A/N: very special thank you to everyone who has Favourited, Followed, or Reviewed. they mean so much more than you will ever know.

Chapter 2

Oct 31st, 1994

The Goblet of fire was set up over night, with no classes being held this day. Many students had taken to spending as much time around the Goblet as they could in order to see who was putting their names in the Goblet.

It suited Draco perfectly. Less students wandering around the better "Where we are now is the hall the Slytherin common room is on and just further down that way is the potions class room" Theo said beside him as they walked side by side.

It greatly surprised Theo when Draco had asked him to give him a tour of the castle but had agreed none the less. He understood the desire to learn about somewhere new.

"Feels like there should be a dungeon down here" Draco commented.

"We Slytherin's find it cosy" Theo replied nonchalantly.

"I see why" Draco commented honestly as the two boys rounded the corner. The two had covered most of the castle by now and as they made their way to their next stop Draco could see Theo had been forming questions in his mind for awhile now.

"Something on your mind Nott?" Draco asked as he took notice of the animated artwork on the walls as they walked.

"I don't like when you do that" Theo remarked. Draco merely shrugged and waited "I'm curious as to why you asked me to show you around? I wouldn't consider us to be friends. We only spend a few days together in the summer when our parents get together" the Slytherin said honestly. There was no tone of anything negative in his voice. Only curiosity.

Draco mouth twitched momentarily into a smile. Theodore Nott was correct, they weren't friends and they both knew that but the way he just says things in a straight forward way without worrying how it comes across is something Draco admires and finds amusing.

"True. Then who do you think I should of asked for a tour?" Draco replied.

"Pansy has made it no secret that you and her are familiar with each other" they had just come up some stairs and come to a door further down the corridor. Theo quickly told him it was the library. Draco made sure to remember that room more than any other.

"That's exactly why I didn't ask her. She can be a little full on"

Theo nodded "You should see her with Blaise"

"Pansy and Zabini? That's an interesting couple" Draco commented. He knew those two the same way he knew Theo. His parents seemed determined to try and make him have friends with the families they deemed worthy. Draco didn't dislike any of them. He just hadn't had a lot of time to spend with them and he was someone who needed time to trust someone.

"No-one knows if they are actually a couple or not but they spend a lot of time together"

Draco raised an eyebrow at his companion. If there was one thing he knew about Theodore Nott, it was that he liked to be a loner and stayed away from gossip. Theo saw his reaction and shrugged "You hear all sorts of things when people don't notice you"

Draco nodded and then noticed ahead of them, some Beauxbatons exit the room where the Goblet was. They came to a stop in front of the door, it was the end of their tour but Theo asked "Do you need anything else?"

"If I need anything, I know where to find you" Draco said holding out his hand which Theo shook and then the Slytherin boy wondered back the way they just came from. Draco decided to peak inside the Goblet room, leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed.

A few students in the room glanced his way but paid him no mind when he didn't make a move to put his name in the Goblet. Not that he could even if he wanted too. He was surprised by how many female students were waiting around but he had a pretty good idea why that might be.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of brown bushy hair and when he looked fully he saw that it was her. The person he had locked eyes with. He was suddenly caught in two minds. One was to stay where he was and the other was to go over and introduce himself. The later option surprised him.

Luckily or unluckily for him, he was brought out of his tug of war in his head when two tall gingers pushed past him and entered the room cheering. The room clapped and cheered when they saw the two boys doing a lap around the Goblet.

"Thank you ladies and gents" one of them said when they stopped their lap.

"As you can see we're done" the other one called out. Each of them then raised a vial as if it was a toast.

"It's not going to work" a female voice called out in an almost sing-song way. Draco realised it had come from her. First he gets absorbed by her eyes, then some part of him wants to introduce himself to her and now he felt a light feeling in his chest at the sound of her voice. What's going on?

The two boys, who were clearly twins, were quickly either side of her "Oh? And why is that Granger?" one of them asked.

She pointed at the line around the Goblet "see that line? That's an age line that Dumbledore drew himself"

The twins didn't look impressed "So?"

"So a genius like Dumbledore wouldn't make anything that could be fooled by something pathetically dim-witted as an age potion" a certain sense of smugness in her voice.

"Not a dim-witted one maybe but combined a few ingredients into a standard potion. I'm sure that would do the job" the words came out of Draco's mouth before he could stop them. All eyes in the room and Granger's eyes widened slightly when she saw who is was that had spoken.

Silence followed his statement. No one seemed to know what to say to the Durmstrang student. Granger and Draco however were staring at one another, nearly getting lost in each others eyes again before her brain seemed to kick in and said the first thing it thought "You're not suggesting our headmaster can be out done by a simple modified potion?" it surprised her that her tone was challenging.

