Chapter 2: Malfoy Comes Into the Picture

Waking up in the early ("wee" corrects Ri) well, ok, "wee" hours of the morning was always hard, and for today morning our favourite trio here isn't spared.

Kicking off her covers, Milady sat up in bed, pulling back a bit of curtain to allow light into the room. Yawn. Next to wake was Rach. She grinned at the unnaturally always-neat head o f her friend leaning against the window. "You smell fresh air, girl, not see fresh air." Milady just shook her head and replied absent-mindedly, still staring at the empty Quidditch pitch, "Wake Ri up, the morning bell will be ringing in 16 minutes 47 seconds."

After a whole lot of splashing, pouring, hexing, cursing, screaming, shouting , shaking, yelling, nagging, pulling, pushing and dragging, Ri finally woke up. "Is it morning already?" she glanced at her clock, "Why it is!" she sauntered out of the room, leaving Rachel and Milady to pick themselves off the floor to bang their heads against the wall.

"Do I have a bruise the size of a hippogriff on my head now?" Rach asked at breakfast, rubbing a part of her forehead. "Hmm?" Ri looked up from her bowl of oatmeal. "How about... no?" she snarled, while Rachel breathed a sigh of relief, watching Milady scoop some mashed potatoes onto her plate.

"If you had stopped knocking yourself over the head with my broomstick when I asked –no, practically pleaded– you to, you wouldn't be nursing your head now." Milady reminded her mildly, drowning her potatoes in a sea of thick gravy, "and I'm not going to say 'I told you so', so don't look at me in that accusing way." She added the last part when Rachel started pouting, then turned back to her plate.

Ri stepped in at that moment. "Yeah yeah whatever. Seeing it's the second day we've been back, I still haven't asked you guys what you did over the holidays." She raised her eyebrows in curiosity as Milady dropped her spoon in a defeated manner when it was already halfway to her mouth. Rachel chirped, "Cooped up in Dad's library at the Manor going through his latest additions. Took me two weeks, but it was worth the time. I could've used that period to finish up Snape's 19 inched long essay." She touched Milady's shoulder gently. "What about you Mil?"

"The annual Deatheater gathering," she said, then winced slightly. It was common knowledge within the trio that Milady, soft as she was, she didn't like formal clothes. And Ri and Rachel, though they've never even associated with Deatheaters of any sort, well... with Milady's parents as exceptions, they knew that it must've been hell for their friend every year to watch all the adults around her speak about Voldemort. Ri listened with interest. "Cool. Any of which we know?"

"Well... most of them are those that we three already know." Milady ticked the names off her fingers. "Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Bulstrode, Zabini... how many is that? Only five? Let's see, the Evans, that's my family, and the... Malfoys." She made an uninterested face.

"Anyone will think that you loathed the Malfoys, Mil," Rachel joked, Ri nodding in agreement. "I don't," Milady snapped, tugging a bit of her spiral curl-styled ponytail out of her robes, "I just find them unfortunately and exceedingly the most arrogant people ever to grace Hogwarts." She drove her spoon into her breakfast hard and paused for a while before saying, "All the same, I just hate gatherings of any sort."

She dropped her wrist onto the table—or so she thought was the table—neatly flipping her spoon over so that she sent the mashed potatoes originally sitting on the spoon flying into someone who was sitting down a few inches away from her... right on the face.

"You know, Mila, when you mentioned the word 'unfortunately' just a little more than a minute ago, all in good time." Rach said in horror, almost slurring the words together in her faint attempt to speak. On the other hand, Ri who was sitting opposite her, went, "OH YEAH, SCORE!!" Upon hearing her friends' reaction, Milady whipped her head around, only turning back to face the wall she was already facing in the first place.

"Malfoy, haven't I seen enough of you over the vacations." It was more of a general statement, noted Ri and Rachel. That meant that Malfoy didn't need to answer, but as usual, their conclusion twisted vice versa. He cleaned up the mess Milady's potato-flying act made, and sat down with another Slytherin prefect, Blaise Zabini.

