~The Slytherin Princess~ Draco Malfoy

F O U R T Y T H R E E

Narcissa Malfoy was the only soul to accompany Draco and Adeline to the Hogwarts Express on September 1st. The woman looked nervous as she constantly whipped her eyes around the platform. Narcissa was not usually a nervous woman, in fact she was usually rather confident, so seeing the woman act in fear set Adeline on edge.

The girl let Draco pull her trunk along like the gentleman he was while she linked her arm with his trembling mother.

"You two." She breathed out, pulling them into a hug as Draco left the luggage to be collected, "please be careful this year, look after yourselves."

"We will, Narcissa." Adeline smiled, although it didn't fully reach her eyes, "I'll look after Draco."

""That's not what I'm worried about." Narcissa took a deep breath as the train let out a bellow of smoke, the conductor blowing the whistle loudly, "both of you, please don't do anything idiotic that will get you in trouble."

"Goodbye mother." Draco nodded solemnly, gripping Adeline tightly, "we have to go or the train will leave without us."

"Goodbye children!" Narcissa called, waving to the pair as they boarded the train, "have a good half-term!"

Adeline frowned as the blonde Malfoy suddenly looked around, eyes widening as she quickly scurried off. Who was she hiding from? Draco didn't seem to notice, instead the boy grabbed Adeline's hand guiding her towards the back of the train to the other Slytherins.

"Addie, Draco!" Pansy yelled happily as she spotted the couple, "how are you both?!"

"Great." Draco at least attempted to appear positive while Adeline just frowned, throwing herself into the train carriage and onto the plush seats.

"Shit." Adeline replied honestly, looking up. The entire carriage soon became aware of the subtle bags underneath her eyes, a stark contrast to her pale complexion.

"You look like shit." Blaise retorted with a snort, causing Draco to glare and smack the boy upside the head.
Adeline tried to let out a small chuckle, however it sounded choked and forced.

"Where's Daphne?" Theo questioned innocently, blinking slowly.

"I don't think she'll be too keen on sitting with us this year." Adeline responded, biting her lip, looking out the windows to the rolling greenery.

The brunette sighed as Draco sat beside her, lacing their fingers together and nudging her head onto his shoulder.

"Don't tell us you've had an argument with her." Blaise groaned.

"It doesn't matter." Adeline shook her head, "we have more important things to talk about. How is everyone holding up?" During the summer holidays practically every Slytherin family home had been raided by the ministry to remove any threats, this included the arrest of many powerful Slytherin men, Lucius Malfoy being one of them.

"I would be a lot better if we didn't have the bloody ministry of magic banging on our door every five minutes wanting to tear our house to bits." Pansy glowered, "those bloody fools took everything away! They won't even let me see my father."

"Pfttt." Blaise scoffed, "having a father is overrated anyways, welcome to my world." Adeline snorted, it was true, Blaise Zambini had never really had much of a father figure, almost, if not all, of his step-father's mysteriously go missing before he gets the chance to know them properly.

"How are you holding up Malfoy?" Theo asked in concern, "you know, with your father and everything."

"I'll live." Draco brushed it off effortlessly, making Adeline frown, "besides I've got more important things to worry about this year."