Dramione ~ 20 Years Later

Planning and Potential

I found the confused stares amusing.

I'd often get odd looks from various students as I walked through the corridors or even from teachers in the classroom.

A Malfoy in Gryffindor. The purebloods who knew of my family name just looked baffled everytime they glanced at my red tie. One time, I caught one of the older Slytherins scrutinizing me through dinner as if I were a bug under a microscope that she couldn't figure out. The very fact that I was sat at the Gryffindor table seemed to send the world out of balance for her.

I was half tempted to innocently ask her why she was staring at me, purley for the entertainment of watching her try stuttering up some kind of an excuse. However, I refrained; I didn't have the heart to actually do it, I wasn't mean enough. Being mean is Amy's job.

Upon arrival at Hogwarts, I hadn't really made any friends yet. None of the children of family friends were my age and even if they were older than me they were in different houses. So far, my fellow Gryffindors still saw me as a bit of an oddity- more inclined to observe how strange it was for me to be in their house rather than talk to me and make friends.

I'd had a lot of time to myself in these first couple of weeks and I'd learnt a lot about Hogwarts already (not the kind of thing you learn in lessons though). For example: Blackburn hated everyone that wasn't in his house (Ravenclaw) and considered them inferior and stupid; the fat lady reckoned she could sing like an angel- I wasnt sure who had told her that but they clearly needed to get their ears checked; and my favourite discovery is that Hogwarts has many secret passages. After one week in I'd already found two of them.

"Mr Malfoy, are you paying attention?"

I blinked. Who said that? Glancing around me I realised I was in the middle of an Herbology class. Was I asleep? It seemed like a reasonable conclusion considering the fact that my face was resting in a pot of soil and I had no idea what was going on around me.

Sitting up, I cleared my throat whilst quickly brushing the dirt off my face and out of my hair. "Yes?" I replied weakly, looking at Proffesor Longbottom.

Proffesor Longbottom raised an eyebrow, obviously amused, "you don't sound too convinced. You may want to try assuring yourself before trying to persuade me into believing it."

"Sorry, Proffesor," I mumbled as he continued with his lecture about some plant or other. I don't remember what it was called but I'm pretty sure it was green.

I turned to my seat mate, Weasley something or other, to ask what I'd missed because all I knew was that it had something to do with plants. "Hey!" I tapped her shoulder swiftly with the tip of my quill, "What am I meant to be doing?"

She rolled her eyes at me (she seemed to have a habit of that) before she proceeded to explain, "we're writing notes on these Leaping Toadstools."

I turned to the small, red mushrooms bouncing around in a glass pot in the centre of our table. I shrugged, before dipping my quill into my ink and scribbling nonsense about the weird plant.

My seat mate paused before turning back towards me and sticking put her hand. "I dont think we've been properly introduced. I'm Annabel Weasley. People usually call me Anna."

I shook her hand, before continuing with my writing, still talking to her, "Scorpius Malfoy. I'm told there's quite a lot of the Weasleys", I joked,"which one's your parent?

She chuckled, also going back to writing her own work, "there is a lot of us, I won't deny that. Fred Wealsey's my dad, though."

My eyes lit up instantly as I turned back towards her with an excited smile on my face, "your dad owns Weasley's Wizard Wheezes!!"