Hermione felt the pounding in her ears again. She would see him for the first time since the Great Hall, gaunt and stricken at the Slytherin table with his mother clutching his arm. She hadn't meant to look for him. Not in the corridors, not beneath the white sheets of the fallen, not on the way to the Chamber of Secrets with Ron, but she was a stupid girl.

Amelia was caught up chatting with other students in her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, so much so, she didn't even notice when their new professor walked in. She caught a glimpse of bleach-blond hair out of the corner of her eye and suddenly her breath hitched. "Right everyone, I will be your professor for this year, my name is Draco Malfoy."