Year 1

The train was slowly jerking to a stop, causing many of its first time riders to lose their balance and drop their books and candy. Daphne was one of them, although she did not end up on the floor like the girl across from her. She had introduced herself as Pavarti, and her sister was Padma; they had kept going on and on about their parents and their last visit to India. Daphne wished she could say that she had traveled the world, but she had never even left the UK.

My parents are far too busy to carry me about Europe... she thought. A small twinge of pain hit her when she recalled what had happened only hours before. Her parents, frustrated that they were missing work and social opportunities, had rushed her onto the platform, practically pushed her onto the train, and then scurried away with barely a goodbye or good luck. The only thing that was audible was "Make sure you're sorted into a good house!"

Daphne knew what that meant: Slytherin. But she had no complaints about being sorted into a house with such prestige and tradition. There had never been another option to her. She glanced over at Pavarti and Padma, who were gathering their matching trunks off the shelf above their heads; I wonder which house they'll be sorted into... probably the same one, I would imagine... I can't imagine they would separate siblings she thought, mimicking their actions and gathering her own trunk.

"Oh wow, look at the castle! Is that Hogwarts?" Padma asked.

Her sister rolled her eyes."Of course, it is! What did you think it was; a shack on a hill?"Padmas said nothing to this; only made a small face at her sister, then turned to Daphne "You're lucky that you have no siblings here with you."

Daphne opened her mouth to say that she did, in fact, have a sibling, but was cut short by the prefects walking past the car, instructing them to meet someone called 'Hagrid' by the boats.

Perhaps it's for the better... Astoria will probably make quite a show on her own when she arrives in two years...

Daphne rode in the boats beside Pavarti and Padma, who were both gazing in awe at the dark castle that stood like a mountain beside the lake. Daphne had never seen anything like it and wondered if the other first riding in their own boats felt the same. When she glanced around for further inspection, she was pleased that indeed everyone was looking awestruck at the school ahead. Once the boats were anchored ashore, she followed the large group of what were to be her classmates up through the castle and to wait outside the Great Hall.

There was some sort of commotion at the front of the crowd. A boy, who had a pointed face and the blondest hair she'd ever seen, was talking to two other boys; one with black, messy hair, and another with red hair.

"...all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford..." his voice carried back through the people who were slowly gathering around. "...You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort." He continued, despite the expressed hisses and whispers around him. The name also rang a bell; Potter? As in Harry Potter? Daphne had no idea he was her age! The only thing she had ever heard about him was her parents cursing his name every once in a while. As for the other family, she couldn't say she'd heard of them; Weasley? What kind of name was that?! "I can help you there" the blonde boy added to Harry. She didn't hear his response, but from the look on the blonde boys face, it wasn't the one he expected.

Well, he has a point... I mean, some families are quite disgraceful... she agreed silently, not wanting to draw the same amount of attention that the other boy had gotten so far.

A tall witch appeared at the front and led them all into the front of the Great Hall. Daphne glanced around at the hundreds of students that all peered at them curiously. They were starting to call the students in order by the last name. Standing there, she looked at the old hat that was placed on everyone's heads. Then, before she even noticed how far they were in the list, the old witch called her name.

"Daphne Greengrass"

Daphne looked around a little frantically before she felt her feet carrying her towards the stool at the front. Then she took her seat and felt the old, musty smelling hat lowered on her head.

"Hmm... Interesting. You have an independence that helps you in many houses... but you have a mind for planning, which narrows it down... your heart is loyal and true, but you have your own interests at the core... and you hold your opinions high above others, and are willing to fight to prove them right... well then, since I see what those opinions are, there is only one place to put you..."

The hat paused. Daphne had hoped that the Sorting Hats entire speech was something only she could hear; having her traits and faults broadcast before everyone wasn't an ideal way to start the year. Now, as she listened for her house to be announced, her heart raced with anticipation "SLYTHERIN!"

A wave of relief washed over her as she felt the hat removed from her head. She opened her eyes to see the table at the far right cheering for her placement. She smiled and climbed off the stole and ran down to her house. Taking a seat on the bench, a few of the older students congratulated her and shook her hand. There were 4 other first years who had already been sorted, now sitting around her. The two large boys introduced themselves as Crabbe and Goyle. A girl with black hair, who Daphne considered to not be very attractive, introduced herself as Millicent Bulstrode (What a name! Daphne thought), while another girl named Tracey Davis, who was much more attractive, with brown hair and golden eyes, smiled and spoke to her first.

