DRACO watches the new girl with dark hair and a chiseled face, as she walks over to the Slytherin table. He notices how she hangs her head low and how she tugs at the elastic band on her wrist. He notices the bounce in her steps every now and then. He notices every minute thing he could possibly notice about her even though he doesn't intend to.
"She's hot, isn't she?", Blaise comments, making him tilt his head back to his friend.
"Shut up, Blaise", Draco snaps, annoyance sprouting in him for some reason he doesn't understand.
"What? She is hot", Blaise retorts.
"Yeah, she is", adds Theo and Pansy together staring at her dreamily.
"Not really..", Draco remarks with a low huff, looking at her once more before dropping his gaze to the table.
"Tasteless prat", Blaise mumbles out before waving at the girl. "Hey, Emerson! Over here!"
She catches his invitation and silently walks over to them, her head hanging low, her features betraying the confidence in her strides.
"Sit", Pansy mumbles making space for her between herself and Theo with a welcoming smile on her face.
The girl, Zilliah, nods and takes her place as Dumbledore gets up to make his speech. "Goodevening children", he addresses them and Draco groans internally at the sweetness in his tone. He had always hated that biased old motherfucker.
"Psst..", Blaise mumbles out towards Zilliah who was diagonally opposite to him. She was seated right in front of Draco but neither of them looked at the other. "Where did you transfer from?"
"Beauxbatons", she replies, her voice coming out rather hoarse. She is definitely one of those insecure little bitches, he remarks to himself with an eye roll that no one seems to catch.
"Why?", Blaise presses on.
"None of your damn business."
Or not.
"Ooooh, she feisty", Blaise declares in an amused tone as Pansy and Theo chuckle under their breaths. Draco doesn't react, with much pain too that is.
"Now, we have two changings in staffing this year", Dumbledore continues at the front but Draco has no interest in his ramble.
"Who's that old toad?", Theo inquires inclining his head towards where an old, bratty looking woman with an over-fake smile sat among the staff in all pink.
"Dolores Umbridge", Draco replies. "Senior Undersecretary to Fudge."
"How'd you know?", asks Pansy, her eyes curious as she takes in the lady.
"Heard Lucius talking."
The three of his friends turn their undivided attention upon the dias but Zilliah lifts her head and fixes her gaze upon Draco. He could see it in his peripheral vision but he chooses to ignore it at first as he too turns his eyes towards the old man up front, never really listening. However, even after a concerning amount of time, when she refuses to take her eyes off of him- Merlin knows why- he snaps his head at her.
Their eyes meet- pearl piercing into hazel. And in her eyes, he saw the light of a thousand stars.
"What do you think you're doing?', Draco asks her after a moment, finding his voice.
What did he just fucking feel?
She quickly blinks and fetches her gaze away from him, her cheeks reddening, "Nothing", she mumbles in a soft tone, clearly ashamed to have been caught in the act.
He eyes her in suspicion for a few seconds more before deciding to shift his attention elsewhere. Whatever, he thinks, trying to disregard her existence despite the fact that he had taken up the forefront of his thoughts somehow.
Dumbledore winds it up after Umbridge's little interruption- some bullshit twisted way of conveying that the ministry is interfering at Hogwarts- not that he cared anyway. He knew that there was no truth in them.
"Wow, the ministry is getting real desperate", Pansy says as the feast commences and chatter breaks out through the crowd.
"They are..", Blaise agrees with her, already digging into the food eagerly.
"Well", she turns to Zilliah. "I'm Pansy. Pansy Parkinson."
"Oh, you're Pansy."
"What do you mean by that?", she raises her eyebrows in question.
"Oh, nothing! I just heard about you on the train. That's all."
"Really? What did you hear? Nothing bad, I presume."
"Well, only that you are a quote-unquote cow", Zilliah replies, sipping water.
"What?!", Pansy blurts out in utter horror as Theo, Blaise, and even Draco can't help the laughter that rises within them at her reaction. "Who the fuck said that?", she demands, eyeing them in a warning before turning her gaze back upon Zilliah.
"Sorry but I don't snitch", Zilliah replies, setting the glass down onto the table and bringing her hands up in defense.
Pansy lets out a loud huff and rolls her eyes. She turns to her plate and tugs into her meal in fury.
"Careful Pans. You'll break the plate", Draco teases her, a small smile he was trying to hide, tugging at the corner of his lips.
She growls and tugs in even more ferociously.
Women are really mad when they get offended.
"I'm Theodore Nott", Theo- obviously- introduces himself, chewing on the chicken leg in his hand. He then inclines his head at the two sitting opposite to him and says, "That's Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy. Both douches, really. But don't worry, you got me."
"My reputation precedes me, what can I say?", Blaise mumbles out in a proud tone, shrugging his shoulders.
"Being a douchebag isn't really that good of a quality as you think it is, you know?", Zilliah shoots back, setting her hands on the table and balancing her chin upon them.
Blaise opens his mouth in defiance but Pansy beats him to it. "She is right, Blaise. You can't argue with that." He snaps his mouth shut as he pulls his features into a scowl.
