The Dragon's Savior

Chapter 4
The next few weeks crawled by at a snail's pace for Draco. He couldn't wait for the day that he could get on the Hogwarts Express, and get away from his father. Now that day had finally come. He was all packed and ready to go.
On this particular day, Draco was going to floo to King's Cross Station. (They have a fireplace connected to the Floo Network especially for Hogwarts's students.) Then he would board the train, and be free of his father's torture.
Draco said good-bye to his mother, and stepped into the fireplace. He threw some floo powder into the fireplace, and said clearly, "King's Cross Station." He felt the familiar dizziness that goes along with traveling by floo powder. When he arrived at the station, he stepped out of the fireplace, and brushed himself off.
Draco then casually leaned on the barrier between platforms nine and ten. When arriving on Platform nine and three-quarters, he was greeted with the familiar sight of Hogwarts Express. He boarded the train, and went in search of an empty compartment where he could e-mail Fierysprite.

*~*~*~*

The last few weeks had gone by faster than Ginny would have liked them to, but now it was time to go back to school for her fifth year at Hogwarts. As much as she loved her school, she wished that summer could last just a little bit longer. Today Ginny, Shannon, Ron, Harry, Hermione, her father, and her mother were going to pile into a car that Mr. Weasley had borrowed from the Ministry, seeing as how the old Angla that they had gone into the Forbidden Forest never to be seen again.
Right now, Ginny and Shannon were making sure they hadn't forgotten anything. "Did you pack your new dress robes?" Shannon asked Ginny.
"Are you kidding? Those are one of the first things I packed," Ginny replied. She had made sure she had packed them, that they didn't get wrinkled. There was no way she was going to forget them.
"What about your laptop?" Shannon asked.
"I've got it in my backpack that I'm taking on the train with me," Ginny said. Her laptop was another thing she had made sure not to forget. After about a week of having her laptop, she had decided not to go to the chat room everyday, she didn't see a point in it. Instead, she'd just talk to Hotdragon longer, which she enjoyed much more than going to the chat room. There was something about him that made her want to talk to him for a long time. She didn't know what it was, but she knew there was something.
"Well, I think I've got everything, you wnt to downstairs now?" Shannon asked, snapping Ginny out of her thoughts.
"Yeah, sure," Ginny replied. They both picked up their trunks and bags for the train, and took them downstairs to be loaded into the small Ministry car. "Why can't we use Floo Powder to get to the train station like everyone else?" Ginny complained. It would take them an hour to get there, and then they'd have to sit on the train for another coupled of hours. This is going to be a long day, she thought.
"Alright children, we have to leave if we're going to make it to King's Cross on time," Mrs. Weasley said as she ushered everyone out the door.
"There is no way we are all going to fit in there," Ron said, when he saw the car, and Ginny had to agree with him. Even without all the luggage it would have been a tight fit. Everyone got in, and astonishingly there was plenty of room. It must have some sort of charm on it to hold more people, Ginny thought.
When everyone was settled in, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in the front and everyone else in the back, Mr. Weasley pulled away from the Burrow toward King's Cross Station.

