Collision

Heather laughed lightly at a joke her mother was telling her. She was so happy. She picked up her sandwich, grilled cheese, her favorite, and bit into it.

"No, wait until your father gets home!" her mother scolded, still smiling. Heather mocked starvation, in her playful, five-year-old sense of humor. Her mother laughed, and together they started cracking up. They were interrupted, however, by a knock on the front door. Heather's mother frowned slightly, and went to look out the window. Heather watched her face as she frowned in concern at somebody standing outside in the rain. She rushed to open the clean white door.

"Who is it mommy?"

"Shush, Heather," her mother whispered harshly. Heather went silent. Her mother opened the door with slightly shaking hands. "Hello, Mr. Goyle."

"Yes," Mr. Goyle said sharply, pushing his way into the house. He took off his hat and coat, throwing the sopping wet articles on the couch, staining the furniture. Heather frowned, this man was bad news. How little she had known then.

"To what do we owe this visit?" Her mother said, looking slightly put out at his intrusion. Mr. Goyle cleared his throat and went to sit down at the kitchen table beside Heather. Heather, seeing his horrible, flabby face, got up and ran behind her mother. "Heather, that was rude. Apologize!"

"No need ma'am. I bear some sad news anyway. Your husband is dead," Goyle said, helping himself to Heather's grilled cheese. A horrible silence filled the entire house-hold, except for Goyle's large, smacking lips.

"I...you must be mistaken," the mother said. Goyle shook his head.

"A couple of Aurors got him. Just a few hours ago," he assured. Heather's mother shook her head, and then slowly, she began to fade. Her form started to deteriorate.

"Mommy!" Heather cried out, clutching at her mother's hand. "Don't leave me!" she began to wail, but soon, her mother was gone forever, never to return, and she was left clutching the air where her mother's hand had been.

"Sorry about that," Goyle said, though his voice had changed. Heather turned back to him to see that Goyle was gone, and Lucius Malfoy was in his place. "You can come join us now. My family. Your family."

"No! Your kind did this to her! You killed my mother!!" Heather yelled furiously. Lucius stood up then, towering above her. He seemed to fill up the entire room.

"You will join us! You will join me and my family! You will become what you are destined to be!" Malfoy yelled.

"NO!" Heather screamed, and she ran out the kitchen door. But as soon as she did, her feet slipped, and she began to fall. She waited to hit solid ground, but it never happened. She cried helplessly. Lucius was above her, screaming for her to return at once.

"Heather! Heather! HEATHER!"

At once Heather sat up, her heart beating terribly fast. Sweat dripped down her face, and she was breathing heavily. She was crying.

"Get up. It's time to go," a cold voice said from the doorway. Heather leapt out of bed then, the voice scaring her. She balled her hands into fists, ready to take on whoever it was. She looked and saw Lucius Malfoy leaning against the doorframe, smiling amusedly. Heather was shaking slightly, very cold now that she was out of the covers.

"Were you calling my name?" she asked, rather nervously, putting down her fists. Lucius raised a brow.

"Not that I'm aware of," he said coolly. He looked her up and down, taking in her sleeping attire. It was definitely not the normal wizarding wear. She had on shorts and a baggy tee-shirt. An outfit Lucius had only seen on Muggles. "Why are you wearing Muggle clothes?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Because they're comfortable," she said stiffly, blushing slightly. She felt naked under his penetrating gaze.

"Don't ever wear those again," he said.

"Fine, I'll sleep naked," she said boldly. "And sometimes, if I'm having a weird dream, I sleep walk." She saw his face contort in confusion. She smiled, realizing he didn't know if she was joking or not. He immediately controlled himself.

"Well, fine. But if you do sleep walk, and decide to go naked, I'm sure all of those Slytherin boys will be sure to guide you back to bed." He laughed at her disgusted face.

"Who says I'll be in Slytherin?" she asked, trying to think of something that would fluster him. This did the trick. His sneering smile vanished and was replaced by determination.