"I honestly don't think it was even close to a torture to see me every day, Evans," he smirked, "I think a more appropriate word would be delight."

And to think I thought his father had an oversized ego, the trio thought, this maggot here has one even bigger than the size of Texas. "Whatever you say, Malfoy," Ri and Milady rolled their eyes at him, "you're still not worth the air a Gryffindor breathes."

Draco's eyes flashed dangerously, "Watch that tongue of yours," he advanced on Ri, "you filthy little mudblood." Ri stepped up to his level. She was almost the same height as him. When she was about to retaliate, she realized that part of the Slytherin table was gawking at them. She turned to them, "You can go back to your own activities now, show's over."

Then she turned back to Malfoy, "You watch that tongue of yours as well, Malfoy, or you'll wish you've never heard the name Chang ever. Now move to the other side of the hall before I turn you into a ferret and bounce you all the way there."

Unruffled by Ri's insults, Malfoy still kept his place there, deliberately staying there to annoy Milady and me, thought Rachel. "I don't care what you say... Chang, I still insist on sitting right here."

Potions for the past seven years had always been the same, enjoying a conversation with some of the other Slytherins while Snape droned—

( "Excuse me, that's for Binns. For Snape it's "babbled". Ri corrects again. "Shut it, Ri, you're disturbing Milady. She's writing down Snape's NEWT lecture in point form for me." Rachel snaps. "Oh QUIET you two did Snape just say fried rice or dried mice was the key ingredient for last years NEWT potion?") Whatever.

—on endlessly.

Then Rach and Milady would be working diligently on their potions while Ri would be looking like a dead fish groaning about brewing useless and completely pointless potions. Well Milady because if she didn't Snape would suddenly decide on pair work and the last person she wanted to be stuck with was Malfoy ("I don't know but it is always a coincidence that always happens"), Rachel mainly because she just wanted to get out of the dungeons and stay ten miles of Snape and Ri because she just wanted to throw up whenever Snape complimented a Slytherin on their potion ("That's one less for him to waste his breath on"). And Snape would pick on the Gryffindors and praise Malfoy just because he "diluted his armadillo bile so nicely".

That day... "Mr Malfoy!" A voice rang from the table ahead. Malfoy woke up and saw Snape, his hair greasy as usual, and his usual smirk glare in place. Seeing this he let out a relieved sigh. "Hey dragonfly had a nice dream?" Ri asked with an all-knowing snigger.

Malfoy gritted his teeth, but he knew he could not afford to report Ri to Snape. 1, she was the best Quidditch player on the Slytherin team; 2, he had no proof she was the one who charmed him to sleep and; 3, Snape was already not happy with him.

After handing up their vials of the Polyjuice Potion, Angela asked Rach, "Hey Rach, did Ri drop a sleeping spell on Malfoy? 'Cause that death- sleeper never, I repeat, NEVER falls asleep during Potions." Both Rach and Milady nodded and waited for Ri to finish explaining to Snape why she had remains of Nightmare Potions in her blown-up cauldron.

Angela glanced at her timetable and groaned, "See ya, I've got Binns' class next, don't want to be late for my nap!" The trio giggled, Binns' lessons had always been boring, but they managed to keep their grades up in History of Magic—well with the exception of Mil ("Why on earth does she get the best brains...") –because; 1, it was way interesting than a bedtime story in terms of content; 2, there's a walking encyclopedia on Mythology named Ri around and; 3, even if you didn't know what the hell was Binns talking about, there was always Milady's notes to borrow.

"Well, I've got Arithmancy next, so that means..." Milady trailed off while her eyes danced excitedly, "Divination," two voices sounded, well one making it seem like Divination was the worst thing to hit Hogwarts next to Umbridge while the other chirped. Rach knew that Ri only went for Divination because of her, if not she would've disappeared for extra Quidditch practice instead. So the trio broke up and went separate ways.

