Just Say You Need Me

By: kuroneko89

I'm so sorry about the late update!

One Last Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter!! Harry Potter and all its characters belong to JK Rowling, and this is the last disclaimer I'm going to state in this fic; do not sue me for not putting another disclaimer into the next chapter.

Rating: Still PG13 (Yeah…still TT)

Status: Un-betaed.

On with the fic please!

Chapter 2: Hogwarts

As the day was slowly turning into a dawn, the three had called off and finished their shopping and went to the Leaky Cauldron to spend the night. Harry opened his trunks and stuffed his new books and robes in before turning to Hedwig. He opened her cage and let her flew to his shoulder, nibbling his ear affectionately before Harry went to feed her. After some time, the owl got full and flew back to her cage to sleep and Harry decided to take a quick shower.

The raven-haired boy winced as he felt the cold water running down his back. As he was scrubbing himself with the soap, he couldn't help but thought at the look Malfoy gave him as he was passing him. There was absolutely no hatred in that look, just confusion and absurdity. As Harry finished his shower and turned off the tap, he began to revise his prediction earlier on that probably Malfoy was able to hear that voice as well. The Slytherin did flinch and clutched his head like something had assaulted it all so suddenly.

Harry sighed as he dressed himself into his pyjama and flopped to the bed. So what if Malfoy heard the same voices as him? Harry closed his eyes tiredly and soon enough, the boy drifted into a sleep, where he dreamed the same dream about seeing the two balls of darkness and a fleeting image of Malfoy in the warmer darkness again, no clearer than before.

Why not make friends with the darkness you can approach?

Harry got up the next morning and went about his last packing before going downstairs to eat some breakfast. Hermione and Ron came a little bit later, with Hermione muttering how a heavy sleeper Ron was and the red-haired pouting at her crude remarks. Harry smiled at the two's antics before his heart panged in jealousy. He decided not to care about it as he went up to get their trunks. The three went out of the Leaky Cauldron and fetched a cab to go to King's Cross Station.

By the time they were reaching the station, it was only 10 minutes before 11 o clock. Harry, Ron and Hermione could be seen racing to the in-between platform 9 and 10, people sending them weird looks due to Hedwig before Ron made a dash to the ticket box barrier and disappeared. Hermione followed suite after her boyfriend and Harry went after her.

Harry smiled as he took in the sight of the platform 9 ¾. It was not Hogwarts yet, but he already felt comfortable. Hogwarts was still the only home he had, even after all these events. His thought was broken as Hermione and Ron entered the front compartment. "Sorry, Harry, but we have to be in the Prefects' compartment soon. We'll come by later," Hermione said and left with a swift movement.

The raven-haired boy sighed before entering the student's compartment. He met his classmates all along the way as he was looking for empty compartment and even chuckled at the Colin and Denis's antic greetings.

After quite a long walk, he found a compartment where the only occupants were Neville, Luna and Ginny. Harry smiled thinly at them, willing the not so pleasant memories about last year away. "Mind if I sit here?"

Neville and Ginny seemed startled. Luna, weird as ever, nodded as she was reading The Quibblers upside down again. Harry nodded thanks before he went to put his trunk on a corner and sat next to Ginny. "Hey," he greeted.

Ginny looked at him without a blush and smiled. "Hi, Harry," she greeted back. Harry smiled again, thin and formal but enough to make Ginny relaxed. Apparently, she had also thought Harry to be distant as well.

"How was your summer holiday? Heard it from Ron that it was very empty and such," Harry said, trying to conduct a conversation. Ginny nodded. "Oh, yes, it was quiet alright, but I get to see some snoggings," Ginny smirked evilly.

Harry's heart fell at this, but he tried to picture Ron and Hermione snogging and he managed a laugh, "oh, I'd like to see that."

