Attraction of a Secret

As Coby Marquez passed through the barrier to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, she bumped into her cousin and her trunk, owl-cage, and various sundry items spilled onto the ground. "Sorry about that," she apologized, raising her eyebrows when she realized who he was.

"Watch where you're going, you little brat," the young man said dispassionately as he helped Coby gather her things together and place them back on her cart.

"No need to do that--" she replied.

"How pleasant of you to tell me so," her cousin interrupted.

"--You may just put them straight on the train, Draco," Coby finished. At his look of disgusted incredulity, she smiled sunnily and added, "If it's not too much trouble, of course."

Draco rolled his eyes, but ultimately helped his little cousin with her bags. After he had helped her load everything on the train, he said, “Okay, Colubra. You’re welcome for helping with your bags. Now sod off, I’m a prefect this year and I have to go up to the front of the train. I probably won’t see you much this year, so good luck, you grungy Gryffindor underclassman,” he said with a sneer.

“I’m sure we’ll see loads of each other, you slimy Slytherin prefect,” Coby returned with a wink.

As Draco boarded the train, Coby heard footsteps behind her. She whipped around to see Dean Thomas, her boyfriend and sometime champion.

He broke into a toothy smile as he exclaimed, “Colubra Marquez, my love! My devious little minx! My sunrise and sunset!”

“Dean, you are an unabashed flatterer, do you know that?” Coby said between giggles.

“And you are my sly, witty, vivacious wad of art,” Dean proclaimed, and bent down to kiss Coby thoroughly on the lips.

“I’m your wad of art? That’s a new one,” Coby replied appreciatively, then stood on the tips of her toes to peck him on the cheek. “I’ve got to find Ginny,” She said suddenly, “I forgot to do my Arithmancy problems and she’s got all the answers.”

“You really need to work on your study habits, you know,” Dean remonstrated.

“I know, but there are so many other, more wonderful things to do than to do homework! Oh, there’s Ginny, she’s over with Ron and Harry. Let’s go say hello,” Coby suggested to Dean.

“Sure, why not?” Dean replied.

The couple talked to Ron, Harry, and Ginny for a while. Coby noticed that Ginny was surprisingly articulate around Harry, and wasn’t afraid to razz him playfully for not owling her over the summer. Clearly, Ginny had either gotten over Harry or was mature enough to deal with her feelings sensibly. Either way, Coby was proud of her best friend.

The train’s whistle blew at that moment, and there was a mad scramble for the Hogwarts Express. Coby, with her short stature and small frame, nearly got trampled, despite her loud shouts of “Short girl coming through! Make way!” However, Ginny, who had grown much taller over the summer, kept the compact witch’s hand and didn’t let it go until both of them were safely on the train.

Coby smiled, which was a familiar sight to all who knew her. “This is where we part ways, Ginny. Thanks for helping me get on the train!”

Ginny called Coby back, confused. “Aren’t you going to sit with me, like you do every year?”

Coby looked back apologetically. “I’m really sorry, Ginny, but seeing Dean reminded me that I promised I’d sit with him and Seamus and Parvati this trip. I promised him I would at the end of last year. Why don’t you go and sit with Colin?”

Ginny pulled a face. “Not bloody likely. He’s sitting with Dennis, Neville, and Eloise Midgen.”

Coby tried again. “That’s rough. Well, what about your brother?”

With a roll of her eyes, Ginny replied, “He’s sitting with Fred and George and Lee. Plotting to start the year with a bang, no doubt.”

Coby furrowed her brown eyebrows in concentration. “Er, what about Harry and Hermione? Oh, that’s right, they’re prefects this year. They get their own compartment. But Hannah, Susan, and Sally-Anne should have some room in theirs.”

“You can’t honestly believe that I’ll willingly sit with those three airheads for the six-hour train ride to Hogwarts,” Ginny said with an incredulous tone.

“It’s better than sitting with Draco,” Coby pointed out, “As he’s the only other person with any room in his compartment. He’s a prefect, besides.”

Ginny wrinkled her nose. “I’d rather not. And I still don’t understand how you can call him Draco.”

“He’s been my cousin for fifteen years, Ginny, and I’ve only been at Hogwarts for four years. I can’t very well break an eleven-year long habit. Besides, why do you all insist on calling him Malfoy, anyway?” Coby asked.

“Malfoy is easier to say in a negative tone. It sounds like you’re spitting it out. ‘Malfoy.’ See? Whereas Draco sounds like something one would say in the throes of passion, like this: ‘Oh, DRACO!’”

Ginny blushed furiously as she suddenly realized that she and Coby were standing right in the middle of the aisle of the car and that anyone in the whole car could have heard them. “Erm...” she started.

“Never mind. Come in here,” Coby whispered as she pulled Ginny into the compartment she was sharing with Dean, Seamus, and Parvati.

Parvati looked oddly at Ginny. “Was that you who screamed just now, Ginny? I had no idea that you and Malfoy were--”

“No, no, they’re not,” Coby explained, “There’s nothing going on between Ginny and Draco. She was simply illustrating to me why all the Gryffindors call him Malfoy.”

“I never understood why you don’t,” Seamus commented.

Coby rolled her eyes. “He’s my cousin, Seamus. His mum and my mum are sisters. His mum’s maiden name is Alcayaga, and my mum’s maiden name was, too. Can’t you see the family resemblance?” Coby sat down.

“Now that I think about it, your nose looks kind of like Malfoy’s...” Seamus trailed off.

“I’ll remember you said that, the next time you insult Draco’s nose,” Coby noted with a smirk.

“Ah ha! The smirk! It’s a Malfoy smirk. I’d recognize it anywhere,” Parvati proclaimed.

“The smirk is learned, not inherited, I’m sure. My mother doesn’t smirk, anyway. Uncle Lucius, Aunt Narcissa, and Draco used to visit a lot when I lived in Spain, and I must have gotten it from them. Oh, well. It’s a nasty habit, but I can’t unlearn it, so I’ll just deal,” Coby sighed.

“But your hair looks nothing like Malfoy’s,” Ginny commented, playing with the loose strands.

“I get my hair from my father,” Coby replied, shaking her two long, dark brown braids at her, making her too-long fringe fall in her eyes. “But my eyes I get from Aunt Narcissa, see?”

Seamus leaned in to see Coby’s face, examining her gray-blue eyes. “They’re bluer than Malfoy’s, but almond shaped, just like his. There’s definitely a resemblance.”

Coby, tired of the examination, declared, “Now that we’ve established that I am, in fact, Malfoy’s cousin, could we please drop the subject? It’s kind of awkward. I mean, he’s not exactly your favorite person, and with some people it’s difficult to explain why we’re so friendly...”

“Don’t worry about it, Coby,” Dean said soothingly, “Let’s talk about something else. So, how about that West Ham side?”

Coby, Seamus, Parvati, and Ginny rolled their eyes and sighed.

“No, seriously,” Dean insisted, “They’ve got this new striker who’s absolutely brilliant.”

“What’s a striker?” Ginny asked with interest.

“Well, a striker is kind of like a chaser, they score goals. But the chaser also does a lot of midfielder work, which is basically moving the ball to the striker,” Dean explained.

Oddly, the person that the majority of the people in that compartment disliked the most was the one to save them from a certain doom: Death by Dean’s Football Analyses.

At that moment, Draco Malfoy entered the compartment.