I'm Coming For You, Draco Malfoy!

The Hogwarts Express

A/N A homophobic slur used.

Although we'd been in contact on a couple of occasions since Harry had taken me to Padstow, the next time I saw him was on the Hogwarts Express. In fact, it was from the train window as I watched him arrive seconds before 11.00am, clearly because he wanted to avoid the gawping and the overbearing well-wishers and the Press that were hanging around on the platform. He'd Apparated to the far end of the station platform and the whistle blew from the engine at the other end of the train just as he casually swung himself up through the last door into the train.

The train began to chug and billow its way out of King's Cross and I watched as the station platform began to creep away and the suburbs of London slowly washed past the window. I'd purposely avoided the front Prefect and the Slytherin carriages, and the compartments where the year sevens were no doubt ensconced like it was their own privileged territory. Instead, I'd hidden myself away at the far end of the train, hoping for a quiet journey to Scotland away from the idiotic plebeians of the school who thought I might be an easy target to attack.

As the speed began to pick up, I turned to watch the commotion outside in the corridor and was just in time to see Harry pushing his way past groups of very small and bewildered looking first years. I smiled to myself, he actually looked tall, for probably the first time in his life, as he towered over the heads of diminutive students. Harry ignored them and most were too busy sorting themselves out to pay him much attention. Plus, his hair was loose over his face, hiding his familiar features and scar. Just as he was about to pass my compartment, Harry looked my way, a sly grin on his face.

I harrumphed; the Disillusionment Charm had been working perfectly on everyone else as they wandered past looking slightly confused.

'I think there's an empty compartment up that way,' Harry said vaguely and the students looked up at him with gasps of awe before speeding off.

He slid the door open and stepped inside, bringing with him that familiar smell of the forests and old parchments. His lips were twitching.

'How did you see through my Charm, Potter? I was trying to find some last-minute peace and quiet before the mayhem begins,' I drawled bitterly about what I was facing for the next school year.

He threw himself down opposite me. 'Must be your natural magnetism. And as I was after some peace and quiet too, it means we're both on a winner.'

'Until your Gryffindor friends seek you out and come and sneer at me.'

'Unlikely for a while, most are up in the Prefects compartment and Ginny's undoubtedly holding court with the rest.'

He drew out his wand and cast a new spell on the door. The corridor windows misted as the door clicked locked and another Disillusionment Charm was added to mine.

'Why aren't you up there with them?'

'I'd prefer to spend time with my dashing arch-nemesis,' Harry said, his lips twitching and his forest-green eyes intently watching my face.

My breath hitched because of the way he teased me. I just wished I could be certain if he meant it. I suppose my trust in others, even Harry, had been severely broken by the war and, in particular, by my father. If I couldn't trust even my own father, then who could I trust. It was hard to take anything at face value anymore. I raised a scathing eyebrow.

He studied me with eyes which sparkled like sunlight amongst the trees. He was wearing his ripped jeans and biker boots again, this time with a tight plain Slytherin-green t-shirt and his respectable long black wool coat. His long hair was messy and wild and loose, asking for fingers to be dragged through it. I still couldn't decide whether I preferred it down or tied back with his wand stuck in the knot.