The journey went as normal as usual. The trolley came up soon and Harry bought lots of food and shared them around. Hermione and Ron joined quite a few while later, and then they chatted, or sometimes played the Exploding Snap. Some occasional teasing from Ginny would make Ron and Hermione blushed badly and Harry couldn't help but to laugh, or at least act like he was laughing. Sometimes his heart panged too heavily he could head the voice again.

He's near, very near, and approachable.

As the voice finished, the door of the compartment opened, revealing a smug Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson hanging on his arm, looking more like a pug than ever. Crabbe and Goyle were trailing behind the blonde Slytherin as usual. Harry sighed mentally. How the two of them managed to pass OWLs was a big mystery.

Pansy was the first one to notice the people in the compartment and smirked. "Why, why, Weasel and Mudblood," she noticed the blush between the two. She tightened her hug around Malfoy's arm and smirked more, making her look impossibly similar to a real pug. "Oh, I pity you so, Weasel, for having a Mudblood for a girlfriend."

Malfoy, who was glaring at Pansy to make her let go of her hug but to no avail, yanked his arm and startled her. She went to look down on the ground, looking a little bit scared. Malfoy huffed before sneering at Ron and Hermione. "Why, I must say, I agree with you, Pansy," the blonde girl looked up, her eyes lit with hope, only to be crushed by Malfoy's icy look, "but no, Weasel is a muggle lover and Mudblood lover alright, they deserve it," he then laughed, Pansy paused before giggling with him, followed by Crabbe and Goyle.

Ron was clutching his fist, trying to control himself not to leap onto the Slytherin as Harry stood up to his best friends' aid.

The Boy Who Lived looked at the Slytherin's Ice Prince with a deadly calm look. Malfoy looked slightly taken aback. "What, Potty?"

Harry snorted at Pansy. "You can't say anything about them when you have a pug as your girlfriend."

Pansy was fuming. "Why you Boy Who Fucking Lived-!"

Malfoy sent a glare on her and quieted her down. "As much as I hate it, Potty, you're right," he stated coldly, crushing Pansy's heart, "it's time to change girlfriend, don't you think? And it wont be hard, since I am such a gorgeous one, am I not, puppy lover?"

Harry's face fell. And before Ron could make a remark about this, Malfoy already had his head in both hands, cursing as loudly as ever. "Darn it, Potty, what did I ever do?? Why is it every time I say something crude at you this voice would…ARRGGHH!!!!" He went out with his head still in one of his hand, not forgetting to sway his robe gracefully. Crabbe and Goyle followed suite before Pansy.

Everyone in the compartment right that time, except Luna, stared at each other in confusion, but they didn't have the time to think anymore, for the Hogwarts castle was so close already. They all changed into their school robes as the train slowed down.

Ron and Hermione parted away since they were Prefects and had to help with other things. Harry could only smile thinly as he went down from Hogwarts Express and followed Neville, Ginny and Luna to the carriages. He caught the sight of the Thestrals and his face fell a bit. The Thestrals were the proofs of Cedric and Sirius's death.

Harry was such in a trance that when he lifted his face, he gasped as he caught a really unordinary sight.

There, a few feet away from him stood a girl. She looked like an ordinary girl but Harry did not know why; he thought that she was not really that ordinary. She had this shoulder-length unruly raven hair, warm brown eyes and pale white skin, making Harry sure that she was an Asian. She looked only a few years younger from him, and that was weird – Harry felt that he'd never seen her before. She was stroking a Thestral when she noticed Harry looking; she then turned and smiled a calm smile. Then Harry caught was what he thought was the strangest about her – her Hogwarts robe had no house emblem nor house tie and judging from her looks, she was definitely not a first year.

Harry blinked, and she was gone. He stood there gaping for a few while before Ginny called him. The raven-haired boy smiled at her and muttered a 'sorry' before going up to the carriage that would carry him to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was as mighty as usual. The four long tables, the candles and the magic-created sky were still there. Harry looked around for a while before finding peace at this place. He couldn't help but to smile as he sat down next to Ron and Hermione.

