"Cedric rules!" A Hufflepuff stepped in Harry's way. Wearing a bright yellow badged that spined into a green background with Harry's face which read 'POTTER STINKS' on it.

"You stink Potter!" Another young boy insulted as he ran past him.

Harry kept his eyes on him keeping his head lowered when he suddenly saw the boy trip and eat shit as he scrapped his hands. Harry looked up to see an irritated Slytherin girl on her way to the Courtyard. He halted on his walk when he almost ran into somebody.

"Like the badge?" Hannah Abbot, a blonde Hufflepuff, blocked the way.
Harry was about to excuse himself and walk around her when a hand moved him to the side.

Hannah Abbot looked startled at Elowen Saintday came into view and shot a deathly look her way. "Lose something?" She spat at the surprised girl before forcefully pushing her to the ground and out of her way. Instead of fighting back the Hufflepuff shrunk away, she knew when to pick her battles.

"Harry," Nel greeted with a mischievous smile turning to face her friend. "Thanks," He flashed her a grateful smile. It was nice to have at least one friend having your back. Especially when your best friend turned your back on you…

Nel could've said the same. Existence at Hogwarts had been a little lonelier recently. Theodore was always off with Daphne helping her paint or something amongst those lines and Tracey was often if not always absent. She event seemed distraught in class, often lost in daydreams. Elowen didn't want to admit it to herself but she had caught her in a lie more than once at this point.

"What are you up to?" She asked him curiously. "I'm just on my way to have a word with Cedric," He said shrugging his bookbag strap over his shoulder. She nodded and from the corner of her eye saw Cedric surrounded by the Hufflepuff boys that seemed to worship him.

"Have you," She began hesitating whether she should ask or not. "Have you heard from him? From Black I mean?" She asked concerned that he hadn't written back to her yet.

"I heard," Harry began choosing his words carefully. She paid careful attention to them, listening carefully. "That he can't communicate through a letter. Because the Ministry is intercepting more and more letters every day, so it's quite dangerous for him," he said in an apologetic tone.

She sighed her shoulders slumping slightly feeling disappointed.

"Thanks Harry," She thanked him before deciding to do something bold. "Also," She stopped him before he walked in Cedric's direction. "I don't know if you know this already, but the first task of the tournament. It's dragons."

Yes, maybe Harry was her friend, but this was busines, not personal. She only told him because she knew there wasn't any way he was going to beat Cedric in the tournament. At the end of the day all that matter was that everyone was safe and that she got paid for her work.

Harry blinked twice surprised that she knew.

"How do you know?" He asked surprised.

Now, how did she know…

Gathering this information hadn't been easy. After pestering and budging many students at the library while she worked on their parchments, homework and other notes. Some gave her some crumbs of information of any happenings that were going on in the castle.
Particularly one girl, a Fifth Year Ravenclaw who was gushing about the fact that Charlie Weasley had been spotted on the castle grounds. She was spouting about how handsome he was and how if he had wanted to, he could've played Quidditch at a pro level maybe even becoming better than Viktor Krum.

Nel followed her lead and asked Fred and George about their brother Charlie and if he played Quidditch better than Krum. To which her surprise they said that he probably would've. They insisted that Charlie could've been better than Krum if he didn't commit to the life of a Dragonologist and move all the way to Romania. They sounded biased, not that she blamed them. After all, it was their brother.

After that she reached the conclusion that if Charlie Weasley a Dragonologist was on schoolgrounds odds were the first tasks involved the taming or fighting of a dragon.

"Yeah, Hagrid showed me."

Hagrid! She hadn't thought about him. He was a great resource to keep around.

Nel was leaning under the shade of the tree waiting for Harry to be done talking to Cedric so that they could continue their conversation. Cedric of course already knew everything about the first task of the tournament. Nel and him exchanged a look from the distance. Not that anybody knew the two were friends, let alone even acquainted.

