Chapter 8- Heading Towards Hogwarts

The next few days was filled with finishing up last minute school work. Occasionally, they'd take their work to Florean's and take some sundae breaks. On the last day before school Ron and Harry had finally finished all of their work (and Hermione had finished reading "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six").

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny and Cassie had an early dinner at the Leaky Cauldron so they could start packing for Hogwarts.

"Psst...Harry," Ron whispered to him. Ron glanced over his shoulder, encouraging Harry to look. Harry stretched his neck a little bit and saw Malfoy sitting alone at a small table, writing something on a piece of parchment. "So?" Harry asked impatiently.

"I think he's following us. First at Florean's, then he found out what room she was staying in, and now he's here."

"Why would he follow us?"

"Don't be thick Harry. He's spying on us."

"What for?"

"He's either trying to get to Cassie, or he's trying to see if we'll spill any info about the you-know-what to tell all his dark wizard friends. Or maybe both."

"Ron, I think you're starting to obsess. Don't go crazy, it's not good for your health."

"I'm not going crazy," Ron said, a little louder than he should have. "It's just creepy that's all. He's some kinda stalker or something. Like how did he know we were going to Florean's? And then he knew what room we were staying in, and he knew when we were leaving for dinner."

Harry shrugged. He thought Ron was just being paranoid. But it started to get to him a little bit. What if Malfoy was spying on them to get info about the Order? Was he just using Cassie to get closer to us? No, that couldn't be it. Cassie's read his mind already, she'd know if he was using her.

'What if he wasn't thinking it at the time?' A little voice in his head asked him.

Everybody groggily boarded the Knight Bus the next morning. Once all their belongings were secured they clung to their beds and were ready to roll (literally). Everybody except Cassie was trying to keep themselves in place, but she was so tired she just let the bus toss her around. Harry's eyes darted back and forth through the bus, watching it throw Cassie around. It was somewhat entertaining, but then things took a slight turn for the worse. Her bed crashed into Malfoy's. He was looking depressed and she started talking to him, her face full of concern. Harry hoped he was the only watching this, but he was wrong. He looked over at Ron, who was eying them conspicuously, his face going slightly red. It looked like he wasn't breathing. Luckily Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were engaged in a conversation of their own, as were Ginny and Hermione.

"Oh god," Harry muttered.

"What?" Ron asked, apparently hearing him.

"You're gonna do that whole freaking out protective thing aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Harry got the idea that Ron wasn't kidding.

"We'll be back soon guys," Hermione called to Harry and Cassie, "It's another gathering of the prefects."

"Ron never told me he was a prefect," Cassie said as she closed the compartment door.

'Ron hasn't told you a lot of things,' Harry thought. "He was just as shocked as all of us. Especially with all the detentions he gets from Snape."

"Snape?"

"He's the Potions teacher. Don't wanna get on his bad side. It's too late for most of us but you might have a chance. He tends to favor Slytherins though. He's head of their house. What house are you in anyway?"

"Gryffindor," she replied, "That night when Dumbledore was at Grimmauld Place he brought his Sorting Hat thingy."

'Well at least Ron will be relieved she's not in Slytherin...' Harry thought to himself.

"Shame, I thought you'd have more cleverness than bravery and get into Slytherin," said a depressed voice.

Malfoy was standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall. Harry noticed that his eyes looked softer than usual. Not stern and angry like normally but, somewhat sympathetic.

"Hi Draco," Cassie said cheerfully.

He smirked, staring back at her eyes. Harry was confused, his eyes wandered from Draco to Cassie repeated times. Did they even know he was here?

"Aren't you supposed to be up front with all the prefects?" Harry asked nastily.

"Yeah well they finished explaining everything so we're done," Draco spat. "Anyway, I just came here to talk to Cassandra. Alone." He motioned for her to come with him.

"I'll be right back Harry," she said getting up, and she closed the compartment door behind her.

'What's he want with her now?' Harry thought.

Harry hardly had 10 seconds with himself as Ron and Hermione had just come back. Hermione looked fine but Ron looked grumpy. Harry wondered what could've happened at the meeting to make Ron so grouchy.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked.

"I saw Cassie walking out of here with Malfoy," he replied gruffly.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well anyway there's a bunch of new stuff we can do this year as prefects," she said in an attempt to change the subject. "Sometimes we have detention duty and we can patrol the halls at night."

"Cool," Harry replied loosely, "At least I'll have a chance at spending a detention with you guys instead of Snape."

"What are they always talking about?" Ron asked.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. They didn't know what to say.

"Stuff I guess," Harry answered. 'Well that was smart,' Harry told himself.

Hermione had taken out another one of her school books and began to read through it. Ron and Harry were engaged in a game of Wizard Chess.

"Ron we should go now," Hermione said looking at her watch.

"Don't touch my knight," Ron called as Hermione dragged him out of the compartment so they could patrol the train. Harry was alone again. He wished Cassie were here, he needed somebody else to talk to. She had been gone for almost an hour now.

"Hey Harry," Cassie said as she walked into the compartment. "Where'd Ron and Hermione go?"

"They left to walk around a little bit, make sure everything's alright. But where have you been this whole time?"

"I was with Draco."

"Doing what?"

"Talking."

"For an hour?"

"Well if you must know, I kinda sorta...fell asleep."

"I didn't know Malfoy was that boring," Harry muttered. Cassie glared at him.

"I was tired, and we were talking for a while, and I got really sleepy. Then before I knew it he woke me up and said he had to go walk around, so I just told him I'd come back here. I didn't know I was gone so long, honest."

It seemed to make sense, Cassie was sort of a sleepy person and she did look kinda ruffled. Her eyes were straining to stay open.

'She still looks exhausted,' Harry thought.

It started raining heavily outside. The sky was a deep shade of grey and there were occasional thunder booms and lightning strikes. Harry thought the pounding of the rain on the top of the train was relaxing, until it started to sound like clanking.

"Harry," Cassie whispered. "Look..." She pointed out the window and saw that the drops of rain slowly became pieces of ice. Harry had never seen anything like it. He started feeling cold, Harry could she his and Cassie's breath coming out of their mouths when they spoke. "What's going on?" She asked through chattering teeth. Harry shrugged. He never remembered anything like this happening before. He held a tight grip on his wand in his pocket.

"Wait," Harry said under his breath, "Dementors."