"Glad to be home, aren't you?" Ron asked, grinning.

"Why, yes of course," Harry stated.

Their attentions were quickly diverted as a group of first years came into the Hall, looking very timid and afraid. Some of them sent a look towards Harry and the Boy Who Lived sighed.

Professor McGonagall went away to fetch the Sorting Hat and placed it in the middle of the front of the Hall. As usual, the Hat began singing before McGonagall called the names of the first years and instruct them to wear the Hat and got sorted.

Harry soon found himself not watching the Sorting Ceremony anymore but looking around the ceilings and the paintings, taking the sight into his mind. He did some occasional applause when he heard a first year getting sorted into Gryffindor and smiled formally at whoever it was. It was before he glanced at the teacher's table, trying to find Hagrid, only to be met with cold gazes from his Potions Teacher, whom the boy ignored. Harry noticed that a new woman was sitting on that table, which meant she must be a new Defense Against the Dark Art teacher. The boy eyed her up and down. She was rather old and ratty looking with gray hair and dull blue eyes. Harry sighed. She looked like the theory type. He hoped that she would be slightly better than Umbridge.

The Sorting Ceremony went for a while and Harry's stomach began to growl. A quick glance to his right would tell that Ron was hungry as well. Everyone was waiting impatiently as Professor McGonagall called the last person, Marianne Zabini (apparently, Blaise Zabini's little sister), who like her bigger brother, got sorted into Slytherin. They went into another round of applause before silence reigned over the Hall.

Slowly, Professor Dumbledore got up, and the students waited for the announcement of the feast, but that was not the words that would come next after the Headmaster's mouth. Instead, the old Wizard coughed and looked all over his students.

"This year, we would get two guests, two transfer students from Quan Long International Magic School who will join the Sixth Years this year, and I would like you to welcome them: Yura Kitagawa and Dong Eun Kim!"

The door of the Great Hall opened abruptly as two figures began to enter. The male was tall, lean, slightly tanned and looked a little too old for being 16. His hair was black, spiked, and his eyes were brown: typical Asian traits.

The other one was a female. Although they both had the same Asian traits, she was almost the opposite of the other student. She had shoulder-length, unruly black hair, warm looking brown eyes, pale white skin, oval face and she looked as if she was only 14, which she probably was. Her features were soft and not sporty like the male.

Harry gagged. The girl was the one he saw just now before he entered his carriage!

The two made their way in front of Professor McGonagall and smiled at her before bowing, then turned to face the whole Hall and bowed again.

"I'm Kim Dong Eun," the male said warmly and smiled. The female smiled with him. "And I am Kitagawa, Yura," she said with somewhat both cold and warm voice. They both bowed. "We would like to make friends with all of you," they both said, Kim's expression friendly and Kitagawa's expression dull, contrary to how their eyes looked. Such an amusing pair.

Professor McGonagall went to give Kim the Hat. He complied and took it onto his head. After a while, the Sorting Hat gave out a smile and shouted.

'GRYFFINDOR!'

All the Gryffindors but Harry cheered, hands applauded above their heads. Ron was standing as well. "Harry, he looked so sporty! So fit of Quidditch! He could make a good player!" he said happily.

As the cheers died down, Kim went to walk and sat on the space next to Harry. He smiled at the whole group. "I'm Kim Dong Eun, you can call me Dong Eun all right. Nice to meet you," he said warmly, offering his hand to Harry, who took it with a little shock. He noted that Dong Eun had some weird accent with him, probably some Asian accent. He scrubbed the thought off as the others went to shake hands with the transfer student.

Professor McGonagall coughed to gain the Hall's attention before giving Kitagawa the Hat. She smiled an expressionless smile, a smile that was not exactly cold but let the person decided for himself what kind of a smile that was, and put the hat onto her head gracefully. The Hat did not take long. He shouted his decision with a scowl.