Lost in thought an unexpected flash of black started her. She flinched at the sudden movement and saw Malfoy jump down from one of the tree branches from her peripheral vision. What the hell was he even doing up there?

"Funny, weather forecast didn't mention it was going to be raining idiots today," she commented snidely crossing her arms over her chest and keeping her fixed gaze on the Triwizard champions.

He didn't laugh at her joke, instead stepped forward blocking her view. "You're not wearing the badge I made you," He said pulling out one of those nasty badges everyone was wearing. All of those 'POTTER STINKS' badges, who do you think was behind them?

She looked at him and at the badge he was holding on his stretched-out hand. Her eyes bounced back from the badge that switched from Cedric's face to Harry's and back up to his malicious smirk before taking it in her hand. She hated to admit it, but they were even a better quality than Hermione's S.P.E.W. badges. Nel brought it up to her face for closer inspection and eyed it intently before tossing it over her shoulder without any care whatsoever.

He looked at her incredulously.

"You need to get a hobby," She answered in a dead-beat tone getting ready to walk away from him.

"I do have a hobby," He claimed rounding around her once again blocking her path. "It's not my fault Quidditch season was canceled this year because of the stupid tournament."

"Find a new one then," She groused growing more and more irritated by his presence. She moved to one side trying to dodge him and he side stepped blocking her way. Left, right, left, left again. Damn. He was more agile than he looked. She glared frustrated he wouldn't move out of her way.

"One that doesn't involve pestering me!" She raised her voice at him.

Without an alternative she tried to push him over just like she had done to Hannah Abbot just a couple of minutes earlier but instead he caught both of her hands in his. Elowen pulled back but he refused to let go. Draco was laughing as she struggled against his snare grip. He seemed highly entertained, which further infuriated the Slytherin girl.

"Rehearsing for the Yule Ball Saintday?" She heard Blaise Zabini call from behind as he approached them. Following were Crabbe, Goyle and other Slytherin boys. She felt her ears turning red from both the anger and the embarrassment.

"Why won't you wear the badge?" Malfoy pressed.

"Because they're foul and childish, just like you," She shot back harshly making the Slytherin boys around them all call out loud 'oooooohs' at the offense.

"Leave her alone Malfoy!"

All eyes turned to see Harry Potter approaching the group of Slytherins. Ron stood a couple of feet behind him so did Seamus Finnegan witnessing the scene.

"This doesn't concern you Scarhead," Draco snapped back with malice turning his attention to glare at Potter. Nel took this opportunity to push hard enough away from him and liberate her hands, lightly staggering back as she did from the force she had exerted.

"Shouldn't you be preparing for the tournament?" Malfoy began swaggering in Harry's direction. "You see Potter, my father and I have a bet. I don't think you're gonna last ten minutes in this tournament. He disagrees. He thinks you won't last five."

The Slytherins around all laughed.

"I don't give a damn what you or your father thinks Malfoy," Harry stepped up and shoved the blond back angrily. This time Malfoy didn't make any attempt to catch Harry's hands. "He's vile and cruel, and you're just pathetic," he glowered. His green eyes turning to his friend who in turn bumped into Malfoy's shoulder as she walked past him and joined Harry's side. She shot him a glare before following after Harry.

Already embarrassed and furious by their indifference, even angrier after seeing the Slytherin walk away with the Gryffindor. Draco did a cowardly move; he raised a wand at Potter's back ready to curse the Gryffindor's knees on backwards.

Nobody expected Professor Moody to appear and without a warning turning Malfoy into a ferret.

"That'll teach you to cast when someone's back is turned!" Professor Moody rushed to the scene. The Hufflepuffs in the courtyard followed suit when they heard the commotion. Harry and Nel looked at the white ferret in awe.

McGonagall, who was also in the premises, rushed to see what all the cacophony was about. "Professor Moody what are you doing?" She asked alarmed as she eyed the white animal being cruelly levitated in the air.

"Teaching," was all Mad Eye responded.

