Captured By A Dragon

Chapter One: September First

Draco Malfoy was a boy of many mysteries. No one knew much about him, what he liked and disliked, or his favorite color. No one knew the real Draco. No one cared.

Draco was sitting in a train compartment on the Hogwarts Express, the train rattling along its tracks. The sun was setting in the dark blue sky, and the mountains were now becoming dimmer in the black shadows.

Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, Draco's thick-headed companions, were no longer Draco's bodyguards, had they finally decided they'd rather have real friends, not a friend who bossed them around.

Draco didn't care, anyway. Crabbe and Goyle were just plain stupid, and Draco didn't need to consort with such people. His father always told him to have an intelligent friend so they'd do his homework for him. Crabbe and Goyle didn't really fit those standards.

Suddenly, in Draco's thinking, his compartment door slammed open. Draco whipped his head around and the first thing he saw was red. Red hair. A Weasley.

Not just any Weasley, but the youngest, and the only daughter.

Ginny closed the door shut, not even noticing Draco was in the compartment at that time. She only found out when she turned around.

"Malfoy!" she said. "What are you doing in here? I thought this was empty."

Draco smirked.

"Obviously not," he told her, amused with her frightened face. "Now get out of here."

Ginny scowled at Draco.

"Have you ever been civilized?" she asked coldly. Draco's smirk vanished off his face.

"I told you to get out!" he yelled, getting up out of his seat; he found that he was only about two inches taller than Ginny.

"Fine," Ginny said, not in the least bit scared this time. She left the compartment, and Draco sat back down, fuming.

Who did she think she was, asking him if he was civilized? Of course he was civilized. Well, at least he thought he was. He had never had any genuine friends, not really. All of his friends were only friends with him because of his father. Truthfully, Draco wanted to be a normal wizard without any family complications.

Of course, Draco would never admit this to anyone. Who WOULD he admit it to, anyway? The wall?

**********

As the Hogwarts Express rolled down the valley on its train tracks, Virginia Weasley was thinking in her train compartment. She was thinking about Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin boy who meant nothing to her.....or so she thought.

"He IS cute," she whispered to herself.

Suddenly, Ginny realized what she just said, and mentally slapped herself. She closed her eyes tightly.

'Where did THAT come from?' she thought.

Ginny opened her eyes again and looked out of the compartment window.

'What am I saying? DRACO MALFOY? As if! Even if I DID like him, how could he ever like me back? I'm a little Weasley. But then again, I'm 16!'

Ginny shook her head and kept on looking out of the compartment window, watching the passing mountains. It was fairly dark, and they were almost there.

Right when Ginny thought about this, the Hogwarts Express started slowing down, and the Hogsmeade train station came into vision, barely seen in the dark.

The train then came to a complete stop, and Ginny got up out of her seat. She opened the compartment door and walked out of the train onto the platform.

The first thing Ginny saw was the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Rubeus Hagrid.

"Hello, Hagrid," she said quietly, looking up at him.

"Hello, Ginny. Excited this year?" Hagrid asked.

"Not really."

"There's a new girl this year," Hagrid told her. "She transferred from Beauxbatons. She's in 7^th year."

Ginny was keenly interested.

"What's her name?" she questioned.

"Dunno. Blank somethin'. French," said Hagrid.

Before Ginny could say anything in response, the rest of the Hogwarts students started coming out of the train onto the platform, and Ginny saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione get out right near her.

"Oh, there you are, Ginny," Ron said to her once her saw her. "We didn't know where you were."

Ginny smiled at her brother and walked over to him.

"So....." she said, trailing off.

"Did you hear, Ginny?" said Ron suddenly, making Ginny jump. "Harry asked Cho Chang out!"

At this, Harry blushed a deep rose-red.

"Ron, you don't have to tell the whole world," he said.

Ginny's jaw dropped. CHO CHANG? How could Harry ask HER out? Wasn't she that ditz who wore so much makeup you couldn't even see her face?

"But isn't she out of school?" Ginny asked.

"Nah, she got held back last year," said Ron, looking off into the sky.

Ginny smiled to herself. What an idiot!

"Shall we go to the carriages?" she said to them after an awkward silence.

"Yes," said Hermione, and they all made their way to one of the carriages, pulled by invisible horses. Since they had talked, there were only two carriages left for them.

"Whoa, how did we get held back so far?" Ron laughed.

"Hello!" came a voice from one of the carriages. It was Neville, accompanied by Dean and Seamus.

"We have room for about three more," said Dean, looking around the carriage. "Who wants to join?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately opened the carriage door, leaving Ginny behind.

"What about me?" she said loudly, feeling like they ditched her on purpose. Ron turned around.

"You can go in the other one, Gin," he told her, and he closed the carriage door behind him. The carriage rode off towards Hogwarts, and Ginny was now left alone with only one carriage left.

"Fine, you can leave me out here, who cares anyway?" Ginny muttered, and she started walking towards the last carriage. As she opened the carriage door, she saw someone was already sitting in it.

"Malfoy!" she yelped. "Is this going to be a continuous cycle?"

Malfoy looked over to her, clearly shocked by her appearance.

"Who said you could come in here? Aren't there any OTHER carriages?" he said portentously*.

"No, you took the last one," Ginny told him, getting into the carriage and closing the door.

"Great," mumbled Malfoy. The carriage took off, and Ginny looked over at him.

"Er --- I heard there's a new girl in your year," she said, trying to make conversation. Malfoy stared at her.

