I was dreaming, if you can call it that, about Cedric. I was there with Harry, in the graveyard that he told us about, watching as Peter Pettigrew pulled out his wand and screamed the words. 'AVADA KEDAVRA!" I try to scream but there isn't a noise as Cedric's soul disappears from his eyes and his body falls to the ground. I rush to his side, shake him with my hands and beg for him to come back. 'Cedric, you're my best friend. Please Cedric.' In the dream, tears spill from my eyes and I cry simultaneously in reality too. Cedric stares back up at me as I rock his body in my arms and beg him not to be dead.
Suddenly, Harry and Peter Pettigrew are gone from the graveyard and I'm alone. I blink for a second and Cedric's body has disappeared too. I can sense his presence before I stand and turn around. The air goes cold and a shiver goes down my spin. I turn, and face Voldemort as Harry did. 'Juliet, join my side. Your magic is way beyond the regular abilities of a witch your age. Join me and let me teach you everything. With me you'll be the greatest witch to walk the earth. Your parents and siblings will be sorry that they were ever cruel to you. Join me and rule...' I know it's only a dream but his voice sounds so real. It's like a snake, slithering and slimy, hissing at me. Voldemort holds out his white hand for me, so pale that it's unnatural, and beckons for me to take it. 'Join me, join me.'
I'm thrown awake before I can take his hand by the screeching of Athena. She seems incredibly flustered in her cage and pecks impatiently at the handle, desperate to be let out. My body is dripping with sweat and the tears that spilled in the dream are real. My face is sticky.
My watch tells me that it's 6 o'clock. Breakfast is served at 7 and my first lesson is at 8. Therefore I have a bit of time for a shower. I let Athena out of her cage and she soars out of the small window of my private bedroom. It's unusual for her to be so restless, perhaps she could sense my fear in the dream and mirrored it.
With a sigh I grab my towel from my trunk that I have yet to unpack and open the small door to the tiny bathroom that the Slytherin Prefects share. I make sure to lock both of the small doors so that Draco doesn't come marching in whilst I'm in the shower. I take a hair tie from around my wrist and tie my hair back so that it doesn't get wet. I turn the ancient taps in the wall and water comes rushing from the ceiling in one corner of the room where the ground is slightly sunken and the water drains out. I take off my dirty pyjamas and throw them into one of the washing baskets, the one labelled 'Weasley' and climb into the shower.
A charm automatically makes it the perfect temperature that the washer wants, so for me it's half way between scorching hot and freezing cold. I let the warm water run down my back and wash the sweat away. revitalising me and clearing my fuzzy head. It's fresh and a welcome treat after the horror of my nightmares.
I step out of the shower after what seems like only a few seconds but actually is closer to 20 minutes. Draco will be up soon and then he'll want a shower. Knowing him, he probably knows a spell that can breaks even the enchantments on the doors.
I wrap myself in a towel and brush my teeth. Making sure that the towel is secure, I flick my wand that I'd brought into the bathroom with me for some strange reason and the doors unlock. I dart out through the door that leads to my room so that if Draco entered immediately, he wouldn't see me wearing nothing but a white towel.
"Colloportus" I say clearly, flicking my wand at the bathroom door so that it stays locked. I turn around, and scream when I see Hermione Granger perched on my bed.
"Merlin's beard Juliet, calm down." She drawls boredly. I shake my head and blink a few times, checking that I'm not dreaming. Nope, this is real, she's really here. "How did you get in here?" I stutter, recoiling and hiding myself embarrassingly behind one of the curtains of the bed. Hermione doesn't notice. "Alohomora. You should lock your door better."
"No, into the Slytherin rooms!" She shrugs her shoulders. "It was easy, I found out the password from one of the first years, they thought I was a Slytherin despite my Gryffindor uniform" she rolls her eyes and continues. "I already knew where the common room was. Nobody stopped me, so I just walked in."
She talks like it's the simplest thing in the world. Slytherin's common room is notoriously difficult to find if you don't belong to Slytherin, the winding tunnels and stairs of the dungeons throw off any outsiders.
I pick up my uniform that I'd folded and placed on my trunk, ready to wear, and hold it close to me. "What do you want that's important enough for you to come here?" Hermione looks at me for the first time and I see a strange thing in her eyes. "It's Harry. I've tried talking to your brother and he tells me that I'm mad. There's something... different about him since we returned to Hogwarts. It's like there's something wrong, but he doesn't know what." She sighs deeply and stares at me as if I know something more than her. "Why're you telling me this? There's nothing I can do. I'm just the slimy snake." I raise my eyebrows as I throw one of her own quotes back at her. Hermione knots her eyebrows and frowns. "You know I don't like you Juliet, it's not just because you're in Slytherin. But I bothered to tell you because you were closer to Cedric than anyone else I know. I thought that you could talk to Harry, maybe find out if it's what happened to Cedric that's bothering him."
