Because Sometimes Opposites Attract - Draco Malfoy Fanfic

Chapter 1

I was nervous. Really nervous. I never knew how to behave when I was confronted with new situations, I never knew how to act. And this situation was definitely something new. Changing schools, that was something I had always hoped to avoid in my life because I was terrible at making new friends. Safe to say, I was not only nervous, but afraid too.

I had been told to look for the brick wall between platforms nine and ten. And I had found it but I doubted that you could just run through it. I rather suspected that I would just run into it and hit my head. Really, really hard.

My mum had probably been joking. So I sat down on my suitcase and ran my fingers through my hair. I sighed. I was lost and I was desperate and I had no idea what to do. I couldn't just run towards that brick wall, people were going to think I was insane. Why hadn't my mum told me what I actually needed to do? Or why hadn't Corey told me? Well, I guessed he wouldn't really have known himself, considering he was at Durmstrang and they didn't get there by train.

I inhaled deeply and put my owl's cage on the ground, looking around. I had no clue how to go on from here. If there was a platform 9 ¾ (which sounded strange enough already), why wasn't there a sign that only we could see, invisible for muggles? I was so confused.

Suddenly, I saw two boys with trolleys pass me, one had a cage with a cat and the other had a toad in his hand. They approached the brick wall, then started running towards it, not stopping, the one with the toad looked around and then they were gone. I jumped and rose to my feet. I walked to the other side of the brick wall but they were nowhere to be seen. So it had worked for them, why wouldn't it work for me? This was so strange. I gathered up all my strengh and took the cage and my suitcase, looking around if anybody was watching me do this. Then I ran towards the wall. When I was supposed to hit it, I closed my eyes.

I opened them again and then there it was, the Hogwarts Express. I was blown away, that shit had really worked. I saw a few other kids my age, also some younger and older ones, chatting, saying goodbye to their families. I smiled to myself. I had made it. I had already said goodbye to Corey and my dad at home, then mum had dropped me off at the station with her car before work. My family was of pure blood but I didn't care about that, I didn't think we were better than muggle-borns or half-blood families. And my parents liked to fit in in the muggle world so they had normal jobs and magical jobs, drove cars and had muggle friends who didn't know about them being magical. I hated when people at my old school had had something against muggle-borns or half-bloods, I had always defended them, I still did. But I had been bullied too, not because of my blood status but because of some other things. I took a deep breath. That was over, it didn't matter anymore. I was about to start new.

I got on the train and glanced into the compartments one by one, walking by but there was at least one person in each one already. If only I had not taken so long before running into the damn wall. Once I had made it to the end of the train, I didn't want to go all the way back so I decided to just knock on the last door, be brave and ask if I could sit there. A boy with dark hair sat on the right side, by the window. It was the one with the toad that I had watched running through the wall earlier.

"Hi..." I stuttered nervously but he looked just as anxious as me. "Do you mind if I sit here or are you waiting for somebody?" "No, of course, I'm not waiting for anybody, sit down" he babbled and I sat down opposite him, putting my suitcase on the ground and my owl cage into the seat next to me. I ran my fingers through my hair nervously and smiled at the boy. "I'm Neville" he said quietly, only glancing up at me every other second. "Nice to meet you, I'm Samatha" I replied and shook his hand. He smiled too, more confident now. "I like that name" he said. "Thanks, it was my grandmother's. But you can call me Sam." "Alright, nice to meet you too, Sam. I've never seen you around before, are you new?" I nodded. "Yeah, I used to go to another school but now I'm changing." "Why?" "It's a long story but I don't really fancy talking about it." He nodded. "Okay, I understand" he said with a smile and I was happy he didn't ask any further questions about it. I looked into his eyes, he still looked a little shy even though we were talking normally. His hair was dark and curly and he was a little chubby. He seemed sweet though.

"Are you in year five as well?" I asked, hoping I had already found someone in my year. "Yeah, I guess you'll be sorted into a house with the first years today though" he said. "A house?" I questioned. "Yeah, we have four different houses at Hogwarts. There's Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." "Now you've completely lost me" I laughed. There seemed to be a lot to learn and I was happy that I was already talking to someone who could explain some of it to me. "It's about your character, your views and your mind, your personality. You share common rooms with your house and the dorms and at the end of the year one house wins the house cup." "And how does a house win this house cup?" "For right answers in class or being very nice or helpful, you earn points for your house. If you get in trouble or play pranks, you lose points." I nodded, starting to understand. "Thanks for explaining this to me, sorry for my weird questions" I apologized. Neville smiled. "No, you're welcome. I can imagine how you must feel, changing schools and everything. And I admit, it is confusing if you're not here from year one. And I'm happy to help, also thanks for the company." I smiled too. "You're welcome." I wondered if he had any friends because he was sitting by himself. He was such a nice guy though. "Any other advice for me? Things I need to know here?" I asked carefully. Neville smiled. "Yeah, hope you won't get sorted into Slytherin house." I laughed. "Why?" "Because that's where the bad people come from." "What are you talking about?" "Almost everyone there is ... bad. You know, it has to do with you-know-who as well." I nodded slowly. I was sensitive when it came to that subject, it always made me shiver. "Okay..." "He was a Slytherin himself when he went here." "Okay, I understand" I said. "And then there's this really mean group of kids in our year you should watch out for, Malfoy and his friends." "What about them?" "They're bullies, think they can make fun of everyone. Especially muggle-borns. But they also bully me even though I'm pure-blood." "I guess I don't want to meet them then" I said, already sensing a déjà vu from my old school. Also, I didn't like the thought of Neville being bullied. He looked uncomfortable talking about it and I knew how he must've felt because I knew what it was like to be bullied.

"What are you?" he asked. "What do you mean?" "Well, your blood status. Not that I judge but I'm just wondering" he smiled. "I'm pure-blood too but my parents try to live in the muggle world without being noticed. They're very fascinated with the muggles and their technology." Neville laughed. I wasn't so scared anymore now. At least I knew someone nice already. So this year probably would not turn out to be as bad as I had expected.