Chapter 2: Egg Hunt

The day had finally come when Draco was well enough to be released from the infirmary, and he hated it for what it was worth. In the infirmary, he was safe from his classmates, the taunts and the fear. But now he would have to endure it all over again.

The thought made him have an urge to do away with his life again but it was soon silenced by another thought. 'This is your punishment, Draco,' he told himself. 'For being a coward and for hurting innocent people. You must endure it, because that's the only way you can repent for what you did to them.'

He was so occupied with his thoughts that he could barely process the advice Madam Pomfrey was giving him regarding his health.

"Mr. Malfoy, is there something wrong?" she asked curtly.

"What? Oh...well..." Draco was startled for a moment and looked at the ground nervously.

"My Potion's class doesn't start until two hours from now," he answered. "And I don't know where to go or what to do till then." The dorm would most likely be filled with familiar faces, and he couldn't walk on the grounds freely without coming across a hostile student or two either. He definitely refused to go to the library after the last incident as well. He wasn't safe anywhere...

"If I remember correctly," Madam Pomfrey said as she rearranged some empty glass vials beside his bed, "the Care of Magical Creatures class will start half an hour from now."

"Isn't that class supposed to be in the afternoon?"

"The time was shifted to the morning, as of this year. Professor McGonagall thought it fit to consider it as an extracurricular class this year, because it's not a difficult subject and Hagrid puts the students at ease. The class is in the morning so that anyone can attend it."

"But the students-" Draco began.

He was interrupted by Madam Pomfrey abruptly.

"The students," she said, "are mostly third years who are new to the subject and haven't gotten bored of it yet, or recovering students who need some fresh air, such as you. I always ask my patients to attend the class when they leave but most of them prefer staying in their dorms, so you shouldn't run into anyone unpleasant."

Draco mulled over the idea in his head for a while. It seemed like the best option he had at the moment. He was, however, nervous about seeing Hagrid again, having tried to do him and his career so much harm in the past.

"I'll go," he finally said.

He hurried off to his dorm and evaded the fearful glances thrown at him by his fellow Slytherins, put on a new set of robes and left. He got to the class stationed in front of Hagrid's cabin just in time to see Hagrid giving his students a speech.

"So if you'll turn to page 97 right 'ere, you'll see-" he stopped short as he saw Draco take a place behind the crowd, standing silently. He looked surprised, and perhaps a little fearful, which put Draco in great disdain.

"You'll see what a Hippogriff egg looks like," he continued slowly. Draco looked around at the students flipping the pages and examining the book, and he realised he didn't have one with him. A great sense of unease filled him.

"Fer those of you who don't have a book, look right over 'ere," Hagrid said kindly in his direction, raising the book so that he could see the picture. He flushed at the unexpected show of kindness from a person who he was so horrible to in the past, and he tried not to show any expression as he examined the picture of a large, grey, oval shaped egg.

Hagrid lowered the book. "This time of the year, the Hippogriffs lay eggs. They only lay one at a time, mind you, an' are extremely delicate. Break easily if you so much as even touch 'em the wrong way. They lay the eggs in nests on the ground, an' most of 'em don't make it cause the centaurs, thestrals an' the like don't watch where they're goin'. Today, yer task is to hunt those eggs."

Murmurs and soft whispers exploded in the crowd. The students were nervous; they were all aware of how dangerous the Dark Forest is.

Hagrid cleared his throat and the students went quiet. "Don't be scared," he said. "The forest is mostly dangerous at night, so you won't meet anythin' life threatenin'. The eggs aren't in the deep parts of the forest either, so you don't even need to go that far. Just send up some blue sparks when you find an egg, an' I'll come and get it. When the class is over, I'll send up red sparks an' you all will come back to this spot. If yer lost, send up green sparks an' I'll find you."

"There aren't many eggs and goin' alone isn't a good idea, so everybody split into groups of two."

The students shuffled about and within seconds Draco found himself without a partner. Luckily nobody taunted him. The class was full of younger students and the older ones looked like they had no energy to say anything to him; they just wanted a distraction to recover. However, they all averted their gaze away from him as he scanned the group for a potential partner. The sudden silence and awkwardness made his situation feel hopeless.

Just when he began to think of abandoning the class with a weak excuse, he felt a shoulder bump into his side gently. He turned his head to see a girl with raven hair, probably a year younger than him, looking straight ahead with an absolutely determined expression on her face. Everyone, including Draco and Hagrid, looked at her in surprise.

"Well, Professor, what are you waiting for?" she said earnestly. "Let's go!"

Hagrid blinked away his surprise and cleared his throat again to call the attention of the dumbfounded students. "Y-yes, off you all go now! Quickly!"

They all walked towards the forest leisurely and each team went their separate ways after reaching the outskirts, their silhouettes gradually getting more and more obscured by the branches of the trees until they were out of sight.

The silence between Draco and his peculiar partner grew as the trees drowned out the sound of humans life. The only audible sounds that could be heard were the chirping of birds and the soft trickle of a nearby stream.

"Isn't your name Draco? Draco Malfoy?" she finally asked after what felt like hours of awkwardness. He stepped over a tree root as they scanned the ground carefully.

"Yes."

Silence fell again and this time it only grew more uncomfortable. He wondered how on earth she could talk to him so nonchalantly without being harsh or scared despite knowing who he is.

"Not much of a talker, are you?" she said.

"I don't talk to people I barely know," he retorted. He regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth and mentally slapped himself.

"Stingy," she murmured under her breath. He stayed silent, not knowing what to say in response. Should he apologise? He had to think of how to say the words first-

"Yeah, I'm a stranger so I guess that's normal. Don't worry about it..." She suddenly stopped in front of him and turned, facing him. He lowered his gaze and saw her outstretched arm.

