Chapter 3 – Cruoris Gyrfalcon

Disclaimer: I have my secret ninja spies working on it but unfortunately I still do not own Harry Potter and his world. J.K. Rowling has some extensive defences in place and as such still owns HP.

A/N Hey guys, long time no see and I am so sorry for that! I meant to update after my exams, but then it was Christmas and I thought I would do one for the holiday but didn't. Then I thought I would update for the New Year but then there was the start of school. By now I'm feeling really bad about not updating and start to write this chapter.

Then the earthquake happened. That was interesting. Amazingly I actually managed to write quite a bit of this chapter while volunteering at a welfare centre. I was placed on 'guarding the washing machines' – literally. No one really wanted to steal them however so that was a boring job until I thought to write.

Anyway, now that you have heard my miserable excuse I hope you enjoy the next chapter and find it somewhere in your heart to review.

Oh and thank you so much to my beta Amy aka Luke and here he is Amy, just for you.

I am reposting this chapter as I never got an alert to tell me it was up and I should have, therefore just in case here it is again.

Draco quickly hurried onto the train and made his way to the compartment. Along the way he sneered at anyone unfortunate enough to get in his way, sending those smaller than him scurrying. When he reached the compartment he quickly slipped inside and flopped down on the seat left open. Draco had sat in this seat since first year when he had claimed it and since then no one had contested him for it. It was the window seat facing backwards. From his seat Draco could either join in the conversation or sit looking out the window as the ground rushed past him. This year Amy was sitting next to him with Blaise on her other side. That seat was generally left open because they had no one to fill it and it was a good space for owls to wait when they came with a letter.

Nodding to his friends Draco relaxed into his seat before being yanked up again by Pansy.

"Don't get comfy Drakkie" Pansy giggled dragging him towards the compartment door, "we have to go meet the other prefects and the heads. Let's go see how much torture we will have to put up with in the name of duty."

Draco stopped dead at her words hearing the double meaning she had unknowingly mentioned. Unaware of the effect her words had on him Pansy giggled and carried on down the corridor. With a sigh Draco followed her to the Prefect cabin.

When they arrived Pansy twirled on her way to the seat and Draco ducked his head in embarrassment at her actions as he made his way over to join her. A pureblood girl was not supposed to act like that. Especially not one who was a prefect and supposed to show the other Slytherins how to act.

The two of them were early so only the two heads – a Ravenclaw called Burns or something and a Gryffindor that Draco didn't know – and the newest Hufflepuff prefects were there. MacMillan was ok. A pureblood which was good but a bit daft – that was only to be expected from a Hufflepuff though really. Draco was pretty sure the Abbott girl was a halfblood though. She was a disappointment actually. Her mother was from a long line of purebloods, so that she should end up with a Muggleborn was really quite sad. Pure lines should be kept pure.

Draco let his mind wander on what he would say and do to mudbloods and muggles if he could but that soon led to thinking of the Dark Lord Voldemort and his regime. Then that led onto his mission…get close to Harry and the so called 'Order of the Phoenix' light gang, through those around him – preferably his two sidekicks. It was actually quite a hard choice. A know-it-all Mudblood or an annoying up himself redhead bloodtraitor.

As if his thoughts had summoned them the two Gryffindorks in question walked into the compartment. Trust his luck that the two worst Gryffindors had been made prefect. Even Pothead would have been better than Weasley. Then again this might work to his advantage. If he could manage it so that he happened to be on patrol with one of them it would make it much easier to 'get to know' them. But which one?

Feigning indifference with the whole meeting Draco studied the two prefects from beneath his eyelids. Mudblood Granger was animatedly firing information off at the weasel who was sitting next to her with his usual idiotic expression decorating his face. That was what decided it for Draco. The Mudblood may be disgusting and annoying but at least she wasn't a complete idiot like the weasel and he had a feeling that she would be easier to talk to and less prejudiced. Not to mention that she's a woman and no woman could resist his Malfoy charms. At least he hoped she wouldn't be too hard to work with – they didn't have the best past.

Nursing the cheek she had once slapped Draco relaxed into his seat congratulating himself on a decision well made and waited for the meeting to start. His movement must have caught Granger's eye however as she looked up and saw him. At once her face filled with disgust and she bent down to whisper with Weasley again. This time both of their faces came up to glare at him and in response he smirked and raised one eyebrow in challenge. You gonna do something about this? They stared mutinously at him for a couple more seconds before dropping their eyes.

