Draya Malfoy

6 - Bloody Chicken

I blew a kiss to the mirror. I'm not going to lie, but my hair was looking fabulous.

Deciding to ditch the librarian look, I freed my golden locks from the constraint of the School-Ma'am-bun. Instead, it hung loosely down my back, super soft and shiny.

Flipping it back over my shoulder, I whistled for the house-elf to fetch my trunk before remembering that stupid bloody Harry Potter had freed it.

"Rumour has is," Father drawled without looking up from his newspaper as I joined him downstairs at the table for breakfast, "Dumbledore has enlisted that great oaf of a gamekeeper to start teaching classes."

I poured myself a bowl of Lucky Charms, silently cheering when I had more marshmallows than cereal.

"I don't understand Dumbledore's questionable hiring methods," Father continued. "And yet there he is getting me thrown off the board of school governors."

"Well you were responsible for releasing a deadly beast on an entire school of children," my mother said crossly, slamming a cup of tea down in front of him. "I'd say that's a somewhat sackable offence, wouldn't you?"

"It was all such an overreaction," Father drawled lazily as he slowly folded up the Daily Prophet. "No one died, did they?"

"A teacher's brain got permanently addled!" Mother shrieked.

"To be fair," I said thickly through a mouthful of marshmallows, "that one was down to Potter-"

"WHAT HAVE I SAID ABOUT YOU MENTIONING THAT NAME IN MY HOUSE?!"

Hating getting told off by my father, I jutted out my lower lip and scowled down at my cereal.

Bloody Harry Potter.

*****

"Dray, your hair looks gorgeous!" Pansy gushed the moment I entered what was becoming our 'usual' compartment on the train.

"I know," I smirked, flipping it back over my shoulder as I slid into the empty seat next to Blaise.

"Thank god you ditched that gel," Theo muttered from across me, "it made your hair look plastic."

Affronted, I narrowed my eyes. "It was cream!"

"Guess what?" Daphne said breathlessly as she entered the compartment soon after, her eyes bright with excitement. "That Sirius Black man who has escaped from Azkaban - well I heard rumour that he's after Harry Potter!"

Everyone gasped, but I just rolled my eyes.

"Of course he is," I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest, "Potter is incapable of not making everything about himself."

"Isn't Sirius Black supposed to be one of the most dangerous wizards alive?" Blaise asked, looking bemused as he raised an eyebrow.

"So?" I snapped defensively, "it's not like that's anything new to him. Gets off on it, I reckon."

I spent the next couple of hours scowling out of the window at the rain, grinding my teeth as I thought about that stupid scar-headed Gryffindor.

Not even looking at the reflection of my new hair could cheer me up.

And then, when the snack trolley was finally about to arrive outside our compartment, a Dementor hopped onboard, making this officially the worst start of year yet.

******

"Guess what?" Daphne gasped her hair a frazzled mess as she climbed up onto the horseless carriage waiting to take us up to the castle. "Harry Potter fainted!"