'Why, you're a muggle-born, but have most of this house's qualities. Interesting' the Hat said, though its face did not say so. It opened its mouth and shouted out loud.

'SLYTHERIN!'

Harry, who thought that girl would be a true Gryffindor, was shocked. It was apparent that he was not the only shocked one. Everyone seemed to be expecting her into Gryffindor house, since the other boy was there as well and all. The Slytherins looked at her with disgrace. A mudblood sorted into Slytherin? This was the first, and it was VERY disgracing to their opinion.

The girl smiled that very smile again before taking the Hat off her head, gracefully giving it back to Professor McGonagall as she took off to the Slytherin's table. Obviously, she was not really welcomed there.

Malfoy was eyeing the Sorting Ceremony with boring looks in his bluish silver eyes. At the mention of the two Asian transfer students, he only yawned, especially when hearing that the male one was sorted into Gryffindor. 'Great. Just another bastard in the making,' thought the blonde when he vaguely heard that there was a mudblood sorted there, into Slytherin.

Malfoy's head snapped at the mention. A mudblood in Slytherin?? That was absurd! He couldn't help but glared at the girl as she was trying to find a seat.

Kitagawa noticed the look the blonde Ice Prince was giving and smiled a warm looking but awry meaning behind-the-scene smile. Her brown eyes spoke of volumes as she sent something that made Malfoy shiver in coldness. He did not know what, but this witch was strong, and definitely a Slytherin, mudblood or not.

What he did next shocked the whole Great Hall.

Malfoy stood up before sneering at Kitagawa Yura. Harry was expecting him to give a crude remark about no mudbloods were allowed in Slytherin when the blond raised his hand and offered it to the girl.

"Draco Malfoy," he said, a smirk gracing his lips.

The whole people in Great Hall gasped.

Kitagawa Yura could only raised her eyebrow in such an elegant way before taking Malfoy's hand into her hand. "Kitagawa Yura," she said, her voice cold and graceful.

Malfoy smirked again when they shook their hands. As they released their hands, the blonde Ice Prince shoved Pansy off his side and pointed the seat to the girl. "If you're please, Kitagawa,"

More of the Great Hall gasped. Even Snape was eyeing his godson with twinkling eyes.

"Thank you," she gave a smile again, "and why, Yura is fine, Malfoy," she said as she sat gracefully next to him and smiled.

Just so suddenly, Malfoy felt like he had heard this voice somewhere. The blond shook his thought before he went to talk to her again. "Well, then Yura, Draco is fine."

Harry's head was spinning. For one, he caught a fleeting memory of having heard the voice once, but did not know where. For two, he was rather shocked. He did not know Malfoy could be like that to a stranger, a 'mudblood' nonetheless! But the blond seemed to pay no heed, and seemed perfectly sure of what he was doing. Harry sighed, feeling grateful as Dumbledore announce the feast. He gobbled the food down before the feast was finished. The Headmaster gave out the same speech about curfew and not disobeying school rules before sending the students off.

The Boy Who Lived sighed again as Hermione and Ron gave him the look that said that 'we'll tell Dumbledore tonight'. He waited outside the Great Hall before Ron and Hermione went back from their duties and the three of them made their ways to the Headmaster's office.

Harry led the two of his friends into by now a very familiar corridor leading to the Dumbledore's office. The three found themselves reaching the huge Gargoyle in no time.

The raven-haired boy turned to his friends and said in a matter of fact tone, "We don't know the password and we have to try one by one."

Hermione and Ron furrowed their eyebrows. "Any clue of what it could be?"

"Any muggle and wizarding candies," Harry muttered before making his first try, "Lemon Drop!"

Nothing. The Gargoyle didn't budge.

Harry scowled before making the next try, "Chocolate Frog!"

Still nothing.

Soon enough, Hermione and Ron joined and there were lots of name of food being called around that corridor.

