The Slytherin prince

Chapter 38: Train back home

"Don't run me over again please. You know what, you go first." Draco said behind me, both standing before the wall between platform 9 and 10. I looked at him with panic written on my face. It still freaked my out. "Or not." He said impatiently and ran through the wall with no hesitation. Narcissa followed him right after, leaving me alone with Lucius. I smiled at him uncomfortable.

"Last year, I didn't realize who you were, until I met your parents on the other side of the wall." He said casually.

"Why couldn't they get through?" I remembered it if it was yesterday.

"Oh they could, they just chose not to. You know Victoria..."He stepped a couple of steps towards me. This man was so intimidating. "If it was up to them, you would be having a normal life without magic." He almost whispered.

"I don't understand why? If they support the dark side why not involve me?" I said back, taking a small step back to bring a little more space between us. He gave me a quick and small laugh.

"Your train is about to leave in 2 minutes." His tone was cold. My anxiety shot up and without thinking I ran through the wall. To my surprise a lot of students were still standing on the platform. As quickly as I could I said my goodbyes to the Malfoys and got into a random compartment. I would have to search the whole train to find Anna. As the train started moving, I went from door to door to check were she was hiding. I got more and more frustrated every time she was not there. Only a few left. I was getting worried that she had maybe missed the train. I hadn't seen Draco either. Maybe they were together. With my hopes up high I peeked through the door of the compartment. My heart made a little jump when I saw him. He hadn't waited for me on the platform. Well, I was taking my time, so guess I couldn't blame him. In a severe second I was doubting on just walking past it. There was only one compartment left. The chances of she being in that particular one, were small. With confidence I opened the door and took a seat at the far end.

"Hi." I said casually. In the compartment were two other students. All from Slytherin, of course. Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson. I had never met the two. When Draco didn't even lift his gaze towards me, I pretended to look for something in my bag.

"What? No other friends?" Draco shot me with a murderous look.

"Can't find Anna." The shift in his tone surprised me. Only a few minutes ago he was still teasing me. His body was completely turned away from me and he tried to make as little eye contact as possible.

"She is in the compartment behind us." He didn't even look at me.

"Aah, come on Draco. No need to be so rude." Blaise broke the uncomfortable silence hanging in the compartment. "I am Blaise, nice to meet you." He reached for my hand to shake it.

"At least someone here has manners." I stood up, about to walk away. I was clearly not wanted. "Nice to meet you, Blaise. I am Victoria." I smiled at him. I saw Draco turning his head for the slightest bit to look at me with murder written all over his face. Maybe I would stay a little longer. Instead of leaving the compartment, I took a seat right next to his friend Blaise.

"Nice to finally meet you. Draco has been nagging about you for ages. Can't see what is so obnoxious about you." He eyed me from head to toe and smiled. He was teasing me and him. I liked this guy.

"You clearly don't know her." Draco spat at his friend, exchanging warning looks.

"Yet." Blaise made a face. Draco's jaws were clenched. All of the sudden, a black thick fog filled inside the whole compartment. For a good second you couldn't see shit.

"What the hell?" Draco shouted annoyed.

"Relax, it is probably just a prank." Pansy pulled Draco back in his seat. He seemed on edge. The fog was already thinning and we could see each other again. It was quiet for a couple of minutes till Draco spoke again.

"Hogwarts, what a pathetic excuse of a school." He looked so unpleasant.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Pansy shot back worried, her eyes hanging over Draco. I couldn't stand her.

"Let's just say, I am not going to waste my time in charms class next year." Draco answered coldly while looking outside the big window. The scenery was amazing. Blaise snorted loudly at that. "Funny, Blaise? Let's just see who is laughing in the end." Blaise didn't say another word. This was my sign to head out.

"Will see you around Blaise, Pansy... Draco." This time I left for real. Why was he being such a dick all of the sudden? Was he ashamed to be seen with me? I opened the compartment after that without looking who was sitting there. "Omg, am so sorry." I covered my eyes instantly. I interrupted a heavy make out scene between two people. I left without looking again, when someone reached for my shoulder.

"Here you are, don't say you walked in on that?" Anna was standing right in front of me. I gave her an awkward smile. "Now you know how that feels." She laughed at me and bumped my shoulder. "Anything interesting happened after I left?" She took a seat in the only empty compartment left.

"Nowp, nothing." There was a short silence. "Actually, I sat with him first on the train and he acted like a complete dick." It was on my mind.

"Draco is a bipolar little bitch. I don't know what is happening inside his head." She shrugged. That made me laugh. It seemed like Hogwarts was just around the corner. The hours flew by. "Why isn't he coming?" Anna pointed at the already empty compartment, except for Draco.

"Probably some sketchy business, I don't know and don't care." I stepped off the train and entered the grounds of Hogwarts. It was so good to see everybody back, I even missed the Weasleys. We both took our familiar seats and watched how a bunch of first years got sorted. I still remember how it felt to be in that position. Desert was already served when Draco came rushing in the big hall. Not much later Harry came in too, face covered in blood. I saw the Gryffindor table flinch at the sight of him. "Have they been fighting?" I whispered to Anna.

"Very likely." She whispered back. "Sketchy business indeed." She laughed.

"I can't understand why they hate each otherso much, really." I watched the scene from a safe distance. Draco seatedhimself, but didn't eat anything. I lowered my gaze the moment our eyes met.

The first few weeks back in Hogwarts were harder than I had expected. Waking up at 7am, going to bed at a decent hour, focussing for 8 hours straight. I could only wish for a day in bed now. Besides having a busy schedule and not having much room left inside my head to think, the littlest gaps inside my brain were filled with Draco. It was week 3 by now and he had been ignoring me since we were on the train. He didn't just ignore me, but was also very rude and arrogant when we had an encounter. I felt so stupid, believing his lies he told at the ball. Even now, when we are ignoring the hell out of each other, my mind couldn't stop wondering over him. It made me sick. What made me even sicker was the fact that he wasn't showing up at lunch anymore. The rare times I did saw him, he looked tired and unhealthy. I couldn't place it. Maybe I was getting to obsessed over this. I decided to let it slip and focussing more on the people around me, who actually deserved my time.