I look at her and am filled with disgust. She came here and has the nerve to insult me and then bring up Cedric. How dare she speak about him to me! And of course Harry might be a little different this term, he'd seen someone get murdered, had the most difficult summer probably of his entire life, thought that he'd been expelled from Hogwarts only for defending himself and his cousin. Hermione has no right to say Cedric's name. I snarl at her, and before I can stop myself, I hiss "Get the hell out of my room, before I use one of the three curses."
To my surprise, Hermione stands up and leaves my room, taking a heavy leather bound book that she must have brought with her. She shuts the door gently and I flick my wand "Colloportus!" I scream, locking the door in case she tries to come back. Now that I'm alone, I sink to my knees and bury my head in my hands. What would Cedric do? Would he ignore Hermione?
I shake my head; of course he wouldn't. Cedric was the good guy, he'd never ignore a friend in need. In order to be respectful to his memory, I had no choice but to do what she asked and speak to Harry, not that he'd probably be completely truthful with me if he wouldn't tell his two best friends what was bothering him. But Harry's been there for me, despite being best friends with Ron, and I suppose that I owe him.
I get dressed quickly, black skirt, my pressed white shirt, the green, silver and black striped tie, black tights, my black ankle boots and a long sleeved black blazer with a green collar. I apply a quick layer of mascara to my eyelashes and brush my hair, letting it loose around my shoulders but clipping my fringe away from my eyes. It's 6.45am now, how Hermione got out unnoticed I'll never know. I sort the books that I'll need for today; transfiguration, potions, defence against the dark arts, Muggle studies, care of magical creatures and Herbology.
Also adding a couple of quills and some blank parchment to my navy tote, I fasten my shoelaces and gaze longingly at the broom in the corner. Quidditch practice doesn't start until next week, and for a few weeks it'll just be picking new recruits and training them. We don't have our first match until November, as usual it'll be against Gryffindor. We've lost to them for the past 4 years in a row, but that's because they didn't have me playing as Seeker before. Now, we'll be practically unstoppable if I do say so myself.
I grab my wand and flick it, unlocking my bedroom door and then I push it into my pocket. Throwing my bag over my shoulder I leave the bedroom, shutting the door behind me and walk quickly down the dim green hallway. I hurry so that I won't run into Honey or Sophia, who I haven't seen since the night before. But that doesn't stop Draco Malfoy from silently sneaking up behind me and whispering 'boo' in my ear, causing me to jump out of my skin and hold my wand to his throat.
Draco doesn't appear afraid, merely amused as I lower my wand and blush. "Sorry, you shouldn't sneak up on people like that." I put my wand back in my pocket and he crosses his arms. "Where're you going?" He asks with a raised eyebrow and a mischievous smirk on his face. "Breakfast." I reply, nervously shifting from foot to foot. Draco smiles again "As am I, let me walk you there." My eyes grow wide for a second but then I force them back to regular size. "What?" I stutter, hardly able to believe it. Why does Draco want to walk with me?
I'm about to come up with an excuse when I see Pansy standing with folded arms and a thundering glare. I can see her fingers twitching with fury and the pain in the forehead looks as if it's ready to pop. "I said, let me walk you to breakfast. I have to tell you about the prefect stuff, remember?" Oh, so he didn't mean it in the way that I thought. But Pansy doesn't know that, and she looks like she's ready to murder me. So I give her a look and then flash my nicest smile at Draco. "That'd be great." I reply. He hasn't noticed Pansy, so he picks up the bag that had been lying on their chair, a leather rucksack that looks incredibly expensive and makes him look even more out of my league. Draco slings his bag over one shoulder and leads the way towards the exit of the common room. He steps through the shield and holds the door open for me. Taking a final look at Pansy who's hissing something to Theodora whilst looking evil at me, I follow him out and let the door slam shut behind us.
Draco is silent for a moment, maybe waiting for me to speak first. We climb up the narrow stairs carefully. I notice how agile Draco is; he moves fluidly, almost like water, there are no stumbles or hitches, everything is like a dance. Whether he means to be like that, I'm unsure.
"So, have you got your timetable yet?" I say politely, trying to make conversation. Draco will be in most of my subjects; for the core subjects such as Astronomy, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Potions, Herbology etc. All of the Slytherin fifth years and Gryffindor fifth years are taught together for the core subjects, the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff's being taught together too.