"Are you actually TALKING to me, Weasley? I don't think I gave you permission, did I?" he spat.

Ginny frowned at him.

"I don't NEED permission to talk to you, Malfoy. How could you be so uncouth*?" she said in a menacing tone.

Malfoy scowled.

"Weasley, you don't even deserve to be speaking to me, I don't go as low as that," he told her, trying to get her upset.

Ginny refused to become angry, however.

"Oh, really? And all this time, I thought you could," she said sarcastically.

Malfoy squinted his eyes at her, and did not say anything more.

**********

As the carriage rolled along the muddy Hogwarts grounds, Draco couldn't help but wonder why Ginny was looking so beautiful.

'WHAT DID YOU JUST THINK?' said the little voice in Draco's head. 'YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS! SHE'S A WEASLEY! YOU HAVE A REPUTATION TO KEEP!'

Draco shook his head. How could he ever think that? GINNY WEASLEY? The thought of it made him want to vomit.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the carriage came to a stop, and Ginny slowly got out of it, looking at Draco before stepping out. Draco sighed and got out of the carriage, seeing that Ginny was opening the front doors of the Hogwarts castle.

Draco walked slowly to the front doors and opened them up, walking into the castle. He went to the Great Hall, strutted in, and sat at the Slytherin table.

"Hello," said Blaise Zabini (which will be a boy in this fic), another Slytherin.

"Hi," Draco replied stiffly. He wasn't really in the mood to talk; all he wanted to do was eat and then go to bed, considering he was very tired.

"Look at that!" Blaise suddenly exclaimed, pointing at the Great Hall doors.

Draco turned his head to where Blaise was pointing, and the first years were coming through, looking very scared. There was one there, however, who was about two feet taller than all of them.

A radiant girl with dark brown hair and an amazing face was in the line of first years, no certain emotion on her face. She looked around the Great Hall, eyeing everyone with a sort of resentment.

"She doesn't look very happy, does she?" said Draco to Blaise.

"It's probably because she's from Beauxbatons. They all were pretty snobbish about Hogwarts," Blaise responded.

"Who wouldn't be?" Draco said. "This place is a complete joke. Durmstrang would be so much better."

Blaise decided not to reply, and Draco watched as the first years walked to the High Table.

"When I call your name, put the Sorting Hat on your head," said Professor McGonagall loudly, holding up the Sorting Hat. "Then, once it calls out your House, you may sit down at that table."

"Borgan, Jennifer!"

A trembling little girl stepped up and sat on the stool, looking out at all of the students in the Great Hall. Professor McGonagall put the Sorting Hat on her head, and the girl started to tremble even more.

"No song?" asked Draco, surprised.

"Apparently not," Blaise said quietly, not looking at him.

Suddenly, the Sorting Hat made its decision.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Great Hall clapped, and Jennifer Borgan went to go sit at the Hufflepuff table, now smiling. After the applause quieted down, Professor McGonagall called out the next student to be sorted.

"du Gris, Blanc!"

At that moment, the girl that Draco and Blaise were talking about walked forward to the front of the group and sat down onto the stool, clearly not impressed with the Sorting Ceremony.

Professor McGonagall then sat the Sorting Hat on her head, and the whole Great Hall waited in bated breath. Then, out of the blue, the Sorting Hat started to talk aloud.

"Hm.....right. You have a lot of temper, I see. Ambitious, yes. Slytherin would be good.....but maybe Ravenclaw as well. Definitely not Hufflepuff, I can tell you that.....right. Gryffindor would not suit you.....cunning and sly.....hm....I'd say.....SLYTHERIN!"

At the Sorting Hat's words, the girl slid off the stool and went to go sit at the Slytherin table, which was the only table clapping loud and hard. The rest of the Great Hall seemed to be apathetic* by the House she was sorted into.

Once the clapping died down, Professor McGonagall called out another name, and another.

"RAVENCLAW!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"GRYFFINDOR!

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"RAVENCLAW!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"SLYTHERIN!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Soon, there was only one first year left.

"Zimmerman, Leslie!" Professor McGonagall barked.

After the girl was declared a Ravenclaw, she ran to her table and Professor Dumbledore stood up, making the Great Hall go silent.

"Yet another year!" he said, smiling at them all, the same twinkle in his eye. "May you all have a wonderful time here! Dig in!"

Dumbledore sat back down, and Draco saw that the plates in front of him had already filled up with tons of food.

*********

As the desserts cleared, Dumbledore stood up once more.

"Now that we have all been energized with food and drink, I am sorry to tell you all that you must lie down to rest. Goodnight!"

Ginny stood up, her belly full of chicken, mashed potatoes, biscuits, peas, and chocolate éclairs. She was very tired, and she was ready to fall asleep in seconds.

Ginny walked out of the Great Hall and walked up to Gryffindor Tower. Once she reached the Fat Lady, she looked up at her.

"Can you tell me the password? I'm all alone," she said.

"Absolutely not!" the Fat Lady shrieked. "I don't even know if you're a Gryffindor!"

Ginny frowned.

"I'm a 6^th year! You should know me by now!" she screeched.

The Fat Lady, obviously, was not happy with this.

"It's 'lemon drop', but don't expect me to tell you that next time!" she said angrily as she opened up.

Ginny sighed and walked through the portrait hole and into the common room. No one was in there at the time, and Ginny supposed they were up in bed already.

She crept up to her dormitory, changed into her pajamas, got into her bed, and fell asleep faster than you could say 'sleeping pill'.