Three boys entered, two of them flanking the smallest like bodyguards. I immediately recognized the middle as the boy with steely gray eyes that I had seen before with his parents. Once again, he stared at me for a minute before motioning for the other two to sit down. They obeyed, filling the seats closest to the door, one on either side of the compartment. They watched as the blond stepped closer to me, a wide smirk covering his face.

He sat down opposite me, still staring at my face, trying to assess my reaction of him and my friends. "Hi," I said quietly, trying my hardest not to sound completely intimidated by them. He nodded but didn't reply so I tried again to engage him in conversation. "I'm Carrie-Anne."

"Draco," he replied. He pointed at his two friends and said, "And this is Crabbe and Goyle." Neither of them seemed to hear the introduction though they continued to watch us intently.

I turned to look out the window at the passing countryside. His continuous staring was starting to unnerve me. Trying hard to ignore him, I set about in my mind for a logical explanation for his seemingly unending interest in me. Perhaps he, like myself, had felt some strange connection when he looked at me. It was something that I just couldn't explain, something that drew me inexplicably to him. Whatever it was it kept him looking at me for several minutes, intimately searching every detail of my face. This both scared and fascinated me. I didn't know how to respond to this so I continued to stare out my window until out of the corner of my eye I saw him finally turn away from me. I took the opportunity to look back at him. An arrogant smirk still played across his face, but his steely gray eyes remained cold. His skin was pale, almost the same color as his white-blond hair. I could tell him from the looks of him that this was a child who was used to being well taken care, very spoiled and more than likely very wealthy. I didn't know whether to feel jealousy or pity. I grew up with very little money, because my dad was pretty much unemployable, but I know that he loved me beyond anything else in this world and that was enough for me. I had a feeling that his parents never showed him nearly as much affection as mine had, at least not his father.

He must have felt my gaze on him, because he turned back to face me once again. "Carrie-Anne, do you have any idea what house you'll be put into?" he asked, his cold drawl mesmerizing to me, making me want to hang onto his every word. I shook my head minutely, waiting for him to continue. "Well, of course you don't, no one really does. I just know I have to be in Slytherin. My whole family has been." His chest swelled up importantly as though this was the most important announcement he could have ever made. "What about your parents? They did attend Hogwarts, right?"

"Of course they did. My mother was in Ravenclaw," I said quickly, dropping my head. I wasn't ashamed of this, I just didn't want to talk about her any more than I had to. "And my dad was in Gryffindor." I took immense pride in this, because it showed how brave my dad was. Of course, he had to be in order to live with what he did. When I looked back up I was surprised to see disgust cross Draco's face for one fleeting second. Quickly, he composed himself, settling his now familiar sneer back into place.

Before he could say anything in reponse, though, the compartment door was opened and a short, plump witch looked in, pushing a cart piled high with treats. Crabbe and Goyle glanced at it greedily and immediately bought themselves something to eat. Draco, however, took his time walking to her and made a bit of a show pulling out his gold as he told her what he wanted. Over in the corner, I turned my head away, my stomach aching with hunger. I had not eaten since the morning before, because my dad had used the last little bit of money we had to buy my school books and to make sure that I wouldn't have to show up for my first day of school wearing tatty, secondhand robes. "Anything for you, my dear?" I heard a sweet voice call to me, but I shook my head without turning to look at her. A second later, I heard her rumbling up the hall and the compartment door was sliding closed again.

Draco sat back down across from me, plowing hungrily into his food. I tried hard not to look at him as he ate, but couldn't help myself. It was just too much for me. After a glance at my face, I could tell that Draco knew how I was feeling. He stood up and moved to sit next to me, but sat so that he was only half on the seat with his back to his friends. He placed a cauldron cake into my lap and smiled at me, the first real smile I had yet seen on him. "You can have as many as you want," he whispered, just loud enough for me to hear him. I took a small bite, savoring the sweet taste and watched as he glanced over his shoulder. I had a feeling he didn't want his friends to see this touch of kindness that he was showing me.

We spent the rest of the trip to Hogwarts that way; Draco sitting next to me, his back to his friends, who were ignoring us anyway, sharing his sweets with me. Conversation flowed really easily between us and I felt as if I could talk to him about anything. For the first time in my life I felt accepted by someone other than my parents. Happiness exploded inside me, I had finally made a friend. It felt like there was nothing in the world that could change this, nothing that could damage this bond that we had created together.