Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out!

:Still don't own them:

LostArtist

Chapter 6

Upon arriving at the castle Kagome had been immediately guided away from her friends by a woman she assumed to be a teacher. After explaining that Kagome would be sorted right after the first years, Professor McGonagall told her to wait in the hall while she went into a room to retrieve the younger students.

Kagome followed hesitantly behind as she led the group of students into a buzzing hall filled with people. She gasped upon entering the room, looking up in awe at the realistic ceiling. Stars dotted a night sky and she almost could imagine being back in the Feudal Era, if not for the noise around her. The buzz quickly settled as the sorting began.

Kagome watched in interest from behind as young students approached the hat and hesitantly placed it on their heads. After a few moments, depending on the kid, the hat would yell a house name. This was immediately followed by the cheers of the house and the polite clapping from the others. She grinned, finding Harry Ron and Hermione as they cheered for the newest addition to their house. It was kind of fun watching everyone's reactions.

Before she knew it the last first year had been sorted and the cheering died down. Kagome shifted self consciously, now realizing that all eyes had shifted to her. She nervously smiled over at her three new friends who grinned back. The butterflys in her stomach settled a little at their encouragment. A throat cleared at the table near her and a man with a long white beard stood from the table.

"Tonight I have the greatest pleasure to introduce a special student in our midst. We welcome a transfer student for the first time in Hogwarts history. Miss Kagome Higurashi will be joining us this year as a sixth year student. She recently moved from Japan and has been studying diligently to catch up with the other students her age and is more than prepared to join us here for the remainder of her schooling. I hope you will all welcome her in these troubled times."

Dumbledore smiled turning to Kagome whose face had seemingly turned a nice shade of pink. "Miss Higurashi if you would," he said gesturing to the hat, "I know you are no stranger to making history," he stated with a wink that only she could see.

Sitting upon the stole she placed the sorting hat on her head. Hmm, a voice said immediately causing her to jump. 'Very intelligent,.. a hard worker indeed. Ravenclaw would be a very nice fit for you wouldn't it? Ahhh,' the voice continued, 'but what's this? Bravery - more than most that I've seen pass through these halls - and a strong sense of loyalty to friends and family alike. Hmm…You have a strange purity about you as well. Definetly not meant for Slytherin…and your sense of adventure may be too much for dear Hufflepuff…No place to put you but' "GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat shouted the last word. Thunderous applause and cheers burst to her right. Taking the hat off sheepishly, she grinned and, after placing it back on the stool, walked happily to where her three friends sat, cheering loudest of anyone. Hermione moved over to make room for her and she sat, the two boys across from them.

"I knew you'd make it!" Hermione exclaimed hugging Kagome in her excitement. The girls laughed before the room quieted again as Dumbledore stood.

"After that excitement I believe it would now be in our best interest to feast!" and with that the feast began. Kagome watched in amazement as food appeared on the table before them. They all loaded their plates hungrily; deciding to save more conversation till after they'd sated their empty stomachs.

After dinner Dumbledore stood and all quieted once again. He made his final speech, first introducing the new Defense Agaisnt the Dark Arts teacher. A young woman with violet eyes and long brown hair stood at the introduction, smiling serenely at the students before she resumed her seat. Dumbledore then continued speaking of the ban on any item from Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes before continuing into the more solemn half of the speech. "As I'm sure you are all aware, Lord Voldemort has returned bringing new and very real dangers to the entire wizarding community. Extra precautions are being taken to ensure your safety while here in school but I must advise you to be extremely careful nonetheless. In these dangerous times it is necessary for us to stick together as a community."

Dumbledore finished his speech soon after, sending them all to their respective dormitories for a good night's rest before their first day of lessons.

"Wow," Kagome said in awe as she traveled through the building with her new friends. "I'm gonna get really lost here…" she said, her eyes wandering, trying to take in everything around her. Between the moving pictures, the moving stairs, and just the sheer magnitude of the place Kagome felt slightly overwhelmed. It didn't help when her foot slide into the stair she'd just stepped on.

In her perusal of her surroundings she hadn't realized how far she was lagging behind the group. As she and the others had been some of the last to leave the Great Hall, Kagome found herself terrifyingly alone and stuck up to the knee in what she had thought was a solid stair. "Harry?" she called hesitantly before trying the other two. They must have been distracted. They seemed to have been having an in depth conversation about someone who was possibly a Death Eater. She wasn't sure who exactly they were discussing, but she hadn't really cared at the time. At present she just wished she'd paid closer attention to them. She had no clue where she was supposed to go now.

Just before she began to panic a smooth voice spoke from the bottom of the stairs.

"Need some help?" a boy said climbing the stairs toward her. Turning her head she saw a boy with blonde hair approaching her. She grinned sheepishly.

"Heh, that obvious, huh?" she asked as he reached her. He smiled at her, though it didn't seem to reach his eyes. Grabbing her waist from the step below and pulling her towards him he saved her from the trap stair.

Kagome turned to face him, looking suddenly into a handsome face. Grey eyes blinked before he smirked.

"Uh, thanks," Kagome said embarrassed. "I'm Kagome by the way." She said holding out her hand.

"I know," he said arrogantly, not taking her hand. She pulled it back annoyed. "Well anyway, thanks," she said before turning and walking up the stairs again careful to avoid the trick one this time.

"Fuck," the boy said before turning back toward the dungeons. Why'd she have to be so pretty anyway?

"Kagome!" a voice called as she heard footsteps hurrying towards her. "Oh thank goodness! We're so sorry we were so involved in our conversation we didn't notice you weren't with us until we were almost at the portrait!" Hermione said breathlessly reaching her with the other two close behind.

"Blimey, that was scary," Ron said.

"Oh, you must think we're awful!" Hermione said still horrified they'd left her behind.