"Greengrass? As in Medea's daughter?" she asked, glancing her over, apparently trying to compare her to her mother.

"Yeah. How do you know my mother?" Daphne replied, smiling a little; a friend may be in the near future.

"My mother went to school with your mother, back at Beauxbaton." She explained.

"Really? Well, it's a shame I've never met you..." she trailed off as she watched the blonde haired boy from earlier startup to the stool. She had missed his name, so she turned back to Tracey.

"Who is that boy?"

"That's Draco Malfoy. Son of Lucius Malfoy. I'm sure you've heard of him." She smirked at her lack of knowledge.

Daphne felt her cheeks go a little pink."Oh, of course, I know Lucius... My father works for him." She said quietly, watching as Draco took a seat. The hat had barely touched his head when it shouted out 'SLYTHERIN!'

"No surprise there." Tracey smiled, clapping with the rest of their house. Malfoy walked over to the table and took a seat beside the two hulking boys that resembled ogres (they were apparently called Crabbe and Goyle)

"Well, that was easy," Malfoy said, fixing his hair from where the hat had messed it up. "Lucky you two got into Slytherin or I would have never spoken to you again." He told Crabbe and Goyle. They said nothing in response. Draco now turned his attention towards the girls. "And who are you three?"

The other girls introduced themselves first, and then Daphne cleared her throat discreetly before she replied. He smiled smugly at her name "Lennox Greengrass's kid? Interesting..." he said before he turned his head back towards the front of the hall. Daphne wasn't sure she liked the way he said her father's name but decided that it only made sense; Lucius was very powerful, and surely Draco knew that, so it only made sense that he would feel superior to her father and her.

Not like I couldn't show him a thing or two that we Greengrass can do... she thought, smirking a little to herself as she also watched the front.

Three other classmates had joined them by the end of the ceremony; Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini. Now all settled, the feast began, and all the new Slytherin students began their first meal at Hogwarts.

"... I can't believe Potter got sorted into Gryffindor! And with Weasley, no less!" Malfoy carried on as he ate his food like a king.

The newest girl, Pansy, already seemed enwrapped in him, hanging on his every word."Who needs Potter? It's not like he's important or anything." She drawled, helping herself to more of the chicken wings.

"He's the most important person in this school! And if we had him, just think of what we could have done with him! He's impressionable, having lived with muggles all his life... we could have convinced him to do anything!" he grumbled.

Daphne decided that this conversation was not one to get involved with. From what she had heard from her parents, the Malfoy's lives changed completely when Lord Voldemort was destroyed, so it was no wonder that Draco had intended on getting back at The Boy Who Lived.

"Well, it's not like he's special anymore." Blaise sniffed "His fifteen minutes of fame ended years ago; it's not like he's going to use his heroic status for anything..."

"He has a point." Theodore remarked, reaching past Daphne for the potatoes "Potter grew up in a world where no one knew or cared about him. Surely he wouldn't know how to be a hero if he wanted to."

"You may all be sure of yourselves." Draco rolled his eyes "But I'm convinced that someone... like Weasley, will play up how important he is, and it will go straight to his head... you just watch." He grumbled.

"Well, we'll have to see if he has any talent first," Daphne remarked, looking down at her food when the others met her eyes.

"Of course he has talent! He defeated You-Know-Who!" Pansy sneered.

Daphne, who took slight offense to the condescending tone of her voice, looked up again and back into her housemate's eyes."I don't know about you, Pansy" she started "But I don't think he's been practicing all these years… as Draco said, he's been living with Muggles all these years… And I doubt he remembers how he did it. Or are you going to claim that you have memories from when you were an infant?"

Pansy narrowed her eyes for a moment, apparently assessing her opponent. Then she flipped her hair over her shoulder and acted like nothing had happened "I see your point. I suppose we'll all have to wait and see... he could be expelled by tomorrow, after all."

The others all looked between the two girls, then changed the subject before Draco could get another word in about it. Thankful for this, Daphne turned her attention to the boy that had sat beside her."So, you're Theodore Nott?" she said cheerily as she took a bite of her carrots. He gave her an odd look and moved a little bit farther away from her when he saw her chewing at the same time.