"I'm Cathryn Ford. It's nice to meet you, Draco."

He felt bewildered at her sudden display of friendship and looked at the small hand apprehensively. He had his doubts about what kind of a person she was, but despite his hesitancy, he slowly took it. They shook hands silently. Her hand was warm, compared to his cold one, and the warmth gave him a form of reassurance. They let go and walked side by side with their focus on the forest floor littered with leaves, searching for the egg intently.

"So...what did you do to your arm?" she asked casually.

Her question caught him completely off guard and he turned to look at her sharply. She hadn't lifted her eyes off the ground, and did not seem bothered by his stern expression. He gathered that she had probably snuck a peek at his bandages when they were shaking hands.

"It was an accident."

She snuck a stealthy glance at him. "Everybody knows what you're going through, but nobody bothers to help," she said dejectedly.

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Cathryn," he replied, feeling a twinge of anger rise in him. As if he didn't know that already.

She grimaced. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that so directly...why don't you ask the professors for help? You know they can't help you if you deny that nothing's wrong and lie about being fine."

"I was always a tattler, and people hate me for how much trouble I caused using that. I don't want to go back to being one again," he answered curtly without thinking. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He didn't want anybody to know something like that, especially not a stranger, yet it slipped out. Was it because he needed to get his thoughts out? Because he could no longer endure the suffocation anymore now that somebody finally willingly asked him something personal? Had he been waiting for somebody to notice after all this time, despite his views on bearing the pain as punishment? Yes. Yes, he had been waiting. He wanted a friend, someone to talk to, more than anything.

"At times like this, don't you want a friend to talk to? Someone who would understand and help? Someone to show you kindness so that you know you deserve a place in this world?" she asked quietly, looking directly at him. Her accuracy stunned Draco.

"How did you..."

"I went through it too," she answered. She bit her lip in silent contemplation before speaking again.

"When I was a child, I couldn't control my magic. I was always bullied or feared by the other normal Muggle children, even my teachers. Nobody wanted to be my friend or have anything to do with me because I was different. But I couldn't help it, you know? I couldn't just make it stop...but then I got accepted into Hogwarts. The people were kind and I finally felt like I belonged somewhere," she said happily.

"I'll help you change how the people see you and bring you back to the Hogwarts you love."

He was amazed at how confidently she could say something like that. He was equally surprised at how she could understand the things he never said to anyone. Yes, in the beginning he didn't like Hogwarts. But over the years, he had gradually come to like it. His feelings couldn't develop into love, however, because he had fallen in deep with the wrong people at the wrong time. There was a throbbing pain in his chest; perhaps because this was his first time empathising with someone genuinely without any ulterior motive or falseness. Finally there was someone who knew how it felt to be cast away.

He nodded silently, unable to say any words of gratitude, and continued walking on. He had a faint smile on his lips and Cathryn noticed.

"What are you smiling at?" she asked curiously.

"Well..." he began slowly. "It's funny how before I would have stopped talking to you as soon as I knew you were a Muggle, but now I couldn't be happier."

She stumbled over a tree root, caught unawares at his sudden honesty. He seemed embarrassed at himself as he refused to look at her after saying something like that. 'She's an alright person,' Draco said to himself. 'And maybe a good friend.'

"I don't understand one other thing," she went on. Was it him or was she full of questions? "Why don't you stand up for yourself? You obviously changed a lot, and you aren't as bad as people told me you are."

"It's because I deserve it," he said simply. "I harmed so many good people...tortured them, even came close to killing them. This is punishment for my sins against those people."

She let out an exasperated sigh. 'Everything she does just gets stranger and stranger,' he thought, watching her calculatingly.

"Well you couldn't help it!", she said angrily, her first real display of emotion after they were alone. "Just like I couldn't help it either...your safety and your family's safety was at risk so of course you had to obey! I'd do the same if I were in your place. In fact, any normal person who wants to survive would!"

Draco remained silent.

She boldly made her way up to him with long, confident strides and a scowl on her face. Was she going to hit him? He braced himself for whatever would come, determined not to defy or resist.

But instead of the expected stinging pain, he only felt her palm rest against the top of his head, pressing down on it. In a fraction of a second, she ruffled his hair as roughly as she could, seeming to take out her frustration on him in the most peculiar manner. By the time she was done, his hair was sticking up on end. He saw her walk off with her fists swinging by her side angrily, and he touched his hair with his hand, wondering what on earth had just happened. He just couldn't make sense of such a peculiar person, but whatever she did felt warm. It felt kind and comforting, and at that moment, he was glad to have her as...did he dare say it? A friend.

She suddenly stopped a few feet in front of him and crouched on the ground.

"I found it!" she exclaimed loudly. He hurried to her side and sure enough, saw a grey egg lying on a large nest secured safely between two tree roots in the soil. A surge of happiness went through him. Today was probably one of the happiest days in his life, despite the fact that nothing extraordinary had happened.

"You did it..." he murmured, amazed.

"We did it, you mean," she said happily in response, grinning as she looked up at him. He smiled at her, at her way of making other people happy and at her determination to be friends with him. They both shot up sparks into the sky as high as they could with their wands, feeling as elated as the blue flecks that danced and rose into the air.

Within ten minutes, Hagrid found them. He picked up the egg tenderly and wrapped it in a piece of cloth.

"Blimey! You two are the first ones to find 'em!" he exclaimed joyously, his eyes twinkling.

'Nothing extraordinary? Of course, something extraordinary had happened today! I finally got a friend!' Draco told himself, almost unable to stand still in excitement. He couldn't stop grinning once he had started. For the first time, he felt like the happiest man in the world.