Draco's Mudblood - Draco Malfoy Fan Fiction - *Year One*

Her Ghost

For Theodore, the ride to Hogwarts was much better than he'd expected it to be.

His father barely looked at him when they'd gotten to Platform 9 ¾, staying by the far wall and keeping the hood of his jumper pulled up over most of his face. He didn't have the best reputation, to say the least, nor did the Nott name. Theodore knew this well, but it still hurt to watch the other students get hugged and kissed goodbye while his father stayed out of arm's reach.

"Keep your hands off those trinkets, okay son?" Mr. Nott had leaned down only a little to say goodbye to his son. He smiled sadly. "These years are going to be the best of your life. Enjoy it. Make friends and do well in classes, alright?"

Theo had nodded and kept his eyes down, one hand in the pocket of his own jumper, fidgeting with one of the said trinkets his father told him to keep his hands off of. There weren't a lot of students on the platform yet, they were a bit early, but this didn't stop Theodore's nerves from skyrocketing at the sight of the other students.

Mr. Nott left once Theodore had gotten on to find an empty compartment, not bothering nor feeling comfortable enough to stick around to watch the train pull out of the station.

After finding an empty compartment, Theodore set to work with anxiously pulling at his hair, picking at the grime under his fingernails, and toying with his favorite contraption thus far (a small metal ball that slid up and down across two mended-together screws). 

Eventually a group of older students came in and put their stuff with his own, but left quickly again to find some friends somewhere else on the train. They came back after a while, but Theodore barely noticed, he was too invested in creating the perfect flow of the metal horse's tail, until one of the older girls bumped his shoulder.

"You alright there?" She asked him. The girl had mousy brown hair, but the ends were this dull purple, like lavender, and her dark eyes shone brightly at him.

He nodded, hoping his face wasn't as red as it felt. It had been a long time since someone aside from his father had spoken to him, and it made him feel funny. 

The girl smiled gently at him. "You seem tired is all. Do you want something to eat? I've heard it'll make you feel better."

Theodore shook his head. He was starving, if he were honest, but the movement of the train made his stomach feel wonky and he couldn't picture putting food in his stomach and it staying there.

"Here," she said, handing him a bottle of something. "It's just Pumpkin Juice, but it always helps me when I feel a little queasy. I'm Tonks."

Theodore thought the name was interesting, who named their kid Tonks?, but she hadn't given a last name and took it as a sign not to give his. Instead he took the bottle and stared at it. His free hand continued to anxiously twist the trinket in his pocket. "Theodore," he whispered. He opened the Pumpkin Juice and took a sip. He did feel better. "Thank you."

Tonks laughed. "Anytime. You're a first year, yeah?"

He nodded.

"I'm a seventh year. Hufflepuff," she crossed one leg over the other. Theodore thought her house made perfect sense for her. He didn't know much about the houses, aside from Slytherin, but he knew of Hufflepuff's unending kindness and Tonks had been so sweet to him, even though she had no idea who he was. She was deserving of the Hufflepuff name, and Hufflepuff was lucky to have her. "What house do you reckon you'll be sorted into?"

Theodore shrugged, as if he didn't have the full suspicion he'd be sorted into Slytherin. It ran in the family, after all.

"I think Ravenclaw for you. You haven't stopped messing with that thing since we got here. You made it, right? It's really cool," Tonks gestured to the toy in his hand.

It made his whole body catch fire. No one ever thought his trinkets were cool.

The rest of the ride went very quickly. Tonks moved on to talking with the others and making her hair funny colours (Theodore was so surprised the first time it happened that he spit Pumpkin Juice on his shoes), but he was attentive to their conversations and listened to the others and their cheery small talk.

It wasn't as lonely a ride as he'd feared it would be.

When the ride ended, students jammed shoulder to shoulder in the corridor until Theodore was able to break through the crowd and onto the dark platform at Hogsmeade. It was a small, dingy old thing, but the bustling crowd of students in their Hogwarts robes made it feel a lot smaller. He waved goodbye to Tonks, thanking her again as she led him to a giant man named Hagrid, and stood in the cluster of other nervous first years.

He was sad to watch Tonks walk away with the other Hufflepuffs.

That's when he saw her.

She wasn't facing him. She had her back turned, talking to two redhead boys and a girl with long braids, bidding them goodbye just as he had done to Tonks moments before. It was her hair that caught his eye, that made his heart well up like a water balloon. Her deep black hair was tremendously long, tied back in a rope-like twist, and when she turned, even though Theodore knew for sure it couldn't be her, the girl's eyes looked so much like his mother's he thought he was seeing her ghost.

He watched the girl scurry over to where he and the other first years were. Even up close, even though she was pale as could be and her nose was just a little different than his mom's had been, she had the same chin and forehead as the young Lillian Nott from the photographs Theodore had snuck from his father.

His heart hammered in his chest, welling dangerously.

"Hi!" He blurted. He slapped his hand over his mouth. He'd called out much louder than he had meant to.

She looked at him with wide eyes. It made his chest hurt. Then she smiled, and he thought he could have died on the spot. "Hi," the way she spoke was weird, her accent sounded strange to his ears, but Theodore couldn't have cared less. "I'm Isobel Anderson."

"Theodore Nott," he said, shuffling awkwardly. He felt stupid under her gaze, but Isobel thought it was sweet how anxious he was when he was the one who had called out to her.

Hagrid had suddenly started moving them towards the edge of the platform and to the woods. "Come on," she said, turning to follow but keeping her head turned to Theodore. "We've got a ceremony to attend."

Theodore followed, feeling as though his feet weren't really on the ground and his head was in the clouds.