"Yes, what's your point?" he asked suspiciously. Daphne was surprised by his reaction and raised one eyebrow at him.

"Nothing. I was just trying to see if I'd gotten your name right." She said after swallowing her food.

"Oh. I was waiting for you to make a crack about my father." He said, turning back to his meal. Daphne raised her eyebrow again.

"Why would I do that? I don't even know your father."

"No one does. But he married a younger wife, and yet somehow outlived her. Puts me on the same line as Zabini."

Now the dark-skinned boy named Blaise looked up and narrowed his eyes at Theodore. "Don't you start about my mother, Nott!" He warned, pointing his fork threateningly at him. Daphne noted that apparently, they had met before.

"Well, I didn't know that... about either of your parents." She assured them, glancing at Blaise too for a moment.

"Not sure how you couldn't." Draco cut in from the other side of the table "It's all over the Prophet almost monthly. Between Nott's father still under investigation for his wife's death, and Zabini's mother marrying half of Europe, I can't imagine you read very often to not have known that." Crabbe and Goyle laughed at his remark.

Daphne did not react immediately. She took two seconds of silence to show that she was not amused by his assumption, then smiled politely."I don't read the garbage that the Prophet prints." She said lightly. "And if I remember correctly, wasn't your father in there a few times? If I recall, it wasn't anything to throw a party for." Her smile turned more devious.

Draco was at a momentary loss of words, narrowing his eyes slightly."Watch what you say, and remember your place. Your father works for mine, Daphne" he retorted.

She didn't say anything immediately; she knew that Draco could write home to his father and convince him that she was a horrid girl and that it was somehow her father's fault.

Daphne cleared her throat, then she attempted to correct herself. "I never said anything in the Prophet was true. I was just reminding you that our families have all had their share of bad press... some more than others."

There was silence for a few moments, with Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle waiting for Draco's response. He was apparently satisfied because he nodded his head and turned to say something to Zabini, who had a sour look on his face after having his mother insulted. Daphne took the opportunity to talk to Theodore again, who rolled his eyes at being interrupted from his eating again.

"What happened to your mother?" she asked, now pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Don't know. I came in from the garden just in time to see her take her last breath. Ministry reckoned it was poison. I was about 8 at the time." He said in a disturbingly calm voice.

Daphne awkwardly took a sip of her drink before she continued."And why is your father suspected?" she continued, careful to emphasize that she did not assume his guilt.

"Because he was the only one home." He said in the same cool tone "And they'd had a fight the night before at a friend's house. They claimed that it was really serious, and they were worried if they wouldn't get a divorce after it. So, of course, the Ministry assumes that my father would rather murder his wife than divorce her."

"How horrible." She said, not knowing what else to say. Theodore only shrugged.

"I'm used to reactions like his," he said in a low voice, nudging his head towards Draco, who was now occupied discussing something with Pansy and Millicent "But it's not like his father isn't as bad as mine like you said."

"Yes, well, as he also said, my father works for Lucius; I should probably hold my tongue next time." She replied in the same hushed voice.

"Pfft, what's Draco going to do? Throw a temper tantrum until his father fires yours?" Theodore chuckled. He looked over at Draco, who was now giving Millicent a sour face about something "On second thought, best steer clear of that topic of conversation... someone like you probably has to be close to Draco in order to keep your family happy." He remarked, turning back to his food. She wondered what he meant by that, but he had no time to ask; the prefects were now rounding up all the first years to lead them down to the common room.

Classes were a whole new challenge for Daphne. Her mother had been amazing at Potions and was one of the most accomplished witches at Beauxbaton (which Tracey reminded her frequently). But Daphne was not doing so well; she had failed the first two lessons and was beginning to wonder if perhaps she had skipped out entirely on her mother's blood and gone straight for her father's.

Medea Roux, as she was called then, was one of the brightest and prettiest girls in her year at Beauxbaton. She had red hair and blue eyes, but Daphne had only received a variant of her hair colour. And although she had also received her mother's same round, gently carved face, that was it as far as looks; she did not have the same lean, long figure, or her graceful manner. The only other thing she'd gotten was her wit and cunning mind but apparently had missed out on the intelligent part...