While Milady was happily translating lectures into points and copying them down as notes in her class, the entire class of Trelawney's save Rachel, was trying to hold their breath while Professor Trelawney herself decided to light more incense. One of the Hufflepuffs raised her hand. "Yes?" Trelawney asked. The quietest girl in Hufflepuff said, "Professor, if you don't mind, could you please stop lighting incense? I'm afraid my classmates might drop dead any time now." As she said this, all except Rach, who was having a runny nose that day, was indeed suffering. Ri looked as if she would have an asthmatic attack if she did not get out of the room in the next few seconds. Trelawney, who was oblivious to all these as usual, replied, "Nonsense! These incense are for inspiration to See as you should See. More like murderation to Die as we should Die, Ri thought.

After one hour of Divination, they finally got out of the room. Though most did not even touch the ladder, just jumping down, let alone climbing down while Ri cast a bubblehead charm on herself.

Milady was doing her homework of a 20 feet stack for the day when she heard the portrait swing open. "Hey Ri," she said without looking up. She was already used to it. Ri nodded mutely as she still had her bubblehead charm on, making her head look like it was stuck in a goldfish bowl.

"Well what do we have here? Evans, and a ... Chang. Or should I say a fishbowl-head?" Milady leapt up and said stiffly, "Malfoy, go away, if not you'll have your front teeth knocked down your throat when we're through with you." Malfoy shook his head. "Tsk, tsk. Such a tone from a prefect—it's a disgrace," Milady could not say anything, her voice trapped somewhere in her throat. He was right. Unless she wanted to be stripped of her badge, she couldn't do anything to Malfoy, but she guessed Ri could do the donkey work for her, seeing as she didn't want to soil her hands.

Just then someone tapped her on the shoulder. It was Ri. She showed Mil her notebook: I'll take care of him. I'm not a prefect remember? Then she scribbled something else and flashed it to Malfoy: Dragonfly or rather stupid pervert death-sleeper, if even Peeves knows when to get out of my way, you should too, unless you are even more retarded than the poltergeist. Ri smirked maliciously.

Malfoy growled and retorted, "At least I'm not a mudblood who associates with rule-breaking and muggles, and I don't have to wear a bubblehead charm to keep myself alive after Trelawney's class!"

That was the last straw. Ri was a little overprotective of her close friends, and everyone, well almost everyone knew that. Ri undid her charm and cracked her knuckles, "Listen Mr Bonehead I've an ego the size of Texas as well. I can take the dirt from you like calling me filthy mudblood, fishbowl-head, pathetic muggle etcetera, but I won't take the crap of you insulting my friends just when you like it! So you'd better squash and deflate that oversized head of yours PRONTO, and I don't need to use a bubblehead charm to keep myself alive, since you'd rather have me dead.

"But let me tell you one thing Malfar—no, -foy, if you're a Deatheater, then I'm a death-giver. You'll regret ever meeting—"At her last comment, Ri threw a punch at Malfoy, but was restricted when Rachel, who had just came in through the portrait to watch a good showdown, came in time to pull Ri away with Milady from giving Malfoy a black eye. She shook her head 'no'. Ri breathed and yelled at Malfoy while her two friends dragged her away by the sleeve of her robe, "IT'S WAR MAN!!"

"Why did you pull me away?!" Ri hissed at Rach. "There could've been a black eye swelling up nicely now on his face!" Rach drew a deep breath, "Could've reported you to McGonagall, that ferret-headed sissy, dirty- minded homo-freak, waste-of-skin, pointless piece of ass, stupid smelly GIRL of a Malfoy!" She literally spat sparks with her vivid blue eyes flashing dangerously.

"Wow, you sure are good at a word-war." Ri said, backing off a little, but later giving a 'ouch' when Milady elbowed her hard in the side, afraid that Rachel might blow up any moment, but to their surprise she just said calmly, "Thanks for that compliment. I got it from my mum. Don't I look like her when I do that?" Milady and Ri nodded numbly, both relieved that Rach had gotten back her sense of humour.

"Well, why don't we all go to bed for now? It's getting late," Milady said, regaining her senses.

Ri agreed, sounding a little revolted. "Whatever. Anyway I'm so tired of that Sissy. Just thinking of him makes me shudder. Eww."