Seeing him advance towards the seat at the ground square, the two Ravenclaw students hastily packed up their stuffs and whisked past him. Draco resisted the urge to grab them by their collars and punch their faces. It's been two months, but aren't they tired of making my life miserable? his heart cried out silently. Sitting down, he threw his books beside him in disgust. He was sick of the situation he was in.
If I can't get them to give me even a tint of respect or acceptance by playing nice, Draco decided, then it's time to get down and dirty. If being the old me will actually leave an imprint on their minds, it's worth a try.
He spotted a frumpy first year hurrying across the square, her pigtails flailing behind her.
"Hey, you," Draco called out. "Come over here."
The first year nervously swaddled over to him. Somehow, the girl's pink, roeund face reminded Draco of Neville Longbottom.
"You're not from Slytherin, are you?" Draco asked, his words slurring into a drawl.
The girl shook her head. Draco sighed as he slumped in his seat. "Do you know why you're not in it?" he drawled again. "Because you're a Muggle. Know what that means?"
She didn't know. Draco took the chance to explain it to her, in Malfoy terms. "That means you're a Mudblood. A filthy, worthless Muggle whom the Ministry wrongly feels should be given a chance to learn magic. You don't deserve to be in this school. Me? Now, I'm not proud to have murderous Death Eaters as parents, but there's still something I'm proud of. You see, unlike you, I'm a Pureblood. I'm born to be a wizard. And in this world, no matter how good in magic you are, you'll never be of the same standards of us Purebloods."
Draco sirked triumphantly, leaving the first year shattered in his wake. Deep down, the former Slytherin prince loathed himself.
"Oh come on, Hermione. Just this once," Ron wheedled, clasping his hands in front of him as if to beg. "I couldn't make any sense what Slughorn was saying. I won't copy word for word, I promise. I'll just take a few points or so. Please?"
Hermione declined stubbornly. When would he ever learn that copying others' homework won't help him to be a better student? Her fingers gripped her Potions essay protectively.
"For the last time, Ron," she warned him sternly. "No. You can borrow my library book but you'll have to read it yourself."
"Give it a rest, guys," Harry interjected, frowning at his thorny cat. He had been trying to successfully transfigure his cactus into a cat since afternoon. "Maybe Hermione's right, Ron. Maybe it's all in the book."
Then he glanced up at Hermione hopefully, "Can you help to transfigure my cactus?"
She glared at them furiously. "No! Honestly, we're in the 7th year now. We're graduating! I can't possibly answer your exam questions for you. Or do you really expect me to do so?"
Hermione never found out her answer because at the very same time, Parvati Patil burst into the Gryffindor Common Room. She had a tear-streaked first year in tow. Parvati's fiery countenance actually spooked Ron. Her face was redder than his hair.
"What's wrong?" Hermione asked, her words laced with worry.
"Malfoy!" Parvati spat, her fingernails digging into the cushion of the sofa Hermione was propped on. "He just called poor Michelle a Mudblood! And he has the bloody cheek to compare her with Purebloods!"
Hermione could hardly believe her ears. Was she hearing it right?
"You'd better do something about Malfoy, Hermione!" Lavender Brown interrupted as she stormed towards them alongside Seamus Finnigan. "He's been going around hexing people, being horrid to everyone! He even locked Seamus in the broom closet!"
Seamus nodded, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah," he added on. "He was even mumbling about leaving behind a memory or something."
Neville crashed though the hole behind the portrait of the Fat Lady. Everyone whirled around to look at him. His chest heaved up and down rapidly, trying to inhale more oxygen into his slightly corpulent body.
"Guys," he wheezed, holding on to the wall for support. "You've got to see this! At the Astronomy Tower. It's -"
The coming chapter will be slightly longer than this. And a special thanks going out to all of you who have been reading this faithfully! 3