"Aren't you going to eat anything?", Pansy asks, nudging her with an elbow.
'Yeah.. yeah", she replies, grabbing a bowl of soup. "It's nice to meet you guys." A small smile- genuine too.
"Now, why did you trans-", Blaise starts again but Zilliah cuts across him.
"Still, none of your damn business."
"Man! Can't a guy catch a break around here?!", he groans out with a small laugh that shows how lightly he takes things.
"And who said that-", Pansy attempts again but Zilliah crushes her hopes.
"Still, not a snitch", she replies, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head.
"Oh, come on!", Pansy too groans in defeat.
Draco shakes his head, smiling in amusement.
"What the fuck is so funny, Draco?", Pansy asks him, clearly irritated.
"Nothing", he replies, his grin widening mischievously. "Just that.."
"Just that?"
"Just that you'd make the perfect cow."
He had always loved to infuriate Pansy right from their childhood. She grabs a fork and throws it at him but he easily catches it before it hits his face. Having a quick reflex is one of the many traits that he prides himself upon.
Pansy rolls her eyes as Draco looks over at Zilliah. She catches his gaze and stares back at him, an amused smile playing at the corner of her lips too.
After a moment, she turns her focus back onto her soup but this time, it was Draco who found it impossible to take his eyes off her. He examines her, his features slipping into something more serious. It was almost as if he knew her beforehand because she seemed so. familiar yet, he was a hundred percent sure they hadn't met before. He also has a good memory so there's no way he is wrong about that.
"Draco! Mate!", Theo's voice snaps him out of the trance. "You good?"
"Yeah.. Yeah", Draco mumbles, trying to focus his gaze somewhere- anywhere else but Zilliah.
Merlin, who is this woman? She hadn't even pratically existed to him fifteen minutes ago and yet now, he is fucking gawking at her.
"And you said she wasn't hot", Theo calls him out, much to his displeasure.
Zilliah perks up at it, an eyebrow raised. "You don't think I am hot?"
Draco hesitantly meets her gaze again and replies, "No. Not enough. Not according to my standards, at least. Wouldn't be worth my time."
"Way to please a lady, man!", Blaise says, nudging Draco a bit before turning to Zilliah. "Don't be offended though. The rest of us think you're hot."
"I'm not offended", she replies simply.
"Oh, really?", Blaise teases her assuming she was lying. Draco assumes the same too, that is until-
"Yeah, really. I don't need a boy to tell me my worth."
"That's right, queen!", Theo throws his right arm over her shoulder, a huge grin breaking onto his features as he projects his over friendly demeanor. She smiles at it for a moment, seeming to appreciate the gesture despite the cringe in it, and tugs further into her food.
After finishing up the dinner, they all walk back to the common room. Draco was dying to sit down after all the food that he stuffed inside himself.
As the bare stretch of stone wall in the dungeons reveals a magnificent and luxurious room with a simple two syllable word, he notices the stunned look on Zilliah's face.
"This is so fucking cool!", she mumbles excitedly, skimming her eyes over the large room like a kid who finally got to lay it's hand on it's favorite toy.
"Now now, real ladies don't cuss." It was Blaise, cocky as ever. Someone really needs to teach him to mind his own business.
Well, Draco can't be the judge of it anyway.
"Fuck off", Zilliah retorts and skips around the room, examining every nook and corner with literal awe twinkling in her eyes.
"You done?!", Pansy calls out to her after half an hour.
Surprisingly, Zilliah was still walking around looking over at everything and nothing. "Not yet. I still have to-", she starts but Pany cuts across her with a groan.
"Oh, come on! You have plenty of time to map every inch of this goddamn place into that overhyped brain of yours."
"But-"
"Not now. Come, let's get to the dorms. I'm tired. Millicent must've already slept."
"But I still have-"
"Oh for fuck's sake, just come on!"
She sighs, giving in and then follows Pansy into the girls' dorms. "Goodnight boys."
"Goodnight!" Theo and Blaise calls back. Draco doesn't.
"So why were you goggling at her?", Theo turns to Draco as soon as the girls are out of sight.
"I wasn't fucking goggling- what the hell man."
"Mate, trust me. You were. It was as if-"
"Shut it, Nott."
"So you're not interested in her?", Blaise asks, stretching his legs out onto the couch.
"No, of course not.", Draco replies in a forcibly disgusted tone.
"Well, then good. Cause I am", he replies. "You think she's fond of parties?"
Something fiery burns inside Draco- jealousy? envy? possessiveness? Don't be ridiculous Draco. You've only known her for an hour.
Blaise goes on blabbering about his grand scheme to sweep her off her feet with his charm, and it irritates Draco so fucking much that he wants to toss him into a trashcan- yeah, that's where he belongs.
Despite the temptation, he remains still and quiet trying to figure out where the familiarity he felt of her sprouted from. He thinks and thinks, remaining on the same couch even after his companions had retired to their rooms. He tries to match her face with every person he could possibly remember meeting but nothing sticks.
"For fuck's sake, Emerson", he mutters to himself. "Who are you? And why are you already in my head?"