1

"No, it is not."

"Yes it is!"

"No, it is not."

"Something wrong with your eyes, Miss Encyclopaedia?? There it is – right there. – Harry, say something. Harry! Hey, will you get out of Nightmare land and help me?!"

Harry woke up from his daydream when someone dug him in the ribs. He had just faded out the constant argumentation of Ron and Hermione. The rattling of the train had made him a bit sleepy.

"What?" he asked confused, but instead of an answer Ron just grinned. "Forgeddit. Where have you been, mate?"

"Uhm …. right here?"

"Mentally I mean."

"Aw, nothing special", he evaded.

Ron leaned over to him, whispering: "A girl?" making Hermione groan in despair.

"Quidditch", Harry quickly lied." Important game this year."

"YEAH – AND WE'RE BACK IN THE TEAM AGAIN!" Ron cried, highfiving his friend. "And guess who's Captain!"

"I have no idea." Harry joked.

"Uh huh", Hermione commented, not sharing their interest for that sport. To be honest it wasn't just that particular one, actually she wasn't into any sports a lot.

"You waiting for 'reading books and learning' to become a new Olympian discipline?" Ron asked sniggering, but she just scowled at him. "Okay, okay – what is it you prefer to talk about then?" He chuckled. "Girlie stuff? Shopping, Make Up, PMS?"

"You are so dim!" She obviously tried not to let him provoke her. "When will you ever stop being so childish?"

"Err …. never?" Ron laughed.

"Leave her alone, Ron", Harry intervened.

"Well, thank you", she turned to him with a bright smile. Though", she added, sending Ron an arrogant look, "I of course don't need help to handle a kid."

"Whateva! I so long to see Malfoy's face when he finds out about the selection of the team. Hope he hasn't already heard it. – By the way – where is Malfoy?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance, confused by their friend's sudden change of topic.

"What? Since when can't you wait to see him? – Has something happened during vacation I should know about?" Harry wanted to know.

Ron grimaced. "Don't you think it's strange? I mean, every year he has tried to ruin our nice lil journey to Hogwarts by a courtesy call – so where is he? We gon' arrive in one hour!"

"Actually …. I don't care", Harry said emphatically. "Malfoy can jump off the fucking train if he wants to, okay? I'd wave him goodbye! Can we talk 'bout something else now?"

"Hey, don't kill me, 'kay?" Ron raised his hands in an defending gesture. "Quidditch?"

"Quidditch."

"Quidditch??" Hermione asked uncomprehendingly.

Her two friends shrugged as if it was only logical what they meant. "Another topic."

'-'

"Malfoy, did you hear a single word of what I was saying?"

He would have preferred to ignore the annoying sound of her voice, but from long experience he knew that Pansy could rise into an ear piercing pitch, so he decided to spare his ears by giving her an answer. The only problem was that he had really no idea of what she had said to him.

"Drake, where are you with your thoughts?" she scolded him, her fingers gently stroking his hair. He leaned to the other side, away from her, so for a second her left hand hang useless in the air, before she started pouting, her arms folded in front of her body. He hated being touched like this; he wasn't a dog for Merlin's sake! Fortunately the window reflected Pansy's picture so he didn't have to look at her. He couldn't tell why his parents were pressuring him to spend his time with her. That was wrong. Of course he knew why; just like his own family her parents had been one of Voldemort's most devoted adherents – though they weren't as close to him as themselves – but he really couldn't find anything interesting about her. Though for a while he had been flattered by her fascination with him, but on the other hand he had enough admirers, most of the Slytherin girls were. One snap with his fingers and he would have the choice between lots of them. Being a Malfoy had its benefits. He ignored the fact that not half of them would have cared about him if he wasn't Lucius' son – he didn't believe in this weak feeling called love anyway – it was just an excuse, something of which existence people talked themselves into to not feel so alone, or to have an excuse for sexual passion. And there was no love between parents and their children either, it was just the natural demand of propagation and preservation of one's kind. The love thing was for losers like Harry Potter and his stupid friends and followers. A content smirk crossed his face. One day all of them would learn.

Pansy took his smile as a sign that his bad mood was ameliorating and gave the pass another try and this time the blonde Slytherin let her have her way, thinking of two special contents in his trunk no one would ever be able to take away from him again.