*~*~*~*

n hour later, when the Weasleys and their guests finally arrived at the train station, they had only about ten minutes left to board the train. Everyone collected their stuff, and went through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. After arriving on the hidden platform, they were greeted by the sight of the Hogwarts Express puffing out smoke. Ginny, Shannon, Ron, Harry and Hermione said good-bye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and then quickly boarded the train. Everyone put their luggage in the cargo compartment, and then went in search of a compartment that wasn't too full. Harry, Ron, and Hermione found three spots in one of the compartments, and Ginny and Shannon found their other two friends, Mackenzie and Michelle, who hadn't found a compartment yet either. Every compartment was packed with people. With only one left at the very end of the train, it was totally empty except for one person, typing on their laptop. Draco Malfoy.
Of course, that's just our luck, Ginny thought nastily, the only compartment left, and it's occupied by Draco Malfoy. Him of all people, but it was either here or all go in separate compartments. At first, it appeared that he didn't notice they were there, but soon looked up once they had entered the compartment, and sneered at them.
"I know I'm a wonderful person to be around, and that I'm absolutely irresistible, but can't you leave me alone for two seconds?" he asked snottily.
"Look, it's not like we have much choice, Malfoy. Everywhere else is full, and believe me if it weren't, we wouldn't be here, you great ferret," Ginny shot back. Every time she was within ten feet of him, he always thought of some way to humiliate or annoy her.
"Well, no need to get huff with me. If you must, you may sit in this compartment, but first you have to ask nicely," Draco replied with an amused smirk.
Ginny's first thought was just leave, and try her best to find four empty seats in a compartment somewhere else, but instantly against it knowing it wold do no good. So instead, she sucked in her pride saying as sweetly as she could and trying not to grimace, "Malfoy, may we please share this compartment with you, as it is the only one that has enough space?"
"That was pathetic, Weasley, but yes you may share this compartment," Draco replied, still with that stupid smirk on his face. Oh, but what a sexy smirk it is, a voice in the back of Ginny's mind commented. Ginny stood still for a moment, unable to move form the shock of it. I can't believe I just thought that any part of Draco Malfoy, the great bouncing ferret, was sexy, Ginny thought. Although, glancing quickly at him, she noticed that he was pretty good looking, with his slicked back, platinum blonde hair, his mysterious grey eyes that sometimes showed a flicker of emotion, and muscular body that developed from years of Quidditch practice. Oh, who was she kidding? He wasn't just good looking, he was drop dead gorgeous.
"Hey Weaslette, like I said before, I know I'm irresistible, but must you stare at me?" Draco asked, flashing her another one of his sexy smirks, and showing off some of his perfectly straight teeth. Ginny snapped out of her reverie, and looked away. She hadn't been aware that she was staring at him. Her friends had already immersed themselves in conversation, so Ginny decided to see if Hotdragon was online.

*~*~*~*

"Hey Weaslette, like I said before, I know I'm irresistible, but must you stare at me?" Draco snapped at the littlest Weasley who had been staring at him, and it had begun to get on his nerves. He watched as she snapped out of it, and then reached into her backpack, and pulled out a laptop. He was impressed; he would never have thought that a Weasley would own a laptop.
"What did you have to sell to get that?" Draco asked nastily.
"I didn't have to sell anything, I just had to save up the money from my job," she shot back calmly, too busy logging on her computer to pay much attention to him. He turned back to his own laptop to see if Fierysprite had logged on, and was happy to see that she had. She had also sent him an Instant Message, and was waiting for a reply.
Fierysprite: hey
Fierysprite: is anyone there?
Hotdragon: I'm here
Fierysprite: what took you so long to reply?
Hotdragon: sorry, I was staring off into space
Fierysprite: that's alright, hey did you know it's been a month?
Hotdragon: what do you mean?
Fierysprite: we've known each other for a month, and we agreed we'd tell each other who we were if we wanted to, do you want to?
Hotdragon: I don't know, I want to know who you are, but I kind of like being able to talk to you freely without having to worry that you'll stop talking to me because of who I am
Fierysprite: who could you possibly be that I would want to stop talking to you?
Hotdragon: you'd be surprised
Fierysprite: but you seem like such a nice person
Hotdragon: I told you this is the real me but if I told you my name, you wouldn't believe me
Fierysprite: try me
Hotdragon: no let's not reveal our identities I Fierysprite: alright maybe later
Hotdragon: maybe
Fierysprite: could you just give me a clue, like what house you're in or something
Hotdragon: my screen name is a huge clue
Fierysprite: I don't see how
Hotdragon: my first name is in it
Fierysprite: I still don't see it
Hotdragon: think about it, now you give me a clue
Fierysprite: one of my brothers is named Charlie
Hotdragon: you expect that to help me?
Fierysprite: well you're clue wasn't very helpful either
Hotdragon: okay fine
Fierysprite: so who's the girl who stalks you?
Hotdragon: I am not telling you did you really think that was going to work?
Fierysprite: no but it was worth a try
Hotdragon: no not really
Fierysprite: whatever
Fierysprite: I know you don't have a girlfriend but is there anyone you're interested in?
Draco snorted at this. Of course there were girls he was interested in, he just couldn't have them. They all hated him. He had had very few girlfriends, and they only went out with him for his money and good looks. Quite frankly, he would be willing to go out with any half-way pretty girl with a good personality, regardless of their blood or house as long as they liked him for his personality. Actually, he had candidly been glancing at Ginny Weasley, a noticed that she was no longer the gawky, awkward looking girl like she used to be. She was now a beautiful young woman. Snap out of it Draco, he berated himself, she's a Weasley and one of your worst enemies, and she'd never pay any attention to you.
Hotdragon: sure there are girls I'm interested in
Fierysprite: like who?
Hotdragon: never mind, what about you?
Fierysprite: I don't know, I'd like a boyfriend, but no one in particular
Hotdragon: oh
Draco looked a bit crestfallen at her answer. He didn't know why, but he'd been hoping against hope that she would have said Draco Malfoy. He knew it was stupid, but h it so much, that he had lost his sense of reality. All he wanted was one person who he could talk to face to face, someone who really understood him. If she would have said his name, he could have told her it was him, and then they could have become friends, and live happily ever after. Yeah right, like that would ever happen, Draco thought bitterly to himself.
Fierysprite: are you alright?
Hotdragon: yeah I'm fine, why do you ask?
Fierysprite: I don't know you just seem a little out of it, that's all. Look, I don't mean to be rude, but my friends want to talk to me, and I haven't seen them all summer, so could I talk to you later?
Hotdragon: yeah sure
Fierysprite: you're sure?
Hotdragon: I'm sure I totally understand, I'll e-mail you, alright?
Fierysprite: alright, talk to you later
Hotdragon: bye
(Fierysprite has logged off.)
Draco turned off his laptop, and turned to look out the window. It's not fair, he thought angrily, why does everyone else have friends and I don't? Why is it my father who's the cruel, power hungry father? Why did it have to be him whose father offered his son for Voldemort's dismissal? Why couldn't he have a life like Weasley's? he thought glancing at Ginny and her friends. They may not be the most well off family in the wizarding world, but at least they loved each other. Why can't I have loyal friends and a loving father, that didn't have intimate connections to the most powerful dark wizard of the time? Draco knew that he sounded like a two year old, but he couldn't help it. My life sucks, he thought before deciding to take a nap, and falling asleep almost instantly.

