::Disclaimer:: Je ne own pas le Harry Potter. (My attempts at French, everybody. lol) Ne sue pas moi. I hope you can understand that, lol. Anyways, I think you get the gist of it.

::AN:: So, the... eighth chappie...? I think that's it... lol. Gah, I don't have the window-thing up! I can't do review responses! But I want to! lol I love you people! Thanks for your lovely reviews. And sorry this chap is a bit weird - I need to get the plot flowing, lol.

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Chapter Eight

Love is like a broom, racing across the tundra when suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night, the ice weasels come.

This is my life.

I checked my outfit in the mirror. My skirt seemed a little short, but I knew I'd live through it. Or, well, I hoped I'd live through it.

"So, anxious for your first day?" Margaret asked me as she brushed her long chestnut brown hair so that it hung straight down to her elbows.

I turned away from the mirror and fumbled around on my bed, searching for where I had thrown my hair-tie from the night before. "Hurry up girls!" I heard someone call from outside the door. "You're going to be late for breakfast!"

Margaret rolled her eyes. "Prefects… Act like they can tell us what to do."

I gave a quiet "Hooray!" when I found my hair-tie, and turned to Margaret as I tied up my hair. "Um, can't they?" I asked her, still trying to remember all the rules of Hogwarts.

It's not that most of the rules are different from Durmstrang, I mean. It's just that, well, I forget… You know summer does these things to you.

She shrugged her shoulders at me as she picked up her bag. "Whatever."

"You're not a prefect?" I asked her. "Don't they get picked during fifth year?"

Margaret – I think that's a cool name, by the way, but it's kind of long – shook her head. "Well, yeah, they pick them in fifth year, but I'm not a prefect, no. Thank Merlin. I don't want to end up like my sister."

I tried not to trip over as I put my shoes on while I twisted my neck to look over at her. "Who?"

"My sister." She repeated. "She was Head Girl in her seventh year; prefect in her fifth year. It got kind of annoying, with my parents practically drooling over her, you know."

I laughed and picked up my robe, thus adding the final addition to my wardrobe. "They were just proud of her, though, right?" I shrugged. "My mom gets the same way around my brother."

"You have a brother?" She asked and I blinked lamely at her.

It's like she has short-term memory loss, I swear.

I stared at her and tried to hold back my eyebrow-raising instinct (you know, where you "instinctually" raise your eyebrow… Yes, you're getting it now.). "I'm a Malfoy…" I said slowly.

Margaret frowned. "I know, but… It could be a sort of common name, I don't really know…" She shrugged. "I guess I just – Well, everybody knows… They were all there in the Hall. But, I mean… You're in Hufflepuff."

I stared at her like she didn't make any sense. 'Cause, well, she didn't. "Hungry?" I asked perkily to change the subject.

She nodded. "Starved. Come on, let's go before the third years get to the muffins. They eat the muffins like crazy every year. I don't know what's wrong with their year, but it's really upsetting for the rest of us."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Show me."

"You don't want to see it, Lucy."

I held my hand out towards her. "My timetable, Margie." I said to her. "I'll need to see it if I plan on attending classes this term."

"But it's so horrible." She whispered loudly.

I looked around, ignoring Margaret's long sighs over my timetable. I didn't see what the big deal was, really. It's not like it was the end of the world or anything. I mean, classes weren't going to kill me.

"You're going to die with classes like these." Margaret went on.

I rolled my eyes and slouched lower over the table. If I were a dog, I think I would be a bloodhound. Because they're really lovable, if you, you know, feed them and take care of them and show them love and… stuff.

"We have DOUBLE POTIONS first thing?!" I heard someone practically shout from nearby.

I turned around halfway in my seat and noticed The Boy Who My Brother Hates A Lot and Company. They seemed to be peering over their timetables, each with a distinct look of disappointment over their faces. Well, joyous day it is for Draco, I suppose. Maybe I should take a picture – he'd like to see those sad, distraught faces for eternity, I'm sure.

He is so not related to me. Well, you know. Sort of. Okay, he is, but don't let that get around, remember? And, OHMIGOD, I cannot believe Margaret! As if Malfoy is a common name! Only the highly privileged and whatnot can be honored with a name such as Malfoy! HONESTLY!

