I blew a kiss to the mirror. I'm not going to lie, but my hair was looking fabulous.
Deciding to ditch the librarian look, I freed my golden locks from the constraint of the School-Ma'am-bun. Instead, it hung loosely down my back, super soft and shiny.
Flipping it back over my shoulder, I whistled for the house-elf to fetch my trunk before remembering that stupid bloody Harry Potter had freed it.
"Rumour has is," Father drawled without looking up from his newspaper as I joined him downstairs at the table for breakfast, "Dumbledore has enlisted that great oaf of a gamekeeper to start teaching classes."
I poured myself a bowl of Lucky Charms, silently cheering when I had more marshmallows than cereal.
"I don't understand Dumbledore's questionable hiring methods," Father continued. "And yet there he is getting me thrown off the board of school governors."
"Well you were responsible for releasing a deadly beast on an entire school of children," my mother said crossly, slamming a cup of tea down in front of him. "I'd say that's a somewhat sackable offence, wouldn't you?"
"It was all such an overreaction," Father drawled lazily as he slowly folded up the Daily Prophet. "No one died, did they?"
"A teacher's brain got permanently addled!" Mother shrieked.
"To be fair," I said thickly through a mouthful of marshmallows, "that one was down to Potter-"
"WHAT HAVE I SAID ABOUT YOU MENTIONING THAT NAME IN MY HOUSE?!"
Hating getting told off by my father, I jutted out my lower lip and scowled down at my cereal.
Bloody Harry Potter.
*****
"Dray, your hair looks gorgeous!" Pansy gushed the moment I entered what was becoming our 'usual' compartment on the train.
"I know," I smirked, flipping it back over my shoulder as I slid into the empty seat next to Blaise.
"Thank god you ditched that gel," Theo muttered from across me, "it made your hair look plastic."
Affronted, I narrowed my eyes. "It was cream!"
"Guess what?" Daphne said breathlessly as she entered the compartment soon after, her eyes bright with excitement. "That Sirius Black man who has escaped from Azkaban - well I heard rumour that he's after Harry Potter!"
Everyone gasped, but I just rolled my eyes.
"Of course he is," I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest, "Potter is incapable of not making everything about himself."
"Isn't Sirius Black supposed to be one of the most dangerous wizards alive?" Blaise asked, looking bemused as he raised an eyebrow.
"So?" I snapped defensively, "it's not like that's anything new to him. Gets off on it, I reckon."
I spent the next couple of hours scowling out of the window at the rain, grinding my teeth as I thought about that stupid scar-headed Gryffindor.
Not even looking at the reflection of my new hair could cheer me up.
And then, when the snack trolley was finally about to arrive outside our compartment, a Dementor hopped onboard, making this officially the worst start of year yet.
******
"Guess what?" Daphne gasped her hair a frazzled mess as she climbed up onto the horseless carriage waiting to take us up to the castle. "Harry Potter fainted!"
Excitement swirled in my stomach at the prospect of Harry's face as I teased him about it. I carefully mused over different insults in my mind as the carriage journeyed us up the bumpy path. I wanted something witty and clever. That'll teach the egotistical bastard not to shake my hand.
As soon as our carriage came to a halt, I dived across everyone's lap to ensure I was the first one out. There were murmurs of complaint as Crabbe and Goyle swiftly followed, safely at my heels.
I looked up and down the row of carriages, praying I hadn't missed him. Then, with luck, I spotted Hermione jumping out of a carriage a little further up.
I eagerly hurried over, my heart pounding with excitement.
"You fainted, Potter?" I drawled delightedly in the Gryffindor's ear as he stepped out after Ron. "You actually fainted?!"
Harry glared at me, but I could see he was impressed with my new hair.
"Shove off, Malfoy," Ron snarled as he grabbed at his best friend's arm, trying to physically pull him away from me.
But Harry shrugged him off, remaining steadfast in front of me, his green eyes glittering with interest behind his glasses. My smirk widened.
"Ditched the hair gel?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow as his gaze slowly flickered over my hair.
"For your information, it was cream," I answered without a beat, edging so close to him that I could smell the faint scent of his cologne and see the prominent curve of his Adam's Apple in his throat. "Sometimes a girl just likes to try new things."
