Chosen || Draco Malfoy

16 - Fifth Year With A Kick

The first day of my fifth year was exhausting right from the start all the way to the very finish.

I woke up to the sound of Molly Weasley giving Sirius' mother's portrait a run for her gold.

Turned out, Fred had tiptoed around the house in the middle of the night and turned off all our alarms, making us late for Kings Cross.

"It was just a joke," he shrugged when Molly whacked him over the head with a large frying pan.

"JUST A JOKE?!" She hollered, going red in the face. "YOU TRY TELLING THAT TO PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE WHEN I HAVE TO SEND YOU ALL  INTO HIS OFFICE VIA THE FLOO NETWORK!"

"I mean," I muttered under my breath to Sirius, who was helping me carry my cases down the stairs, "why exactly can't we do that anyway? It beats sitting on a train for nine sodding hours."

"Shhh, now," he warned, throwing me a discreet wink, "let's not bring logic into it."

Despite Molly getting seriously uptight about it, Sirius tagged along in dog form, wanting to see us all off properly.

He ran along beside me as we raced up the platform, barking and panting happily. I didn't even mind when he jumped up and licked my face. Normally this would gross me out, but it was Sirius Black and as far as I was concerned he could lick me any day of the week.

"Did Harry's godfather just salivate all over your face?" Ron grimaced as we hurriedly hopped onto the train.

"Uh huh," I said, shrugging as though I got licked by hot older guys all the time.

I suggested we go and find a compartment together, but Ron and Hermione just looked guiltily at one another.

"Sorry, Cece," Hermione said, looking genuinely regretful, "but Ron and I are prefects, remember?"

Oh yes. I had forgotten. Apparently winning the Triwizard Tournament, facing Lord Voldemort and dragging the body of my dead friend back from a graveyard wasn't enough to convince Dumbledore that I was more than capable of becoming a prefect.

Fuck him. Who wanted to be one of his stuck up little power hungry bitches anyway?

"Draco Malfoy."

Of. Fucking. Course.

******

So, I found myself riding to Hogwarts in a compartment with Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood.

If anyone had told me that a year ago, I would have laughed my (silk) stockings off in disbelief.

But as it was, I was a little short on people wanting to be around me thanks to everyone thinking I was some kind of crazed killer.

"I don't think you are," Luna smiled serenely as she stared at a spot just above my head. "Dabberblimps don't usually relieve themselves on top of murderer's heads."

I jumped up out of my seat in alarm, whirling around. But thankfully, when I looked up to the spot above where I had been sat, nothing was there.

There was, however, a great big ugly brown toad on my foot.

"ARGHHH!" I cried out, hurriedly kicking it off so that it flew out of sight under the seat behind me.

"Trevor!" Neville yelped, throwing himself to the ground.

What in the name of...? I glanced back at Ginny who was attempting to stifle her giggles behind her hand.

Sighing, I sat back heavily down in my seat. As the train trundled on up north, I remained silent, staring out the window. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Neville constantly throwing me nervous looks whilst Ginny chatted to no one in particular about Quidditch and Luna sat reading her magazine upside down.

My heart twisted dully as I thought of my fellow Hufflepuffs. Susan and Hannah had been my bestest friends since forever and this had been the longest we hadn't spoken. I missed them.

But they, like most others, seemed to think I was crazy and in need of locking up.

"I'm surprised the Ministry's letting you walk around free!"

I groaned at the sound of the familiar drawl behind me as I hurried up the platform in Hogsmeade, carrying Amazon who was hooting crazily in her cage.

"Better enjoy it while you can, Diggory. I expect there's a cell in Azkaban with your name on it."

"Ignore him," Hermione hissed in my ear as she tried to hurry me along next to her. "Let's just get to the Sorting, okay?"

But the anger coursing through my veins wouldn't allow me to, and besides, I'd had a long tiring journey, I missed my friends and I wanted my old life back when everyone, including Draco, kissed the ground I walked on.

"Just fuck off!" I yelled, whirling on the spot to scream in his startled face. "Fuck off! Fuck off! FUCK OFF!"

"What did I tell you?" He sneered, grey eyes glinting delightedly. "Complete nutter."

We both stood glaring heatedly at one another, neither of us attempting to move away. My fingers twitched dangerously. I was tempted to hex the smug look off his face.

"Cece, no!" Ron gritted through his teeth as he tugged at my elbow. "He's not worth it."

A smirk twitched at Draco's lips as his eyes darted down to Harry's wand sticking out of my pocket.

"Oh, please, do go on, Cece," he mocked, pushing his face close to mine, "I wouldn't mind seeing what our little Hufflepuff champion is truly capable of."

"I've got a better idea, Malfoy," I spat, recalling how only a year before he was acting like my number one fan, "why don't you try sticking one of your cute little homemade badges on your pillow tonight? It's as close as you're going to get to finding out."

Angry pink dots immediately appeared on his cheeks as Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind him.

It was a nice moment that wasn't to last.

The new Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher sounded just as dreadful as the last one. And by the last one, I meant the imposter who had thought that drinking bits of the real Mad-Eye Moody all year long was going to help make him Voldemort's number one cock sucker.

I was seriously starting to question Dumbledore's hiring policy.

But that wasn't even the biggest head banging moment of my day. That came as I finally lay down on my four poster bed after being ignored by every single one of my dorm mates, and exhaustedly closed my eyes.

"Hello, Cece."

"ARGHHHHHHH!"

I shot upright, my heart pounding crazily in my chest.

For floating face down horizontally above me, arms crossed and grinning through his glasses, was Harry Potter.

******