Daphne was convinced that the majority of her traits had come from her father, Lennox Greengrass. He had gone to Hogwarts years ago, and from what she had heard, was very talented in charms (she could only hope this was true since Charms was the only class she hadn't had yet!), as well as a very skilled dueller. He was an average built man, with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes; Daphne, unfortunately, received his build. The only defining feature that her father had that was out of the ordinary was his deep, booming voice that sounded like a great God was speaking. It was low and strong enough to send fear into any child's heart, or anyone that was unfortunate to be on the wrong end of a yell.

She had explained all these traits to Tracey, whom she had become very close to over the past few weeks. Tracey, in return, informed her that she was, in fact, a half-blood, but that she never knew her father. Her mother told her family that she was forced, and had become pregnant by a man who jumped her in the streets.

"It's all a load of crap." Tracey added right after she told Daphne "Mum see's him all the time; they're married, in fact. She just didn't want to be disowned for falling in love with a mudblood. Course, I'm not allowed to meet him... in fact, she keeps telling me that she doesn't know who my father is... little does she know, I read her diary almost weekly... makes for a good bedtime story."

Daphne couldn't help but laugh at Tracey's humour, and yet couldn't blame her mother for hiding that detail either; if she had fallen for a mudblood, or worse, a Muggle, she would surely be excommunicated from her family without a second thought.

Daphne and Tracey, along with Theodore (who occasionally graced them with his presence) were now heading down to their first Flying lessons, which was with the Gryffindors. Malfoy and the others were about 20 paces ahead of them, crossing the lawn towards the crowd of other first years, all standing around with brooms.

"Today ought to be interesting." Theodore remarked like he was talking about the weather "Malfoy's been going on and on about how good he's at Quidditch. Time to put his claims to the test..."

"You really don't like him very much, do you?" Tracey giggled at the hidden meaning of his statement.

"I have nothing against him... I just don't see the need to depend on one group of people. Why devote yourself to one gang of people? It only limits the number of allies you could have."

"I'm not sure how we should take that, Daphne," Tracey smirked, poking Daphne lightly in the shoulder. Daphne smiled but then shrugged her shoulders

"Nott does have a valid point; why limit your friends? I try to be friendly with everyone in our house, but there are some that I just clash with... I will assume that Draco is your nemesis, Theodore."

"Assume what you want; I consider Draco my friend. I just don't consider myself part of his gang."

"Oh, well that's alright then. We're in the same boat, aren't we?" Tracey said, nudging Daphne again."We're close to Pansy and Millicent, and Blaise and Draco as well... but I can't say I've ever carried out a conversation with Crabbe or Goyle..."

"That's because their mental capacity is too small for speech," Theodore mumbled as they caught up to the other Slytherins. They could now hear the leader of the Slytherins, talking in a voice that was too loud for a normal conversation. He wanted everyone to hear what he was saying.

"...My father is supposed to get me a broom for my birthday this year... I already have one at home, but I wanted a new one for my second year... I'm intending on trying out for the Quidditch team as soon as I'm allowed." Draco was boasting again. Theodore made a face to Tracey and Daphne but said nothing. It took the ringleader a moment to realize that the others were now with them "Oh, hello you three. Where were you all morning?"

"We skipped breakfast for some extra sleep." Tracey said lightly, stepping forward to Pansy "Wow, I like that hair band! Where did you get it?"

"Madame Malkin made it for me. I doubt you could afford it, but I'll give it to you when I'm done with it if you like." She purred vainly. Tracey forced a smile but said nothing more. She knew that Pansy considered her low for being a half-blood, but like all other wizarding families, felt they couldn't hold her accountable since her mother had claimed it was an unwilling pregnancy.

"Gryffindors; why do we have to share our lesson with them?" Draco ranted loud enough so that the other house could hear. A few of them shot the Slytherins dirty looks, including Pavarti Patil, who had not spoken to Daphne since the first night on the train; apparently, the reputation of Slytherin was not pleasant in the Gryffindor house.

Madame Hooch now arrived. She had the scariest eyes Daphne had ever seen; like Millicent's cat! She was giving the instructions, but Daphne wasn't really paying attention. She was watching Pansy and Tracey twitter about something to do with Harry.

"... wonder if he even remembers the event." Pansy whispered.

"He was barely a year old! Do you have any memories from that age?" Tracey hissed. Daphne snickered at her remark, to which Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Now, stick your right hand over your broom and say 'UP!'" Madame Hooch instructed.

