His Hidden Side - Draco Malfoy

2- Meeting Blondes

I walk back and forward along the corridor of the moving train, with my belongings weighing down my arms. Nowhere to sit. Nowhere to sit at all... My cat Cinder was meowing impatiently, getting louder each time. She was doing her 'get me out of here' meow, obtaining the attention of everyone around us. I hated this, being in the centre of attention. I looked completely clueless and alone, not being able to find a place to sit and with a crying cat.

"Bloody hell. Will you shut the cat up!" comes a snarky demand close by.

"MEEOOOWR!"

"What kind of service do they run here?! Letting irritating people and cats cause our ears to bleed!" continues the voice. I rush over to the voice to apologize for disturbing him. I approach a closed door and peer through the window.

Four people my age sit together in the seating room. My eyes dart to a boy with platinum blond hair, his skin is pale, his eyes are blue. I would have considered him good looking if he wasn't sneering at me. He sits in a poised manner, in a posh way, kind of like he thinks high of himself. For some reason I knew it was him that spoke. I open the door.

"Who are you?" growls a girl turning around, with short black hair, sitting behind the blond boy. I notice her robe. A green collar, a green tie and a green patch with a snake rests. The Slytherin crest. Their badges and colours really stuck out. They all wore Slytherin cloaks in fact... I hadn't noticed at first, I was too captivated by the blonde boy.

"I'm Lily, well Lilith Roswell."

"Lily? Huh. You're not related to Pottah are you," speaks the blond boy raising an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"Harry Pottah, who else?" He scoffs. I think back to everything my mother had taught me in the last few months. I've definitely heard the name before. I shift uncomfortably.

"Harry Potter... The one... with the, SCAR on his forehead!" I realise, a bit too enthusiastically. I get a laughing ovation from the four students. The two across from the blond boy are especially laughing hysterically - a boy with a fat face, short hair and a taller boy with curly hair.

The blond boy just stares at me. "Well.." he looks down at my restless cat and then back at me, "Cat-girl, I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

I nod unsure of what to say. He says his name with such significance like it too was famous. I haven't heard of the Malfoys, if they are famous. I stand there awkwardly in front of 4 Slytherins, the ones I was told not to mix with.

"For what god damn reason are you still standing here?" asks Draco impolitely, curling his lip.

I begin to blush badly. "I-," I begin but decide it's best to just swiftly walk out the door, I didn't want to be in their company a minute longer. As I leave I hear them all laugh.

"Did you see her?! She must be another filthy mud-blood!" Sneers Draco in between laughs.
I don't know what a mud-blood was, but whatever it is, it must mean something awful. I take a moment to breathe and regain my composure. For once my mother was right, Slytherins are evil. I've concluded that much.

As I begin to walk away from that awful room, I came inches from pushing into a trolley full of an assortment of different sweets. Sweets that I've never seen before, they look so strange and out of this world. The lady pushing the trolley asks if I'm alright. The lady looks nice, she's elderly and has curled grey hair but, I nod and then look down, to avoid another conversation with what could be another Slytherin.

As I brush past her and her HoneyDukes Trolley - that's was the name - a door opens up beside me.
A girl with messy curled blonde hair walks out to the corridor.

"Can I have a chocolate frog please?" She asks the lady and then turns to me with a smile. "Hello there."

"Hi..." I already feel better after seeing a Ravenclaw crest on her cloak. She looks very nice as well, she has this dreamy and dazed look on her face. A look that seems trustful and kind. She holds out her hand waiting.

"Well are you going to shake it?" She laughs softly. I smile at her for her kind gesture and shake her hand. She shakes it firmly and enthusiastically.

"I'm Luna Lovegood," she announces.

"I'm Lilith Roswell." I introduce myself.

"Well it is very nice to meet you Lilith. Would you like to sit with me?"

"Will your friends mind?"

"Oh no, it's just me in there." She gestures to her room. I couldn't help but feel empathy for her so I nod and walk into her seating room. She turns to the lady with the trolley. "Make that two chocolate frogs." She says and then hands her some money.

She walks in after me and sits down by a small stack of magazines on the seat. The room consisted of two plain blue sofas, shelves above them for belongings and a window for the view. I sit down across from her.

"You must think I have no friends right? But I do have friends not many, but enough. I'm not lonely. Being your own company is quite nice too." She explains calmly. She sounds like someone who knows what's she's all about.

"You and I are quite similar," I say.

"Are you sure? I'm quite different and weird," she giggles. She hands me a magazine from her pile. This here is a Quibbler, one of my favourite things.

"What is it?"

"It's like a magazine, although people say it's nonsense." She furrows her eyebrows in thought. I take the magazine and flick through the pages, seeing colourful and crazy pictures. I may not know Luna very well but she is indeed 'different'.

I give her back her book and she clutches it to her chest and smiles. "My father, Xenophilius Lovegood writes the Quibbler."

"You must be very proud?"

"Oh I am!" She edges towards the window. "Look out. It's so beautiful isn't it!?" She exclaims.
I look to the window. She is right. The view is absolutely stunning! You can see the country side of rolling hills, yellow meadows, shimmering lakes and large trees sheltering the landscape. I had never seen so much greenery in my life...

Luna points. "That's the Glenfinnan Viaduct!" I can now see that's she showing me a huge magnificent bridge we are about to cross. It's high above the ground with arches and made entirely out of concrete. It looks like something straight out of a fairy tale! I feel this excitement and curiosity as we drive on it. The butterflies in my stomach make me feel all fuzzy and intense inside.

"Oh dear." She exclaims, I forgot about the chocolate frogs! Here!" She thrusts one at me without warning, luckily I catch one. I open purple pentagonal box not thinking to much about it when the chocolate frog, an alive one jumps out. I scream in shock as Luna giggles.

"Catch it!" The frog was now on the window and I had no intention of catching it, I let it go through the open window at the top, I think it's better outside than in my mouth. After I relaxed a little I too begin to laugh.
***

The journey to Hogwarts took a long time, many hours which I didn't even feel pass by. Me and Luna get along so well, while we just met each other, I feel like I've known her for years! She tells me that she's going into her third year and I explain that I'm starting my 4th without much magic knowledge. She is shocked but makes an oath to help me.

Before I knew it, we were there...
I could see it from a distance. A ginormous stone castle with a jumble of towers, turrets and bridges sitting on a hunk of rock in the middle of a lake... It may be dark out, but it is the most beautiful, majestic thing I have ever seen.

This is Hogwarts...