Just then, I saw Hermione look up from her timetable and over towards the Hufflepuff table. She smiled and waved. I looked out of the corner of my eye at Margaret, who seemed to be having an attack of some sort over my timetable still. (No, not really, but close.)

I waved back to Hermione, and she nodded before looking back down at her timetable. She seemed to have a significant problem with her hair, I noticed. It was just sticking up in all the wrong places. Like, on top, for one. What is up with that? Poor girl. Her hair is almost as horrible as Harry Potter's is. His hair sticks up everywhere, I tell you. It seems he's tried to grow out his bangs to cover that scar of his, but really, who cares? All it does is add to that whole sloppy effect – because his glasses are totally crooked right now. It's like he doesn't know how to wear glasses at all – it gives a bad name to people who wear glasses everywhere, seriously. I mean

Oh, um. Uh.

He was staring at me. Look away, Lucy, look away. I couldn't look away. I could feel my whole face getting warm in that horrible warm way it does sometimes. Why was he staring at me? I suppose I must've blanked out for a moment, and maybe he saw Hermione waving, and so he was curious, but really. There's no need to stare.

I have something on my face. DIE! DIE! DIE! I wonder what it is, though? A bit of muffin?

"Here. I suppose you'll have to look at it eventually." Margaret tossed my timetable in my lap and I looked down.

"OHMIGOD!" I exclaimed sarcastically and flicked her arm with it. "It's the end of the world, Margie! I have Muggle Studies first thing! Oh the horror!"

"Muggle Studies is hard!" Margaret protested. "And stop calling me Margie. I said you could call me Marge like everyone else."

I rolled my eyes and studied my timetable, when I suddenly remembered that my face had become horribly disfigured with muffin-goo. I held my timetable up to my face as though I was studying it carefully, but I turned my head towards Margie. "Margie, Margie. Do I have muffin on my face?" I whispered.

She looked at me for a moment, then shook her head. "No, there's no muffin on your face."

Whew. I set the timetable down in my lap and looked down at it.

"But there's some in your hair."

I gasped at reached my hand up to my hair, pulling the hair-tie out of the back and running my hands through it like a brush. Margie burst into giggles next to me, and I glanced over at her. "What's so funny?" I asked her.

"It serves you right." She said. "For calling me Margie." And with that she stood up and walked away from the table, chuckling to herself all the while.

I frowned and whipped my head to the side when I heard someone say my name. "There's nothing in your hair, Malfoy. Marge was just trying to teach you a lesson." Question Boy From Last Night was saying.

I have a first name, you know. It's Lucinda, which, yes, is gross. But you can call me Lucy. Honestly, I don't mind. Really.

I didn't say that. I said, "What's your name again?" Even though I had just remembered that it was Justin. You see, I hate when people who know my name pretend like they don't know my name. It totally gets me all peeved, you know.

For instance, there was this one girl at Durmstrang who sat in front of me during Transfiguration every year. Then in our third year, when we had a substitute, she did that 'forgetting the name' thing while he was taking role. I remember it clearly. The substitute looked around and called out, "Lila Malfoy." And the girl, whose name was Tawny Thatcher, turned around in her seat and said, "Isn't your name Lucinda?"

And, you know, my name is Lucinda. But it's just the way she said it. I hated it. And to top it all off, her little clones started snickering behind their perfectly manicured nails. To get her back, I spent the whole night making a rag doll that had short, curly brown hair like hers and round, hazel eyes. But you better believe, I made that doll as ugly as I could. It still looked like Tawny, though. (Well, obviously, since Tawny is like the epitome of u-g-l-y.) Then, all during class for the rest of the year, I brought the rag doll with me and told her that I had named it after her – affectionately calling the doll Tawny and Titi (my lovely nickname for both Tawny and doll) whenever I got the chance. I spent one whole class just staring at Tawny, while I pet her "namesake" on the head. When I realized that that wasn't enough, though, I started doing things to Tawny (the doll). I won't get into the details, but by the end of the year, her hair was blue, her eyes were red, there were gashes in her face and stomach where puffs of cotton poked through, and her clothes were naught but a few raggedy bits of cloth, wrapped around the body a few times.