Daphne stumbled on the hem of her robe as she got into the correct position. All around her, students were yelling 'up' in various tones, at various volumes. Potter appeared to have succeeded on the first try. Malfoy got it shortly after. Daphne figured she would give it a go as well. She held out her hand over the broom."UP!" Nothing happened. "UP!" she commanded again; nothing. Now getting a little frustrated (she did not want to have another class that she would do poorly in), she narrowed her eyes in determination "UP!" This time, the broom lifted from the ground and came an inch from her hand before it dropped back to the ground. The fact that the broom had even moved amazed her enough. Now, convinced that she could get the broom, she commanded it one more time, and at last, the broom obeyed her orders and rose into her hand.

"Good job, Daph," Tracey said, already holding her broom. She smiled in response, then turned back towards the lesson. Now we're supposed to attempt to hover?! Daphne gulped down her apprehensions, like the rest of the students, and tried to follow the instructions... Everyone, except Neville.

Before Daphne or any of the other classmates knew it, Neville Longbottom (who Daphne sat across from in Potions) was flying about the courtyard uncontrollably, and then had crashed into the wall. Madame Hooch left to take him to the hospital wing after he fell from at least 2 stories, and left all the students to mingle around on the lawn.

Then, something more interesting than talking amongst Gryffindors happened. Malfoy had picked up Neville's rememberall, and was now waving it about, slurring something that gave the Gryffindors a sour look on their faces. Pansy made a smart remark to a Gryffindor girl; it was Pavarti, who Daphne found she had no sympathy for anymore. Perhaps it was the fact that their attitudes had changed so much since they were sorted into different houses... or that they both really weren't meant to be close friends after all...

"Give it here, Malfoy" Potter demanded. Daphne exchange sideways glances with Tracey and Pansy, both of whom now held a similar expression of cheek.

"Thinks himself quite the hero eh?" Pansy hissed to the other Slytherin girls. Daphne smirked and resumed watching the action; now both boys were on their brooms and flying about!

"Draco's likely to get himself expelled at this rate..." Tracey muttered under her breath. Daphne noticed Theodore smirk a little at that thought, then whisper something to Blaise that she couldn't hear.

Daphne watched with the other classmates as Harry and Malfoy chased each other for a few moments, Malfoy teasing him with the crystal ball cockily. As surprised as she was by Harry's flying abilities, she was more surprised that he went after the ball when Malfoy threw it. While everyone was watching Harry go after the rememberall, only Daphne and Theodore seemed to notice that Draco had snaked himself back over into the crowd immediately after; Daphne soon saw why. As soon as Harry landed, McGonagall was outside shouting his name angrily.

"What did I tell you; expelled within 2 weeks." Pansy boasted, smiling with approval at Draco.

"I believe the original prediction was 'tomorrow'." Daphne smiled mischievously.

"Details details," Pansy said flippantly "Point is, now he's gone."

By dinner that evening, they had all been proven wrong.

"Potter wasn't expelled!" Blaise exclaimed, having just overheard some Weasley offspring chatting with the Gryffindor Captain. "Worse yet; he's been made seeker!"

"For what!?" Pansy exclaimed

"Gryffindor! What did you think? Romania?" Blaise rolled his eyes.

"Impossible! How does he get to be an exception to the rules?" Draco growled angrily "Just wait until my father hears about this sort of favoritism... he should have been expelled, as any other student would have been."

Daphne had nothing really to say at this point. In her head, however, she noted that Draco was very determined to be rid of Harry Potter as soon as possible. If it was anyone else but Potter, Daphne would have thought he was jealous of him. But because she knew that they were practically bred as enemies (Draco, at least), so it was only natural.

"It's only going to inflate his head even more now," Tracey said dully, spooning herself a large portion of mashed potatoes. "And we'll never hear the end of it," she said in a more hushed voice, referring to Draco's rants that were sure to continue for weeks.

For the remainder of her first year, Daphne had taken less and less notice of Draco and his schemes to get Potter or his friends expelled. They had become so regular that it was hard to keep up with whatever new plan there was. In the meantime, Daphne, Tracey, and Theodore had become closer, forming their own separate trio outside of the main Slytherin gang of their year. Blaise occasionally joined them as well, although he was more often found in the company of Draco, who drew the most attention from other students. Whenever Daphne wanted to be free of the endless chatter about Potter, or escape Pansy's swooning over Draco, she always knew that she could retreat to Tracey and Theodore, who felt the same way.

