In The Shadows² ★ Draco Malfoy

*Hogwarts Express

"I promise dad," she said "But why? What's going on?"

"Nothing," he said, but she could see he was lying by the worry in his eyes "Nothing, honey, just look after yourself for me and you can write to me anytime"

"Good," she smiled and gave her dad a hug before they rejoined the Weasley clan

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," said Charlie, grinning, as hehugged Ginny good-bye. 

"Why?" asked Fred "You'll see. Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it.. . it's 'classifiedinformation, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all." 

"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," said Bill, hands in hispockets, looking  wistfully at the train. 

"Why?" asked George 

"You're going to have an interesting year," He continued. "I mighteven get time off to come and watch a bit of it." 

"A bit of what?" asked Ron.But at that moment, the whistle blew, and Mrs. Weasley chivvied them toward thetrain doors. 

"Thanks for having us to stay, Mrs. Weasley," said Hermione

"Thank you!" Briar smiled

"Yeah, thanks for everything, Mrs. Weasley," added Harry. 

"Oh it was my pleasure, dears," said Mrs. Weasley. "I'd invite you for Christmas,but...well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with. . . onething and another." 

"Mum!" said Ron irritably. "What do you three know that we don't?" 

"You'll find out this evening, I expect," said Mrs. Weasley, smiling. "It's going tobe very exciting - mind you, I'm very glad they've changed the rules -" 

"What rules?" said Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Briar all together 

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you. . . . Now, behave, won't you? Won'tyou, Fred? And you, George?" 

The pistons hissed loudly and the group of kids jumped into their compartments, leaning out the window and watching as Mrs.Weasley, Bill, and Charlie sped away from them. 

After a few hours of Henry's constant questions Briar decided she needed a breather so she made her way out of their compartment and to the bathroom, but on her way back one of the compartments just ahead opened and a blonde-haired teenager stepped out, nearly walking into her

"Watch yourself, Lupin," Malfoy chuckled 

"Could say the same to you, Malfoy," She replied and he closed his compartment door behind him. He brushed past her and she hoped that meant she could return to her own compartment but he grabbed one of her arms and pulled her along with him

He ignored all her questions of where they were going until he suddenly pulled her into an empty compartment and pulled down the blinds of the door and window

"Listen," He sighed "That letter I sent it. I shouldn't have. I don't want you to think I care about you or anything"

"Don't worry, I know you don't care about anyone but yourself!" Briar snapped 

"Hang on that came out wrong" He interrupted and held out a hand "I do care about other people but I don't want you to think I care about you like that"

"Thanks," she drawled "So if you don't care about me like that then why did you write to me?"

Draco ran a hair through his perfectly styled blonde hair, messing it up a bit, and Briar thought it actually looked better like this. But she quickly shook the thought out of her head. 

"I wanted to know if you were alive," He admitted "Out of all your friends you're the most tolerable so I guess I wanted to see if you were alive"

"Ok, well, thanks," She chuckled "I'm going to go then," She left him alone in that compartment and went back to her own, where it seemed like Henry had finally run out of breath so Ginny was wearing a relieved smile

"What took you so long?" Henry asked her

"Malfoy found me," she sighed and flopped down onto the cushioned seats

"What did he want?" Ginny asked sympathetically

"To be a prat of course" She replied and the other two laughed. But during the remainder of the journey on the train, Briar found her mind wandering back to Draco's words, but also her dad's. She could tell that there was something different about this year already.