"Pumpkin Juice! Jelly Slugs! Fizzing Whizzbees! Ice Mice!!" By now Harry was frustrated. His thought suddenly went on how frustrating Snape and Malfoy could be before he imagined what taste would the blond like, "Vanilla Milkshake!!"

Surprisingly, the Gargoyle moved away and let the three of them onto the moving staircases. Harry stared at the stair blankly. "Vanilla Milkshake?"

Hermione looked at him. "I don't know how you came into it in all sudden after all the wizarding sweets you muttered, but lucky guess," she said, pushing Ron and Harry to the staircase with Ron looking at Hermione and Harry blankly, asking what the hell Vanilla Milkshake was. The raven-haired boy and the brunet looked at each other before chuckling.

Soon enough, they reached the door to Dumbledore's office. Harry gave Hermione and Ron a glance of unease before knocking the door.

It was a while before a reply came from inside. "Come in."

Harry, Ron and Hermione opened the door and entered the room, Hermione and Ron gaping at the things that were there. Harry looked around too and found out that there were much lesser things than before. He recalled the memory where he destroyed many of Dumbledore's possessions out of rage and blushed in embarrassment.

The old Wizard himself was sitting behind his table, looking over some documents. He quickly put them down as the trio approached. "Well, Harry, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, what can I help you?" he asked, smiling calmly as he pointed to a bowl of lemon drop, which Harry, Ron and Hermione refused politely.

Harry had always thought that the calm face was calming before last year. Now he thought of it as dreading. He strained the urge to leap and break that calm look off the Headmaster's face.

"Well, Professor, we'd like to inform you that we've been having strange things happening during summer," said Hermione calmly as she saw that there was no way Harry was going to speak first.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled lightly before he eyed the trio in front of him, "Oh?"

Hermione glanced at Harry's stern face again and sighed before continuing her explanation. "Well, we, we…conjured wandless magic…"

The Headmaster gave a raise of eyebrow, urging for the girl to explain more. She looked at Ron's eyes and nodded. "It was like…whenever I feel uncomfortable, there will be this huge water flowing, and in Ron's case, he would set things on fire accidentally when he's not feeling comfortable," the brunet gave a look at Harry, "And Harry here had the weirdest development. He can conjure spells and transfigurations wandless and can…conjure bright light…"

Unknown to the Gryffindor trio, Albus Dumbledore made a quiet smile before it vanished quickly. The moment became silence. Hermione eyed the old Wizard worriedly. "Professor, does it have something to do with Elemental Magic?"

The Headmaster stood up and eyed Hermione's eyes. "I am truly sorry, Ms Hermione Granger, that I know nothing about this. However," he trailed his eyes to Ron and Harry's. The raven-haired boy gave Dumbledore an offended look. The man sighed. "It is better not to use it for a while. I will be researching about it; I will tell you whenever I find the truth. In the meantime, it can be best practising the magic quietly. We might be able to use it later."

The three nodded and Harry's feet were itching to just so leaving the office. However, before he managed to open the door and went out, Dumbledore called him and stopped him, forcing the boy to turned at the Headmaster.

Dumbledore's eyes made a sad twinkle as he spoke to his protégé.

"It's best to try to be civil to Draco Malfoy, Harry, for he may be useful later on."

Harry couldn't believe his ears. He wanted to ask the old Wizard about it, but his urge to leave the office was bigger, and so he only nod without any argument and raced back to Gryffindor tower with his friends.

End Chapter 2

Written 2nd May 2004 11.20am

A/N: You could probably have guessed who the two new transfer students really are, and I am sorry for not starting the Draco/Harry relationship just yet. I want to introduce the background first, and I want to take things slow. Being strangled by the readers I'm sorry, but hatred cannot change just like that! Harry'd been thinking of Draco a little bit, and the blond would be thinking of Harry also, I promise!

Review Please!

kuroneko89