The Ballrooms of Mars

A final loud whistle sounded from the Hogwarts Express just before it began to pull out of Platform 9 ¾. Only then did Mrs. Weasley release her son from her tight embrace, allowing him to leap onto the stairs of the train just as it began to move.

“Where were you? We’ve been waiting,” Hermione said, grabbing Ron’s elbow just as he boarded. “Come, Harry and I have saved a compartment.”

“Mum insisted on hugging me for ten minutes straight,” Ron grumbled

“Watch your step. Neville lost his toad somewhere nearby. There’s a prefect meeting in the first car in about thirty minutes.”

Ron did not really feel like chatting; he just wanted to take a nap and not wake up until the train arrived at Hogwarts. For the past week, he had been thinking about his friendship with Harry, something which he had grown tremendously conflicted about. Sure, Harry was a great friend, never really having done anything to betray Ron, but the more he mulled it over, the more unequal this friendship seemed. Harry was a fantastic quidditch player, and Ron’s skills at the sport were merely fair. Harry, venerated as “the boy who lived”, was a celebrity in the wizarding world, and Ron was just plain old Ron. Harry was always out saving the world from the Dark Lord, and Ron was just his sidekick. Even Hermione made Ron feel inferior. She was at the top of all her classes, and he was an average student. Yes, he was simply average, not particularly good at anything, but not bad at anything either, except maybe potion-brewing.

Ron’s train of thought was interrupted by the actual train’s whistle.

“Ron, what’s wrong?” Harry asked.

“Nothing, I just feel kind of sick to my stomach and I haven’t gotten much sleep lately,” Ron replied quietly as he rested his head against the window. Both of these things were true.

“Maybe you’ll feel better when you eat something. The food trolley should be here any minute.”

****************************

Every year, the older Slytherins sat in the last train car on the Hogwarts Express. They had unofficially claimed it long ago, and younger students as well as students in other houses knew to stay away from it. The Slytherin sixth and seventh years were a rowdy bunch this year, but Millicent had a headache from her mother’s yelling earlier that morning. She wanted to seek out a quieter car but her peers would taunt her to no end. Aside from her headache, Millicent also did not want to watch Pansy ardently snogging with Theodore Nott. Although she did not fancy Theodore, Millicent could not help but feel jealous of her best friend because Pansy always received more attention from boys. Heck, she never had a boyfriend or even snogged with a boy before. When Millicent was younger, she had a huge crush on Marcus Flint, but it was just that—a silly schoolgirl crush. He was about four or five years older than her and she had accepted the fact that she had no chance with him anyway. Besides, he had graduated already so she would probably never see him again.

Feeling alienated, Millicent leaned against the window and concentrated on the landscape as it zoomed past. This nearly lulled her to sleep until she felt movement on the seat next to her.

“You seem lonely,” said a familiar male’s voice. Draco Malfoy sat on the edge of the seat and looked at her expressionlessly.

“Oh, hi Draco,” Millicent said, mildly startled. “I’m sorry I didn’t say hello to you earlier. I have a headache and was trying to rest.”

“Then I don’t want to disturb you. Feel better. I’ll talk to you later,” Draco said, beginning to stand up.

“No, you can sit. My headache is getting better. How was your summer?”

“It was excellent,” Draco answered, not looking away from Millicent at all. “And yours?”

“Fun but hectic,” she replied, wondering why Draco was eyeing her like that. They had been friends since their first year, and although she acknowledged that he was an attractive young man, there were never any romantic feelings between them.

“You’re looking good nowadays, Millicent. Did you change anything?” Draco asked, inching closer to her.

“Hrm, I just fixed my unibrow problem and dieted a little, but no, I didn’t change much.”

“Well, I notice a big change. Now I can see that you have gorgeous eyes.”

“Thank you,” Millicent giggled nervously, not sure what to make of this. “Are you joking with me?”

“No, of course not. You’ve become a very good-looking girl. I’m serious.”

“Really? Thank you. Um… I don’t know what else to say.”

“Well, I was wondering something.” Draco said softly, flopping his arm around Millicent’s shoulders. “Since sixth and seventh years are allowed to leave the premises whenever they wish, I was thinking that maybe we could head to Hogsmeade tomorrow afternoon. You know, just you and me. What do you say?”

The flabbergasted Millicent puzzled over how she should react to Draco’s sudden forwardness. After a few tense moments, she figured that the best thing to do would be to go along with it. Besides, he was quite attractive, so she had no reason to decline his offer.

“Sure.”