Only Skin Deep

The feast that year was spectacular as usual. Emily hadn't really been hungry, but the sorting always cheered her up. More students than normal were sorted into Gryffindor. Probably to make up for losing Potter at the end of the year she thought. Her eyes scanned the tables and, without even realizing it, fell upon Malfoy. Several Slytherin girls sat around him, fawning. Emily's best friend, Nina, followed her stare to him.

"Like what you see?" she giggled, snapping Emily out of her trance. Emily blushed. "Don't worry, I won't say anything."

"It's not like I like him or anything," Emily said, picking at the chicken on her plate. "I just happened to look over at him is all." Nina just shook her head.

Draco casually looked around him at the mass of girls sitting on all sides. The girl across from him caught his attention the most. Short black hair, spiked in the back. He stared at her intently before she looked up at him.

"Can I help you?" she asked, looking him dead in the eye. It was kind of intimidating, being stared down by a girl. "Well?"

"Are you a seventh year?" he asked, but quickly said, "No, you can't be. I've never seen you before."

"Wow, you figured it out. Aren't you the smartest little thing?" she mocked, getting up to follow the house out. Draco jumped the table, came up behind her, and grabbed her wrist. She whirled around at the sudden resistance. Draco came within an inch from her face and spat, "No one mocks me." He saw the anger build up in her navy colored eyes.

"Watch me," she snapped back, pulling her wrist away. If Dumbledore hadn't called for the Head Boy and Girl at that moment, he would have chased after her.

Malfoy walked up to the Headmaster, just as Hermione darted out of the hall.

"Mister Malfoy, I called you up to give you the password to your room," he said in his quiet voice. Draco nodded. "It is raspberry."

"Raspberry, Professor?" Draco didn't like that very much.

"Yes, raspberry. Your room is just off the Slytherin tower. It's the third painting past the entrance." Draco sauntered off to his room, passing some lost first years separated from their house.

"Excuse me, can you help us?" one of them piped up. Draco spun around. Yes it was his job to help but he was so bloody tired. Sighing, he went to answer them.

"Sure, what do you need?" he asked impatiently.

"I'll help them," a girl's voice said behind him. Draco glanced over his shoulder as Emily came up to them. "What house are you three in?" A little girl with long black hair backed away. Her friends looked strangely at her, then said, "We're both in Hufflepuff."

"Okay, let's find you a prefect then, hmm?" Emily smiled at Draco as she led the two away.

"You'll help me, right?" the black-haired girl asked. Draco rolled his eyes.

"Why didn't you go with her?" She pointed to the Slytherin crest on her robes. "Oh, alright then." He led her to the common room, and gave her that password. Just as she was about to head in, the girl Draco had argued with at dinner came around the corner.

"Vicky, where have you been?" she yelled.

"I got lost. But now I'm back. Can we please go inside?" Vicky asked, going in. Draco held his hand toward the door, motioning her in.

"You helped my sister?" she asked, coming closer to him.

"Yes," he said rather muffled. She held her hand out.

"Jade Tiago," she introduced. Draco took her hand.

"Draco Malfoy," he said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed." Draco turned away and stopped at the third portrait. It was of a thin, ghoulish looking girl dressed in long billowing deep violet robes. She stared at him with huge orb-like green eyes. "Raspberry," he muttered, as it swung open.

Draco peered around his tastefully decorated room. The carpet was a lush emerald green, adorned with a silver rug near the fireplace. A dark silver comforter graced his four poster bed, and a green trimming ran along the bottom of it and the pillowcases. A door was off to his right and that led either to his bathroom or the common room, but he could check in the morning. All he wanted to do right now was slip peacefully into sleep.

After another quick look around, Draco undressed and got into bed. So many thoughts filled his head that sleep was near impossible. He couldn't seem to get that Jade girl out of his head. She was just about gone, when thoughts of Emily came in. "I don't want to think about that," he said aloud, scolding his mind. "Why would she ever get a place in my thoughts." Draco forced himself into an uneasy sleep. The dream that followed would stay with him for weeks to come.