train and found that Harry and his friends had found a compartment towards the back. They entered without knocking.

"Well, if it isn't Potter the Great and his faithful sidekicks?" Malfoy said with a vicious smirk.

"What do you want, Malfoy? Curious if you can move in with Daddy-dearest?"

"Don't talk about my father, Potter."

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I touch upon something sens- AARGH!!!" Crookshanks had just leaped from his basket to Harry's head. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle had been laughing, that is until Crookshanks decided Malfoy would make a better scratching post.

"Get off me, you filthy cat!" Draco screamed while trying to knock him off his head. Hermione grabbed Crookshanks and tried to force her struggling pet into his bed. "You need to shorten those claws of yours, kitty. Cuttensorgia!"

It was too late. None of them had time to disarm Malfoy before a huge toenail clipper appeared and started snapping. *hmmm. I must've said it wrong. It was supposed to be a pair of scissors, no matter.* Draco and the moron twins walked just outside the doorway so that they would be out of harm's way but could still watch the action.

Neville Longbottom popped his head in the doorway to see what all the commotion was, but at the absolute wrong time. His face went completely white, another mistake because his face was on the round side, making him look like an ill-shaped nail. The clipper turned on the unfortunate boy and advanced. It opened its "mouth" and just as it started to close Hermione came to her senses and screamed, "Vanicca!"

It saved Neville's nose from being totally severed from his face yet he still had a strange looking bite mark on the tip. "Thanks, Hermione," he said shakily. He looked about to faint but turned and reentered his own compartment and didn't exit until they reached Hogwart's.

"You ruined all my fun, Granger. We were just about to improve Longbottom's face." Draco drawled, and as if it was the only thing they knew how to do, Crabbe and Goyle guffawed, again.

"Well, Malfoy, if you're thinking of a little makeover for yourself I can conjure it again for you, I mean, it might even out that sharp nose of your's." Hermione snapped back.

*Hell, why does she think she can speak to me in such a manor? Must be a mud-blood thing. I'll straighten those curls of hers!* But when nothing came to Draco they stormed from the compartment.

When they reentered their room Draco was still steaming. Although the most recent attack had not come from Harry, he still was the one who needed to pay. He plotted the rest of the ride.

As the three of them exited the train he saw opportunity. Weasley looked nervously at the carriage and Draco knew why. Remembering one of last year's Care of Magical Creatures classes he knew that horse-like creatures called thestrals carried the students to the school after they arrive on the Hogwart's Express. *Weasley's such a wimp. And he's obviously unable to see them. But I can make him feel them!*

He muttered a curse under his breath and started spelling in the air with his wand. He stood there and waited, *It'll only be a matter of time.* He smiled, and then *Yes!* Draco heard Hermione scream and Ron start to squirm. He laughed; he had not laughed in a long time.

*Oh, smart wittle Potta! You figured it out!* Draco thought as he saw the three of them glare at him. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle started to get in their carriage, (which used to belong to some second years who were anxiously searching for some extra seats.) when he heard his named called by Hermione.

"Hey, Malfoy!" He turned. ""Malfoy, we beat you last year, remember?! And with three new players, too! Did you forget that, Ferret-boy?!"

*That little prat!* He resumed climbing into their carriage, muttering curse words. The whole feast Draco was unfocused. That is to say, unfocused on the events occurring at the present, for his mind was very clear about the future, plotting, planning.And when everyone finally went back to their common-rooms Draco went straight to bed, but did not sleep.