Chapter 2

At last the day that she's been waiting for has come. It is finally September the first. Pansy couldn't be happier. She could finally get out of the hellhole she used to call a home. She didn't know how but she vowed to somehow find a way to not have to come back home when school was over. She would give anything not to have to go back there, anything.

As she walked through the platform all of her worries seemed to slip away. Her father would not be able to hurt her now. As much as she despised Dumbledore, Pansy knew that he would never let anything happen to the students in his precious school. Although, he had not done the best job so far, she thought. Then she briefly remembered the time in second year when a bunch of people turned up petrified, and in third year when the crazed Sirius Black had managed to get into Hogwarts.

Smiling slightly, she looked around for a familiar face. Her eyes landed at once on a blonde haired seventeen year old. She admired him from afar thinking how a silly little sport like Quidditch could have such an affect on a body. He was wearing a tight fitting black sweater and Pansy could make out his well toned abs and biceps. She wanted to take his sight all in before she went to say hello.

Draco had spotted Pansy staring at him. *Shit, she saw me before I could get on the train. Now I have to deal with her and her annoying giggling. I swear if she so much as thinks about looking at me all googley-eyed, I'll punch her.* Just as he finished thinking this, he saw Pansy wave and start to come over. *Here we go again,* he thought miserably.

"Hello, Draco. How was your summer?"

At first he didn't know what to say. This was not the way she usually greeted him. Not that he was complaining because she usually threw herself at him and called him things like "Drakey-Wakey."

Being so good at hiding his emotions, he recovered quickly and said, "Not bad, the usual boring shit. We vacationed in France. How about you?" he finished still a little surprised.

"Oh, um, you know same here."

Draco was surprised to here her answer in what sounded like a mature voice. He was so used to the baby voices she used around him that she thought were sexy but were really just annoying. Then he took the time to give her the once-over and he saw that she had changed physically as well. She was a little taller which made her look more in proportion. Her facial features had also matured and showed defined cheek bones. Her lips were fuller and shone because of her gloss. He looked at what she was wearing, a pink strapless shirt and some low ride hip huggers with matching sandals, and thought that maybe muggle clothes weren't that bad after all. What surprised him the most was that she didn't look slutty, she looked nice, which was a word he wouldn't normally have associated with Pansy.

Pansy noticed what he was doing and smiled. She was getting happier by the minute. "You're staring you know?"

He looked up and saw her looking back at him with a different kind of smirk that she didn't usually wear. In fact, it wasn't a smirk at all, but a smile. "Why are you so happy?" he said kind of annoyed at being caught staring.

"I'm just glad to be back here and away from home. It's our last year and I want to enjoy it."

Draco just nodded and motioned her to walk in front of him. As she walked he placed his hand on the small of her back. He was a Malfoy after all and their instinct was to be gentlemen, to purebloods anyway. But when he placed his hand on her back he noticed that she winced slightly and pulled away so that his hand wasn't touching her back anymore. "What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Nothing, you just surprised me, that's all."

"That's bullshit. I always do that. You should have seen it coming. And why do you have your hair in a bun? You always wear it down." Then he reached and pulled out the stick that was holding up her messy bun. Her hair cascaded down her back and shoulders.

Pansy looked around nervously, afraid that her father might see, and then she remembered that he wasn't there. "Well I didn't see it coming and I don't wear it down anymore," she snapped in a manner she reserved for when she was teasing the golden trio. She was angry that she had to remember what had happened those few days ago and she was annoyed that it was Draco, the person she wanted to see the most, that had made her remember.

Draco, however, let his temper get the best of him and grabbed her wrist. "Don't talk to me like that again," he said in a whisper that rivaled her father's.

This made Pansy's eyes swell with instant tears and she half ran away from Draco and onto the train. She couldn't believe that the only person she liked in the whole of Hogwarts had to remind her of the one person she truly hated: her father. Even though he wasn't here, he might as well have been. If she wasn't careful, Draco would take over where her father left off.

She walked up and down the trains looking for an empty compartment. She was on the verge of tears and she didn't want anyone to see her crying. She had never allowed her father the satisfaction, and she wouldn't give it to anyone else either. She walked to the very end of the train and found that the only empty compartment was right next to the compartment where the golden trio was. She decided that this was better than sharing a compartment with an angry Draco and went inside. Once she was inside she just let go. Everything her father had ever did to her came back to haunt her full force. She remembered every slap, every punch and every kick as if they were happening right now. She felt like she had been crying for hours, and she certainly looked it, but it had only been about a minute. She tried to calm herself so that she could at least breathe properly, but it didn't work. She got used to the idea that she would be crying for the entire train ride and decided to just look out the window, tears still streaming freely.