The professor lifted the ferret and spun it in the air several times in dizzying loops before stretching out Crabbe's pants and ramming it in. The ferret let out a squeak before being stuffed into the horror that was the inside of Crabbe's pants. The Slytherin boy squirmed uncomfortably trying to shake his furry friend off. By now everybody in the courtyard was doubled in laughter laughing at the scene until the ferret slid out down and out of Crabbe's leg which was when Professor McGonagall turned it back into a human.

"My father will hear about this!" Were the first words from his mouth. He threatened with spite before rushing up to his feet. "Is that a threat?!" Moody snapped stepping forward waving his wand in a menacing matter.

"Alastor!" McGonagall snapped halting the professor from hexing the student. Draco was ready to run away from the mad man.

"We never use transfiguration as punishment. Surely, Dumbledore told you that?" She warned with a look that said she was not meant to be crossed. Then again, overall, Minerva McGonagall was not a woman to be crossed.

"He might've mentioned it," Professor Moody said innocently bringing his wand to his lips.

Harry and Nel were still laughing despite the severity of the situation.

"Ms. Saintday, you look like you're enjoying yourselves," McGonagall's eyes dated towards the laughing duo focusing on the Slytherin. Of course, the Head of Gryffindor would never call on her on House. How typical. Regardless both instantly stopped their giggling.

"Won't you escort Mr. Malfoy to Madame Pomfrey's."

It wasn't a request.

Draco protested half the short way that the two had to walk to the Hospital Wing.

"Why do I even have to go to Madame Pomfrey's?" He complained as the two walked in the direction of the Hospital Room.

'I don't know- maybe because the last time you got a scratch on you, you wore a cast for a month?' She wanted to roll her eyes at his question.

"Psychological damages?" She guessed with a small laugh. "I mean after being in Crabbe's pants," She shivered not even wanting to think of what the boy kept inside of those pants. She wouldn't be surprised if there was an old ham sandwich lost somewhere in there.

He scowled at her.

It was bad enough that he had just been publicly humiliated in front of half of the school. First told of by Kennel Nel, the orphan mutt and ill-tempered bitch of Slytherin House, then aggressively shoved by Potter, and finally turned into a filthy mustelid by a professor. It was downright degrading.

"Serves you right for being such an unbearable prick," She said sounding more than pleased as they continued on their way. (She wasn't wrong he had it coming).

'They're foul and childish, just like you.' Did she really think that low of him? Why did it even matter whatever esteem or regard she held him in?
What about Potter? He cheats his way into a sacred tournament, and she doesn't bat an eyelash over it?

Why was it always bloody Saint Potter? Who makes the Quidditch Team during their First Year? Harry bloody Potter.
Who becomes the Youngest Seeker in the Century? Scarhead Potter.
Who wins the first match Quidditch match of the year when his own father, Lucius Malfoy, is watching the match with a judging eye? Potter.

Who gets to ride that oaf, Hagrid's, bloody chicken? Saint Potter.

Who gets to share Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans with Saintday on Sundays? Potter.

Potter. Potter. Potter.

That wanker was and would always be there to take everything and anything away from him.

The Chosen One. The Saint. Dumbledore's favorite.

He should've been the one making the Quidditch Team during their first year. Malfoy not Potter. He should've been the Youngest Seeker in the Century. He should've won 1992's first game of the season. He had a demanding father to impress, Potter didn't. He should've been the one riding the Hippogriff off into the sunset. The one with friends.
Saintday didn't seem to like anyone and even she liked him.

And then this year. Of course, Potter couldn't bear not being the center of attention for a bloody damn minute and just had to make the tournament about himself. His arrogance as always was astonishing. Worst part was that he probably knew he was going to get away with it.

Nel looked at him oddly when she didn't hear a snarky response which was typical of him. Draco seemed lost in thought a cross look on his pale features. He noticed she was eyeing him curiously. It's not like he would ever tell her, or that she would ever understand.

"What's so damn great about him anyways?" He snapped his eyebrows knotted in an angry scowl.