"Yeah, I've got Transfiguration first. Are you taking Divination?" We climb the larger staircase from last night, the one where he shouted at the two first years. "Yep. That, and Care of Magical Creatures." Divination and Care of Magical Creatures were the two subjects that I'd chosen in my third year at Hogwarts. Everyone is required to take 2 electives on top of the 7 core subjects. Draco grimaces when I mention Care of Magical Creatures. "I hated Care of Magical Creatures after what happened in the third year. That oath Hagrid should have taken more care over the creatures he showed us. After that, my father spoke to Dumbledore and I changed to Arithmancy." I nod my head and try to hide my smile as I remember the incident Draco is talking about. He hadn't listened to Hagrid and in a fit of jealous rage against Harry, he'd ran forward to Buckbeak and the creature had scratched his arm in defence. All of the other Slytherins were distraught, but I was the only one laughing with the Gryffindors.
"Still, at least you've got a proper teacher this year, not whatever rubbish Dumbledore picked off the street."
"Juliet!" I hear a male voice shout my name from one of the moving staircases. Looking up, I smile as Caspar jogs down the steps towards Draco and I. I can't help but notice how handsome he looks, his tousled hair is perfectly messy and completely unlike Draco's, who's hair is never out of place. Caspar reaches the bottom of the stairs, apologising to a second year Hufflepuff as he accidentally bumps into her.
"Hello Caspar," I breathe with a smile, totally forgetting that Draco's there. Caspar smiles down at me and enquires about how I am. "Congratulations on being made a prefect by the way," he adds. I blush and lower my eyes, looking up through my eyelashes flirtatiously. "I'm Draco Malfoy."
I turn around and see Draco facing up to Caspar, jealousy all over his face. Caspar looks away from me and instead at Draco. Politely offering his hand for Draco to shake, he replies "Caspar Sinclair." Draco stares at his hand for a moment, before looking at me. "Juliet, I'll speak to you later." He snarls, leaving Caspar's hand hanging in the air. Then, he storms off, as if he's furious that Caspar had the nerve to talk to me.
Caspar lowers his hand and chuckles. "Wow, what's wrong with him?" I shrug my shoulders. "Who knows." To my surprise, Caspar smiles boyishly and shuffles from foot to foot. "You should do, you're his girlfriend right?"
I let out an almighty heckle, throwing my head back and making people look at me. They must think I'm insane, but I don't care. "Me, and...D.Draco?" I clutch my stomach, my sides hurting I'm laughing so hard. Caspar joins in, and waits for me to stop laughing with a goofy smile.
"You have a pretty laugh, you know that?" He winks at me and I stop laughing to blush and smile. "Thanks. And in answer to your question, no, Draco isn't my boyfriend. I don't have a boyfriend." Caspar raises his eyebrows again and we begin to walk the rest of the way to the Great Hall. "Not even Potter?" I shake my head furiously. "No, Harry's just a friend."
We reach the huge double doors and Caspar winks at me. "I'm glad, I wouldn't like it if you had a boyfriend." And with that, he strides off towards his own table, leaving me with weak knees and blushing like a school girl.
"Hey Li, are you ok?" I hear a voice next to me. I smile at Harry, and suddenly remember why I left early, before Draco and Caspar distracted me. "Harry!" I exclaim. His eyes grow wide with surprise behind his circular glasses and he smiles awkwardly. "I need to talk to you." Harry seems to catch a glimpse of something in the distance, and begins to rush off. "I'm really sorry Li, can it wait for later? I have to do something urgently!"
He's gone before I can call him back, typical Harry. I'll just speak to him later.
I take a seat at the Slytherin table and dispense some cereal and milk into my bowl. I nibble at a bread roll too whilst I wait for somebody, anybody, to come and sit with me. Finally, Honey and Sophia arrive, Millicent trailing behind them. They instantly rush over to me, Honey only diverting to throw herself at Ash and start kissing him passionately. Millicent sits next to me and Sophia sits opposite. "Hello, Miss Prefect. How's the private room?" Sophia jokes, raising her eyebrows at me. I smile and giggle slightly. "It's good I suppose, it's strange not sharing with anyone, but at least I don't have to listen to her talking about that all night," I gesture at Honey, who's wrapped so tightly into Ash that they could be mistaken for one person.
Sophia and Millicent laugh as they get some food. I notice Pansy and Theodora stalking in, and a smirk emerging on her lips when she sees that Draco's nowhere to be seen. Ha, I can almost hear her saying.
I roll my eyes to myself and finish my cereal. What do I care?