For a while, the two groups drifted apart, only reuniting at meals and in classes; time spent in the dorms were spent separate, chatting at opposite ends of the common room. They had never had any quarrels between them; they just all split momentarily to confide with those who they trusted most.

Then one night, Daphne was alone in the common room rather late. She stayed up to study for exams (and attempting to escape Millicent's snoring), and she had been reading for hours. It was now very early in the morning when the portrait entrance swung open, and a very shaken, distraught Draco came in.

"What have you been doing out so late?" she asked lightly, almost assuming the answer before she even asked. Surely, he was out trying to foil Potter again. When he didn't reply right away, and instead came and stared into the fire. "Draco? Are you alright?"

"Of course I'm alright." He snapped, glaring at her sideways as he stared at the fire. Daphne nodded her head stiffly and continued to read. She had barely finished another line when he spoke again. "I was just in detention."

"Really? I hear Filch is awful. Did he really hang you from your thumbs?" she asked, setting her book on the table.

"I didn't have it with Filch... I had it with that thing who lives in the hut... Hagar or something... Had me hiking around in the Forbidden Forest, looking for some dead unicorn! And then I almost get attacked by something that was drinking its blood!" He ranted, waving his arms about as if to show how much anger he had about the situation.

"What would be drinking a unicorn's blood?" Daphne started, mystified by his story. "And since when do they send students into the Forest?"

"That's what I said! Surely they have some... servants or house elves or something that could do the job! No, instead they send me! Just wait until my father hears about this..."

"Wow... you're lucky to have lived." She said quietly. Draco returned to staring at the fireplace intently; Daphne wondered if she should ask her next question, and when he didn't say anything for almost a minute, she gathered to courage to ask."Were you scared?"

Draco's head instantly snapped around to face her, with an expression that could only be read as anger or disgust. "I was not scared! How could I be scared?!"

"I don't know... you sounded like you were from the way you-"

"Well, I wasn't!" he snapped again, eyes narrowed.

"I wouldn't make fun of you if you were... I would have been scared if it were me," she explained quietly, now regretting that she even brought it up; she knew he would react like this.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm not you!" he spat.

Daphne said nothing at first, only stared at her hands folded in her lap now. It was a position of obedience that she had learned at home; sit quietly and don't make eye contact, and soon it will all be over... When she looked up, at last, he was still glaring angrily at her. Although she wouldn't tell him (for fear of the same reaction), she knew that he had to have been scared... otherwise, he wouldn't have exploded over it like that. But Daphne had already caught the hint that this conversation was clearly over. She held eye contact for a moment, and then she stood slowly, picking up her book from the table and closing it silently.

"I guess it is," she agreed quietly, nodding her head with an emotionless face. Then, she turned to walk back to the dorms. She kept her back to him until she reached the doors that led to the girls' rooms; here, she glanced back at Draco, who was indeed still watching her. When he saw her turn back, he quickly turned his gaze back to the fire. Daphne, feeling once again put back in her place, continued to her dorm.

It felt like only weeks ago that she arrived at Hogwarts, but Daphne's first year was quickly coming to a close. The end-of-year feast had been a total put-up job, and Gryffindor won by 10 points, which of course put Draco in such a temper for the entire train ride home that Daphne felt that trying to speak would not be a wise idea.

"I can't believe it!" Draco started as soon as it was silent in the car from the last rant. "Dumbledore has proven my point entirely; everyone favours Potter, and he gets special treatment! I mean, those points were completely ridiculous!" he said, pausing to buy some candy off the trolley outside, as did the others. Daphne took the opportunity to exchange dismal looks to Tracey as soon as he started again. "160 points to those three... the Potter Trio! And then, as if to really slap us in the face, he gives Neville 10 points... he may as well have given him 1 point; it would have had the same effect!"

"There there Draco." Pansy soothed, patting his knee gently. Draco still crossed his arms like the child he was. "What can we do now, aside from trying harder next year to keep them out of the running."

"I can tell my father, that's what! He's on the Board of Governors at Hogwarts; surely he can get all this Potter love out of the system." He said proudly, as he always did when talking about his father.