At that moment the two heads stood up to start the meeting. Draco knew he should probably listen but neither of them were purebloods so therefore not really worth his time. Anyway, he had to figure out how to make it so that he was paired with Granger. Just before they brought the hat out to draw out names Draco had it.

At first he had thought that a charm like waddiwassi to make a name fly into their hands might work but he soon dismissed that idea as it would be too obviously a spell. He also thought of charming the two names so that they stuck together but then if someone picked them both out when they only wanted one they might try rip them apart and that wouldn't be good. Draco's final idea was actually quite a good one. He would perform a small sticking charm between both names and the bottom of the bag. That way they would be the last people picked and he could release the spell when they were the only ones left. Yes, Draco decided. This was a good plan; the Dark Lord had to give him cookies for this.

His plan settled Draco settled down to watch the show. The heads were just finishing up explaining about how they would do patrols and duties as a pair. Of course, they explained, they were all for inter-house unity so the pairs would be random and may or may not have people from the same house. As they brought forward the hat with the names in it quickly cast the charm and prepared to look disgusted.

He consoled Pansy when she was placed with MacMillan and reassured her that the world wasn't going to end – he was a pureblood it couldn't be too bad. He laughed at the look on a Ravenclaw sixth year's face when she was paired with the weasel. It seems that the Slytherins weren't the only ones who disliked him. Then, finally, he was able to release the charms and look disgusted as his name was called out with Granger's.

At once both Weasley and Pansy stood up to loudly protest. Both of their protests went along the lines of "No! You can't do that! He/she will kill him/her!" Draco had to struggle not to laugh at the looks on their faces when they realised what they had both said. Granger seemed to be in a state of shock and Draco decided that he should probably act right about now.

"Can't it be changed?" he asked the heads.

"No sorry. It's final now. We can't change the pairs - its Dumbledore's ruling."

"Stupid old fool" muttered Draco though his heart wasn't really in it

"Hey don't dis Dumbledore!" Yelled Weasley "Dumbledore is the smartest, most awesomest, practical, beautiful wizard in the world" Dead silence met his words as everyone stared at the weasel, surprised at the vehemence in his voice. Totally oblivious Weasley turned to Granger, muttered something to Granger about 'getting her out of this' and taking her arm span around and strode out of the room.

Draco sighed at his foolishness then settled down to wait for Pansy who was setting out her rules for MacMillan so that he wouldn't 'make a fool of the both of them'. Draco had to laugh at the irony of this coming from the person who twirled while walking.

LMLMLM

After Draco left the compartment an awkward silence fell over the compartment as the others all took a good look at Amy who squirmed a little inside but didn't let it show. After awhile she turned to Blaise,

"So Blaise?" she started "I've heard heaps about the house you guys are all in, Slytherin, right? But what about the other houses? How many are there?" At this the all of the students lent forward to put in their two cents.

"Four houses overall"

"Of course you know Slytherin – the best house of them all"

"Slytherins are known for their cunning, cleverness, the fact that we are all pureblood and of course the fact that we are – Totally Awesome" At this all of the Slytherins held their hands up in some sort of gesture and shook them. Amy copied the gesture and couldn't help asking,

"What does this gesture mean?"

"It's our totally awesome sign" replied Blaise "Its deeper meaning has been lost over the years but that much will be immortal. Oh and Daphne? You were wrong about the pureblood thing, most of us are purebloods but the odd halfblood who is particularly Slytherin will get in – look at Professor Snape for example. You remember what I said about him Amy? Our head of house and the potions teacher"

"True there are a few exceptions but still…"

"Anyway, then there is Ravenclaw…"

"Next best house to us I would say…"

"True that. They are the smart house and know it too…learning is all they ever think about."

"Then Hufflepuff."

"Yes, then the stupid Gryffindors"

"Those idiots are so annoying!"

"I know right!" Blaise turned to Amy to explain, "Gryffindor is our rival house, they are known for bravery and chivalry" At that everyone laughed before Blaise continued "What that means is they rush headlong into stupid situations and get away with it. They are Dumbledore's pet house – he loves them."