Real-life Tawny never bothered me again. And when she spoke to me, she never forgot my name. It pays off, you see. Being a Malfoy, I mean.

I blinked at Justin. Well, um… "Oh, no, no, no!" I shook my head. "It's Justin, right?" I laughed. "Sorry, sorry. I must've blanked out for a minute, there's so many people here, you know. I'm getting so mixed up."

Well, really, I don't want Justin doing anything to me like what I did to Tawny. Seriously.

He nodded and gave a small smile. "See you around." He said before standing up and walking away.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair again, pulling it back up into a sloppy bun at the nape of my neck. I looked around briefly again and jumped about a mile in the air when my eyes landed on the Gryffindor table.

Harry Potter was still staring at me in that blank way, with his glasses practically falling off of his face, they were so crooked. I blinked at him in a blinking way while I finished tying my hair, slowly wrinkling my brow at him. You are a weirdo. I said to him in an attempt at telepathy.

Didn't work, I don't think.

I looked away as I stood and shoved my timetable into the pocket of my robe. Believe me when I say that it is so weird being stared at by people you don't even know. It's actually kind of creepy, you know.

"Lucy!" Margaret called out to me as I walked into the Entrance Hall. He beckoned me towards her with a wave of her hand and I turned to walk over to her, but paused when something caught my eye.

My brother. And a… pug.

No, really, she looked like a pug. I had no idea who she was, but judging by her robes, I guessed she was in Slytherin. She was ALL OVER my brother. Her hands were in his hair, her head was on his shoulder, she was standing really close, she was giggling like a hyena, she was –

- Going to die. She was kissing my brother. It was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. I wrinkled my nose and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, shaking my head. "Ew, gross." I muttered and turned around, totally not wanting to see that.

"Looks like the Slytherin couple of the year are at it again." I heard someone snicker and opened one eye to see Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter walking out of the Great Hall.

"Oh, hi, Lucy." Hermione greeted me. "How's your first day so far?"

"I'm going to throw up my muffin." I said before thinking properly.

I saw Ginny walk up and she grinned at me. "Afraid to turn around, huh?" She asked me.

I nodded. "Terrified." I whispered loud enough for the four of them to hear. "I swear I'm going to have to drink a Dreamless Sleep potion tonight. That's so disgusting."

"I can see their tongues." Ginny said, scrunching up her face.

"They're just kissing." Hermione said, shrugging.

"They're eating each other's faces off." Ron corrected, but gave me a bit of a glare while Ginny and Hermione laughed. Harry Potter, on the other hand, seemed to be quite the silent-mysterious guy, though. He wouldn't even smile at anything, the great big prude.

"Lucy!" I heard Margie call again, doing her waving thing. I swear, she acts like I'm some dog. I've been over this with the Sorting Hat, but I think I need to have a talk with her as well.

I glanced at Hermione and the others. "Well, I better go before I pass out. Or Margie has an attack." I shrugged. "Whichever comes first."

"Hey, wait." Ginny said. "You have Muggle Studies first?" She asked me.

I blinked at her. "Um. I… don't… know." I pulled my timetable out of my pocket and glanced over it. "Oh, yeah. Muggle Studies." I paused. "How'd you know?"

"We heard you associate it with the end of the world and everything." Hermione answered for Ginny.

I smiled. "Oh yeah. That was a little loud, huh? Sorry, I was just trying to get a point across. Not that it worked, anyway."

Ginny switched her bag to her other shoulder. "Yeah, so, I'll walk with you and Marge if you like. I have Muggle Studies, too." She looked around for a few seconds. "So does Colin, but I don't know where he is right now."

"Who?" I blinked at her.

"Colin." Ginny repeated, giving me an odd look.

Hermione cocked her head to the side. "You met him, didn't you? I mean, I saw you walking with him yesterday."

I looked blankly at her, then went "Aha!" when realization struck me. "Oh, that guy who brought me to McGonagall, yeah! I couldn't remember his name…" I scratched the top of my head nervously. "I was a bit… sick…"

It was then that The Boy Who Stared An Awful Lot chose to speak. "You're a Malfoy?" He asked me in what, I must say, was not the nicest way possible. Prude.

I studied him for a moment before I answered. "Does that bother you?" I asked him.

