The Slytherin Prince [Draco Malfoy]

Year 1 - Traitor

As promised, Eleanor was now in her swimsuit, a modest one piece with long sleeves and she stood at the edge of the water. The Black Lake glistened in the afternoon sun, and the grey water reminded her of someone's eyes. Her brown hair was braided neatly by Leah earlier on.

The weather in October was cooling, since it's autumn. She had asked Severus for a piece of swimwear few weeks ago and he had to make a trip to the muggle world to purchase them. Then, it was enchanted to reduce body heat loss, by Snape of course. Eleanor smiled at how thoughtful he was.

She jumped off the edge and dove into the lake. Eleanor didn't ventured too deep, around 2 meters in depth. The Black Lake was home to many creatures like the giant squid and merpeople. She wouldn't want to risk getting involved with them, so she swam close to the shores.

Kicking with her legs, she glided through the water and looked up to the sky. It was hard to differentiate between her blue eyes and the water. She closed her eyes and listened to the calming waves and the cries of avians far away. It made her think of these past few weeks.

*Flashbacks*
Eleanor was reading the book Curses and Counter-curses by the fireplace in the common room. She had just borrowed a few books from the library and was elated to start on them. But it was hard on her, since she gets persistent staring from her housemates.

What happened yesterday spread like wildfire. Now almost half of Slytherins knew about Eleanor helping Neville out in the Great Hall. Including Draco. He was confused about her actions; He didn't understand why she did it. The rest of the Slytherin first years all enjoyed him bullying Neville. Is she siding with the Gryffindors?

Not only Draco, many of them were thinking of the same thing, and hence the constant glaring at Eleanor. On the contrary, some Slytherins didn't think it was that big of a deal. Like Theodore Nott and Cameron Boyle.

"C'mon it was just a counter-curse. Not like she awarded house points to Gryffindor." Theodore said lazily with his legs on the chair. "I agree with Nott." Cameron added.
"How can you say that! She's a traitor!" Tracey spat, along with Pansy Parkinson and their "followers". Chelsea and Diane nodded along. They didn't think badly of Eleanor, neither do they want to get into the bad books of Tracey.

Leah walked past the group and rolled her eyes at them. "Quit blabbering!" She scolded them. Tracey stuck her tongue out, "Go away Leah! Go to that traitor for all we care!"

Leah scowled at her and went to sit with Eleanor at the couch. She crossed her arms and her nostrils were flared.
"You don't have to do that you know." Eleanor said calmly, the flickering flame casted an orange light on her sideview.

"But I want to!" Leah sighed. "You're not a traitor.. If you are, then I am too! Because I don't agree with Draco too." Eleanor looked at her and saw sincerity in her eyes.

Then Leah saw a genuine smile gracing Eleanor's face as she said, "Thank you, Leah."
*Flashbacks End*

Ever since then, Eleanor opened her heart little by little to Leah. She even got to know about her family and her dreams. Leah was a half-blood and her father is a muggle. She's absolutely fascinated with Transfiguration and plans to pursue in that direction, and become a registered animagus one day.

They sometimes stayed up late during the weekends and whispered to each other in their beds about school and family. Leah was basically becoming her first-choice partner, since she always sit beside her during classes. Eleanor thought it was a nice feeling to have friends in Hogwarts.

She noticed a moving figure in the corner of her eyes and turned to see Harry by the shore looking at her. She swam up and wrapped her arms with a towel before going up to him. Harry had a faint blush on his cheeks.