"Harry? Harry! Are you alright? You seem really preoccupied." Asked a concerned Hermione, who sat facing Harry in the Great Hall.

"Yeah mate, you haven't said a word since we saw you." Echoed Ron beside her.

Harry looked up from the table and took in the light frowns upon his best friends' faces. For a split second, he considered telling them of his dream. But then what's the use. He knew exactly what they were going to say. Ron is simply going to look frightened and gulp. Hermione, on the other hand, would immediately start spitting out commands. He didn't need nor want either right now. Luckily, he was saved from a response as Dumbledore rose to give his speech.

"Welcome! To another year at Hogwarts. As I am sure all of you know, Voldemort, and please refer to him as such from now on, is back. Dark times are ahead of us. But! We'll come through. There will be fearful hours and painful good-byes...but we won't bow to his evilness!" After a few seconds' pause, which Dumbledore gave more to calm his own boiling emotions than to let the students absorb his meanings, he continued in his old steady voice: "In response to recent developments, Hogwarts has accepted transfer students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. These students will be sorted immediately following our first-years. Please let us extend our warmest welcome!"

A round of applause now filled the Great Hall. But among them could be heard fierce whispers, some curious, some fearful, others downright malicious:

"Why are they transferring to Hogwarts?"

"Because, you idiot, V...V...You-know-who is only afraid of our headmaster."

"You don't think You-know-who is attacking schools do you?"

"I heard that Beauxbatons already received warnings from V...V...Vo...sigh You-know-who! And Durmstrang has always been rumored to be a You-know-who supporter!"

"Bloody hell! More mudbloods!"

"Why are we accepting them? There's more than enough students in this castle already!"

"Because they are safer here..."

"If they're targets of You-know-who, then that's more reason for us NOT to accept them. Why, they'd lead You-know-who right to us!"

A stream of students followed Prof. McGonagall into the Hall. First were the usual first-years, then a large group of about 120 students ranging in age from 12-18 followed. Then the sorting ceremony began. As Harry stared at the group of new students, he recalled his dream:

"Master, if you please, we can easily locate her!" croaked the pain-filled voice of Lucious Malfoy "Where could she be but Hogwarts?..."

Harry began to search for this mysterious girl, but stopped immediately as he realized he didn't know what she looked like. Even if he did, it would be virtually impossible to find her in this huge crowd of people. Wait...maybe this is what Dumbledore wanted. Maybe he purposely asked for this many transfer students so he could hide that one girl...

"She's a polymorphagus. She could appear in front of you as Draco himself!"

'Maybe I should start by looking for a second Malfoy...' Harry thought wryly to himself as his eyes scanned the crowd.

"Bloody hell Harry! Look at that girl over there! Why, she's prettier than Fleur!" Exclaimed Ron pointing to a French student with flowing blond hair that reached her knees. Harry looked that way, but rather than the Beauxbatons student, his eyes met with a pair of sparkling brown eyes behind half-rimless glasses. He had expected this chinese girl to turn away immediately and blush. He was the famous Harry Potter after all and she had seemed really shy. But she didn't. She didn't smile, she didn't wave, she didn't nod; in fact, she didn't do anything except for letting a strange light shine through her eyes and simply staring at Harry with a blank but intense expression. Harry, in turn, found himself staring as well, incapable of turning away.

The girl wasn't gorgeous. She looked around 17 with a heart-shaped face, small pink lips and medium lengthed, layered black hair that softly hugged her cheeks. Her lashes weren't thick nor extremely long; her eyes weren't big; but they held a very captivating light within them that was evident even behind the metallic blue glasses that sat a bit too low on her petite nose. This light radiated power, sadness, and something else that Harry didn't recognize. Her skin was unusually pale and translucent for a Chinese person; so translucent, in fact, that she wore a natural blush on her cheeks all the time. Harry thought she had been slouching, but now she held her thin but tall frame in a very regal manner. Overall, she was just moderately pleasing to the eye. But the aura she radiate was extremely attractive. And she reminded Harry of someone...he just can't figure out who.

"Meghan Lee!"

At Prof. McGonagall's call, their trance was broken. The girl turned, yes, she is slouching now, and approached the sorting hat very timidly. She even stumbled crumsily going up the stairs. She then stared at the old Hat with the same nervous, apprehensible look as the first years, though she was evidently trying to conceal it. As soon as she sat down, she squeezed shut her eyes and started to fidget.

"Wow" Harry heard Ron claim to Hermione "That girl's worse than Neville..."

After an unusually long pause, the hat hurriedly shout out "Slytherin" as if trying to avoid further arguments. When Meghan opened her eyes, Harry almost flinched at the anger that glared in them. But it was so quickly covered by a blank expression that he thought he must have imagined it.

'Did I imagine the scene before too? Did her eyes really contain that entrancing light? Did she really radiate that powerful aura? I must have.' Harry thought as she hurriedly got off the stage, stumbling shyly towards the Slytherin table, keeping her head down and eyes glued to the ground at all times. 'But she did hold my gaze. How? Why didn't she shy away then?' But Harry was unable to ponder further as he felt glaring eyes upon him. He turned his gaze away from Meghan's slouched figure and was met with the ice cold eyes of Draco Malfoy, only now, there were frozen fires blazing angrily within them.

A/N: Vote! Dear readers, I need your help in deciding: Should I make Draco have a heart or not? Here are your choices: a) Draco is still a spoiled brat who's horrible to everyone BUT our heroine. They're actually childhood friends and Draco is IN LOVE WITH HER (love, not crush, not lust). This will obviously be a love triangle. Or you could say b) oh please! Malfoy is damaged beyond repair. Just stick to reality and make him as horrible and he can be. This will then be a hero-rescue-damsel-in-distress story. POST YOUR VOTE AS A REVIEW ASAP! Thank you! Oh and sorry for the insanely long update!! I had so little review, I didn't want to continue. But then I thought I wasn't being fair to my 3 precious reviewers so here I am again