He parted his lips, allowing shallow breaths to pass through them, matching my own. Instead of speaking, he swept his tongue across his upper lip, his eyes resting on my mouth.
"Is there a problem here?"
Startled, I jumped back and whipped around to discover a man carrying a dilapidated suitcase and dressed in robes with patches.
Clearly this was the new Defence teacher everyone had been talking about on the train. They weren't wrong when they said it looked as though Dumbledore had dragged him straight off the streets.
"Oh, no - er - Professor," I said with a tiny hint of sarcasm in my voice. "Just catching up with a friend."
Behind me, a low, threatening growling noise sounded in my ear. I glanced back over my shoulder to discover Harry glaring fiercely down at me, his jaw tightened and hands balled into fists down by his sides.
I smirked, clearly smelling a teacher's pet.
"Well run along now," the new teacher ordered before I could accuse Harry so, "I'm sure no one wants detention before they've even stepped foot inside the castle."
I threw him a disdainful look before sweeping away, beckoning to a waiting Crabbe and Goyle to follow.
*****
I managed to entertain the rest of the Slytherins for a good twenty-four hours with my impression of Harry fainting.
Pansy, who laughed the hardest, confessed that she might have even peed herself a little bit.
Oh, how I glowed. Especially when it made the golden trio scowl so.
But, third year wasn't all fun and fabulous hair.
No. First off there was Care of Magical Creatures. Or, should I say: Care-less Malicious Creatures.
I mean, I was innocently minding my own business when I was viciously attacked by this great big ugly chicken which Hagrid saw fit to be around students. And this was after he got us all to buy books which tried to bite our hands off!
Pansy was in tears as I was carried away to the hospital wing. I weakly gave her a brave thumbs up over Hagrid's shoulder so she could see I was going to be okay. Although, Madam Pomfrey heavily hinted that if I had been brought in just another minute or two later, I could have lost my arm.
In the meantime, however, Crabbe and Goyle had to do all my classwork and homework. They even chopped up my food and poured me drinks at mealtimes.
The entire time, I could feel Harry's eyes glaring at me whether it was from his desk on the other side of the classroom or across the tables in the Great Hall.
If I was feeling generous, I would throw a smug look his way.
Father was incensed, of course, and immediately petitioned to get the bloody chicken put down. This somehow enraged the golden trio, who had forgotten that only the year before, Harry himself had killed a beast that had been attacking the students.
The double standards coming from those three actually made my blood boil with rage.
******
"Ah, come to see the show?"
I turned gleefully towards the golden trio who were striding down the hill towards us, all three of them looking thunderous.
"You! You foul, loathsome evil little cockroach!" Hermione bellowed, angrily brandishing her wand as sparks of fury emitted from the end of it.
"Hermione, no!" Ron wailed. "She's not worth it!"
I began to whimper as she pinned me up against a rock, digging the tip of her wand into my neck. I closed my eyes waiting for the inevitable, but instead, there was nothing, and when I opened them again, it was to see that Hermione had lowered her wand and backed away.
I gave a small laugh of relief which was almost immediately cut short by Hermione's fist smashing into my face. My head flung back so violently that it connected with the rock behind me and all I could see were stars.
The pain was so immense I thought I was going to be sick. I could just about make out Crabbe and Goyle shouting angrily at the trio as I shakily lifted a hand to touch the back of my head. A cold horror plunged into the very depths of my stomach as I felt something warm, wet and sticky.
My hair. My beautiful hair.
******
"Damn it, Dray," Blaise muttered as he sat behind me on the sofa, carefully trying to clean up my head wound. "Why do you insist on winding them up all the time? Look, I think you ought to go to the hospital wing, you could have cracked your skull-"
"No," I snapped, biting back the tears of humiliation that stung behind my eyes.
His hand rested on my shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. This act of compassion was too much for me, and before I could stop it, an aching sob choked in the back of my throat.
And then he was cupping my elbows and pulling me against him as I began to cry, his arms wrapping around me and just holding me as my body shook, drawing comfort from the feel of the steady beat of his heart against my back.
It meant a lot to me that he said nothing. No judgement, no ridiculing. He was just there, letting me cry, just like a Malfoy shouldn't.
******