He couldn't help the cocky smile that he knew had just appeared on his face "I wouldn't call it 'simple' but yes that's exactly what I'm saying. Especially if you know what you're doing"

Something flashed through her eyes that he thought was curiosity, she opened her mouth to say something but one of the twins cut her off by saying "we know what we are doing here Malfoy" his name being said in an intimidating way. He wasn't intimidated in the slightest and simply waved his hand for them to proceed.

"Ready George?"

"Ready Fred" the twins downed the vials and jumped over the line. Nothing happened, earning a cheer from the twins and some of the on lookers. One of the twins even sent a smug look at Draco for a second before both of them put their names in the Goblet.

The Goblet fired up differently than it had done for the others and suddenly the twins were flung out of the circle. Landing in a heap across the room. Draco smirked only grew when the twins sat up and revealed their aged faces, complete with white hair and long white beards that would match Dumbledore's. The two instantly started to roll around the floor in a fight. Each blaming the other, most of the crowd had gathered around them cheering for a 'fight'.

Draco watched the twins embarrass themselves, he couldn't imagine acting in such a way "So much for their confidence. A pretty pathetic attempt"

Granger looked at him sharply "and I suppose you think you could of done better?" her voice as razor sharp as her look.

Amusement crossed Draco's face "first off, I don't think I could of done better. I know I would of and didn't you also call it a pathetic attempt before they even downed the vials?"

"I'm allowed too, they are basically family to me" she didn't understand why but his amused/smug face along with his confidence really irritated her. So much for their moment meaning anything. He was just a git.

He leaned a little closer as if inspecting something "I guess that solves the mystery of your frizzy hair, that hot head of yours would curl anything"

"Why you…" Granger stood up and looked ready to wage war but in an instant her hard glare was gone and melted into a plain look as he eyes drifted past him. Draco then noticed that all the commotion around them had stopped. It was silent.

He looked to the Goblet to see his school mate Victor Krum had entered the room and was about to put his name in. If he cared that all eyes were on him, he didn't show it. He didn't look as though he had a care in the world. Doing what he came to do, he turned and walked out of the room but not before giving a smile at Granger, who shyly returned it.

The moment Krum turned the corner out of the room fully, everyone started whispering and talking. Some females students even left the room to follow Krum and his friends.

Draco looked at Granger to see her looking down at her feet with an unmistakable blush on her face "A bit of a Krum fan girl are you? Only down here to get a glimpse of him?" he teased.

Almost like a switch. Granger looked at him with her glare and annoyance back on her face "Don't be ridiculous. It's common courtesy to smile back at someone who smiles first but it's clear you wouldn't know anything about manners"

"Oh really? Think you know about me do you? From all those rumours going around?" Draco asked. He heard a few people mumbling and whispering about him when his school had made their entrance in the great hall.

"I don't listen to gossip" she said staring at him. She didn't know how someone with stunning eyes could be so arrogant and annoying "But based on this, you don't do much to distance yourself from them"

He surprising smiled at that "Good. What else from a Malfoy right?" he spun on his heels at that and left. His suspicions confirmed.

/

"So he was an arse then?" Ginny asked. Her and Hermione were at the Gryffindor table, a little aways from the others so they could have a private conversation. Hermione had told Ginny about her encounter with Malfoy earlier.

"More than an arse, he was rude, condescending, stuck up, and just a complete brat" she huffed and even glared at Malfoy momentarily at the Slytherin table. He was totally oblivious too it.

Hermione heard her friend giggle beside her and turned her glare onto the ginger next to her "What?"

Ginny held up her hands in a mock surrender but kept a smile on her face "I've never seen you this annoyed before, It's nearly impressive"

Hermione looked confused "What do you mean? Those two wind me up all the time" she said pointing over her shoulder at her two best friends. Who were both staring at some Beauxbatons girls and were not doing it as secretly as they thought they were.

Ginny also noticed that and eye rolled "They do but that is annoyance of a different nature. I don't know, this just feels different some how" she then shrugged "but I guess Ron was right about him, not much different from his father"

Hermione remembered the last thing he said to her before he left the room earlier. It was only for a second but she swore she saw a mixture of sadness and defeat in his eyes. He is a brat, a git, and a snob but she can't deny that he was also a mystery.

"He does have his fathers rudeness" Hermione offered as she unintentionally looked at Malfoy again. Ginny noticed and was about to say something but everyone's attention was brought to the front of the hall as Dumbledore started proceedings to pick the Tri-Wizard champions.