*~*~*~*

Ginny shut down her laptop, and then turned to her friends. She felt guilty about not talking to her friends more.
"Hey, look who finally decided to join the real world," Mackenzie said sarcastically.
"I'm sorry, you guys, I shouldn't have been on my laptop, but now I'm off, and I want to talk to you," Ginny replied earnestly. She was beginning to feel even guiltier for going on her laptop.
"It's alright, but what were you doing that was more important than us?" Michelle asked in a mock hurt voice.
Ginny quickly glanced at Draco to make sure that he wasn't paying attention, and was relieved to find he was asleep. "Well, I was talking to a guy I met in a chat room," Ginny answered her friends, smiling. Then she proceeded to tell them all about Hotdragon.
"Wow, you've been busy this past month," Michelle commented when Ginny had finished telling them about the chat room, and meeting Hotdragon.
"No kidding, she was so busy online, that she didn't even have time to hang out with me, her dearest, closest friend," Shannon said teasingly. Ginny hadn't really ignored her, actually, she had done a great job of handling her time and making Shannon feel included.
"Ginny, you did that? I can't believe you excluded your, and I quote, 'dearest and closest friend' end quote, from your conversations with your boyfriend," Mackenzie said. They were teasing her, Ginny knew, but she still felt a little guilty. Had Shannon reallyfelt left out or was it just all fun?
Seeming to read her thoughts, Shannon said," Don't worry, I'm just joking, you didn't really leave me out. You actually did a really good job of including me," Shannon said with a reassuring smile.
"I know you were just joking, but in case I did make anyone feel left out, I'm sorry," Ginny apologized sincerely.
"Oh, Gin, we're fine, don't worry. It's not as if we were totally bore out of our minds without you. We were fine, let's just forget about it," Michelle replied, hoping Ginny would stop feeling guilty and drop it.
"Alright, but enough about me, what about you, Michelle? I know you said you liked camp, but tell me more about it. What was it like? What did you do?" Ginny asked very interested because she too wanted to play Quidditch, and enjoyed the sport. So, for the rest of the train ride, Ginny and Michelle bored Shannon and Mackenzie half to death talking about every aspect of the camp and the sport.