The people in the compartment next door had no idea what was going on next door to them. They were simply chatting merrily about their summers. Well, two of them were chatting merrily. The other one, a seventeen year old with jet-black hair and emerald green eyes, was listening enviously.

"My parents took me on vacation to America," Hermione was saying. "It was extremely interesting. They have so much history. Dumbledore gave us directions on how to get to the nearest wizarding village in case I had to buy something. It was so fascinating. If you think Diagon Alley is well hidden, you haven't seen anything."

Then it was Ron who spoke. "Bill and Charlie came home for the summer. They took their vacation at the same time so that the whole family could be together. I spent almost the whole summer training on how to be a better keeper. Bill helped me, and boy do I have some battle wounds from where the quaffle hit me about a million times." He pulled down the collar of his shirt and the faintest signs of bruises were visible. "Believe me; he didn't go easy on me. Gryffindor will be unstoppable this year," he finished with a smile.

Then they both looked at Harry expectantly, and his temper flared. "Well let's see," he began sarcastically, "First the Durselys apologized for treating me like shit for the past sixteen years. Then they told me that they loved me and were going to adopt me. What do you guys think happened? I was bloody miserable the entire time!"

"Blimey, mate. We're sorry. We should've known." Then Ron took Hermione's hand and patted it softly. "You're the smart one. You should've seen that coming. You know how touchy Harry is about s-u-m-m-e-r vacation." Hermione smiled. Even Harry found it funny. He loved to see Ron and Hermione together. Last year Ron had finally gotten up the guts to ask Hermione out and she accepted. Now they couldn't be happier.

"Sorry, Harry," said Hermione still smiling. "Why don't you tell us what happened."

"Okay. Sorry for snapping. It's just that the Dursleys are horrible slimy gits. I don't know who I hate more them or Malfoy."

Ron looked thunderstruck. "Malfoy, no contest."

"You don't know the Dursleys. I think this summer was the worst of all. First I got a letter from Dumbledore saying that it was not safe for me to leave the Dursley's house unless I was with them. He said that he had received information that Voldemort would be waiting for me the second I left the house." Hermione put her hand over her mouth and Harry continued. "So I was stuck with the Dursleys all summer in that wretched house. Every morning they would make me make breakfast, then clean the dishes, then clean the house. My Aunt was on housework vacation. I couldn't use magic to do it because Uncle Vernon threatened to chuck me out if I did. I couldn't tell them what Dumbledore said because then they would chuck me out faster and probably sic Voldemort after me. So basically, I was a house elf all summer. I don't know how much more verbal abuse I can take before I crack." He finished with a sigh. Ron looked as outraged as Hermione sounded.

"How can they treat you that way, you're family."

"Ha, like that matters to them," Harry said grimly. "I have to go to the bathroom. I'll be back." Then he left the compartment.

As he slid closed the compartment door he thought he heard someone crying. He didn't have to look far force the source. He looked into the compartment next to his and saw a girl crying. She was facing the window so he couldn't see her face, but he saw her long blonde hair on her back. He felt bad and wanted to know if there was anything he could do. He slid open the door and walked in. Pansy didn't hear the door open because of her sobs. So when she heard a voice it made her start.

"Are you okay?" he said.

Pansy turned around and saw the last person she wanted to catch her crying. "Potter!" she shrieked.

"Pansy?" he said disbelievingly. She was the last person he expected and he turned to leave the compartment because he didn't feel like an argument right now.

"Potter, wait!" Harry was surprised and stopped. The tears still streaming down her face didn't hide the anger in her eyes. "If you tell anyone what you saw I'll curse you into oblivion."

"Fine," Harry said, a little perturbed that he had wasted his energy caring what was wrong with her in the first place. But as he left the compartment he couldn't help but wonder what could possibly have Pansy Parkinson so sad, and against his better judgment, he still felt bad. He forgot all about having to go to the bathroom and headed straight back for his compartment to tell Ron and Hermione what had just happened. After all he really wasn't worried that Pansy would curse him at all, let alone into oblivion.