House Rivalry || D. Malfoy || REWRITE

Chapter 2: Fourth Year- What Is Happening?

As the heavy rain pelted my school trunks, I grumbled miserably to myself.

I hated the rain.

We had just barely arrived at the 9 ¾ platform in Kings Cross Station the day after the whole Death Eater incident.

Speaking of which, after Arthur had saved us from the crazy men who had pointed our wands at us in the woods, it was revealed that it was only Barty Crouch Sr. and some other members of the Ministry of Magic. They believed that Harry had conjured the Dark Mark in the sky, but Harry informed them that he had lost his wand in the process of fleeing to the woods.

Then, the accusations were flipped the moment Winky presented herself holding Harry’s wand. She had only wanted to return Harry’s wand to him, but Barty Crouch still blamed her regardless. Thankfully, Arthur smoothed things over momentarily, but I wasn’t sure that things were going to work out quite well for Winky.

Loading my luggage onto the Hogwarts Express was one of the biggest reliefs I’d ever felt in my entire life. After all, I’d be out of the cold rain. My friends sat down inside the car to join me, and Hermione brought out her ginger cat, Crookshanks, to give him a little more freedom during the train ride. I did the same and released my own cat, Lucky Charm (Lucky for short). I scratched the top of her head while admiring her smooth, tortoiseshell-colored fur, and she chirped lovingly before sitting beside Crookshanks.

Shifting myself back into the ongoing conversation, I tried to hold back a grin while Ron discussed the embarrassment of having to wear the old, passed down dress robes Molly Weasley had packed inside Ron’s trunks. We had no idea what these dress robes were going to be used for, but, whatever it was, I was secretly eager to see how Ron would look in them.

The car door slid open and Neville Longbottom peeked his head inside, looking a bit timid. “H-hey, guys.”

“Hi, Neville! You can join us, if you’d like,” Hermione offered.

Neville smiled shyly. “Sure!” He sat down beside me. “Hi, Greta.”

I beamed welcomingly. “Hey!”

“Were you able to make it to the World Cup?” Ron asked Neville.

“No, I wasn’t. I wish I could’ve seen it,” Neville answered.

Ron wore a sympathetic look on his face and removed his souvenirs from his pockets. “Do you want to see something cool?”

Neville lit up eagerly. “Yeah!”

Ron first showed off his miniature Viktor Krum. “I have my own Krum to carry around.”

The mini Krum repositioned himself in a stance that reminded me of a superhero. He must’ve been Ron’s hero. As Ron continued to showcase his cool trinkets, I found myself staring at Crookshanks and Lucky in their cuddly orientation. It was very adorable!

The sound of the car door sliding open a second time interrupted our quality time with Neville, and instead brought us a little more misery into our lives. Malfoy and his lackeys, Crabbe and Goyle, had come to see what it was we were doing.

“What are you doing here, Malfoy?” My voice was monotone.

“Is that any of your business?” Malfoy retorted.

“Yeah, it is. You’re standing in our train car.”

Malfoy ignored my complaint and was instead staring in the direction of Ron’s luggage. He smirked maliciously. “What in Merlin’s beard is that, Weasley?”

Malfoy strolled over to Ron’s dress robes and examined the fabric with fake interest. “You weren’t planning on wearing these, were you? I mean– they were considered fashionable back in… 1890 maybe–”