*~*~*~*

About an hour later, Shannon and Mackenzie were relieved when the Hogwarts Express came to a stop. They both immediately stood up, and began coecting their stuff. Anything to get them away from all the Quidditch talk. It was beginning to drive them both a little insane. Ginny and Michelle were still immersed in conversation while they gathered up t heir things, and began to head out of they compartment until Ginny stopped in from of Draco and said, "Hey Malfoy, wake up, we're here." When he didn't move, she repeated it a little louder, and kicked him in the shin. That woke him up.
"What the heck was that for?" Draco asked, sounding very agitated, and yelled a string of colorful curses before beginning to collect his stuff.
Ginny and Michelle decided to get out of the compartment before Draco began looking for a bit of revenge. Not that Ginny had technically done anything wrong, all she had done was wake him up, but the way she went about it might have been considered wrong. She knew Hogwarts motto was Draco Dormiens Nanquam Titillandus, never tickle a sleeping dragon, but evidently you shouldn't kick them either. Laughing softly to herself, she stepped off the train, and onto one of the horseless carriages. Luna had always insisted that they weren't horseless, but Ginny couldn't see any horses, but that's why her nickname was Loony Love good.
Their carriage was just about to begin down the path towards Hogwarts, when someone else stepped in. It was Draco Malfoy. When he saw who else was in the carriage, he looked a little annoyed, but pretended to ignore them.
"Now, Malfoy, I know I'm irresistible, but must you follow me everywhere?" Ginny asked, doing her best imitation of his drawling, superior voice, and if she didn't say so herself, a pretty good imitation.
"Shut it, Weasley," Draco shot back a little too roughly.
"Ooh, did I strike a nerve?" Ginny asked nastily. For once in her life, Ginny Weasley had the upper hand over Draco Malfoy, and she wasn't going to let the opportunity slip away.
"I said, shut up, Weasley," this time he said it almost pleadingly, like all he really wanted was to be left alone, and it was because of this that Ginny did something else she'd never done in her life. She apologized to Draco Malfoy.
"I'm sorry, I'll leave you alone. Is anything wrong?" Ginny asked, hoping she sounded as genuine as she felt.
"Nothing's wrong," Draco replied harshly. Then in a bit warmer tone, he said something he'd never thought he'd ever say to anyone in his life, let alone a Weasley, "I accept your apology, and I'm sorry that I acted like a jerk earlier." The carriage came to a stop, and Draco got out leaving Ginny with an expression of pure shock on her face.

*~*~*~*

I can't believe I just did that, Draco thought to himself while he was walking to the castle. I never thought I'd actually let someone see that side of me, no matter how badly I wanted to. Why did I do it? Why did I risk it? Maybe because she initiated it or maybe because he'd been holding it in too long. Or maybe not, he didn't know what caused him to do it, but all he knew was that he did it, and it felt good. He was glad that he had finally let a little of his real personality show.
By the time hhad worked all of this out in his head, he had reached the Great Hall. He opened the big oak double doors, and made his way to the far end of the room where the Slytherin table was located. He took a seat at the end of the long table, farthest away from the staff table. He scanned the staff table, and noticed that the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor had not yet arrived. Then, he turned his eyes to look at the ceiling. Currently, it was just beginning to get dark, and the first stars were beginning to shine. All in all it looked very peaceful, especially compared to the chaos ensuing in the Great hall. Hagrid and a woman Draco had never seen before took their places at the Head Table. That must be the new DADA professor, Draco thought. I wonder who she is. For some reason, though, there was a strange familiarity about her that Draco couldn't place. She looked as though she was no older than 25, and she had long white-blonde hair that fell to about three-quarters down her back. She had pale skin, and pointy, aristocratic features. She also had stormy gray eyes that looked more than a little familiar. Those were the same eyes that looked back at him from the mirror every morning, only hers had a more bluish tint that made her look so much less colder than Draco's steely gray. Who is she? Draco asked himself again. It looks like I'm about to find out, directing his attention to the doors where the first years were filing in behind McGonagall, looking as composed as ever.
McGonagall called up the first first year to be sorted, Abbott, Christina, and placed the Sorting Hat on her head. After a few seconds it announced its decision. "Hufflepuff." Everyone at the Hufflepuff table cheered for their new member to welcome her. Then the Sorting continued and finally ended with Zantoni, Zachary who was sorted into Slytherin. Draco clapped along with the rest of the Slytherins, but was glad the Sorting Ceremony was over so he could find out who the new Dark Arts teacher was. He was dying to know if her eyes were just a coincidence, but he highly doubled it, eyes that color were not very common. Dumbledore stood up at the center of the Head Table, and Draco gave him his full attention, but was disappointed when Dumbledore announced, "Since the Sorting Ceremony took longer than usual, we will have the feast first, and then make announcements and introduce the new teacher."
Man, now I have to wait for everyone to finish eating before solving this mystery.

