Stranger to Destiny

As if it wasn't enough he'd had to fetch her from the train and lead her up here, he now had to show her the way to, of all places, Gryffindor Tower. Well if he was miserably inconvenienced, she would be too. "I believe there's someone who would like to see you," he said menacingly.

She remained cool, calm, controlled. "And who might that be?" she said, ever so nonchalantly. He didn't verbally reply, but merely sneered down at her, causing her expression to droop suspiciously. There was silence for a long while as they continued to walk down the endless stone corridors and up the innumerable staircases. She could no longer restrain herself. "Everyone would surely be in bed by now though," she said, her voice begging it to be true. "It would be rude to-to...wake anyone up."

"Ah," he said with delight, "I don't think it will be necessary to wake anyone up." She had just begun to give him a fierce look of loathing, when they rounded a corner and were greeted by a joyful shout.

"Lorrae!!!" said the boy as he darted towards her. She had barely enough time to think, Oh shit, before he came barrelling into her, embracing her as though she was his only source of oxygen in the desolate outer regions of space. "I didn't see you on the train. I looked for you though," he said, clearly terrified she would think he hadn't made an effort to meet up with her sooner.

"Oh, well...it was a busy train and..." she faded off, not even knowing why she began the sentence, let alone how to finish it. The boy beamed at her, a phenomenon very few people would ever be privileged enough to see. For when he smiled, a proper smile, not a sneer or anything to that effect, his whole face lit up with a light that his normal coldness suggested did not exist. She knew it was there though, she had seen it so many times. Ever since they were kids, every since she could remember, she had seen his face light up. Not around his mother, not around his father, not around any of the other children they counted as their friends, only her. That smile, that light, was reserved for her and only her. That was just the way Draco Malfoy looked at her.

She looked up into his face and found the corners of her mouth being tugged as well. Before she even knew it, she was hugging him, her embrace readily returned by his own.

Snape watched the display with frustration. He had expected her to do something a bit more gratifying than hug him. Maybe hex him or slap him or something, anything, that would give him the satisfaction of knowing he had angered her.

"Please tell me you're in Slytherin," Draco said, again showing a side of him that was rarely seen. She looked down at the stone floor, making a conscious effort to look upset. Draco's face fell so fast, she thought she'd have missed the transformation if she had blinked. "Well, what house are you in?" he asked, his skin transparent to his brain, which appeared to be working furiously to decide which house was second best.

"Gryffindor," she said, flicking her eyes from the floor to see his immediate reaction.

He looked thoroughly disappointed, and very slightly relieved. "Well, at least it's not Hufflepuff. They're a bunch of fat nitwits, they are," he smiled at her, clearly suppressing his indignation at her not being put in Slytherin.

"Yes, well it was a fairly difficult choice, it would seem. The hat took a remarkably long time deciding," said Snape from the shadows. Lorrae jumped, she'd forgotten he was there.

"Did it?" said Draco with little interest.

"Yes, but I suppose the hat made the right choice, in the long run," said Snape deviously. Draco looked at him scathingly, as if the prospect of her being a true Gryffindor was a downright vile thing to even imagine. Lorrae made no comment to Snape's musing. It was meant to insult her, it should have insulted her; but secretly, she hoped Snape was right.