"Malfoy's a –" Ron started, but was cut off by Hermione elbowing him sharply in the ribs.

I looked down at my shoes. "Well, then." I mumbled. "I'm gonna go…" I turned on my heel and walked right into pug-girl.

"Out of my way, Hufflepuff!" She shouted in my face.

I took a few steps back and bumped into someone behind me, so I stopped walking. Pug-face was sneering at me. "What are you looking at?" She snapped.

I blinked at her, my eyes wide. "Uh… sorry?"

"Stupid Hufflepuff." Pug-face spat. "I should hex you, you puny little transfer." She pulled her wand out of the pocket of her robes.

I took another step back, having forgotten that I was already pinned up against someone, practically.

"Hey, Pansy, come on." Draco said as he walked up next to Pug-face. "Let's go to Potions." He said to her. I blinked. How could he be snog buddies with that… pug?! She was so mean! To ME! To his baby sister! Shouldn't he be totally bashing her face in right now, for threatening me?! Seriously! There is no love here!

Pansy-pug-face shook her head. "Just a minute." She said, not taking her eyes off me as she raised her wand, causing me to take another step back. "Want me to wait? You can get Potter at the same time." Pansy-pug-face was saying as my mind raced and I remembered that I'd forgotten my own wand in my dorm. What was she talking about?

Draco got an annoyed look on his face and he rolled his eyes. "I said let's go, Pansy. Are you coming or not?" He snapped before turning to walk away.

Pansy-pug-face looked confused for a moment, but she looked over in Draco's direction. "Draco?" She called after him as he walked away. She looked back at me and scowled. "Look what you did, you stupid Hufflepuff. Now my boyfriend's in a mood." She raised her wand a little higher and gave me a menacing glare.

I took another step back and heard the person up against my back let out a breath of air. "Um." I said intelligently. (Yeah, right.)

"Shove off, Parkinson." Margie said, walking up with her wand pointed at Pansy-pug-face. "She hasn't even got a wand. I know – she forgot it in the dorms." Exactly! Thank you Margie!

Pansy-pug-face sneered. "Like I care if she's got a wand or not." She laughed. She shrugged finally and put her wand back in her pocket, walking off slowly to rejoin the group of Slytherins a ways off from everyone else.

Margie turned to me and cocked her head to the side. "What's the matter, Luce?" She asked. "Don't know how to defend yourself?"

I jumped towards her and gave her a quick hug. "Yay, Margie to the rescue!" I cheered.

She chuckled as she put her wand in her pocket, but still stared at me a bit funny. "Why didn't you just give her a good punch in the face?"

I looked at her. "Okay, four reasons. One, um, no? Two, I doubt I would so much as bruise my fist with her face. And three, I don't even know her. Why would I 'give her a good punch in the face' as you so say?"

Margie rolled her eyes, but frowned a bit. "Four?" She inquired.

I blinked at her. "Oh! Well, I must have miscommunicated or something."

"Miscounted?" She asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"That's the word." I nodded.

"Are you all right?" Hermione asked from behind me and I turned around quickly.

I grinned. "Sure." But my grin quickly faded when my eyes met with Harry Potter's.

Oh, crap in a pile of crap.

That's who I kept backing into!

The ice weasels are coming; the ice weasels are coming.

"Well. Bye, then." I said curtly, turning around and ushering Margie away as quick as I could. When she gave me a funny look as we made our way towards the stairs, I contemplated telling her about why I didn't want to cause any physical harm to Pansy-pug-face, and why I wanted to get away from The Boy Who Should Have Done Something To Make Me Stop Backing Into Him Because It Was Kind Of Weird When I Figured Out It Was Him and His Friends.

But, really, just because we had a few good laughs and she kind of saved me from Pansy-pug-face-slobbery-skank doesn't make us friends or anything. Really.

But still, I kind of wanted to tell her about seeing Pansy-pug-face slobber all over my older/only brother. I mean, having an older sibling of her own, she must have experienced this sort of trauma.

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::AN:: Someone asked if there would be any "ships"? Anyone want any "ships"... then just gimme suggestions... There's a lot of people to think about here, lol. I don't know! Haha. Anyways, I hope you liked the chap and please review!