Ex-Friends || A Drarry Story

Two : Three

Aboard the Hogwarts Express, Draco found an empty compartment and situated his trunk in the luggage rack, sitting and folding his hands together, his side stinging from where his father had hit him with the head of his cane that morning for trying to stop Dobby from hurting himself.

He looked up when the compartment door opened, Pansy and Blaise stepping inside, dragging their own trunks behind them. "Draco!" cried Pansy, throwing her arms around his neck. "How was your summer?"

"Good," he replied smoothly. "But you're crushing me."

Pansy detached herself from Draco, saying, "Sorry. You just never answered my offers to come by my house."

"I was busy."

"Doing what?" Blaise asked.

"Revising," Draco answered. "Really, do you think I was going to waste away and not going to keep my marks up?"

"It was summer, Draco!" said Pansy, throwing herself into the seat beside him. "Honestly, you couldn't have been revising all summer!"

"I was!" Draco snapped, glaring at her. "What, your parents don't expect you to get top marks?"

"They just want me to do my best."

Blaise shrugged. "Next summer, you're going to come over to my place. Mother has been dying to meet you."

"Hey, guys!" a voice called and they all turned to the compartment door, where Theodore Nott was bounding in. "Guess what?"

"You got an owl," Draco said, seeing a beautiful Ptilopsis owl in its cage, hidden behind Theo's back.

Theo sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice until I told you." He set his trunk down next to Draco's. Carefully, he set the base of the owl's cage on his lap, saying, "Dad's marrying this awful woman. This was sort of a bargaining tool of his."

Pansy frowned and said, "You never told us that."

"Yeah, you could have stayed at my house to get away," Blaise added.

Theo shrugged. "I've been trying to get along with her. She isn't Mum, though." Draco was silent, unsure of what to say. "His name is Blinky."

"What kind of a stupid name is that?" Draco asked, scowling at the bird.

Theo flushed to the roots of his sandy hair. "Because he blinks a lot." He stroked the owl's head through the cage, biting his lip and keeping his eyes trained on his lap.

"Uhm," Draco began after receiving a reproachful look from Blaise and a pinch from Pansy. "It's a very, er, good name, Theodore---Theo."

"Thanks," Theo muttered, the corner of his mouth lifting in a shy grin. He turned to the compartment windows, where they could see out into the train corridor, frowning. "Say, who's that running around?"

Draco and Blaise, being the ones closest to the windows that showed off the exceptional patchwork quilt-like hills, but farthest away from the corridor windows, stood, pulling the curtains back and seeing a bushy-haired girl running about and peering into the compartments one by one.

She saw the four Slytherins watching and opened their compartment door. It was Hermione Granger. Draco scowled at her.

"Have you seen Harry or Ron? I can't find them anywhere!"

Draco's scowl turned into a frown. "What do you mean, Granger?"

"They aren't on the train, I don't think!" she replied, her amber eyes wide.

Blaise asked, "Where could they be? You checked the compartments?" He, Pansy, and Theo were the only ones who knew of Potter and Draco being acquaintances. Maybe Granger and Weasley knew too. Or they were just thinking that Potter was being kind to Draco Malfoy.