Chapter 2: Something Else

"Hey, Draco?" Jenny asked once the train had exited the station.

"Yes?"

"Why did some of the other students look scared when we walked by their compartments?" she asked, a confused look on her face. Draco grimaced, and she immediately backtracked.

"You don't have to answer that, really. It's none of my business-"

"No. You deserve to know." He muttered, wondering if this would be the moment where she ran from him, or where that smile faded into a mask of hatred…he definitely did not want that to happen, but like he said, she deserved to know who she was dealing with. "I…don't exactly have a good reputation with most people. They tend to only see an arrogant, nasty, bigoted dark-wizard-to-be."

"Why?" she asked, shocked. He smiled bitterly.

"Because I was an arrogant, nasty, bigoted dark-wizard-to-be. Until this summer, that is."

"What happened this summer?" she asked. He sighed.

"You probably didn't hear about it because you just got here, but over the summer, at the Quidditch world cup… there was a Death Eater attack on some muggleborns." The look of horror on her face told him that she knew about Death Eaters. "And…one of the Death Eaters involved…was my dad."

"Oh, god."

"There's more. When he came home, he demanded to know why I hadn't joined him, and…I was so sickened by him that I left and have been hiding until today. I used to want to be like him so that he would be proud of me…but…now I don't want anything to do with him." He clenched his fists so hard that the knuckles turned white.

"Well," She said at last, her hands covering his fists. "I quite like the Draco Malfoy I've met today." He glanced up at her. "And frankly, that's all that really matters to me." She squeezed his hands once before releasing them. There was silence for a moment, as Draco attempted to find the words to describe how her words had lifted what felt like the weight of the world off his shoulders. Failing miserably, and hearing the trolley drawing nearer, he stood, his hand pausing on the door handle.

"Do you want anything? From the food trolley, I mean."

"Oh…um…sure!" she said, digging in her purse. "Let me just grab some money and-"

"Nope. This is on me." He said, sliding the door open, quickly sliding it shut behind him and cutting off her protests.

"Malfoy."

Draco groaned softly. Just what he needed, he thought, turning to face Weasley and Potter, who were both glaring daggers at him. It was just his luck that the Golden Trio was in the compartment right next to his.

"Weasley. Potter." He said, in as polite tones as he could manage. He felt the bottom drop out of his stomach as he heard the compartment door slide open behind him.

"Seriously, Draco, I can pay for my own…" Jenny began, stepping out into the hallway with a small pile of galleons clutched in her hand. She stopped, seeing the two boys beyond Draco. "Oh, um…hi." She squeaked, feeling self-conscious at the way both of the other boys were staring at her, unaware that simply being in a compartment with Draco made her suspicious. Draco turned his back on the Gryffindors, trying to act as casual as possible, even though he could practically feel their glares burning the back of his head.

"It's my treat, Princess." He said, as he began to steer her back into the compartment. Behind him, Potter tried to do the same to Weasley, but Weasley shook him off.

"Oi, Malfoy! Where'd you find her, some street corner on Diagon Ally?"

Draco stiffened. It was one thing to insult him, but another thing entirely to insult Jenny, whom they had no reason to involve in this. He whipped around, his wand halfway out of his robes and a hex on his lips, when her hand wrapped around his wrist.

"Don't get yourself in trouble over me." She hissed under her breath. "I can take care of this myself." Before he could even process her words through the rage clouding his mind, she had moved past him, as fluidly as a snake about to strike. And as enraged as he was, he couldn't help but admit that the confident way that she strode into battle was undeniably sexy.

"Hi, I'm Jenny Rovalt." She said, smiling menacingly at them. "I was sort of impressed by how polite British people were, but, now I can see that not everyone is as polite as Draco."

"Draco? Polite?" Weasley burst into laughter. "Those two words don't go together, doll."

She bristled, and her smile grew tense, forced, and somehow, even more evil than before. "Don't call me doll." She said through her teeth. Weasley snorted, and Draco had a feeling this was going to end very badly for Weasley.

"What are you gonna do about it, doll?"

Her whole body stiffened, and she glared at him one last time. " You know, if I were a better person, I'd ignore you and move on with my life." she said, pulling her hand back, "But, you see…" She growled, punching Weasley in the nose. "I'm not."

Weasley howled in pain, clutching his now bloody and broken nose. Potter was gaping at the girl, who grimaced, rubbing her protesting knuckles while turning her glare on Potter.

"Got something to add, bub?" she snapped, the pain in her hand making her testy. He grinned a bit at her.

"Are all the girls in America like you? If so, remind me never to get on their bad side." He said cheekily, winking at her. She blinked, and smiled back. Draco saw red for a moment as an irrational, undeniable surge of jealousy overtook him.

"Damn straight, and don't you forget it either!" She said, waving at him as she walked back to Draco. Before she was halfway there, she turned back. "Hey, bub! What's your name?"

Draco steeled himself. "Harry, Harry Potter." Potter answered. She smiled.

That's it. No recognition, no awe, no…anything. It was as if she had never even heard of him before.

"Nice to meet you, Harry Potter." she called over her shoulder as she turned back to Draco. Draco Malfoy. She had chosen Draco Malfoy over the Boy Who Fucking Lived.

"What?" Jenny asked as walking past him and into the compartment. He followed her robotically, still staring in amazement. "If you've got something to say, then say it!" she snapped, uncomfortable with the silence and the way he was staring at her; like she was something odd, something out of place.

"Are you for real?"

The indignant look on her face when she turned told Draco in no uncertain terms that that was not the right thing to say, and he hastened to explain himself. "That didn't come out right."

"No shit, Sherlock." She growled, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"I meant…don't you get who that was?"

"Why?" she asked, her eyebrow furrowing. "Should I know about a complete stranger who goes to a school halfway across the world?"

"Yes! I mean…he's Harry Potter."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me? 'Cause it doesn't." she spat, glaring out of the window with enough fire to incinerate the trees whizzing by.

Then she heard it. It was smothered, he was obviously trying to hide it from her, but it had happened so many times before that Jenny knew in an instant what it was.

Draco was laughing. At her. Draco was laughing at her.

She wanted to crawl under a rock and die. She wanted to storm out of the compartment and never speak to him again. She wanted to slap him across the face and ask him just what he thought was so goddamn funny.

"You are something else, Miss Jenny Rovalt." Draco said softly.

They both jumped as the compartment door slid open once more, this time to reveal, to Draco's shock, the enraged faces of Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson.

'Oh, shit.' Draco groaned inside his mind. 'Here we go.'