The girl was a little startled by the shift in his mood, even taken aback by his harsh tone, she had never heard him speak like that.

"Who? Harry?" She asked with genuine confusion at his question.

"Why do you always take his side?" He accused absolutely livid. The humiliation of the day, embarrassment, anger and jealousy all biting into him at once.

He didn't give her a chance to answer.

"You always take his side! You'd pick him over your own house mate. Alright – yeah, maybe the pins were childish – I'll admit that much, but he cheated his way into the damn tournament Nel. He couldn't bear not being the center of attention for a bloody damn minute and he had to make it about himself," She looked at him with astonishment. "Worst part is that, since he's Dumbledore's favorite he knew he was going to get away with it. You think I'd get away with that? You think you'd get off the hook after pulling a stunt like that?" He spitefully scoffed at the thought.

Her mouth was open in surprise at his outburst.

"You know it's true. He does this every damn year!"

Again silence. He didn't know if she remained quiet because she was at loss of words or if from the shock of his angry words.

It looked like he was done with his explosion. "And worst part is, you defend him!" He hurled at her one last time before growing quiet.

One or two students passing by looked at them awkwardly before skulking away nervously making the silence between the two feel louder.
Malfoy, well, he wasn't completely wrong. Elowen really believed Harry when he said he had no clue how his name had gotten into the Goblet of Fire. Let's be real, he wasn't that talented of a wizard. Hermione she would've believed, but Harry?

Draco caught his breath as his temper faded and pulse slowed. He anxiously danced on his feet before walking away from her and his embarrassment. Fuck visiting Madame Pomfrey and fuck everything.
He was absolutely mortified.

"Oi," She called after him. He stopped in his way but didn't turn her way. "Want to see something cool?" Her voice was cool and collected.

He didn't budge, but also didn't leave the corridor.

"It's a secret…" She dangled carefully knowing he wouldn't be able to resist the curiosity.

He pivoted slowly; she had his attention.

"Why on Salazar's good name would you bring me here?" The boy complained as he inspected the plants in the greenhouse carefully. He wouldn't put it past him for Nel to feed him to fanged geranium or a massive Venus fly trap.

"To look at plants?" He guessed in a bored tone as he leaned forward to take a whiff of a plant with pink flowers that snarled at him. Maybe his first guess wasn't too far off…

"Patience…" She said squatting looking under vines, behind pots and in between the branches of several plants. "Where is he…"

"Where is who?"

Draco felt a sudden weight on his foot and looked down to see a large brown snake slithering over his feet. "Merlin!" He yelped in surprise and stepped back as the snake hissed at him.

"Don't hurt him!" The girl knelt down and picked up the large adder which wrapped its tail around her lower arm. Malfoy watched in awe as she tamed the serpent and the serpent in return answered to its master.
"Watch it blondie!" The adder hissed again in his direction which made her laugh.

Draco watched in morbid fascination as she conversed with the snake. The thing was downright ugly. Big, fat, with bulding red orange eyes and a black diamond pattern on its back.

"You brought me here to see that ugly thing?"

"Oi, you're no Prince Charming yourself," the snake bit back, making her laugh even louder.

Draco's eyes narrowed as he glared at the reptile. Was the snake… roasting him?

"What did it say?" He demanded to know.

"Tell him," Nathair said to her.

"He doesn't like you," She explained as the adder climbed up higher in her arm and nestled around her neck where it curled under her uniform greedily seeking the warmth of her body.

"You brought me here to look at a snake?" He asked again in surprise.

She shrugged casually as she stroked the snake's head with her index finger. Animals didn't usually tend to like her for one reason or another, but this one was alright. "I thought it would be cool."

"Want to hold him?"

Draco was officially horrified.

"I'll bite him," Nathair chuckled slyly as Elowen walked towards the blonde boy. "Now, not unless I ask you to," She whispered to the adder even if the other Slytherin in the room wouldn't be able to understand her Parseltongue either way.