"Surely." Daphne heard slip from her lips. She closed them quickly and glanced out the window, hoping that by avoiding eye contact, she would avoid another blow-up. Draco, to her relief, said nothing; he just continued his little rant about Potter for a few minutes more, and then Blaise, at last, changed the subject to summer plans.

"I'll be in France again, visiting my mother's new fiancée that she's picked up," Blaise explained, giving Draco a sideways glare before he could say anything about his mother.

"I'm going on holidays to Scotland and Germany, visiting relatives," Pansy said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"I'm staying home to rot in boredom," Theodore grumbled.

"Same here." Tracey piped in between bites of her licorice wand.

"It's how I've spent every other summer, so I guess I'm in the same boat." Daphne agreed.

Draco let out a dramatic sigh before he tried to top everyone with his tale of woe. "I have to stay home and spend time with my mother... she's apparently been worried sick all year about me. This means she's going to buy me more clothes or something..." Draco grumbled stared out the window absently

"Why can't I have your mother?" Daphne said under her breath as she opened her chocolate frog. Draco looked at her, eyes slightly narrowed with suspicion and anger, but he didn't say anything. "I mean, I wish someone would buy me lots of clothes," she added. This apparently cleared up whatever he was thinking she meant, and Draco turned his attention out the window.

"We're back in London." He stated, watching the houses and shops fly by the window. In understood silence, they all stood and grabbed their trunks. Once the train had stopped at Kings Cross, they all shoved their way out into the halls, stopping anyone else from leaving the train before them. Serves them right... to think that they foiled our house with something as stupid as the House Cup... Daphne thought as she sneered at Hannah Abbot and her little friends, all staring at the Slytherins in fear.

As soon as Daphne stepped off the train, she scanned the platform for the familiar face of her father. At first, she thought she saw him, but then realized that her father's hair was not long and white blonde; that was Draco's father, who was waiting patiently for his son to lug his trunk over to him. It was an odd mistake since the two men really looked nothing alike; Lucius looked like a regal king and her father like a sniveling servant. But, Lucius had a manner that would catch anyone's eyes. As the smoke from the train cleared, she could now see her own father, standing behind his employer.

"There you are, Daphne. How was the train ride home?" Lennox asked in his low, earth-shaking voice, taking the trunk from his daughter. She only shrugged in response; she was instead tuned in to what Draco was saying to Lucius.

"... It was a complete setup!" he whined, but his father seemed to not be paying attention.

"Draco, can we discuss this later? You're drawing attention to yourself, and subsequently me." Lucius hissed angrily.

Draco pursed his lips a little at being shut down so quick but recovered quickly when he noticed Daphne standing near. "Well, say goodbye to Miss Greengrass. I presume you two got along well?" Lucius told his son, nudging him in the back with his cane.

Draco said nothing at first; just continued to look at her with a firm expression. She knew that he was still touchy about the night she had thought he was scared. They had yet to bring it up again (or even have a proper conversation alone) since that night, and Daphne wasn't sure what she could say in response to Lucius's question since Draco wasn't making an effort to.

"Of course" Daphne smiled, still looking Draco in the eyes "Have a nice summer Draco." She said lightly, holding her hand out for him to shake. He looked at her oddly for a moment, like he was trying to assess the trap. Then, he smirked like he had overpowered her or something, he took her hand firmly and shook it.

"You too." He said simply before he dropped her hand and turned to his father "I'm hungry. Can we stop at a pub somewhere to get food?"

Lucius rolled his eyes and ignored him. "I'll see you tomorrow, Lennox."

"10 am, as usual!" Daphne's father replied enthusiastically, adding a small chuckle at the end.

"It was very pleasant meeting you..." Lucius trailed off as if trying to remember something.

"Daphne," she said pleasantly, ignoring the slight that the man who had employed her father for at least 16 years didn't remember her name. Lucius only nodded shortly, and then turned sharply, giving his son a small nudge in the direction he was to walk.

"Well Daphne, we'd better be off too. Your mother wants you home so she can give your clothes a proper cleaning before Grandma and Grandpa get here." Lennox said, placing his arm around his daughter's shoulder. It was not an affectionate gesture, and it made Daphne stiffen under his arm. He was simply making sure she would walk fast enough, and not slow him down.

Great... another summer spent listening to those old farts talk about how beautiful Astoria is, and how I ought to take better care of myself... Daphne thought, only letting a small groan escape her as she allowed herself to be ushered off the platform by her father.