NOTE: slightly long chapter ahead because they have a few interactions in their first year ☺️
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Dear Mum and Dad,
So I've been sorted into Hufflepuff House. I'm writing to you from our common room now. You'll like it, Dad. It's very cosy! Professor Sprout is our Head of House. She teaches us Herbology too.
Classes are fun. We have Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Astronomy. But you already know Herbology and Astronomy are my favourite, of course!
The castle is humongous, and my friends Hannah , Susan, and I explore it over the weekends because we can't go to Hogsmeade yet. We've made friends with Harry Potter too! Everybody is really nice and we all get along. Maybe not so much with the Slytherins, but they don't seem interested anyway.
How have you been? Mum hasn't been too weepy, I hope! Dad, draw me the star map from back home. I've drawn Hogwarts's at the bottom of this letter. Hope to hear from you soon.
Kisses and misses!
Angel
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Dear Angel,
We're so glad you're having fun, love! And also learning lots of new things, we hope. It's dad writing here, but mum is right beside me. She has been doing a bit of crying, but only because she misses you. We both do!
Things have been terribly boring back home without you, unfortunately. Mum's got no one to cook for except me, and she isn't as fond of stargazing as you are. I'm still doing it every night (almost), but it certainly feels different!
Does Dumbledore allow sweets, or do you just have to make do without your silly jellybeans? Anywho, we've sent some for you to share with your friends. It should come together with this letter. Once you are able to go to Hogsmeade, we'll send you some more money and you can buy your own, then!
Pay attention in lessons and don't go getting yourself in any sort of trouble, alright? We love and miss you very much!
P.S. The past few nights have been cloudy so no star map for you, sorry dear.
Kisses and misses,
Dad & Mum
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Angel could barely contain her excitement as she scanned the courtyard for her friends. Hannah, and Susan stood at the far corner together with Ernie Macmillan and Zacharias Smith.
"Look, guys", she called, running up to them and opening the bag to reveal its contents. The girls squealed with delight.
"Blimey, Angel! Where'd you get these?" Ernie asked her.
"My parents sent them. I think there's just enough to split it evenly between the six of us!"
"What have you got there?" A voice interrupted their excited chatter, and they turned in unison. Draco Malfoy stalked up to them, Crabbe and Goyle bumbling behind. Hannah stepped in front of Angel and folded her arms. "Why?"
"Because I asked, that's why," Draco spat, trying to see what or who Hannah was blocking him from. His steely eyes took in every member of the Hufflepuff group.
Angel peeped out from behind Hannah. "It's alright, Hannah. There's plenty to go around." She started to hold out the bag towards Draco, but Hannah dug her elbow into her ribs, hard. "Not for him, there isn't! We're Hufflepuffs, not pushovers, Draco. Get that into your thick head, or does all that white hair keep anything from going in or out?"
At once, Draco whipped out his wand at Hannah and waved it with flourish. They'd barely learnt any spells yet, but the way he was holding it seemed otherwise.
Just then, a shout came from across the yard. An older boy with dark brown hair broke into a jog towards them. "Hey. Is there a problem here?"
He was much taller than all of them, and by his Quidditch robes, Angel could deduce he was at least a year older, and much more intimidating than the little fair-haired boy in front of them.
Draco narrowed his eyes at them. "No," he said reluctantly before promptly stalking off, his two cronies tripping over their feet as they tried to keep up.
"Slytherins," remarked the older boy. "They can be like that - some of them, at least. Don't pay them any mind." He turned back to them. "First year, eh?" They nodded.
"Cedric Diggory. Third year." Hannah smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks, Cedric. I'm Hannah Abbott, this is Angel Dawson, Ernie Macmillan, and Zach Smith."
"Nice to meet you all. How are you finding your first week at Hogwarts?"
"It's is awfully big!" Ernie piped up, and they all laughed nervously, feeling small and shy around this older boy.
Cedric nodded in agreement. "You'll get used to it. Well, see you all around! Don't be strangers." He gave them a small wink before joining his friends, who were all carrying proper Quidditch broomsticks.
"I should've offered him something," Angel said, looking into the bag, but Susan only chuckled. "More for us!"
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"Draco!" a small voice called from behind him. He immediately felt a surge of irritation. None of the students who weren't his friends had dared to call him by his name like that. He turned around, finding that it was that irksome Dawson girl.
"Here," she said, holding out a small bag. He looked at her, at the bag, and then back at her again.
"What is it?"
"Just wanted to give them to you."
He took the bag and opened it hesitantly, half expecting a toad or snake to jump out at him. You never know with these people.
Instead, he was staring down at three Fizzing Whizzbees, a tiny grey pack of Pepper Imps, and a few single sherbet lemons.
"The Fizzing Whizbees are loads of fun," she began chattering excitedly. "You, Crabbe, and Goyle could have one each, and-"
"Don't tell me what to do," he snapped. Her eyes widened in stunned silence, and he carried on. "Also, you're to call me Malfoy. The next time you call me Draco again, I'll hex you." Scrunching the neck of the bag in his fingers, he gave her one last scathing look before turning on his heels back to the Slytherin dorms.
With the bag carefully tucked into his robes, he silently climbed the stairs that led to his own private chamber. They all had one, the richer and more powerful families who could afford it.
Arriving at his door, he spoke the password: "green apples". The locks clicked open and he entered, immediately throwing himself on the bed. The mattress was so huge it seemed to almost swallow him up.
He took care not to disturb the pile of candy that was already sat in the middle of the bed. He'd managed to extort them from a Gryffindor student earlier, right after the incident with that blasted Hufflepuff group which had left him absolutely humiliated.