*~*~*~*

Ginny was shocked, absolutely shocked. In fact, she was so shocked that she was frozen in place. Draco Malfoy, the resident bad boy and ice man, actually apologized to me. Me, Ginny Weasley, his family's worst enemy. This is so weird. Why'd he do it? There's no real way to find out, but ask him, and quite frankly he'd probably deny ever doing. Maybe it was just a hallucination, maybe she'd wished that Malfoy would be nice be nice for so long, that her mind had shown her what she wanted. That didn't seem likely though, because from the looks of it Michelle had seen and heard it too. Amazing. Maybe he likes me. Yeah right, Gin, are you insane? she asked herself. Yeah actually,probably am because having a conversation with myself. Oh well. Maybe deep down he's really a nice person, and now he's finally letting people see. Oh, that's even more insane than the idea of him fancying you.
"Hey Gin, you coming or are you going to stay in the carriage all night thinking about Malfoy?" Michelle said, breaking out of her jumbled up, not to mention insane, thoughts.
"I'm coming," Ginny replied.
"Hey, do you know why Malfoy was acting so weird?" Michelle asked curiously.
"No idea," Ginny answered her shrugging. "You have any ideas?"
"No, not any probable ones anyway," Michelle said thoughtfully.
"Exactly, that's the same thing that happened with me, none of the options are probable."
By this time, they had entered the Great Hall, and Ginny sat down at the Gryffindor table near Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Shannon. They saw Mackenzie and Michelle at the Ravenclaw table, and waved to them.
"What took you so long to get here?" Hermione asked curiously when Ginny sat down.
Ginny was about to answer her when Professor McGonagall and the first years filed in for the Sorting Ceremony. Ginny shot Hermione a look that said, I'll tell you later and boy, you'll never believe it.
Hermione understood it perfectly, and waited impatiently for the Sorting Ceremony to end. The results were Gryffindor and Slytherin with 17, Hufflepuff with 15, and Ravenclaw with 13. Dumbledore stood up and informed everyone that the feast would be first and the rules. As soon as he sat down, Hermione turned to Ginny expectantly, along with Harry and Ron who wanted to see what Hermione was so impatient about.
"You'll never believe what happened after we left you guys to find a compartment," Ginny said enthusiastically, and continued to tell them everything from showing a compartment with Malfoy, to his shocking apology in the carriages. Once she had finished, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Shannon were totally silent. Then all at once they started talking.
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"Are you sure he wasn't being sarcastic?"
"Why on earth would Malfoy do something like that?"
"No, I'm not kidding, Ron. Yes, I'm sure he wasn't being sarcastic Harry, and I have no idea why he would do that Hermione," Ginny replied to all of their amazed and curious exclamations.
"Are you sure it was Malfoy?" Ron asked, still not believing what she was saying would have actually taken place.
"No Ron, it was Malfoy's clone," Ginny shot back sarcastically. Her brother could be extremely daft sometimes, and sometimes it could be quite exhausting.
"That's so weird. Hey, speaking of weird occurrences with Malfoy, doesn't that new teacher have more than a passing resemblance to Malfoy?" Hermione asked her voice filled with surprise.
"Yeah, Hermione you're right. She looks like she could be related to him, but he doesn't have any relatives, does he?" Ginny asked. She was beginning to be thoroughly freaked out by how the school year was going so far.

*~*~*~*

Draco atas quickly as he could, and once he had eaten as much as he possibly could without exploding, looked expectantly up at the Head Table and around the Great Hall. He saw that most of the students had finished eating. He also saw Dumbledore stand up, and clap his hands together for attention.
"I would first like to say welcome first years to Hogwarts, and I'd also like to welcome back all of the older students as well. I know some of you are eager to meet the new teacher, when he said this; he looked right at Draco, his eyes twinkling in amusement. First though, I must begin with the start of term notices. As a reminder, the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students, hence the name the Forbidden Forest. Our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has asked me to remind you that no magic is permitted in the corridors, along with many other items that are posted on his office door. Tryouts for the House Quidditch Teams will take place one week from this Friday. Sign up sheets will be posted on you Common Room bulletin boards. Now, to move on to the staff announcements. This year as some of you know, there will be two Divination teachers, Firenze, the centaur, and Professor Trelawny. I would also like to introduce to you our new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. So without further ado, I give you Professor Christina Malfoy."