For somebody whose entire family had been in Slytherin, who wore a ring with a damn snake engraved, Malfoy was pretty chicken about touching Nathair. "Maybe, some other time," He answered in a calm voice while looking at the adder dreadfully. She couldn't help but laugh lightly at his comical expression before setting the adder down on top of some creeping vines.

"Harry is my friend," She shifted to the sensitive topic. Nel attempted to pick her words carefully as to not trigger him. It sincerely didn't matter to her if he had cheated his way into the tournament or not.
The two were friends. Harry was lonely and so was she. To her it was only normal for the two to stick up for the other. "We understand each other in a different way. He's also an orphan so… he understands," She avoided his prying gaze while tapping her palms awkwardly on a wooden table.

"I understand you."

Whatever she had been expecting him to say had not been that. She turned and her dark eyes met his silver ones. There was no mocking or sneering. He was being sincere.
She didn't want to think about those rare moments the two shared. Christmas Day 1992, the night at the Astronomy Tower, playing the violin at Hogsmeade. There were things he knew about her, ugly wounds she had never allowed anyone else to see.

She looked away briskly feeling her face turning what was probably an unflattering shade of burning red.

At the same time – who did he think he was? She didn't think he understood her or maybe he did. Maybe he only understood the unstable two-dimensional version of her he had crafted in his head.

"I don't expect you to be able to empathize," She added more crassly again changing the topic.

"Come," He said making his way out of the greenhouse. "There's something I'd like to show you," He said stretching out his hand towards her. She pretended not to see it and instead walked on his side.

"It's hidden here somewhere," Draco said as he opened the door to a dusty storage room in the third floor. The room was covered with cobwebs and old desks, chairs and old books were randomly stacked, clouds of dust went up as the two stepped in. He himself coughing at the dust. Nel waived them out of her wave with a lazy hand.

"What is?"

"It's a mirror," he answered. "Some Sixth-Years said that if you looked into it you could see a naked girl- Ow!" He winced at the sudden slap to his arm.

Just what had Draco Malfoy brought her here to do?

"Merlin, Saintday," he rubbed his arm painfully. "I wasn't finish," He shot her an annoyed look, yet couldn't help but laugh lightly at her reddened expression. "Which was a lie."

She couldn't tell if he sounded disappointed by this or not. "Here, it is," He said suddenly stopping in front of a large mirror. Half of the mirror's golden trim was covered by a torn sheet. There was a line cracked down one of its edges and overall it looked ancient. There was a large dust coated desk in front of it covering the lower half of the reflection.

The two Slytherins stood in front of it, their reflections starring back at them; confused brown eyes and cool grey ones.

"It's called the Mirror of Erised. Rumor is that it shows the person standing before it anything and everything they desire."

Nel stood before it deep in thought not seeing anything beyond her confused expression and Malfoy standing next to her.

"Alright then, move," He instructed nudging his head to the side asking her to move away from the reflection.

She did as he instructed and stepped back, yet she still appeared in the mirror's reflection. "Move further back, you're still in the reflection."

"Is here fine?" She called standing at a good distance away from both him and the mirror. He couldn't help but feel his ears burning when he realized the two of them were standing next to each other in the mirror's reflection.

The girl standing in the room looked at him oddly. He could be so weird sometimes…

He cleared his throat and straighten out his uniform shaking his head praying she didn't realize what he had just seen.

The reflection changed and Draco saw all of the things he wanted in life.
He had friends, genuine friends that cared about him, Potter was amongst them. They sincerely thought he was funny and played Quidditch him. Crabbe and Goyle, yeah, maybe they were his most loyal friends at Hogwarts, but he always felt their loyalty for him rooted in the fact that both of his parents worked for his dad. He saw his parents both of them filled with pride when they looked at him, specially his dad, gripping his shoulder tightly wearing a rare smile on his features.

"Why did you bring me here?" She spoke hoping to break him out of his trance. Whatever he was looking at… Whatever it was that Draco Malfoy desired, it seemed to deeply pain him.

