Chapter 15

A/N Thanks for all your support guys! Sorry I'm not the most regular poster. And I really hate missing out Dobby but I can't keep everything :(

Harry

They were on the train, pulling away from the station. Draco's father had taken them to the station. Harry couldn't believe how great Lucius was. To celebrate Draco making the house quidditch team he had bought Harry and the rest of the team new brooms! The new nimbus 2001s! Now they were in a compartment with the other Slytherins sharing summer holiday stories.

Harry made his way to the train toilets. On his return journey he walked past an almost empty compartment. Hermione was alone inside. He tapped lightly on the door, not wanting to disturb her thoughts. She looked up startled and waved at Harry. He took this as an invitation to enter, and came in and sat opposite her.

"I thought you'd be with Draco" she said a little bitterly.

"Well I was, but I saw you, and are you okay?"
She smiled a little.

"I'm fine. I got lots of books from the library over the holiday so it's god to have some time to read."

"Am I interrupting?" asked Harry apologetically.

"No really it's fine"

"What are you reading?"

"Umm... it's Sherlock Holmes. Well his memoirs, by Arthur Conan Doyle. "

"Cool-" he was cut off by Draco's arrival.

Draco

He'd gone looking for Harry and found him in her compartment.

"Bye Harry" he could hear her forced cheerfulness.

"Hermione... I..." He didn't know what to say.

"We should probably change robes soon"
She was still chattering away.

"I'm sorry"

"Bye Harry" She said brightly
Harry, slightly dazed by Hermione's endless chatter zoned back in.

"Come on Harry we should go" he said coldly.

The feast was delicious but he wasn't interested. Not even Harry's attempts at flirting with Pansy amused him. He watched her, saw her talking to her fellow Gryffindors. So what? If she could act like there was nothing between them- There wasn't he reminded himself- then so could he. Except of course it wasn't an act. She was an infuriating lower class witch, he was a Malfoy. Of course there was nothing between them.

She would always be nothing and he had a duty to his family. He was a Malfoy, he was next in an ancient line of pure blood wizards. This was who he had to be.

He looked around the Slytherin table. There was Pansy obviously, but he knew Harry had an eye on her. His eyes skipped past Millicent Bulstrode and fell on Daphne Greengrass.

Hermione

She watched him flirting with Daphne Greengrass. Even from across the room it was obvious, not that she was watching him. He had never meant anything, his moments of kindness had been a mask always hiding his real feelings. Perhaps for Harry's sake, maybe for his reputation, how could she know?

Does it matter? She thought bitterly. It wasn't as though she cared. She'd always known he was like this. He had been like this all of last year, except for at the very end when Harry had almost died and...

No. She wouldn't think about that now.

Harry

He forlornly watched Draco chatting to Daphne. He was hopeless with girls. At least he had quidditch to look forward to. And this year his best friend would be on the team with him! This year would be great.

He saw Hermione, was glad she looked happy, chatting with her friends. He wondered why none of them had been on the train with her, but then she had been a little upset. Hermione could be very scary when she wanted to be.

They were heading to the Slytherin common room wheb Harry was stopped by a Gryffindor first year. A camera flash went off in his face and the younger boy excitedly started babblinh at Harry.

"My name's Colin Creevy, I'm a huge fan of you-"

"Wonderful." Draco cut the boy off and continued walking. Harry felt a little sorry for Colin whatsisname but figured it was for the best.

Classes started the next day. In herbology they got to work in greenhouse 3 where the more dangerous plants were grown. The downside of this was that the dangerous plants were mandrakes and they had to wear ridiculous ear muffs.

Now they were sitting in DADA restlessly waiting for the new professor. A couple of the Gryffindor boys, who the Slytherins were sharing the class with, were messing around, while Crabbe and Goyle were idly punching each other.

Pansy was chatting to her friends and Draco looked a little spaced out so he started chatting to Blaise.

Draco

She was pretty, not particularly intelligent, but she was a pure blood Slytherin and that was all that mattered. He leant over to where she and Pansy were giggling about something.
"Hey Draco" Pansy said.
Daphne blushed.
He arched an eyebrow
"What about you Daphne? Am I not welcome?"
"You're always welcome Draco" she giggled.

Pansy caught Draco's eye and turned to her other friends. Daphne flipped her hair over her shoulder and moved closer to Draco

Just then their professor entered the room. Draco vaguely recognised him from the cover of some trashy magazine. Gilderoy Lockhart. Of course- the author of all the defense books on the book list. The man in the book shop. Stop he told himself furiously, not wanting to think about that. He glanced over at Daphne who was idly tracing patterns around the edge of her page.

The professor handed out a quiz, a ridiculous thing all about his life. The questions were easy of course, all were answered in the books he'd studied all holidays.

Daphne tapped her page, drawing his attention to the words at the bottom of her paper. 'Question 27?' it said in curvy handwriting. The professor's favourite colour. He leant over, wrote the answer, 'lilac' in his neat handwriting, and then brushed a few strands of hair back off her face. She glanced up at him blushing and then quickly looked away again. 'Thanks' she wrote. He replied- 'Anytime'.

Lockhart began collecting the papers, zooming them towards him with a swish of his wand in a ridiculous overexaggerated gesture.
"Hmm... not bad... oh dear... Not very many of you remembered ().

"However Miss Granger did. In fact she appears to have got full marks! Who is Miss Granger?"
Hermione raised her hand.

"And Mr Malfoy has also got top marks!
Draco raised his hand slightly.

"Miss Greengrass not far behind, well done Miss Patil, the rest of you need to work a little harder however." He grinned, turning hid head to look in the large ornamental mirror hanging on the wall.

"Anyway, now I am about to show you something truly terrifying! Something to be feared beyond all else!" He paused for effect, the class leant in, watching him pull the cover off...
...the large bird cage filled with whirring wings.

"Cornish Pixies?!" sputtered one of the Gryffindor boys.

"Never underestimate their devilish power! Now for a hands on lesson-"
He flipped open the latch and hundreds of little blue pixies flew out into the room. Immediately all became chaos. Students were being flicked, covered in ink, hiding under tables. Random spells were being cast in all directions by the professor and inept students.

"Ooh pretty!" He saw Daphne reach for one of the pixies. It grabbed her hair, bringing tears to her eyes. Draco casually sent (immobulus?) charms at both her pixie and the two Harry was fighting off. Daphne threw her arms around her saviour and ran off with Pansy . Most of the students had already left. Harry was waiting for him, the sniveling Gryffindor boy, Longbottom, was hanging off a chandelier, the ginger Weasley was cowering behind a book, and she was freezing pixies.

The professor ran up the stairs to his office, paused on the little stairway and quickly shouted to the remaining students to put the pixies back in their cage. He grabbed a self portrait back from two pixies and slammed the door behind him. Draco walked towards the door, and was leaving when he heard her shout.

"For God's sake Malfoy, are you not going to help us?" She cried desperately.

"Well Granger I thought it looked like you had the situation under control" he smirked.
She moaned in frustration and turned back to fighting off the devilish pixies. He casually looked back, and cast an immobulus charm on the pixies. It wouldn't last long, there were too many of them, but they'd be able too get most of them back in the cage. Of course, he was only doing it to impress the new professor, he told himself.