Keep Me Around

As per usual, my parents refused to accompany me to the train station. Magic terrified them, but they were also irrationally jealous of anybody who was gifted in magic. They did love me, but when I got my Hogwarts letter, it came between us. It didn't really matter much to me, they sent me letters all year and acted fairly normal during the holidays, so long as they never, ever caught sight of my wand (9 inches, willow wood with a unicorn hair core), cauldron, or broomstick. It was only the first day of school that it made any real difference. And, that meant that I spent the entire last two weeks of the summer holidays with the Weasleys, my favorite family of all time.

"Hurry, hurry, kids, the train leaves in five minutes!" Mrs. Weasley announced, ushering us forward. Fred and George went through first, they had quit school, but were coming to see us off. Ginny followed with her mother and father. Next, Ron, Harry and Hermione ran through the wall to platform nine and three quarters, leaving me to be the last one. Right as I slept through the barrier, I heard trolley wheels begin to squeal behind me and I knew that another student was coming through the barrier quickly after me. As soon as I was deposited on the platform, I got out of the way. The person still managed to run into me, and when I turned around, I wasn't surprised.

"Why, if it isn't my least favorite, insufferable, know it all, mudblood,"

"You cocky, son of a bitch pureblood, that hurt,"

"Whatever, Trife, you're going to miss the train… actually, I'd prefer that," And Draco Malfoy strode quickly down the platform with his trolley, his blonde parents following him at a swift pace. I had to give Draco this much, Lucius and Narcissa were absolute nightmares and it couldn't be pleasant to be their kid. I still hated him.

I rushed after Draco, scanning the crowd quickly for my friends.

"Riv! River Olivia!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, waving at me. I sighed in relief and turned my trolley to follow them.

"Now remember, children, don't cross Filch, stay out of the Forbidden forest, don't provoke Draco, don't look for trouble, don't bother Peeves and don't forget to visit Hagrid," Mrs. Weasley said as she hugged the children in turn, kissing her own red headed kids on the lips, and her "adopted" children on the cheek as we walked to the train. She stopped.

"Goodbye, Children, I'll see you all on the holidays." She waved as she retreated. The twins took this opportunity to give the students their own form of advice.

"Now remember children, don't get caught by Filch, make sure you go into the Forbidden Forest when you visit Hagrid, torture the Malfoy stinker as much as you can get away with, always look for trouble and get on Peeves's good side." Fred and George said in unison. They passed each of us a bag bulging with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products and winked once before turning on the spot and disapparating. Ron scowled at the spot where they had disappeared. He hated when they showed off that they could apparate and he couldn't.

"All aboard the Hogwarts Express!" The conductor yelled.

The five of us managed to get a cart with Dean, Seamus, Luna and Terry. Harry put his and Ginny's bags into the overhead, Ron took care of his and Hermione's, leaving me feeling like the awkward fifth wheel until Terry jumped up from his seat and put my bag into the overhead. Really, he was quite sweet, and I was quite lucky to have him as one of my closest friends, but he'd fancied me since third year and it was getting rather old. Especially as I didn't fancy him back. In my six years at Hogwarts, I'd never had a boyfriend and I'd fancied very few boys. Sure, I'd snogged often, and I'd made out with boys, too, but I didn't actually want to be with them. I was sort of a tease, as Ron, Harry, Dean and Seamus liked to remind me of all the time. I'd snogged all of them (something Ginny had gotten over as it was before her and Harry got together, but something Hermione would never forgive me for) but I'd never let it go farther than that. I could be a tease and a bitch, but I loved my friends and I was smart and strong and loyal, and that's why they kept me around.

As per usual, Harry insisted on buying out the trolley for us.

"I knew there was a reason we kept you around, Potter," I said as I ripped into a licorice wand.

"Couldn't be all this crap about him being the chosen one?" Dean grinned crookedly at Harry.

"Nah, you guys keep me around for my charm and wit,"

"Shove off, Potter," Seamus laughed, gently pushing Harry.

"I'm afraid telling Potter to shove off is my job, Finnigan," said a familiar drawling voice from the entrance to our carriage. And there stood Draco Malfoy, in all his glory. He was flanked by Crabbe and Goyle on his right and Pansy Parkinson and Blaise on his left. I glared at him with a deep, unreasonable hatred as all of our hands slipped into our pockets to grab our wands. Malfoy was quickest and got his out first, firing off a hex at me. Hermione, ever the smart one, cast a quick shield over me. She took it down so I could fire off hexes. I aimed a marvelous stinging hex at Malfoy as the rest of them fired off hexes. With a casual flick of his wand, Malfoy put up an excellent shield over him and his friends, but not before his friends fired back. Hermione shielded us, her wandwork not quite as casual as Malfoy's.

"Poor ickle kids, looks like your new prefect is going to have to report you for fighting." He shook his blonde head.

"Ron, River and I are prefects, too, Malfoy, and we will report you. Wouldn't want to start of the year with a detention would you?" Hermione shot back, still maintaining her shield. Malfoy refused to lower his either.

"Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, out," He ordered smoothly. His friends left the compartment, a display of his power amongst his friends.

"I've got bigger things to worry about than you," He sneered at us. "Trife, can I speak to you for a moment?"

"Tell me here, Malfoy," I sneered right back. He sighed and grabbed my wrist. I lifted my wand to his neck.

"Let. Me. Go." I said to him, jabbing the thin stick of wood farther into his skin. He narrowed his silver eyes at me and then spoke again.

"Fine, but don't say I didn't try to warn you," He let go of my wrist, then merely looked down at me for a few full seconds. My heart skipped a beat. The ass had pretty eyes. He sneered.

"See something you like, Trife," He said so quietly that nobody could hear him but me.

"You wish, Malfoy," I hissed back, putting my hands on his chest and shoving him away.

"You're gonna wish you'd let me warn you, mudblood. It's a new age," Malfoy laughed as I tuck my hands off his chest. His comment perked my interest and frightened me. I turned to look at my friends once, then looked back at Malfoy's confident sneer.

"Fine, what?" I said, shutting the compartment door.

"Your mum and dad betrayed you. The Dark Lord now knows that they have a witch daughter and he knows that the prophecy that was made a few months ago is about you." He leaned casually against the wall, crossing his arms, that same confident smirk still twisting his features.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"There's a certain person who must kill you, or I'm going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble with the Dark Lord. ." He shrugged, my life was so disposable for him.

"Sure you don't want to keep me around?" I asked.

"You wish, Trife. Have you heard the prophecy in full?"
"No."

"A well hidden muggle born princess, who was told to be dead, will tangle herself in the dark prince, bringing her light into darkness. She will refuse to be snuffed, and, instead, dismantle darkness, snuffing lightest of light as she goes. Princess and Prince, locked in final battle, neither living without the other"

"What does that even mean?" I asked, frustrated, I'd never been good at divination.

"Thought you were supposed to be smart. It means that you're going to get tangled up in our business, and instead of going evil, you're going to get rid of the dark side. It also says that you're going to snuff out the lightest of the light. Many seem to think this means Harry Potter. You're going to get locked in a final battle with some "dark prince" that you're in love with, and neither of you will be able to live without the other. You'll be facing attacks from both sides, one sided protecting Harry Potter, one side protecting their own future. Watch out for yourself." He turned on his heel.

"So, you've given up pretending to be good? You're admitting to being a death eater?" I called after him. He stiffened.

"Well, it's known by now that my father certainly was. It's perfectly reasonable that I should know this information from him." And Draco Malfoy walked away. I looked after him for one short moment. No matter what he said, it seemed to me that he was concerned about my welfare and not just making sure the right person killed me.

Draco POV

Yeah, I wanted to keep her around. No, it wasn't just to make sure the right person killed her. Frankly, the first part of the prophecy interested me. I already knew that they got the name "muggle born princess" because her parents were called the king and queen of entertainment in the muggle world (her mother sang, her father was an actor) and she was often called the Ravenclaw princess. And her being thought dead came from her parents, they'd been so horrified at her magic that they'd told everybody she died in a car accident, except for her closest friends. But this dark prince business? Well, frankly, I was intrigued. What "dark prince" would lower himself to be with a mudblood? A few people had carried the title of "dark prince," not least of them, Severus Snape… but the most recent one to carry that title was… me.

That's right, me, Draco Malfoy, raised mudblood and muggle hater. Me ending up with her was a joke.

But…. She was pretty. Really pretty. Even I, who hated her madly, had to admit that the girl was, well, frankly, beautiful.

River POV

I shut the door behind me and walked into the compartment. I looked, stone faced at Harry.

"What did Malfoy want, River?" He asked, casually.

"Nothing, he just thought he'd throw in a few well aimed insults my way." I lied easily.

"What was this about a warning?" Ginny asked. I knew I couldn't tell her, the idea of me being what killed her beloved Harry would horrify her.

"He said some crap about muggle borns being eliminated this year. You know how he is," I said, too casually. Terry gave me a weird look.

"Hope you hexed him," Ron said venomously.

"Hope you didn't. It's not worth getting a detention before school even starts," Hermione said, exasperated. She was already flipping through her Advanced Potions textbook, true to Granger form.

"Hey, don't worry about anything Malfoy said. We want to keep you around," Dean said, obviously sensing I was upset. I smiled thankfully at him.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Hermione shut her book and sighed.

"We better changed into our school robes now, guys," A smile split mine and Harry's faces as we look up and spotted the castle, our home. This was what tied the two of us together so deeply. Neither of us knew what it was to feel at home until we stepped into the Hogwarts castle. We turned to each other, and saw our matching smiles.

"Welcome home, River," He said affectionately, throwing an arm casually around my shoulders.

"Welcome home, Harry," I threw my arm over his shoulder, pressing my face against the window to get a better view of my favorite place in the world