Harry Potter One Shots (Vol. I)

Challenging Prejudice (Draco Malfoy)

Hogwarts was always busy, the corridors were always bustling with people shoving one another, playfully or maliciously. But there were three exceptions to that.

The first was when there was a quidditch game. If there was a quidditch game, almost the entire school was at the pitch eagerly watching two houses pit themselves against one another in one of the few ways that they were allowed to.

The second was the moment after curfew, when everyone was supposed to be in their common rooms. Of course not everyone did go to their common rooms. There was always a few people that would try to stick around after curfew and would subsequently be caught by the prefects. But really it was easier for prefects like me, and for the people sneaking around in general, if they were actually good at not getting caught. A prime example being the Weasley twins who were known to sneak around each night but had only been caught twice.

The third exception, the one that I hated the most, was when there was a fight. A fight that for some reason the school seemed to believe they needed to witness and a prefect would then have to wade through the group of people in order to split up the fight.

That was why right now, I was filled with a sense of dread; the corridors were empty but there was no quidditch match on and it was the middle of the afternoon – curfew was another six hours away. But, I reasoned, I couldn't split up a fight that I didn't know was occurring.

Continuing with my walk down the corridor I stopped when I heard someone call my name. Looking over my shoulder at the sound I watched Luna as she ran towards me. Turning around fully I stopped in my step and waited for her to catch up to me.

"Hey," I said smiling at the blonde witch who bounced in a slightly agitated manner on her heels. "Luna, what's the matter?"

"There's a fight going on." I closed my eyes momentarily, cursing on the inside. Merlin's beard, why was I always right whenever it can to predicting if there was a fight or not? Really, in circumstances like this I would rather be wrong.

"Why?"

"One of the first years is stuck in a tree."

"And that caused a fight?" I asked sceptically.

But Luna nodded her head, "It's because he was levitated into the tree by someone."

Sighing internally, I asked, although there really was no need to. "It was Malfoy wasn't it?" Luna nodded, "So that means wonder boy Potter is the one that Malfoy's in a fight with?" She nodded again. "Where are all the other prefects?"

"They're trying to get everyone to leave but no one seems to remember that there is a first year stuck hanging from a branch on the tree."

"Honestly," I muttered under my breath before straightening up, "Can you show me where it is?"

Luna took off in a run and I followed after her as we left the school building and headed towards the lake. It was fairly obvious that there was a fight going on, the huge crowd assembled around the boys was evidence of that. I watched as the prefects pushed and shoved at the crowd to get them to split up and catching sight of an opening I made it into the centre of the huddle. The two boys were glaring at each other, wands raised although neither of them were using them.

"Put. Him. Down," Potter spat, raising his wand higher as I managed to push my way to get away from the crowd – neither boy had noticed my presence yet.

"Make me Scar head," Malfoy said twirling his own wand in his hands.

"Stop it!" I said finally, both boys turning to look at me. Making my way between the two of them I gave them a firm look. "Put your bloody wands away – you're not third years anymore, start acting your actual age. Malfoy you're a prefect for Merlin's sake, you're supposed to be setting an example. " The two boys kept their wands trained on one another and I tutted, "I'm already taking points away from you, do you want a detention as well?"