A/N: Second chapter! Congratulations to me!

Draco Malfoy walked over and sat down across from me, breaking the awkward silence our group had come to. "Why's everyone so quiet?"

"Because you showed up," Ryan said teasingly. Draco pouted and took a bite out of his sandwich.

"I hate all of you," he muttered.

"No, you don't, because if you did, you would not be here right now." I pointed out happily. He thought about that for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." He finally said. I smirked triumphantly.

When my family left Britain, years ago, when I was a year old, the Malfoy's came with us. My mother had told me the story of Voldemort and all that, so I had a rough idea of what had happened.

Basically, my parents were forced to become Death Eaters. They didn't agree with Voldemort on his ideas of blood purity, and all the other crap he thought, so the moment they could, they fled Britain. They knew what it would be like if they stayed, so they went to America, where the war had not affected the hundreds of people living there.

They had found Paradise, and when they learned that there was a wizarding school for when we were older, they made their decision. We were staying. Dad found a job in the "Diagon Alley" of America, and he could easily Apparate there in the morning. Mom found a job once we were old enough to walk to school, and she's worked as a waitress ever since.

Draco lived close to us, walking distance, actually, so we could car pool if we wanted, but any time we tried that, he always got another ride, saying that "Hermione is too slow, and I don't want to be late every day." Sometimes I wondered if he was actually a Malfoy, because he seemed to be too rude to be related to Narcissa and Lucius. Then I would remember that he had the blonde hair, and that hope was crushed.

Now, Draco was one of my best friends, and I definitely like a brother to me, but even I got tired of him. I would never tell him that, though, because he would hate me for years afterwards (yeah, he's the kind to hold grudges, he's the king of them).

". . . Christmas break?" Rocky had sat down on my other side, and had started talking.

"I think we're staying here this year." Blaise said.

Sometimes, our families took a trip to Britain, just to check up on things. We hadn't gone the last couple of years, but sometimes Dad went on "business trips" for long periods of time. Business trips my butt. I knew that he was with Voldemort because he called for him. I'm not stupid. Dad works in a book store, for God's sake!

I finished my lunch, and threw the paper bag at Draco, which he easily caught. He raised an eyebrow, and I shrugged. "What? I didn't want to get up." He rolled his eyes and I laughed. Even if Voldemort walked through the cafeteria doors right now, I wouldn't be scared, because I had my friends. And a wand, but that's not the point.

/

At dinner that night, we ate steak, mashed potatoes and green beans. Dad was intently listening as Chris talked about. . . something. I'm not sure. Mom was. . . I don't know what she was doing, and Blaise and I were having a staring contest. I couldn't remember how we started this.

I blinked rapidly when Blaise sneezed, closing his eyes. "I win!" I said happily.

"That wasn't fair! I sneezed!" Blaise argued.

"It was totally fair!" I retorted.

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Mom!"

Mom looked up from her plate in surprise, not realizing that the conversation had stopped due to our argument. "Neither of you were right, now shut up and eat your dinner before it gets cold."

The great words of wisdom that I had heard so many times before. Thank you, great Mother of mine.

"Dad, what happened during the war? What killed the snake-man?" Ah, Blaise, only you would use that word to describe Voldemort.

"Why do you want to know?" Dad asked. Blaise shrugged.

"Just curious."

I knew it was a lie, he wanted to know more about the war because of the conversation we had had at lunch. Truthfully, I did too.

Mom and Dad looked at each other over the table. They seemed to have a conversation without ever opening their mouths.

They must have come to a decision, because seconds later, they looked away, and Mom said, "Maybe later. We have to talk a little before we do anything."

No, you're going to talk to the Malfoy's, and then come to your decision, I wanted to say, but I held myself back. It wouldn't be good if I got myself grounded on the first day of Christmas break.

I finally nodded. "Okay, but you've got to remember, we have sources. We can find all of this out if you decide to not to tell us what we want to know."

Mom nodded. "Sure, whatever."

I went back to my potatoes. Blaise started a conversation with Chris, and Mom and Dad sat silently.

A/N: WHOO! Almost three pages! Be proud. It took me forever to type this. Please review! I want to get 5 reviews before I update again, at least. It makes me happy to see those reviews in my inbox.