"It's okay! Really," Kagome said trying to assure them she didn't hate them, "It was mostly my fault anyway. I got so distracted by everything and then like a klutz I got stuck in a stair…still not sure how that happened," she said trailing off.

"The trick stair?" Harry questioned. When she nodded he asked, "but how'd you get out of it? It's almost impossible without someone else's help."

She shrugged, "some random boy helped me. I'm not sure why though, he was rather rude right after he pulled me free."

"Where'd he go?" Harry asked curious as to who it was.

Kagome shrugged, "the opposite direction."

"What'd he look like?" Harry asked again as they walked towards the portrait. He wasn't exactly sure why he wanted to know, but waited for her answer nonetheless.

"He was a little taller than me, had blonde hair, grey eyes…he was rather arrogant too… almost reminded me of Sesshomaru, baka inu taiyoukai…" she muttered the last bit causing Harry to get a confused expression on his face. He, after all, did not understand Japanese or know who Sesshomaru was.

"That almost sounds like Malfoy," Hermione said as they reached the portrait.

"MALFOY?" both Harry and Ron yelled indignantly.

"No need to shout. And no that is not the correct password," the fat lady said in an annoyed huff.

"Treacle Tart," Hermione spoke up. The portrait swung open to reveal the common room.

"You can't possibly believe that Malfoy would help someone from Gryffindor?" Ron said continuing the conversation once they'd entered the deserted room.

Hermione shrugged. "I said it sounded like him; it could have been anyone."

"Who's Malf-" Kagome started.

"A git."

"Oh," Kagome responded to the immediate answer of the two boys. She smiled a little before yawning.

"We should probably get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be busy what with beginning N.E.W.T level courses and all." Hermione said with an almost excited glint in her eyes.

After they all said their goodnights the boys and girls went to their separate dormitories for a much needed night's sleep.

The next morning they were given their schedules, the heads of houses confirming all of the sixth years O.W.L scores. Kagome was nervous. She'd taken the O.W.Ls at the end of the summer and hadn't seen her scores at all. She had no idea what classes she was eligible for. Professor McGonagall reached her and looked at her papers.

"Miss Higurashi, for learning all of the material this summer you did exceptionally well on the O.W.Ls. You scores arrived to school just before you did yesterday," she said handing Kagome a piece of paper.

Looking down Kagome saw her grades:

Astronomy – O

Charms – E

Defense Agaist the Dark Arts – O

Herbology – O

History of Magic – A

Potions – E

Transfiguration – E

"I believe you would be accepted into any of those classes, even History of Magic, seeing as you received those grades with only a summer to learn them," Professor McGonagall told her with an unusual twinkle in her eye.

"Ah, sure," Kagome said and was given her schedule shortly after.

"That's amazing Kagome!" Hermione said as they walked toward their first classes. Hermione had Ancient Runes and Kagome was on her way to History of Magic. Ron and Harry had a free period first. Hermione continued to gush about Kagome's OWL scores until they separated. As Kagome headed towards class the blush she'd acquired began to die down. She wasn't used to so much praise; it was rather nice.

Reaching class she sat down at an empty set of desks. As she was pulling her materials from her bag someone sat down next to her. She looked up, smiling at the boy who'd sat next to her.

"Dean Thomas," he said holding out his hand to her, "You must be the transfer student."

Kagome nodded, shaking his hand. "Kagome Higurashi," she replied before class began.

Kagome anxiously scribbled notes as the professor spoke. Fifteen minutes had passed and the entire time she had had the nagging feeling of someone watching her. She was in the second to last row so she knew there were only a select few people who could be looking at her. A third of the class had fallen asleep anyway. Deciding to take a break from writing Kagome looked around. There were only a little over a dozen students in the class, all from different houses. She and Dean seemed to be the only Gryffindors. Looking to her right she found the source of the annoying feeling. The boy from the stairs happened to be sitting across the small aisle from her and wasn't even pretending to pay attention. No, instead he was staring directly at her. He smirked when she caught his eye and leaned forward into the aisle.

"Gotten stuck in any stairs lately?" he asked.

Kagome looked at him curiously. "No." She went back to her notes, looking towards the professor.

She heard a chair slide closer to her. "Name's Draco, Draco Malfoy," his voice said right into her ear. She jumped, startled. Her professor didn't even notice the class wasn't paying attention. He continued staring at his book and droning on.

"Nice to meet you Draco," she said politely, still not looking at him. She pretended to be very interested in the lesson. He was so close she could feel his breath against her ear. It was giving her chills and no matter how attractive he was, there had to be a reason Harry and Ron didn't like him. She decided to try to ignore him.

Noticing this Draco's eyes narrowed. He tried a different track. Backing up a little he began to speak again, quietly. "Kagome, right?" she nodded her head still looking to the front of the class. "Look, Kagome, I know your friends aren't very fond of me, but give me a chance. People make mistakes, right? I'd like to get to know you a little better." Draco said. "It'd be nice to have a friend I can trust, someone who doesn't judge me because of my family," he added softly, with a smirk she didn't see.

Kagome looked at him then. She felt like she should be suspicious but he'd just said the very things she was most sensitive to. InuYasha had been judged by his heritage, he had made mistakes, but she had given him a chance and he had been one of her best friends, her first love. Her eyes softened and Draco nearly cheered.

"Okay," she said as Draco grinned back at her.

Draco left class, thinking. The first part of his plan had worked perfectly. Now he just needed to get Kagome to trust him enough so that he could carry out the rest of his task. He could find much more information this way too. Draco was so proud of himself for thinking of such an ingenious way to get to her that he never even considered that Kagome might in fact become his greatest weakness. For now he was content, this was playing out very smoothly in his mind.

OooOo what's Draco up to?

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LA