"I do. You WILL be in Slytherin. All Malfoys are," he said, and before Heather could reply, he left her alone. She sighed in relief. How she hated that guy. He always made her so uncomfortable. She looked around. She had hoped to say goodbye to Dobby before she left for her new school, but she hadn't seen him since her first day here. She wondered if Lucius had done something to him, but she shivered. She didn't want to think about the Malfoys anymore. It as bad enough having to live in their house, let alone watch as they mistreated their House-Elves. She quickly went and shut her door so she could change into her new school robes in privacy.

When she was finished dressing she put all of her new Hogwarts supplies into her trunk, squeezing them in so they fit. She went down, very nervous, not only because of the disturbing dream she had had, but because she was about to plunge into a brand new school where everything would be completely new to her, where as the other seventh years would be used to the way things worked and so on.

When she entered the kitchen she saw Damien, Lucius' father. In truth, she had only seen him during meal-times, and he only spoke to her when he seemed to be trying to convince her of something. The entire family seemed to be assuring her every second that Pure-Bloods were better than Mud-Bloods, and Slytherin was the best house, and a load of other stuff Heather found quite suffocating. She pretended to agree with what Damien said only because she was too afraid to stand up to him.

"Good morning, everyone," Heather said brightly, trying to lighten the mood slightly. Nobody answered her, and she would have wondered if she had said it loud enough, except that Cordelia had stopped in her cooking breakfast to stare. Heather smiled at her, but Cordelia looked hurriedly aware, glancing side-ways at her husband. Heather had gotten the feeling that Cordelia wasn't all that bad, but was terrified of Damien. Heather at times had felt sorry for her. The only time Heather had ever seen her slightly happy was when she was playing piano.

Heather sat down opposite Lucius, who was staring at her in her new school robes. Heather glared at him, and then looked away rather nervously. She hated her cousin.

After a very stressed breakfast, with Cordelia bustling around constantly, rushing here and there to get anything that Lucius or Damien asked of her Damien stood up, and, without warning, Apparated. Heather stared.

"Where did he go? Doesn't he have to take us to the train station?" Heather asked wildly. Lucius rolled his eyes.

"He went to work. And he won't be taking us to the train station, we'll be Apparating by ourselves," he said as if talking to a three year-old. Heather stared.

"Apparate? But...I've never been there! How am I supposed to Apparate to a place I can't picture in my mind?" Heather said, but just as she said it, Lucius pulled out a picture of a train station.

"There, now you have a picture, see you there," Lucius said and then he was gone. Heather stared in shock. She looked pleadingly at Cordelia, but she received only a cold stare of expectation. Mustering up all of her determination, she picked up her trunk and focused on the picture. Then she closed her eyes and imagined herself standing in that station next to the Hogwarts train. She felt herself being pulled forward, and then, next second, she was hurled onto the ground, trunk and all. She was surprised, however, when she didn't hit a hard ground. Something had cushioned her fall. She blinked and looked around. Well, she had made it. People in Hogwarts robes were bustling around like crazy, rushing to get a compartment.

"Excuse me, but would you mind getting off me?" a deep, rich voice asked sarcastically. Heather jumped, and looked down. She was lying on a person!

"Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I can't believe...please I didn't mean..." she stuttered out, leaping up. As she stood up, so did the person she had landed on. Her eyes widened, he was the most handsome guy she had ever seen! He had dark brown locks, rather longer than was average, but not too long. It was slightly wavy and hung to a little below his ears. A forelock constantly seemed to fall in his eyes, and he would brush it back irritably. He had dark brown eyes, sparkling with amusement at the moment. But as Heather looked deeper, she could see that there was a deep hurt, and an understanding, caring person beneath the mask of unconcern. Her apologies trailed off as she stared. She realized he must think her an idiot for staring so openly, but she couldn't tear her gaze away.

Sirius smiled devilishly. Never had he been so pleased to cushion somebody's fall before. He had been prepared to give the person a piece of his mind, that is, until he realized that the person was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. He stared into her innocent blue eyes, they showed her entire personality. He almost snorted; this girl wore her heart on her sleeve. His first thought was that it would be easy for somebody to toy with her emotions; his second was that he would never let that happen.

Heather realized that they had been staring at each other for a very long time. Most unnatural. She tried to back away, but tripped over her trunk. She started falling backwards, but a large hand rested itself on her back, steadying her. Her entire body was shocked as if by a bolt of lightening. It started where his hand had touched her, coursing through the rest of her body, awakening feelings inside of her she didn't know she had.

