Chapter Fifteen
Great Hall, Hogwarts, Scotland, 20 October, 1991
She watched them again.
They always seemed so… happy. So together. So at home.
She had never felt that way here. This place was her prison and her sanctuary.
She deserved worse than prison for what she'd done all those years ago.
The darker Malfoy, Adrian, fascinated her. The other followed him and his brother almost without question. They were all talented witches and wizards, with the seeming exception of the Longbottom boy. He had power, such raw power, but it would remain untapped until he discovered it for himself.
The Potter boy was lonely, though. He saw through the false friends and hangers-on who gathered around him, close to only a few people. She smiled. It was a good thing that the boy wasn't stupid. She was glad that one of his friends was Cedric Diggory. He was such a nice boy.
Two more little Slytherins had joined the multi-house group, Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass. Blaise was a tall black boy, even taller than the youngest Weasley, with high cheekbones and slanted gray-geen eyes (nothing at all like Adrian's). Daphne Greengrass was short and very slender with long legs and dark brown hair cut into a short bob. She had to brush her long bangs out of her eyes- which were a strange violet blue- every few seconds.
She sighed as the girl laughed, a light, happy sound. Greengrass would be a beauty when she was older.
She wondered if anyone had ever laughed with her like that. She couldn't seem to remember. It'd been so long. But even if she didn't remember, she highly doubted that she'd had friends like these.
Suddenly, the Granger girl turned her head and waved, smiling uncertainly uncertainly. She ducked her head, embarrassed at being caught watching. But she couldn't help smiling all the same.
Someone had noticed her.
She drifted away from the table and out of the Great Hall, still smiling.
"Who are you waving at, Hermione?" Ron asked, looking at the Ravenclaw table where his friend had been waving.
"I-I'm not really sure. There was a girl there only a moment ago," Hermione said, a puzzled frown on her face.
She was cute when she did that, her nose got little wrinkles in it and her eyes got all squinty. Ron looked down at the table, his face turning scarlet and his ears going hot. "I don't see anyone, Granger."
"There was someone there, Ronald! I saw her!"
Uh-oh. Now she was angry. Ron hastily backtracked. "Well, what did she look like?" he asked reasonably.
By now, the rest of their friends were listening. Hermione blushed. "I'm not really sure, actually. She was…. Oh, I can't remember with all of you staring at me!" she said irritably. "I'm going to the library."
"Don't stay too long," Adrian called after her. "We've got our first flying lesson tonight!"
"Oh, come off it, Ade," Draco scoffed, nudging his brother. "Everyone here but Hermione has been flying since they could hold a broom!"
"I know that, idiot, but I want to see if she's any good," Adrian replied. Glancing up, his face morphed into that Malfoy smirk they were all becoming used to. "Look at little Potter, Drake, I think he's going to be sick!"
They all looked over at Henry Potter. He did indeed seem… greener than usual, and his face was covered in sweat, though he was shivering.
"It looks as though the-boy-who-lived has a fear of flying," Blaise said, mischief lighting up his eyes.
"What if he does? I'm not so fond of flying myself, you know," Neville said. Over the past few weeks, he'd been becoming increasingly confident, speaking up more and going with the flow less. He was still the least powerful of them, but they didn't mind. As Adrian often pointed out when they helped Neville with various school subjects, it's all about heart.
Adrian threw his arm over Neville's shoulders, smiling at him. "Don't worry; we won't do anything to him tonight, Nev. Promise."
They respected Neville's understanding of others, especially his compassion for other's fears. Hermione stated that he would've made a great psychologist.
Whatever that was.
Hogwarts Grounds, Scotland, 20 October, 1991
Daphne Greengrass was arguing amicably with Hermione Granger over the benefits of their respective houses. Both girls would soon be the envy of their classmates as they were close friends with some of the best-looking boys in the year.
And don't think those boys didn't know it. Adrian and Draco were future blond gods, Ron had the brooding, misunderstood thing going for him, Blaise was a model, and Neville was simply adorkable with his big brown eyes, shy demeanor, kind heart, and ready smile. Currently, they were laughing at some guy joke or other. Daphne rolled her eyes as a few girls giggled and whispered among themselves when Draco flashed them his million-galleon smile.
Henry Potter stood a few feet away from the boys, looking somewhat lost. He wasn't really friends with anyone in his year, mostly just older kids in his house. He glanced over at her friends longingly every once in a while when he thought no one was looking. For someone so famous, he sure was alone.
Daphne felt a pang of sympathy for him. Until she'd been "adopted" by her friends, she'd been lonely too. Maybe they'd adopt him as well.
One thing was for sure, though: Madam Hooch was taking forever!
Suddenly, Crabbe and Goyle sauntered up to Henry and roughly knocked him to the ground. Henry sprawled awkwardly, his glasses flying off his face. Crabbe stomped viciously on Henry's glasses. There was an audible crunch as the glasses crumbled beneath the weight.
"Tell your filthy Mudblood mother that our fathers say hello, Potter. They should be visiting her soon," Goyle snarled.
There was only one reason the senior Crabbe and Goyle would go to the home of a Muggleborn: violent, brutal murder. They'd only escaped Azkaban because they'd been under the imperious curse at their trial, but there was no doubt that they were ruthless killers, imperioused or no.
Adrian and Draco turned, faces twisted with rage, Ron and Blaise right behind them. Neville hadn't heard what was going on yet, but he was getting a general idea.
Daphne winced as Adrian's normally light, sparkling eyes seemed to glow with surging power, the whites tuning an opaque obsidian black. He raised his wand before anyone could even blink and howled his rage. There was no spell there, merely intent.
Crabbe and Goyle's wands imploded in their hands, driving splinters deep and leaving some rather nasty burns that went up to their elbows.
"Go. Away. Now."
Daphne shivered. That voice wasn't Adrian's. It was a guttural snarl that sent fear to her very core.
And he was one of her best friends.
They nodded, whimpering and took off toward the school. Adrian turned to Henry and extended his hand. "All right, Potter?"
Potter nodded, eyes squinting. Adrian grabbed Henry's mangled glasses from the ground and tapped them lightly with his wand. They mended in a soft glow of light, and Adrian handed them to their owner without a word.
"Thanks," Henry muttered, looking at the ground.
Adrian smiled weakly, shaking from the magical outburst. "Don't mention it."
"MISTER MALFOY, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO? HEADMASTER'S OFFICE! NOW! AND TWENTY POINTS FROM SLYTHERIN!" Madam Hooch bellowed.
Adrian groaned and trudged toward the castle.
"That's what he gets?" Draco murmured scathingly. "Detention and points taken away for accidental magic? And that was while he was trying to help someone!"
"You know, Draco? I'm beginning to think that our dear friend Adrian has… I dunno, a saving people thing," Ron said, glancing sideways at Henry Potter.
"Yeah," Draco said, watching his brother's rapidly shrinking form proudly. "He does."