Anger suddenly boiled over in him. Who had that Quidditch player been? Well, he was stupid. They all were. And yellow is an ugly colour anyway.
He took out the bag Dawson had given him and emptied its contents onto his bed. "Queenbee Fizzing Whizbees", he read the label on the bright pink packet. The three remaining balls rolled about inside.
He'd never had them before, or any candy, for that matter. His parents simply didn't allow it back home. They'd let him have anything he wanted but sweets. Rots your teeth and your brain, his father would tell him.
His house elf Dobby snuck out once or twice and come back with a sherbet lemon - a muggle sweet - but that had been a really long time ago, before Draco knew much about Muggles and why they were bad. He tossed the sherbets aside with disgust, focusing his attention on the Pepper Imps now.
Why doesn't his parents send him sweets? His face heated up with indignation. Whatever, his parents were better than those stupid half-bloods anyway - even the Abbotts, bumbling fools. They probably lived in a run-down shack like the Weasleys.
He, on the other hand, was a Malfoy! People respected and feared their name, and he will do well to ensure he lived up to it.
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It was a beautiful Tuesday morning, and there was just the right amount of clouds in the sky so that it wasn't too hot or shady.
Draco stood with Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy, a Slytherin girl they'd sat with at the Start-of-Term Feast. He'd discovered she had a fondness for pushing others and stealing their food too, and they'd become fast friends.
"Look what that fat one's got in his hands. Reckon we can take it?" Pansy whispered beside him, and Draco looked over.
Neville Longbottom was showing the Dawson girl a glass ball, which shone brilliantly in the sun. He hated the both of them. "You bet," he said to Pansy, and they both shared a grin.
The chatter died down when a professor with spiky grey hair strode up between the two groups, her black robes billowing behind her in the wind. "Good afternoon, class," she said, her voice deep and rumbling. "Good afternoon, Madam Hooch," everyone responded in unison, some staring in wonder at the professor's piercing yellow eyes.
At Madam Hooch's instructions, Draco stretched his hand over his broom and commanded, "up!" Immediately, his broom flew up to meet his hand, and he smirked at his success. Around him, dozens of 'up's echoed across the yard as everyone struggled.
"Now," Madam Hooch continued when everyone managed to get their brooms. "On my whistle, you will kick off from the ground, keep your brooms steady, hover for a moment, then lean forward, and touch back down."
Draco was getting ready to kick off when Longbottom started floating up by himself. His broom began jerking in all directions and shot up into the sky as his classmates called his name from below.
"Come back down this instant!" Madam Hooch cried above the din, and Draco couldn't hide his laughter any longer. Longbottom's broom zoomed off, bouncing off the stone walls like a rubber ball until eventually, his robes got caught on the spear of a statue and ripped. The fat boy fell onto the ground with a loud thud.
"Neville!" Dawson ran up to Longbottom, together with Potter and his silly friends. Draco split his sides laughing along with the entire Slytherin team.
He was watching with amusement as the crowd parted for Madam Hooch, when a small glint in the grass caught his eye. It was Longbottom's glass ball. He began to pick it up, but another hand beat him to it.
"You found it, Malfoy! It's Neville's Remembrall!" Dawson trilled, completely oblivious that he'd wanted it for himself.
Draco stepped up and his hands connected with her shoulders. She stumbled back at the great force, falling over onto the grass. "Not anymore," he said as he swooped up the ball.
He eyed her with satisfaction as she picked herself up, preparing for some sort of angry reaction. Instead, she was looking at him with a sort of curiosity. He ignored this and snickered, as he rejoined his group. It didn't take long for him to forget about her.
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"Just say the word and I'll jinx the blond off of him!" Hannah grumbled, pulling Angel back onto her feet.
"You will do no such thing!" Angel laughed as she dusted her robes and picked up her books.
"Arseholes!" Hannah shouted after Crabbe and Goyle, who were sniggering to themselves as they ran off.
As usual, they'd acted under Draco's orders. They always planned their attacks to take place in the hallways in between lessons, when Professors were busy preparing for their next class.
Hannah rolled her eyes. "It's like he's made it his life's mission to make us all miserable! And not just us, you know? He goes after the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws too, especially Harry Potter. The nerve, honestly! I'd say he's just jealous."
Angel shrugged passively. In their first few months, Hannah and Susan had tried to plead with him, but nothing worked. The aggressive counters from her Gryffindor friends seemed to be useless too. And the times he did get punished, Snape, the head of Slytherin House, always put a good word in from him.
Protesting and retaliation proved futile, and she'd come to learn that Draco Malfoy was untouchable.
Be kind, people are fighting their own battles inside, her father had told her once. Draco Malfoy must've been fighting World War III in his head, she figured.
The two continued their way to Charms in comfortable silence, joined by Zach on the way. "Whats' the matter?" he asked, noticing Hannah's sullen face.
"Zach, be a man and make all of Draco's hair fall out, will you?" Angel knew Hannah was only half joking when she said this.
"Please don't make me, Your Highness," Zach clasped his hands and mock-begged. "I am but thirteen - hardly a man! Have mercy, O Mighty One," The girls giggled as Hannah hit his shoulder with her book.
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A/N:
Hello! I know this chapter was a little long but it gives quite a bit of context and insight into Angel's relationship with Draco and her friends, as well as her parents. I PROMISE THE WRITING GETS BETTER.
The next few chapters are also snippets of their interactions. But, if you want, you can skip ahead to Eclipse! That's when Draco and Angel meet again.
Thank you for reading so far. Please leave a comment or vote to let me know what you think ❤️