Sirius immediately pulled his hand away, also feeling the strange attraction. Of course, he had felt this feeling with hundreds of girls, but never like this. And he hadn't even spoken to her yet! He decided to start.

"Are you alright?" he asked. She just nodded. What was wrong with him?! He was Sirius Black! Marauder, chick magnet, hottest guy in Hogwarts! Here he was unable to think of anything intelligent to say in front of this girl. This was definitely a first.

"Yeah, I'm fine. You?" she asked, her voice trying to sound light. He nodded.

"Never better. It's not often a guy gets plowed into the Earth by an angel," he said. Then he nearly threw up. Did he really just say that?! How corny! Sirius Black was never corny! "I'm Sirius Black," he said, sticking his hand out eagerly. Heather took it.

"I'm Heather Malfoy," she said. As soon as she had said her last name, however, he jerked his hand back, his face contorting in horror.

"You're a Malfoy?!" he practically yelled. She closed her eyes. She should have expected this.

"Yeah," she said. "But..." however she didn't get to finish as Lucius walked to her.

"What are you doing, Heather?" he said dangerously, looking at Sirius. Sirius practically growled. "You don't want to talk to him. He is a Mud-Blood lover. We aren't like that." Just then, as if sensing trouble, three more people came up from behind Sirius. They were all glaring at Lucius.

"Is there a problem? Malfoy?" a tall boy with glasses asked.

"Not at all," Lucius said. "Just the fact that Black was trying to talk to my cousin. He should know better. She is a Malfoy, and has no time for blood traitors," and with that, he grabbed Heather's arm roughly, leading her away. Heather struggled wildly.

"Get off of me!" she whispered venomously. Finally he let her go. She turned to see Sirius Black and his friends leaving. "How dare you?! I am allowed to talk to whoever I want!"

"You are not! You are a Malfoy, and you will not disgrace the family name. I forbid you to talk to any of the Maruaders."

"Who are the Marauders?" Heather asked hotly.

"James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and the boy you were talking to, Sirius Black," Lucius explained. "Come, you will meet my friends."

"I want nothing to do with your friends," Heather said and began walking away. Lucius growled in fury, grabbing her arm once again.

"You will, or I will make you," he said, putting his face inches from hers. Heather's face struggled not to show her inner fear.

"What could you do to me?" she said, shaking slightly.

"Have you ever heard of the Cruciotus Curse? I'm sure that wouldn't have escaped your orphanage tutoring."

"I...you...you wouldn't dare!" Heather said, trying not to cry. Would he really do that to her?

"I would dare. And trust me, once you are sorted into Slytherin, you will find nobody willing to go against me. I rule the Slytherins. I am the leader, and they will do anything I say. So will you," he said. Heather really was crying now. What could she do? She had no doubt that he was like a leader to all of the Slytherins. And she had no doubt of his determination. She looked at the train sadly, and her eyes caught Sirius Black looking at her. He was glaring, not at Lucius, but at her. His face conveyed openly the fact that he thought she was like her cousin. She hadn't really been able to explain that she wasn't like that, but he didn't have to jump to conclusions. He was in the wrong, not she. Or was she in the wrong? She could have said something in front of Sirius, instead of waiting to be hauled off by Malfoy. She closed her eyes in distress. Whoever that was, Sirius Black, she had felt something she had never felt before. Already Lucius had ruined her chance of having a freind.

Sirius stared out the window, glaring. That girl had betrayed him. He had felt something magical for this girl, and she was a Malfoy. There was no doubt in his mind that she was just like all the other Malfoys. It's not like she tried to stop Lucius...at least not in his presence. She was just like his own family...obsessed with Pure-Blood.

He watched as she boarded the train. He had to get this girl off his mind. She was bad news. She was a Muggle hater. She was a Malfoy.

A/N: I really like this story so far. I like it much better than all of my other stories. this one isn't going to be so rushed. I would really like some reviews. It's not that hard, just go down to that little box and let me know what you think! Please?!? It is Christmas after all!!