He wiped a hand down his mouth hiding his frown before mumbling for her to step forward. Stepping in front center in the mirror she stood alone and saw no illusion unfold.

"I don't think it's working," She said after a dense moment. "Wait- I think I see something."

Elowen didn't know what she had been expecting to see reflected in the mirror, maybe a private safe at Gringotts with a mountain of galleons or maybe complete independence and freedom from her horrible guardians, but instead she saw an older couple standing behind her. She didn't know who they were, but she knew who she wanted it them be her parents.
Both wearing modest muggle clothes. Both happy to see her. Both apologized for everything that had happened. Her reflection in the mirror was beaming, the cruel contrast of reality stark as a frown kept her lips turned down. Her eyes began to water.

She wanted to reach for them and touch them.

"It's not real," He warned.

All she wanted was a loving family.

"I see my family," She admitted with an exhausting sigh. "At least, who I wish would be my family. My mother kind of looks like yours, my dad, strangely like Mr. Weasley, but both with dark hair," She laughed weakly.

She hadn't thought about her parentage in a while. At least not since meeting Sirius Black.

Distraught by her current emotions the scene shifted to show a girl standing before her. It was somebody she hadn't seen in years and hadn't thought of in a very long time: Lucy.

Lucy looked like Nel had always remembered. With thick, long wavy hair, large eyes and full lips. She was happy in this reflection, smiling, like Nel always remembered her. However, Lucy, well… now she was only a memory that had long ago been buried. Her name and disappearance had simply become another mystery for her to add to her list of enigmas to be questioned and perhaps one day solved.

"Why did you bring me here?" She asked with a painful expression that was similar to the one he wore when he was looking at his own reflection in the mirror.

"I want…" He kept his hung, shifting one of his feet awkwardly as he stood some steps away from her before dipping his hands in his pockets.

"I want to be friends with you."

Had she heard him, right?

Malfoy seemed like the type of person to collect people. To keep people around him that would freely bend at his will and disposal. Expirable friendships like the one he had with Crabbe and Goyle.
What purpose would Nel Saintday serve for him? Somebody to hex people for him? He already had goons to do that for him.

On the other hand, Elowen wasn't the type of person who kept many friends around. Hell- most people would turn the other way if they saw her walking down the corridor, and presently with Tracey being absent doing… who knows what… and with Theodore spending all if not most of his time with Daphne, well the girl had been lonely.

She let out a laugh that sounded more uneasy than humorous. "And why would I want to be friends with a twitchy little ferret like you?"

He couldn't be serious.

This was the boy that had tormented her for the majority of her time at Hogwarts. The foul git had just been bullying her and her friend in the courtyard just a couple of moments earlier. But then again, here they stood sharing their deepest, darkest desires to each other. Things that even Tracey and Theo didn't know.

When they had first met, he had both insulted and mocked her for being muggle born and an orphan.

Draco starred at her intently. He was dead serious. Maybe it was too late for him to mend a friendship with Potter, but maybe not with her.

Friends with Malfoy? It left a foul taste in her mouth.

How would that even function?
What would they even say to each other?
'Hello? How are you?'

Act like normal humans?

The thought of it was baffling.

But he was lonely.

She was lonely.

They were both alone and in truth, besides prideful vendettas, what was there to lose?

He wasn't laughing, he wasn't sneering, he was sober. He looked at her with woeful eyes standing very still holding his breath.

The two did have those rare moments they shared together.
Maybe, things wouldn't be too bad if they attempted to be civil to each other. Maybe the two would feel less lonely? Maybe it could even be nice?

Stepping towards him she stretched out an olive branch.

She took in a deep breath, hoping, praying she wouldn't regret her words. Looking at him in the eye holding the promise that she would destroy him if he went back on his word.

"Friends?" She offered with a small, yet genuine smile.

AN: Bet. Draco is going to majorly fuck this up somehow.
Also it is almost the Yule Ball (excitement!)

Question:What do you think Draco's Patronus should be?