Chapter 2
A loud hooting sound emitted from a bright, red steam engine train. It was nine o'clock on Platform nine and three quarters. It was a bright sunny day, contary to most days during that summer. The platform was bustling with excitement as students lugging heavy trunks bade their parents goodbye and climbed onto the Hogwarts Express. Near the barrier, three severe blonds suddenly appeared in thin air. Their sudden appearance and the fact that they hadn't bothered to dress in muggle clothing would have made them stand out brightly from the crowd if everyone else hadn't been so busy bustling about. One glance from their steel-cold, gray eyes told everyone that they were the infamous Malfoys. The three of them stalked haughtily through the crowd until they reached the entrance to the train. Narcissa Malfoy bent down lightly to give her son a hug.
"Write home if you need anything," she said in warmer tones than usual.
"I know, Mother," Draco Malfoy replied.
Lucius Malfoy then moved closer to his son and bent down towards him as if giving a hug, but instead whispered into his ear.
"Remember our secret, this is your chance to prove which sides your loyalty lie," he whispered into Draco's ear. His tone was stern with an icy edge.
"Yes, I know Father," Draco replied stiffly with his chin held high, trying to give the impression of taking orders without obedience.
Lucius patted his son on the shoulder and told him to have a good year as Draco climbed onto the train without looking back. He spent the summer obeying, respecting, and performing tasks for his father. Three things he hated to do the most. He the heir of the Malfoy fortune, a Slytherin pureblood, the king of his own world. The thought, even the thought of obeying another person, (despite the fact that it was his father) disgusted him.
He dragged his trunk on the train trying to find a compartment. Where were Crabbe and Goyle when you needed them anyways? They weren't the most exciting company in the world, but their strength combined with the lack of brains made them ideal servants for his time at Hogwarts. He would have tried to make friends, but then he would have to trust them, help them, and be nice to them. A Malfoy doing any of those things would have made him snort with laughter, except Malfoys don't snort. They should always be cool and composed, as he learned when he was younger. He passed by many partially empty compartments with only a few students in them, but they Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. He was a Slytherin. Slytherins only sat with each other.
He finally dragged his trunk into a compartment, to his surprise, in there were the top three people in his most hated list: Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger. He stared at them with the most arrogant look he could come up with. He could use a good fight after all that obedience for the last two months. The best part was, he was a prefect, so they wouldn't dare harm him anyways. To his surprise, Hermione merely decided not to acknowledge his existence while Ron and Harry seemed to be using all their energy to keep their hands from away from their wands.
"Scar-head, Weasel, and Mudblood," Draco drawled with a smirk on his face. He could almost see Harry and Ron's temples turn purple from the strain of resisting attacking him. He felt a savage pleasure taunting them, but there was something about them that he couldn't understand. Why were they ignoring him? Hermione may keep her temper under control, but what about Ron and Harry? Normally, their wands would have been drawn by now. Taunting was no fun when the people you're trying to torture aren't responding. Even though he knew it was a stupid idea, he decided to take it one step further.
He drew his wand and pointed it to Harry's chest.
"Diffin-" Draco didn't get to finish the spell, because he was interrupted by Hermione.
"Expelliarmus!" she bellowed. Her hand had flew to her wand at lightning speed that he was caught by surprise.
"I'm a Prefect," Draco tried to calmly scare her off.
"So am I," Hermione responded calmly with a Dumbledore-like smile. She pointed her wand straight at his chest.
Draco could see Hermione coolly smiling at him with her wand pointing at him. He turned his head to the compartment doors desperately hoping for a teacher to walk by. But teachers didn't patrol the train, he tried to move but his knees kept trembling.
Hermione was smirking now. Ron and Harry took their wands out, but Hermione motioned for them to put them away. To Draco's surprise and immense relief they actually agreed.
Hermione stared straight into Draco's gray eyes and kept the wand pointed straight at his heart, he could see her lips move.
"Reducto!" she bellowed. For a split second, he thought he was going to get shattered into pieces. The logical side of him knew that she wouldn't seriously harm him, but the embarrassment of the whole situation was what worried him. His skin was plastered in sweat and his heart hammered against his ribs. She had moved her wand away from his chest just the millisecond before the beam of magic shot out from her wand. The seat beside Draco was reduced to dust.
"Leave. Now," Hermione's request, or more like demand radiated authority down to every last syllable of her two words. Without waiting for a response, she flicked her wand and his trunk and wand flew out the compartment doors.
