Draya Malfoy

13 - A Prefect World?

A/N: Apologies for my recent absence. I have needed to take time away from Wattpad for my own sanity. But I'm back now and I promise you I haven't abandoned Draya - I am excited about getting this story out.

Thank you for all your support and patience.

Enjoy!

*****

For a man who was already pale, I couldn't help but notice that my father was resembling Casper the Not-So Friendly Ghost when I stepped off the train onto the bustling platform.

"Good year?" He said in his usual drawling tone as he snapped his fingers down at the house-elf at his feet.

The little ugly creature took my trunk from me at once, bowing so low his nose swept the dusty ground.

"Not really," I shrugged. "A student dying usually puts a downer on the year."

I didn't miss the look he exchanged with my mother. I tried to ignore the twist of my guts, not wanting to believe the rumours which were flying about.

Across the platform, my eyes met a pair of slanted black ones. Blaise gave me a brief nod and I found my lips curving into a small smile in return.

"Yes, well," my father sniffed, snapping my attention back to him, "it was a most unfortunate incident, but not one that should have come to much surprise. The Triwizard is renowned for being a dangerous tournament, after all. A fact Dumbledore was perfectly aware of before agreeing to enter his students into it. If anyone's to blame, it's him."

My mother lay a hand on his arm as though to stop him talking any further. Standing in front of her now, I could see how much she'd aged over the past year: the lines around her eyes etched deeper; her pale complexion tinged with greyness, giving her a rather sickly appearance. I tried not to think what had made her this way.

The atmosphere back at the Manor was not much better, either, with father holding a range of ominous meetings of which Mother made sure I was out the way of.

"Why don't you go and have a nice little play in that lovely treehouse of yours?" She would suggest in a falsely bright tone, the smile upon her face strained as the doorbell chimed loudly throughout the mansion.

"Uh- because I'm fifteen, not five." I replied moodily, crossing my arms over my chest and straining my ears to hear whom my father was greeting in the entrance hall. "Hey - is that Professor Snape?"

"Just old friends catching up," Mother said a little too cheerily as she kicked me out the back door. "Now, mind the peacocks! It's mating season!"

Summer sucked massively. The only highlight was receiving my Hogwarts letter and discovering I had become a Slytherin prefect. I quickly wrote to Blaise, telling him so. To my delight, he replied informing me that he had gotten a badge too, and all of a sudden, September seemed highly promising.

I couldn't help but wonder who had made it as Gryffindor prefect. No doubt Harry would be. I wrinkled my nose in disdain. It would mean having to ride the prefects' carriage together, partaking in perfects' duties alongside one another, and sharing the prefects' bathroom...

"HE CHOSE RONALD BLOODY WEASLEY?!"

"It's Bilius, actually," Hermione Granger said pompously, her hands on her hips as her eyes glowered angrily at me.

"Hermione-" Ron gritted out of the corner of his mouth, his face flushing red, "—shut up!"

Well, this was a fucking tragic start to fifth year. Wait until my father hears that Dumbledore has truly lost his marbles this time: Ronald Weasley couldn't even look after a pet rat properly let alone share responsibility for disciplining an entire body of students.