"Sounds annoying" said Amy as everyone turned to her for her reaction. However she had a feeling it was really only years of hatred between the two houses that made the Gryffindors sound horrible right? No one could be that idiotic. "But what the hell is a Hufflepuff? You didn't give me any traits about them…"

Silence greeted Amy's words as everyone tried to think of a defining characteristic for Hufflepuff before Pansy finally spoke up,

"Well I have heard that they are particularly good finders…"

"And they are loyal too"

Just then the compartment door opened and everyone looked up. Daphne turned to Amy,

"That's a Hufflepuff. Dunno why he is in here though… most of them know to stay away." While she was speaking Crabbe and Goyle stood up ready to eject the new student. However Blaise waved them down and raised one eyebrow at the boy

"What…" That was as far as he got however before the boy interrupted, looking angrily at Blaise and Amy,

"Where the hell did you go? That stupid house elf got me stuck in what looked like a wall and I only just got out in time! By the time I did you guys had moved onto the train and I had to go find my own compartment." Here he looked at Amy and his eyes narrowed "We are supposed to be siblings, why would you abandon me like that? I was lucky to find you guys so soon."

"Told you he was a Hufflepuff" muttered Daphne. Now Amy felt quite bad, she hadn't even thought about Clark since that morning at Blaise's house and they were supposed to help each other out.

"I'm sorry Clark!" turning to the others, "Guys, this is my twin Clark. Do you mind if he joins us?" They all gave their assent though Amy was pretty sure she heard Blaise mutter "for now". She would have to find out what they didn't like about each other soon before it got too bad. Thinking about it Amy was pretty sure Blaise had made sure that Clark got a specific house elf and he had pulled her pretty quickly away from the wall.

Amy was brought out of her thoughts when Clark sat down next to her smiling gratefully. He seemed completely oblivious to everyone's shocked stares. It seemed that no one other than Draco had sat in that seat for awhile.

Just before anything could happen there was a tap on the window and it was quickly opened to admit the bird that flew in, circled the room as if looking for someone before, not finding what it was looking for, settled onto the rail above the door and watching everyone with a beady eye.

Amy had never seen a bird like it before – it definitely wasn't an owl. It was about 60cm long with a huge wingspan of about 160cm and looked like it wouldn't care if it hit them with its wings. Both its talons and its beak were a deep blood red that Amy had never seen on a bird. His plumage was black with the same dark red staining about four centimetres of the tips of its wings and its tail feathers. Overall it was a very impressive bird.

"I can't believe it" whispered Blaise awed, "why is it here?" He looked over at Amy as if wondering if it was for her but then quickly dismissed the idea as it hadn't even slowed down over her.

"What is it?" Whispered Amy, Even though she didn't know the significance of it she knew it must be something big to quiet the confident Slytherins.

"A Cruoris Gyrfalcon" replied Blaise reverently "A rare magical bird that is related to the muggle Gyrfalcon. You see the red on its wings? That represents the number of things it has killed. More blood for the harder the kill that they make." Here he paused. "There is only one known Cruoris in England and it is the only recorded tame one in the world. It's The Dark Lord's."

At that silence fell over the compartment as they all watched the bird anxiously waiting for its next move. Soon Clark broke the silence by turning to Blaise.

"You called him Dark Lord. Does that mean you follow him cause I thought that you might actually be a decent person under the obnoxious shell you have but maybe I was wrong."

Amy gasped. That just wasn't on, not only to accuse Blaise of consorting with the Dark Lord but then to insult him before he even had a chance to reply. Amy didn't have much against the Lord. In fact she agreed with many of his philosophies like keeping muggles well separated from wizards and changing some of the laws around purebloods but she just wished that he wouldn't make his point with killing. However she would never say any of her doubts about him to people whose families they knew followed Lord Voldemort. Clark was a bit dim sometimes and she really regretted that.

Before Blaise or the others could do anything however Draco opened the compartment door. Frowning when he saw someone sitting in his seat Draco stepped forward to say something just as the Cruoris stiffened then dropped down to land delicately on Draco's shoulder.

A/N Tada! What do you think? Let me know in… a review! Sorry this chapter is short but the next one has already been started so it will not be quite as long a break next time.

Also thank you to my reviewers: Amy aka Luke and Silvermoony77 – you guys are the best!