"See you at the Prefect meeting later," Hermione said in a falsely friendly sugarcoated tone.
Draco's cheeks turned slightly pink. Any other normal person would be beet-red in situations like this, but he was a Malfoy. They were trained to never show weakness, but with his wand outside the compartment, he could only give Hermione the finger and walk out with his chin held high.
"Why didn't you Jelly-Jinx him?" Ron demanded when Draco left the compartment. He had wanted to give Malfoy what he deserved for a long time. He only put his wand away today, because he thought Hermione was going to do something she learned out of some library book.
"If I did, he would've blabbed, then we would get in trouble on the first day!" Hermione exclaimed, "Anyways, what I just did was probably worse to him than if I Jelly-Jinxed him."
"Well, he's in one piece right now. I don't see how that was worse than being jinxed," Harry stated.
"Honestly, you just don't understand the Slytherins, especially Malfoy," Hermione told the both of them.
"Well we're not girls, we're not good with feelings," Ron said, emphasizing the last word.
"I still don't get it," Harry said in a confused voice.
"See, with a Slytherin, the most important thing is face. Losing face would be like having your pants pulled down in front of the school to them," Hermione explained.
"How do you get all this stuff?" Ron asked, clearly amazed.
"Didn't you read the books Kingsley gave us? Sucking up to him will just make it look suspicious," Hermione asked looking at the two of them.
"Well some of us don't walk around memorizing 'Spying for the Spy', 'Beyond the Eyes', or whatever boulder-sized books he gave us," Ron retorted. Much to his and Harry's disappointment, they did not spend the summer learning cool defensive spells. Instead, most of the time was spent reading books and learning how to talk in different ways. Apparently, according to Kingsley, there were one thousand eight hundred fifty six ways a person could tell you were lying without using Legilimency.
"At least I read-" Hermione was cut off by Harry who was tired of the pointless argument and wanted to change the subject.
"Did you check the coin?" Harry asked. After much consideration, the Order had decided to use magical Galleons to communicate with the three of them. Kingsley Shacklebolt had one and Hermione had the other. A Protean Charm had been placed on them so that the three of them knew when to meet him at Hogsmeade to give reports.
"We just saw him two hours ago," Hermione pointed out, "He's not going to tell us when the meeting's going to be yet." She took out the coin anyways, it still looked the same. The numbers on the side of the coin still read '00/00/00'.
Their discussion was cut off when Ginny Weasley came in the compartment and told Ron and Hermione that they had to go to the Prefects' meeting.
Ron and Hermione left Harry in Ginny's company as they headed off the Prefects' carriage. At the door of the special compartment, they saw Draco and Pansy Parkinson.
"Draco, where were you? We missed you," Pansy softly said and kissed Draco on the cheek.
"Business to take care of," Draco mumbled in response and kissed her cheek back.
The two had known each other since they were toddlers. They weren't particularly close, but they always seemed to be in each other's company because of their families. The Malfoys and the Parkinsons were partners in business and both ancient pureblood families. Even though they had no interest in each other, Draco and Pansy both knew that there was a great chance they would be married to each other in the future. In the Slytherin pure-blood families, love often was not the first criteria in marriage. Family interests often came first. Draco never really cared, because his personal interests were always the most important in real life, as he was always taught. Love would just weigh him down and force the ambition out of him.
The Prefects of the other houses soon headed in the carriage to join Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Pansy. The Head Boy and Girl droned on about expectations and duties that nobody but Hermione seemed to pay attention to.
"Prefects will patrol the corridors every night of the week. You will be patrolling with the other prefect in your house. Everybody will get a copy of the patrolling schedule. Meeting dismissed," The Head Boy finally concluded.
Each Prefect got a copy of the patrol schedule, Hermione glanced casually at hers.
Fifth Year Prefects Patrol Schedule
Mondays- Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbot (Hufflepuff)
Tuesdays- Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson (Slytherin)
Wednesdays- Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil (Ravenclaw)
Thursdays- Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger (Gryffindor)
Sixth Year Prefects will patrol on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. You may seek help from Mr. Argus Filch or the Head Boy/Girl if you have any more questions.
Hermione looked up from the schedule and grabbed Ron's sleeve, catching him by surprise.
"Wha-?" Ron turned to Hermione, who was still jerking his sleeve while he was trying to walk through the compartment door.
"I have a plan," Hermione said in obvious excitement.